DAY ONE (8th April, 2026): Embarkation

I woke up on the morning of this cruise with the feeling of excitement and a slight apprehension that we hadn’t finished packing our suitcases. Our boarding time was 12;45, so we had some time to complete this and due to the fact that we live in a village just outside Southampton, we didn’t have to leave until about 12:15.

After some clearing up: emptying the dishwasher, taking the rubbish out to the bins and making sure the toilets were pristine (just in case a burglar needed a wee whilst robbing us blind!!), we booked an Uber and we were suddenly advised it would only be five minutes before he arrived! (We later discovered the time you put in is the drop off time and NOT the pick up time!!) We then realised that we would be about an hour early at the port, but it was too late to cancel the Uber now.

Our Uberdriver took us on a very strange route to Southampton Docks, but as we had plenty of time, we weren’t duly stressed.

On arrival, apparently the hour too early didn’t matter, we were told which bay to deposit our suitcases in and then we headed to the main terminal. Boarding was probably one of the easiet we have had in a long time and about 15 minutes later, we were on board Ventura.

We headed straight to the buffet and filled our plates with salads, chips, ham, anything that took our fancy and after a stroll around the upper decks, we were informed that our staterooms were ready.

We had booked an inside cabin on deck 15, which was midship and we found it with no trouble. The cabins are practical, consisting of beds, bedside cabinets, vanity dressing table, dressing area, space to hang clothes, cupboard which includes a safe and a bathroom with shower and unfortunately a shower curtain,

Then we decided to go back up to the sun deck to watch the Sailaway from Southampton as we love seeing our village from the ship, it makes a change from us watching the ships sail down Southampton Water from the beach.

We had purchased the alcohol-free package prior to boarding and received 1.7% discount on the total price because we are at Atlantic tier in the loyalty tier.

The sailaway was vibrant and loud, with lots of singing and dancing and thankfully the sun was shining throughout. The last time we left Southampton on board Regal Princess it absolutely poured down.

After sailing past the Royal Victoria Country Park in Netley, we went back to our stateroom to change for dinner.

We had booked an early sitting at 6.30 PM and had chosen to sit at a table of six. I need to eat early as I have a stoma bag as a result of having had bowel cancer. I have blogged about my experience – please click here to read about my fight against bowel cancer.

We found the restaurant, The Bay Tree, and then found our table, we were the first to arrive. Minutes later another couple arrived, a man around his mid-50’s and his wife, also mid 50’s. They introduced themsevles as John and Martha, (not their real names) and then two ladies arrived who told us their names were Caroline and Mandy (again, not their real names.) Caroline and Mandy were good friends and had gone on many cruises together.

We all chatted, informing each other where we came from and both couples said they came from the North. We ordered our meal, which was very nice, the only glitch was that the waiters forgot my dinner and by the time I had mine, the others had nearly finished their dinners. Dessert was good and we finished with a cup of coffee.

After dinner, we went for a walk around the Promendade on Ventura which is on deck seven. There are some stairs at the front of the ship, which were only open a couple of times during the whole cruise, so it wasn’t always possible to walk around the entire ship.

Then, because we had been awake since early this morning, we decided to go back to the cabin and watch a bit of television before we fell asleep.

Our video below is embarkation day….