Sunday, 12 April 2026
We were now down to the last two days of our cruise, having left behind the islands of the Caribbean and started our voyage north again. We had thoroughly enjoyed our time ashore, back in these wonderful islands, and we are now determined that we won’t leave it another nine years before visiting again! 🙂
Going out onto our balcony this morning, we saw that the sky was blue with cumulus clouds, and the air was balmy and warm, with a brisk sea breeze caused by the movement of the ship. We had our breakfast at the Pavilion Wellness Café; it was just so pleasant sitting outside in the gorgeous sea air, and the food there was always wholesome and delicious.
We then returned to 8025 and Trevor switched on the TV to see if they were going to show any Premiership football; he was delighted that they were going to televise the Sunderland v Tottenham game. As it kicked off at 2.00pm back home, this meant it was imminent at 9.00am here, so rather than sit in the cabin watching it, we decided to go up to the Garden Lounge and see if it was being shown on the big screens; we couldn’t see anything in the programme about it.
When we arrived, we could see other people who looked as if they were there for the football, but nothing was being shown on the big screens. We saw one member of the staff holding the TV remote, and we asked her to put the football on for us. She remarked that there was nothing in the programme to say that the football was being shown this morning, but she was simply outnumbered by the passengers wanting to watch. So the football it was! 😀
As Trevor selected a seat with a good view of the screen, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and catch up on this blog as well as watching. Most of the other football fans we saw seemed to be supporting Spurs, who were in danger of relegation. However, they were in even more danger by the end of the match, because Sunderland won 1-0. 🙂
Afterwards, we just spent time pottering around the ship before lunch, and I decided to go around the ship and take some photos. Like her sister Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth is a lovely elegant ship, beautifully designed and laid out, with fantastic artwork on the walls and amazing sculptures around the vessel. Here are some photos of various venues on the ship.
We didn’t really do much after lunch. Just rested in our cabin and sat out on the balcony, opening a bottle of fizz that we’d bought in Road Town yesterday. Then we had an afternoon nap and just spent the time pleasantly. Trevor noticed they were having a lawn bowls tournament at 4.15pm, so he disappeared up to the games deck to take part, while I used the time to shower and shampoo my hair in readiness of tonight’s formal evening, which featured a Masquerade Ball.
Once Trevor returned (his team didn’t win) we got ourselves ready, then we made our way along to the Britannia Restaurant at 5.30pm. On the way, our masks elicited lots of admiring comments; mine because it was a lavish, genuine Venetian mask that I’d bought in Venice in October 2018, and Trevor’s because his was an ornate half-face “Phantom of the Opera” style. We arrived at table #503 where Mervyn and Alice were already waiting; they too admired our masks. 🙂
After the usual delicious dinner in which I ate far too much as usual, we made our way to the Queen’s Room for a short while to watch the dancers, and see what other people’s masks were like. Then we headed for the Royal Court Theatre for tonight’s entertainment, a double bill featuring the Show Company paying their all-singing, all-dancing tribute to Motown music, followed by the excellent comedian we had seen the other night, John Joseph. Both sets of very different entertainment were very enjoyable – it’s been great this cruise. 🙂
Then it was along to the Golden Lion which was packed as usual. The quiz tonight was exactly the topic I like – music. But instead of the usual “name the title and artiste” type of quiz, this time you were given a line of lyrics from a song, and you had to say what came next. For example: “I saw the light on the night that I passed by her window….” you should guess is the first line of Delilah by Tom Jones, and you’d then know that the next line was “I saw the flickering shadows of love on the blinds”.
And so the quiz proceeding in such a way, and Trevor and I thought we were doing quite well, especially for songs of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. But when it came to the modern stuff there was very little that we actually knew! We scored a respectable 15/20, but the winners got an impressive 19/20.
We remained in the Golden Lion afterwards, because it was karaoke night once again. I got up to sing It’s A Sin by the Pet Shop Boys, but I only did one song this time because I was getting a scratchy throat. I didn’t know whether it was because of the dry, air-conditioned air, or whether I was going down with something; I certainly didn’t want to be loaded with a cold before a longhaul flight home. 🙁
We returned to 8025 around 11.30pm, and went out on the balcony to enjoy a glass of fizz in the balmy, calm night air. Then we turned in about midnight. Tomorrow would see the final day of this cruise, and we fell asleep in pleasant anticipation of what the day had in store.
Monday, 13 April 2026
Got up this morning at 8.00am, which was slightly later than usual because, sure enough, I woke up with all the signs of a cold starting; sore throat, thick head and runny nose. I took two paracetamol before going up to breakfast in the Lido self-service, where I only had a bowl of bran flakes and a hot coffee.
We then returned to 8025 and had a look at the Daily Programme to see what we fancied doing. There was a cornhole (Baggo) tournament on at 10.15 on Deck 10 and, while Trevor wanted to take part, I said I would go up and watch. 🙂
When we arrived, there were quite a few people waiting, and soon Hugo, one of the entertainment hosts, arrived and set up the Baggo board and collected two sets of beanbags from a nearby cupboard. Then he took down the names of all those participating. Usually, what happens is that names are called to form teams of pairs, and each pair plays in a knockout. This time, however, scores were individual and would consist of each person throwing over two rounds. The scoring was slightly different too; three points if you got your bag in the hole, two points if it was on the edge of the hole, and one point if it landed on the board.
Each person got up and threw their four beanbags, one at a time, and Hugo kept score. Trevor was quite rubbish when it was his turn (he is usually very good at this game!) but some other players were excellent; one person scored nine out of a potential 12.
During the next round, each player had to throw all four of their beanbags simultaneously, and in the final round they had to stand with their backs to the board and lob the bags over their shoulders! It made for some interesting results.
Afterwards, we had about an hour until lunchtime, so we decided to go back to 8025 and reluctantly make a start with our packing. Dragging one of the suitcases out from under the bed, we filled it with whatever we wouldn’t be using again this cruise, leaving the easily-creased clothing and formal wear hanging in the wardrobe until the last minute. Then we went up to the Lido self-service for some lunch. I decided on a bowl of hot soup followed by a few spoons of beef stew – comfort food to soothe my sore throat.
Afterwards, I decided to have a lie-down for a while; I was determined to keep this cold at bay because I know (from bitter experience) that it is very uncomfortable flying when you have blocked sinuses. So I didn’t do much at all for the rest of the afternoon; I just took it easy, reading, playing games on my phone, doing some of this blog and just relaxing.
At 3.15pm Trevor disappeared off to the Royal Court Theatre to listen to a presentation by Robert Neal Marshall about aviation and aircraft. In particular, he spoke about Transatlantic Propliners and their Super-G Constellation aircraft, which he described as the “greatest aeroplane ever built”. He had obviously never flown on Concorde then! 🙂
Once Trevor returned, we did some more of our packing, and I got showered and shampooed and blow-dried my hair. Then we opened the final bottle of fizz that we’d bought in Tortola and each enjoyed a glass, which perked me up considerably. 🙂
When dinner time rolled around once more, I really didn’t feel like going along to the restaurant, despite it being our last night. Trevor went on his own, and when we came back he said that only Alice had turned up, so it was dîner pour deux once again.
The entertainment tonight featured the whole of the show company performing their tribute to Les Misérables. Trevor and I have never seen this show, even though it is immensely popular and you cannot avoid the songs, as they are performed anywhere and everywhere. It was an enjoyable show, but not one of my favourites.
We finished the evening off by going to the Golden Lion which was absolutely packed out. We took part in the Grand Trivia quiz but didn’t win once again. We did, however, enjoyed a couple of pints of cold Guinness as we looked around the pub and surreptitiously eavesdropped on our fellow passengers; some of whom were remaining on board to do the next cruise.
Returning to 8025 around 10.30pm, we saw the depressing sight of the corridors lined with suitcases, indicating we would be disembarking in the morning. We therefore packed the remainder of our stuff, leaving out only those things we would need in the morning and for the long haul flight home.
Then we poured the rest of the prosecco into two flutes, which we enjoyed for the last time on our balcony, in the balmy, sub-tropical air. This had been a great little cruise with excellent ports of call – you really can’t beat the Caribbean for sunshine, music, colour and culture. No wonder it is such a popular cruise destination.
We set our wake-up alarm for 6.15am, and settled down for the final time in our big, comfortable bed in stateroom 8025. We slept well.
In the morning, we found ourselves back in Miami, right back where we’d started from. Our cruise was over, but it wouldn’t be too long before our next adventure. 🙂
