Not landing in Falkland Islands

Conversations on Cruise Critic message board about the bad weather preventing our stopping at either the Falkland Islands or Punta Arenas led me to share these photos. The group trying to stay warm on the deck were all members of the CC group onboard the QE2's final world cruise in 2008. The planes are two tornados of the RAF based on the Islands honoring the QE2 with a flyover.

QE2 Dubai 2009

When we walked out onto the back deck for breakfast after docking in Dubai, we were greeted by this grand old lady. It is so very sad that this legend will sail no more.

More posts for Mumbai and Dubai later

Cobalt Blue Dresses

Someone started a discussion about Marc Jacobs on the Cruise Critic QE2 2008 World Cruise roll call and before you knew what had happened, we were all out shopping for cobalt blue dresses. Several times during the voyage we had nights of the cobalt blue dress and didn't we look smashing? I am taking my cobalt blue dress on the Tahitian Princess but I will miss the group every time I wear the dress.

Glasses nearly lost

We were sailing into Tonga and I was taking photos on the Boat deck in the bow of the ship. I leaned over to try to take a photo of a gold medallion on the wall underneath us. As you know, women’s clothes have very few pockets, the sun was very bright and I was wearing sunglasses, so I hung my regular glasses on my shirt, something I NEVER do. You have guessed it, for sure. I watched my glasses fall. Luck was with me, however, they fell onto a roof of the deck below us – not into the ocean. Also, we were already anchored and there was no wind. Things were looking really good.

We asked one of the officers lowering tenders to take passengers ashore and he said to go to the Purser’s Office. On a ship, the Purser’s Office is the main contact point for passengers, sort like a hotel reception desk, concierge, ombudsman, bank. There we spoke to a woman who seemed to understand the decks we were describing. She said we should go to breakfast and return to get them from her. So we went to breakfast, and in passing told the Maitre D, Phil, our story. He said he knew exactly where they were and he could access the area from a door behind the dining room. He returned and said he could see them, but not reach them. We returned to the Purser’s Office and the woman said they weren’t there. We told her that Phil had seen them but couldn’t reach them. She said, “Well, if he can’t reach them, how do you expect me to?” We pleaded with her to call Phil and have him tell her where they were.

Doubting that she would follow through we went back to ask Phil to help us. When we got to his desk, he was on the phone with her. Still doubtful about getting her help, Jerry returned to the Boat Deck to look for help there. He found a woman named Sherman who cleaned bathrooms and she did the smart thing. She went with Jerry to see the glasses. Then she came in and telephoned her supervisor. We have no idea how many supervisors it took, but within a few minutes the Day Head Housekeeper came and went with Jerry to see where the glasses were. It was really a simple thing. Even with my fear of heights, I could have retrieved them if I had had a ladder. The Day Head Housekeeper said it was no problem and he would have them for us very quickly.

Within half an hour, the cabin phone rang and it was the Purser’s Office to say they had my glasses as if they had done anything to get them!

Montevideo overnight

Our group, Yanella, our tour guide is in the front, wearing a black suit.

Yanella providing us so much good information on the tour.

The first day in Montevideo we walked and walked for miles. We were in search of scissors so I could cut Jerry’s hair and we found a pair for only $5 in a one room sort of department store. We walked to all of the sights in the section called the Old City, taking photos as we went. (I haven’t tried to upload a photo yet because I think it could use up too many of my minutes, but maybe soon I will try.) I tried on a magnificent multi-toned leather jacket, with the designer right there in the shop. But, I remembered where I live and the small number of days when I would be able to actually wear a leather jacket. We phoned home and talked to our kids – if you didn’t talk to us, you weren’t home and we didn’t use minutes talking to the answering machine.

As we were heading to the telephone place, we were stopped by a fellow passenger returning from a private tour of the city. He had such a wonderful time he wanted to share the tour guide’s name with someone who might be able to take a tour the next day. Since we were in port overnight and had until 2 pm the next day, we were definitely interested. Later we returned to the phone place to call the guide, but neither we nor the attendant working at the phone place could get the number to work. So we walked outside and saw a maroon van which was the color of the recommended guide’s van. I said “Hey, you never know” and asked the woman in the van if her name was Shanela – of course, it was! So we arranged to have the tour the next morning and set about getting another 8 people to share the $150 expense with us. Next morning we met our group of 7 plus us (close enough) and set off on a marvelous tour which took over 3 hours, which passed like a flash. Shanela was great, bubbly personality, knowledgeable. Best of all she had lived for 8 years in New Jersey so she not only spoke excellent English, she also understood we wanted just enough history to understand the significance of what we were seeing, but not a lesson in Uruguayan history.



The city looks very European, part old and part modern. We felt safe, but there was a strong presence of police wearing yellow straps (like Safety patrol) which said Policia Turistica. I guess they were there in large numbers because there was a ship in port. We walked through a huge restaurant near the port renowned for barbeque. For a few minutes I considered eating some. The beef, chicken, sausage, pork were cooked on huge racks over wood fires, creating a fabulous odor that made my mouth water. We walked to all of the squares and photographed monuments and statues, the original gate to the city, the oldest building, their statue of liberty, monuments to gauchos who are very important in their culture. What a great city it is.

The port of Montevideo is on a river over 2 hours from the ocean, so at 2 pm we set sail again and enjoyed the slow cruise down the river to the sea.

We have seen the waterspouts of a pod of whales swimming by, as well as a few of their backs just breaking the surface of the water and the smallest glimpse of a tail fin. We saw albatross this morning in large numbers. And I left the Grand Lounge comedy performance early to see the sunset because I had a feeling I would see the green flash again. There were no clouds on the horizon at first, but then there were a few. I said “no, no, no” and blew a puff of air – which worked ;) and the clouds vanished. I was watching the reflection in a mirror so I could see when the sun was nearly gone without hurting my eyes looking directly at it. Just before the sun dropped out of sight, I turned to the window and there for an instant was the phosphorescent lime green splash of color – my third sighting of the green flash and all from ships at sea. (Google green flash because it is a really interesting optical phenomenon.)

Rio!!

Rio was a great port for us, thanks to H. Stern (the jewelers) and Suzanne and Glenn, our friends who have lived there for over 30 years. Stern provided a car, driver and an English speaking guide to show us some of the city. We went to Corcovado, where the statue of Christ is, intending to go up, but all three times we were there, it was too much in the clouds We saw the main neighborhoods of the city, the beaches, and Stern’s wonderful collection of gems at their museum/ factory/ store at Ipanema.

Suzanne and Glenn picked us up at the store and we walked and walked. They took us to the top floor of a shopping mall with an observation deck and a wonderful view of the bay, Sugarloaf and the beaches. We sat there for a while enjoying their company and a beer. We saw the fort and had a fabulous lunch at Vegan Vegan, a restaurant Suzanne and Glenn found in the Botafogo neighborhood. We ate a vegan version of Feijoda, the Brazilian national dish with black beans, brown rice and a side of kale and grated cassava. The meal began with a shot glass filled with a fantastic non-alcoholic version of a popular drink made from ginger. At the Hotel Copacabana Palace, we walked through the elegant lobby, around the swimming pool and then used the marble rest rooms. All very, very posh.

Back at Ipanema, we saw thousands of people getting ready for a big parade for Carnaval, a week early. I guess the party frenzy builds up too much to wait a week. Anyway there were thousands of happy people, loud music, some costumes, and a real party atmosphere.

On the way back to the ship, we had a perfect, cloudless view of the statue on Corcovado and one more ride around the lagoon. Since we weren’t scheduled to sail until 11 p.m., the evening entertainment was a performance by a Samba group from Rio. What a party that was, with incredible feathered and beaded costumes, gorgeous young bodies, and such an energy level. That kept us awake long enough to see the sailaway and to say good bye to a great city!

January 25 At sea

At Sea on route to Rio

What have we been so busy doing? Time just goes so quickly, and that is surprisingly true of days at sea. We seem to never have enough days at sea to tire of them. So after Barbados we had a total of four days at sea, then the port of Salvador, and now one more sea day before we reach Rio on Saturday.

On the open decks we enjoyed the sea air and the sunshine and took a couple of naps. We saw large numbers of Blue-faced Boobies, birds that look something like gulls, but are more interesting. They like to coast on some kind of air current in the trough of the waves, and then, all of a sudden, they take a deep dive after some fish. I kept hearing the shark in “Looking for Nemo” as he said, “I’m having fish for dinner.” The graceful and elegant birds followed the ship for hours one day, often looking as if they were going to fly right into the window we were watching from before veering off – maybe they were playing. We were about 20 miles off the coast of Brazil so they are able travel great distances.

We have also walked quite a bit on both the open decks and up and down the stairways. Today we went to the exercise room. The first challenge was getting there since it is at one of those elevator/stairways that connect only a few floors. So we have to first find the right corridor to get to the proper stairway before we can get to Deck 6, Stairway C. The fitness room is quite well equipped with exercise machines. Jerry uses the treadmill and the weight machines. I still don’t like treadmills, so I use the weight machines and the free weights. There is also an indoor pool that I plan to make use of for water aerobics – as much of the routine as I can remember from home.

Salvador, what can I say? We had hoped to go on our own to a beach, and the staff provided us with information on which beach would be the best for us to visit, as well as which beaches to avoid. BUT, there were so many warnings about how dangerous both Salvador and Rio are that we decided to be sensible and not go off on our own. We took advantage of the free shuttle provided by the jeweler H. Stern to go to the heart of the historic area. We looked in their store and I, of course, found an exquisite necklace. It was a rainbow of all of the colors of the non-precious Brazilian stones – spectacular. I would not only have to have more money to purchase it, I would have to create an entirely new life for wearing it.

We wandered around a bit and heard what sounded like firecrackers or gunfire. Happily, it turned out to be firecrackers drawing attention to a demonstration for either better treatment for the handicapped or better healthcare. Foreign languages always seem to leave lots of room for multiple interpretation. The demonstration created quite a traffic jam in spite of the efforts of large numbers of police or military. We couldn’t decide which uniforms were for the military and which for the police.

There is apparently a very nice area of the city with lovely gardens and huge homes. We were in the port and the old part of town though so we mostly saw extreme poverty. There were many people trying to sell bottled water and handmade necklaces. One man tied a yellow ribbon with words printed on it around my wrist and said something about good luck and three wishes. I speak very little Spanish and no Portugese so I wasn’t exactly sure what it was about, but he seemed sincere and kind. Shortly after that, I think I got my first wish fulfilled and the van arrived at H. Stern to return us to the QE2.

We made our first visit to the launderette on board, which is free, unlike on the cruise ships we have been on. It is a pleasant little space with about a dozen washers with dryers stacked on top, with an adjoining room equipped with about 6 or 8 ironing boards and irons. It worked quite well except that the washers take about 20-25 minutes and the dryers take at least 60 minutes, so you can see how quickly a backlog of wet clothes and cranky people develops. At any rate, our timing was excellent and we were out of there is just under 2 hours. Boy! Do we know how to have fun!

So now we have another day at sea. The Maitre D’ arranged for us to have what Jerry has been craving: a burger, of sorts. It was quite tasty actually – a soy and potato “burger” on a roll with lettuce, tomato, onion slices and veggie cheddar cheese. You may not go yum, but we certainly did.

And now we are off to the theater to see the film “Underdog” with James Belushi and others. Two hours for that and it will be tea time, followed by dressing for another formal night, dinner will be followed by a show in the Grand Lounge with Duo Yalba. I never heard of him either but he is proclaimed as having mastered over 40 instruments and most musical styles. And then if we are still awake will be the Carnival Ball in the Queens Room with a dance band.

Tomorrow, Rio

20 hours 11 minutes 11 seconds

After all of these months of planning and talking about the World Cruise, tomorrow is the day we board the QE2 at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. Months ago I made a countdown calendar with post-it notes so we could tear one off each day. In the beginning, the days passed slowly, but as the sailing date approached, time went faster and faster. The past week felt like about 10 minutes. Today, we began the day with laughter, which is always a good thing. Jerry is always up before me, so he plastered the wall from the bedroom to the kitchen with big numeral “1” and words saying “one”.

Friends are transporting us in their van, so we have no transportation worries getting to the port. Our travel agent, a really great one, had arranged transportation through his company for us as a perk of being on the World Cruise. But when he said we would be limited to 2 bags each just like the airlines, we decided to make our own arrangements.

We are taking way too much, but we have about 79 formal and semi-formal nights and we like to dress for them. Also, on every cruise I have found that there are one or two outfits that I wear all of the time. So far I have not discovered the secret to selecting those outfits before I get on board. Perhaps each ship has a certain character of its own, or the group of passengers on board is an influence. It is difficult to predict ahead of time whether the ship’s public rooms or our cabin will be overheated or overchilled. And I have to admit it, I can be a real cream puff when it comes to that kind of comfort. So we are traveling with 4 large bags, 3 garment bags, two medium-sized bags with wheels and my briefcase/computer case which will also function as my handbag. We will keep the briefcase holding the computer and the medium bags with us since they contain a 90-day supply of medications (worth a small fortune) and my electronic toys. I could not possibly get along for three months without my toys.

How all of this will fit into the cabin will be an amazing tale I am sure.

Our neighbors are getting together to wish us a bon voyage, which is also a good thing. We will get to tell them all good-bye in person and we will get food. I did an excellent job of using up the food in the refrigerator, freezer, and the pantry. Too good a job – there is almost nothing left to eat now except a couple of bananas, three tomatoes, one bagel, 4 limes and half a vegan chocolate cake.

Ships' positions

Since February 2007 I have been following the message boards on Cruise Critic
I have mostly been reading, but from time to time I have posted questions of my own. The whole experience has enriched my voyage already. I have gotten to know several people (virtually) and look forward to meeting the rest of the group at the gatherings planned on board. The people on the message board, CCers, come from all over the world. There are people from Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and all over the US. It has been fun to "hear" the differences in our English language. One I really like is that in Australia, slang for a gossip is stickybeak. As in, "She is such a stickybeak!"

One thing I just discovered today is a site that tracks ships just like some of the flight trackers. It is actually more than that and provides ship positions and weather. Sail WX will show you once or twice on most days the location of the QE2. If you really know your latitude and longitude, you can just look at the map and see where the ship is. If you are like the rest of us, you will want to zoom out until you see a familiar looking landmass to use to orient yourself.

Right now you can see that the QE2 is in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on the way from Southampton to New York City. The stop after NYC will of course be in Fort Lauderdale at Port Everglades for us. Actually, it is a port of call for the cruise and there will be other people boarding. Nevertheless, I still think of it as the ship making a stop to pick us up.

There are other interesting pages on the SailWX website but so far I haven't been able to bring up any maps showing wave heights. I won't need to do that on board of course, I will just see how difficult it is to walk on deck.

One other way to keep track of people on a cruise are the webcams on ships. For the QE2, go to the Cunard website, click on our ships, then Queen Elizabeth 2, then bridge web cams. On the newer ships they have some webcams pointed toward public areas and it is possible to arrange a time and wave. But as you can see when you look at the QE2 webcam, if you see me waving, I am in BIG trouble.

What excitement!

We have made our second payment for the cruise and now have only one more payment in the fall. Time is rushing and the sail date keeps getting closer and our excitement grows. We are excited about being on the QE2. Rumor has it that she will not be sailing much longer for Cunard. She is an older ship and still grand, but Cunard has brought out both the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Victoria which appear to be giving the grand old dame much competition. My less than expert opinion is based on the status of a search for Cunard World Cruise on Vacations To Go. The Victoria is pretty much sold out and the QE2 is not. So with that evidence, I quickly buy into the rumors about the QE2 not sailing indefinitely. The rumors make it that much more exciting to be on board a legend while she is still sailing.

We are also excited about the itinerary since neither of us has been to most of the places we will visit. Not only the ports are exciting on the itinerary though. We are also excited about the days at sea. We have been only 5 consecutive days at sea so far on transatlantic crossings, and that was not too many, in fact, it was not enough. The longest stretch of sea days will be the 6 days from Osaka to Honolulu which we expect to enjoy as usual just sitting in a comfortable chair and watching the ocean pass by. For those of you who do not sail, it is not boring. It is delightfully relaxing, like nothing else I have ever done.

Six sea days is the longest uninterrupted stretch, but most of February will be 2 and 3 days at sea interrupted by a day in a port. Overall the cruise is very well planned to provide a variety of sea days and port experiences.

And finally, I am excited by the prospect of 85 sunsets and the possibility of once again seeing the green flash. As you will see if you read of the scientific information, the green flash is a real phenomenon with explanations relating to optics and physics that are over my head. But, it is not necessary to understand it to be excited to see it. I have twice seen a green flash. Once was when we were sailing past Cuba and another time on board a ship somewhere in the Caribbean. Both times that I saw it, the green flash looked something like it does in this photo and this photo.

Always thinking about it

With over 7 months to go, we are doing much more planning now. I have begun to research the ports we will visit and with so many that alone will take some time. I had decided to do the research in order of the stops we will make, so Barbados is first and finished. In Barbados we will find public transportation and visit a beach for the day.

My plan was to research the ports in order, but that worked a short time. Online, of course, I can research them in any order I choose to, but the books I reserve at the library will arrive in the order they arrive. And Easter Island has arrived. I guess I will just have to be flexible!

I am also participating in the message boards at Cruise Critic. The posts there have been quite helpful because so many of the participants have been on many QE2 cruises before. One of the suggestions they made was to check out the deck plans on another website. The deck plans on the Cunard site are quite small and hard to read. The plans on Deluxe Cruises website are very helpful, including square footage for most of the QE2 cabins.

And, of course, my abiding interest is in the clothes and what everyone else is planning to take with them. I found out on the last cruise that I really don't have enough clothes! And with 50 formal nights (that's what the message board says!), I definitely do not have enough formal clothes. So I plan to get to some stores this week and do some serious buying.

I am still not-buying-it in 2007. (See my other blog if you don't know what I mean.) Cruise clothes was a category on my allowable list of buying because we had already booked the QE2 World Cruise and I knew I really needed to have more clothing to take with me.

Booked and excited

The brochure from Cunard arrived in the mail in January 2007 at precisely the right moment because when Jerry and I saw the itinerary, both of us agreed this is a cruise for us. It is the cruise of a lifetime for us, that is for sure. It arrived just after we had a conversation about where else in the world we would like to travel and I said I would like to see Australia without flying. And here it is - 6 ports in Australia and no plane flight.

It is still 9 months off but I think about it often. I wonder what it will be like to travel for nearly 3 months. I wonder what it will be like to be 6 days at sea between Osaka and Honolulu. I wonder what the seas around the Horn will be (remember Master and Commander? those were real seas.) I wonder what I will wear! Of course I wonder what I will wear; I always concern myself with clothes way too much.

I have been following Brittany's interesting blog of the QE2 2007 World Cruise. This year has been a true circumnavigation, a different itinerary from 2008. Brittany and her husband have been so diligent and thorough in describing all of the ports they have seen and some of the life onboard the ship. Thank you, Brittany and Malcolm, for your hard work and sharing of information.

I don't expect to be posting much this soon ahead of the cruise. However, we are going on the Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas for the transatlantic crossing leaving next week, so I plan to practice posting on that. We were excited when we booked that 12 day cruise, but I have to confess that the thought of the World Cruise has put a damper on our enthusiasm for this next cruise.

A look at the map and itinerary will explain our feelings.




January 2008
16 Wed Fort Lauderdale, Florida 7:00 am - 5:00 pm
17 Thu Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
18 Fri Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
19 Sat Bridgetown, Barbados 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
20 Sun Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
21 Mon Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
22 Tue Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
23 Wed Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
24 Thu Salvador da Bahia, Brazil 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
25 Fri Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
26 Sat Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 7:00 am - 11:00 pm
27 Sun Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
28 Mon Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
29 Tue Montevideo, Uruguay Arrive 8:00 am
30 Wed Montevideo, Uruguay Depart 2:00 pm
31 Thu Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
February 2008
1 Fri Port Stanley, Falkland Islands 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
2 Sat Cruising Cape Horn
3 Sun Punta Arenas, Chile 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
4 Mon Cruising the Pacific Ocean
5 Tue Cruising the Pacific Ocean
6 Wed Santiago (Valparaiso), Chile 7:00 am - 7:00 pm
7 Thu Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
8 Fri Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
9 Sat Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
10 Sun Easter Island, Chile 7:00 am - 6:00 pm
11 Mon Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
12 Tue Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
13 Wed Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
14 Thu Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
15 Fri Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
16 Sat Cross International Dateline - Lost Day
17 Sun Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
18 Mon Nuku'alofa, Tonga 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
19 Tue Cruising the Pacific Ocean
20 Wed Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
21 Thu Auckland, New Zealand 8:00 am - 10:00 pm
22 Fri Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
23 Sat Cruising the Tasman Sea
24 Sun Sydney, Australia Arrive 7:00 am
25 Mon Sydney, Australia Depart 6:00 pm
26 Tue Cruising the Tasman Sea
27 Wed Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
28 Thu Cruising the Bass Strait
29 Fri Melbourne, Australia 7:00 am - 11:59 pm
March 2008
1 Sat Cruising the Great Australian Bight
2 Sun Adelaide, Australia 7:00 am - 5:00 pm
3 Mon Cruising the Great Australian Bight
4 Tue Albany, Australia 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
5 Wed Fremantle (Perth), Australia 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
6 Thu Cruising the Indian Ocean
7 Fri Cruising the Indian Ocean
8 Sat Cruising the Indian Ocean
9 Sun Cruising the Java Sea
10 Mon Singapore 7:00 am - 6:00 pm
11 Tue Cruising the South China Sea
12 Wed Ho Chi Minh City (Vung Tau), Vietnam 7:00 am - 7:00 pm
13 Thu Cruising the South China Sea
14 Fri Hong Kong 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
15 Sat Cruising the South China Sea
16 Sun Cruising the East China Sea
17 Mon Shanghai, China 7:00 am - 7:00 pm
18 Tue Cruising the Pacific Ocean
19 Wed Osaka (for Kyoto), Japan 7:00 am - 6:00 pm
20 Thu Cruising the Pacific Ocean
21 Fri Cruising the Pacific Ocean
22 Sat Cross International Dateline - Gain Day
22 Sat Cruising the Pacific Ocean
23 Sun Cruising the Pacific Ocean
24 Mon Cruising the Pacific Ocean
25 Tue Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii Arrive 8:00 am
26 Wed Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii Depart 1:00 am
26 Wed Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
27 Thu Cruising the Pacific Ocean
28 Fri Cruising the Pacific Ocean
29 Sat Cruising the Pacific Ocean
30 Sun Los Angeles, California 7:00 am - 5:00 pm
31 Mon Cruising the Pacific Ocean
April 2008
1 Tue Cruising the Pacific Ocean
2 Wed Acapulco, Mexico 7:00 am - 5:00 pm
3 Thu Cruising the Pacific Ocean
4 Fri Cruising the Pacific Ocean
5 Sat Cristobal, Panama 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm
5 Sat Transit the Panama Canal
6 Sun Puerto Moin, Costa Rica 7:00 am - 7:00 pm
7 Mon Cruising the Caribbean Sea
8 Tue Montego Bay, Jamaica 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
9 Wed Cruising the Straits of Florida
10 Thu Fort Lauderdale, Florida 7:00 am - 5:00 pm