This was the view awaiting me as I arrived at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, on Saturday afternoon. The Germans and Dutch had turned up in their thousands to see Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Solstice - and as they had the camper vans they were ready to wait. They even had what sounded like a live band to entertain them Saturday night.
This is actually only about half of the number of camper vans parked up waiting to see the ship leave the yard and head off down river for its sea trials.
We were supposed to leave Saturday evening but in the end it left about 1pm Sunday. All to do with the wind and water levels in the river. By the time I left the ship at 11am Sunday, another car park had filled with new arrivals and an overflow car park was starting to fill.
Now that's what I call true Celebrity.
Jane Archer
