It’s been a busy few days getting ready, with Jane’s sister Sarah carrying out most of the clothes selection process and carers Sandra and Christine helping with the packing.
Kim arrived on Saturday evening and we all left No 41 at 10.30 on Sunday morning. Sandra drove Jane’s adapted car and Gary loaded up his large vehicle with Jane’s bathchair, push wheelchair and multiple cases. The Smiths travel simply.
The process boarding Queen Anne was swift, helped by the fact that passengers carry out most of the procedures at home on line in the days before the cruise begins.
But getting people aboard the ship early does mean that there is little for them to do. The crew are having to get the vessel shipshape after the last bunch have left. But it does give the newbies a chance to explore the ship. I fit into that category having only survived on the ship for 4 days in May last year.
We left Southampton at 4.30pm as the sun was setting.
During this voyage we visit Madeira and then Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and the La Coruna.
Jane and I had our honeymoon on Gran Canaria and then after the children arrived we had many Easter holidays in a hotel in the South of the island. We also holidayed in Tenerife many times and after Louise and Mike had left school, Jane and I had numerous golfing holidays in Tenerife.
We were in southern Tenerife in March 1987 when the worst ever airline tragedy occurred. The first we knew of it was when we went down for dinner and found there were very few waiters about. On hearing of the disaster they had all rushed up to the airport in the north to help. Nearly 600 people were killed in the crash which involved 2 airliners colliding.
The airport was closed thereafter and all holidaymakers had to be transferred to Gran Canaria fot their flight home from the airport there. We were packed into a small ferry for the trip from Tenerife to Gran Canaria.
The sea was very rough and I remember feeling sick. Jane suggested I stopped being pathetic and that I should sit on an outside deck.The fresh air would help she said as she sat sewing inside in the warmth. The son of a Cunard Captain, the chap who thought of himself as a reasonably successful dinghy sailor, banished to an outside seat for the 3 hour trip.. The shame of it!
On large ships, when the sea is rough, I still feel it, but Stugeron always does the trick and keeps it at bay.
Have an absolutely amazing time… hope you enjoy exploring QA to the full this time around.. xxx
Good that you are back at sea again and I look forward to reading your blog
Good to hear you’re safely ‘under way’. I spotted you coming down Southampton Water on one of the sailing club webcams. She looked very regal! Keep the Stugeron handy – BBC forecasts are doom-laden but the Azores ‘High’ seems to be building nicely.
I am so pleased that all the packing and transportation went well. I hope you have a really great trip and a well earned break.