First full day at sea, or a few more tales from the North Sea

It's our first full day on board Queen Anne, and after a solid night’s sleep for both of us, we’re looking out over a calm, but rather grey looking North Sea. Feeling lazy after the hectic rush of the past few days – stress levels high yesterday after getting lost on the approaches to Southampton, (more about that another time), we’ve ordered a room service breakfast, before setting out to explore the ship. Update, the breakfast in the room was fine, and suited my requirements for a recharge, but for the rest of the voyage I shall be breakfasting either at the buffet or, if I feel like kippers, in the restaurant. It's also nice to have pre-breakfast stroll, and few possibly a post-breakfast laps around the quarter deck.

I clocked up quite a few steps this morning, prior to a prearranged rendezvous with my wife, up on Deck 14. The latter is the designated “smoking area” and whilst Eileen vapes these days, rather than smokes, the former is viewed with equal disdain in certain quarters. Mind you, it’s rather chilly on the uppermost deck, and whilst there’s some basic shelter from the rain, the area is still quite exposed, especially when it’s windy.

As mentioned in the previous post, this is our second voyage on board what is Cunard’s newest cruise ships, and whilst I was quite critical following our initial sailing – just under a year ago, I think I’m correct in saying the ship’s management and crew appear to have got over most of their teething problems.  Certainly, from what I’ve seen so far, things are running a lot smoother, and the ship’s appeal is growing for both Mrs PBT’s and I.

Tomorrow’s port of call is Newhaven, which acts as the deep-water berthing point for Edinburgh. It’s disembarkation by tender, which basically means leaving the ship, and transferring to shore, using a number of the vessel’s lifeboats. Eileen isn’t over keen, although needless to say I’m up for it. I shan’t be taking any of the excursions into Edinburgh though, or bothering with local public transport, because Newhaven looks worthy of exploration on its own. I’ve earmarked a couple of pubs, and they will do me, plus there’s a spot of shopping that Mrs PBT’s has asked me to pick up for her.

We lunched in the ship’s pub, the Golden Lion today, and we did the same yesterday, almost immediately after boarding. Most of the dishes in the pub are included in the cost of the voyage, although if you’re mad enough to splash the cash, you can opt for a creation from Michel Roux. Why would you, though? Unless you’re one of the vain, gullible people taken in by the cult of the celebrity chef!

The standard fare in the pub is pretty good, and yesterday we both enjoyed hake, chips and mushy peas, whilst today I had a rather nice chicken and mushroom pie, with mash potato. The portions aren’t huge, which is probably just as well, but they’re tasty and well presented. The Golden Lion also offers a good range of bottled beers (the draught selection isn’t up to much), from the likes of St Austell, Badger, Adnams, and yesterday’s excellent choice Maharaja IPA from Renegade Brewery. My only complaint is the bottles are almost frozen, rather than chilled, but then as Paul Hogan used to say, “You wouldn’t want a warm one!”

So far, the weather has been remarkably benign, with virtually wall-to-wall sunshine, and a North Sea that looks as smooth and as calm as the proverbial millpond. Our cabin, sorry “State Room," is comfortable and well-appointed and, should we need anything else, there’s our room steward, who goes by the unlikely name of “Rommel” to take care of things - no remarks about the Afrika Korp, and the "Desert Fox," please!

There’s not much else to report at the moment so, providing I haven’t bored you all to death yet, I’m going to sign off, and report back later in the voyage. After yesterday’s debacle, I won’t attempt to post any photos yet, but unlike Simon (BRAPA), who is also experiencing issues regarding photos, I shan’t attempt anything generated by AI – for the time being at least.