Much to Leo’s dismay, I am far from the only one leaving on this tender. The ones who are bailing early no doubt won’t be welcome back at Heracles, but they don’t seem to care. There are always other cruise lines crying out for experienced staff.

The other rumour going around, which is much more likely to be true than any of the others, is that clients are cancelling trips in their droves. They’ve heard about what the newspapers have dubbed ‘the curse of Immanis’, and it’s been suggested that it won’t be going back into service as quickly as was planned.

In spite of all this, Alice is putting on a good spread for us. To mark the occasion, Leo’s let her fire up TopSail, the restaurant with the Michelin stars which revolves at the top of the ship. The budget, space and no doubt time available for the prep clearly don’t extend to the usual fussy dishes that are served here by obsequious waiters in gloves. Instead we have a buffet, but it’s quite a step up from our usual chicken and chips, burgers in buns, pasta, noodles and those kind of things that we’ve generally had while on lay-up. Today there are fancy starters in what look like shot glasses, fresh fish grilled to order on a plancha with several different types of sauces which don’t taste like they’ve come out of a bottle, and there is a chocolate fountain with home-made marshmallows. Someone has even switched on the retro revolving function, which is cute.

I think of Lola, many decks below, nibbling the dry food and meagre snacks I’ve managed to filch over the last few days, since I’ve had to be a lot more careful, worried that Alice is on to me. I realize with a pang that while there is no question that I must leave the ships for Lola, I am giving up a lot. We’ve both been working at sea so long neither of us really knows how to cook properly, and there won’t be anyone on hand like Alice to do it for us anymore. No rich clients basically paying our food bill and supporting us with their huge tips. No one will clean our rooms or provide fresh towels – we will have to get used to doing all that ourselves. And while I have a bit of money put aside from Mum’s will, most of her money went to the church. I’m not exactly going to be living in the lap of luxury while we wait for Lola’s life insurance to come through.