Woke up early, following a good night’s sleep. Despite the rest, it was still an effort to haul myself from our comfortable bed, pre-8am, in order get a table at the restaurant for breakfast.

Claire enjoyed a selection of cooked food, while I went all continental with croissant, yoghurt and that famous Mediterranean dish – toast.

Looked around some of Ventura’s many shops, purchasing the final few presents we had planned on buying for our loved ones back in England.

Spent the remainder of the morning and most of the afternoon in our cabin, while Claire attempted to sunbathe from our balcony. She became a little disappointed at the sun, as it timidly peaked out from behind the clouds.

Advised my wife to enjoy the weather on offer, as even though the sun wasn’t out in it’s full, slow-burning force, it was still worth enjoying. It’ll be autumn on Saturday, meaning we won’t experience such warm weather back home for at least six months.

Our cabin steward, Laurence, visited our cabin this afternoon. He had received a report that we were unhappy with the cleanliness of our bed sheets and wanted them changed.

He looked concerned. We reassured him that we certainly did not make any such report and if we did want our bedding changed, would approach him directly.

With Claire now happily sunbathing on the balcony, I returned to my own relaxation. Attempted to watch Quinton Tarantino’s western movie, The Magnificent Seven, from the somewhat poor selection of films available to stream into the cabin.

Screams and the frequent sound of gunshots emanate from the television and I hope that Claire and other cruisers on their own balconies are in no way disturbed, or worse, think Somalian pirates have invaded Ventura and are having a shootout on our very deck.

A few hours later and we have both been well rested. I gave up on the movie, after just 38 minutes. It’s a good film, but rather heavy for a slow afternoon. I’ll probably watch it once I have arrived back home.

We are still hopeful that the rest of the day will remain restful, but are very much aware that Laurence will require access to our cabin, to make up our bed for the night. It would be rude to tell him that we don’t require his services, and also unfair not to give him adequate time to do so.

We will therefore head to the buffet for our evening meal. Tonight’s theme is Spanish. Shamefully, my knowledge of such cuisine is limited to tapas, which I am not a huge fan of – this evening’s visit will certainly be interesting!

Returned to the cabin, rather early for us. As I worried, the selection of food at the buffet wasn’t great. A mix of bread, rolls and salad primarily made up my meal.

Approached again by the Leeds fan I met a few days ago. We agreed that Sunday’s victory over Barnsley was fantastic and that it is a shame tomorrow’s lunchtime game against Derby County is not on the sport channel available within our cabin.

Watched last week’s episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, with Claire on my mobile phone, having downloaded it a few days ago while in port.

Three contestants left with just £1,000 each, while another managed just four grand.

A football match between Southampton and Bournemouth is on the tetelevision, while I write this blog. We haven’t been paying much attention to the game, but I did notice that play keeps being stopped, in order for the referee to check with VAR technology. I am against the use of this added assistance to the game. It slows the match down and has often been shown to cause mistakes anyway.

We are aiming to get an early night. We arrive in Lisbon tomorrow morning and Claire is keen to see the famous suspension bridge, as we sail under it on our way to the cruise terminal.

The sea feels slightly choppy this evening, but the wind speed is just 13 knots. Perhaps the rocking has something to do with the speed in which we are travelling – over 20 knots. Either way, I won’t be complaining if the rocking motion remains, considering that I find it relaxing and will probably fall asleep quickly as a result.

Our fellow cruisers were certainly affected by the rocking and stayed away.