Here we go again

After an early start we were ready for Janes driver, Jane Strother and Area cars superstar Gary.

Gary always moans about the amount of kit that we take with us, moans that he only keeps the large taxi/van to accommodate us and that it costs him money to do so. But he is great value. He is a great Le Mans fan and in the short drive to the Ocean terminal, Southampton, he told me of the difficulties in getting tickets for this years race which celebrates its 100 year birthday.

But I suspect that he will get to Le Mans with his Dutch friends who he befriended some 20 years ago at the race meeting.

If, like me, you like getting aboard your ship early, beware. Cunard have moved their timings. When we arrived at the terminal, we were told that baggage collections wouldn’t start until 11.30am and that checking in would start then or later. We managed to creep into the checking in hall before it opened (to get a coffee!) but there was still too much hanging around. I like to get onto the ship and start the unpacking process and have some lunch.

We did get aboard in time for lunch and what a pleasure it was to have something prepared by somebody else. But more of that later.

Dining on QV has changed. Now, the main dining room on Deck 2 is set aside for ‘Anytime dining’ where you can wander in between set hours and are taken to an empty table. Different waiters every night and different companions. We prefer the old system where you sit at the same table for the whole voyage and have the same people sitting with you. That of course can be good if you like the others, but not so good if you don’t!

The old system operates on the upper floor of the main dining room now and that is where we have been allotted an excellent table for 8.

Sam, my blog coach, tells me I should ignore Jetpack and get back to WordPress so I will get him to publish this as I have been struggling.