The Last Few Days

Saturday 5th November 2016

We were entering the Bay of Biscay and it was forcast to be a fairly choppy crossing.  Mr G thought it was choppy on our first crossing but this was something else, I believe it was something like a 12ft swell.  Mr G isn't a good sailor and had already made good use of the travel pills I packed.  He lay on the bed most of the day watching TV.  I'm not as sensitive as Mr G but even I felt a bit queasy.  Poor Abraham was most disappointed he couldn't get in our room to do his housekeeping.  He urged Mr G to go sit in the centre of the ship, for example The Queens room where it is more stable.  

Tonight was our last formal night.  I did not feel up to it but we had arranged with table companions to exchange contact details that evening.  So I got dressed and went down for dinner alone.  I was getting a bit worried when I was seated at the table all by myself, but then Chris and Charles turned up. There was no sign of Bev and Paul.    It was a struggle to speak and keep up conversation without bursting into coughing.  My sinus' were extremely sore and prone to bleeding, did I mention I felt awful.   It was Lobster tonight ( I love seafood) but I could not finish it.    It was also Baked Alaska night and the Parade of Chefs which was well worth seeing. 

I made it through dinner, but didn't go to the Queen's Room so I've no idea what the Starlight Ball was like.  I had no dance partner and wasn't up to it anyway.  I went straight back to bed.

Due to the circumstances I didn't get a photo of my last formal outfit that night,  however I have one taken from a Christmas Dinner Dance.

I don't remember much of our last day on board except that somehow we managed to get packed.  I do remember being desperate to get off the ship and get home.  I felt I was never going to get better whilst on board.

On the last morning we left our hand luggage in our Stateroom whilst we went up to the Lido for our last breakfast on board.  On returning to the Stateroom to collect our luggage, we were surprised the room had already been cleaned and readied for the next occupants.  We felt totally undervalued and no longer of importance to Cunard.  Due to the speed of the turnaround I questioned how the room could have been de-sanitised so quickly and what bugs we were leaving behind for the next occupants.

Once back at home our daughter, a doctor, was deeply concerned at the state she found us in.  She urged us to go  to our GP so he could rule our Legionaire's disease.   Thankfully he did, we had caught a very nasty bacterial infection and were given a dose of antibiotics.  It took a further three weeks before we began to feel like ourselves again.

It was whilst we were feeling so ill that we received a questionnaire from Cunard re our voyage.  One of the questions was, Would we go on another cruise?  I was adamant I wouldn't.    Approximately one month later I wondered if I'd been too hasty with that reply.  After all, I had enjoyed the dressing up, making new friends and visiting the ports.   I came to the conclusion, I needed another cruise to see what it was like without having any nasty bugs!