Cruise day 0 Embark and at sea

Getting onto the ship was the usual mix of order and chaos. Order because the logistics of these ships means that they are very organised - eg our entry time was pre-booked. Chaos because people are easily confused and information was scant. Also not helping was that a main escalator had died in the "heat" so that most of us (we of the cheaper cabins) had to walk a convoluted path to use the privileged escalator. These aspects would be the domain of the port terminal at Southampton rather than the ship or cruise line. Usually on arriving on a new ship I like to explore and mind-map the layout for use during the cruise. This time I just didn't feel like doing that. Whether that was due to it becoming a dull idea by this many cruises, or a reaction to the massed effect of British and Americans blundering around I can't guess. The hangover of this was to be continual confusion in my getting around onboard. I'll have to resolve to always do it in future no matter how I feel on the day.