Friday, September 11, 2015

The Grouch's take the British Isles by land and by sea! Part 3

It was time to travel to Dover to board our ship!   We had a driver and minivan laid on who gave us a lift from our hotel to the port.  An easy drive once we got out of bustling London.  The port was pretty quiet with one other small cruise ship tied up at the dock in front of ours.

On our previous cruises the checking in process has been long and crowded...this time we walked up, did our thing and got moved on in to the waiting room where we found Older Son and his lady friend already arrived!

We soon boarded, found our cabin, got some drinks (diet Coke) and then were called to the lifeboat drill which was held in the cabaret.  On previous cruises we mustered on deck wearing the life jackets by our assigned life boat.  This was a more laid back drill plus there were only about six boats and not much deck space beneath them to muster.

Soon we were casting off and heading off to our first port of call: Jersey island.


The Missus works on her quilt border while waiting to board.

Our cabin with a view.  Several days later through the porthole we saw some dolphins cavorting next to the ship  while sailing between ports

On the stern deck outside of the dining buffet waiting to cast off.  The Missus is looking pensive about the voyage or perhaps she was hungry for dinner.

Dover castle with a commanding view of the sea.

The abandoned ramp for the discontinued hovercraft that once sailed (flew, hovered?) between Dover and Calais.  The Missus took the hovercraft when on her high school class trip in the 70s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaspeed
The same ramp back in the day when the service was going strong
The Missus modeling what we hoped would remain safely stored in our cabin for the entire voyage


One of ferries moving into the harbor - there was constant ferry traffic when we were there
...and one heading out

No comments:

Post a Comment