The Sky’s The Limit

 It was our last day at the Arches Guest house, and I was up early and anxious to get out of there. The place was nice enough. The wi-fi strong enough to make telephone calls, and the staff are super friendly and helpful, but our accommodations were cramped, to the point of being claustrophobic I woke on more than one night with anxiety about how we could escape in case of fire, as we were on the second floor, or the first floor in the UK. The windows didn’t open all the way, and there was no ladder.

Luckly we never had to escape, and unlike our hotel in Brooklyn the lights were not connected to emotion sensing switches, so you could shower without the light going out.

This Will Keep Your Bathroom Bright

Checking in the manager had lugged our baggage up the narrow staircase, but we were on our own checking out. My traveling compadre said she would get the bags down to the landing. I watched her struggle with her case, going sideways one step at a time. She looked like she could topple over at any moment, and if she did, I was betting on her bag to make it to  the landing first.

She reached the landing safely and before she could climb back up for my bag, I told her to wait a minute, and I simply slid my bag down the narrow stairs. Work smarter, not harder.

We used the wi-fi one last time to summon a Uber and packed our luggage a short distance around the corner to the car park at the Winston hotel, as their car park is larger, and it is favored by Uber drivers.

Our ride this morning is a short one, just down to the Mayflower cruise terminal to meet up with the Sky Princess.

The access to the terminal is plugged up with traffic. People trying to leave the ship, and people trying to leave on the ship. Our driver pulled a U turn and tries to go another way only to be foiled by a large chain link fence. Oh well he pulled another U turn and back in line we go. We creep along for a while, before getting close enough to get out of the car. Our Uber driver went above and beyond the call of duty getting us to the terminal and even helping us with our bags.

Southampton's Mayflower Cruise Terminal

The terminal is a very busy place and isn’t as organized  as boarding the Queen Mary 2 in New York.

First, we have to get our bags tagged, then we have to lug them over to another door to drop them so they can follow us aboard . For Cunard this was a one stop deal. Tag and drop your bags. Princess you could do better.

Before we arrived, we downloaded the Princess app.

What's Cruising Without A Phone App?

The app directed us to the blue line as we could not complete the credit card information, and passport information, as we were on hotel wi-fi, but once inside it was just a short wait to reach the counter to complete the information pick up our “Medallions”, and even have our vaccination record looked at, briefly.   I think we waited less time than people that had completed all the information.

Since we have high class status on this line, we were directed to a waiting area with other “Ebony” carded cruisers.

We didn’t have to wait very long before being able to board, and soon we were enjoying music in the ships lobby and sitting in comfortable chairs.

The Chairs Here Are Quite Nice

The room wasn’t ready yet, so we road the lift up to get some lunch, and unlike Cunard ships that do not support superstition Princess is all on board with it.

Just cuz you skip 13, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

This ship is relatively new, and it would be nice to say that everything works, but unlike Cunard you have to pay to do your laundry on Princess, and of course the machine in the laundry room that dispenses tokens, is busted. There is a laundry on every deck, but most of the token machines are broken. Once again, the struggle to wash cloths is real.

Our room is nice and being ebony, we have many perks that we have never had before, like drink packages. In room mini bar, and free wi-fi till the end.