I live in Southampton, England, known as Cruise Capital of the UK.
One of the cruise liner berths is just across the way from my house so I often look out my lounge window to the sight of a cruise liner, just home from a voyage or about to embark on the next one. I love to think of all those lucky people who have just disembarked with all those lovely memories to cherish and of those about to embark on a wonderful adventure. ...........
P&O Ventura arrives in Southampton April 6th 2008
(This is a picture I took of the Ventura as it berthed)
Southampton welcomed the city's latest luxury cruise ship to her home port for the first time yesterday.
Exactly a week earlier Ventura had left the Italian shipyard, where she was built, bathed in warm spring sunshine but her arrival in Southampton could not have been more different as snow flurries and a bitingly cold wind swept across the Solent and Southampton Water.
At one point the snow was so thick that the huge white vessel totally disappeared only to dramatically emerge into view again as she passed Calshot on the final leg of her voyage to Southampton.
The weather may have been cold but Ventura could not have been given a more warmer reception by her home port with hundreds of people, all anxious to see the world's newest supership, braving the chilly temperatures at every vantage point along Southampton Water.
As Ventura passed the Eastern Docks she received an emotional, if noisy greeting from another of P&O Cruises' Southampton based cruise ships, Aurora. As the two vessels passed close by one another each sounded a series of deep, booming blasts that echoed across the city as Aurora's crew members lined the decks to wave and have a first glimpse of Ventura.
By the time Ventura passed Mayflower Park breaks had appeared in the overcast sky and the sun came out to brighten the spectacular sight of the 115,000-ton ship, that soars more than 200 feet above the waves, slowly turn and ease herself alongside the berth that will be her home throughout future decades.
Over the coming days anyone leaving or entering Southampton, to and from the west of the city, will have the remarkable dominating the skyline as she prepares to enter service.
The high-spot of Ventura's inaugural events comes on Wednesday, April 16 when Oscar-winning actress, Dame Helen Mirren, officially names the ship in a glittering quayside ceremony followed by reception and gala charity dinner on board the ship, which is due to leave on her maiden Mediterranean voyage on Friday, April 18.
Ventura, the biggest cruise ship ever built specifically for British passengers, can accommodate up to 3,600 passengers and nearly 900 of her cabins have private balconies.
(Taken from an article in the Southampton Daily Echo - 7.4.08)
(Snow is rare in Southampton, but to have some in April when we are all welcoming the start of spring was a real surprise!)
(Not taken by me!)
Southampton is also well known because it was the Port RMS Titanic sailed from ........
The 96th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic
At 11.40pm on the 14th April 1912 RMS Titanic struck an iceberg near Newfoundland in the North Atlantic.
At 12.20am on the 15th April the crew was given the order to send away women and children in the ship’s lifeboats.
Titanic sank at 2.20am on the 15th April.
Of the 1523 people that lost their lives 549 came from Southampton. The disaster, which made headlines across the world, had a devastating effect on the people of Southampton.
.... Yet another new super-liner, Independence of the Seas, is due in Port on 25th April
Grab.com
