First cruise after Lockdown - July 29th - August 6th 2021

Quite a normal paced start & we left at 10:10. The first problem was the Euston bus stop was closed, so we had further to walk to the station. However, everything went smoothly from then on. I put Avis in the first 2nd Class coach but went up the other end outside, as our seats were the other end. This was not a problem. Opposite was a Canadian woman who was on the wrong train but we got her off at Stafford with instructions how to get to the Stockport train! At Liverpool, Avis had a tea & bun, then we got a taxi to the Exhibition Centre but although we were there at our scheduled time, we were in a long queue to get registered & Lateral Flow Tested. Then, we had to wait for our tests. We were organised in coach-sized batches & had a very slow ride to the actual cruise Terminal, still in a tent. Finally, we got on the ship at about 16:15 & went straight up to the Poolside Bar on the 8th (Lido) Deck for something to eat, as I had had nothing since breakfast & Avis is always hungry. There was a not-very-good pop group there & the driver made an announcement but because of the echo off the sliding roof, you could not make out a word, so, if there had been a Lifeboat Drill, we would have missed it anyway. We unpacked at last & I changed into my posh Alpine for dinner, proper short-sleeved shirts & one of Dad’s silk ties. (For my Alpine trips, this & light slacks were what I would wear in hotels). The company seemed all right, with very talkative Joan. I told Jeff history stuff he had no idea about. It was men one side & women the other on a straight table for 6, 8 actually but there are sometimes strange Covid restrictions all over the ship, which is a good deal larger & roomier (including our cabin) than the Balmoral. I had some curried fish. Then, disaster, well, not really. I went to get my driving glasses for the show & sent Avis to the Neptune Lounge. There is one design flaw in this ship, the old Rotterdam. Deck 4 does not go through & I sent her up there, so she would not have been able to get straight to the Neptune Lounge. I searched the ship, missing most of the show. Then, security put out a notice at the end of the show for her to go to Reception, where we finally met up. What I saw of the show was a funny man with a clever sequence of gags about Covid, which I thought in bad taste, considering almost everyone has a Covid tragedy tale to tell. I left Simon the Cruise Director a note in Reception, saying I had my talks, which he had asked for.