Our Flight Home

Our flight home is TOM177. It leaves here at 1755 our time (2155 UK time) and lands at Manchester Airport on Sunday morning at 6.05am.

You should be able to track it here - https://flightaware.com/live/flight/TOM177

Friday 21 January

We had our evening meal just as the sun was starting to set and then went up to the Planet Bar, high up at the stern of the ship to listen to cocktail pianist, Steve Kingsbury, something we had not done so far.

As he got started we realised that we were regretting that we hadn't done so as he was very entertaining and, like Lana the singer, was not only good at what he did, but also had a good on stage presence with an engaging manner so that his audience was soon relating well to him.

For his 45-minute slot he played some tunes to see if he could get through the alphabet in that time.  He started off with the Rolling Stones's 'Angie' and ended with 'Zippedy doo-dah' with, inevitably 'Tea for Two' along the way. We commented just how much Grandma Joyce would have loved it.

As we awoke just before dawn today, we realised that we were arriving in Barbados and the ship edged slowly towards the dockside for what is our last port of call.  We could see Cunard's Queen Victoria lit up at anchor offshore which is acting as an isolation/quarantine ship, a stark reminder that this is perhaps not yet quite the time to resume cruising.

Today we have to fill in our Passenger Locator Form for the UK authorities so that they can track us down when we get home.  It's all a bit of a farce now as I believe that this requirement, along with the Day 2 lateral flow test that we will have to take once back home are being dropped from next Wednesday.  In any case, we no longer have to self-isolate when we get home until we get the all clear from our Day 2 tests, so we do wonder what is being achieved in this regard.

Royal Caribbean's 'Explorer of the Seas' arrives to join us

This morning we also have to meet with the Barbados immigration authorities on the dockside.  We'll need our sea pass cards and our passports and they will give us each a disembarkation card in return.  All seems a touch odd really as we haven't had to do that anywhere else.

We're reminded that it's against the law to wear camouflage dress here and that we have to be back on board tonight by 11.30pm as Barbados is under a national curfew between midnight and 5am each day.  We're not sure quite what we might do today.  First job when we get ashore may be to see if there are any free maps of Bridgetown to be had and take it from there.

Moeen Ali

Today will see quite a bit of upheaval as some of the passengers will leave today to be replaced by part of the new cohort.  As there will be a lot more people on board for the next cruise, we're bound to notice things getting busier on board as the day progresses.

Paul Collingwood bowling

After breakfast we hung around here and there on the ship waiting for our 9.20am appointment with the immigration authorities.  Over the PA came an announcement that there were long queues at immigration and to hang fire on board until they had gone down. 

We know that some passengers have been offered a follow-on cruise of the same two-week tour for £600.  We weren’t offered that (and couldn’t have done it anyway).  At first we wondered if it could be because we don’t spend enough on board but then we thought it may only be offered to passengers whose cabins weren’t already booked for the next cruise.

Anyway, over the PA came an announcement that those passengers who were doing a back-to-back cruise should go to a certain place for their PCR tests to cover them for the next two weeks.  Now that hadn’t occurred to us as part of this follow-on offer, but of course P&O may want to make sure that everyone on board is, as far as is possible, covid-free.  At lunch today we got into conversation with our dining neighbours two tables away (as near as is allowed) and they said they had been offered one once and that the ship asked them if they would have enough medication, if they had any pets and what issues that might give them and finally how would they be able to extend their car parking? Interesting.

Now, while we were in the immigration shed getting landing clearance it seems there was an announcement as follows: “This is a passenger announcement.  Would the following passengers who have had covid tests this morning please dial 999 on a ship’s phone immediately.”  It sounds as though they won’t be going on that follow-on cruise after all but will be having a shorter experience in isolation on Queen Victoria.

Oceania Riviera

With our precious “I have cleared immigration” cards in our hot little hands, we went back on board ship for a pit stop before setting off out to hit Barbados.  Moored next to us was the “Alexander von Humboldt II”.  Operated by a German charity, its function is for sail training for anyone between the ages of 14 and 75.  Alexander von Humboldt was a great German polymath, geographer, naturalist and explorer.

Aida Sol

We stepped inside the terminal building and could see a huddle of people sitting on various benches focussed intently on their phones and we thought: “free Wi-Fi” somewhere and so there was.  We got our emails up to date, Elizabeth had a first quick look around the shops and off we went in search of the local temple to cricket that is the Kensington Oval.  We know from experience that there is no direct route from the cruise port to the stadium and it’s a 25-minute zigzag route in the blazing sun.  Part of the route was long a shady shoreline and we spotted what seemed like a cheap local bar along the way which we thought would serve us well as an oasis on the way back.

At the stadium we weren’t disappointed as England T20 players were practising in the nets.  We could recognise Moen Ali and Adil Rashid batting and team manager Paul Collingwood throwing balls down the wicket using a slinger, but we couldn’t be sure of personalities beyond that.

Cunard's Queen Victoria is on the move

We paid homage as usual to the statue of the great Sir Garfield Sobers and also noticed the new statue of Wes Hall nearby.  The whole area there was however rather spoiled by extensive chain link fencing, probably designed to keep the public at a greater distance in these covid times.  We set off back towards the ship.  Along the way as we walked maskless we started to get the distinct impression that it may be law here at the moment to wear a mask in every public place, both indoors and out.

Queen Victoria docks overnight, we think to offload recovered Covid patients and take on those who have tested positive today. This could be something that it does every night before it goes back out to anchor the next morning.

We found the oasis bar on our return.  There was 5G free wifi and we were able to get 3 beers and a Coke for $16 Barbadian dollars ($8 US) or £6 or £1.50 a bottle.  This was certainly cheaper than on the ship.  After a welcome cool down and with our thirsts quenched we set off on our final leg back.  There are places where you are invited to have a temperature check and we seemed to be around the 36C mark, so on went, although nobody seemed to be watching our temperature read-outs!

Back on the ship we just squeezed in at the end of lunch in the dining room and, after a smoked salmon bagel and cottage pie with chunky chips it was time for a quiet spell back at cabin HQ.

Thursday 20 January

Wednesday evening was our last formal night of the four on board and dinner was Marco Pierre White menu day, so I guessed it might be an interesting time.  I started off with an amuse-bouche of mainly mango, followed by a cold starter of various fishy items including smoked salmon. Then came bouillabaisse and my main course was a cod fillet with ice cream to round it all off.  For dessert, there was a blueberry soufflé on offer, but it came with ice cream and other things as well and it would have been a dish too far.

The moon was up and shining beautifully across a glistening sea and it was so lovely to walk out on deck with a warm breeze blowing across the deck.

Today is a sea day. It also marks a year since Joe Biden took office and when Graeme put another year on the clock.  We had a leisurely get up and breakfast up in the cafeteria.

So, yes, today is a sea day but one that we really don’t need.  By sea from Grenada is 153 statute miles. The captain has 37.5 hours between leaving Grenada and arriving in Barbados to cover that, so we are bombing along at a very stately speed. If the itinerary had been better arranged, we could have had an extra port stop.  We needed a sea day to get to Grand Turk and back as the Turks & Caicos Islands are so detached from the main Caribbean group of islands, but not this one.

The sea day we don't need! Taking what is, on the face of it, a ridiculous route - instead of north-east, we sail west then north and then east to spin out the time to get to Bridgetown on Barbados

We probably did need the other stand alone sea day, the one between St Vincent and St Kitts as that was a run of 318 statute miles and, with only 13.5 hours to accomplish it, the ship would have needed to travel at nearly 24 mph. The Azura’s maximum speed is 24 knots or 28mph, but that would probably have used more fuel and therefore produce more pollution.

After dinner we went to the Malabar to see Lana, the ship's female vocalist

All that said, when you look at a map of the Caribbean islands you can’t help but think that it must be possible to create a ‘there and back’ itinerary which needs no sea days by island hopping from alternate islands up and back.

I meant to say. The Dumont D’Urville, the ship which was docked next to us yesterday is said to be a luxury expedition ship. Well, all I could think was that it was nowhere near anywhere you might describe as an expedition area, but more likely on some sort of jolly or other.  Its maximum speed is 15 knots or 17mph, whereas the Azura can do 24 knots or 28 mph.

The start of breakfast

Once again today we’ve noticed that the Jacuzzi/spa pools were closed off.  No reason is given except that they are supposedly undergoing maintenance which is clearly not the case.

We had a spell of pre-packing to take some of the pressure of packing away from tomorrow and then we had a spell sitting out on the back deck in one of our favourite spots.