Queen Elizabeth in January 2022

Success! Sunday and Monday were stressful. Forms to complete and packing to do. But the worry about failing the covid test at the terminal and being sent home, disappeared when Kim, Jane and I took early morning lateral flow tests at home that were negative.

When we arrived at the terminal at midday on Tuesday we found 10 testing bays in operation. It was very efficient and the negative results were sent through to our mobiles within 15 minutes. As we had checked in on line the rest of the process was painless and we were soon aboard Queen Elizabeth.

It is clear that the ship is only about half full, but that makes it a much safer place. There is plenty of room for people to move about freely.

For this cruise we have been upgraded to the Britannia Club restaurant and the food has been fantastic. I am in danger of putting on massive amounts of weight. Jane has had to endure food prepared by me for the last 2 years and has not enjoyed the experience but now she is eating much more and with a smile on her face.

We have just been notified that the order in which we visit the various ports has been changed. We do not know why. We were due to visit Lisbon on Friday but we are now told that we will be there on Thursday next week. Instead of being our first port it will now be our last. It’s entry rules were more stringent than the Spanish rules, so perhaps Cunard are hoping for a relaxation of the Portuguese rules to enable more people to get ashore in Lisbon without more tests and more Passenger Locator Forms! We will see.

I will now attempt to publish this. Two years with no blogging at sea has meant that I am finding my way again with WordPress. Preparing the words off line and then getting onto Cunard’s expensive internet to send it.