So, the Nikon reveals its secrets

 Well, its almost a week since I came back and I'm still drifting with the tide, sitting on the balcony of my cabin at 05:30 and listening to the sounds of the sea and the chirruping of the shearwaters as they get bumped by the wake.

But let's go back to the first day, boarding.

It was supposed to go from Southampton but about a week before departure they changed it to Tilbury. As I said, who cared, it was a chauffeur all the way.

The first night was a bit hectic as we all attempted to work out where everything was, which side of the ship the indicator boards were referring to and when would the lift make it to our floor!

For the first evening we had to have set times for eating, I suppose to get us all fed and watered and settled in for the evening but after that we had free dining and a choice of where we could go. As there were four different, no five different restaurants to choose from it was a lot less busy in any one of the places. I ended up going to the twelfth deck called the Lido and eating up there. The views from this level were wonderful and the floor to ceiling windows made it open and airy.

You could choose to dine on your own or sharing, so I did a mixture of both, which meant when I couldn't face talking I opted for my own space and when I felt like being sociable I could.

The following day was an At Sea day which allowed us all to get used to the cabins, the routine, the decks! After a destinations talk on Falmouth and the Scilly Isles, I went outside onto deck 7, the Promenade (five trips round equaled a mile) and watched as the south coast drifted by.

As we passed Isle of Wight we came across a group of cruise ships, three of which were P+Q and the other the Queen Mary

Someone also watching over the handrail commented it almost resembled a ship graveyard.

This sailing ship was spotted coming out of the area where the cruise ships were. It was followed by its support speed boat. As it turned by us I noticed the whole crew were sitting on the side rail to hold the boat upright. The only one standing at a most precarious angle was the helm.

 As we cruised towards Falmouth, the captain came over the tannoy to tell us the weather was closing in from the west and if we were going to be able to drop anchor in the Scilly Islands we had to forgo Falmouth. Quite a few people were annoyed because they wanted to do the Lands End thing I think.

We had to make a stop though, someone was unwell and had to be taken off....

We watched as the little 'duckling' (one of the tender boats) raced towards the distant port and waited for it to deposit its cargo of a couple and their suitcases. Once it came back and was loaded back up aboard, we lifted anchor and I headed off for dinner, to eat at my speed (rather than the more formal arrangements of the first night) on the twelfth deck.