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Lifestyle’s which is a disabled group went to Cherbourg by way of Portsmouth one weekend. We met up at 5.30 and caught the P&O ship which sailed at 8pm. We had to wait in the terminal for a while, there was quite a bit of crowding & they actually wanted to see your passports before allowing boarding. Getting on board was quite interesting, there’s a long flight of stairs going up to Deck seven; there’s eight decks in all. On deck seven there’s the reception, shop, hairdressers, Crèche, & Foreign Money bureau. There’s also a small restaurant on this deck, serving breakfast & a range of cakes & pastries.

The duty free shop opens at 9am & closes at 10.pm, they allow Euros or Stirling. It sells perfume & the testers, rather useful if you have forgotten any on the way to the party in the lounge upstairs (har har!) There’s also chocolate? & booze on offer, it’s quite a racket when all the bottles vibrate together when they start the engines up. You get electronics in the shop like radio’s & walkmans, there were toy beavers which sang ‘Kung-foo Fighting’ so I pressed one & set the whole lot off ;) The Crèche is like a little school room with an activity gym with those coloured balls they fall on; the hairdressers have hair raising prices!!

Our cabins were opened by a plastic card which has holes in the tops, you slide into a slit to undo the door. Inside are two single beds with a lamp & dressing table, there’s also a little radio with alarm. There’s an on-suite bathroom with a squat toilet & sink with mirror, there’s a shower which has a blue curtain you pull across. I didn’t know how you pull the chain on the loo, until I found that it was a lever which you pull up at the back of the loo which releases a powerful jet of water. There’s also a cabin for wheelchairs.

A lift is on board to each deck. Has a big mirror , & deep carpets. During the day there’s someone to help you get to the floor you want, but in the evening you’re on your own!

Went up to Deck 8 where the Lounge is, there’s also another cafe here. For £6.95 you can get dinner & dessert, the other restaurant is a little more posher with tablemats, set cutlery & menu’s on the tables. The area has it’s own bar & seating near the windows (a stomach churning option, in bad weather). There’s a casino onboard where you can watch people being bankrupted, or winning their millions. Choices include Russian roulette & backgammon. It can get a bit smoky in there, & there’s slot machines to mess about on too. The Entertainment Lounge usually has a disco in the evenings most nights; there is also a bar which can get quite packed. The poor bar staff looked absolutely shattered. There was a singer in that evening murdering all the songs from the 60’s, the area has small tables & red seating, the lounge stays open until 4pm making a row. The crossing was smooth (until we reached the middle of the English Channel, then the fun really began). I was in bed (or rather clinging onto it). It’s quite scary to feel the boat go up & down at 2am, there’s no window in the cabin, which was just as well as my room mate thought we were going to sink! We got to Cherbourg & had to wait on Deck 7, there’s buses taking you from the ship to the terminal. They can be a bit crowded, they are like those long single deckers; there’s usually more than one. The town is only 10mins walk from the terminal, although some of are disabled members chose the taxi. We went up a long road near a bike path; we only saw one group of lycra clad bikers. There’s many shops in Cherbourg, & a market by a grey stone fountain. We stopped at a restaurant to have breakfast; most of the seating is outdoors. There's a bakery here which is a bit like Reeves. It rained as we went back towards the boat; it didn't take long to get back to Boat, where the buses picked us up to go back to the terminals.

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