Days 45-46 Feb 20-21 & PS

Day 45 (Waiting) Wednesday Feb 20

A really good idea, all the people dis-embarking in Auckland went through immigration & customs on board today, the guys joined the ship in Tonga. I discovered that the small wooden carved dish I bought for my sister from the Pitcairn islanders is OK to take in, I just had to declare it, so I’m really pleased, I thought I’d have to ship it home. The luggage is still subject to the sniffer dogs and you may get stopped, but it certainly saves a queue. There are 46 of us getting off in NZ, not very many! There are 800 leaving in Sydney but another 800 joining, quite a few from the Queen Victoria, it sounds like it will be chaos. We plan to stay on board till after lunch, since we are in no hurry to leave, and can’t check-in to our hotel until 14:00 anyway.

Spent quite a time getting my bag sorted out to send home with the ship, it costs $60 to get it through Customs & then it can be stored if it can’t be picked up. My friend Aileen has very kindly agreed to pick it up for me so I’m sending all my ‘posh frocks’ home plus some evening tops, absolutely no call for them in NZ, together with daily programmes from the ship. Despite all this my other 3 large suitcases are pretty full & very heavy, not sure how I’m going to manage on my own with it all!

We had a ‘good-bye’ party on the Funnel Deck, for the people we’d met who are getting off in Auckland, plus Josie & Alan from the quiz team, plus Uwe the dance host (Tricia invited him). The Chilean wine tasted pretty terrible so we threw it away! I invited Bob, and we parted as ‘good friends’, but I’m convinced he has a partner at home in Queensland so that’s the end of that! We are all very sad to be leaving the ship, & a few tears were shed I think.

Day 46 (Time to go) Thursday Feb 21

We got up early to see the arrival in Auckland at 7 a.m. which was pretty spectacular. We were greeted by a group of Maoris doing the Haka, and people out on their balconies to welcome us, it was one of the best welcomes we had. Tricia, Hilary and I decided to stay on board for a bit, but Alan & Sylvia had a plane to catch to Wellington so they left at 9. Alan didn’t say goodbye to Tricia or Hilary, truth to tell I think he found Tricia a little hard to cope with in the last couple of weeks, she is a very dominant personality! I will be staying with T & H until Saturday in a very small apartment but I’m sure we will get along fine!

Hilary had a surprise when we finally disembarked because her sister Theresa was there to meet us, she hadn’t replied to any e-mails or letters so Hilary wasn’t expecting her at all. We made our way to our student accommodation, quite a come-down after the ship, but necessary for the budget. The main problem was the number of steps down to the ‘hotel’ entrance coupled with the amount of luggage we all have (mine mainly I admit!). We were able to store it until check-in time, so we went back to the quay & booked ourselves a boat trip on a charter to say goodbye to ‘the marvellous QE2’.

This evening we joined about 40 others on the charter and eventually had the fantastic experience of speeding alongside as the ship left the dock and made her way through Waiemata harbour. When you’re on the ship you certainly don’t appreciate the speed she goes at, but it was absolutely thrilling to ‘track’ her for about 15 minutes. Eventually we tooted and turned away, & we watched with tears in our eyes as the old lady disappeared around the headland on her way to Sydney. We’ll miss her.

Postscript Feb 23

Buy several good quality T-shirts especially for the cruise, you will wear them a lot and wash them a lot, & the washing machines are not kind.

Do not bother with skirts, unless you prefer to wear skirts to trousers or shorts of course. I took several, & only wore one once.

Trousers and shorts with pockets are a very good idea. You can carry your cabin key & ship’s card around without the need for a handbag.

If from the UK, get your dry-cleaning done on board, it’s very cheap.

I think a world cruise probably is a good place to find a new partner if you’re at ‘a certain age’ and aren’t too fussy! But, if you’re a reasonably attractive female (or male for that matter) be aware that some people are on the cruise for one aim only, and a long-term relationship is not it. It’s nice not to be invisible any longer, but a bit like being a teenager again and very unlike real life!

Highlights for me: Easter Island, New York (because of the historical nature of the occasion), & Rio. Rio would’ve been second if the weather had been better. If we’d made it in, I’m sure The Falklands would’ve been on the list too.

Was it worth it? Yes it was, though personally I think a month is probably long enough to cruise. You will make new friends, some of whom may very well become life-long.

Being on the QE2 on her Farewell World Cruise was a fantastic experience which I will never forget I’m proud to have been a part of it.

Days 41-44 Feb 15-19

Apologies for the delay, no access while in Auckland or on holiday with my sister!

Day 41 (Funny) Friday Feb 15

Everybody is feeling rather tired after yesterday, it must be the heat. It is a steady 82 on deck, but the breeze means it’s deceptive & easy to get burnt. I spent some time on deck today but avoided the sun mostly, trying to get my legs brown but they’re still pasty white!

Christopher Biggins is on board, I think he got on in South America somewhere, we’ve certainly all been aware of his presence, his laugh is very loud! Robbie Coltrane was on the transatlantic bit, but I didn’t see him, he must’ve stayed in the ‘posh’ bit. Apparently Carol Thatcher is on board, she wrote a very good book about the QE2 which Alan was given for Christmas and can recommend. CB gave a lecture on his career this morning which as expected was very amusing, he also offered to have his photo taken with anyone who asks round the ship so I may avail myself of the opportunity. I didn’t watch Jungle Celebrity, but I think his talks about the experience should be worth attending. We should catch one of them before we disembark, only 4 more days to go (we lose tomorrow, see below).

Gary Williams was the entertainer tonight, he’s a very good singer who played Sinatra in ‘The Rat Pack’ in the West End apparently. Not really my cup of tea but he was very professional.

Day 42 (So where’s) Saturday Feb 16?

We crossed the International Date Line so we lost Saturday, very careless of us! Don’t ask me to explain it, I’m sure it’s all very simple, but even the 3^rd Officer had trouble in the noon-day announcement yesterday, I don’t think he understands it either!

Day 42 (Shirking) Sunday Feb 17

The first day on board when I’ve actually done very little. Some people spend all day reading or sleeping but today that’s exactly what I did for most of it. Today was memorable for one thing only and that was my first (& only I think!) ‘date’ on board! Tricia met an Australian called Bob at ‘Singles-Mingles’ after Valparaiso, and he’s been in the ‘boys’ quiz team since then. He asked me ‘out’ for a drink after the show this evening, and I went! Unfortunately he’s not a millionaire either, but he’s a nice guy originally from Cornwall (the rest of his family still live in Saltash), now living in Mackay Queensland. He’s 70(!!!!) but looks younger I think. I like him but I can’t honestly see much future in it, obviously there’s only 3 days left before Auckland and I don’t think he’s that fast a worker!

Day 43 (Mad Dogs) Monday Feb 18

It was a really really hot day today in Tonga, hence the ‘mad dogs & Englishmen’ title! We anchored between 2 little islands & then the 2 large tenders, which carry 150 people, & 4 of the small ones as used in Easter Is took us the very short journey ashore to the capital Nuku’alofa. It looks a pretty poor place, a lot of the houses I saw were little more than tin shacks. Despite this the people we saw all seemed very friendly and smiled a lot. The children in particular were delightful, and sang for us at one of the stops on the tour I took, ‘Historic sites’, of which there weren’t many! I missed the fruit bats and the blowholes, and was sad about that, but it was much too hot to get a taxi afterwards. The others took a taxi independently & had a great time, I wished I had gone with them really. Couldn’t find any postcards either, just bought 2 small packets of ‘Royal’ coffee! All the other souvenirs looked as though they’d be impossible to take into NZ, which has very strict customs rules.

The King of Tonga died last year, and his son will not be crowned king until this August. There were riots in November 2006 here, I believe about the lack of democracy, and our guide hinted that there might be problems with the accession. The prince is ‘not married’, I leave you to draw your own conclusions, and may not be acceptable to the majority. So I will definitely be keeping an eye on the news.

We were all tired once again this evening, & the entertainer, a good Australian singer called Julia Daniels, had a pretty hard time keeping us awake. Warren & Simon (Cruise Entertainment Director & deputy) in their TV morning show joked about getting a cattle prod on the stage, you can sometimes hear people snoring, it must be pretty depressing to try & perform under those circumstances!

I’ve decided not to ‘see’ Bob again, at least not on a one-to-one basis, I’m too busy packing (no room despite sending a bag back with the ship) & thinking about the future. Fortunately he understands my reasons, & it is flattering to be asked ‘out’.

Day 44 (Tired) Tuesday Feb 19

We are feeling very down in the dumps today, I even had a little weep this afternoon, very unlike me! I was packing while watching ‘Two Weeks Notice’ on the TV, it is a sentimental film starring Sandra Bullock & Hugh Grant, which I have seen before. I guess it’s the realisation that I am leaving ‘the marvellous QE2’ the day after tomorrow, & it’s sad. I think we have all become a little institutionalised, we will have to remember how to cook & clean and remember to pick up our own towels!

Fortunately I did have a good morning before the glums set in, went to a Peter Crimes lecture on Auckland, to see if he mentioned anything I didn’t already know about, & he was as always amusing & informative. Then Christopher Biggins talked about the ‘celebrity’ show, and told us what he thought of the other contestants, it was very funny and since I hadn’t seen any of the programme when it was on TV it was fascinating as well. He raised over £300K for charity while doing the show, and then won £125k for himself, not bad for a couple of weeks ‘work’! You certainly wouldn’t get me anywhere near some of the creatures he had to have variously poured over him, to eat etc etc.

The Cunard singers & dancers gave their last performance before leaving the ship in Sydney, and it was absolutely the best yet, by quite a way, simply stunning, fantastic costumes and amazing dancing. They deservedly received a standing ovation. We want some of their energy! I stayed up till late after going to the Computer centre, and joined Tricia and Hilary for the midnight buffet. I didn’t eat anything though, I couldn’t even manage much dinner this evening, I think everything has got on top of me a little, especially the realisation that it’s decision time imminently. I am meeting my architect in Auckland to finalise the initial plans and then go for the build (or not!!!!).

Days 39-40 Feb 13-14

Day 39 (Working) Wednesday Feb 13
Went to a samba dance class this morning, might actually go dancing this evening to try & stop myself spending any more money on stupid machines, which are obviously ‘fixed’ anyway!
Quiz as usual at noon, so many people now want to do it the venue has changed to the Yacht Club, an under-used facility in our opinion. We didn’t win again, this is becoming a habit, too many professional quiz goers on this cruise obviously.
Lunched with Tricia & Hilary, & discussed the possibility of cruising with them from NZ to Australia some time towards the end of May. I will see what the state of my finances is by then.
Then had the joy of fighting for a washing machine once again, we heard that on one cruise, not this one, 2 couples were put on shore as per the guy in Easter Island, because one husband punched another guy’s wife in the laundrette. Things do get pretty heated, but not that bad (so far)!
Kevin Smiles and Martyn Dominique performed again this evening, didn’t think either was quite as good as in previous performances. Didn’t go dancing but didn’t play machines either, went to the Computer Room instead & replied to queries from Ron in NZ(surprise, surprise, my $15 fax didn’t get through successfully).
Day 40 (Tahiti) Thursday Feb 14
Valentine’s Day of course, not at all meaningful to me (except that ironically, it happens to be the date my marriage started to fall apart,c’est la vie!), but of course a very happy and romantic day for most.
We all celebrated by landing at Papeete, the capital of Tahiti, the capital of what are now called the Society islands, but used to be called the Friendly Is, & it’s not difficult to understand why. A really beautiful place, though the nearby island of Moorea is even more like paradise apparently, we didn’t go there but some did. The island is lush & green, and today was very warm with a few sharp showers, our guide said we had brought good weather with us since it had rained for the past 3 weeks. The town feels very European, which of course it is, having been owned by the French till very recently. The people are all very friendly and apparently there is virtually no crime. We heard that on Moorea with a permanent population of 15000 plus a great many tourists there are 11 policemen, one minds the office and the others go deep-sea fishing! We walked round town in the morning, went to the fascinating market, the restored Cathedral which has beautiful bright blue stained glass, and the park, I bought a few souvenirs.
We all went on a coach trip in the afternoon, ‘Captain Cook’s Drive’ which was interesting, what intrigued me was the stop just outside the now closed Hyatt Regency hotel, which is where we stayed as a family en route to NZ 12 years ago. The guide hinted there were lots of problems with it 10 years ago which is when it closed, did I detect the hint of corruption? I need to look this up on the Internet! We went to Point Venus and a spectacular waterfall and a very interesting small museum, the replica home of James Norman Hall who wrote the book Mutiny on the Bounty on which all the inaccurate films have been based. We met his daughter, who read a poem from one of the many which he wrote for her, Tricia & Hilary bought some lovely little dresses for their grand-daughters by refusing to come into the museum and staying in the grounds instead, where there were some handicraft stalls, I wish I had bought one for Elisha but there wasn’t time to linger. This is a problem with coach trips of course, you have to fit in with whatever timetable has been set.
Hilary didn’t feel at all well once we got back, possibly heat exhaustion. We heard another ‘Priority 2’ so it looks like someone died in paradise, not a bad place to choose. The sunset over Moorea was spectacular, we’re all sad to leave such a beautiful place. It occurred to me that there is possibly nothing stopping me from making Tahiti my home, apparently the inhabitants have EU passports so presumably I would have automatic right of entry, worth investigating! I think I would get bored after a time, and I’d have to brush up on my French, but I’m semi-serious! The world is my oyster until I start the build and have to hand over serious money.

Days 36-38 Feb 10-12

Day 36 (very SPECIAL) Sunday Feb 10
Much to our surprise, we made it to Easter Island! We now understand the Captain’s concerns, there is a very narrow channel into the dock, between rocks, which only 1 tender at a time can negotiate. The small tenders from the ship were used, which only take 50 people at a time, so it was some job getting half the ship off in the morning and half off in the afternoon. We take it all back, the crew did a great job. We went in mini-buses on our tours, fortunately ours was air-conditioned, not all of them were. Most of the roads we travelled on were dirt roads, so quite bumpy and uncomfortable, but it was definitely worth a little discomfort!
I went on a tour ‘Ancient Cultures of Easter Island’, which first went to visit the only site where 7 Maui look out to sea, Ahu Akivi, all the other Maui look inland, nobody knows why. The site was restored in the 1960s, so the Maui are standing upright, at one time they were all on the ground,toppled towards the end of the 17th century it is believed. I felt very awed and as our table discussed later, all religious sites have a power which can’t be explained, I certainly felt some sort of connection to something else, it’s impossible to put into words. We then visited a site which is unrestored, Ahu Vaihu. Our guide was very upset that the site has not been fully fenced off, because there are wild horses on the island and they drink the water which collects in the upturned ‘hats’ or ‘topknots’ and so erode them further. Since all the sites are World Heritage sites she thinks they should be better protected and she’s right, I guess either the will or the money isn’t there. Finally we visited an extinct volcano, Rano Kau, which contains a freshwater lake & a micro-climate where all sorts of fruits & vegetables can be grown ‘in the wild’. Very close by is Orongo village, the ‘Bird-man’ village, which is where an annual ritual took place until the 1860s. The young men had to climb down the cliff, swim 1.6km and collect a sooty tern bird’s egg from an island. Whoever returned all the way back with an unbroken egg was the chief for the next year. There are also ancient petroglyphs carved in the rocks, once again I had to overcome my fear of heights, ‘Kiwi’ Keith took my photo to prove it, he’s a sheep farmer from near Christchurch, and was in my bus.
Unfortunately all the tours arrived back at the dock at once, and since only 50 to a tender, &, according to Roger ‘the dentist’ (lectures in dentistry, lives 6 months per year in the former NZ P.M’s David Lange? house in Kiaori in Wellington, I do move in exalted circles!), 5 tenders per hour, you can just work out how long it took to get us back on board. We were expecting to make lunch in the Lido, instead it was a larger tea than normal!
I went to the sail-away party, & because it was really hot, particularly dancing the improvised samba we managed, I drank beer rather than champagne, which is very expensive anyway. Then we all ate in the Lido because it was too late for the restaurant, & the end of a very very special day, the highlight of the cruise I think, but see Terrific Tuesday below, the jury’s still out!
Day 37 (Moaning) Monday Feb 11
Went to 2 lectures today, one given by a former BBC guy who worked on Film Night & Film 70something to 80something with Barry Norman, which was interesting anecdotes about the stars he’d met and/or interviewed, and then Peter Crimes on Tahiti, which was a sell-out again. There were some very rude people in front of us, there was a bit of a contretemps when someone wished to get to a seat inside, which involved them getting up. The lady was slightly disabled, but some people do think they own the ship and are rather selfish.
Heard at lunchtime that a passenger was ‘thrown off’ the ship at Easter Is, & told to make his own way from there. Apparently he had been drunk a lot, sworn at lots of people and made lewd suggestions to (female) members of the crew. When confronted by the captain, he apparently told him to ‘F.. off’, not a good idea! The captain’s rule is law on board ship, which he learnt to his cost. Rumour has it that he’d spent all his money too, Just goes to show that you have to behave on here.
Went swimming again and got sunburnt again, you’d think I’d learn wouldn’t you?
We all got upset at the evening meal because we were told, not asked, that we had to be at our table by 6.15 because of ‘kitchen problems’. We always get there by 6.30, & since ‘last orders’ are supposed to be at 6.45 we don’t think this is unreasonable. Hilary in particular was annoyed, particularly as she managed to squirt garlic butter all over her blouse & silk trousers. We noticed as we left, at 7.30, that our ‘section’ i.e. run by the same waiters, was completely clear, in contrast to all the others where people were still eating. Alan resolved to raise it with the maitre d’ at some point.
Managed to lose almost all the money I’ve won in the casino, oh well, easy come, easy go! Clocks went back 2 hours tonight, in order to be correct at Pitcairn tomorrow.
Day 38 (Terrific) Tuesday Feb 12
This was a really exciting day, and we do feel really privileged to be here (I guess that’s true!). 28 of the islanders from Pitcairn came out in a longboat from their very small island & sold their mostly hand-made wares in a kind of market in the Grand Lounge while we sailed round the island twice. It is a very green & lush island, we were surprised how big the houses were, though since there are only 50 inhabitants in total there aren’t many of them! The great-great grandson of Fletcher Christian gave a talk, I missed it but it was recorded so will watch it later on the TV. The wood carvings were beautiful, I bought a couple but may have trouble getting them into NZ I think. Also posted some cards, which will not be posted from Pitcairn until the supply ship arrives in 3 weeks, so don’t hold your breath! The people were lovely, very friendly and almost all European looking, I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised since Pitcairn is still British and of course the mutineers were British. Almost all the people are descended from 6 of the original mutineers, there are lots of Christians, Hilary bought a wood carving made by Randy Christian (don’t laugh!).
I spent all the money I had been saving for the waiters’ tips, they aren’t going to get any extra now. Alan did speak to the maitre d’ this morning, and there was no central edict, just our waiters trying to give themselves a longer break between sittings we think. Vlada did apologise, but that doesn’t change anything.
RADA graduates gave a performance of Shakespeare’s Richard III, condensed into 50 mins, which was brilliant, they are doing ‘Withering (sic) Heights’ on Sunday (the announcer, James Nelson, is one of the Cunard singers and obviously not a student of Emily Bronte!).

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.

Days 28-30 Feb 2-4

Day 28 (Super) Saturday Feb 2
Very early this morning the ship was supposed to hook up with a pilot boat at the entrance to the Beagle Channel, and anchor briefly at Puerto Williams (see if you can find that on a map!) to be cleared by the Chilean authorities. This didn’t happen because the weather was so bad, (I have to admit to taking a sea-sick pill last evening, it was already pretty rough then). At the time there were apparently 50ft waves & a Force 8 gale around Cape Horn. We were cleared by e-mail, and then made our way to a fortunately very benign Cape Horn, the weather changes so quickly in this part of the world. It was cold with a biting wind at first, but brilliant blue skies & sunshine as we rounded it (going the ‘wrong’ way, i.e. West to East, having gone round Horn island to the North at first). This to some extent made up for the disappointment of yesterday (for those of us who didn’t have a more personal involvement with the Falklands of course). Alan took back his unkind words about the captain yesterday, he was convinced we would be so far away we wouldn’t be able to see anything. We are now on our way to the Magellan Straits which we reach this evening, to get to Puerto Arenas tomorrow. Hopefully we will be able to get in there OK, also an ‘anchor port’.
Joined another quiz group today but not so amenable as our ‘regular’ group, felt like an interloper so won’t do that again! Did find out that there are cheats among us however, one of the guys had a little book full of useful facts & figures which he looked at from time to time! The lengths some people will go to for a free beer!
The Cunard singers & dancers at last did another session, ‘Funkadelic’ which was very good, followed by the excellent harpist Shirley Dominguez. Alan bought all 3 of her CDs, Trisha & Hilary bought 2. We had missed Alan & co’s stunning karaoke performance last night so went tonight, not so lively & there was at least 1 singer who sounded professional so not so enjoyable I think. Needless to say I didn’t sing, being possibly the world’s worst!
Day 29 (Sad) Sunday Feb 3
Sad because once again we didn’t make it into port, this time apparently the Chilean authorities said it was too windy for the tenders, and although the water looked pretty benign to us, it was very windy up on deck. A tug brought on an entertainer (though not her luggage, see tomorrow!) & 2 people who ‘missed the boat’ in Montevideo, & then took off Kelly Monteith and Tracey Shield, I didn’t envy them the journey in all honesty. At least we got to see the Magellan Straits in the daytime, I guess we just go slower to our next port. We heard the captain is nicknamed ‘No port McNaught’, now we know why! Spent yet more time looking for accommodation, have emailed my sister for an opinion, will definitely book something tomorrow!
It was actually a plus seeing the Straits in daylight, and apart from the people booked to see penguins, I think most people were pleased, particularly as early on the weather was good and the snow-capped mountains were spectacular. Alan certainly thought it more than made up for not seeing Punta Arenas. Some people saw porpoises (dolphins?) & penguins, unfortunately I didn’t, & nor did my ‘official photographer’, Trisha. I haven’t spent a lot of time on deck, my daughter asked me if I have a tan yet, and the answer is ‘no’, it’s very windy most of the time on deck, even when it was a lot warmer, and there’s always something else to do. Some are tanned, but mostly the Americans who embarked in Fort Lauderdale who were presumably already brown.
The weather turned very rough once we entered the Pacific this evening, the dancers & singers did really well to keep their balance while performing ‘Vanity Fair’ once more. I am feeling a little down tonight, I think a month at sea is really enough, but might be due to the fact that we’ve been at sea without setting foot on land for some time now, we’re getting ‘stir crazy’.
Day 30 (Manic) Monday Feb 4
Not really manic, just in contrast to yesterday when I didn’t ‘do’ much. Lots of people do spend most of the time reading & sitting around, I try not to, though sometimes I guess it’s good to sit & do nothing.
Went to Peter Crimes’ lecture on ‘Glaciers, Glaciation & Global Warming’ which was really interesting. He believes that sun spots are responsible for the weather, & that global warming is a myth, in fact the Earth has been cooling since 1998 and it’s all political speak in order to raise taxes. He may be right, it certainly gave us something to think about, & I bet the Americans love him. Still doesn’t mean we should waste valuable resources and destroy the rain-forests.
I stayed in the theatre for another lecture on ‘Thinking to happiness’ i.e. CBT, which in my present state of mind was a good thing to do. The weather is now lovely, bright blue skies but with a cool breeze, fortunately the sea has calmed down, had to take a seasick tablet last night, it was so rough. My large bottle of water worked it’s way to the edge of my chest of drawers & fell off in the middle of the night, I thought the television had crashed to the floor, the noise was so loud.
Hilary Kay showed the DVD of her programme on Chippendale, which was fascinating & rather sad, because he created such wonderful furniture (if you like that sort of thing) but died a pauper.
It was ‘Parade of the Baked Alaska’ in the restaurant this evening, a rather strange tradition on a cruise ship I always think, & we’re sure they use cardboard not the real thing, on this ship at any rate. It did happen before we reached New York too, only I forgot to mention it! It happens on the penultimate evening of a ‘leg’ so I guess this is the last time we’ll see it as we will have left the ship by the end of the next leg, which we think is in Sydney. Valparaiso is the end of this leg, over 200 people are getting off, which seemed like a strange destination until Trisha told us about the ‘special offer’ in the Mail on Sunday some months ago which had a really good price from Southampton to Valparaiso!
Alfreda Gerald sang ‘a tribute to the divas’ this evening, in a borrowed dress & shoes (she took the shoes off not long into her performance!). I thought she was great fun & a good singer, not a ‘belter’ and very versatile.
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.
Made the ‘Midnight Buffet’ for the first time, it was a ‘special’ with fantastic ice carvings & decorated food, luckily Trisha was on hand. I’m going to have great fun adding photos to this blog once I get to NZ. I do intend to write another one once there, about ‘building the house’ (haven’t heard from Ron once I paid him, now there’s a surprise!), & any travelling I do there, rather depends on the house cost as to how much I do.

Days 26-27 Jan 31-Feb 1

Day 26 (Theatre) Thursday Jan 31
Went to the ‘destination’ lecture given by Peter Crimes this morning on Chile, given to an absolutely full house,which was very good. Learnt, as well as some history & geography, that both Puerto Arenas & Valparaiso have many pickpockets, I’m going on trips in both so should be OK, the others are planning to ‘go-it-alone’ so will warn them. I am going to Santiago from Valparaiso since I don’t suppose I shall see it any other way.
Helen Kay from ‘Antiques Roadshow’ then gave a very amusing & informative talk about her experiences doing the show, and some background stories. She is doing another lecture later so must make sure to go.
Hilary wanted to join in the quiz today but there wasn’t room for either of us (already too many in the team) so she went to the dance lesson & I went to try & do my washing, but full up, see above for ‘not enough machines’.
There was a brilliant lady harpist this evening, Shirley Dominguez, who plays the harp like a guitar really (not physically, musically). Apparently she is one of Cunard’s most popular entertainers and it’s not difficult to see why. Missed Alan, Alan & Susan (the latter 2 from the quiz team) performing as ‘adda’ in the Karaoke this evening, they were apparently the stars of the show so must make a point of watching them next time.
Day 27 (Frustrating) Friday Feb 1
Today was supposed to be on shore in the Falklands, so we all got up early. Unfortunately the captain announced just before 7 a.m. that there was a Force 7 wind predicted to increase to Force 8 by the evening so it was too rough for the tenders to ply backwards & forwards. A Sea King helicopter flew out to track our course and even almost landed the winch man on the forward deck (which I didn’t see), but much more spectacular were 2 Tornados who flew past (several times) very low and then flew vertically into the sky with a victory roll at the top. All in honour of the ship, because of course she took troops to the war in 1982 but only to South Georgia, not actually to the islands because she was too valuable a symbol to risk her being bombed by the Argentinians.
Lots of people were very disappointed, Sylvia was very upset & Alan got angry with the captain because he thought he was a ‘wimp’, the seas did not look too rough. But seeing as some of the people on here can barely make it up and down a fixed gangway I’m sure he made the right decision. It is very clear that the Americans on board have no idea how important these small islands are to the British, after all people gave their lives to get them back. There was to have been a memorial service at 12 at the War memorial in Port Stanley for people who had come to bring wreaths, I don’t know if they threw them into the sea instead, it must have been very sad for them.
We almost won the quiz (Trisha & Hilary also joined ‘The Good Girls?’ team), only lost it on the third tie-breaker. I finally managed to do my washing, and then finished my third book, only one to go, but there is a library on board so no shortage of reading matter.
A Celine Dion look & sound-alike performed for us this evening, I thought she was pretty good but Sylvia didn’t like her at all, it all goes to show we have different taste, & what a boring world it would be if we all thought alike. I have given up dancing, though I may go to some of the lessons. I’m just not confident enough to do the actual dances in the evening & I think it’s a bit desperate to hope that a dance ‘host’ will dance with you, when they’d rather dance with the people who know what they’re doing, mentioning no names!