Monday 14th April

Another welcome day at sea, time to catch breath and relax. The ship is still in code red for infection control, ships staff are coping extremely well with the extra work this putting on them but it seems to be working from what we notice. No one is allowed to help themselves to any food or drink, all must be served by staff. Sensible when you think of how many people must touch each serving spoon or tongs when they serve themselves, the coffee machine buttons and the ice cream machine handles likewise. I have seen one or two irritable responses from Lido staff to questions by passengers but to a large extent this extra workload has been handled with good humour and politeness, which is remarkable when you consider the strain this has put on everyone. Well done Cunard. Don’t know how long we will be at this level but I guess as soon as new cases fall away they will start to relax the more stringent precautions. Where ever we go there are always staff cleaning and disinfecting handrails, door handles and lift buttons and that is under normal circumstances, not just when we are taking extra precautions. Managed to squeeze in another gym session, it’s easier when you are at sea! Dr Ramie Seth’s talk was going into hospital from a patient’s perspective, it wasn’t until he became a patient that he saw the other side of the coin and it was very revealing, not least the revelation that the number one cause of death in hospital was DVT (25,000 per year) not super bugs or mistakes.

We are currently still heading up the Arabian Sea towards the Gulf of Oman (entrance to the Persian Gulf) before heading through the Straits of Hormuz, at least that was our intention. During the afternoon the Captain came on the ships broadcast and asked if there was anyone on board who was a blood donor with type A +ve and who had their blood donor’s card with them, could they please make themselves known to the medical centre. During the world voyages cocktail party the captain announced that there had been an excellent response to his request for blood donors but as some may have noticed we had picked up speed to 24 knots and would be making a minor change in course to call into Muscat (Oman) to drop our patients off before continuing on our way to Abu Dhabi.