We've had our instructions for disembarkation. What happens is; everybody is assigned a disembarkation number (mine is number 7) and provided with luggage tags. Bags have to be fully packed and placed outside the cabin ready for collection between 9:30 and 12pm tonight. This means that everybody is going to be wearing their 'civvies' tonight, the clothes they'll be going ashore in, which is going to seem quite strange. I have to be out of my cabin, the place I've called home for the last 3 weeks, by 8am in the morning. I then have to settle my on-board account and expect to be ashore by 8:45am. My luggae should be ready for collection for Bay 7 and my car should be ready for me to load up and head North.

I'm preparing for this afternoon's Art Exhibition, in which I'm hoping to make a few book and DVD sales - it was mentioned in the Daily Blurb, and I've already just sold one to one of the women in Reception (woohoo!!). All passengers are also given a questionairre which they are asked to fill out (multiple-choice: excellent / Good / Fair / Poor / Very Poor etc.), which is sent back to head office and used to assess the performance of staff, lecturers and entertainers, and of the course the overall service on board; food, room service, politeness and efficiency, that sort of thing. This is also where poor lecturers and specialists can be named and shamed by passengers who feel they haven't got value for money, particularly outstanding people can also be named, likewise, all of which goes towards the decision as to whether or not they'll be invited back to Saga.

The experience has very much been a learning curve for me. I've learned how things work on board, and how the hierachy works. I've also been able to see at first hand what opportunities there are for people like myself. Remember, when I first came on board I knew nothing; I simply didn't know what to expect! If I were to be fortunate enough to be asked to come on any future cruises, I would certainly be far more savvy and knowledgeable and know more how to exploit the opportunity and capitalise on my situation.

I've met lots of people on board, and swapped many business cards and created a few potential follow-up enterprises. The networking possibilities are ultimately endless. I've discovered this is a place I can 'daddy-dance' to my heart's content and nobody bats an eyelid - in fact, compared to some of the dancing on ship, I'm a veritable John Travolta! I discovered some of the deeper, hitherto untapped depths of my patience with people, and I've eaten a few things I've never eaten before (apple tea, though - sorry - really not for me - caviar too - Yugh!). I've seen a few places I'd only ever seen before in books and on TV, and I've experienced a little of foreign cultures and peoples. The world just got a weeny bit smaller for me.

Got to go and hang an exhibition!