Ship weekend

Just back home from a long weekend with my friend in Southampton. The main reason was a business meeting in Carnival House, but it was a good weekend for ship spotting.

When I arrived on Thursday afternoon (26 June 2014), AIDAStella was berthed. Although I am not a fan of their hull art (big lips and eyes not unlike those sold as jewellery in Greece  or painted on fishing boats etc to ward off the evil eye!) the design of the ships themselves looks good and at just over 71,000 grt, they are a perfect size (for me anyway).

AIDAStella is the newest ship in their fleet, launched in 2012. They carry just over 2000 passengers - a high number for the vessel's size, and their crew to passenger ratio is low but then their target audience are German-speaking families in the main and offer  a party-atmosphere. Possibly not my style, but I'd love to look over one of the ships sometime. I have always been intrigued by the hammocks slung on every balcony!

I awoke early Friday morning to see my favourite ship had snuck in while I wasn't looking and was berthed at the Ocean Terminal.

I still believe Oriana is the perfect ship - for me at least. I love her wide open teak decks, bright elegant décor, separate theatre and cinema, forward observation decks... I could go on. She sailed that evening in bright sunshine (contrary to the weather forecast, to Norway and Iceland.

 

 

Saturday 28th was a busy day in the port as I awoke at 4am to see Emerald Princess sailing past. 

 

 

She arrived early for a deep clean following an outbreak of norovirus on board. Next in was Ruby Princess followed by Independence of the Seas and Arcadia.

 

 

After a day meeting with friends and shopping, we caught the Hythe Ferry - in torrential rain - just in time to see them begin to leave on their next cruises. A good weekend for ship-watching! 

Independence of the Seas

Arcadia

Ruby Princess

Emerald Princess

 



Cancelled

 

Just received word that our visit to Voyager next Saturday has been cancelled for a Health & Safety inspection! I seem to be fated not to see that ship as I had a visit booked last year and then wasn’t feeling very well on the day and didn’t want to face a three hour drive to the port.

 

I particularly wanted to see Voyager to compare her with the Saga pair. I know my friend looked over her and described her as very beige and was interested to see what I thought of her. The itineraries are very interesting and of course, being a small ship, she can get into many ports bypassed by the mainstream vessels.

 

http://www.voyagesofdiscovery.co.uk/ship.php?ship_id=897

 

So – no ship fixes now until we board Adonia in August, although I still have a fair amount of ship-related work to completed before then, not least a book to mark the 175^th anniversary of Cunard.