I headed to the Britannia, only no one was available until 5.30pm so I sat on the stairs.  Gradually more waiters appeared but not Peter so I asked one if he was around.  When I did, I told him what I'd seen and showed him the photo.  He immediately recognised Richard but hadn't heard anything.  Our head waiter then came so I tried to discuss it with him but he wasn't bothered if Judith was upset.  He did agree to tell her they'd gone to Kings Court if she asked where they were.  With that, I left.  It was formal night as well as the rescheduled World Club booze up, and time was getting on now.  I went to the Golden Lion for a pre-booze up Coke and sat with Maureen and George before we headed in.  How nice of them to have orange juice as well as booze on every tray.  Why couldn't they have done that at the welcome booze up?  Anyway, we found somewhere to sit, which was an ideal place for extra nibbles!  The Captain was conspicuous by his absence, so his deputy did the speech.  It started off well, about the history of Cunard and its firsts but then he buggered up all that by saying Lizzie left the fleet in 2004!  Usual plugs for cruises followed by the most nights presentation.  This is where things become confusing in their loyalty club.  Either go by cruise credits or number of nights but not both.  I think nights is fairer.  Even though I have done many short trips, it is unfair people who do them on a regular basis get up to the higher tier before those who do a cruise upwards of a week, maybe once a year.  P&O and Fred Olsen go by nights while Royal Caribbean changed theirs in January 2011 to the same.  I will FINALLY rise to the next tier of P&O's renamed Peninsular Club in July 2012 but it will have taken me almost five years to get there.  That's fairer than if someone had done umpteen two/three nights on Cunard and was now Diamond to my Gold.  I know someone who did the two night before mine just so they could go up to Diamond while someone else has only done two trips of that length and is now Gold.  Royal Caribbean could see it was open to abuse and unfair in the long run so were right to change theirs.  Time Cunard's was too.

Well that was okay.  I spoke to Peter before I left and he said if she asked on the transatlantic, he'd tell her they'd moved to another table.  That would be plausible since they had a couple of times already since boarding in Brooklyn on the 23rd October.  It was karaoke in the Golden Lion, which is always good for a laugh.  I sat with Audrey, Jim, Maureen and George but many of those singing clearly always do it.  There was just a couple of duff ones but is does get boring when the same people get up there.  However, to my surprise, the crowd was rowdier and more drunk than you get on P&O!  Chavs have come to longer Cunard cruises!  And so to bed while Maureen and George went to the Commdore Club.

Our last sea day in the Bay of Evil and two things happened - it was calm and warm!  It was the 9th November so not right!  Where was the lovely bad weather????  Everything was back to normal since less norovirus cases were being reported so games were back, you got your own buffet food from Kings Court and the Atlantic Room open.  I got up after 11am then ended up joining some people from Blackpool for the quiz, getting 12/20 while the winners had 16/20.  The Queens Room Orchestra played very loud jazz afterwards as lunch was being served but, while not my thing, it was very enjoyable and they were having a lot of fun doing it.  By now, they were getting a little desperate with the chips.

I started getting a little teary, wishing my mum was still here.  If she hadn't died almost a year before, I wouldn't have been able to let Cunard rip me off for being a single passenger and, as much as I loved Mary and the trip had vastly improved generally since the first few days, I'd swap to have her back.  Back into the warm where I ordered the club sandwich again from room service, just for the fried egg.  I chickened out of asking for only that.  I collected the DVDs then went to the Golden Lion before dinner and noticed a bloke from second sitting wearing jeans, checked shirts and boots on casual night.  He only needed the cowboy hat to make the look complete!  I thought jeans were banned.  Clearly not because he went to dinner in them.  When I got to my table in the Britannia, Peter told me Helena had broken her hip after falling on the dock.  No one died - yay!  It was such a relief.  I hated lying to Judith.  I could imagine Helena giving the medical staff hell since she was very outspoken and forthright during dinner and Richard seemed a little under the thumb.  Our head waiter (forgotten his name) didn't know and was pleased too no one died.  He told Judith he wasn't going to be there for her final leg back to New York because he was off to Princess Grill.

Back to the cabin to put the case out.  Afterwards, one final night in the Golden Lion and the good company of Audrey, Jim, Maureen and George.  It's funny, of all the people on the ship, we kept bumping into each other.  They went to sort out their luggage before midnight so I had one more Coke and bowl of crisps before saying goodbye to Roxana and Natalia and heading off.

Before I went up, I popped to the Purser's desk to ask about getting a new card.  It's ridiculous P&O/Cunard take them off you when you disembark, "For security reasons" when they're of no use to anyone after you go.  And, with identity theft rife, it's safer to keep it with you.  I hadn't tried before because of my drinks package sticker.  The bloke behind the desk was new, having joined just before this trip and only worked on Navigator of the Seas before, so had to ask.  As he made me a new one, we talked about that great ship.  He'd been on when she did her only Southampton season and I took my first of several Royal Caribbean cruises.  Then I went to the cabin.  Nearly home and the end of the trip.  

A 4.30am start on the 10th November as we made the approach towards Cowes then I went on deck.  It was incredibly mild but really nice out on deck.  Balmoral was up our bum, due to dock fifteen minutes after us.  It was a shame it was dark, despite the clocks going back on the day we left.  During my last Lizzie cruise, we went from CET to GMT en route to Guernsey so had an extra two hours in bed - bliss!  Also, due to bad weather, it ended up being another sea day so even longer in bed - double bliss!  It was a bit weird going all the way to the Lower Swinging Ground only turning to back into the naughty corner rather than turn to go to the QEII Terminal.  The Atlantic Room was closed again.

Since breakfast options were limited, I went to the Britannia and got a table just for me so I didn't have to wait for bloody courses.  I'd asked for cheese omelette as well as the cooked stuff and told them to put it on the same plate but didn't think they would.  I was wrong.  Meanwhile more public rooms were being closed for sanitising.

My kick-off time with priority disembarkation wasn't until 8.45am so I went onto the Prom deck to get some last photos before the buggers booted me off.  Before I packed up my goodies and went to the theatre, I got some last shots from the info channel.

I was waiting with about four hundred who came down on a special charter train, many from Scotland.  The theatre on deck 3 became very crowded because hardly anyone sat past aisles.  On the deck below were the people going on the tour around the New Forest.  It was still a long walk off when called.

When I got to baggage reclaim, I saw a case identical to mine so it was a good job they had a massive padlock on it.  There were also plenty of taxis so I didn't have to wait and headed home.  I'd had to cancel my hospital appointment because of the norovirus on the ship and reschedule for January, which was a bit of a bugger because I wanted to ask him if he had any ideas about my back.

And so the cruise itself.  I'd be lying if I said Cunard is a wonderful product.  It isn't any longer, which is a shame.  I noticed many P&O influences during my two Lizzie cruises in 2008 but now they may as well paint the ships white and give them buff funnels.  Mary is magnificent but Cunard aren't luxury, just overpriced for the same P&O cruises.  Many things make or break a cruise and thankfully I did have a good time and met some really nice people.  Would I sail with Cunard again?  Yes, but they've got to do something about their rip off fares and extortionate single supplements.  I had been told they were introducing proper single fares from 2012 but still haven't had anything about it.  I asked Cunard via Twitter but they didn't reply.  Even with decent rates, the actual fares are too high to begin with so you may as well do a cruise with P&O and get a better grade of cabin for the same money, especially if you are one of the ever-growing number of solo cruisers.  This cost me hundreds more than my cancelled Oriana Christmas cruise last year to the Canaries would have because you're paying for the name rather than experience Cunard were once famed for.  It'll be interesting to see what happens with the Bermudan registry and how many 'outraged' on the Cunard Facebook page hurling unnecessary abuse at the PR team as well for not replying really will go elsewhere.  Bugger all, I reckon.  If you love a particular ship, even if the line pisses you off, it's hard to not go back.  I may have been disappointed with Cunard as a product but I still enjoyed it in the long run and want to go back on Mary.  She had a great atmosphere, which is important, and is extremely special.  I would even try Bermuda Betty to see how she compares to Arcadia (which had the WORST food to date of all my thirty-three cruises).  No two cruises are the same so perhaps a future Mary will be an improvement like my second Aurora and Epic were after the disasterous first.

To see photos of the ships in our various ports, click here or see my dad's photos of our sailaway with Eclipse, click here.