Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Leaving Southampton


Slept-in, packed and went for a stroll up the street to see the Solent Sky Museum.  Until the Nazis bombed it, Supermarine had a large plant in Southampton (the other was up north) building Spitfires.  Undaunted by the thousands of air raids, the British removed crucial pieces of equipment from the ruins of the plant and scattered them around Southampton in laundries, warehouses and sheds and continued production.

After a lovely waterside lunch, we collected our bags and taxied to the terminal to board the 4,000 passenger Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas.  First we dumped our marked luggage at the curb, then came a very polite but thorough security check with virtually no line-up and which took only 5 minutes.  Then a further 20 minutes shuffling in line to get checked-in followed by going straight aboard.  With slight modifications, a process akin to getting 4,000 passengers onto an airplane.  After a thorough wander, we tracked down our cabin, where Reggie triumphantly surprised Paul with a mini-suite, complete with balcony!  Paul was, as the Brits say, gob-stopped.


Spitfire and supercharged Merlin V-12 engine


Spitfire cockpit


Our suite, 6th deck Starboard


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