We spent the morning mooching about,  peering at people who looked like likely shipmates as we did.  At one point, taking the escalator in the adjacent shopping centre, someone said "Hello!" to me as if I were a long lost cousin - though I didn't recognise her, sure enough she and her husband were on our transfer to the ship later.  Where had we met before?  I have no idea, but yes, we surely have!

We were in the first group to leave the hotel and embark the ship and no more than thirty minutes after setting off from the Fairmont, we were boarding the Navigator and greeting old friends.  How lovely it is to catch up again, to see familiar faces and hear them call my name.

Though we haven't actually sailed on this particular ship before, it's familiar territory in that so many of the staff are known to us already.  It is however, the smallest of the fleet and as a result, we are surprised at how quickly we can move about it.

Anyway we had the important business of unpacking to see to, so after a spot of lunch we set to and tried to find homes for everything before the muster drill.

Our travelling companions have settled in nicely, having found a new friend waiting for them on the sofa.  Thankfully, there were enough petits fours to go round....no arguments.

The lifeboat drill was taken as seriously as always; we listened to the advice about what to do in a situation we hope will not arise before putting on our lifejackets and filing out on deck in an orderly manner.  All the time, we were keeping an eye open for our friends who were due back from their pre-cuise jolly about now but we didn't spot them.

As we sailed away a little later than planned, we hoped they'd made it!

And so it was, with two tugs on one side, keeping us company...

and Silverseas' Silver Shadow on the other side, we set sail, bound for Cape Town ultimately, but for now, to Port Klang in Malaysia tomorrow.

Thankfully Jane and Allan made it to the ship, being amongst the last to board and missing out on the emergency drill this time round.  We shared travellers tales over dinner and look forward to enjoying life on board for a while.

How lucky we are.