Port Days

Palma de Majorca – Our Final Day – Day 14

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.

Naples and Pompeii – Day 12

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.

The Eternal City, Rome – Day 11

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.

Villefranche and Monte Carlo – Day 10

After a terrible nights sleep, plagued by indigestion which I blamed on a breakfast bagel, we were woken up by the screeching of the tenders being lowered ready for ferrying guests over to the port. We didn’t have any trips planned for today so it was a leisurely breakfast – no bagel for me today, We’d had a chat with the head waiter Vitali who suggested getting the train. So we discussed whether to go to Monaco as Jane hadn’t been there before so we got the tender over to Villefanche Gare where it was 12 Euros for a return ticket for the two of us to Monaco Monte Carlo.

The journey was fuss free, but everyone and his dog got off with us so it was slow going getting out of the station. It’s a bit of a  strange do as there only seems to be  lift access to and from the station concourse up to street level. Monte Carlo is built on hill so it wasn’t long before I was drenched in sweat walking up hill and down dale towards Casino square. The place is plagued by cars, crossing the road never felt at all safe even on the zebra crossings. The parts of Monte Carlo we were in wen’t very welcoming, shops beyond posh with bouncers on the doors and no nice little cafes for a coffee.

We got the train back to Villefranche, we didn’t have to wait long as they are every 30 mins, but we did have to run up the platform a bit as the train stopped at the far end. When I say run, it was more of a fast hobble, but we got on and found a seat without any problems. We stopped in one of the small Villefranche tavernas for lunch and a very welcome cold beer. Jane had spaghetti moules and I had a sardine salad with floating Islands for dessert. Jane had the sorbet, delicious at less than 50 Euros. Getting the tender back was a bit of a palaver as we arrived at the same time as a couple of tours, this was compounded by the tenders being out of position so it took a long time to get through security and even longer waiting to board the tender. Before long we were back on board with Jane grabbing a bed to sun herself on the lower Grills Terrace and

I snuck into the PG restaurant for a crafty Afternoon Tea. I was famished after all the queueing. We stayed in the Grills lounge for a drink before getting changed for dinner.
Dinner was excellent, I started with Macaroni cheese, flavoured with mushrooms and truffle oil and a main of Bang Bang Prawns, both dishes were very tasty.  Jane also had the prawns and started with a chicken Waldorf salad. I had the frozen souffle for dessert, yum! We had an early start for our Rome Tour so decided on an early night.

Barcelona for the Second Time – Day 8

It was all a bit noisy this morning with the hustle an bustle of disembarkation for the guests who’s cruise had finished today. Jane had decided that she was having a lie in so it was breakfast for one for me up in the PG restaurant. Breakfast finished early today at 09;00 so by the time I had arrived at 08:45 it was very quiet and I opted for a granola yoghurt pot with compote and a mushroom, cheese and chilli omelette. I grabbed a granola pot and a banana for Jane back in the room so she had something before we headed out into Barcelona.

We headed down to the shuttle bus pranging my head on a lifeboat stepping onto the gangway. There was a mind your step sign but no mind your head one! It was a short bus ride into Barcelona where we were dropped off at the World Trade Centre. It was then not too far to Las Ramblas and a steamy walk up through the centre of Barcelona to Placa de Catalunya where our hotel is next week. We then took a stroll down through the side streets, stopping in Corte Inglesis for a bit of aircon relief before heading into the Boqueria.

We walked though the market looking for a likely looking coffee stop, but nothing caught our eye there so we wended through the backstreets behind the market grabbing a cappuccino at a totally unsuitable cafe while we decided upon somewhere for lunch. As luck would have it, while looking for a restaurant I stumbled across a cookery school that does Paella courses. As I’m in Barcelona I thought this would be a good thing to do as a treat for my Birthday next week where I could learn to cook a mean paella. So we booked that up as it is only a 3 hour course then headed back into the Boqueria to drool over the produce there and head of for lunch at Geull for some tapas.

The lunch exceeded all expectations a lovely cold beer with several small plates, Jane was convinced that the albondigas were the best she’s had and I loved the sauteed calamaris all in all and excellent filling lunch for 41 Euros.

After that it was time to head back to the ship so we walked back to the World Trade Centre where the shuttle busses were waiting. Back at the ship we headed up to the Grills Terrace via the stateroom for a little light sunbathing, which turned out to be a little post lunch snoozing. It was hot and humid out with not a lot of sun, greyish clouds rolling in during the afternoon. After a cup of tea I went down to the Grills lounge for a coffee and relax in the cool of the bar.

Tonight at dinner was the first bad meal I’ve had, and actual bad meal. I had the tempura jumbo prawns to start and they are now back to their usual best
light and crispy tempura batter over the succulent shrimp in a spicy sweet chilli sauce. I decided on the chicken ballotine with langostine tails from the A La Carte menu. It was horrible, the texture of the langostine wasn’t nice, it was if they were past their best and started to fall apart and the chicken ballotine was soft with no texture. I did not like it at all. Our waiter did offer something else but I had eaten most of it and was not in the mood for another whole plate of food.

In the port of Valencia – Day 7

I hopped out of bed to catch the sunset this morning but alas we are on the wrong side for it today. We are in Valencia today, we were here in November where we went on a tour. We didn’t plan on going on a tour but we’d decide we fancied getting the shuttle ashore at breakfast. It turns out there is a world triathlon event in Valencia today and the shuttle has a transfer time of 40 mins so that put paid to any thought of going for lunch ashore. Instead it was decided that we’d do the laundry instead, oh joy! So we wen’t to the laundrette where there were three free machines. There aren’t any of the soap pods in our laundry room, but there is loose powder and a spoon to dispense it. Machine loaded and switched on, we headed down to the promenade deck to sit in a steamer chair for the 40 mins the cycle takes. Washing duly transferred to the dryer we then had another 30 mins wait for them to dry.
Once that was done the Grills terrace and a cappuccino was calling my name. We went to lie in the sun for a hour before lunch, I didn’t manage an hour as it was too hot for me. I ended up in the Grills lounge to get some respite and wait for lunch.

I had the beef carpacchio as a starter followed by beef bourguignon which was a very large portion, so much so I skipped pudding. Jane had quesadillas which were very nice. She also cracked one of the bottles of Rose that we had bought in Cannes. She’s decided to drink that across a couple of lunches which means we need to buy another bottle to top up our Commodore’s
wine package.

After lunch we went up to the upper terrace to grab a bed, if they hadn’t all been reserved, in the shade. There were a few available, but most had assorted tat on them reserving them for the chancers that had disappeared off for lunch. It was a lazy afternoon lying in the shade, reading my book, listening to Spotify until Jane decided she wanted it, then watching the Dutch GP on my phone. The ice cream fairies arrived at promptly 15:00 with a bowl of mint choc chip and vanilla ice creams swiftly followed by the tea trolley who furnished us with a nice cuppa.

All of a sudden it was 5 pm and the Commodore club was calling, so we headed there via the stateroom to bring the washing in from the balcony where it was airing. Jane started off with a dark & stormy which started off not very nice but with a bit of a mix was much better. Doombar for me today. The second cocktail of the day was a honeysuckle daiquiri.

We were a little late getting to dinner and arrived up in the PG restaurant about 8pm. It wasn’t any special dinner tonight and the menu was a little uninspiring, Jane as always opted for lamb, Dorset loin this time and enjoyed that though she found it to be a little “firm” not tough but it took a little more chewing than expected. I opted for roast turkey, Xmas dinner is my favourite meal of the year, and I really enjoyed that. My starter was smoked trout and dessert a blackcurrant cheesecake. After dinner we went back into the Grills lounge for a postprandial drink where Jane had a Brandy Alexander and I had a cappuccino.

Corsica and Ajaccio – Day 5

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.

Livorno for Pisa and Firenze – Day 4

We woke up late today, 8am which I would like to think is unlike us, but I’m sure as the cruise progresses it will become the norm.The view from the stateroom window was far more industrial than yesterday’s as I could see nothing other than cranes and shipping containers. I dithered around until Jane said it was 09:15 and if I didn’t get a move on we’d miss breakfast. Suitably focused we were in the PG restaurant well before it closed and ordered up our breakfast while we decided what to do. We hadn’t any trips booked as I didn’t fancy a 2 hour trek out to Florence by coach, but we decided to get the shuttle into Livorno and possibly get a train from there to Pisa which is only 15 minutes away.

Getting the shuttle was a right palaver, we had to queue for a ticket to board, we then had to wait for the coach to arrive, and then it was an age getting into the centre of the town because of traffic. Livorno is surprisingly pretty with a lovely Cathedral and quirky Synagogue. We ended up in the Central Market which was lovely and cool. While there we stopped for a coffee and a slice of cake in one of the many little cafes. Two Cappuccino and Nutella pastry were Euro 3.70 which felt like a bit of a steal, especially since they were so nice.
We took a circuitous route back to the coach pick up point to get the shuttle back to the ship for lunch and a little light sunbathing. We must have just missed one as it took an age for the shuttle to arrive. The journey back seemed much quicker mainly because there wasn’t any traffic.

We weren’t very hungry so I decided to skip the appetiser and just have the sandwich of the day. Jane had a cheesy Jalapeno starter and the pumpkin pasta. Anuraj decided that I should have a starter and brought me the same as Jane, have I mentioned that he’s a feeder? I’m glad he did as it was excellent, if more than a little fiery. I ended up not eating all of my sarnie though and passed on a dessert.
After lunch I headed upstairs to bag a couple of beds while Jane went to get changed into her cozzie and get me my book and earbuds. I blagged the first two beds under the shady part of the deck which meant I could lie in the shade and Jane could drag her bed out into full sun.

The sky started to look a little angry and with the promise of thunderstorms on the BBC weather site and Jane getting too hot we decided to head down into the Grills lounge for a cool drink, I had a nice cool Doombar and Jane, with a nod to our location had a nice cool Peroni. Five oclock came and it was time to have another drink. Jane had a Moscow Mule delux and I had a Rock Shandy but with ginger beer rather than lemonade – essentially a vodkaless Moscow Mule Very refreshing.

Suitability refreshed it was time for a shower and to get ready for dinner. I was looking forward to tonight’s offering of tandoori lamb chops. Jane can’t be doing with her lamb to be messed about with so was pleased to hear that she could have the rack of lamb off the A la Carte menu for one, she was less happy to find out it was half a rack instead of a full one. She did get four cutlets in her half, so was happy again. I tried the tempura prawns for starter, they were just as delicious as the first time but the tempura was now light and crispy, well done chef. My tandoori lamb was excellent with just the right amount of accompaniments to flavour the rice. Double well done chef.

After dinner we again headed to the Garden Lounge where we discovered the truth behind the folk duo performing there. Although they are from Tipperary, the name of the duo is the Newfoundland Duo, it’s their title rather than their origin. Apparently a lot of Newfoundlandiers originate from Wexford hence the associated name. Jane wanted to see the headline act in the Royal Court Theatre, the FlyRites. She dragged me along to see them on our last cruise as they were “brilliant” I was not convinced so avoided going with her this time. It turns out their first set is brilliant as she really enjoyed them again, especially Mr Bojangles.

Cannes and Antibes – Day 3

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.

Barcelona and Embarkation – Day 1

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.

View More