We had nothing booked in Palma so had a lie in and a leisurely breakfast in the PG restaurant before heading down to the gangway on deck A to go ashore for a wander around the city. We got the shuttle bus which dropped us off near to the Cathedral.

It was a short walk to the Cathedral itself for a few photos but being a Sunday and there being services on we decided it best not to go inside but to carry on our stroll around town. Walking through the medieval backstreets you could be forgiven for thinking you were the only people in Palma it was deserted. Eventually we rocked up at a cafe where we thought a break was in order and a couple of expensive coffees would go down a treat. From there we carried on our stroll around town, it was getting busier as more locals and tourists woke but it was never crowded. Palma is a very pretty place lending itself to an abundance of photo opportunities.

We decided to go back to the ship for lunch and one last bit of sunbathing before the cruise ended. It was another pasta lunch for Jane, lasagne this time, Cunard are very good at lunchtime pasta dishes and they rarely get it wrong. I had crispy fish tacos, and although very tasty I didn’t feel satisfied which given all the food I’d eaten on the cruise is probably no bad thing, anyway I remedied that by having dessert.
Then It was time to head up to the Grills terrace and grab a bed in the shade for me and one in the sun for Jane. I relaxed there for a while reading but I was getting distracted by people watching, There are some odd old birds of both sexes wandering around on the grills terrace.

We had decided that we needed to go to the Commodore Club for our last cocktails, as much as we love the service in the Grills Lounge from Joy, Marten and Arnel, the place is a little soulless, the pianist in the Commodore club added a nice atmosphere to the room.
Jane decided she needed a little fizz in her life so she ordered a Black Bellini, me, a Doombar, as my life is fizzy enough. The Balck Bellinis aren’t large drinks though and it wasn’t long before she needed a refill.

The final dinner was a good one, even though there was rack of lamb as a main on offer, Jane followed my choice and went for Jumbo Prawn Thai curry. It was a very good choice indeed, I’d asked for mine to be spiced up a little and the chef certainly delivered on that. We did need to ask for a little extra rice though as the dish was very saucy and the rice supplied with it just wasn’t enough to mop it all up.

Another day another tour, we were going to visit Pompeii this time. It was an early start, not as early as yesterday’s Rome trip, but we had to be at breakfast in the PG restaurant when it opened at 08:00. We had to to be out and in the Queen’s room for 08:30 so we had a quick breakfast of omelette and crispy bacon. Pompeii bans tour stickers so no yellow 10 badges for us and  we headed out to the coach ready for our trip.

Yulia was our guide and on arrival in Pompeii she shepherded us to the main gate where she gave us a few moments to take a comfort break while she collected the tickets for admission. Once through the gate she decided to reverse the direction of the tour as there were a lot of groups going in the normal direction. It was a good call as we had a fairly crowd free start to the tour.

This we really good in the museum where we had excellent access to the exhibits. Our guide was very knowledgeable as expected and full of enthusiasm pointing out all pieces of interest, many of which seemed to be good luck phalluses on door frames. It was surprising how many Pompeian eateries there were in ancient times, pretty much one on every corner.
The tour was pretty exhausting, two and a bit hours of walking, so we were glad to arrive back at the coach for the journey back to Naples and the ship.

We decided to dine on board rather than going into Naples since we were bushed, it was probably a good idea, so we had a cheeseburger in the PG restaurant. At 14:00, to coincide with the salute back in the UK the captain sounded the ships bell and sounded the ships horn followed by a minutes silence to pay respects to the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

After lunch we headed up to the terrace for a little light sunbathing, I managed to nod off for a while. I can only hope I wasn’t snoring, no-one complained to me so I assume not. After that it was back into the Grills lounge for a pre getting ready for dinner cocktail. Jane was back on the Dark & Stormy and the Moscow Mule Delux just to be different I had a Doombar.

Dinner was very good again with a starter of tempura prawn, which was different from the A La Carte tempura prawn dish. Main was a pork chop, which was so nice I succumbed to Anuraj and his constant feeding by having a second one.

We had to be out on our tour to Rome by 08:00 so we missed breakfast in the PG restaurant and ordered room service instead. I had a bagel, risky I know, and bacon and scrambled eggs. It was all very nice apart from the tea, the water in the pot was lukewarm, so I boiled a kettle and all was good again.

We had expected the coach to take about two hours but it was just over one. We got off the coach near the Marcello’s Theatre and was looking to get a hop and stop tour bus, but it was a lot of messing about and so we decided to have a coffee and review our options. We decided to have a walk up to the Pantheon and then onto the Trevi Fountain. The thing about Rome is you can’t turn a corner without there being some antiquities that need photographing. The streets up to and around the Pantheon were lovely, and quaint, around the Trevi Fountain it was like Leicester Square, touristy beyond belief.

We got the Trajans Forum when the heavens opened so we paid the 13 Euros and went into the museum. It was a bit boring until we went down the steepest steps you’ve ever seen and into the Forum itself. There it was quite spectacular. After a bit of shower dodging in the forum we headed off for some lunch.

Our tour guide had suggested eating at Osteria de Secundus near the Piazza Novona, where they did a 19 Euro tourist special, a brucetta starter, Pizza or Pasta main and a drink. It was very good and because we’d not taken the hopper bus lunch was effectively free.

We took a very leisurely walk back to the meeting point. When we walked into Rome through the Jewish Ghetto I noticed some people in costume and assumed there was some cosplay going on, but as we walked back to the rendezvous and noticed that there was a film being made which explains the people in costume.

By the time we got back to the ship we were shattered so chilled in the room until it was time to change for dinner. Dinner was very good again, we both had the steak Diane. I had the chocolate souffle for dessert, not one of my usual choices, but I really enjoyed it.

I woke at 07:15 with what looked like bright sun piercing the stateroom curtains, so I hopped out of be to capture this morning’s sunrise only to be told to shut those curtains, Jane is not a morning person. We went up to the PG restaurant for breakfast where I was undecided on what to have. I would like a fry-up but my waistband really can’t handle it every day, so it was a compromise with a mushroom, cheese and chilli omelette and a Cumberland sausage on the side. Nice.

After breakfast we hurried off the ship as there were a whole lot of crew drills planned for the morning. Ajaccio is surprisingly nice, we had a good walk around the Capital, taking in the Fort, multiple Napoleon monuments and a very nice Market. It always feels a bit of a shame going to all these lovely markets with fantastic produce but being unable to buy anything. The range of cheeses and charcuterie was truely mouthwatering. Ajaccio comes out second best though when comparing cappuccinos. Livorno was a far nicer offering and way cheaper too.

We headed back the the ship at about 11:30 for lunch, stopping in the Grills lounge for a coffee and a bit of a chat. Lunch was nice, a crab salad starter and spaghetti Neapolitan for main. For dessert I had lemon chocolate opera cake which was delicious.
After lunch it was time for a little more sunbathing but only after pressing a couple of dresses in the laundry. It’s quite hot on the lower Grill terrace as there isn’t any shade. The upper terrace had quite a nice breeze over it when I went to get the towels. I wish they would make their minds up where they are going to place the towels, it seems to be a bit of a game of hunt the towels as they’ve been in a different place scattered around the terraces each day. Same with the bin for the used towels.
I could only mange an hour or so before heading indoors for a latte in the cool of the lounge. It

It wasn’t too long before Jane had finished up her sunbathing and came inside to see what the cocktail of the day would be ? Well it turned out to be a SIngapore Sling, While I had my reiliable old Doombar. The Singapore Sling didn’t last too long, obviously it was a little too refreshing so she had a backup plan of a Moscow Mule Delux so see her through.

We had deliberately left arriving at the PG restaurant until later today as our table mates really wanted to get off to see the show at 8pm and we knew if we got there too early we’d all end up chatting and they would miss it like the previous couple of evenings. We weren’t surprised to see them still there and yes we were all chatting and yes they did miss the show again.

We’d pre ordered Duck à L’orange for our main tonight so I only had to choose my starter, Creole Gumbo. Once I’d finished my soup, the flambe trolly arrived and the Maitre’d, Christian started the preparation of the fowl. Needless to say it was delicious. There was more flambé action to come as Jane had ordered Crêpes Suzette for dessert. While the head waiter this time, Vitali, prepared Jane’s pancakes I asked our waiter for a menu so I could order dessert, it turns out I had ordered Bananas Foster by accident,

I couldn’t have ordered them on purpose as I have had them on QM2 and didn’t like the dish, but I thought I may as well give it a go, I may like it when freshly prepared. Nah! I don’t like rum and I’m never going to, no matter how freshly prepared the Bananas Foster are.

We were woken at 06:30 by the screeching of a pump of some kind just outside our stateroom. I had an alarm set as we had an early start with a tour out to Old Antibes at 08:45 but this was just a bit too shrill and early for me. It did give me a chance to get out onto the balcony and watch the sunrise over the Ile Sainte-Marguerite

Suitably showered and now awake I headed up to breakfast with Jane in  tow, I had Swiss bircher Muesli  yesterday so changed it up to smoked haddock and poached eggs this morning and Jane had the Gen Z favourite of mashed avocado on toast with poached eggs. I had prunes again as a starter, I did want a mix of figs and prunes but the ship is out of figs, something to do with an extended stay away from Southampton causing some shortages of typically British items.
Once breakfast was over we both headed down to our muster for the tour which took place in the theatre. We were anchored off Cannes so we all had to wait for the tender to transport us over to dry land and onto the coach for Antibes. It was all very painless and we disembarked the coach in Antibes by the Marina.

The first part of the tour was to walk alongside the marina, stuffed full of “gin palaces” to the main gate in the wall of Old Antibes where the tour started in earnest. The guide, Nicola, waxed lyrical about the Phonetician origins of Antibes, on through the Romans to Medieval times and finally the Grimaldis and Picasso. Ending up in the Market square before sending us on our ways to sample the delights of the town left to our own devices.

We all had to be back at the bus for 12:30 where we drove back to Cannes and were dropped off back at the harbour for the tender back to the ship. We’d decided to pop into Cannes for a bit as we had some toiletries to get and have some lunch out. We decided to eat by the harbour as I didn’t fancy walking too far and ended up in L’Assiette Provencale where we had a light lunch of Moules, Frites and Pain. It was lovely if not so light.

From there we headed off to get the toiletries which were found in the first Pharmacy we came across. Then it was time to hunt down a post box for the obligatory post cards. While looking for that we stumbled across a wine shop so decided to stock up with a couple of bottles to supplement our wine package. There isn’t any Rose on the current Commodore’s list so we opted for a couple of nice Rose’s under the guidance of the shopkeeper. We then walked up several huge hills looking for the elusive postbox but found nothing and decided to head back to the ship where we promptly found one by the Hotel D’Ville bus stop on the way back.
By the time we got back I was shattered so it was back to the stateroom for a little lie down and write up this blog, but I found we had no phone signal in the room, so had to make do with just the lie down.

Five pm came so under the pretence of needing a phone signal we decided to head up to the Commodore Club for a livener and a bit of internetting. Jane is pleased say that the cocktail aberrations of the first night have passed and the QEII cocktail she was served is excellent. My Doombar was as always excellent. The canapes were also very nice

I had spent a lot of time rushing to update this blog before we sailed off beyond the limits of the 4G signal as I wanted to save our complimentary WI-FI for our sea days. So we were a little late leaving the Commodore Club and heading back to the stateroom. I was starting to stiffen up after all the walking around Antibes and Cannes so decided on a bath rather than a shower, oooh! that was soon nice and way too relaxing. Feeling much refreshed we got dressed and headed up to the PG restaurant for dinner. Prawn cocktail started  and pork fillet main were delicious. I made the mistake of asking for extra boulangerie potatoes from Anuraj, our waiter, as I said before he’s a feeder and be brought me two extra portions which was too much.
We had a good chat with our table mates and ended up making them miss their date with the show in the theatre because we were chatting so much.

We ended up in the Garden Lounge after as there was a father and son, Newfoundland, folk duo on, and they are usually good value. It turns out that they aren’t from Newfoundland but Tipperary, they were very good though and we enjoyed the first half of their set before heading off to bed.

This is our first fly-cruise, and because we had a lot, and I mean a lot of bags, we had decided to stay in a hotel at Gatwick, dropping our bags off the night before which would allow a fuss free journey to the plane via security in the morning. It all went well until I took my phone out at reception only to find I didn’t have it on me. Find my iphone dot com said it was back home, so at least I don’t have the worry that it’s gone.
After a terrible night’s sleep, me not the hotel, we strolled through to departures and on to our gate. We were only slightly delayed leaving Gatwick and arrived in Barcelona 10 minutes late. Barcelona airport was excellent, quick through passport control and quick through the baggage hall where I removed the flight labels and affixed the pre-printed cruise labels. We had a car booked to take us to terminal D where Queen Elizabeth was berthed. The bag drop-off was painless, even if it took a few trips from cab to conveyor belt, then through security to be x-rayed, a quick photo and passport check and we boarded the ship – all very efficient.

Our cabin is on deck 4, 4089, so it was easier to climb the stairs rather than wait for a lift. There are no restrictions on passengers at the moment. so there’s no requirement for us to wear masks, although the staff all are and there doesn’t seem to be a limit to numbers in the lifts. Once we’d been to our stateroom it was time to head to muster station B and get our cards scanned, we don’t want to end up on the naughty list. That out the way we headed for lunch in the PG dining room, mainly to see if we could wangle a window seat for the cruise. Christian the maitre’d said he’d see what he could do but in the meantime we were ushered to our set table near the back of the dining room, the last of a set of three two tops. Jane was actually quite pleased with this as the views from our table were very good. So on the way out after a light lunch of calves liver and lemon tart we told the maitre’d we were happy where we were.

After lunch it was unpacking time, get more hangers time and memory foam pillow time. All that out of the way we headed back up to the Grills deck for a bit of sunbathing for Jane and a snooze for me as apparently I’m overtired and grumpy.
Commodore O’clock came along too quickly, and we missed the quiz at 16:00 in the Garden room. Jane’s not too happy with the standard of cocktails in the Commodore Club today, she’s tried a Cosmopolitan and a Margarita, both lacking in citrus apparently. I have no comparable complaints about the Doombar. If things don’t improve we’ll be taking our custom to the Grills lounge where one of our past favourite Commodore staff has been relocated. …… she says.

We went back to the stateroom via deck 2 to see if the shop was open as I needed a cap for the sun, mine was still sitting in a drawer a home. Typically it was shut as always when in port, ah well tomorrow morning then!

It was time for dinner, and suitability showered and shaved we headed up to the PG restaurant on deck 11. Dinner was excellent as always, I had a quail starter followed by a spicy Malaysian chicken dish. I asked our waiter if the chef could make it spicy, and boy did he! It was lovely, I like a fiery curry and on board dishes tend to tone down the spice for a lower common denominator, this was perfect. A dessert of chocolate fudge cake rounded the meal off nicely. Jane had a cheesy croquette followed by halibut and then a mountain of a cheese platter.