As soon as the passengers had disembarked at Barcelona, members of the entertainments staff were permitted to go ashore for the remainder of the day, and could, if they wished, arrange to help with one of the scheduled excursions by acting as sheep dogs to round up the passengers and make sure that no-one got lost. The guys had signed up as helpers for the ‘Football Stadium Tour’ to see the FC Barcelona ground and the Football Museum there. This was something that had zero interest for any of the Bunnies and so Beth asked Julia, one of the excursions staff who knew the city, for her suggestions as to how we might spend a few hours ashore.

‘If this is your first visit to Barcelona you should be sure to go to ‘La Sagrada Familia’, and maybe also do some shopping in ‘La Rambla as well.’

‘Great, but how do we get there?’

She gave us a local tourist map which they did not hand out to their paying customers as they didn’t want to encourage them to go ashore on their own or to use public transport but rather charge them extortionate sums for the coach excursions.

‘The Blue Bus will take you from the Cruise Terminal to the Columbus Monument near to the Drassanes Station on the Green Metro line. You should travel as far as Diagonal station and change to the Blue line to Sagrada Familia. You cannot mistake the building when you get there. Once you have finished your visit return to Diagonal and take the Green Line to Plaça de Catalunya station. From there you can walk down La Rambla back to Drassanes.’

Carol and I were waiting for Beth to emerge from her cabin before we went ashore when an attractive and very elegant looking young woman with brown eyes and black hair approached us. She was pulling a large suitcase and carrying various documents and an electronic key.

‘Hello, I am Maria, is Bethany one of you?’ she asked in slightly broken English.

‘This is Beth’s cabin, she’ll be out in a moment,’ said Carol.

‘I have arrived, I think Bethany and I share a cabin.’

Beth emerged at this point and so we introduced her to her new cabin mate, and she spent the next five minutes helping the newcomer to move in her luggage and sort out bunks and cupboard space.

‘My friends and I have to leave you now to go ashore, but maybe we can talk later?’ said Beth.

She spoke slowly and clearly in the slightly patronising way that the English sometimes adopt when talking to foreigners.

‘Yes, that is good; I will have to find where I will be working.’

We left her to unpack her clothes and settle in whilst we made our way ashore.

La Sagrada Familia turned out to be a truly stunning, modernist, cathedral-like building designed by Antoni Gaudi which was still under construction after more than 130 years. None of us knew anything about Gaudi, or his architecture, but it was well worth our two-hour visit, all the same. Afterwards we had a cool drink in a café in the Plaça de Gaudí.

‘Look, Mum, it’s the ‘Honey Bunnies’ from the cruise,’ exclaimed an excited young voice from an adjoining table.

A family with two girls, one aged eleven or twelve and the other thirteen or fourteen were sitting at a nearby table.

‘Can we go and ask for their autographs?’ the elder sister asked.

‘No, I expect the girls are having a day off from work today,’ replied their mother.

We couldn’t help but overhear the conversation, and both Carol and Beth were clearly flattered to receive this limited recognition from two young fans.

‘That’s alright, we’re always happy to sign autographs,’ Carol said to the mother with a gracious smile, as if it were happening to us all the time.

Alison, the elder girl and her sister Kate, came over with their autograph books whilst their parents inspected a city map and a book on Gaudi. Carol, who had clearly been preparing for the day when we’d become famous - albeit in a limited way, drew a bunny rabbit head on a new page of each book with ‘The Honey Bunnies inside.’ The three of us signed our names around the edge of the page. Of course, I signed as ‘Ally Fletcher.’

‘I’m Ally as well,’ said Alison to me. ‘I never used to like the name but now I think it is quite cool.’

‘I think it’s a cool name too,’ I replied with a smile, but still feeling just a little self-conscious.

‘We really enjoyed your show, you’re such good singers and dancers,’ said Kate.

‘That’s nice of you to say so,’ said Beth.

‘Where are you going next?’ asked Alison.

‘A little light shopping in La Rambla, and then back to the ship,’ said Carol.

‘Dad, can we go shopping in La Rambla too?’

‘Sorry girls, this is my first visit to Barcelona and I’m determined to see La Pedrera and Parc Güell before we leave.’

Alison rolled her eyes and whispered that she was fed up with stupid architecture, and Kate just looked grumpy.

‘Your daughters would be welcome to come along with us if you’re happy with that arrangement,’ Carol said to the mother.

The husband and wife exchanged glances about whether they were willing to entrust their daughters to three young women whom they did not know, other than that they’d seen them perform.

‘Oh please can we go with the Bunnies, Mum?’

‘Well alright, but you are to stay with the girls and do exactly what they tell you. You both have a mobile phone, so I’ll want to receive a text message from one of you every fifteen minutes, or else I’ll come back and find you,’ said the mother.’

The three Bunnies and our two young fans, spent a leisurely afternoon looking at the various tourist shops and stalls in the series of avenues between Plaça de Catalunya and Drassanes, which are known as La Rambla. The girls were well-behaved and obeyed the instructions to keep their parents informed of their whereabouts on a regular basis. They also kept close to ourselves as we’d all been warned about the numbers of pickpockets in the area. We chatted to one another and looked at the jewellery stalls. I bought myself a rather stylish pair of Ralph Lauren sunglasses which were probably fakes but looked good and were not expensive.

Midway through the afternoon we stopped at a café and we treated the girls to an ice cream, whilst they each sent a text.

‘So what do you two think of the cruise?’ Carol asked.

‘It’s alright, I suppose, if you like crumbly cities and boring old buildings,’ said Alison from which we inferred that she was a fan of neither.

‘But what about the ship?’ asked Beth. ‘It’s all brand new?’

‘I suppose it is quite comfortable and the food isn’t bad, but there’s not much for us to do on board.’

'They have a kid's club, don't they?' commented Carol.

'But that's for little kids, not us,' said Alison.

‘The only really awesome part of the whole holiday has been your shows,’ added Kate.

We’d arranged to meet the girls’ parents at 4.30 at the end of La Rambla as we had to return to the ship and get ready for our evening show. We'd had a text message saying that they were on their way and were waiting for them to arrive when Kate pointed to a stall.

‘Look everyone, Honey Bunny earrings,’ she said and pointed to three inexpensive but cute little rabbit designs.

‘Shall we get one pair each to go with our Bunny pendants?’ suggested Beth.

‘That would be fine by me,’ I said, and Carol agreed.

We each chose a different bunny design and were on the point of paying for them when the girls’ parents arrived.

‘Please, let us pay for them to thank you for looking after our daughters for the afternoon,’ said their father.

‘It was no trouble; we were pleased to have them with us,’ replied Beth.

‘No, I insist,’ said their father, handing over twenty-four Euros to the stallholder. ‘We’ve had a great time today, looking at architecture.’

We thanked them for our gifts, and informed the girls that they would in future become a part of the ‘Honey Bunnies’ official uniform.

‘If you two want to come up to the stage next time, we’ll get the ‘Young Bucks’ to sign your autograph books as well,’ said Beth as we were leaving.

‘Those two girls have given me an idea,’ said Carol once they’d left us.

‘What’s that?’ I asked.

‘Ally, if you were willing to play the keyboards, Beth and I could run some simple dance classes for the 10-15 year age group during the mornings when we’re at sea.’

‘I could do so, but don’t you think we should ask George as he is a better keyboard player than me?’ I replied.

‘No I’d want this to be a ‘Bunnies’ only venture and the guys get plenty of extra work as it is. We could call the sessions ‘The Bunny Hops’. Parents would be more likely to entrust their children to us if it were being run by three girls.’

‘I’d be happy to do so, especially if we get paid overtime for it,’ said Beth.

‘I’ll put the idea to Frank as soon as I get an opportunity.’

Frank proved to be fairly receptive to Carol’s suggestion and two days later we announced our first ever ‘Bunny Hop’ for adolescents and young teens, in the small music room. About twenty five young people turned up, predominantly girls but also a few venturesome boys. Carol and Beth had organised some simple dance routines based on our stage act, and we occasionally had some of the kids singing backing vocals. We even persuaded one or two brave souls to try singing the lead whilst we provided the backing. Everyone seemed to have fun. Two days later we had thirty three turn up for the one hour session, and by the third time we had more than forty and had to move to the larger music room. By this time the Bunnies had become minor celebrities on the cruise, and were often called upon to sign autographs. I’m sure that if we’d only had an album recorded we could have sold a few copies. Alison and Kate came to each dance session and also to a fair number of our afternoon and evening sessions. Frank wouldn’t be drawn as to whether there was a future for the idea, but he looked quite impressed when he stuck his head round the door at one point. He also agreed that we would be paid at the same overtime rate as the guys.

Gradually, as the days went by, the Bunnies and the Bucks grew in self-assurance as a group as we introduced more numbers into our repertoire and we got more used to performing with one another. We were also able to allow one another a certain degree of improvisation to showcase our individual talents. I began to feel increasingly confident at other times, particularly when dealing with people who had no idea about my secret. I was less shy if approached by the kids and more confident in handling those passengers who fancied their chances. George was also a little more willing to be seen in public chatting to me, and this could be useful as the other male staff assumed there might be something going on between us, and didn’t seek to chat me up. Above all, I no longer felt that deep-seated dread that someone would one-day come up to me and unmask me in front of an audience.

One morning, soon after we left Marseille, I found myself looking for somewhere to sit and eat my breakfast. Beth and Carol were busy flirting with their new friends and the three guys appeared to be occupied with discussing the merits or otherwise of different makes of car. I noticed that Maria, Beth’s new cabin mate, was sitting alone at a table, reading a text book of some kind, and guessed that, as a latecomer on the ship, she’d not had much chance to make any friends.

‘May I join you, Maria?’ I asked. ‘If you remember we met when you came on board in Barcelona.’

‘Yes, I remember, it is Ally, you are Beth’s friend, please do sit down,’ she replied with a smile, shutting her book.

‘What are you studying?’ I asked.

‘English, of course,’ she said with a grimace. ‘I take this job for the summer to improve my English-speaking skills. I have to pass exam in September or I cannot continue with my university studies.’

‘But your English sounds alright to me.’

‘I can understand most English books and when people talk slowly but my spelling and vocabulary are – how you say it? – crap!’

I laughed.

‘I’m sure they’re not crap.’

‘But English is such a difficult language for learning – so many different words mean same thing, so many different sounds, and your crazy spelling - ¡Qué difícil!’

She broke off her sentence in order to roll her eyes in disbelief.

‘It is all so …. contrario a la intuición,’ she continued.

‘I think you mean counter-intuitive,’ I replied.

‘Yes, that is it, counter-intuitive. Spanish is much easy language to learn.’

‘Creo que tiene razón,’ I replied with a smile.

‘¿Hablas español?’ she asked in some surprise.

‘Sí; un poco.’

‘Eso es maravilloso! ¿Puede explicar esta frase para mí?’ she said eagerly opening her book once again and pointing to the page that she’d been studying. ‘He leído cinco veces y no sé lo que significa,’

‘Slow down Maria! I will try to explain the sentence to you, but only if you can ask me in English,’ I said adopting the role of her language teacher.

‘Please, Ally, what does this sentence mean? I read it so many times my head spins.’

As soon as she’d discovered that I spoke a little Spanish, Maria became my best friend for life. There were other Spanish speakers on the staff but they were all guys who tended to be after one thing only. Like me, she wanted to avoid any on-board flirting with the stewards or the crew as she had to concentrate on her preparations for an important exam. We therefore continued to take our meals together and often had extended conversations, with me correcting her grammar, or her use of English idioms. The only trouble was that I quickly found myself having to invent a whole back story for Alexandra including events from when she was a little girl. I therefore tended to steer our conversations towards Maria's language learning difficulties and even found myself going through her various exercises with her in her cabin when we were both free from our duties. For this help she professed herself to be eternally grateful.

Encouraged by her gratitude, I began to do a little bit of investigation when I had a chance to access the internet as we called at Cadiz and I could go ashore for a few hours. I wanted to discover why she kept making the same kinds of mistakes. Why, for example, she would often miss the subject pronoun, why she sometimes got confused between him and her, which could be a little disconcerting on those occasions she referred to me or one of the other Bunnies as ‘him’. She also sometimes added the adjective as an afterthought, such as the time she told me that I was wearing ‘a dress pretty.’ I quickly found that there were good reasons why she made these mistakes, and that there were plenty of free teaching materials available which would address the problem. I therefore downloaded some exercises specifically for her, and in process discovered that I was enjoying myself as a teacher of English as a foreign language. However, on the last full-day before the end of the voyage, I discovered that her gratitude could create unforeseen problems for me and we had a slightly awkward conversation with one another.

‘Ally, you have been so good to me and we like each other. Would you share a cabin with me on the next voyage? I could help you to make better your hair and makeup and you could correct my English.’

I was surprised by the suggestion and a tiny bit deflated because I’d assumed that I’d been doing quite well with my hair and makeup on the voyage up to that point, although I was clearly not up to Maria’s standards. However, this was not the point, whilst I liked Maria and enjoyed helping her, I couldn’t consider sharing a cabin with someone who was unaware of my true sex and Frank had specifically forbidden us from telling anyone.

‘I don’t know Maria; my cousin Carol might be upset if I wanted to change cabins, and, in any event, we still haven’t heard whether our booking is going to be extended beyond this one voyage.’

‘That is alright, I am sorry that I asked you, I thought your cousin would like to share with Bethany,’ she said with obvious disappointment.

‘You don’t need to be sorry about it; I would be happy to share cabins with you but at present it is a little awkward for me.’

Yes, I understand,’ she replied but seemed a little subdued after this.

I discussed my problem with Maria to Beth and Carol as were getting ourselves ready for our final show later that night.

‘I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to switch cabins,’ said Carol.

(I suspected that it would be easier for her to bring her new boyfriend back to her cabin if she was sharing with Beth than it would have been sharing with her cousin.)

‘I wouldn't mind either,’ said Beth. ‘Maria is nice enough to share a cabin with, but I do find her studying for so much of the time to be rather dull.’

‘How can I share cabins without her knowing about Alex?’

‘I suppose you’re right,’ said Carol. ‘We’ve all tended to forget about Alex over the last couple of weeks.’

‘Which is exactly what we were told to do,’ added Beth.

‘And we still don’t know whether we are going to be employed on the next sailing,’ I said.

‘Frank has asked to speak to us all after the show tonight, so make sure you do your best,’ said Beth.