After a fleeting glimpse of home last Friday - about three hours! - I left again, this time bound for Southampton and a one-week cruise to the Norwegian fjords on P&O Cruises Ventura.
It promised to be a bit of a shock. Temperatures in New York had been in the early 80s; the Norway weather forecast was for fleeces and raincoats weather. Well it is only the end of May!
Ventura was berthed at Southampton's new Ocean Terminal. "It's where Titantic sailed from back in 1912," I told a passenger in the lift as we got on board. "I don't think that's what people want to hear," my daughter whispered as we got out.
The terminal is very spacious, inside and out, which means the meet-and-greet parking works much better than it did at the Mayflower terminal, but the passenger flow is poor.
There must be at least 20 check-in desks, but all the checked-in people then have to get through just five security scanners, which created long queues. All the scanned passengers then had to get past one man on the gangway checking they were in possession of a ship's card, which created yet another bottleneck.
We finally made it to the cabin in time to pick up our lifejackets and exit again for the lifeboat drill. Strangely, our muster station was the corridor outside East, the Asian restaurant, which was fine for most of us, but I spotted a few elderly people with walking difficulties who were desperate to sit down.
Day one was spent crossing the dreaded North Sea. Dreaded? It was like a mill pond and there was even some sunshine in the morning, although it was several degrees too cold for me to think of sitting outside. Nevertheless, I did venture out and up to deck 19 to have a go at the bungee trampoline.
Unlike when I did it last July, there were quite a few kids (and adults!) queuing for their turn, and others trying their hand at juggling and stilt walking, which was good to see. I still didn't quite manage to do a somersault - a rather scary move that involved having to throw yourself backwards.
"Try later in the cruise, after you've had another go," Nicole, from the Circus School, suggested. I smiled and nodded but she has got to be joking!
Jane Archer
