The glory that was P & O

From the town centre you get a much clearer view of the vessel, you can see there's a ladder stretching a good way down the side, at least three decks in height, ending in some kind of platform at sea-level which the launches tied up to, with a good dozen or more people standing there waiting to go in one direction or another ...

It takes a bit of searching, the one guy I see to ask is Albanian and speaks only Albanian and Greek .. but I finally find the nearest point on the shore to where the liner is, and sure enough there is a little station set up on the jetty, with a P & O flag, a little area roped off with burgundy-coloured satiny rope, a trestle-table bearing three 7-gallon thingies of coffee, about 500 paper cups, a waste bin, and a sign-board announcing that MS Victoria will be leaving at 6 pm, and that the last launch will leave at 5.30 ...