TenneSea

First night on the ship, the entertainers performed the new show "Starlight Pub". The other two shows on board are 5 Skies and Rock Opera. I've seen both of them before so I had hoped the new one would be really good. It was. Lots of energy. Outstanding stage backdrops, (etc) and costumes. Amazing dancing and some good (vocal) solo work by the Sky talent. Here are a few shots. I'll post some more of them later as I upload them off of my phone cam.

Enjoying the first evening on the ship.

For those of you who like to follow the food selections. This was lunch on embarkation day in the main dining room Beef tenderloin was 4 star ! Hub said this was a little bland

@Rick&Jeannie Where in TN are you from? We're in East Tennessee (Kingston).

Big excursion tomorrow in Haugesund. "Akrafjord, Eljarvik Farm and Langfoss Waterfall. Hope to get caught up here after that.

@gah_cruise I call it an "investment" !😉 (or at least that's what I tell my husband !)

@Dwaff85 I have the Princess Plus (under the old system). I get it mostly for the internet, the gratuity, and specialty coffees. An occasional key lime martini too.

@Glad Bailey I agree. The food in the MDR has been excellent.! Can't wait for Haugesund tomorrow !

@Ramblin Wreck Cruiser Oh, the sunsets up in the North Sea from the aft cabin. Stunning. I'll be posting them as soon as I get time to transfer from camera to laptop. We really like the aft, I'll try to book for any future cruises I might take. Thanks for following my journey report.

Saw it once. Didn't know it was a shopping area. I should have asked and maybe we'll go there when the ship returns to check it out.

I think 10:00. There were hundreds there already.

Oh, I thought you were referring to Plymouth, MA. Yes, I guess they had a pretty rough start to their journey. I believe Southampton is the place credited with the beginning of the voyage, hence the memorial. Are there memorials as well, in Plymouth, England?

@villauk We very much enjoyed the Holiday Inn. It was a good location to walk to restaurants. There aren't many stores in this area (at least that we found). Taxis were easy to get. Rooms were clean and comfortable. The breakfast there was very good. It wasn't glamorous but it was more than satisfactory Elevators were the only thing we could find that we were not happy with. They're small and slow.

From our hotel room earlier, we watched Regal Princess and and MSC ship arrive.

First aft cabin ever. Love it !

(3) Aug 12, 2023. -Saturday. EMBARKATION DAY ! Taxied from hotel to port. As we exited the taxi, I was looking around for porters to take our tagged luggage. There were none so we had haul luggage around for the next couple of hours. You arrive into a huge covered hall with maybe 6 lanes of traffic. There was a lounge in the very back for arriving passengers to wait until checkin is ready. So inside of this great hall, 4000 passengers are getting off of the ship with trollies of luggage and 4000 more passengers are wanting to get on the ship with all of their luggage. It was chaos. Finally, the departing persons are pretty much gone so the excited soon-to-be cruisers head for the check-in doors , awaiting the opening. The doors open and two sweet British ladies direct anyone with luggage to check (which is pretty much everyone) to go the other side of the "great hall" to get their bags on the loading belt. So the entire line swarms the luggage loading area. (Meanwhile, there are a good number of people still getting off of Sky Princess, the two lines intersect. I don't know if anyone was injured in the collision of the two currents of people, but it certainly was a possibility.) Ok, luggage finally out of our care, custody and control - back to the check in line. Went very smoothly from there. We were on the ship by 11:15. Sky Princess is just as beautiful as she was 3 years ago when I cruised on her. Priorities: Key Lime

Thank you @Gettingwarmer for the details of the Mayflower sailing. I'm so happy you're following along !

Thank you @JG&Lcruisingnewbies for the info. SO MUCH history here !

You might have that backwards. It sailed from Southampton to the new land which turned out to be named Plymouth, MA. I believe the Titanic also left from the port of Southampton.

Beautiful day. A few from Southampton. LOVE this building. Dancing Man Brewery next door. DMB was PACKED - so, we might have to catch it another time. An artist at work on top of the wall. All caught up on day 2. Next will be boarding Sky Princess and off to Norway !

Then we had the pleasure of eating tapas at LaRagata. Be sure to reserve ahead, especially on a weekend when 4 or 5 ships are in the port. We just walked in. The waitress's jaw dropped when we did not have reservations. She walked over to the manager (owner?) and we heard him say to her, "they just WALKED IN ???" He was quite offended. But they were very nice and found us a little table, I think he might have been trying to humiliate us, but we loved it and the food was amazing ! Ribs ! One of the best beers I've ever had ! LaRagata

We're back in Southampton for the evening. On our walk back to Holiday Inn to get ready for dinner, we stopped by the Mayflower memorial. It was very touching. To think that the birth of my home country started right here with just a handful of brave, courageous people.

Heavenly day we had on the Isle of Wight. I wish I'd of had a week to spend there. I'll be back ! My fav !

Some images from/of the Red Funnel Ferry. Nice outdoor patio while waiting for the ferry. Interesting building we passed. Does anyone know what it is? (military?) This must be their transport for large vehicles.

Must have: Isle of Wight Ice Cream. Made from IOW contented cows !