Embarkation Day, Independence of the Seas

After arriving in Southampton yesterday morning, we took an Uber to our hotel, the same one as last year. (It was a Holiday Inn then, but has been refurbished and is now a Voco.) We stored our bags and headed out to a big mall nearby to shop a little. It was nice to know our way around this time.  I had to stop and admire these flowers growing next to a parking lot—both new to me.


We had excellent smash burgers for lunch at the Dancing Man pub—recommended! 


We also passed the Mayflower Memorial, commemorating all of the emigrants who departed from Southampton.


When our room was ready, we left all our bags in storage except two small ones for overnight, to simplify getting downstairs the next day. The hotel has only two tiny elevators, and demand is high when everyone heads to board the ship!

We walked to Ennio’s for dinner, where we tried the evening special appetizer of fried cod cheeks —yum! We had salad, and I chose lasagna while Charlie had seafood linguine.  Sorry, no photos!

Here’s the view from our hotel room:


And here’s the path we walked from the hotel to the ship terminal:


Once we arrived, we dropped our bags and were whisked through the suites area (no line) to go through Security, then were seated and checked in.  Right at 10:30 they ushered us onboard, we checked in at our muster station, and here I am in the Solarium at 10:43!


This is Royal Caribbean’s Northern Cities cruise to Oslo, Copenhagen, Hamburg, and Rotterdam.  

We went to Chops Grille for lunch, where we both had shrimp cocktail, followed by Caesar salads topped with filets. We enjoyed everything!



We’re about to sail away, so I’m going to join Charlie on the balcony.  More tomorrow!

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