There was a little movement overnight but by the time I woke at 7.30 we were safely berthed in Invergordon which is positioned in the Cromarty Firth, an arm of the Moray Firth. The weather is overcast, damp and a cool. We were promised a pipe band »

It is Saturday May 18 and 7.30am, we are cruising in hazy conditions passing between the Outer and Inner Hebridean Islands as we continue our northward course. It is breakfast time now and then I will be heading to the spa. I can report that the first »

I forgot to say that in Dublin the arriving tenders were greeted by some more volunteers who offered advice and directions plus a solitary piper standing on the quay, fortunately I’m not that familiar with Irish pipe tunes so my eyes remained dry, at least until I »

There must have been some wave and swell action overnight as I slept well and woke at 7am to find a warning on the navigation channel on TV advising caution while moving around the ship. Maybe that is why I slept so soundly, we are now in »

I slept like a log and woke at 7.30am to find us negotiating the final stages of our approach along the Firth of Clyde. We reached the swinging ground outside the port where we turned and backed onto our berth at the Ocean Terminal. We were welcomed »

Dinner was a very pleasant occasion, there were only 7 of us there as one of the men took a break and ate in the buffet, despite the fact that I’m seated on the Chief Engineer’s table we weren’t hosted last night as we are still on »

Today is Monday May 13th and apparently this is day 1 of this voyage, they must be ignoring the first 3 days and counting them as the last days of the transatlantic from New York to Hamburg. The sea is slight and the breeze is light and »

Today is Sunday May 12th and earlier this morning we arrived in Hamburg and are now secured alongside. I had a leisurely breakfast of porridge and eggs benedict in the Britannia Restaurant; it was packed with passengers who will leave the ship today. I was told that »

I intended to skip lunch but just after the noon announcement from Captain Oprey I found myself walking through the buffet, the chef was carving roast chicken and on the display next to him were some crusty bread rolls. I couldn’t resist the combination and added a »

Today was a blustery day with intermittent clouds but as I had stayed overnight in Southampton I had a short journey to the QEII terminal in the docks. I got there early at 11.30 to find the checking in had started; the queues were about 40 for »