| It was all over by 11.15pm so I decided to go back to the cabin and sleep. For some reason it took ages to drift off. Apparently we'd gone through fog during the night and the fog horn blared. Trust me to actually sleep through it! It would have been great to get on video. I was up about 7am and the weather was not too bad but cold. Later it got foul for several hours. As hardly anyone was about I decided to do some exploring. |
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| Despite hand sanitisers outside all eating areas, as usual hardly anyone used them. People like that are a disgrace and have no right to complain or try and sue if they get Norovirus because it'll be their own fault for ignoring the precautions. The main dining room is one of my favourite places on the ship. Ours had a ballet theme but it makes Cunard, especially the much raved about Britannia on QM2, look like amateurs. Royal Caribbean designers had really put a lot of effort in to give each public room an ambiance lacking on QM2. For such a large ship, she also had a certain cosiness you usually find on something half her size and smaller. Whereas QM2 left me cold and not keen to try her, Navigator had the opposite effect leaving me wanting more. |
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| There was a first-timers tour from the Schooner Bar at 9.30am so I decided to go to that as a good way of seeing some parts I may miss. There were three elderly and one middle-aged couple also waiting. The guide was late and turned up about fifteen minutes late. She went and got fold-up deckplans after being asked about them. Apparently because of unscrupulous people selling freebies on eBay, they're cracking down so innocent cruisers suffer in the name of greed. That could also explain the lack of stationary and postcards in the cabins you get elsewhere. By the time the tour started everyone else had gone. Short tour then! The theatre was closed for rehearsals but I got to see a few places including Studio B where they hold ice shows (which I also missed). |
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| I did some shopping in the Logo & Souvenir Shop. Again surprisingly this is another area they differ from their Celebrity brand. Single ship postcards and also in albums on twelve of interiors. They had various items featuring ports of call though places like Rome were no good on this trip. You could only buy photo albums at the photo shop and there were no bears! How can something for mass-market cruising not have the ideal collector's item? Meanies! By the time we approached Cobh the weather had improved. I was surprised to see the pilot boat zip past below my balcony to drop the pilot off. |
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| The reception was interesting. We had a mini small boat escort. This was the second time Navigator had been here. The first, in April, was part of the repositioning from America to Southampton which arrived early in the morning and left late afternoon. This day also coincided with some festival so there were more people about, as well as being a Sunday. There were hundreds lining the quayside as well as a pipe band at either end of the quay which unfortunately hadn't turned out just for us but because there was a competition in the village. It was a nice welcome as we docked for 2pm nonetheless even though the band my end didn't do anything for ages while you could faintly hear the other. |
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| I went for a late lunch afterwards figuring the place would be virtually empty with so many getting off for their excursions and independent travels. It also made it easier to take photos of the Windjammer and Jade. I planned to myself to get photos of the ship in dock but circumstances prevented that. |
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| Le Diamant was docked at North Custom House Quay and due to sail at 4pm. I wrapped up warm and went to the bow to wait. Turned out I was overdressed and started sweltering! I wish more ships gave you the ability to do this. Photos and video don't give the enormous scale of how big this ship is when you're standing there with it looming down at you. It's a magnificent sight and makes you feel really small. |
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| After waiting some considerable time, I decided to move to the shade of the Promenade Deck. I was beginning to think there was another way out when suddenly the pilot boat appeared and stopped at our stern, for a quick look at us I thought, before Le Diamant finally emerged at 4.58pm. I was just seventeen minutes from packing it in as dinner was formal at 6pm. She blasted. Whether expecting a response from Navigator I have no idea. Didn't get one anyway. After passing us she gave one more blast then sailed away to her next destination. |
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| The couple were missing from dinner, presumably gone to visit something. There was also the Captain's cocktail party from 7.30-8pm in the Ixtapa Lounge. Several people grumbled they would still be having dinner. I finished in plenty of time. They were handing out free champagne and canapes all along the Royal Promenade so I grabbed a glass and tried not to slip on the tiling as I walked to the Ixtapa at the other end. You get formally introduced to Captain Leif Otto Bang and told where you come from. When he was told I was from Southampton he laughed and asked if I'd rowed across. Then I went into the lounge where they had a band playing Beatles music before a singer came on. I finished my champagne and left to find a good spot so I could see the bridge across the Royal Promenade where the Captain would be giving a speech at 8.15pm. |
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| Captain Bang appeared nearly ten minutes late but gave a very funny speech before introducing main staff members and his wife. I went back to the cabin for a while afterwards and then for a drink at the Cosmopolitan Club. An elderly couple joined me then a steward came over to take the order. He took my card and as I'd thought, billed them all to me! He was very apologetic and embarrassed but quickly sorted it out. It's a lovely view from up there. We watched some crew hoovering the pool as we chatted. |
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| Once it was dark enough after 11pm I went to get pics of the ship lit up. Annoyingly the peace and tranquility was shattered by screeching drunk women who complained to each other and their male companions how cold they were but when you're just about wearing a dress what did they expect? |
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| I was absolutely freezing and after mulling over whether to pop off for pics as well or not I decided defrosting was more important. Not that you get much chance of that in cabins. This is something all ships need to sort out once and for all. When you put the air conditioning on hot that's precisely what it ought to be and not still blow cold air at you. It may be fine for the likes of Caribbean or Mediterranean or anywhere else with boiling temperatures but not for northern Europe. As our departure time on the Monday morning was 8am I was up an hour before and went to the bow. It was a bit breezy despite the sun shining. I got talking to a man who's a member of the World Ship Society called John Davidson and had a VHF radio with him. I must get one of those! He was miffed he'd missed Le Diamant the day before but didn't know about it. We left bang on time and one of the crew went around upturning the lights as we moved away from the pontoon. |
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| Silver Shadow was due for 9.30am and we saw her in the very far distance as we stopped to drop the pilot off. As we were heading in the opposite direction to her there was no chance of any close passing. I'm sure her passengers had no trouble seeing us so far off! |
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| As I walked back, I stopped to take a photo of my cabin on the bulge, which was third deck up and second from the right. A shame the sun was at the wrong angle. |
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| There was a brunch buffet from 10am the Nutcracker. Again a lot of people just walked through without using the sanitiser. Despite people sitting anywhere a waiter rather rudely grabbed my plate and I was practically frogmarched to the other end of the restaurant and told to sit with a couple of others, who coincidentally were also from Hythe. |
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| I returned to the cabin and tried to doze which wasn't easy with the vibration and cold because by now it had clouded over and got chilly. I managed about an hour before going for a cocktail in the Schooner Bar. That evening was casual night again and 6.30pm dining. I was the only one to turn up at the table. Looking around I noticed a lot of empty seats. Perhaps it's because it was the time to hand over the tips and they didn't want to! Anyway even though it would have been nice to have conversation I got first class service from Igor and Fnu as well as a lot of attention. As I received my courses quicker I was out in fifty minutes. |
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| We had BBC1 back though for some reason it was East Midlands! I watched EastEnders then went for another wander to try and get the few remaining public rooms I'd missed. |
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| It was now a toss up between going to see the final night's show in the Metropolis Theatre or waiting for Queen Mary 2 which had been due to leave Southampton at 5pm for a transatlantic crossing. Stupidly I chose the latter and waited from just before 9pm for her to appear. |
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| QM2 was a no show - bitch! Other things passed but not a sign of her so she must have gone on another course. I gave up at midnight and went to bed. As we were due to dock at 5am I wanted to be up which I was at 3am after two hours sleep in two layers of clothes to keep warm. Fix that air con for crying out loud! No wonder I ended up sneezing later that morning. Anyway I braved the deck when we rounded Calshot. It was bloody freezing and felt like blowing a gale. It was just starting to get light and the crew were cleaning the decks. A few others braved it too but only as we were nearer the terminal. There were some loud, foul mouthed men in the hot tub the deck below. From their behaviour I'm guessing they were off their heads on booze and had been up all night. |
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| After going inside to warm up and FINALLY getting a photo of the Metropolis Theatre I had breakfast in Jade then waited to disembark as they wanted the cabins vacated by 8am. As I was Purple 1 my time wasn't until 9.15am but noticed they were running half an hour early. While sat in Boleros a member of the crew came over at 7.50am to tell me and another couple waiting we may as well go while it was quiet. I wasn't going to argue! I found my luggage fairly quickly and was home by 8.20am. All in all it was a very enjoyable cruise. The food wasn't as bad as I'd been led to believe although the mashed potato was lumpy. And yes she does tilt. You should see her going from side to side just going up Southampton Water. It's hilarious and I'm glad I saw it. Most of the time you don't realise. She handles rough sea very well. I didn't crash into the wall once though did have a bit of trouble staying upright along the Royal Promenade and Ixtapa Lounge as we headed for Cobh in bad weather. She tends to vibrate somewhat too depending on where you are. I'm sure it was that which gave me difficulty sleeping. The age was an ecelctic mix of young people with or without children to pensioners over 80, cruise virgins and seasoned cruisers who just wanted to try something that big. There were also over twenty different nationalities among the passengers. I lost count the number of European accents I heard during the three days. The daytime activites (not including things like the rock climbing wall) were more varied than Celebrity but they still need to work on it. You are sure to get your cup of tea on Royal Caribbean sailing from the UK. Igor was telling us how they made a huge mistake for the first cruise as it was all coffee so for the next they got in a load of Tetley tea bags. You would think the crew on Legend of the Seas would have warned them. Tea and coffee is available all day for free in the Royal Promenade and they also don't charge for soft drinks with your lunch the way Celebrity do. This has been my favourite cruise so far and I can't wait to do another Royal Caribbean one! For the departure of Navigator and Sea Princess on the 2nd click here. Click here for Le Diamant sailing from Cobh. For other photos of Silver Shadow sailng to Cobh, click here. For photos of Silver Shadow in Southampton three days later click here. |
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