It's lunchtime on my first day on Queen Mary 2 and I've picked some rather scrummy-looking Asian dishes from the Lotus, one of four sections in the King's Court self-service.
I find a table, sit down, taste the food and realise it needs some seasoning. Great. I've chosen a table without any salt or pepper pots. So I look at the neighbouring tables. No condiments on any of them.
I remember seeing chilli sauce at the servery yesterday afternoon. That will do, so I go to get some and what do I find? The salt and pepper. Not in pots, though, but small paper sachets, like you might expect in a cheap seaside cafe.
Most unimpressive for a luxury liner.
Apparently they have had to do that because the rather affluent people who think they are a bit special because they are cruising with Cunard (ah yes, I did come across a few of those during my transatlantic crossing) steal the salt and pepper pots (and anything else, given the chance).
"Do they have the Cunard logo on them," I ask David Stephenson, the hotel manager, thinking this might make it understandable, if still a bit tawdry. But no. They are ordinary, cheap pots - cheap especially after they discovered they kept going walkies.
I was assured more would be delivered to the ship when it docked in Southampton the next day. I wonder if they were.
Jane Archer
