| My and my dad's second Fred Olsen cruise of the year was the repositioning of Black Watch from Liverpool to Southampton where she would meet Balmoral before setting off on a winter world cruise. We booked cabin 3100 (F grade), which is an L-shaped twin aft, with the bed by the porthole converted into a sofa. There was a coach transfer option for £20 per person, so we booked that as it worked well in 2017 when I joined Boudicca for a similar cruise. This would be my second cruise on Black Watch and she'd undergone several internal changes since then. My last time aboard, however, was with the late journalist Steve Read, the month before he died. He had never done a Fred and looked forward to something when he went unexpectedly, so returning was bittersweet. On the 4th October, I received notification of a two category upgrade so we would now be in 4086.
So it was time for my dad to return to the city of his birth just to leave it! Unlike other cruise lines, Fred don't give you coach transfer info on the ticket. They didn't even say which terminal in Southampton we'd be at. The confirmation just has "Southampton Port", which is no help. My friend, Mick Burch, who works at the port, confirmed my guess of City, since that's where we caught it for Boudicca in Liverpool. Our taxi driver asked the bloke at Dock Gate 10 but he had no idea about any coach. Thankfully, there was a lady from Intercruises waiting in her car for everyone. She had to call someone to open up the waiting room. There were several complaints about the lack of info, with some going to Mayflower Terminal instead due to seeing Ventura there. The coach arrived and was the same company as 2017, AC-Travel of Fareham. There were supposed to be 25 but two didn't turn up. Our departure time was 8.15am but we left late as we waited for them.
Our comfort break was at the Hilton Park Services on the M6 for 45 minutes, returning by 12pm. We just went to get a drink then were back on the coach before the heavens opened. Typically, people cannot tell the time. We arrived just after 2pm. We were told to take our luggage with us, which was more than Fred had. The check-in queue was horrendous! According to one of the port staff, all the coaches came at once. Quite a few, including us, has mobility problems but there was no dedicated desk Once we finally reached the front, a nice lady called Anne put us on the minibus to the ship. This meant skipping security scanning and the boarding photo. The driver knew this area, having been at Marchwood in his service days, so he and my dad had a good natter before we boarded the ship.
We found our cabin, which was pretty easy. It had taken an hour from arrival to a sit down on the bed. This was my fourth time on Black Watch, but only second cruise. Each time I set foot on her, something had changed, so I'd need to get my bearings. We'd missed lunch and dinner was at 7pm, one sitting. I did a bit of exploring before 4pm muster. Sailaway was 5pm but the port were closing their cruising season with music from the dockside and a short firework display. It rained on and off so my dad stayed on deck 9 chatting to the photographer and others. Shopping then dinner. We had our photos taken outside the Glentanar by the photographer my dad had been talking to, since we'd missed the boarding one. After dinner, we went to the pub. Since the last time I had been onboard was visiting with the late journalist, Steve Read who died a month later, I raised a glass to him. Supper Club, which was Italian, and then a long awaited bed!
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