Disclaimer, all characters, scenarios, places, names etc are fictitious. If by chance they remind you of someone its all in your mind.
A winter cruise around the Mediterranean with my Grand parents was dropped in my lap with no way out of it. My dad David Watson had booked it for their 60th wedding anniversary grandad Bob and granny Jackie thought they had been given the best present ever. A 5 star luxury cruise with all the extras, a tour in every port, the top drinks package, tips paid for and two grand spending money. Our house keeper was going as well, to look after them, but she only got a basic package, the tours and a months pay for the 14 days on top of her wages.
Then she went and broke her shoulder 3 days before the trip, that's when Dad dropped his bombshell on me, I was going to have to take her place. He could manage without me at work for the two weeks, plus gran thought the sun shone out of my arse, his words not mine. All I had to do was keep them company, which was true as they did pretty much look after themselves. Once they were up, they mostly just sat about doing nothing. Mrs Jackson sorted out their meds, their clothes for the day, made meals for them and me and dad.
My mum was no longer with us, she had left 2 years previous to find herself as she told dad. But I knew she left to be with her hairdresser, ok maybe I was putting two and two together but he disappeared at the same time as her. Leaving his wife and daughter to run the business and she hadn't heard a word from him, since that day he said he was off.
I know all this because I was fucking his daughter at that time. We had since broken up not my choice, or maybe it was, but she wanted more, she was 22 and wanted commitment and I wasn't willing to give it. I was only 20 at the time and was enjoying my life to the full, I wasn't ready for moving in together, even though I know it would have had its advantages. I only saw her at weekends,mainly because I worked till late 3 nights a week in the club my dad owned.
Believe me I tried my hardest to get out of going, but gran wouldn't accept anyone from an agency to replace Mrs Jackson. it had to be someone she could trust and when grandad had suggested me to dad, it was a done deal all behind my back.
Dad told me he would try to get me an upgrade and a full drinks package but he wasn't sure it could be done at this late stage.
So there I was handing our passports over to the lady behind the desk in Gatwick aiport for our 10am flight to Barcelona, after a nights stay at the Hilton hotel. The two hours with gran and grandad at the airport flew by, me pushing gran around in a wheelchair and grandad plodding along with his walking stick, looking around the duty free. Stopping at the cafe for a quick drink, a bit too early for a beer, grans words not mine. Then a relatively quick flight to Barcelona, a taxi to the ship and thats when I saw the queue to book in, it was full of old people. The youngest person I could see was maybe 50, it looked more like a Saga Cruise than P and O. we got booked in and shown to our rooms, fortunately for me dad had got an upgrade, nothing as good as gran and grandads suite, but at least in wasn't the basic inside cabin. I now had a balcony with sea views.
I had thought that a reasonably looking 6 foot tall, fit 22 year old, would stand a chance of pulling a bird whilst we cruised the med. But I'm afraid Ben Watson, thats me by the way, was going to be disappointed, the only way of getting a bit, would be with a young female crew member.
Grandad also spotted it, telling me I was on the wrong cruise for a bit of fun, with a nod and a wink. Then he added, maybe all the younger passengers had already boarded. We went off to the welcome meeting in the gala hall,
from what I could see in here, I was on a Saga cruise. Ok a few of the female crew members in there, were, close to my age. But I didn't see one and think mmmm nice. The meeting finished and we went off to see if our rooms were ready. Grans and grandads was according to housekeeping, so off we went.