We slept with the curtains open, so I awoke to see the sea outside. The best view ever.

Now a bit about our accommodations. We are currently in an ocean view cabin on deck 1. I can highly recommend this cabin. It is very convenient for most things on the ship. However, it is inconvenient for the Lido and Commodore Club as this involves a fair bit of stair climbing, but then the exercise is good. I love being so close to the water, and I can sit on the window ledge drinking my VC and reading my book (currently “Five Go Gluten Free” – which is a grown up version of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five. The book is one of a series lent to me by my friend in London, Gill. The books are totally ridiculous, but I am loving them. I couldn’t get enough of Enid Blyton when I was young – say what you want about her, but she did turn me into a life long book addict.), sipping away at the VC. The world perks plant usually lives on the windowsill, but has to move when I am using it.

The bathroom is small. There is no other way of looking at it. We will have to buy a shower caddy in Fort Lauderdale, as all of my shower stuff has nowhere to live, there is no space to put them in the shower. Despite this deficiency, things are actually OK in the bathroom – what doesn’t fit on the 2 glass shelves, and the countertop, lives on the shelf under the sink.

Everything has fitted into the closet and the shelves, although the extra toiletries that we will need later in the voyage are under the bed in a suitcase. The case of VC fits nicely in the draw at the foot of my bed. For those who are interested in such things there is an HDMI input (? output) on the TV so Brian can use the TV as an extra computer monitor when he is working.

The ship itself is lovely, although rather brown. Yesterday it seemed to be quite small – but I am trying very hard to tell myself she is not QM2, and I simply have to stop with the comparisons, it’s ridiculous. I do miss the grand lobby on QM2. When you board QV you think, “oh, this is a rather nice ship”, but you are not wowed in the same way as when you board QM2. Also the Britannia dining room is just not as grand. I miss the stairs at the entrance. Even though we are inevitably seated on deck 2 on QM2, I always make an entrance by coming down the stairs from deck three. I have only fallen down the stairs once, so in general I think I make a fine grand entrance. You simply can’t do that on this ship.

Then there is the problem that they are going to convert the Chart Room into the Britannia Club dining room after the upcoming refit. This is simply not acceptable, not that anyone is listening to me. The Chart Room is very elegant, and perfectly situated for pre dinner drinks. They are making a horrible mistake.

While we still have the Chart Room among us, the first thing we did this morning was go there, as it is where the World Cruise concierge is. Our itinerary has changed, and instead of having an overnight in Fort Lauderdale, we are now going to Port Canaveral instead. Normally I would be excited – and head off to Disneyworld – but we have arranged to stay with friends in Miami overnight. Our new plan is to hire a car in Port Canaveral and drive to Miami to meet up with them. So we wanted to check that the ship would be OK with us getting off in Port Canaveral and getting back on in Fort Lauderdale. The concierge didn’t think it would be an issue, I expect we will find out when we try to board again in Fort Lauderdale.

We had a great day on board. We couldn’t get a seat at the first talk we wanted to go to, but otherwise all went well. We attended the Cruise Critic meet and greet, and it was fun to put faces to the people whose posts I have enjoyed over the years. I had my ploughman’s and a Strongbow in the pub for lunch. I signed up for the on board choir, and I also joined the bead making class, and make a rather nice necklace which I wore to dinner instead of my pearls.

Again, it looked like we were going to be the only 2 people at our table for 6, but we were joined shortly by a lady whose table was also lacking in customers, and then another lady joined us, and finally the gentleman from last night, so now we are 5, quite a respectable number. The husband of one of the lady’s had died while they were on a QM2 trip 15 months ago, which made me feel very sad. She had made the sensible choice to carry on cruising, for which I admire her.