Today we took things slowly - breakfast at nine; attended various beauty talks, enrichment lectures for Tom; sudoko by the window in the Grand Lounge; organised transfers to Gatwick upon our return; trivia quiz in the Golden Lion, with cocktails before lunch!!

More talks/demonstrations after lunch - met a lovely lady from Lockerbie. Then time to prepare for the Gold and Platinum Members Cocktail Party with the captain.

The final cruise for the poor old QE2 was announced today - Southampton -> Dubai, and sold out within 36 minutes of going on sale. The captain and staff are quite emotional about the whole thing. There are people on board who've done more than 100 cruises; who were engineers on board for many years and are now retired and holidaying on board; who've spent over 2000 days on QE2 cruises!!

It was commented on by various restaurant staff that we did not eat there for dinner last night!! Even the Assistant Maitre D'. We have taken up the habit of checking the menu before meals to see if it interests us.