Not a good night’s kip. Typical.

I managed to elicit a decent breakfast by ordering the fruit and yoghurt, and, when it was delivered, I gave the room service steward the loaf of bread I bought in San Francisco, and he took it away and got two slices toasted, and brought it all back again about 10 minutes later. Apparently they are allowed to cook it but not store it. *sigh*

Went ashore on time and without problem. Which was nice. Glorious warm and sunny weather. Stewart and Julie, our cousins (well, Stewart is Dad’s nephew, technically), drove down from LA to see us, and they were waiting at the gate. So good to see them.

They drove us to the Hotel Del Coronado. It’s very famous. Google it. I think they filmed Some Like It Hot there. They have an entire steampunk shop. In fact, they have lots of shops, all of which contained lovely stuff, but the prices were eye-watering, so I left empty-handed.

We went out to their café overlooking the beach. Are you serving? Not yet. Ten minutes. Do you serve coffee? No, you have to go into the bakery café for hot drinks. May I order a draught beer? No, the compressor is damaged, so we only have bottled. It was starting to sound a bit like the ship! Still, we had a cold drink and Skyped home. It’s nice to be in a time zone where that is becoming possible again. It’s about three weeks since that has been even conceivable. Interestingly, the wifi is not free here. Pretty cheap, but not free. Still the signal was decent enough. Ish.

Then we drove to the Waterfront area of town, to a restaurant called Seasons 52. This is where we all met up with Kris, Rich and Selena, who used to be my neighbours in Little Paxton, when Rich was stationed in the UK. They moved back to San Diego about six years ago, we reckoned, give or take. I have missed them. We chatted and ate really good food and then, at about half three, it was time to go back to the ship. It was far too short a time, and I really wished we had had longer together.

BOB 4.30pm – I managed to be the last passenger on, today! Never done that before. Nap before dinner. Took my own GF bread roll to dinner. This is what it has come down to. They have simply stopped bothering now. I am now on a self-catering holiday, for pity’s sake. Dinner was very nice, and everyone was cheerful, because absolutely everyone had had a nice day.

After dinner, one of the ladies who was at our table at the San Francisco dinner showed us the letter she had received following her formal complaint about the food. It said that the poor food was because everyone at the table had such complex dietary requirements.  No, you had more than THREE MONTHS to plan this. That’s no excuse! It also said that other people at table 21 had said how lovely the food was. Really? Because there was her and her man, who made the complaint, Gary and Kate – the starved vegan and his wife – who have also already registered a written complaint, the three of us, the P&O girl who ran away and abandoned her dessert uneaten when she realised how annoyed we were all getting, the guy next to me, who said his chicken was cold and dry, and a little old lady, whose name no one knows, but who complained bitterly about her food as well. So where exactly were these allegedly happy campers? If the crew are actually prepared to LIE to us, in response to genuine complaints, then a quiet note to those in charge on board is not going to cut it. Not by a long shot. This is going to have to be emails to Southampton, now. And it’s entirely their own fault.

Then helped Juliet unpack – she has moved cabins. She was going to disembark at San Francisco, but managed to do a deal so that she could stay on for the last leg – hence the move; her cabin had been sold to someone else! Her new cabin is very nice indeed, mind you, so she did quite well.

Three sea days now before Mexico. Time for a rest. Both for me, and my poor credit card, which has taken quite a hit since Hawaii. And maybe some playing on my new pooter. And some reading of my new books (including the sequel to The Assassin’s Apprentice that I read earlier in the cruise). Busy, busy, busy.