My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
Friday, December 2024 – February 2025
This cracked me up: I’m so used to not knowing what day of the week it is on a ship, but this route made it easy. We were (mostly) in the same port on the same day of the week. Week after week. We were in Southampton on Fridays, and
was right outside the port – “In here, it’s always Friday” – which was true – even outside!
Southampton was like the Fort Lauderdale of the Caribbean. We docked right by a collection of shopping malls and there was an ALDI (which is the British version of Walmart). In Northern Europe there were more opportunities to find essentials than the beaches of the Caribbean, so if you needed stuff you might be able to find it at any of the ports, but you could definitely find what you were looking for in Southampton. My first Southampton I found some things to hold me over until I was reunited with my luggage. When I returned to the ship to drop stuff off, Declan (the Master of Ceremonies/British Ambassador), who had been orienting me to the ship was just heading out with Giada (the Cruise Activities Manager) and Mounir (from the Cruise Staff). They knew I didn’t have any friends yet, so they waited for me to drop off my stuff so I could tag along with them. We went to a public house for lunch,
And then I followed them around while they did their shopping. I was honored by the invitation and so appreciative of the company.
Southampton was the place to go for Secret Santa gifts. When Declan resigned, we discovered Bill’s when we were searching for a nice place for his farewell brunch. It became my Southampton ritural.
One Friday, my dearest friend, Rose, drove two hours each way just to come hang out with me!
We sat at Bill’s for about four hours slowly ordering small bites to justify our lengthy stay. Being with Rose makes everything right in the world.
The Friday between Christmas and New Year’s Andi drove more than 3 hours each way to come see me!
We forgot that traffic would be horrendous while everyone was on holiday. We wandered around the packed shopping malls exchanging ship gossip.
February 2025
I started developing a routine.
I would go to Bill’s for brunch,
Then I would go to the coffee shop at the bookstore next door and catch up on this blog. Then I would go to the Apple Store to use the excellent WiFi.
Soon I realized that while I was exploring new places in other ports, I was getting stuck in a rut in Southampton. I looked at the MSC excursions options, but I had been to most of those places with Rose – we’d been to Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, Bath, London. It was rather nice to have a low key day where I could catch up on writing about my adventures (especially since I was going on adventures the other days of the week). Then a Canadian couple I really liked mentioned that they had signed up for a “Walk the Secrets of the Titanic” two hour walking tour. That sounded like a fun way to get to know this city I visited every Friday, so I signed up too.
The guide was fantastic. His name was Brian. He introduced himself and then introduced everyone in the group as he checked them off the list. We moved down the street to the next point. He stopped and said, “I’m still Brian.” This guy was funny. He was in the running for best tour guide I’d encountered along with my favorite tour guide in Hamburg. Brian was Irish, had a theatrical background and had moved to Southampton to follow his wife (who, I think, teaches at a local University).
About 400 people (mostly, if not all, were men) joined the crew of the Titanic. The vast majority of them did not survive. At the time, I think everyone in Southampton would have known someone who died in the tragedy.
This was a building that was around during the time of the Titanic.
It was now a pub that I wanted to go to if I wanted some variety from going to Bill’s (I didn’t make it though).
These plaques were all over the streets. I probably wouldn’t have stopped to read them if the guide hadn’t pointed them out.
This was the hotel where the rich people would stay before they boarded the Titanic.
It’s across from a park where you can see where the Titanic docked. The dock itself was closed to the public, but a Carnival ship was parked there (which made it easier to picture where the Titanic had docked). The Carnival ship was much smaller than our ship, MSC Preziosa. I asked the guide how big the Titanic was compared to the Carnival ship. He said the Carnival ship was probably about twice the size of the Titanic – which as we all know was, at the time, the biggest ship in the world.
In May I returned to Southampton on my way to the Isle of Wight, so I snapped a picture of a ship where I think the Titanic was docked:
Around the corner were some Titanic themed pubs which were totally using the Titanic to draw tourists.
This one had a bunch of pictures relating to the Titanic inside. This pub was where James Cameron set the fictional Jack Dawson when he won his ticket in a card game in the movie.
And like all good tours, this one ended at a pub. But I had to get back to the ship. This would be the last day before my lounge hours would increase and I wouldn’t be able to go out for as far or as long as I had thus far.