When we told people we were cruising around the coast of Africa, one of the responses was: "Aren't you worried about pirates?"
To which my reply was, firstly, that we are leaving the ship at Mombassa before it sails into pirate territory, and secondly, that they go for oil tankers and not cruise ships full of senior citizens.
However, during this last week the planned itine
rary of the Saga Ruby has completely altered course.
First of all, we were supposed to go from South Africa to Reunion and Mauritus. The first of these was the main reason we stayed on after Capetown – our son-in-law says it is the most beautiful place he has ever visited and is always urging us to take a holiday there.
Unlike former British territories in this part of the world, it's not an independent state, but is actually a part of France – there are even deputies to the French National Assembly from Reunion. It has palm trees and white beaches and stunning volcanoes, and they manufacture perfume.
So you can imagine our disappointment when the captain announced that due to a cyclone, we would need to avoid these islands. His plan B was for us to land a week early in Madagascar while Saga worked out alternative treats for us.
Then Madagascar, too, became out of bounds – this time because of riots in the capital.
The Foreign Office had warned British nationals against going there, and as a result Saga's insurance company refused to cover passengers for a landing there, despite the fact that the destination was hundreds of miles from the scene of the riots.
It's impressive how everything gets reorganised at such short notice. The hardest-worked people on the ship at the moment are probably the shore tour manager and the destinations lecturer, who has now given three lectures in advance about places we're not going to and two extra ones on Mayotte and Dar es Salaam.
Meantime, we feel as though we're like the passengers on some refugee ship which gets turned away from port after port. We have only touched land two days in the last week.
The entertainments on the ship continue. Lectures on the history, politics, and flora and fauna of the countries we are visiting take place every day – there are even some on such subjects as "colonial architecture".
One lecturer is giving a series on his speciality of hot-air ballooning.
On the political reminiscence team, we were joined in Capetown by another former Border MP who is now a lord, Michael Jopling,
who represented Westmoreland in the Tory cause for many years.
There are art classes and a passengers' choir, bridge and quizzes,
and showbiz-type entertainments every night. There is a classical music group as well as the Saga Ruby orchestra (all of whom are Russian) and a cocktail bar pianist.
There's a cinema and a library.
There are times for dancing, with a selection of "gentleman dancers" for the inevitable unaccompanied women.
And all these activities are crammed in between the almost constant supply of food.
Yesterday we watched the queues form for the 4.15pm teas of sandwiches, scones and cream cakes.
Some of our fellow passengers are really quite frail or disabled, and very very old – we cannot help but admire their indomitable spirits as they totter on the swaying decks or up and down the gangplanks.
Here's a recipe from the Saga Ruby kitchen which would go down well if you're creating a Valentine night's dinner of your own this weekend.
PEACH FLAMBE
Four peaches, 6 tablespoons of white sugar, quarter cup of unsalted butter, quarter cup of almonds, 4 cups of orange juice, half cup of brandy.
First, roast the almonds in a hot oven or heavy pan and set aside.
Halve the peaches and discard the stones. Heat the sugar until it is caramelising and add the butter. Stir until the butter is melted and then pour the brandy over and flame it. Add the orange juice and peach halves and boil for at least five minutes.
Serve with cream or ice-cream and sprinkle with the almonds. Serves two.
