Thursday, 21st September 2023 I started the day with a run round Deck 7, which was quite busy at 08:00 – probably because you’re not allowed to run before that (there are cabins underneath and it would be unfair to subject sleeping people to the sound of pounding feet), and after breakfast finishes lots of…

Wednesday, 20th September 2023 After getting an early night, we were rudely awakened by an announcement over the ship’s tannoy system at 06:45. It was our Captain informing us that we were not in Hamburg as planned. We weren’t even in the River Elbe on the approach to Hamburg. Bad weather overnight had seen the…

Tuesday, 19th September 2023 As newbies to cruises, this was likely to be the day when we’d get a better idea of whether it was for us or not. The Queen Mary 2 was still somewhere in the English Channel and would be very slowly heading towards the North Sea and then Hamburg, so we…

Monday, 18th September 2023 We’d never been on a cruise of any sort before, assuming you don’t count long ferry trips to and from Finland or overnight journeys between the UK and Europe. But we have friends, John and Janice, who have been many times and love the whole experience. So much so that we…