Day One... Saturday, August 3rd

DAY ONE...

Southampton Docks 

SATURDAY  3rd AUGUST 2013

Southampton Docks... and Look whats waiting for us...!!! O.M.G. I feel a touch of 

Royalty creeping over me... come along Lady Pamela, our ship awaits!

Here she is... This is the Beauty that will be our 5-Star Floating Hotel for the next two weeks, as we sail to Iceland, Norway and the Fjords...
Plus several other Intriguing ports of call...!!!

Saturday August  3rd 2013... We have waited a full 12 months for this day to come round; and it's finally here!  Some mind blowing facts about this ship... 
Well they blow my mind anyway...

The Celebrity Eclipse.

1. First sailed on April 29th 2010

2. She can carry, 2,850 Guest

3. This ship weighs 122,220 Tonnes

4. It is... 1,041 Feet in Length

5. It is... 121 Feet Wide

6. With a Cruising Speed of 24 knots...

So Cruise On Captain... Lets get this boat on the Ocean Baby...!!!

We have just parked the car as we get our first good look at the ship... The Celebrity Eclipse. it's bloody Massive...!!! and she looks amazing, we are so looking forward to the next 14 days. Below is a couple of  shots of our suite... "So Cool"

Look at the size of that bed... "My Life"

You could sleep six in there and still have room to turn over...???

We have found our room {Only took 15 minutes} and checked it out... It's wicked man!!! Now it's time to explore... this could take some time, we will definitely need a drink; or maybe two during this exercise...!!!

This is the Mast Bar Lounge... Deck 14.
Very nice... Very Plush... Very comfortable.

Like I said... Very Comfortable...!!!

"Oh Yeah" Look at this... The Queen Mary 2 was docked in Southampton opposite our ship... for all that's been said about  how luxurious she is supposed to be... it does not show from the outside.  

Lets put it this way... put these two ships next to each other, and given the choice to pick  one on looks alone... I would choose The Celebrity Eclipse...

{Just by Looks alone you Understand} It was still a privilege to see the Q M.

Here is My Lady, Pam... Just descending from deck 16... 

and me following with the camera. We are finding hard to take it all in...!!!

 Deck 14, outdoor swimming pool for the kids... Saying that there was only a few children on-board... or the ship is that massive it just swallowed them up...??? In the background the Dancing Water Fountain. 

Deck 6 The Library...!!! At first I wondered why there would be a Library on a ship like this... Then all became clear when Pam explained that... During the days of sailing between ports of call a lot of people like to relax and read... as you can be sailing for 2 to 3 days at a time... Depending where it is you are travelling. {Got Ya Babe}

Deck 3... our deck, Here is the bar that we made our local  only because most everywhere that we went like getting off and on the ship Sorry...{Embarking & Disembarking} we had to pass it. That meant that we were never far away from a drink, When required of course. And always when we came back from our weary travels around our Ports.

  

It's tiring work finding your way around a bloody big ship...

We think it's drinks time again...!!! I know I am making us sound like a couple of

"Piss-Heads"... But believe it of not I don't drink & Pam drinks very little...??? It's just that we had a free drinks package when we booked our cruise... So we are making the most of trying all the different "Daily Cocktails" {Ect Ect..."Hic"}

We set out from Southampton Docks, were on our way to Iceland, 
our first stop which is... Reykjavik...!!!

We don't arrive till... 13:00 pm on Tuesday August 6th.

Our list of Ports on our 14 Nights cruising include... 

Reykjavik-Iceland

Akureyri-Iceland

Klaksvik-Faro Isles

Alesund-Norway

Geiranger-Norway

Olden-Norway

Stavanger-Norway

 back to Southampton, 
Saturday 17th around 05:00 am

It is now 16:30 pm Saturday 3rd August... So that's nearly 3 days of sailing! Still never mind it will take us that long to get to know our way round the ship.  We have not gone back to our room the same way twice yet...!!! 

Besides that we got a

"Formal Night" on Sunday 4th. But before all the Glamour and Glitz of Sunday's Formalities... we can relax and look forward to meeting our  6 other dinner guests that we will be sharing a table with and enjoying there company and  previous Cruise stories... for the next two weeks

Please allow me to introduce my Beautiful Lady, Pam & and the very lucky man next to her, is me... Mick.  It's Saturday night... we have been sailing for just under two hours. This is our first dinner on-board, and our first introduction to our fellow dinning guests, we chose to sit at a table that seats eight people, as we consider ourselves to be very sociable people. {You can of course, Make your own minds up}

Below in no particular order... are our fellow dinners...

 Above... are Anita & Bernie from the U.S.A. Very interesting couple... they have travelled the world extensively they are very knowledgeable with numerous cruises under there belts and a host of other holidays... 

They have also lived in several different countries thus adding to there vast array of interesting and entertaining conversations,  Anita is elegant and sophisticated.. while Bernie just loves cruising... He did remark that The Galapagos Islands, are his most favourite place!  A very Nice down to earth couple... and a great pleasure to meet and talk to them both.

 

Introducing... Connie & Howard from Cardiff...Wales. Turns out that this is there first cruise... We know that feeling very well as last year was the first cruise that we had ever did, We felt for them as it can be a bit scary your first time!  Lovely couple though... 

Howard is a High School Teacher, and Connie is a P.A. to a solicitor. So as Pam is a Learning Mentor and Child Protection Officer in our local school, they had lots to talk about.

Here is... Carol & Ernie, This   Nice couple originate from the North of England, if my memory serves me correctly I believe it was...Tyne side. {Geordie-Land} Love the Geordie accent I do!  Both Carol & Ernie are retired... Ernie was employed by the Government and his job took him to all parts of the country. Sorry but I don.t remember what job it was that Carol did. They have a number of cruises under there belts and were quite happy to share there stories with us.

{A Group Photo... First Night}

I would like to mention our most excellent waiters who served us exceptionally from day one... Thanks to,  Morislav form Russia, our assistant waiter was called Silva... and he originates from India.

So Intros over with... as I said we are now sailing to Reykjavik, Iceland. E T A,  1 pm Tuesday afternoon. That's OK with us... gives us time to chill and prepare for some serious sight-seeing, and hopefully get up close and personal with the Mountains the Hills and the Waterfalls... which is the main reason why we have come to this part of the world. 

To make following our  blog a little easier... I have created a page for each day and put them in date order! Should you wish to read further... 

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