Finally, at, I think, our seventh attempt we made it back on to a Cunard ship, and enjoyed ourselves very much. We have cruised with Cunard many times and were pleased to see everything was much as expected, with a few differences because of Covid.

By far the worst part was embarkation which took about an hour and three quarters rather than the usual 20 minutes. I’m not sure why this was, except everyone seemed to turn up together. We had to wait a considerable time in our car for CPS to process us, then in the tent to be tested, which was by far the most alarming as an awful out of people were at rather close quarters. Then, when we got a negative result, we had to queue a while to show it to be allowed to check in. Finally, security took ages, partly because it was a cold day and people were wearing many layers, which some were astonished to discover they had to remove.

Eventually we surmounted all these troubles and were allowed on board the beautiful, serene, and shiny Queen Elizabeth. Everything improved considerably. Our cabin was ready, and we went up for a latish lunch in the Queens Grill, to discover the menus have been revised, and, indeed, improved. Throughout our voyage, the quality of food and standard of preparation was very good indeed, and I enjoyed almost everything. Read more