I hate to say it, as I tend to assume most criminals are innocent, fitted up by corrupt or incompetent cops, but I have to say after the BBC examination of their past and the excuses they used, it looks as though these sweet elderly people were actually drug smugglers and the Lisbon court got it right.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-49846063

These two were apprehended in Lisbon - which has a major cruise line business, with unbelievably large vessels.

Liners are getting so much larger - with, for example, the Symphony of the Seas able to cater for nearly 9,000 passengers and crew.

About 1,200 feet long - this ship ( and others) have a High Street running the full length. With shops, cafes, pubs, restaurants, cinemas, theatres, casinos, nightclubs etc.

For some reason, this market has expanded dramatically in recent years - with seaports, all over the world, vying for custom.

I have two veteran cruisers (I cannot understand the charm) who we call the Ladies Who Cruise (must be careful; they are regular visitors here). They don't like the giants either. I'm delighted Venice has banned the big ones and they do blight the Cannes seafront every now and then.

No charm for me either; but when I saw some of them - literally on the Lisbon quayside - I was astonished at the sizes.

Symphony has 22 restaurants and 24 swimming pools; as well as a basketball court, ice rink - and a couple of rock climbing facilities.

A 'central park' area also exists - with 200,000 different types of plants. It's far to big for Lison and Venice, and sails mostly on the Caribbean.

But only slightly smaller ones cater for Europe - with London hamstrung by its lack of infrastructure/facilities. With Tilbury (really a commercial/container port), about 25 miles away.

20,000*...(tropical plants)

I can't see the appeal of cruises either. Strikes me that it would be rather dull and enjoyment very much dependent on what the other passengers were like. That's without the stories about the projectile vomiting bugs!

This pair seem well and truly guilty and it looks as if the husband is a congenital liar.

Cocaine cruise pensioners’ SIXTEEN drug smuggling trips to Norway

British OAPs cruising their way to jail: How retired chef and his secretary wife will swap golf courses and yoga classes on the Costa Blanca for a Lisbon prison after pure greed led them to smuggle £1m of cocaine across the Atlantic

never been on a cruise..but I would have liked to go from NY to London or visa versa on the QE2 as David Bowie often did as he hated flying. Ten days in a luxury cabin seems quite nice.

I once toured the QE2..it was fabulous like a faded old hotel... the Dorchestor on the Sea..and now I mention it..how odd as I met Angie Bowie on it as she was an act and traveling on it.

My lovely pal the late Aussie singer Tony Monoply regularly cruised and entertained on on the QE2 and loved it as it had a gay bar for the staff.

I'd would have bought a ticket for the Titanic at the time but I didn't have the money.