It is funny how things work out. When we first arrived in South Africa on February 1 we had no idea how or where we were heading when our visa ended 3 months later. Some may find this idea scary or even careless, but rest assured it is a wonderful way to travel.
As we approached the end of our second month in South Africa, Karen was busy scouring options to get us to England where we had managed to book a couple of house sits. The tragic situation in the Red Sea provided us with the perfect solution. Passenger ships have all given up trying to transit the Suez Canal due to the level of risk involved and Cunard’s Queen May 2 was one of the affected ships. It had to be rerouted around the southern tip of Africa to return to England and complete its world tour.
It turned out that for a similar cost to buying premium economy tickets to fly Cape Town to London we could take a ship. Not just any ship, but the iconic Queen Mary 2, the last and only true ocean liner still in use.To say I was excited to be boarding this ship would be an understatement. Karen even managed to get us a room with a balcony. After our nightmare cruise from Mauritius to Cape Town on the Norwegian Dawn, this was the perfect antidote to any hesitation we may have acquired about travelling by ship. When I first saw the porters in their red uniforms with pill box hats I knew this was going to be good.Our deck 5 cabin was wonderful. It even had a complimentary bottle of bubbly in the fridge.
Make no mistake, travelling on this ship is not cheap. However, it is comparable to the flights I have mentioned and when it comes to style it is in a class of its own. Every other cruise we have taken always involves the x-raying of bags to make sure you are not bringing any beverages onto the ship. The policy of Cunard is, we treat our passengers as adults. Watching passengers walking aboard carrying their 3 litre boxes of wine was a sight that warmed my heart. Alcohol isn’t everything, but come on, a glass of wine before dinner is simply civilized.
The Queen May 2 carries spare props on its bow. A great place to store them and they double as a bit of modern art.Our first port of call on this 15 day cruise was Walvis Bay, Namibia. The seas were extraordinarily calm all the way up the west coast of Africa. This made the job of the pilots boarding the ship much safer. Walvis Bay was a complete surprise for us. An amazingly clean and tidy town surrounded by an endless expanse of sand. The local welcoming committee was on hand to sing and dance. The town appeared to be doing very well, but the locals made no bones about being pleased to have a couple thousand people come ashore and spend some money. Due to its location Walvis Bay has an extensive harbour and ship repair facilities. It was neat to see how busy the port was.We didn’t spend a lot of time ashore here. Instead, I took advantage of the bright African sun to get some photos around the ship. One of the things we loved was the amount of room there is on the ship. There is no need to ever feel crowded on this boat.Watching the crew applying a coat of paint to the iconic Cunard funnel gave a great scale to the size of the ship. Also a great reminder as to the maintenance required to keep the ship looking so good. Every day of the trip we saw crew touching up paint somewhere on the ship.If you didn’t know, the Queen Mary 2 operates a regular service between Southhampton and New York. This trip is one of the few times you can take your dog on a passenger ship. Out of consideration for the dogs they have installed both a hydrant and a lamp post in the kennel area so dogs from either side of the ocean will feel more comfortable. How cool is that? They do put fake turf with an absorption system down when there are dogs aboard.On the first day out of Walvis Bay we had opportunity to celebrate our 36th Anniversary with a bit of bubbly on our balcony. After departing Walvis Bay we had 7 days at sea before our next stop in the Canary Islands. During this time we passed over the equator. Apparently on ships this is a big deal and they had a fun ceremony on deck where King Neptune granted permission for the crossing.When we finished our day everyone on board had a certificate waiting in their rooms to commemorate the event.The prolonged time at sea was a great time to explore the incredible library on the ship. With over 8000 books it is the largest library on the seas.We also took the time to enjoy High Tea with live music a number of times. It was done with absolute class.As the ship was getting refuelled in Las Palmas on Gran Canaria we hopped on a Hop on Hop off bus to tour the town.Las Palmas is quite a nice city, however the island as a whole seems to be a bit overdeveloped. The colours are beautiful to see.While looking for a place to have lunch we found these statues of dogs in the Plaza de Santa Ana. The Canary Islands were named after the dogs that were venerated by the original inhabitants. This is also why there are two dogs on the flag of the Canary Islands.The next stop on our journey was Lisbon. And what perfect timing it was . We happened to arrive on the 25th of April, 2024. This happened to be the 50th Anniversary of the Carnation Revolution in Portugal. After nearly 50 years of totalitarian rule the military overthrew the government in a relatively bloodless coup and ended their colonial activities and introduced democracy. Very neat to witness.Everyone we saw had a red carnation and crowds sprang up all over the city celebrating in different ways.We happened to link up with a walking tour and got a bit more background on what was going on. There were a large number of new and old military vehicles touring the streets.There were plenty of police and military out helping with the celebrations.If you look at the top of the arch you can see that some of the personnel were more business like than others.As a quick side note. If you are in Lisbon you can save the 5.30 euro on the famous elevator by walking up the side street and ending up at the same look out. Loved the optical effect in the Plaça da Figueira. It would make a great sobriety test.We really enjoyed Lisbon as there was something interesting around nearly every corner. That, coupled with the celebrations, made for a memorable day.We were delayed a couple of hours in departing Lisbon due to two medical emergencies having to be taken ashore. However we managed to be on our way by the time the sun was setting beyond the April 25 Bridge.
As you have probably picked up is that we loved our trip. When we arrived in Southampton, with 3 other cruise ships as well, we were still off the boat with our luggage and in a cab in less than 15 minutes. I truly do love an efficient operation run by professionals.
If you have any interest in taking a cruise and you have the opportunity to take the Queen Mary 2, do it. It is the last and only Ocean Liner in the world. When she is gone there will never be another and that is a pity. Being on her was like stepping back in time to when quality and service were the most important things. We will be on her again.
