Friday 26th April – Home again, home again!

The last morning of a cruise is always a bit of a juggling act. Suddenly one longs to be free of all the hassles and just get home. I had been scheduled to leave the ship at 10am. This would have been fine if I could have slept in, but I had to be out of my room by 8:30, and breakfast in the Lido finishes at that time too. I could not face sitting around all that time with nothing to do, so changed my arrangements to self-disembarkation. That meant I did not put my suitcase out the night before but dragged it off myself at whatever time I chose to be ready. It worked brilliantly and got me home about 3 hours earlier than I would have made it if I’d gone through the usual channels.

I got up at 7am and was walking off the ship by about 8:15. There was a long line of taxis waiting and I caught one to Southampton Railway Station and got on the 9:15 train to Reading without too long a wait. At Reading I had nearly half an hour to wait for the local 10:23 train to Radley, and then there was the 5-minute walk to my door. I was home by 11:15.

Thursday 25th April – Last day of the cruise

It’s always sad to do things for the last time. At the Solo Travellers’ Get-Together I sat with Frances and Jorge for our last laugh. 

I only watched the last dance lesson (review of basic Quickstep) as I was copying my movie files to Yolanda’s computer. I did not think I had energy to spare for a dance lesson.

For days people had been asking if I’d started packing yet. I can’t see the big deal in packing. I spent about half an hour in the late afternoon putting the clothes in my suitcase and organising other things into bags, ready to throw in on top of my evening clothes at bedtime.

I’m glad I made the effort to go to dinner, as it was the first time on our cruise that we had a full table! Several of us left the table early, before dessert, as Queen Mary 2 was coming up behind us and was expected to overtake us. It was cold outside, so I only took distance photos of both a container ship and the Queen Mary 2!

(container ship visible and the Queen Mary is the dot just to the right of centre) 

In the evening dance session a Viennese Waltz was announced. I was disappointed when none of the Hosts asked me to dance, but then Dan (professional dance teacher) appeared and escorted me to the floor. I asked if this was my graduation ceremony after our lesson. We twirled around the floor for the whole song (‘Dat’s Amore’, sung beautifully by Paul), changing directions and with only a few beats of a side-to-side step in the middle for a rest. Dan dances so well that I did not feel dizzy at all, though at the end when we went back to Olena she kept saying ‘Breathe … breathe!’ This was definitely another cruise highlight (along with Jorge’s and Rock’s dancing) and I felt privileged to have a full dance with Dan in an evening session.

The dancing finished at 11pm, to give us all time to complete our packing. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone.

Wednesday 24th April – Sunshine

This is a good reminder of how important it is to update the diary as I go along. I did not get back to this until Saturday, on my return, and can only remember what happened because of the photos!

This morning I finally realised why it is that I have been woken up just about every morning by the noise outside. My door does not fit properly and is not soundproof. I can see a triangle of light down the side. I can almost fit my fingers between the door and the doorframe at the bottom. I reported it to Reception, and the carpenter arrived while I was out, but I don’t think anything could be done.

At the Solo Travellers’ Get-Together I talked with Rock for a long time. His English continues to improve as the cruise progresses.

(Rock and Jorge)

In the afternoon we (J&J and I) sat in the sun and soaked up some of the small amount of sunshine we have received on this cruise. It had been either too hot or too cold to go outside! 

 (Judith and Jenny)

At dinner that night, Jim and Frank had bought a couple of bottles of pink champagne to share with the table, as a thank you for our good company. What gentlemen!

In the evening Victoriana Ball dancing I had 2 dances that must remain among my cruise highlights. They were complete improvisation with me not knowing what was happening next but following my partner/s into the steps. It started with Rock asking me if I could do the Paso Doble. I said it was over 30 years since I’d tried it. However, I followed him into various attitudes and steps, and then the music turned into a march and we ended with Rock, me, Jorge and his partner, four abreast, marching up the room. It was a romp! In the later dancing session we had a similar dance. It was a real medley that went from paso doble to Viennese waltz to march and I don’t know what else. To add to it, partway through Jorge suddenly called ‘Change partners’ and we swapped without missing a beat. We did the same again so we ended with our original partners. Rock was moving around and ducking his head so that I was draped all around like the bullfighter’s cape. He ended with me behind him, arms around his neck. I’ve seen that move on Strictly Come Dancing, but he didn’t follow it through by dragging me across the floor! (I definitely enjoy romps – using serious steps but in a fun way – to the stricter dancing I was trying to remember on my last cruise. However, it takes a very talented partner, who can lead extremely well, to pull it off! Such partners are rare.)

After the dancing a group of us, organised by the singer Paul, went up to the Lido buffet for supper. This is the first time I’ve come across this on a cruise, and it was a lovely way to socialise with people off the dance floor. It meant a late night though, as we stayed until close to 1am.

Tuesday 23rd April – Lisbon

I had hoped to sleep late, but once again I was woken by my room steward, who parks his cart just outside my door and rummages in the ice to fill up the buckets as he cleans the rooms. (I have asked if he can park his cart somewhere else tomorrow, but he can’t move it very far along because of the layout of the corridor.)

Unfortunately the dancing and continual activity have caught up with me, along with the asthma and the cold. I really did not want to do much.

I took the free shuttle bus to a central square. While waiting for the bus to fill, I stood in the sunshine and talked to the driver. He suggested that I take the 737 bus up to the castle (and even got out of the shuttle bus at our destination to point it out to me) and then a tram to another area. I went to the castle but found I had to walk uphill on cobblestones. It felt like miles!

Inside the castle complex I sat on a stone bench in the sun for about an hour. The forecast temperature was around 18 degrees, which is perfect when the sky is blue and the sun is shining. I took a few photos and then soaked up the sun’s rays and decided I didn’t want to do anything else, so walked back down to the bus. The sunshine was wonderful after the UK's bleak winter.

In the square I found a McDonalds and bought some water so I could use their internet. (If you ever want to know the best places for the internet at a port, you either ask or follow the crew! They go to the free wifi spots and skype home.)

Back on the ship I read on my couch for a while and then lay on the bed and almost dozed. I don’t think I slept for more than 5 minutes at any one time, but at least I was resting.

Perhaps it was fortunate that there was a mistake in the programme, and the 7:45 to 8:30 dancing segment had not been included. I went along at 8:00 but no one was there! I made it to the 9:15 segment, but left shortly after 10:30. I had been admiring the discipline of my new friend Frances, who leaves about that time every night so she can get sufficient rest. After leaving early myself, I admire her discipline even more! (I will miss Frances after the cruise. We have had a lot of good laughs together.)