Transatlantic Crossing Day 4

Start of day: Moxy Southampton
End of day: At sea

The weather was cool and crisp, perfect for a walk. In the Moxy lobby, I passed a crowd of 20 people or so waiting for their bus transfer and made my way to the sidewalk outside. From the Moxy it’s around a 20 minute walk along flat ground to the cruise terminal; it’s really not bad at all.

If walking to the City or Horizon terminals in Southampton is interesting to you, I did a brief writeup of the route back in August.

A pedestrian path through Southampton docks with large mustard-yellow lettering painted on the asphalt reading 'City and Horizon Terminals' beneath an arrow pointing ahead, a black roller suitcase parked mid-path, a parking lot behind wire fencing on the left, and a road with cars and railings on the right under a sunny blue sky with scattered clouds

My home for the next 13 nights:

View from the foot of the bed in a cruise ship stateroom, with a white duvet, a teal runner, and teal and grey throw pillows. Grey curtains frame a sliding glass door onto the veranda, where a large circular cutout in the white bulkhead frames the colorful buildings of the Southampton waterfront. A wall-mounted television is on the right

This is stateroom 6102 onboard the Celebrity Apex. It’s a category P2 – Deluxe Porthole View with Veranda – which, if I’m being honest, I wasn’t aware was a thing.

Celebrity Cruises listing for the P2 Deluxe Porthole View with Veranda category. A promotional photo shows a stateroom with a bed made in white and navy linens facing a sliding door onto a veranda, where a large round porthole cutout in the bulkhead frames the open sea. A grey sofa with navy cushions and a large red abstract print sits on the left, and a desk with a marble-based lamp sits on the right, over a grey carpet with a geometric pattern. Below the photo, text reads: 'Located at either end of the ship, in the Deluxe Porthole View with Veranda you'll have the choice to relax in your spacious living area, or step outside to enjoy morning coffee and evening sunsets.' — Deluxe Porthole View with Veranda (image: Celebrity Cruises)

It was great! It has a narrow but functional veranda, plus all the light the sliding doors let in. I didn’t use the veranda as often as I likely would have on a different cruise. Part of that was the weather (it was cool or cold the first half of the cruise), part of it was the uncomfortable chairs, but it was great to be able to step out there and get some fresh air and see what the temperature was like.

The location, all the way forward, did mean I felt a lot more ship motion than if I’d been perched midship. While we did have a few days with a lot of movement, it was the type of movement that didn’t trigger seasickness.

I went to the top deck to watch sailaway. Neither of this year’s sailaways from Southampton yielded good photos. I missed my chance to photograph our passing by the Queen Mary 2, also.

The ship's white churning wake trailing across grey-green Southampton Water at sailaway, under a broad sky of soft grey and lilac clouds with patches of pale blue. In the distance, the dark-hulled Queen Mary 2 sits alongside a quay next to tall white grain silos, with container cranes on the far shore

I finished the day with some cruise ship pizza and a book.