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What an amazing place. Cartagena is far enough away from cities like Alicante to the north and Malaga to the southwest to be largely ignored by tourists (well British tourists).

What is astounding about the place is that in the 1980’s, when the city authorities decided to clear the whorehouses and bordellos, they knocked down the brothels and the other buildings in the area. And underneath they found Roman remains galore.

They found a massive theatre which archeologists have been working on and restoring. It is unbelievable that something so large could have been forgotten about. They also discovered the Forum and the Roman Baths which have been restored. There are numerous fine buildings to explore and the main street has been beautifully pedestrianised.

The QV’s berth was alongside a very busy marina. Southampton could learn from the way in which the waterfront has been laid out, because the cafes, the restaurants and the sea museums overlook the marina and the cruise ships.

As we located a table in the sun Tim and Jean Whitehead arrived and joined us for a well deserved and very strong coffee.

We suggest that if you haven’t been to Cartagena you make the trip. More and more of the Roman buildings are being recovered and restored and there is plenty to see.

Livorno is the gateway to Pisa and Florence, but because of the distances involved and the fact that we had been to Pisa before, we decided to explore Livorno.

The indoor market nearby was extraordinary.

A beautiful building and a multitude of butchers. There were other foods for sale but every other outlet was a butcher selling a vast array of meats. How many small butchers shops can you find in a UK town these days?

Next day we were in Ajaccio, Corsica. Deputy Captain Love announced our arrival with the standard notices and said that the mist/fog enveloping the town would lift to give us a sunny, warm day. In fact it lifted just as we departed!

The Smith family spent many happy and active holidays further south in Corsica in the late eighties and the nineties with Mark Warner. Sailing, windsurfing, waterskiing and tennis. And al fresco meals with plenty of beer and wine. They were great and we enjoyed 13 Mark Warner holidays during that time making many lifelong friends. The very first such holiday was near to Porto Vecchio on the east coast at the Hotel Ziglione.

Later we found our favourite – Club Marinca opposite Propriano on the bay of that name. A wonderful venue.

But back to Ajaccio and November 2014. We thought we had sailed into the port before but were wrong. Earlier voyages had taken us to Calvi and to Bastia – both further north. Corsica is a big Island. No 4 in size in the Med. But because its mountains are so dominant the roads are difficult and travel is slow. In the days of Mark Warner we rarely left the hotel, not only because of the transport problems, but because of the bandits and the shootings.

Propriano was allegedly a Mafioso stronghold, and at night we occasionally heard shots fired from the other side of the bay. Traffic signs were regularly riddled with bullet holes. And one year we arrived at Marinca to find that the boathouse and bar on the beach had been blown up by rebels who wanted Independence from France. The boats had been blown up too – which was good for us as it meant a brand new fleet of Lasers, windsurfs and waterski boats!

On Sunday Ajaccio was busy. The locals were out in force, and although the shops were closed the cafes in the square were open and there was a small market not far from the ship. We wandered off away from the centre and during our travels met Commodore Rind and his wife Julie. He was in civvies wearing a casual shirt and a large straw hat! 

This is him in uniform.

We moved on and found a castle with a moat. This one didn’t contain poppies but a goat and two donkeys!

I can never get very excited about Gibraltar. It’s something to do with the Apes (actually they are monkeys and not apes). Jane loves to see them, but to me they are dirty, horrble, little scavengers that jump on your head, steal your sunglasses, cameras and mobile phones and eat your ice creams and sweets. And they bite if you annoy them! They live on the Upper Rock and they leave the area covered in their debris. Keep well clear is my advice!

Those of you that have flown planes into Gibraltar will know that the flight path can be blocked by cruise ships. It didn’t happen to us this time, but I do recall our arrival, on one occasion, being delayed until the BA flight from London had landed.

The ship has now been decorated for Christmas and looks fabulous. Immaculate Christmas trees have appeared all over the ship.

And after our departure from Gibraltar we had a day at sea and then the final port, La Coruna.

We were here exactly a fortnight ago. La Coruna appears to have become popular with Cunard as the last port on voyages to and from the Med or the Canaries. You can see from these charts why that is. La Coruna is right on the northern tip of Spain.

La Coruna is, in addition, a very attractive city. This time we found our way into the old town, which is full of churches, schools and narrow streets. We also found the monument dedicated to Sir John Moore.

If his yet to be knighted namesake is reading this, he will no doubt be impressed. It rained briefly after we first left the ship, but then the sun came out and it was a great day. The main square was being set up for a Christmas market. 

.,We screamed across Southampton Water today at speeds in excess of 40 knots. No, not aboard one of the Queens, but on David Saph’s massive RIB.

Anthem of the Seas, the latest massive Royal Caribbean cruise ship, left the scene first.

She has been in and out of the port over the last 2 weeks. It was clear that she realised that she was an unwelcome guest today. Then Fred Olsen’s Balmoral scuttled away to leave the stage for the Cunarders.

Queen Elizabeth was berthed at the QEII terminal and she pulled out first.

Queen Victoria was on her own at the Mayflower Terminal and after Queen Mary 2 started to leave Ocean Terminal, QV was moving to join her sisters. QM2 moved to port and sailed past QE and the sailaway down Southampton Water began. QV joined the procession, bringing up the rear.

Earlier at a lunch on board Queen Mary 2 the Captains of the 3 Queens posed for photos. Commodore Christopher Rynd, Captain Inger Klein Thorhauge and Captain Chris Wells.

It was a great day. Many thanks to David Saph for making it possible.

ICaptain David Saph had two photographers aboard his unnamed RIB. Your blogger and one Cark Maunsell.

Cark has Dropboxed his photos to me and I have added some of them here.

They indicate to me that either (a) he has a better camera than me or, (b) that he is a better photographer than me.

Not much sleep last night. Amazing how the exit poll painted a very accurate picture of the likely end result (70 seats still to be declared as I write). All that talk of coalitions by the pollsters showed how inaccurate they can be. Not surprised to see the Lib Dems doing so badly after turning on their coalition partners. Will David Miliband be flying back from the US to take over from his brother?!

We are in the middle of the packing process before boarding Queen Elizabeth on Monday for a Baltic cruise. We take in Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tallinn, St Petersburg overnight, Warnemunde, Kirkwall in Orkney and Liverpool on Monday 25 May for further 175 year celebrations with the other 2 Queens. Then one day to get round Lands End and back to Southampton.

That’s what the cruise is called and we are on our way. Bright and early start with no mishaps apart from the missing jacket. Everything done. House left clean and tidy (by my standards) for Linda, our house sitter. I even remembered where the Hoover was kept and how to use it. I remember getting the jacket off the hanger, but just as we were about to leave, the jacket had gone. The conclusion reached by the others was that I must have packed it. Searched everywhere, no joy. Linda will no doubt spot it as soon as she arrives.

It was very foggy here!