Today’s Daily Programme can be found here….
Going out for a Valentine’s dinner the night before a three hour drive to the New Forest turned out not to be one of my better ideas. The dinner itself was very nice as was the Primativo that accompanied it, a little too nice. I woke a bit bleary eyed and if it wasn’t for the fact it was over 12 hours since my last drink I’d never have gone near the car, but we had to drive down to Jane’s Dad’s in the New Forest to have a bit of a birthday celebration, collect cards and presents and fortify myself with the best ever bacon rolls.
I failed miserably in getting my Wedding haircut, there was a queue at the barbers and my travel window didn’t leave me time to hang around waiting as I wanted to get to the QEII terminal in plenty of time to drop off the car with CPS before our 12:45 boarding time.
We’d booked this cruise last year as it’s one of the few chances Jane has to celebrate her birthday onboard a Cunard ship , so when I noticed the cost of a Queen’s Grill, Q5 cabin, was only about £2000 more than the Princess Grill, P1 I’d intended to book. I decided to splurge out on QG instead and leave it as a surprise for Jane to find out when we boarded.
We were slightly late at the port, but after dropping off the luggage at Pod 2, we were fast tracked to check-in. Check-in was painless, and we were soon corralled in the Grills waiting area and ready for security. The whole process including waiting probably only took 45 minutes. After a quick check-in at the muster station it was time for lunch. We’re on a table for eight, and we met with four of our table-mates which was nice as we’re usually all alone on the first lunch.
After a leisurely lunch of Thai Seafood Curry, tasty with a bit of spice, it was back to the room for unpacking. It was so nice to have plenty of hanging space after experiencing Queen Anne with her lack of space last November.
We didn’t make it to the Commodore Club for cocktails, instead we invited friends, Pam and Max to share a bottle of Champagne in our stateroom to celebrate Jane’s birthday. We hadn’t seen them since the 2019 Caribbean cruise, so it was lovely to catch up.
After a quick shower, it was time for dinner. I don’t know if the amuse bouche has always been served in QG, but it’s disappeared off the PG dinner menu for at least the last four of our cruises, so it was nice to get a delicious prawn and tomato morsel as a taster. This was followed by crab and seafood cocktail and steak au poivre. Very nice indeed. This was all rounded off by our waiters arriving with a birthday cake for Jane and serenading her with a rendition of “Happy Birthday”
When we returned to the room we could see the drinks fairies had been busy collecting together all the ingredients and paraphernalia that Jane may need for her evening Cosmopolitan. Time for bed!