2024 – Queen Mary 2 Grand World– Part 2 –Cape Town to Sydney  2.4 Melbourne to Sydney

It was February 25 and things were starting to move faster and faster.  Two couples would leave us in Sydney, so I’ll be meeting them for cocktails tonight, with whoever else still remembers the newsletter I got out on the 22^nd, before Melbourne.  Hooray, the games and puzzles came out again, in the corridor I walk to get to my desk.  They had been put away, while we were battling the various infections. 

The invitations for the big World Cruise ToDo onshore came out last night.  Rats, it’s in Hong Kong, the last place in the world that suits me.  If you ask me, it shouldn’t suit anyone.  There’s a lot a person can do with an overnight in Hong Kong and a feeding at the communal trough for 500 will just get in the way.  So, I won’t be going.  I already have $500 sunk into a non-refundable room at the Grand Hyatt.  

I bought the disembarking passengers a last drink.  No one else came, but one of my single ladies stopped by, just as they were leaving.  She introduced me to her friend, Paul Curtis, a writer in residence on the ship.  He wrote “High Tea on the Cunard Queens”.  In its review, Amazon says he has an off-beat sense of humour and I got an example.  Apropos of nothing, I remarked that, when I started working, there were very few women in jobs other than teacher, nurse or secretary.  As a result, my colleagues were almost all male and I worked hard to be “One of the boys”.  So he asked me if I scratched myself inappropriately.  I didn’t and have to wonder if that’s why I hit the glass ceiling?

We docked in Sydney, Australia, on February 26^th.There was just a little work that had to be done early in the morning.  I did it and went out in Sydney.  I only had one taker for visiting the Museum of Contemporary Art, but we had a super good time.  The tour was on Tacida Dean, who does a lot of things, with just about every medium known to art, including film, in this day of everything digital.  I think my favorite was ‘The Story of the Lemon that grew Hair’.  To be honest, our real favorite was lunch.  It was at Graze MCA, outdoors on the patio of the MCA.  What’s not to like about this view?  

Yes, that bottle neck was on our table and yes, that’s the famous Sydney Opera House peeking out from under the bow of the QM 2.  The weather was perfect.  The menu was interesting and well executed.  I especially enjoyed my fresh local oysters and Peggy and I enjoyed getting to know each other better.  I can recommend this little outing wholeheartedly, especially for people who need to conserve energy, because we’re old and all.  This was the view from my stateroom balcony:

I did have local knowledge to rely on for the MCA Graze coup, and it came from Helen Pakchung and Nick Hamilton-Kane, whom I was meeting for supper.  I strolled around the rocks for just a bit after lunch, came back rested, cleared my email and went out ato meet them at another of their brilliant recommendations.

Café Sydney is on the roof of the old customs house and it’s fabulous – all of it, the view, the food, the wine, the service, the lot.  I had more oysters on the half shell, kingfisher carpaccio, and an excellent chocolate dessert.  I want to highlight the wine, because it was interesting.  We decided on a Pinot Grigio and asked the sommelier to recommend.  He came back with two tastes, one a typical run-of-the-mill very good PG, and the other, rich and full bodied, which you don’t expect in a PG, but it was delicious.  I chose it, price unknown, and it was almost twice the price of the first one, but worth every penny.  Gweily Pinot Grigio.  I just googled it and I can’t find it – must be spelling it wrong.  Did I mention the view?  Here are the Helens and the Queen Mary 2:

Helen and Nick walked me home, and you can just imagine how far that was from the pictures.  Nick took them, by the way and this is a really good one:

How good is that?  And I couldn’t resist going out on my balcony when I got to it and this isn’t too shabby, either:

And so to sleep, with one of the best views on this earth.

Still in Sydney on the 27^th, my very shore excursion taking group opted for more of that rather than Dim Sum in Sydney, but you couldn’t keep me away from it.  Before I went out, I was happy to read that we would now be in port in Singapore with the Zuiderdam and there would be a chance of meeting up with the Starrs, and all.  I checked the berthing arrangements on http://www.whatsinport.com and we are both at the Marina Bay Cruise Terminal, which will make it easy.

Around noon, I got off the ship and got the tram, between the dock and the Customs House.  It’s so easy in Sydney now, you just tap your card to a post and board.  Only I didn’t tap hard enough, or at the right angle, because it didn’t take.  Luckily, I made friends on board with a couple of nice Uni students, who pledged to help me find The Eight, Zilver’s new high-end offering in the dim sum market.  Good thing, too, because my card wanted to start a new trip when I tapped to sign off the old one.  With their help we managed to end that new trip, and my credit card hasn’t been charged anything at all.  I did everything right on the return trip and there’s no charge for that either.  How nice of the Sydney Transit Authority.  The kids walked me to The Eight and I invited them to join me, which would have been great fun for me, but they did have class. 

The dim sum place looked perfect:

And the dim sum looked good:

Yes, I ate every bit of that and three daan tarts, too.  It wasn’t a patch on regular Zilver, though.  Never mind, I am going to Hong Kong.  The dim sum cart pushing ladies loved my red and gold Zulu necklace.  No, not THAT one, a much more subdued version, but the Chinese love red and gold, especially near Chinese New Year.  The lady who served me in the pharmacy commented on it, too.  For a five buck necklace, it’s doing very well. 

Paddy’s Market is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays so I got back on the tram to The Rocks.  They have a Gelato place between the tram stop and the dock area, so I got a chocolate sorbet on a sugar cone and sat down and ate it on the dock. 

The sailaway was stunning.  It was sunset so we started out all taking pictures of each other like this:

And finally the farewell shot, from the stern:

Then I went in and has a pizza at The Chef’s table.  My server loved my red and gold Zulu necklace, too.  After dinner, it was still early so I called the Mamos again to welcome them and left a message.

Back at sea on the 28^th.  Every so often, at my desk, I venture to help some random person who has a question.  A nice man, who boarded yesterday, wanted to know how to sign in to the Internet and I was stupid enough to offer to help.  A half hour later, his phone still couldn’t reach the Internet, but his wife was next in line at Cunard’s help desk, and they eventually solved it. 

The ship sent out invitations for tonight’s DV cocktail party.  The WC lounge had scones and tea and all again, which was wonderful.  The new people never showed up for their own cocktail party.  It was pretty intimate.  At one point I mentioned I had a French restaurant in Singapore , highly recommended by certified gourmet French friends.  I got a taker.  Another of my single ladies thought that sounded just right for her.  At the end of the cocktail party, I went to dinner with just one guy and that was good, too.

Still at sea on February’s extra day, I did some work and I booked Loulou. 

I had tea in the WC lounge with some Quebecers, and had dinner in the Verandah with one of my single guys, who had a voucher for two, doubtless from his TA.  I was happy to be the beneficiary. We finished off in the Royal Theatre with Aussie comedian, Darren Sanders, the best comedian we have seen yet.

2024 – Queen Mary 2 Grand World– Part 2 –Cape Town to Sydney  2.3 Perth to Melbourne

We were back at sea on February 18.  Orsi and I met with the tech support for the room Cunard is providing for my HK talk.  All free, as it should be.  Listen up, Holland America.  I got an email from the General Manager of RPYC thanking us for our visit and warning us that he had just tested positive for COVID.  I notified the QM2 people by phone and the Volendam passengers by email.  I spent the rest of the day working on my HK presentation and notes, had a nice dinner and skipped the show because I had seen it. 

The next day, the 19^th, I was still working on my Hong Kong talk.  Since I have decided to book in to a Central Hotel to avoid the hassle of having to travel around, I’ll be recommending it in my talk.  I researched a bunch of hotels at varying prices.  While I was at it, I looked at Singapore, just for fun.  The Marina Bay Sands is sold out for the night we are there, and Raffles wants $1566.  The next thing I checked was where the ship would be docked and, luckily, it’s the Marina Bay Cruise Terminal, so we can stay aboard and still be fine.  I remember the days when the Wescotts would go stay in the Marina Bay for the free WiFi.  Glad those are over.

Eleven people came to my talk on Hong Kong, including my very fragile lady, who followed it like everyone else.  I think everyone enjoyed it.  They asked a bunch of pertinent questions, but they are a shore excursion taking group and not many will go off the beaten path, which they can be led down.  That’s OK.  I just wanted them to know what’s out there.

I had a drink at the Commodore Club, dinner at a big table, skipped the sand painter on the main stage and finished “Midnight’s Children” in bed. 

First thing in the morning of February 20, my caregiver passenger was at my desk to crow about her charge’s progress.  She has every reason to.  I saw it yesterday. I rejoiced with her.  Her charge is so much brighter, eating more and managing the step into the bathroom herself.  They will be getting an ADA stateroom after Sydney and I told her not to cancel it.  We sure are enjoying her victory now, though.  We worked on a car and driver for them in Adelaide and I continued my research for a good winery that had chardonnay.  It’s not the prevalent grape in this part of Australia, but it’s our patient’s favorite. 

On February 21, we docked in Adelaide, sadly without an overnight for me to enjoy the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron’s hospitality.  So I just went in to town.  Adelaide has a nice walkable downtown, with malls built in behind the major stores.  They call the whole thing Rundle mall.  Montreal could take lessons here.  

What a great idea for Ste Catherine street.  I had a pedicure in one of the malls.   The lady in the seat beside me was interesting.  She was born and grew up in London, had lived in Hong Kong, worked as a mid-wife in Australia and was about to go to Costa Rica to teach English as a Second Language.  All I had time for after my pedi was a food court lunch.  I hoped the Dim Sum one would be good.  It wasn’t.

I got back to the ship, took a little time-out and went to sailaway on Deck 8. I had gnocchi carbonara at the Chef’s Table, which works well after a sailaway.  I met Mike and Nancy, Torontonians, and we talked a lot about Canada and Hong Kong.  It was good.  I made it to the show, too, which was a pianist with good patter, Bayne Bacon from Texas, whom I didn’t expect down under.

At 3:18 in the morning of February 22, my TV came on all by itself and I came to, with an avatar donning a life jacket on the screen.  That was a tad disconcerting but I went to the ships navigational channels, and all was normal on both of them.  No alarm was sounding, so I did the usual and went back to sleep.  One of my people stopped by the desk to tell me there’s an informal BYOB in the WC lounge starting up.  Must check it out – or not.  She had the same 3AM rude awakening that I did. The captain explained it in his noon briefing. They had a problem that caused them to re-boot the entire ship’s electrical system at 3AM and, in the process, every TV set on the ship came on, with the safety drill playing. It woke up every single passenger and crew member. The captain apologized nicely. I trust he also put some software people to work so that it doesn’t happen again.

I wrote and delivered a newsletter today because there are two couples getting off in Sydney and there should be at least a cocktail for them.  I’ll be sorry to see them go.  They came to everything.

I had a nice diner with a table of mostly Aussies and decided to take in the movie “Australia”, with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, which was playing at 9PM.  They had gone to the matinee. They warned me that the sound was ‘off’ such that the music was drowning out the words.  They had reported it, so it might have been fixed.  It had not.  I stuck it out for almost an hour before I gave up.  Maybe we are all going deaf.  The Aussies had seen it five or six times before, so it didn’t bother them as much.

On February 23, we docked in Melbourne, where I have great plans, and all of a sudden my own travel clients need me and my travel insurance company is offering last year’s prices when I renew for $25.  Then there were things to do because there are clients who are joining in Sydney.  I dealt with all of it and took the shuttle into town.  I was most impressed by the number of gyms that we passed.  It matched with my observations of the people you see on the street.  The Aussies, at least the younger ones, are very fit, indeed.  I engaged the local volunteer, where we got off, as to how to get in to central Melbourne and when the last shuttle would be tonight.  I later found out it was ten o’clock, which meant to me that I would be taking an Uber, which would have been fine, anyway.  A busybody of a passenger overheard the question and said they would be closing the dockyard at 10PM and I wouldn’t be allowed back on the ship until morning if I didn’t make it.  That was going to mess with my dinner plans, big time.  Our restaurant reservation was for 8:15. 

I filed that away and walked into town.  Melbourne is laid out even more neatly than Adelaide and they give you a map so you can really see it.  Just across the Tarra river from where we were let off is the Flinders Street Station.  Apart from being the railway line, it’s on a tram line that makes a neat rectangle around the central business district or CBD, as the locals call it.  Better yet, the tram is free and best of all 99 Spring St, where I was meeting my friends, was on that City Circle tram route. 

I didn’t take a tram right away, I just kept walking into the centre and found the Block Arcade, where I had had such a nice tea about ten years ago. 

Inside was my oasis:

I had a plate of triangle sandwiches and this:

The place is steeped in history and the menu features it.  Enlarge and read these little stories:

Since I had my gall bladder out, which was December 8, I have had to stay near a potty for an hour or so after the afternoon tea that is my breakfast.  So I asked my server where the WC was.  She gave me directions and the combination to get in.  On the way there I met Ceri and Andy, friends from the ship.  I pointed them to the Hopetoun Tea Room and went to the WC.  Then I circled the entire block, window shopping all the way, and went to the WC again.  Now I was ready to board the tram.

My plan was to go the long way around from where I was, to arrive at my destination at the appointed hour of 7pm.  So I took the Collins street tram to almost where I was going and got on the City Circle tram, going the opposite way.  That was fine until it dumped all of us at Docklands, because the City Circle was over for the day and he was heading for the barn.  So I took a second tram for two stops , and got on a third going in the direction I needed.  It turned out to be the 30a, rather than the 30 and was going to leave the circle and go north in a couple of stops.  I was being helped by some local students, who were vastly improving my opinion of the younger generation.  I got off at Flagstaff gardens to wait for my fourth tram.  Flagstaff Gardens is a very pretty park, and my number 30 arrived promptly.  Then it got tricky.  I would have to take it out of the free zone and catch my fifth tram out there where you pay and I didn’t have a ticket.  I didn’t know if the ticket obtention process would be as simple as a credit card tap or something impossible from where I was.  So, I got off at Spring Street and walked the rest of the way.  It was a nice walk, past a university and Parliament house, which looks pretty much like every one in the world these days.

I arrived and was met at the curb and escorted to the 25^th floor, where I was presented with this stunning view. 

I was particularly drawn to the middle crane’s bucket, which looks so much like a man hanging there.  There were stunning views on three sides of this apartment.  It sure is nice having friends in high places.  My hosts were Peter Hosking, Jo Mayfield’s son, and his partner Kristine Nelson, to whose brother this fabulous apartment belonged.

We got along like a house on fire, drinking sparkling shiraz, which is a thing in Melbourne, shiraz being the local grape.  I get it and I also got that it was delicious.  There was a book on the coffee table that I now have to buy:

I told them about the curfew, not sure enough of my information to want to disobey it, and they said not to worry.  The apartment has a guest room.  Of course it does.  We called the restaurant and begged them to let us in a bit early, but it didn’t help.  The main course had not come by 9:11, when Peter checked his watch.  I would have had to get up and leave that minute.  Instead, I accepted the guest room with pleasure and started to relax and enjoy my evening even more, if that was possible. 

The restaurant is called Embla, and it is brilliant, especially so for carnivores like the three of us.  Where will I ever again find a chicken skin crisp on a menu? We ordered those, the raw beef, and the vongole and pork sausage for appetizers.  Then we ordered more chicken skin crisps, with our mains.  Those were the milk roast half chicken, the spiced 9+ wagu karubi, and the heirloom tomatoes.  We had desserts, too.  We took pictures but we forgot for the appetizers and started eating the other two courses before we remembered, so there’s nothing pretty to show you.  That’s a testament to how good it all was. 

To top it all off, my new besties are Dim Sum lovers, too, and there was a good dim sum place within easy walking distance of the apartment.  Tomorrow was looking as good as today.  We finished our meal at Embla and waddled back for after dinner drinks and beddy-bye.  I slept like a log, likely because I had had more to drink than any other night in the last 4 years.  It was still moderate compared to my younger days, and I had no ill effects at all.

I did sleep in until after nine, on February 24, and got up to find Peter and Kristine in the living room with the gorgeous view still in place.  We shared a few secrets and I found out how good stem cell injections are from someone who has had more than one joint fixed.  That’s where I’ll be taking my beleaguered ankle when I can’t stand the pain any more. 

Off to dim sum.  The place is politically incorrectly called “Shark Fin Inn”.  Yes, shark fin dumplings are available but no, we did not order them.  There were plenty of other favorite items to pig out on.  You never saw such a trio for liking the same things. 

After dim sum, I had an hour to kill and the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre is right across the street from the Pan Pacific hotel, where I was meeting Linda and Bev – yes, from Montreal.  A few people had suggested BBC Earth to me, and so I went and saw:

I realized that Holland America had shown it on last year’s world cruise and Cunard had probably shown it in the Planetarium on board the Queen Mary 2, but this was better because of the vastness of the space, the creative way it was shown, and the very flexible seating. 

Then I crossed the street to the Pan Pacific to meet Linda and Bev, who are here for one of Linda’s conferences.  

I passed on my two Melbourne restaurants, as they have five days, and because I am so late getting this out, I already have their report.  Embla and Shark Fin Inn provided their two best meals in Melbourne.  Remember that.  This journal is good for something.

When I got back to the ship, I had quite a lot of work to do and another quick dinner in the little Italian restaurant that is fast becoming my go to. 

2024 – Queen Mary 2 Grand World– Part 2 –Cape Town to Sydney  2.2 Mauritius to Perth

After my successful shopping expedition in Mauritius, on February 9 I was happy to have new clothes to wear for the seven sea days coming up.  I did some more research on Melbourne and Sydney to see what value added I might bring to the experience.  I found a Peter Hosking in my database, in Melbourne and wrote to see if he might be a tour guide I had used before.  I don’t know where the rest of the day went, but we had a good pianist on stage.  He was Tim Abel and I would go see him again. 

The next day, the 11^th, One couple came to tell me that they had handed their visas in, which reminded me to hand in all the ones that I had done.  That way, the ship won’t charge for doing them.  I since found up their rate was $15 per visa, which we all would have paid gladly not to have had to go through the processes.  Three more people stopped by on various bits of business.  Ten of us had dinner in Britannia and we got the Captain’s Table, which was very nice.  You always see the same people.  On this cruise, I see most of them but dinners don’t work for people who barely eat, or have allergies, or are vegan.  I’ll probably never need more than the Captain’s table.  It was a fun dinner and I made it better by buying three bottles of wine for it. Tonight we had another repeat production show, so I gave it another pass. 

Nobody came to the desk at all,the next day,  so I worked on air for my own clients and on our meeting up with the Volendam in Perth.  It had started out with me meeting my one client on the Grand Australia, and there are now nine people joining us from that ship.  And, yes, I know every one of them.  Three were DV people from last year and the rest just friends of theirs and mine.  The entertainment on the main stage was Susannah Miranda and she was good.

We were still at sea on February 13.  They have stopped serving tea in our lovely World Cruise lounge, so I have been getting it at the buffet, and it’s not nearly as nice.  Same food, but the place has no charm.  I had a nice table for dinner, though and went to the main stage show.  It was 4 male singers from the West End, all of whom were good, but the group had little collective charm and I didn’t even like the music.  It was Rock On but it was 2000s music and it didn’t rock me one bit.

Next morning brought email from Peter Hosking, who turned out to be Jo Mayfield’s son, who had once visited us in Napa, with her, when he was working in New York.  He was no tour guide but happy to have dinner with me on our overnight in Melbourne.  That’s probably all I need.  I can’t drink wine like I used to. 

Valentine’s Day can be sad when you don’t have a partner, but I was lucky enough to get a good dinner table that included the Bridge Instructor and his wife, who are from Victoria, B.C.  The pianist, Tim Abel, was excellent again. 

February 15 was anther day at sea.  I did some personal taxation work, so much fun, and got myself a room to give a talk about Hong Kong.  I’ll be giving it on February 19, so another newsletter is in order.  I started working on it, well, them, the talk and the Newsletter.  It’s getting a tad intense, with the good ports coming up.  The good news of the day is that my caregiver and her charge are finally getting an accessible cabin at the changeover in Sydney.  It’s a nice big one, too, a Queen’s Suite.  I checked it on the deck plan.  Wonder if they get to go to the Queen’s Grill?

On February 16, I delivered Newsletter No 9 to let people know about my Hong Kong talk and as a last call for the RPYC lunch.  I also had my HK handouts printed for review.  I have been working hard updating the talk and handout, since it was last used in 2016.  Working on HK caused me to smarten up and book myself in to the Grand Hyatt in Wanchai.  Why would I stay in Kai Tak?  This will mean I can be in the middle of things and have dinner in Wanchai or Causeway Bay and Dim Sum at One Harbour road the next day.  Oh, yes!

I really enjoyed dinner tonight with three of my favorite people on board.  I wanted them to meet each other because I just thought it would work, and it did – in spades.  Now we’ll be going to The Verandah together sometime soon.  We’re losing yet another hour tonight and it’s beginning to take its toll, so I went to bed early.  Tomorrow is a big day.

Early On February 17, 2024 we docked in Fremantle for Perth, Western Australia  Getting 12 people from two ships together to go on an outing is a lot like herding cats.  The smarter the people are, the harder it is, because they second guess you.  Luckily I had a point person on the Volendam who kept that group together because I was having enough trouble on the QM2, with only 2 people besides myself.  They were afraid to turn on cellular roaming for texting, so when we were all at Stairway B, but on different decks, we couldn’t get together – until we did.  I want you all to know, I have a 3-country, 2-phone plan from T-Mobile and did not even tell them I was traveling.  I only use the phone for texting, never a call, and my February bill was up 51 cents.  When I am home, the bill is $45.37 and it was $45.88.  Get that plan and have no fear.   I text like mad on cellular roaming, whenever I am in port and I use WhatsApp on the ship’s WiFi, just to be sure it’s free.  I had a couple of WhatsApp phone calls last month, too.  No charge.

Once we were off the ships and in the Terminal, we could see each other but couldn’t get to each other until we had actually exited the Terminal into the fresh air.  We divided ourselves into three Uber groups and had enough Uber Apps to cover.  The Ubers were about half the price of taxis.  That’s not true everywhere but we did check in this case, FYI.  It was a pretty ride through the town of Fremantle and along the Swan River to the Royal Perth Yacht Club.  The Club Manager came out to greet us and gave us a little tour. 

That was followed by an excellent pub lunch, the usual stuff but well executed and accompanied by four bottles of good Western Australia Wine: Castle Rock Skywalk Reisling, Howard Park Flint Rock Chardonnay, Mazza Tempranillo, and Howard Park Miamup Cabernet Sauvignon, with tasting notes.  These people were running a regatta, so they did their homework in advance and submitted it for our consideration.  We gave it an A+.  What we were really enjoying was each others’ company and the fact that we could meet like this half way around the world.  There’s something very special there.

We bought some RPCYC logo merchandise for bragging rights, and to remember the day.  Then we got one of the old members to take us to “The Bond Room” and tell us the story of their keeled over America’s Cup (see 2023).  We got into a surprisingly technical discussion on the new America’s Cup boats and “foiling”.  I had to look it up when I got back to WiFi.  It’s worth your time.  Google “America’s Cup foiling” and be amazed.  It was time.  We found three more Ubers to take us back to Fremantle, as ships do sail, even when we’re having fun.  We asked ours to give us the scenic route and we had water to our left, just about all the way. 

There was a half hour to spare before Volendam’s all aboard, so Lynann Barnes and just I spent it in the terminal catching up.  That, too, was fun.  We each boarded our respective ships and I went to sailaway and had pizza or pasta at the Chef’s Table.  I was too tired to record which.

February 2 was a busier than usual day at the desk.  There was business to do.  My care-giver passenger came to settle in cash for the burner phone purchase that had gone on my credit card, along with lunch and a pair of sandals.  She bought a couple of my art cards from me.  So did a couple of other people.  They appreciate my buying extra when I find good stuff that they couldn’t get to.  I had a very pleasant tea in the WC lounge and a fun dinner with a couple who had gone to McGill. They were from Scotland.  We had a British couple and one who had lived in South Africa for 20 years.  They had reservations about the speaker everyone was raving about.  She was a white South African, who had been Nelson Mandela’s closest aid or 19 years.  They found her incredibly naïve, and they should know.  They have kids her age, who, mind you, might have had a more liberal upbringing, as they weren’t Afrikaans.  It was a gala night and a production show, and it was very good. 

That was followed by a very uneventful day.  No one came to the desk, and I got a lot of writing and publishing done and a bit of travel work.  I went up to the Commodore Club at 7:15 for Friends of HelenM and found I didn’t have any, but it was a more interesting venue, at least.  I had a table full of Aussies for dinner and they were a lot of fun.  The main stage entertainer was Berni Flint and he was amusing enough. 

In Durban, South Africa on the 4th, I was up at 5:45am again. This time it was for a monkey tour, which turned out to be disappointing. QM2 was making her maiden call to the new Nelson Mandela Cruise Terminal in Zululand. A lot has changed since his time. The whites have all moved to the suburbs and all the various racial designations go to everything. Durban is the third largest city in South Africa. It has a new stadium which can be seen from afar and looks like a fruit basket. It’s fitting. It’s a lot more fertile here than on the other side of Africa.

It was a little over an hour’s drive to the Monkey park.  We passed a Casino on a hill, built to look like a Zulu homestead.  That means it was pretty much a dome.  In a real Zulu homestead, the animals are sheltered from predators in the middle, while the people sleep around them and protect them.  A Zulu man may marry as many wives as he can afford and each one costs a minimum of eleven cows.  It does not work the other way around.  This would not work for me.  Another interesting factoid is that Durban has the largest Indian population outside of India.  They make up 28% of all Durbanites.

The Monkey Park itself was a disappointment.  I was hoping for the hilarious interactions of monkey families, like we saw on safari in 2001, but these guys weren’t families.  They had been rescued from all over the world and were just individuals.  Except for the ring-tailed lemurs, who are an endangered species, they had been sterilized for the privilege of living here.  They were cute but they weren’t even as interesting as the ones you find in Central Park Zoo. 

We were due back at the terminal by 12:30pm.  I texted my care-giver friend from the bus and she was there using the WiFi, so it was easy to meet up.  We all had to be through customs in the terminal by 4pm and that included her charge, whom she would have to fetch from her stateroom and bring down.  We needed to be back by three, so we had no time to waste.  We got an Uber to Victoria Market and got right to it.  What I wanted was a bunch of Zulu beaded jewelry.  I had lost most of what I purchased in 2014, when I sold it in a silent auction to my people, and gave the proceeds to the ship’s charity.  I did that because the Captain had canceled the rest of our African ports that year due to an ebola outbreak and the people were mad that they didn’t get presents for their friends.  Then we missed Durban last year and found out the rest of the African ports didn’t have nearly as good shopping as Durban.  This year I bargained hard and loaded up. 

I think I could have done a little better, but we really had to get back to the ship and that customs deadline.  It took us longer than we thought, too, because there is no public WiFi in the Victoria Market and I couldn’t get an Uber.  We went back to where we had made most of our purchases to try to get on their WiFi and did better than that.  There was a tour guide there with three ladies, two French, one Italian.  His charges were going to be there for at least a half-hour, maybe more, so he asked them if they would mind if he just ran us quickly back to the ship.  I felt safe because he was wearing the very distinctive badge issued to all accredited South Africa tour guides.  He didn’t ask for money so he ended up doing better.  Between us we kicked in the equivalent of about $10.  It was our most expensive ride in South Africa, but well worth it.  We were back before three and all went very smoothly.  The captain had to call out three names around five o’clock but none of them were ours. 

I donned my biggest Zulu necklace and wore it to sail away.  The culture is different on Cunard.  They neither announce, nor promise a sail away party, but if you know where to go, there is one.  The World Cruise consultant had told me he suspected it was on Deck 8, aft.  You have to go through the lobby of The Verandah, which is the equivalent of the Pinnacle Grill on HAL.   I had an early dinner because I was pretty tired, after having got up at what I consider to be the middle of the night, and went to the early show.  On Holland America, everyone wears their best market find to sail away and we all look for the stuff and make appreciative comments.  This sail away was fun. Laurie and Yoseph were rocking the deck, but I had on the only piece of Zulu jewelry there.  It did get its appreciative comments, though.  You couldn’t miss it. 

Then it was an early dinner and a diva, Lisa-Marie Holmes.  I like divas. 

On Monday, February 5, we were back at sea and it was good thing.  I had plenty to do, organizing things to do on shore in Australian and Hong Kong.  I had bought about twenty Zulu necklaces in Durban, and was going to sell them off at cost to my people who had not been able to get to the market for various reasons, like ships shore excursions or mobility issues.  The first buyer picked the all black one, of all things.  The next picked the all red one.  There’s a pattern here.  I had thought I was going to get to keep those.  The only good thing about going back the way we came is that I’ll get to go back to the market and replace them. 

I found out we would be docked at the Rocks in Sydney, which is great, and at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Hong Kong, which isn’t.  I got Newsletter 7 out to remind everyone we had a dinner tomorrow and about lunch at the Royal Perth Yacht Club.

My dinner partners shared a brilliant Cape Town driver-guide with me.  My wheelchair bound person and her caregiver need a car to go out in.  My dinner partners, a retired teacher and nurse, live in a trailer in Australia.  You meet everyone on a world cruise. 

Still at sea, on February 6, I took a picture of the ship’s floral arrangement which is now a peacock.  I like him.:

I researched what was on at the Sydney Opera House and it’s a bunch of hit arias strung together.  I am not going to a lot of work to do an outing based on that.  We get it a couple of times a week on board.

A little more Sydney research and a tip from Helen Pakchung, led me to choose the Museum of Contemporary Art for an outing in Sydney.  They have a highly rated restaurant and free tours, and, best of all, it’s an easy walk from the ship.  Speaking of Helen, we’ll be having dinner at Café Sydney, also great food and great views.  We overnight in Sydney, docked right downtown. 

I did some homework on passengers who would be embarking in Sydney, or not.  Then I tried to find the Indian stores in Mauritius that I had been told about.  The kind of thing I am looking for is not on the Internet, I am afraid.  A good central market should do me, though.  The population of Mauritius is 60-70% Indian.  What was Durban bragging about?

There were 5 of us for dinner at Coriander.  A lot of people are under the weather.  We have both respiratory and gastro-intestinal stuff going around.  They have put away all the puzzles and board games and are sanitizing like mad. 

February 7, was another sea day.  My contact  called to say there would be no Officer-Hosted dinners for a while.  I booked Dim Sum in Sydney at The Eight, which is a new restaurant, supposed to be a higher end one, by the Zilver Group.  I have loved Zilver in the past.  They had about the best Dim Sum you could get outside of Hong Kong. 

I met some of my people for cocktails and had dinner with some of the same people as before.  Three of us went on to listen to Aileen and Stix in The Golden Lion. 

Finally on Thursday, February 8, 2024, we docked in Le Port, Reunion.  There was a lot of pent-up shopping in me, and the two white kurti tops I brought with me are being held together by my efforts at camouflage embroidery.  I went into every clothing store in St. Gilles les Bains.  Luckily, I am smart enough to buy at the first store, if it has what I want.  Not that I really wanted a white embroidered blouse for 79 euros, but I was desperate.  And everything else I found was either even more expensive or not cotton and cotton is not negotiable with me.  It’s a nice little top and I had a nice little lunch at Quimper, a crèperie, Bretonne.  I pigged both a savory crepe of andouille, potato and caramelized onions AND a sweet crepe, strawberries, ice cream crème Chantilly and caramel.  I washed that lot down with a cold local beer. 

It was very hot.  A lot of the people walking by were wearing the clothes I had just seen in the shops.  I am guessing French tourists.  Most of the shops had closed for the afternoon, so I went back to the ship, after lunch.   I had dinner with a couple who live in Australia now, but had spent 1968-72 in Montreal, living on Nun’s Island.  They had some good times.  I finished off the evening with jazz in the Chart Room.

We had two port days in a row.  Next day we were docked in Port Louis, Mauritius.  By this time, I was really on a mission for white kurtis.  I bound my left ankle so I could walk farther and set off for the local market.  Not very many people from the ship did.  There was a big commercial shopping plaza near the pier, and, if you weren’t on a tour, you weren’t likely to get past that.  To do so required going down some stairs into a tunnel to get under the main highway, you see.  People are not adventurous.  They can miss the best stuff. 

I didn’t.  I found the market and came back with five kurtis of varying quality and price, the cheapest being around $15 and the best being about $40.  One of the cheapest ones wouldn’t make it through its first wash and, at $7.50, it’s not even going to get one.  One does end up with the odd second in a market.  I failed to inspect carefully enough.  I also bought six pairs of colorful cotton pants, to wear with the kurtis, and a couple of presents. 

I came back under the street to the tourist market and walked right into a lion dance:

Which gave me a taste for Chinese food, which I had in a waterfront restaurant overlooking the ship.  That’s what I call a good shore excursion.  It was a nice sail-away, too.  I hung out with one of my people for a bit and decided to try the little pizza and pasta place at the far end of the buffet.  It was a very pleasant surprise.  They serve you and cook your pizza to order.  It was even a reasonable pizza and all I needed, after having had lunch.

I got up at 5:45 am in Cape Town, South Africa. I don’t like getting up at 5:45 am but you do what you have to do.  Table Mountain fogs up and fills up with tourists, if you don’t get there early.  My people all showed up on time for our 7:30 am call and off we went. 

I gave the tour 4 stars, because it was a good tour, but it had a few flaws and technical difficulties.  It was hard to separate the flaws from the technical difficulties because the technical difficulties may have caused most of the flaws. 

Pick-up was almost smooth.  The escort was in place at the right time, but the bus wasn’t.  That was likely because Cunard’s tour buses were occupying all the parking spots in the race to Table Mountain, before the clouds and fog set in.  We probably left fifteen minutes later than planned.  We would have appreciated some commentary on the way to Table Mountain, the usual introduction to a city, etc.  We got little or none.  We voted to have a short time at the top and many of us had to toss our shopping back to make the deadline, but that was OK and Table Mountain was a hit. 

We needed water when we came down but when I asked for it, I found out that it had been forgotten it at the Terminal but they would buy us some at our first stop. 

We also had to pick up a new microphone at the first stop, as ours wasn’t working, which may have accounted for the lack of commentary on the first leg.  I had complained about it about ¾ of the way through, but wasn’t told about the mic problem then.  It is possible that the guide was talking from his seat but only the first row heard him.  Between Table Mountain and Bo-Kaap, he came to the middle of the bus and spoke as loudly as he could from there. 

The stop at Bo-Kaap was longer than it deserved to be, but we did get water and the mic did get fixed.  The commentary, when it came, wasn’t particularly interesting, though and the guide did nothing for us at the Company Gardens stop, which was just a bit of a walk in the Gardens. 

When we got to Langa, which is an old township, now within the city limits.  The guide stopped the bus, in the middle of town, and told us we could get out and have a walk around before the bus would take us to lunch.  Some of us, who had walked around the gardens, decided to just wait in the bus, as we had seen townships before, and they aren’t much to walk around.  It took a rather long time and we couldn’t even see our people, which struck us as a bit odd. 

It turned out the guide had taken them all into a little local museum and told them the history of the township.  He had grown up in it and I am told he was very interesting.  If those of us on the bus had been told what to expect, we would all have been off the bus listening to him.  I suppose he was just being modest, but that’s not the role of a tour guide.

The lunch place was the hit of the day.  We were welcomed by a band playing a mixture of traditional and new instruments and they were very good.  The energy was high and positive.  It was a family operation and the “mamas” who made the food, were all relatives.  The food itself was excellent and all but two dishes were suitable for vegetarians.  My Indian family was very happy with it.  It was really, really good and spicier than what we get on QM2.  There was wine and beer for sale and I just told my people to order whatever they wanted and I would pay for it.  We drank 2 bottles of wine and about 5 beers for what came to $38 when I checked my online banking.  That was fine with me.  After dinner the band offered to take in volunteers and some of the people had a lot of fun.  The energy was very high and we were happy. The restaurant was Mzansi, Langa Township.

I think a lot of us slept on the way to the winery.  It was a beautiful place, but the wine tasting was poorly run and the wine was nothing to write home about.  Yes, I know, I am a Napa girl, but that means I do know what a good wine tasting is like.  To make it worse, it was very, very hot in the winery.  We voted to skip the last two pours and get back on the bus.  We apologize for our bad behavior, but we had been out for over eight hours and the old horses needed to get back to the barn.  The tour needs to be shortened some and maybe the tour operator could ask for a smaller winery.  This place was probably running ten groups simultaneously, so it was very impersonal and not much fun. 

I got compliments and thanks from most of the people at the end, though, and no one was too disgruntled.  Back on the ship, I grabbed a quick dinner and enjoyed the Cape Town Folkloric show very much. 

February 1, the second day in port was for a little work, a little shopping and a very nice lunch.  I had targeted the Royal Cape Yacht Club’s “Tavern of the Seas” for that and used the RHKYC website for my letter of introduction, a few days ago.  It’s now almost instantaneous to get access to yacht clubs all over the world. 

My caregiver friend had managed to get her charge up to the top of Table Mountain and back in a taxi, yesterday.  She was ready to go out with me today.  She also needed to get into a cellular phone outlet, because she could no longer get any sense out of her phone whatsoever.  It was responding to nothing, no touch screen, no buttons, nothing.  She feared it was hardware.  So, we got on the ship’s shuttle and went to the Victorian and Albert Waterfront Mall. 

The cell phone place was conveniently located next to a clothing store, so I went there while she saw to her phone.  As is often the case, the thing sprang into action while she was explaining what was wrong with it.  Nor she, nor the expert, could figure out what she had done differently.  She didn’t just walk away, she bought a burner phone for what turned out to be $177.  It’s smart, has a lot of memory and a decent camera, and it’s back-up for all of us now.  She’ll sell it at cost to the first person that needs it.  They wouldn’t take AMEX but my faithful Chase VISA was happy to spot her.  I could be the one needing the burner phone.  My cell is almost 5 years old. 

I bought a blouse in the store next door and my friend got a pair of sandals.  We shopped a few more stores in that mall, without finding anything else we wanted or needed.  We walked out the other end of it and over to Watershed, where the artisan shops are.  That is a very nice place to browse.  I found some wonderful art notecards for $2 each, way cheaper than you’d pay for a Hallmark card back home.  I’ll be giving them away to my people, particularly those who couldn’t shop due to physical limitations. 

From Watershed, we took an Uber to the yacht club.  I couldn’t believe how cheap it was, under $6.  It costs $12 back home just to put your butt into a cab, never mind going anywhere.  Getting to the YC was no small feat, either.  Our driver got lost but that was included.  It was cool on the waterside terrace, the food was good, the view was terrific and the beer was just perfect.

The price was even better.  We ate ourselves silly and brought an order of the freshest fried calamari back for our patient, and the whole thing came to $32.  The Uber back to the ship was $3.50. 

I drank dinner in The Golden Lion Pub, a pint, with potato chips, and a Bailey’s for dessert.  I was taking in “It Takes Two”  Laurie and Yoseph, recommended by Daniale and Jean, great friends of their daughter Constance’s.  Constance got married on the QM2 just before I got on.  Anyway, they were great fun to listen to and I made friends with them, of course.  We’re going to have dinner one night.  Between sets, I read about AI in the New York Times on my phone.  It’s about time I learned a little about that.  perplexity.ai is supposed to be a great new search engine, giving google a run for its money.  The company is out of San Francisco and has 41 employees. 

2024 – Queen Mary 2 Grand World– Part 1 –Port Elizabeth  to Cape Town1.6

Friday, January 26^th, at sea.  The morning’s email brought the Starrs’ blog Travel with the Starrs – Join us on our travels… (wordpress.com) and it contained the clearest description of the Panama Canal, and its history, I have ever read.  Good on them.  We weren’t supposed to go through it this year, but now that we are afraid to go through the Suez canal, it’s on everyone’s lips.  The only problem is that the Queen Mary 2 is a pretty big ship, and while she can get through the new Panama Canal, she can’t get under the Bridge of the Americas.  Or so says Wikipedia.

I spent the rest of the day on my own TA work and went to my new Happy Hour, now called “Friends of HelenM” at 7:15pm in the Commodore Club.  No one came but the String Trio was playing and it was a lot more interesting than Sir Samuel’s. My dinner companions were Martin and Linda, who barely recognized me because I had my pink wig on the last time we ate together, Vance and Anne, and Gordon and Janet.  We got talking about good restaurants and Gordon highly recommends the “noir” experience, where you eat in pitch black and guess what you ate later.  Apparently, it’s surreal, but a lot of fun and the food is delicious, even if you don’t know what you are eating.  I googled later and there are a good few of these in the world, including O Noir on Prince Arthur in Montreal.  There’s somewhere we’ll have to go.  The entertainment was Linda Evans, a British singer, who does American Country and Western.  Good enough to enjoy. 

The next day, January 27^th, we were still at sea and it was pretty uneventful. I had a lot of people at the desk, because  of our upcoming shore excursion and I gave away another bar of soap.  It’s nice to be useful.

Tim came to Friends of HelenM in the Commodore Club and my dinner partners were John, Ian and Jamie, and Sue and Neill.  Three of these good Brits have electric cars and just love them.  Apparently, they are a lot of fun to drive, accelerate in an instant.  The entertainment was a quartet called the 4 Ds, Jersey Boys style.  They were pretty good, considering they were just 3Ds, one of them having popped a knee a couple of days before they were scheduled to leave Liverpool.

Sunday, January 28^th was my day for a game drive in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.  I’ll get to compare Safari West in Santa Rosa with the real thing, for just about the same price, including a longer drive to get there.  The bus left at 12:15pm, which is my kind of time.  We drove through Port Elizabeth, 5^th largest city in South Africa, with a population of 2 million.  60% are black Xhosa, 25% Afrikaans, and the rest Indians, coloreds, etc. It’s also called the windy city because they have a lot of it.  We drove past miles and miles of wetlands, past decent looking suburbs.  I have to wonder if they flood.  The guide talked about farming, but all we saw was scrub; no crops, no animals, pretty barren.  It got little better as we got farther out, with a few orchards and a couple of small herds of cattle.  Eventually we arrived at the Kwantu Game Reserve, which is 6000 hectares, and houses a lot of wild animals, along with a few being re-wilded, after having been mis-treated pets.  They had the biggest herd of cattle I had seen yet, and I had to wonder if they were being kept as food for the inmates of the game reserve. 

Lunch was pretty good, once we found it.  The appetizers were in a different room from the main lunch and I loaded up, thinking they were the whole thing.  When I found out differently, I had tiny samples of that of which I should have had more.  Oh, well, not to worry.  Cruise passengers never starve. There was some native singing and dancing after lunch, and we were off on our game drive.

We started in the rehabilitation, re-wilding enclosures, where we met three white lions, who were being nursed back to health and three brown lions, who were to accompany them back into the wild.  White lions can’t hunt, you see, because the prey can see them.  They need to belong to a pack.  Luckily, lions are color blind, so the brown lions don’t know they are taking on dependents.  The three white lions were female, as were two of the brown ones.  The third brown lion was male.  That’s him under the table doing what he does best. 

Male lions sleep 20 hours a day, while the females hunt.  He’s built for fighting other lions, with that nice protective mane.  The girls are streamlined for the chase.  The wardens will get them to think the six of them are all family by rubbing fresh brown lion poo on the white lions and fresh white lion poo on the brown lions.  How would you like to have that job?

Then we met a character who has no business being in Africa, but some bad actor imported her parents as pets a few years ago.  Kwantu have had the parents for well over a year and the cubs were born here.  She’s beautiful standing by her water hole.

And comfortable lying in it.  Like all cats, she can fold herself up very small.

The four of them are being re-wilded and will be flown back to India, when they are ready.  I just wanted to hug her, but that wasn’t advisable. 

We learned the “follow me” signs on impalas, springboks, wildebeest, and lions, and a lot about horns.  Cape Buffalo piss on their kill to be sure it’s dead.  If it moves, it will be.  I offer this as a possibly useful factoid and more evidence that I have been reading Salman Rushdie, lately: Victoria City and now Midnight’s Children. We had bachelor Impala herds explained, too.  What a bunch of losers.

We saw lions hunting:

And got up close and personal with a termite mound.  Check the construction on the lower left.  The windows are open there.  Depending on how hot it is, the termites will open more windows for ventilation and close them over with mud at night when it’s cooler.

I have pictures of warthogs, rhinoceros, zebras and giraffes, but I won’t bore you with too many.  This one is probably my prize:

The picture is unretouched.  They were less than 20 feet from the vehicle.  We had to be werry, werry quiet. The big one came to within 3 feet of me.  I was werry, werry, werry quiet.  Then she went and stood in front of the bus.  We waited, and waited, and waited. Eventually, we pulled back, very slowly and moved on.  It was time to go. 

I learned that it’s a confusion of wildebeests, a dazzle of zebras, a crash of rhinoceroses, a parade of elephants, a journey of giraffes, and a few more.  I think I have learned and forgotten those before, and likely will again. It was a very good day, though.  I had a baked potato for dinner from the buffet.  It was all I needed. 

Monday, January 29, was another day in Port Elizabeth and I wasn’t going anywhere.  I photoshopped my animal pictures and got caught up with my work.  Around 4pm, I was ready to go out and, since we weren’t sailing until nine, fancied eating out, too.  I called Tim and offered him a free meal in exchange for his company and value as a bodyguard.  That worked a treat.  He had eaten out in the mall last night and knew which restaurant had good food and a good view.  We ended up having a pint and a great honking plate of miscellaneous appetizers, designed for four people, at least.  We had goong sarong, two kinds of dumplings, shrimp and lamb, two kinds of spring rolls, satay and who knows what else.  The whole thing came to under $40, including tip. 

Waiting for the last shuttle, we ran into Ian and Claire, whom I remembered from a dinner together.  They didn’t know me until I opened my mouth, though.  The Helen they had met had pink hair and Lady Gaga glasses.  We got back in time for Laura Evans’ second show and it was a just right ending to a good easy day.

It was January 30,and it was nice to have a day at sea before our DV shore excursion.  I got Newsletter 6 out to be printed before office hour, and delivered just after.  One passenger wanted to know if his parents could leave the tour after Table Mountain.  I assured him they could.  Another one’s husband will be walking to the base of Table Mountain and all the way up it.  She will take our bus and get their tickets from the guide at the base.  Then she’ll join him to hike up the thing and use the tickets for the cable car down.  They won’t be doing anything else with us, but are happy with that.  I’d be happy to be able to do it.

Around five o’clock, Captain Hashmi came on the PA to tell us we would not be going back through the Suez canal and that the new itinerary would be distributed shortly.  That they did very well.  I had it in ten minutes, incorporated it into my spreadsheet schedule, and sent it off to DVhosts, with the following message: 

“There have been rumours on board and now it’s official.  We are not going through the Suez Canal.  It’s too dangerous.  Ya think?  The Captain was on the PA an hour ago and now we have the new schedule.  I incorporated it into MY personal schedule and attached it.  You can ignore the entire month of January, that’s past.  The changes start on March 31, when we turn around in Columbo Sri Lanka, and go back the way we came.  Only 2 ports are different, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Lisbon.  Barcelona is gone.  I put the two items we are losing in Red.  The Welcome Reception just needs to be rescheduled on board.  I can deal with that but…

We need to come up with a new shore excursion.  Either we do one in Lisbon, or give me what I have wanted all along, something late February, early March: Melbourne,  Sydney, Cairns, or Darwin would be good.  

No one came to drink with me before dinner, which I took to mean that no one was overly upset.  We all knew.  We would have preferred a more interesting route home, but we get it.  I had a lively dinner with Jean, Sheila, Ann and Keith and Jeff and Janet, the last of the six people I had dinner with the night of the pink wig.  I skipped the entertainment because I was getting up before 6am for our tour in Cape Town.

2024 – Queen Mary 2 Grand World– Part 1 –Walvis Bay to Port Elizabeth 1.5

My email brought some very sad news to me, at sea, off the coast of Africa, on January 18.  Padma or Paddy, the Scalbergs’ wonderful dog has gone to meet her maker.  It was time, but it’s never time.  Paddy was Dave Lasker’s first Canine Companions puppy.  Candy and Ernie met her at a party at our house.  When she was released, they were waiting.  I can remember when I was going between the Scalbergs and the Laskers and Valerie was asking a lot of questions, to be sure their first puppy would have a good home.  I said “when I die I want to come back as the Scalbergs’ dog.”  I couldn’t imagine a better life.  I doubt dog heaven is as good, but Paddy will make the most of it. 

I did some research on Walvis Bay and decided on a car and driver.  Put out some feelers. Worked on some visas and took an appointment to do more. That afternoon the WC consultant says we can now stop doing visas.  The ship has realized what a nightmare it is for the passengers, and worked out something with the Indonesian government.  It will likely be a face-to-face, which is easier than all this phone stuff. 

At the podium for dinner, the lady in front of me backed straight up, when her table was assigned, rather than off to the side, like everyone else does.  So I backed up too, right into the man behind me.  He was a big one, easily six foot-four, but he had a cane, so I felt really badly.  Next thing you know, he was ushered to the same table, and we had dinner with Tony and Aramina and Margaret and Bob.  All brits, no Londoners, yet.  John is a farmer, over 90 and still very robust.  He takes the cane out because he promised his kids he would, so as not to fall.  He’s on the way to Perth to visit his son, who’s a wheat farmer in those parts. 

A lot of the passengers use the QM2 for transport to see the kids and grandkids in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.  It’s the same price as first class air fare and a lot more pleasant.  John bought me a drink in the Chart Room and we saw Bellissima at 10:15.  They are Victoria and Celina, opera singers doing classical crossover.  We liked them very much.

The next morning, January 19, 2024, still at sea, the ship had changed the floral arrangement again and given us this nice swan.

The swan is white. It changes color with the lights. I filled the day with the minutia of my job and delivered Newsletter no 4.

Believe it or not, it was dinner with John again, and we didn’t plan it.  This time we had Lindsay and Jeff and Kinky & Geoff.  They had been told to look out for John, as their sons knew each other in Oz.  Small world.  The entertainment was Jon Udry, juggler and comedian and teacher of juggling.  I can’t say as I was impressed.  Montreal has spoiled me for circus acts.

The next day, we were still at sea.  It’s not easy to write to you when all we have are sea days and I don’t even take proper advantage of them, because I am a workaholic and happiest when I keep on top of things.  Very boring to write about.  Back in my stateroom, the last cabin I hadn’t reached finally answered the phone.  No wonder they never called back.  The guy had a very thick Russian accent and I am not at all sure he understood me.  I reported this to my Group Coordinator, who did yet another check and this time was able to tell me that my people had failed to board in Southampton, too.  So we are 25.

It was Glenn MacNamara again for the show, and I sat a lot closer but wasn’t any more impressed.  I have no taste for men in pancake make-up.

 We were still at sea on January 21, and there’s a little more traffic at the desk when there’s a dinner at night.  We established meeting point in Sir Samuel’s and I called everyone who didn’t pass by.  The dinner went very well.  Ten people came and the conversation was lively throughout.  I was disappointed in the food and sort of hokiness of the presentation.  The appetizers were a tour of Asia in a Bento box:

But the rest of the people, who hadn’t been spoiled by five years in Hong Kong, loved it, and it was a welcome change from roast beast, potato and veg.  I listened to the Jazz Trio in the Chart Room, for a bit, and skipped the show to get some rest.   

And we were still at sea the next day.  I took care of what needed taking care of, worked on my log and blog and did some work for my own clients.  I am trying to find out where we will dock in Sydney and Hong Kong, but those bits of information are still closely guarded.

No one came to Happy Hour at Sir Samuels again, so around 7pm, I went up to the Commodore’s Club to check it out as a possible new venue for evening gatherings.  It has possibilities.  I caught Bellissima’s second show and it was better than the first.  I like them a lot.

Just one more sea day before land.  I sent out a log and a blog, and had tea in the WC lounge.  Graham Howell, the Port Lecturer, was there.  He’s planning to spend some time in the WC lounge every day, which is an excellent idea.  He was delighted with an add-on tour just announced, an 8 hour game drive on Day 1 of Port Elizabeth, that starts at 12:15Pm, with lunch.  It sounded like my kind of tour.  We’ll catch the Big 5 at their evening meal, rather than at the crack of dawn.  Perfect.  I haven’t had a really good game drive since 2001, when we went on safari for three weeks, with Pati and Don Simon.  The game drive conflicted with the Elephant Park tour that I had, but, as it was a significant upgrade, the tour department had no problem with it. 

HKTB hadn’t answered, so I sent them my request for maps and all through their web site.  Then I touched bases with Liz nd Saly about the morrow and dressed for Masquerade Gala Night.  I went as COVID.  Here I am with a Marguerita in the Commodore’s Club before dinner. 

How scary is that?  I had great dinner partners that night, Ian & Clare, Martin and Linda and Graham and Janet.  Still no Londoners.  Ian was born there but has retired to the Coast.  He was particularly interesting, turned ADHD into an asset and still gives the odd motivational speech, though he’s well retired and looks like he’s stil in his 50s. The show was Apassionata again.  I am not happy when the production show repeats within three weeks, but it did give me a reason to get to bed a little earlier. 

Finally, on January 24, we docked in Walvis Bay, Namibia. I had been to Walvis Bay at least four times before.  This time I was showing Swakopmund to a new person, and an old hand came along for the ride.  CarloShuttle met us on time just off the ship, but we had to wait for our car, which took us to their office, where we changed car.  All of this took a good half hour, which I told them we would be wanting back for shopping at the port gate.  Do I know this port or not?

Actually, there was quite a bit of not.  I was there last year, but on a dune drive in a 4 x 4 with Nancy and Jim Martyn, HAL cruise buddies.  The other times were all pre-COVID.  So there’s a shuttle to a mall, now, where you can find all the international stores.  There are a lot more local tour options and you can book them online, like our 4 x 4 tour over the dunes last year.  I hear the dolphin tour is good, but it wasn’t in my plan.  Dune 7, now has a man-made oasis and charges.  

They have built a golf course,

and the German town of Swakopmund, which was so quaint in the ‘teens has given way to a much more tourist-oriented, modern place. I barely recognized it.  The new Strand Hotel complex afforded us the Ocean Barrel, where we had a lovely lunch.

With a pint and a view:

I had a nap when I got back and woke up thinking I had slept three hours.  That’s what comes of your watch being seven hours back of the actual time.  You have to do math, when you wake up, and I was so groggy, I got it wrong.  I raced up to the dining room, which I thought was about to close, and was half way into the meal when one of my dinner partners said something that enlightened me.  It turned out she was the first Londoner I had had dinner with.  It had taken 20 days to find one.  She was Paulina, accompanying her father, John to visit relatives in South Africa.  We have a new comedian on board named Phil Melbourne and I thought he was very funny.  There were a few people who thought some of his jokes were tasteless, dirty, and rude, and probably the Americans liked them, which was why he did it.  I won’t tell you what I thought.  You already know.

The 25^th was another day at sea and time to write another newsletter.  Our first shore excursion is coming up in Cape Town.  I had dinners to add, more to say about visas, I was moving the evening gathering to a more popular bar and time and re-branding them “Friends of Helen M”.  Oh yes, and I had soap to give away.  Pure soap that wouldn’t make you itch.  I have people who aren’t tolerating the ship’s offering all that well, so I had amused myself in Swakopmund, picking up a bar of each of the purest soaps I could get.  I found five of them.

It’s Robbie Burns’ Day and we had the addressing of the haggis at 7:45 pm, with a piper and a chef’s parade of haggis, and all.  I then went into the dining room, and had a delicious haggis appetizer with Judy, and Kathleeen and Les and Diana and Dave, who live on Jersey, and whom I like a lot.  The entertainment was Suzanne Gregory, a flautist and she was very good, too. 

2024 – Queen Mary 2 Grand World– Part 1 –Tenerife to Walvis Bay 1.4

After three days at sea, we docked on Monday, January 15 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.  I didn’t get out until 1:30 pm.  My email brought news that I had the string trio for dinner the day after tomorrow, so a newsletter was in order.  Luckily, the same email bought the information I needed for our DV tour in Cape Town, so there was plenty of news.  I wrote it up and sent the newsletter to be printed. 

Tenerife is a port I have been to a large number of times.  It was never better than last year, when we landed Palm Sunday.  This year, it was a Monday, so all I wanted out of it was some fresh air, a bit of a walk, and a few Tapas. I did get a nice harbour picture with the Queen Mary 2 in the background, behind the masts.

They have made it easier to walk into town, I passed the pool and monument, crossed the street,and there I was: downtown.  I walked up Del Castillo to the upper square, went a block or two over and down again, now ready for my tapas.  I wasn’t disappointed.  The tables in the street were full at Tapas.26 but I had one just inside and this seriously colorful server. 

I had the obligatory jamon iberico and cheese and added a hot sweet potato and cheese dish that was delicious.  But tapas are for sharing.  It was a lot of food for one.  I like more people, more variety, but, you get what you get when you go out alone, three hours later than everybody else.  The little dessert churro was paired with a shot glass of something rummy and yummy.

Back on the ship, I picked up my printing, collated, wrote notes, and delivered my newsletters.

I had dinner with six more Brits, and not a one lives in London. Jon Udry, the juggler was the show.  I like jugglers but didn’t find this one too impressive. Montreal has spoiled me for circus acts.

We were back at sea for a long stretch on Tuesday January 16. Next stop, Walvis Bay.  All I want to do is get off the ship and go to Swakopmund, late-ish, something simple.  The older I get, the less keen I am to wander around dodgy countries alone, though.  I the group includes a couple of people who might be thinking the same.  I’ll investigate possibilities on the Internet. 

I’m doing Indonesian and Sri Lankan visas for any of my people who can’t do them easily themselves.  It’s a nightmare you have to get photos of passport pictures with no glare, which can take 6 or 8 tries, as well as photos the people and copies of their paid confirmations, which are 5 or 6 pages long.  The people might have them on their computers or phones, or on paper, in which case they have to stand in line at the front desk to have them scanned and emailed to me.  The WC   Even with my computer, and Consultant is offering this service, too, and you should see his line up.  I can’t do more than one in an office hour and it goes way over time.

I did another Sri Lankan Visa in one guest’s cabin in the afternoon, and we went to dinner together.  She is positively delightful.  She lives on Cape Cod in a retirement home and cares about it so little that she had to look up its address.  To be fair, she’s never there.

Happy Hour was well attended for once.  There were a couple of regulars and two people I had not met.  Delighted.  Had dinner with one of them and spent the rest of the evening in the Chart Room so as to introduce myself to the Ukrainian String Trio.

I had a reason for that, we were having dinner with them the next night.  That day was filled with finalizing our Cape Town shore excursion and another couple of visas.

We had a wonderful little DV dinner with the Brevis String Trio on Wednesday night.  One of my people is a Harvard mathematician and, as math and music are related, knows about music arranging.  He had been impressed by this trio and wanted to talk to them.  Tatiana, Olga and Elena were charming and shared a little of the horror going on in their country.  My Mathematician, who was at Harvard from just after Tom Lehrer’s time, and I cheered them up with our acapella version of Lobachevsky.  You had to be there. 

2024 – Queen Mary 2 Grand World– Part 1 – Southampton to Tenerife 1.3

Land Ho!  We docked in Southampton, England on January 11.  I met three of my people at my desk, and we disembarked, and took the free shuttle into town.  The one who needed it was able to get his Aussie ETA on the bus.  All it took was for his good self to be on terra firma, where the Australian Government app could locate him. 

The shuttle bus let us off practically at Boots’ door.  In short order, the with canes and miscellaneous toiletries and meds were obtained.  I went off to find the IKEA, where Wanda and Katja were going to pick me up.  And they did, and off we went.  Katja had figured a route that would include the Royal Southampton Yacht Club and a very posh pub and museum that we might find interesting.

The origins of the Royal Southampton Yacht Club go back to the West Quay Amateur Regatta Club in 1858, which was renamed the Southampton Amateur Regatta Club in 1862.  The clubhouse is new and is a ways inland on the Beaulieu river with easy access to the Solent  It’s at a place called “Gins”.  Beaulieu, I have to tell you, is pronounced “Bewley” in the UK.  You have to wonder.

 It’s a beautiful spot and we could have stayed for lunch, but there wasn’t much going on and Katja’s posh pub called, so we just had a little drink and off we went.

Buckler’s Hard is an old shipyard, a very old shipyard.  They built naval galleons and clipper ships, and all kinds of ships, from 1698 to 1814.  A Buckler’s Hard built ship fought at the Boston Tea Party.  It’s part of the Beaulieu Estate in the New Forest, which is Crown Land.  The Montagu family still owns it, well, leases it from the Crown.  It’s complicated in England. 

It’s a lovely little place, with a bunch of shipwrights cottages, built one by one but in a couple of rows, for warmth, I guess, very picturesque:

The one on the end near the water is the Master Builder’s house and houses the Inn and Henry’s Pub, where we ate. 

And I thought I took some pictures inside but they weren’t on my phone when I went looking for them.  It was a lovely lunch. Katja had fish ‘n chips and the piece of fish was enormous and excellent, she said.  Wanda and I had the game pie, which was truly out of this world.  The locals were friendly, too.  We had nice conversations with two couples.  One of them was a Texan who had married a Brit over 20 years ago.  She showed up presently.  They were recently retired to this area and just loved it, as did the other couple.  It sure did look like a good life, as long as one could afford a good lunch, in a posh pub. 

We didn’t have time to do the museum justice, but I bought the book and enjoyed it thoroughly.  I plan to give it to Katja to thank her, too, for taking a day off to drive us two old bats around.  We had a marvelous time.  The terminal was almost empty when I got there.  I was one of the last to board, even though the ship didn’t sail until six!  Obviously, the rest of the passengers didn’t have anything at least as good to do. 

The New Forest is a fascinating place: Brusher Mills was a famous local snake catcher, catching over 30,000 snakes in his career.  The Rufus Stone is where King William II (Rufus) was fatally wounded with an arrow. Ponies roam free.  The little girl, upon whom Alice in Wonderland is based, is buried in Lyndhurst.  The village of Burley has links to dragons and witches. The Beaulieu river, as well other forest waterways, were used by smugglers in days gone by. 

After that fun day, with its massive lunch, I took a nap and found sone sushi in the King’s Court. Then I took in the 10:15 pm show, which was ODY-C, an acapella quartet, with electronic drums.

Back at sea on January 12, we were informed that this is the 20^th anniversary of Queen Mary 2’s maiden voyage.   I expected a bit more fanfare, but we didn’t get it.  It was the Black and White Gala evening but that was about it.   We have a new captain.  He is Aseem Hashmi and so far I am loving his noonday talks. 

We got the news that we would be responsible for our own visas for Indonesia.  That had been suggested before we sailed but you had to be within 90 days of arrival there, which will be the 9^th of March, so I didn’t do it when I did my Aussie ETA.  I figured the ship would take care of it as HAL always had.  Not this year, not this ship.  Like Australia, Indonesia has “simplified the process” to the point where the ship finds it too complicated to be doing it for us.  I got that after I tried to do it for myself and had to apply to Gunay, the WC consultant, for help, when it wanted my address in Indonesia and would not accept the ship, as it doesn’t have an address with a postal code.  He promised to have a step-by-step guide ready by 2:00 pm. 

Gunay delivered and I worked my way through the thing, which I could never have done alone.  From being a nice quiet little lounge, his Atlantic room, has suddenly become quite full, with a long line for his services.  I’ll take some of the pressure off by doing visas for my passengers.  It helps me get to know them, and adds value to the DV.

The gala night was like every other gala night and there’s one every week or so  You get a production show and I like them.  This one was “Be our Guest”.

The next day, January 13, the ship’s newsletter announced that we would be doing our own visas for Sri Lanka, too.  It was clearly time for Newsletter 2, so I got busy on it.  I had to tweak our dinner dates a bit and I wanted to offer my little visa service. 

The Cunard world cruise attracts more Brits and Europeans that HAL’s and I love the British sense of humour.  On the rather crowded elevator to my stateroom on Deck six, I found myself at the back of the car.  When Deck 6 came along, I piped up  “I’m getting off here” and the woman in front of me said “That’s what you think.” 

A Virgin Mary in a ship’s bar is only 70 cents cheaper than a Chivas Regal – doubtless the same price as a bar scotch.  We pay for labour now.  For dinner, I was matched up with Barbara and Chris, from Germany, who were delightful.  Barbara was a nurse, who now makes house calls to seniors who need a fair bit of help.  The German government pays her to.  She gets to spend a couple of hours with each patient, and get to know them, while making sure they eat well, take their meds, etc.  Chris retired in his early forties, because he was a fighter pilot, which has an early retirement age, for obvious reasons.  Now he has a company that installs windmills all over the world. Later in the meal, we were joined by Sylvia, another nurse and Phil, a teacher.  More Brits, but not from London.  I have yet to meet an English person who lives in London.

The entertainment was Jon Courtenay, who plays the piano and does comedy, like my hero Tom Lehrer.  He wasn’t that good, but he was very good, indeed. 

The next morning’s email brought more news from our tour supplier, and a link to our tour on their web site.  You can buy it for $195US, so it’s a good one.  I also got all the  information I needed to sell it.

The rumors have started that we won’t be doing the Red Sea, nor the Suez canal, but the rumors with the alternatives haven’t started yet. 

I took an hour off for Jon Courtenay’s talk.  It was great.  He had all sorts of film clips from Victor Borge, Groucho Marx, British pianists I didn’t know, Elton John, Liberace and, of course, Tom Lehrer.  Our Harvard Math Professor, by the way, never studied under, nor taught with Tom Lehrer at Harvard, but, like me, he knows the words to all the songs, except maybe “The Elements”.  Well, we know the words to that, too.  It’s just a matter of getting them into the right order so they rhyme.

My dinner table had Helen, and Vera, and Mike, and Carol, all of whom were British and none of them Londoners.  It’s a definite pattern. The entertainment was Duo Essencias, an award-winning classical violinist from Hungary, who fell in love with a Flamenco dancer from Spain.  They created their show to work together.  It was fun.  Tomorrow we will be in Tenerife.

Monday, January 8, was the Queen’s birthday – Queen Mary 2, that is.  She’s 20:

I had had the bright idea to call the people who needed the canes to come to my desk where we could look at them at Boot’s the Chemist’s web site.  There would be one in Southampton.  I had to find some way to drive a bit of traffic to the desk.  It worked too, as there are different lengths, handles, tips and even features.  One sees all that when one goes to a web site.   

My handicapped passenger’s problem is sorting out, too.  The World Cruise (WC – tee hee) Concierge did get Spa appointments for showers, for her, and I assume the commode, too because I heard no more about it.  It’s not ideal but it will work. 

I discovered the “World Cruise Lounge” for breakfast in the afternoon.  It’s brilliant, a nice selection of tea food, and a bunch of little tables looking out the bow of the ship, on Deck 11.  There’s a concierge, Gunay, and a steward, whose name I must get.  He’s awfully nice.  It’s quiet and very pleasant.  People talk to each other. 

The ship matched me up with a very lively bunch at dinner.  Joe and Kathy are Brits, who worked in healthcare in the US, and Sally is a psychologist.  She and her friend Carmella were fun, as was Mark, who was also brilliant.  At least he was reading a very esoteric book.  The entertainment was Chanteuse, a couple of Broadway singers doing Diva music but not really divas.

The next day, January 9, I found out I had another disabled guest.  Her power chair is the all-terrain vehicle of power chairs.  It is called a Ranger Discovery.  It will go over gravel and moguls, hill and dale.  It packs up to the size of a suitcase and weighs fifty pounds, battery included.  She was very proud of it and not fazed when I told her I had seen a power chair keel over near the Deck 11 elevators yesterday.  I guess hers won’t and I sure don’t want to be there if it ever does.  She’s an interesting, strong person and knows what she wants and needs.  Unfortunately, it isn’t dinner.  She’s so allergic to onions that she can’t even sit at a table where people are eating anything with an onion in it, which is just about everything in most restaurants.  With all of that, she’s really positive.  She and her husband live in a 564 sq.ft. Manhattan apartment.  She doesn’t know what to do with all the space in their stateroom.  Gotta love her.

In the end there were just three of us for dinner, but it was super.  I’m loving Cunard.  The lecture program is very rich and, while I don’t have much time to appreciate it, I do like the people it attracts – a ton of academics.  They’re quick and witty and sort of leave me in the dust, but I can hold my own in the wine department and that’s  a big topic.  This one is a retiring Math professor at Harvard.  I did some math myself and woke up realizing that he was likely studying math at Harvard when Tom Lehrer was teaching it.  We had a very lively discussion about wine.   We are going to work together to have some wine events, maybe even a progressive wine tour.  Have to find out if we have enough winos. I skipped the show, as I had seen both performers before, and it was a good wait until 10:15PM.

Another sea day on January 10.  I love them because I can get work done. I am now meeting three people at 9:30 am tomorrow in Southampton, one to get his Aussie ETA, and two for canes.  The ETA app should be able to find him, when we find WiFi, so all will be well, but we’ll be together, just in case. 

I landed an interesting table at dinner.  Heather and Richard were a British couple, Bruce an American professional musician and choir director, and a young couple, who were the seriously interesting part.  I had sat behind him in the show on formal night.  He’s young, between 25 and 40, I’d say.  His hair has dyed sections up the middle, blue on the right, magenta on the left.  They met nicely in a Mohawk a good 5 inches high.  The lower half of his head was almost shaved, but in swirls.  That was on formal night.  Tonight, the Mohawk was just combed over, leaving only the color expressing his individuality.  For all of that, he’s an entrepreneur, has multiple companies, sources his labor in India, sell his services in the US and Europe.  He maintains he just started getting good job offers, when he adopted the piercings and flamboyant hair-do.  His wife(?) has no tattoos or piercings, has long hair, worn simply and looks like the paleontologist that she is.  One of them, or both if they’re brother and sister, has a grandmother in England, who is 98, still going strong, and has two PhDs.  She might still be consulting part-time.  On top of all the accomplishments, that kept coming out in the conversation, that was the icing on the cake.  Too bad they were getting off in Southampton, I would have liked to have pursued.

There was a production show that night – Broadway Rocks, so I stayed up for it.