The new embarkation system due to COVID worked well (as described on the Liverpool Cruise terminal Website) and we moved on to the ship in about an hour. Perhaps too quickly as I timed our wait after the covid test was performed until we were sent to the shuttle coaches and it was exactly 20 minutes, rather than the 30 minutes normally advised by the NHS to get an accurate result for the lateral flow tests.

We booked this cruise after the itinerary had changed as we wanted to make a second visit to Scilly and we thought we would have some good weather in the south, which indeed we did. In recent years we had booked outside or terrace balcony cabins on Fred ships, but opted for an inside for this due to the current prices. The cabin was fine and a good size with plenty of storage space, though the shower was very small. The aircon worked well too, without any cold drafts or excessively dry air. Our cabin stewardess, Dian was excellent.

The ship was only acquired by Fred a year ago and we embarked exactly one week after she first sailed with passengers, so early days, especially in covid times and obviously things may change, but I will attempt to give an overview of how, in my opinion, the ship and cruise experience compared to the previous ships which she replaced when we sailed and is why I have made this review quite lengthy. Read more