Sunday at sea

We have a full day at sea before reaching Copenhagen, our first port of call.

After breakfast in the self-service Orangery, I go to the spa and have my hair cut and washed and my beard trimmed by a very lovely girl. We potter about for most of the day. In the evening we have to dress up in formal wear. After dinner we go to the theatre and watch the Aurora Follies. Most of the shows by the ship's company are repeats of the ones we saw last year, but every bit as enjoyable.

Down the Solent

Shortly after 5pm the ship pulls away and heads down the Solent towards the Isle of Wight and the English Channel.

Our evening meal is taken in the Medina Restaurant. As last year we are on the early sitting which suits us well. We share our table with some newbie cruisers, a couple from Prestwich only a few miles from us and a couple from Hampshire. Making up the eight are two women from Nottinghamshire. I'm not sure if they are mother and daughter or just friends who met through work. They've certainly been on several previous cruises together. The Hampshire lady is also in a wheelchair, but a manual lightweight folding one so she is able to access some of the excursions unavailable to Christine.

After dinner we go for a stroll around the ship. Christine buys a lovely sunhat. It proves to be a useful purchase as the sun shines for the majority of the cruise. We visit the Tours Office and find that, in addition to ones in St. Petersburg, wheelchair-accessible excursions are also available in Copenhagen and Helsinki. We get our names put down for them.

Chichester City Band

After the safety drill we go out on to the promenade deck. The Chichester City Band are playing for us on the quayside. We are provided with Union Flags which we wave.

Marchwood Incinerator

Our cases are already in the cabin when we arrive.

The room is spacious and most of the wardrobe rails are low and easy to use.

There is a lovely picture window with a view across the river to a dome and chimney which belong to the waste incinerator at Marchwood.

Taxi please

We go to the taxi desk. "I'm sorry", he says, "We don't have any vehicles that carry people confined in wheelchairs. I can ring one of the firms that do though; there are three we use."

We wait.

After several minutes we go back and ask what is happening.

"One's on holiday, one's off sick and the other doesn't do it anymore. We'll try someone else."

Ten minutes later we are told they've found someone but they can't get here until 12.30. It's a good job we aren't in a hurry!

Rob's Taxi from Eastleigh arrives as promised and whisks us down to the Mayflower Cruise Terminal.

At least, after our long wait at the airport, we don't have to wait too long here before boarding the ship.

Southampton Airport

We are last off the plane, but Christine is soon reunited with her wheelchair. We are led through to collect our luggage.

I thought I'd got a spare set of camera batteries with me, but the ones in my pocket seem to be dead. So I stand guard over the luggage while Christine goes into W.H.Smiths and buys me a new set. She also buys herself a couple of paperbacks.

So now to see about getting a taxi down to the ship.

Setting off

Our taxi driver Roland arrives just before 7am.

He takes us down to Manchester Airport. We check in and move on to the departure lounge. Although due to leave at 8.45, it is after nine before we are loaded on to the plane. Christine releases her wheelchair for storage in the hold and two burly men carry her on to the plane.

We fly over Jodrell Bank Telescope. In-flight meals are no longer included in the fare and though £10 seems a bit much for two airline breakfasts, we have them anyway and they are very tasty.

Around 10.30 we arrive at Southampton Airport

Before we go

Following our extremely enjoyable 2005 cruise we decide to take a new P&O cruise in 2006. As most of the stops in 2005 were at tender ports, Christine, confined to her wheelchair, was only able to enjoy a small time ashore. Other passengers on that cruise recommended we go on a Baltic cruise as most of the ports there are fairly accessible.

Discussing our plans with Accessible Travel and Leisure aka Cotswold Cruise Club, we learn that accessible excursions are possible in St. Petersburg. An email to P&O later confirms this. We are already familiar with the layout of the Aurora and this time choose an outside cabin.

We'd flown down to Southampton before but the times of the flights have changed. The Saturday return flight is too early for us to catch and the Sunday return flight is not until late afternoon.

Checking the railway timetable we find there is a direct train from Southampton to Stockport about 1.15pm on the day we return. We decide that the easiest option is to catch a Friday afternoon train down to Southampton and stay overnight ready to board the next day.

We select an overnight hotel and book it. Some of the ones we consider are already full.

One cannot book rail tickets more than three months in advance. When I come to contact Virgin Rail about booking, I'm first informed that they can't confirm the return train and suggest ringing again a few days later. When I do, I'm told that the selected train only has one wheelchair space on it and it is already booked. I'm offered a journey that involves changing trains twice!

We conclude that we'll be better off flying down after all. I book the flights online with British Airways. I phone their Mobility Centre who already have our flight details. We give them information about the wheelchair and they arrange for all the help we will need
for boarding the aircraft to be on hand.

It actually costs less to fly than go by rail, even though our Disabled Rail Card gives us a third off rail fares.

I phone the overnight hotel and move our booking from the 9th to the 24th June.

A month before we are due to depart I telephone Airport Carz only to find that they no longer accommodate electric wheelchairs!

Fortunately we get to hear about Roland Travel of Dukinfield and book the transfer with them.