An email arrived in January 2007 from Matt Sudders of the Ocean Liner Society (CC'd to Pam Massey as we'd both been forgotten) about a member trip on Norwegian Cruise Line's brand new 93,500grt Norwegian Gem on the 6th-8th October from Dover that year. The ship is the last of the Jewel class and has the same features they added to Norwegian Pearl which entered service the previous year. Thinking about Oriana two weeks afterwards, plus the hassle for me to get to Dover I replied saying no and told Pam. She came back asking if I wanted to share a balcony. Fatal to someone with no willpower and an insatiable curiosity! Being a Latitudes member already she managed to get a discount when booking which helped. The only problem was the online form. Although I filled mine in first, for some reason after Pam did hers mine changed to her details so I was now living in another county and it wouldn't accept the changes. Thankfully by the time it came to print them off everything was as it should be and they'd added a county box. Also for some reason the balance was due earlier than the usual eight weeks. So we had cabin 9012 forward.
While she loves NCL ships, I'm not that keen, especially the interior decor with clashing colours. I literally get a headache just looking at photos so took aspirin and even Alka Seltzer in case I felt sick as I had looking through their website. Amy's husband took one look at the pictures and wondered how I could put myself through that. Research! It was one way of knowing never to be tempted by NCL ever again if I hated it. Pam constantly told me in the weeks leading up to the cruise I'd love it and it wasn't that bad. We'd see soon enough. Now long before October had arrived Pam and I went a little mad and booked six more cruises for 2008, with us also being on the QE2 albeit separately. Although we had only met on the Ocean Liner Society Arcadia visit in October 2005 we had emailed, texted and spoken on the phone (especially when she was on the QE2 40th anniversary launch cruise constantly making me jealous) so how would we get on cooped up 24/7? Bit of a bugger if we hated each other with another seven cruises to come! The tickets arrived on the 28th September which were the new e-tickets. That's six pages of A4 when it all could have been done on proper tickets using a fraction of the paper. Unfortunately e-tickets is the way cruise lines are going like airlines which is a shame. Holding a wad of A4 just isn't the same.
The day arrived. This cruise was like the maiden voyage except it wasn't. The ship itself had been handed over on the 1st then travelled to Rotterdam on the 2nd. On the 3rd was an overnight trade trip, returning to Rotterdam on the 4th when she then sailed to Dover, arriving on the 5th, to be officially inaugurated with a firework display for the press and Latitudes members. Pam herself had received an invitation (for a price of £25) and would have gone if she wasn't booked on the cruise. The 6th was the first fare paying passengers and the beginning of numerous inaugurals until the naming in America on the 18th December which would then be followed by yet another inaugural cruise. NCL must be in the Guinness Book of Records for the most inaugural events ever!
Well as we had to get to Dover it was a much earlier start for me. This would be my first visit back to Kent since 1974 after my great-grandparents died and as far as I'm aware I had never been outside Chatham before we moved here in 1972 so it would be a new experience. Ah, Dover. Southampton's closest rival for attracting cruise ships so the enemy. Hiss! I felt disloyal to my adopted city. But hey, it was all in the name of research and they couldn't possibly be as great as us. Or could they? Something else I was about to find out. After a miserable week it was sunny, warm and dry with some wind which was nice. Meant to stay dry until we got back too. As Pam was picking me up from Woking at 9:30am I went to catch a train for the first time in seven years. There were no open returns which was a pain so it would have to be single each way. As I waited on platform 1 for the 8:30 to Waterloo and chatting to an elderly couple returning to Scotland after having a very enjoyable cruise on Navigator of the Seas, I was told the line was closed due to a man jumping off a bridge at Swaythling so I had to get the one on platform 2 which was leaving any minute. My dad had been given a platform ticket and helped me dash over the bridge to get on it. It was absolutely packed so I and a few others were between carriages. I got chatting to a man and a girl who were also going to Woking and none of us had
any idea if the train even went there.
First stop was Fareham. The man shouted down the platform to ask and was told it did. Once we were moving to go back to Easteigh, an announcement came over the tannoy mentioning Eastleigh, Winchester, Basingstoke and Waterloo! There was just no one to ask. I had to send a text to Pam telling her I would be late so she kicked her heels at St Albans where it rained. Her friend John, who I'd met a couple of times at the marina, had offered to collect me and drive me to Dover if I was too late as he was going there anyway to take photos of us sailing which was nice of him. Once we reached Eastleigh again he asked someone on the platform and was told yes. Several people got on at Winchester, having driven up from Southampton to avoid the closure and told us the information board said this was Woking. Finally a guard appeared and informed us he had no idea and would find out. Well we all decided to get off at Basingstoke to change. Once we had we followed the man to a guard who pointed to our train as going to Woking!
It transpired as soon as we'd reached there, all the Waterloo people had to get off and the train now went directly to Woking where it would end. The train was practically empty and one carriage held just the three of us. The guard came through and told us they'd been given the change notice at Basingstoke. So we finally reached our destination at 10:10am - 50 minutes late! Now I had to wait for Pam who was on the other side of the station. It was so nice to be able to sit down for the journey to her cousin Mike and Ros's house in Folkestone where she would leave the car. Just before we left I discovered they'd lived where I do! Very small world considering this is a small area. So Mike took us to the port only about halfway there Pam realised she'd left her mobile back in the car so we turned around and went back for it. As we got closer to the port there was our ship gleaming in the sunlight. Mike dropped us off at Terminal 2.
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