A smooth-talking widower who convinced a 90-year-old grandmother to join him on a luxury cruise just minutes after meeting her in a pub has revealed she has turned down an offer for another holiday.
John Mason, 91, splashed out £3,500 on a luxury Mediterranean cruise for himself and Vera Burrell after the pair started chatting over lunch in Winchester.
As previously reported by MailOnline, Mr Mason, from Bishop’s Waltham, Hampshire, asked Ms Burrell if he could share her table because the pub they were in was packed, and the pair quickly became firm friends.
Ms Burrell, from Sudbury, Suffolk, was on a coach holiday to Bournemouth when they stopped at watering hole for food and started chatting to the retired engineer about holidays.
John Mason, left, 91, revealed he asked Vera Burrell, right, to go on a cruise 45 minutes after meeting her because ‘life is too short’
When she said that she had always wanted to go on a cruise, the great-grandfather-of-two suggested they go over the road to a travel agent and book a lavish 11-night Mediterranean cruise onboard the Azura – a 290-metre luxury P & O liner – complete with pools, casinos and spas.
Mr Mason said: ‘It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, but it’s one I definitely didn’t regret.
‘You don’t get to my age and start worrying about trivial things like money.’
The pair eventually settled on a 12-day cruise around the Med, and Mr Mason was more than happy to foot the entire bill.
He said Ms Burrell was shocked by the offer and kept saying ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this’ as they booked their trip on the P&O Azura.
Speaking about it for the first time, John said: ‘I lost my wife 11 years ago.
‘I’ve been going on cruises for more than 40 years ago, but my eyesight has deteriorated so I can’t travel alone, and my long term partner passed away.
‘When you get to my age, you can sit around and wait for death or you can live.
‘At 91, things don’t happen unless you make them happen. I thought I can afford it, so I’m going to do it.’
Although strangers at the start of the trip, the pair bonded and now regularly stay in touch – but Ms Burrell declined his offer of a Winter sun cruise around the Caribbean.
The pair set sail from Portsmouth just two weeks after their chance meeting at the start of October, and they happily shared a cabin – with separate beds.
They were the talk of the cruise and even invited to the Bridge to share the story with the First Officer.
Mr Mason said: ‘The First Officer and all the staff were dead shocked when we told the story.
‘They sat there stunned in silence. It was wonderful.’
He described his companion as ‘fantastic company’ and said they spent most of the cruise relaxing.
Mr Mason added: ‘When you’re 90 and 91, you’re happy to sit around and relax. The days pass quickly and at our age, we do a lot of sitting down.
Ms Burrell met Mr Mason at a pub in Winchester while she was on a coach trip and after hitting it off they went over the road to a travel agent to book the £3,500 holiday, which Mr Mason paid for
‘Cruise ships are lovely places to spend time and get to know somebody. Vera was fantastic company, we just talked all day. It was quite something.’
He only told his four children what he had done when his bank phoned them to check the transaction because they thought he was being scammed.
Daughter Sue Metcalfe said they were ‘very surprised’ but ‘completely fine with it’ and didn’t want to stop her elderly father enjoying himself.
She said: ‘He’s never done a grand gesture like this before. But when my mum was alive they used to go on lots of cruises.
‘We were very surprised but had no problem with it. They both had a very good time and still talk on the phone.’
Ms Burrell, who had only had one glass of wine before agreeing to go on the adventure, said that she had ‘gone global’ since the news broke and she can’t believe how interested people are in her ‘little story’.
The ship docked at a number of European cities including Lisbon, Porto, Cadiz, Malaga and Gibraltar, and the nonagenarian pair took full advantage of the sights.
She said: ‘I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I’ve never done cruises before and I don’t think I’ll do it again.
‘There was a lot of lounging about. When you’re 90, time is of the essence, and you can’t do a lot of the onboard activities when you’re my age.
‘Going on shore was lovely though. I liked Lisbon best. It was so sunny and warm.
‘My advice as someone who’s made it to 90 is to seize the day. Don’t waste any opportunities.’
Nonagenarian Ms Burrell returned back to her coach party friends chuckling to herself and left them agog with her antics during the lunchtime stop-off en-route to Bournemouth.
When the coach party stopped again in Winchester on the return leg five days later Ms Burrell returned to the travel agents to find more details about her travelling companion and ‘just to make sure it wasn’t a joke’.
The retired singer added: ‘I’ve had a good life, I don’t regret anything – least of all the cruise. Life is for living. I am not dead yet – you have got to get on with it, haven’t you?
‘I am a bit tottery, my balance is not very good – my hearing is not very good but I am a damn sight better off than a lot of other people.
‘I would say to people, seize the day, seize the day.
The retired engineer, pictured, said he asked Ms Burrell to join him on another cruise but she declined, although the pair remain friends since the holiday
‘Before I left I got an e-mail from my cousin in Australia saying ‘haven’t you been told about stranger danger?’ – John was not the Southampton strangler. He was a gentleman.’
She told her youngest daughter Caroline who thought it was a ‘huge joke’ but encouraged her mother to go for it.
Recalling the moment she first met Mr Mason, she said: ‘I found this very nice pub called The Old Vine. It was full so I thought it must be good as there were a lot of people in there.
‘The gentleman sat down, ordered his lunch and we got to talking, as you do.
‘We were talking about holidays and I told him how I go on coach journeys around the country, how I used to go abroad but don’t anymore.
‘He said ‘my late wife and I really enjoyed cruising’. He’d been round the world several times but his sight was now so impaired he can’t see anything.
”Have you ever had a cruise?’ he said.
‘I told him I couldn’t afford it and secondly my late husband would never have gone on a cruise.
‘We finished our meal and came out of the pub together and on the other side of the road was a travel agent and before I knew it we were in there.
‘I don’t know what I was thinking at the time but I certainly didn’t think he was going to book a cruise.
‘Before I knew it the worker was asking his name and then she asked what my name was – and at that point he leaned over and said ‘what’s your name, my dear?’
‘I’d only had the one glass of wine with lunch – I was not intoxicated.
‘I knew he was booking a cruise but I had not assumed it was for the two of us until he asked me what my name was.
‘The lady at the travel agents asked how long we had known each other and John said ‘well, about three quarters of an hour’.
After returning home to her home the reality of what she had done started to sink in – but rather than cancelling, Ms Burrell’s mind turned to her passport and whether it was in date and other logistics of the trip.
‘A voice in my head said ‘what are you thinking about?’ and another voice said ‘why not?’.’
The Azura cruise boat is one of the largest in the company and Vera booked a tour on one after knowing the mystery man for just 45 minutes
Ground rules for the trip were quickly set out over a cup of tea.
Ms Burrell said: ‘We were sharing a cabin but not sharing a bed, or words to that affect, and he was quite amenable to that so that was fine. It was twin beds.’
The pair shared a top deck room with balcony.
‘We knew the same tunes, we remembered the same comedies from the radio, the same films.
‘The programmes like the Navy lark – as we did not televisions in those days. We got on surprisingly well. We had a very pleasant trip.
‘We both remembered from before the war. He told me about when he was in the Army with the Royal Engineers in the war and I told him about how I had been evacuated.
‘We were strangers but did have quite a lot in common. It was just a lovely leisurely holiday,’ Vera added.
At one point during the journey, the ship’s officer said to the couple ‘you are quite notorious’.
Speaking at her home, Ms Burrell, said: ‘Word had got around the boat. It started off on the very first day when we went to one of the restaurants and I was pouring a coffee – I passed it over to John and asked him ‘is this how you like your coffee?’
‘The people on the table next to us looked stunned. Quite a few did know. Maybe the travel agent had told them.’
Ms Burrell added she did not have time to go on another cruise and had reassured Mr Mason it was nothing to do with him.
She said: ‘He asked me if it was the company but I really did enjoy it because it was an experience but I don’t have the time to do it again.
‘I just haven’t got the time to waste, especially as I am 90. You think to yourself, ‘I could pop off tomorrow, I have got things to do’.
‘We had a very pleasant time, but the thought of actually doing it again – I really haven’t got the time.
‘I have got things to do, people to see and places to go. Drifting round on the ocean doesn’t come into it.
‘One of my friends said ‘you’re mad – you should go’ but no.
‘John could afford it and I couldn’t and that was also one of the things in my mind, that I would be taking advantage. I didn’t really want to go cruising again. I’ve been there, done that.
‘It was an adventure. My grandchildren were very impressed.
‘They were saying ‘look at nan – 90 years old and going on a cruise with a strange man’ but I have no regrets about it at all.’