3. The Deck
As they arrived on the level of the cabins, there was an announcement that declared cabins were unavailable for about another 45 minutes due to last minute cleaning with exception being granted to families with babies or children under 5 who needed their sleep. They could leave their bags just inside the cabins, however. Despite not having had a proper meal that evening, the family decided they weren't actually that hungry so they decided to just get some chips and a medium pizza and eat it on the outside deck as the boat pulled away from England. Karen and Ben played a game in which they tracked fellow passengers to see what they like to do on the decks of large ships and to find out interesting facts about them, whilst Jake texted his friends to ask what they were doing and if there was anything he'd be missing out on over the next few weeks. The cruise was going to be a long one – Sue and Pete had figured they deserved it and it was also a great activity for the kids to experience when they were still young enough to all want to go on family holidays.
"Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad!" Ben screamed as he ran across the deck back to his parents. "Karen's been sick! First it was me in the car and now it's her!"
"Oh for fu...lip's sake" Pete muttered as Sue and Jake looked on with slight grins, "Coming Karen!" as he ran back to Karen with Ben leading the way.
As soon as Pete was out of earshot, Sue and Jake could suppress their laughter no longer – it mightn't be funny to Pete, but they couldn't help but laugh at the situation – the two youngest children both throwing up within about three hours of each other. At least on the boat there'd be professional cleaning products and the outside deck was obviously far better ventilated than the car so the smell wouldn't hang on for too long. After a bit of help from other passengers and the cleaning team, Pete and Sue decided it was time to return to their cabin and go to bed for the night, as it'd been announced that all cabins were now available.
"I think I'll watch the government in the morning if that's ok daddy." Karen said sleepily, when they arrived again at their cabin – or 'home' for the next few weeks.
"That's very responsible and a mature thing to say sweetie" Pete replied, "You know you need your rest now, it's late as it is. Anyway, I'm sure that the debate highlights may even be on the news in the morning. They've made the TVs receive British channels wherever the ship is, all over the world"
"Thank you for helping me tonight daddy" Karen said as she fell asleep. It had been a long night for everyone and an interesting one to boot. It wasn't all that long before the rest were asleep. Pete and Sue had promised that the kids could explore the ship after breakfast.