Sunday April 23, 2023
This morning we took it very easy allowing the many passengers that were getting off in Southampton to process through the customs. The Captain indicated that since we left New York we had travelled 34,984 nautical miles, which is 40,259 miles or 64,780 Kilometers. Judy, Roddy and Dawn very kindly drove down to meet us and have lunch. It was great to see them. They took us to the New Forest to a really nice restaurant / inn overlooking the water. The unfortunate part was that just as we were about to head off the ship, the captain came on to say that the repairs would not be completed in the 24+ hours allocated and that the World Voyage was effectively terminated. This obviously led to hundreds of questions, but we put it out of our minds as the Captain had said that more information would be sent to us in writing. So we thoroughly enjoyed the lunch and upon our return we found out more. Apparently there is an issue with the funnel and that the ship would not sail again until May 7. However, it was permitted to remain in the berth up to Thursday when it had to move or be at anchor. One of the forms asked what was our final destination, so we completed that, and supposedly they will be working on flights and let us know Tuesday. All domestic UK passengers had to disembark by 11 AM tomorrow. The 2,200 passengers that were to get on and the transfers from the Victoria were turned away unless they had come from a long distance, like the USA. In which case they were allowed on for a day or so. Those passengers that are scheduled to return from NY to Southampton on April 30 will, we suppose, be dealt with in New York. So here we are on board ship, docked in Southampton and the future is unclear. Stay tuned ……!
We did attend the show which was two Polish Cellists who were excellent musicians and amusingly calling themselves Celli.
Roger & Anne Travels 