The final two days in Southampton were fraught with mixed emotions. On the one hand we were looking forward to getting onto the ship and head home. On the other was anxiety about testing positive for covid. The chance of being denied boarding was quite stressful, especially since Cindy had developed a horrible cough and a chest filled with mucous. We were reasonably sure it was just a bad cold but in the time of covid you second guess yourself. We visited a Boots pharmacy and got everything we thought we would need to fight the cold and congestion, wanting to make sure she wasn’t coughing while being tested.
Our friend Robert, with whom we have sailed twice on Silversea and who lives just outside of London, made arrangements to pick us up on Sunday to take us to a swank country inn deep in the New Forest, which is the oldest forest in England. Chewton Glen is an old, old manor house that has a magnificent restaurant. The food and drink were as elegant as the surroundings and we had a wonderful time catching up with Robert and planning future cruises.
We got home in time for Cindy to have a little rest and then went for a short walk. We had a sandwich in the hotel restaurant since we were still full from lunch and made it a short night. Cindy had a horrible time trying to sleep and was coughing uncontrollably for much of the night. We got more drugs when the pharmacy opened the next morning and began the process of packing up and moving to the Queen Elizabeth which we could see across the harbor from our window.
Since we are in luxe accommodations we were pleased to see that we had an embarkation time of noon, long before most could check in. We had thought there would be a separate area for Queen’s Grill passengers to expedite our boarding, nothing could have been further from the truth! The ship holds about 2092 passengers and two thirds of them were already lined up for our covid test. It took 90 minutes to get to the testing tent and a further forty minutes to get the test and wait for the results. It was the most disorganized process you can imagine made more maddening by the fact that everyone was so close together. We finally were told that we test negative for covid; how can two negative be so positive?! We were greatly relieved to be cleared to get on the ship. Had one or both of us tested positive it would have been a fabulously expensive trip home.
Once on board I was standing on the balcony and noticed a forklift with a huge metal basket taking luggage off the ship. We were told that forty passengers tested positive and they were denied boarding and had to wait for three hours retrieve their luggage! Yep, they load all the luggage before anyone is tested! Everyone felt horrible for these people but everyone was warned about the consequences of a positive test.
We dumped our luggage and I ran to the Queen’s Grill which was closing in twenty minutes. Cindy, bless her pea picking heart, stayed back to get a nine-day load of laundry started. By the time she arrived at the table I had a cold glass of Prosecco waiting as a reward for her efforts.
We had a lovely dinner at 8:30 and repaired to the ballroom for our first dance of the trip, convinced that all the bad stuff was behind us and smooth sailing lay ahead. When the Embees plan, God laughs. Somehow on our second dance I was twirling Cindy and her hand slipped out of mine and she was down on the floor and hurt her wrist quite badly. We went to our room but I first got a big bucket of ice and we iced her wrist for an hour. More meds, for the cold and now for the pain and she was finally able to sleep for the night. It is ironic that we should have a dancing accident on the first day of the cruise. Since before the pandemic we have been dancing almost every night for ten minutes before cocktails and never had an issue.
Today we are staying in the suite and tomorrow in Vigo Spain I’ll get Cindy more meds and ace bandages.
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