Well despite my misgivings our flight to Barcelona was only a little late, and our transfer to the Sojourn from the airport went smoothly.

Yesterday we were in Portland, and now here we are, with all of our luggage in Barcelona about to embark on our cruise. It’s all been a little bit too sudden.

When we arrived in the port the first thing we saw was all of the megaships – the Virgin Valiant Lady with a mere 2860 passengers was dwarfed by the MSC and Royal Caribbean ships, but there hiding at the farthest end of the port was our 450 passenger Sojourn.

It was about 2:00 PM when we arrived, so most passengers had embarked already. We went straight through security, had our vaccinations cards and negative COVID results checked, and they took another photo (I rather like the one I had taken with my phone on the app, but obviously it wasn’t good enough for them). Then they smiled and said welcome on board. Wow, that took less than 10 minutes, and after 2 and a half hours checking into Queen Elizabeth in Vancouver in July, I was starting to think, this is the way to go.

We walked along the gangway to the deck 5 promenade deck, and then entered the ship. I must say this was rather underwhelming. First of all, the promenade deck really isn’t a promenade deck at all – it is a short strip of teak decking under the lifeboats. When you enter the ship there is a pretty staircase, but no feeling of wow, this is amazing. No harpist or string quartet. Just soft, boring music in the background.

However, that being said, I loved it. There is a degree of understated elegance, the space feels like the right size, it reminded me of what it was like to board ships in the 70s and 80s before the advent of grand lobby atriums. It feels warm and inviting. I instantly loved the ship.

We went on board and were directed to our cabin (which is called a suite, but it’s just a regular cabin). Our key cards were awaiting us in the suite, as was a bottle of proper bubbly. No half bottle of Pol Acker hiding in the fridge, there was a whole bottle of the real thing out there on the table, just asking to be opened. I am starting to really like this.

Like Cunard, you just need to watch the safety video, go to your muster station to get your key card scanned, and you have completed your boarding safety obligation.. I am so glad they have done away with the group safety drills. However, I am a bit perturbed as it say on the Seabourn app that we have no lifeboat. I wonder what that means?

As we started to unpack, Maria and Moi, our suite host and suite attendant, arrived with 2 more glasses of champagne and canapes. I am really getting to like this a lot!

We settled into finishing our unpacking, and rearranging the room to our liking. Brian brought out the magnet hooks to put on the walls, and somehow managed to get his finger caught between to very strong magnets resulting in him injuring his finger, which was now bleeding profusely. I reached into our bag of travel meds – but horrors – there were no band aids! On our Mediterranean cruise earlier this year our bag of travel meds had been confiscated for unknown reasons, so I had had to replenish it. I thought I had bought everything that had previously been in the bag, but apparently this was not so. No band aids. The ship shops were closed as we were still in port, so we had to make do with Scotch tape (which he always travels with) to secure some gauze to the finger, and hopefully stem the tide of the blood. Not a good way to start off.

Medical emergency over, it was time to go up to the pool deck for the sail away.

There was no Reggae band, and no blowing of the whistle to mark our departure from land, but there was a band playing very nice upbeat music, and the champagne was flowing freely.

We sat drinking on deck watching Barcelona fade away into the distance, still amazed that we were actually here in one piece (well apart from the missing bit of Brian’s finger), and that we had a week of relaxing Mediterranean sunshine ahead. Life is good!

Realizing that the shops would now be open we headed down to the shops in search of band aids. There are 2 shops, both are really beautiful and full of expensive looking merchandise. However, there was not a ban aid in sight. I asked one of the shop assistants if she could direct me to the sundry shop. She looked at me furtively and asked what I wanted. I relayed the tale of the killer magnets and the need for band aids. Looking carefully around to see who was watching her, she grabbed a large bunch of keys and opened a secret cupboard. There among the tooth paste and deodorant were band aids. She quickly grabbed a box and locked the cupboard again.

It really felt like we were trying to purchase some kind of contraband. Maybe by the end of the cruise I will learn why they cannot display such items. It did seem rather weird.

We went back to our suite and I was able to remove the makeshift Scotch tape dressing and apply a purpose designed band aid. The hole in his finer looked nasty. I hope the band aid will stop the bleeding and help it heal up.

Our next assignment was to explore the ship. Well, that didn’t take long. Deck 4 the Restaurant, Deck 5 the Club. Deck 6 the Grand Salon, Deck 7 Seabourn Square, Deck 8 the pool and Colonnade (buffet restaurant), and Deck 9 the spa. Done.

With the exception of the Restaurant and the pool, all of the other public spaces are aft, close to the main staircase. It is incredibly easy to get to where you want to go. Even after years of traveling on Queen Mary 2 I still occasionally find myself on deck 3 when I thought I was on deck 2. There is no challenge whatsoever in finding your way around this ship. It’s not going to be easy getting in my 10,000 Fitbit steps a day when everything is within a few steps of our suite.

There were 4 choices for dinner – the Restaurant (sit down, open seating), the Colonnade (buffet except for dinner when it is sit down), the Grill by Thomas Keller (specialty restaurant where you have to book), and the Patio at the pool. We chose the latter, and had a wonderful dinner al fresco, watching the blue Mediterranean go by, it was a really wonderful evening.

We made the mistake of going back to our suite after dinner, and all of a sudden the jetlag and lack of sleep hit. Not to mention an excessive amount of champagne. I was in bed and fast asleep within minutes. It had been a good day.