Days 31-35 Feb 5-9

Day 31 (Tantalising) Tuesday Feb 5
Foggy today, so didn’t go out on deck at all. Missed the traditional Pancake race on deck (won by a team of chefs) to go to another lecture by Hilary Kay, on ‘My favourite Things’ which was again very interesting & amusing, she is obviously such a consummate professional communicator.
Met a lady called Veronica at lunchtime, who is going on the ‘overland’ trip from Valparaiso tomorrow which eventually hooks up with the cruise again at Easter Island. 12 people are going, they have been told that they will not go at all if there is a possibility they won’t be able to get back on the ship, so it will be interesting to see if they do go. Veronica has spent most of her time up on deck, so a complete contrast to me, I do feel I should spend more time outside now.
A highlight of the afternoon was going on the costumed Cunard Heritage trail with Thomas and some other members of the staff, they dressed up appropriately and it was shorter and different from the last one I went on so really good, well worth going to.
I missed the whales! I was getting ready for dinner in my cabin about 18:00 when I heard us decelerating madly, my whole cabin shook again. I thought maybe there was a man overboard, but it seemed unlikely given it was quite calm. By the time I got upstairs I had missed the 3 whales that probably most other people did see, very disappointed. We are in the Humble current, which is a cold current which goes up beside western Chile, and that is where they are likely to be.
Big band evening in the Grand Lounge, when the QE2 orchestra (who are 1st class) & the Queens Room Dance band combined & there was dancing too. I sat at the edge with Alan & Sylvia so I didn’t run the risk of being asked to dance by one of the hosts!
I didn’t go to the ‘Putting on the Ritz’ ball because my left foot was extremely painful. Finally booked very cheap accommodation in a ‘student’ place in Auckland, don’t suppose my sister will approve but I may move out on the Saturday to somewhere a bit more up-market, depending on how ‘grotty’ it is. It is at least central.
Day 32 (Wandering) Wednesday Feb 6
Finally arrived at a port, a relief to us all, we were all getting ‘stir crazy’. I must admit that last evening I really wished I was getting off the ship here. If we don’t get to Easter Island (I have been to Tahiti before) then I feel I might as well have flown from Santiago to Auckland & saved a considerable sum of money. We will have to wait & see.
Customs entry in the terminal was ‘interesting’, apparently there had been an announcement about not taking any foodstuffs but we hadn’t heard it in the Theatre while waiting to go on trips. We all had to put our bags on the floor and any food given to an officer, while a sniffer dog went along the bags. Of course there had to be at least one person who ignored the instruction, who was promptly taken away by the police and had to be rescued by the Cunard staff.
I went on an all day trip to Santiago, because I believe I’ll never be in this part of the world again & wanted to see as much as possible. It was an interesting trip and worthwhile, though rather too long was taken over the lunch stop. This involved going up a funicular railway and then half-way down on a cable-car, my children will be extremely surprised that I got in it, especially as it was a very small 4 seater. I didn’t want to, but there was no option. Fortunately a very nice guy called Norman leapt in with me (the operator was planning to let me go down solo) and talked to me all the way down. Needless to say I had my eyes closed most of the way (I am terrified of heights) but Norman took a photo of me with them open to prove that I did it! Hopefully he can get a copy to me somehow, I haven’t seen him since. I hadn’t realised Santiago is so huge, 6 million people live here, it is a very lively city but there is poverty of course. We were advised to leave our bags in the coach when we walked in the main squares and take very good hold of our cameras. On the way back we went to Villa del Mar, which is an upmarket resort next to Valparaiso, a lovely place. My camera battery had run out by that time, so I couldn’t take any pictures. We stopped to buy wine, I wasn’t going to, but then remembered we had talked about having an end of cruise party so I bought 3 bottles, much cheaper than the ship, and a start!
We arrived back late to the ship, but it was still loading supplies. Discovered that Tricia had had her brand new camera, bought in New York (a Panasonic TZ3) stolen while she was walking in Valparaiso. They were in a group, almost back to the ship, when a guy ran into the group, head down with a hood over his face, & grabbed it off her wrist. The strap was also wound round her fingers & she got slight friction burns. It all happened so fast that nobody gave chase, though just as well because he might have had a knife. She was really only upset because she lost the pictures she’d taken that day, fortunately we had put most of the pictures on the card on to my PC yesterday. I now have over 2000 of Tricia’s photos!
Day 33 (To Hilary) Thursday Feb 7th
Today is Hilary’s birthday, a special one, she is 65 but doesn’t look it. See below for what we did to try & make it a bit ‘special’ for her.
Peter Crimes did a very good talk on Easter Island, Pitcairn & the ‘true’ story of Mutiny on the Bounty, it was standing room only & I had to stand. It looks unlikely that we will make it into Easter Is, it is a very difficult approach even by tender, so we are feeling glum. As a ‘sop’ we are going to go around Pitcairn, and a longboat is going to come out to the ship selling souvenirs & stamps. There are only about 50 inhabitants, & as you may have seen in the press, some of them are in prison for sexual abuse & paedophilia, apparently commonplace on the island, not sure I want to meet them!
I spent a happy couple of hours in the laundrette, not realising that since Valparaiso it is open till 22.00, which is better. Late lunchtime does seem quite a good time to go too, if you don’t mind getting to the Lido just before ‘closing time’.
Went up on deck to read a book before tea-time, it was a little chilly but bright.
We clubbed together and got Hilary some flowers & champagne to be brought to the dinner table this evening, she was pleasantly surprised. There is a ritual on board, the waiters bring a cake and sing a unique version of Happy Birthday to anyone who has a birthday while on board, so be warned. I don’t think there’s any way you can get out of it unless you choose to eat in the Lido!
We also got a free bottle of wine tonight, since we were joined by one of the gentleman hosts, Uwe from Hamburg, & they are allowed one free bottle for the table a week. So we were all feeling very happy by the end of the meal!
The clocks went back this evening, as I think they had last, we will meet ourselves coming the other way soon, which of course is exactly what does happen when we cross the International dateline, I believe shortly before Tonga.
A note re dry cleaning: this is extremely cheap on board, for us Brits at any rate. It costs $12 to have a long dress cleaned, I paid £20 in the UK and another £20 to have the dress altered (just taken up a couple of inches). I would have been much better off to leave it to the dressmaker on board (ask at the Purser’s office) who charged Sylvia $15 to alter 2 dresses, (and he did it beautifully, just a member of the crew with a sideline, so I guess not guaranteed on a future cruise!).
Day 34 (Fair weather) Friday Feb 8
Went to a rather dry lecture given by a retired Air Traffic Controller, ‘Why is my Flight always late?’. It made some interesting points but could have done with a little humour, I think we have been spoilt by the quality of previous lecturers. It strikes me that if any reader has a talent for presenting (are you there Aileen?), they should be considering a career as a cruise lecturer, not a bad life!
I now have nearly 3000 of Tricia’s, Hilary’s and my photos on my laptop, I need to do some sorting! There was no Internet connection most of today, so am getting worried won’t be able to send an e-card to Emma, it’s her birthday tomorrow.
I went up on deck, since the weather is wonderful now, and the sea is a beautiful blue. I actually went for a swim in the sea-water pool for the first time, it was a little rough so it’s like swimming in the sea in a confined space, which made me feel rather strange. The jacuzzi was far too hot to get into, like a kettle. I managed to get a little sunburnt by mistake, the sun is extremely strong here, I should have remembered, since my ex got terribly sunburnt in Tahiti a few years ago, and we are at a similar latitude.
This evening was the ‘South Pacific’ ball, I just watched the demonstration of the Paso Doble by Rick & Peggy, who are brilliant, and some guys dressed up in hula skirts. Went down to the Computer centre late & managed to send a silly card to Emma, played music very loudly which was rather embarrassing till I worked out how to turn it off. Have almost used up my second ‘package’ 8 hours internet cost $167.95. I do now get 2 free hours time, having become a ‘Gold’ Cunard member once we reached Valparaiso, along with hundreds of others of course, the only advantage as far as I’m concerned, since I don’t think I can afford another cruise in the foreseeable future,for which I would get some discounts.
Day 35 (Sunny) Saturday Feb 9
The day Emma was born (in the Military Hospital in Aldershot) it was snowing and there was newspaper stuffed in the old sash windows to keep out the howling gale. Who would have thought that 29 years later I would be sailing in the beautiful blue South Pacific in temperatures of 80F on the ‘marvellous QE2’, to quote the captain? Incidentally, there is going to be a passenger mutiny to put him on the Pitcairn longboat if we don’t get to Easter Is!
The dance class was early today because of yet another Art auction at lunchtime, thousands of pounds worth of paintings get sold on these voyages I understand, if you’re into that sort of thing. I ended up waltzing (which I can do reasonably well) with an American called John who hadn’t got a clue unfortunately, so when we learnt a new step I’m afraid I ditched him to dance with Uwe. He didn’t seem to mind but I felt a bit bad afterwards.
Our ‘Good Girls?’ team got the highest total of points in the lunchtime quiz but we were ‘wiped out’ by the wipe-out question, which was what does Laser stand for? Light Amplification something Emission Radiation’ or somesuch apparently, we didn’t know.
I spent an hour or so after lunch working out whether I would send a bag back on the ship to Southampton, I decided I would after all because otherwise I will never get everything back into my suitcases for NZ. I still have 3 large suitcases plus a hand luggage bag plus the laptop so I hope I do get an estate as my hire car, or something equivalent.
Sat on deck in the shade with Sylvia, Alan & Hilary were swimming, & had tea on deck which was very pleasant.
Captain’s cocktail party this evening to celebrate us all becoming Gold members, very crowded but we go for the free champagne! A Welshman called Joe, whom I met at lunchtime a few days ago, asked me to ‘go out’ with him, which meant going to the dance I think. He thinks he’s the poorest man on the ship, and he’s a nice man, but I don’t think we have anything in common & he’s also 69. I refused him politely and then found the safety of Melanie & Martin to talk to, I know I should be flattered but I find this ‘game’ quite hard to cope with!
There was a fantastic sunset, which fortunately tricis managed to capture since I missed it.