We sailed from Portsmouth. You transfer by bus from the terminal to the ship, but the transfer is quite short. Long delay boarding as ship was entertaining travel agents.
The main feature for us was the quality of. Guest speakers. You receive of their knowledge in depth, well illustrated by slides. Most tours are included in the price.
A word of warning. Do not accept a cabin in the stern. There is tremendous vibration in this old but refurbished ship. we were allocated B 64. the vibration was so great that we could not sleep.
B 64 is subject to extreme vibration above screws. Take care not to take a cabin near to it.B6 in bows is fine, but portholes are high and set back. Smaller than B64 but no vibration.