We board Saga Spirit of Discovery today at Portsmouth

 Well a busy morning packing up the house and the final packing of suitcases. When leaving for nearly three weeks there is so much to consider but easier now the caravan is no longer part of the family.

As part of Saga cruise Line offering they send a car or vehicle of some type to collect you and take you the port and so we did not know what to expect. One hour earlier than expected  a large Mercedes arrives and we think , wow this is great only to discover this car is for our neighbors going to Heathrow en-route to Malta for few days holiday, oh what a disappointment.

Well at 1315 a Ford Transit MPV turns up , not as good as the Merc, and I must say its a most uncomfortable vehicle compared to our Lexus, that's the problem of being spoilt.

We arrived at Portsmouth Cruise Building and went thro the usual check in procedure and we re able to be in our cabin by 15.00. Following this we went for a cuppa and a small bite before returning to the cabin for the Muster Station Call.

We are on deck 11 and the must station for us was on Deck 6 and to see all those old fogies with walking sticks and hearing aids I thought that if this was real emergency we would all have been sunk by now.

Noel has to visit the main restaurant at 5.30 to discuss his FODMAP diet requirements with the on board team, this is the second time as did discuss with the ship reception guys dockside, ah well that's the way it is.

The cabin is of a reasonable size which is good when you are on a long cruise and don't want to be in the lounge or similar. In the  early evening Noel met with the staff dealing with food allergies with about 50 people showing up?? anyway they sad FODMAP no problem, so let us see what happens. I met Jennifer in the main bar and we had a glass of wine before dinner and met a couple from Lancashire, he was retired policeman and his wife, nice people. We are both of the same view that the UK Government is rubbish, say no more.

Dinner pretty much OK , beans a little soggy as were the carrots but the pork was good. Due to unforeseen circumstances the ship left about 90 minutes late and so the opportunity to take photos on departing Portsmouth eluded us.

So back to the cabin to unpack the suitcases and perhaps listen to music or watch TV

Goodnight

i