Prologue

In less than a week I will be comfortably on Queen Mary. No, not Queen Mary 2, she comes later, but the Queen Mary Hotel in Long Beach, CA. I couldn’t think of a more fitting place to stay for my layover in Los Angeles before I catch my plane to Dubai, and embark on my favorite ocean liner.

 

I can’t wait to be on a Cunard ship again. My love for Cunard started with a transatlantic crossing on Queen Mary’s sister ship, the Queen Elizabeth, in 1962. My parents and I had spent the year traveling around the world on planes, trains, buses, and cruise ships. The previous 3 months had been spent traversing the US on a $90 for 90 days Greyhound bus ticket, where we would decide where to go next based on the song we heard on the radio when we woke up in the morning. We were running out of money, and frequently took overnight buses so we would have somewhere to spend the night. We dragged along 2 suitcases, a small one filled with everything we needed for the year, and a large one containing the designer gowns my mother had borrowed from a friend.

 

Finally we arrived in New York, and spent the last of our money on buying me 5 exquisite party dresses from the stores on 5th Avenue.  There was no money for a taxi, so we dragged the suitcases from our seedy hotel to the dock in Manhattan, where we finally boarded the magnificent Queen Elizabeth.

 

We were berthed next to the SS France.  The longest and the largest ocean liners in the world side by side.  I was entranced.

 

Every night was a formal night, and I have such wonderful memories of watching our steward and stewardess help Dad and Mum get all dressed up for dinner. Mum got to wear those designer dresses, and looked like the epitome of a beautiful model. Dad looked very dashing in his dinner jacket. I thought they were the best looking people in the whole world. I got to get dressed up too, and felt that even a fairy tale princess could not be having more fun.

 

Those 5 days convinced me that this was the only way to travel. No more Greyhound buses for me. It was magical. I imagined that I was destined for an elegant life on the ocean wave. It was not to be. We arrived in Southampton, and as if it was midnight and the fairy tale ended, l was all of a sudden sitting in front of a coal fire in an aunt’s house in cold, damp, wintry Scotland. However, I knew that someday I would have to do this once more.

 

I never got to sail on Queen Elizabeth again, and now sadly she lies somewhere underwater in Hong Kong harbor. However, traveling on the Cunard Queens is the next best thing as far as I am concerned – so I am starting with Queen Mary! Yay!

 

So it’s time to pack and get ready to set off on another voyage of discovery. I am sooooo excited!

 

The Itinerary

We chose this itinerary initially because we liked the way the voyage took us around Australia, and we could stop off at the ports along the way and spend time with our Australian friends and family.

Well as luck would have it, having booked the voyage, and notified the relevant people of our proposed arrival in their neck of the woods, all of a sudden there was a flurry of out of town weddings, business meetings, and vacations, and they would not be in town. Coincidence? Hmmmmmmmm.

Not put off by this we decided to go ahead with the trip, and booked the Queen Mary 2 segments from Hong Kong to New York. A nice long time on board so we thought.

However, as tends to happen, life gets in the way of plans, and Brian’s work schedule became complicated, so he will have to leave the ship in Fremantle (Perth) and will join us again in Durban. He will be missing the best sea days of the trip!

My friend Ruth was talking about wanting to go on vacation but was concerned about the expense of traveling as a single. Suddenly the bright idea came to us – why don’t the two of us sail from Dubai to Hong Kong. She will then fly back home just as Brian joins the ship in Hong Kong. It was all too simple, and so now my itinerary is Dubai to New York. I’m not going “all the way around” this time, but will certainly have plenty of time to spend sightseeing and relaxing for the next 3 months.

On Monday January 27^th I will be staying overnight on Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA, and on the 28^th I fly from Los Angeles to Dubai, arriving in the evening of January 29^th.

I will stay overnight in Dubai with my friend Ruth, and then on the 30^th we will get to embark on Queen Mary 2 J

Thursday, January 30	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	8:00am
Friday, January 31	Dubai, United Arab Emirates		Noon
Saturday, February 1	Muscat, Oman	9:00am	7:00pm
Sunday, February 2	At Sea
Monday, February 3	At Sea
Tuesday, February 4	At Sea
Wednesday, February 5	Colombo, Sri Lanka	7:00am	9:00pm
Thursday, February 6	At Sea
Friday, February 7	At Sea
Saturday, February 8	At Sea
Sunday, February 9	Phuket, Thailand	6:30am	6:00pm
Monday, February 10	Penang, Malaysia	8:00am	5:00pm
Tuesday, February 11	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	7:00am	6:00pm
Wednesday, February 12	Singapore	7:00am
Thursday, February 13	Singapore		5:00pm
Friday, February 14	At Sea
Saturday, February 15	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	7:00am	5:00pm
Sunday, February 16	Nha Trang, Vietnam	8:00am	6:00pm
Monday, February 17	At Sea
Tuesday, February 18	Hong Kong	8:00am
Wednesday, February 19	Hong Kong		8:00pm
Thursday, February 20	At Sea
Friday, February 21	At Sea
Saturday, February 22	At Sea
Sunday, February 23	Bitung, Indonesia	8:00am	6:00pm
Monday, February 24	At Sea
Tuesday, February 25	At Sea
Wednesday, February 26	Darwin, Australia	8:00am	5:00pm
Thursday, February 27	At Sea
Friday, February 28	At Sea
Saturday, February 29	At Sea
Sunday, March 1	Airlie Beach, Australia	8:00am	6:00pm
Monday, March 2	At Sea
Tuesday, March 3	Brisbane, Australia	8:00am	5:00pm
Wednesday, March 4	At Sea
Thursday, March 5	Sydney, Australia	6:30am
Friday, March 6	Sydney, Australia		9:00pm
Saturday, March 7	At Sea
Sunday, March 8	Melbourne, Australia	8:00am	10:00pm
Monday, March 9	At Sea
Tuesday, March 10	Adelaide, Australia	8:00am	5:00pm
Wednesday, March 11	At Sea
Thursday, March 12	At Sea
Friday, March 13	Busselton, Australia	8:00am	6:00pm
Saturday, March 14	Perth (Fremantle), Australia	7:00am	6:00pm
Sunday, March 15	At Sea
Monday, March 16	At Sea
Tuesday, March 17	At Sea
Wednesday, March 18	At Sea
Thursday, March 19	At Sea
Friday, March 20	At Sea
Saturday, March 21	At Sea
Sunday, March 22	Port Louis, Mauritius	9:00am	8:00pm
Monday, March 23	Points des Galets, Reunion Island	8:00am	7:00pm
Tuesday, March 24	At Sea
Wednesday, March 25	At Sea
Thursday, March 26	At Sea
Friday, March 27	Durban, South Africa	6:00am	7:00pm
Saturday, March 28	At Sea
Sunday, March 29	Port Elizabeth, South Africa	4:00am	5:00pm
Monday, March 30	At Sea
Tuesday, March 31	Cape Town, South Africa	6:00am
Wednesday, April 1	Cape Town, South Africa
Thursday, April 2	Cape Town, South Africa		5:00pm
Friday, April 3	At Sea
Saturday, April 4	Walvis Bay, Namibia	6:30am	6:00pm
Sunday, April 5	At Sea
Monday, April 6	At Sea
Tuesday, April 7	At Sea
Wednesday, April 8	At Sea
Thursday, April 9	At Sea
Friday, April 10	At Sea
Saturday, April 11	At Sea
Sunday, April 12	At Sea
Monday, April 13	Tenerife, Canary Islands	9:00am	5:00pm
Tuesday, April 14	Funchal, Madeira, Portugal	9:00am	5:00pm
Wednesday, April 15	At Sea
Thursday, April 16	At Sea
Friday, April 17	At Sea
Saturday, April 18	Southampton, UK	6:00am	5:00pm
Sunday, April 19	At Sea
Monday, April 20	At Sea
Tuesday, April 21	At Sea
Wednesday, April 22	At Sea
Thursday, April 23	At Sea
Friday, April 24	At Sea
Saturday, April 25	New York (Brooklyn), NY	6:30am

 

DAY 1

Queen Mary Hotel, Long Beach, CA

The first Queen

 

She is a queen of a long gone era. The RMS Queen Mary sailed from 1936 to 1967, and at times during her career she was the largest ship afloat and the fastest ship. Together with her sister ship the Queen Elizabeth, and the Aquitania; Winston Churchill said they had probably shortened the war by 2 years. In July of 1943 she carried 15, 740 passengers, and 943 crew, a standing record for the most passengers ever transported on one vessel.

 

Staying on her seemed like a fitting way to acknowledge Cunard’s proud heritage, and experience the magnificence of a past era.

 

But before I could dream of the decaying splendor of the magnificent ship, I had to get organized for the trip. Packing for 3 months of being away really shouldn’t be too much of a challenge, especially with access to the launderettes on board Queen Mary 2. I had planned what I wanted to take with me way back in November, and had made sure it all fitted nicely into 2 suitcases, and was well under weight. That way when the definitive packing day arrived it would be very easy, and there should be minimal anxiety.

 

So while watching the Keeping up Appearances QE2 episode I embarked on my task. It took longer than expected, so I also watched the Murder She Wrote Grand Old Lady episode. Despite having started with strict rules about what I could take, all of a sudden extra items were getting packed – you know, just in case.

 

Finally I was done. The suitcases weighed in at 48 lbs each, and I was ready to go. I was unable to fit in the box for my fascinators, and not wishing for them to be crushed in the suitcase, I placed them in a brown paper bag which I could carry on the plane with me, together with my large carry on bag and large handbag.

 

I was ready to head to Los Angeles. Yay!

 

Kissing Brian a fond farewell (he will be joining me in Hong Kong) and having a final margarita, I boarded my plane in Mexico and headed north of the border.

 

Arrival in Los Angeles was painless enough and all was going well until I was ready to exit through customs. The agent looked suspiciously and my brown paper bag and asked if I had any food with me. I replied no, and he went on to quiz me about the potential for half eaten apples, tuna sandwiches, and cold meat that I may have concealed in the bag, I reassured him that this was not the case, and told him about the gala nights on Queen Mary 2 and my need for fascinators. He looked suspiciously at me, so despite the fact I was now holding up the long line behind me, I modeled the fascinators for him. He was intrigued, and we got in to a whole long discussion of the golden age of ocean travel. Finally he let me go, and still wearing by favorite blue fascinator (to match my blue jeans), I struggled with my over laden luggage cart in search of a taxi to take me to Long Beach.

 

I had removed my fascinator by the time I checked into the Queen Mary, not wishing to appear to be too eccentric. I was in my room in no time (A108), which is a lovely room, with a very functional bathroom. My previous room on Queen Mary had been very substandard, but this one was almost perfect. It did not have an ocean view, but the view of the car park was better than nothing.

At great expense ($52) I had booked the 8:00 PM paranormal tour. I was very excited about the possibility of a ghost sighting. The young tour guide, Tom, was very engaging and did an excellent tour. No, we didn’t see any paranormal activity, but I learned a lot of interesting facts about the ship, including all the different types of wood involved in its design.

 

I know she looks tattered and tired, but the fact that she looks as good as she does is amazing to me. I was so enchanted by the tour that I think I failed to notice a lot of the deficits that have annoyed me on previous visits. I was just so taken with the experience.

 

The tour didn’t finish until 10:30, but the Observation Bar is open until 11:00 so I had time to go there for a Pimms (no milky way martinis), and sit back and absorb the atmosphere of the beautiful room. My only complaint is that they were playing loud pop music, which was detracting from my art deco mind set.

 

 

 

At 4:00 AM I was awoken by footsteps in my room. At first I thought they were in the corridor, but that didn’t make sense as there had been people back and forth in the corridor earlier that night, and all I heard were voices, no footsteps. I looked carefully, but couldn’t see anyone. It was as if they had come in through one wall and disappeared through another, the door never opened.

 

I was not sure whether to be excited or scared by the presumed paranormal phenomenon, and the fact that I could hear footsteps and saw nothing went against my assumptions about the super natural. Weren’t ghosts meant to glow in the dark and glide by silently after all?

 

I fell back into a deep Pimms induced sleep, pondering the nocturnal habits of ghosts………………………..

DAY 2

Tuesday January 28^th, 2020

 

Happy 41^st Anniversary to us

 

I leave Queen Mary and head to Dubai

 

When I woke up I noticed that the receipt for payment for my room was peeping out from under the door. As I went to check it for accuracy it suddenly struck me. My nocturnal visitor was most like not a spirit from another world, but simply someone placing the receipt under my door.

 

I wasted no time wishing Brian a happy anniversary. Alas, we couldn’t work it so that we could be together today and I could still get to Dubai in time to board Queen Mary 2. We have often been involved in travel on our anniversary – sometimes good, sometimes bad.

 

We were married in South Africa and flew to London the next day. I had given my bouquet to my mother, not wanting to import fresh flowers in to the UK, but as we were boarding the plane she thrust it in my hand so I had no option other than to take it with me.

 

As we settled into our seats I tried to tuck it into the seat pocket, not an easy feat in coach on a BA plane. A flight attendant saw it, and was very excited. After congratulating us she brought us a bottle of their best champagne and a pair of champagne glasses. It was a good flight.

 

Twenty five years later we were flying to Kenya from Chicago, changing planes in London. As it was our 25^th anniversary I had decided to splurge and book premium economy seats. When we went to check in for our flight to Nairobi we discovered that it had been cancelled due to 3” of snow. Now coming from Chicago where the airport remains open despite feet of snow we were most put out, but nothing could be done about it. There were no hotels to be found anywhere in the vicinity, and so we joined thousands of other weary travelers and spent the night on the floor of terminal 4. The situation was not helped by the fact that there was no food or drinks available, the toilets were very soon overflowing, and they turned off the heating at midnight, but we saw it as part of the adventure.

 

We were able to get on a flight the next day, and as I settled in to the flight I asked our flight attendant if I might have a glass of sparkling wine as we had spent our 25^th anniversary freezing and hungry on the floor of terminal 4. She turned up her nose at me and in a very snooty voice informed me that sparkling wine was only available to guests in business class and certainly NOT in premium economy. Sorry I asked.

 

I knew today’s flight would be better, one of the reasons I chose to fly on Emirates is that they supply Veuve Clicquot. My kind of airline.

 

I had time to explore Queen Mary before I headed off to the airport and I had a wonderful morning walking around her decks seeing the Cunard exhibit,

admiring her elegance, and noting her similarities to Queen Mary 2. The wood paneling, the art deco lights, the open deck at the front of her superstructure,

her acres of teak decking. No, I don’t think Queen Mary is old and tired; she is like the rest of us, showing signs of the passage of time, but still as beautiful as classy as ever.

 

I bade her farewell and jumped into my taxi to the airport. There was very little traffic, and the airport was very organized, and in no time at all I was ready to board my plane.

 

Next stop Dubai, and a queen of another era.

 

 

DAY 3

Wednesday January 29^th, 2020

 

Dubai

 

I woke up at 5:30 AM Los Angeles time, 5:30 PM Dubai time. We were 12,500 meters above Baghdad, going at a speed of Mach 0.83, with an outside temperature of – 60 degrees Celsius. There were certainly no ghostly visitors last night, or if there had been, I had clearly slept through it.

 

I had had a really great sleep, and felt ready to face the day, especially as a mimosa suddenly presented itself to me.

 

Soon we landed in Dubai. Going through immigration and customs was easy, as was picking up a few bottles of Veuve Clicquot at the Duty Free shop. My driver was waiting for me, and managed to cope with all of my luggage. Things were going well I thought.

 

Then I turned on my phone, and having not had any internet connection for 16 and a half hours there was a multitude of texts and emails, however I was immediately drawn the email entitled “URGENT – changes to QM2 Itinerary HONG KONG and BITUNG”

This was not entirely unexpected. So now we are not going to Hong Kong, but passengers will embark and disembark during a second stop in Singapore. Bitung has been replaced with Bali.

 

Time to change Brian and Ruth’s flights. Brian’s was easy – we had booked using frequent flyer miles, and luckily there were still flights available to Singapore. I needed to call Cunard for Ruth’s flight as she was using Cunard Air. After a very long time on hold, I was told that we would need to make the change once we were on board QM2.

 

For us the change really isn’t a problem, but I do feel sorry for passengers who were hoping to see Hong Kong. Now I have to plan what to do with my 4 days in Singapore! And get some sleep in a real bed…………………….

DAY 4

DAY 4

 

Thursday, January 30^th, 2020

 

A Queen of Another Era

 

Ruth had arrived in Dubai several days ago, and had been very busy sight seeing in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

 

I had not had much time to catch up with her news last night as by the time I had finished dealing with changing travel arrangements due to the switch in our itinerary from Hong Kong to Singapore it was way past midnight, and I was more than ready to sleep.

 

So in the morning we hit the breakfast buffet and she updated me on all of her adventures. She is totally enchanted with Dubai and its history, and I am so glad she did get to spend a few extra days here.

 

The one place she had not been was the Mall of the Emirates, so we decided to pay it a visit before we checked out of the hotel and boarded Queen Mary 2.

 

Our hotel, the Millennium Place, was very well situated for public transport, so we walked over to the station and caught the train to the Mall.

 

Walking in to the station I suddenly got the feeling that we were in some dystopian science fiction movie. It was a dusty day, and the sun was trying hard to shine through the haze, but all it did was provide a strange glow around us. It felt like a sepia photograph. We were surrounded by tall buildings, each one was more bizarre than the next, and we were heading into the very futuristic looking train station.

 

I noticed that we were the only people not wearing masks. We didn’t say anything about this to each other, but I was thinking, are we being crazy to be venturing out on public transport? I had not heard of any cases of Coronavirus in Dubai, so why was everyone being so cautious? Then it struck me that everything was very quiet, there was no noise from the traffic, trains, or people.

 

It was all very unsettling, but nobody else seemed perturbed, so we bought our train tickets, and headed toward the Mall.

 

Our main reason to go to the Mall was to see the indoor ski slope, and we were not disappointed. Sure enough, there in the middle of the mall is not only the ski slope, but also a ski lift, what looks like a luge track, penguins, a large strange looking ball that people were pushing around, and the place was packed!

I had been hoping to pick up some biltong in Dubai, and as luck would have it, right next door to the ski slope was a South African butcher! I bought several kilos of great looking slabs, we are going to be on the ship for 86 days, and the butcher was kind enough to slice and vacuum pack my purchase. I was not going to risk a repeat of our 2017 world voyage which included great difficulty in slicing the biltong after Brian’s handy dandy multi tool was confiscated by security as we boarded Queen Victoria in Southampton.

Ruth said she would like to buy some leggings, and having seen a Debenhams as we entered the Mall, I knew exactly where to go, and sure enough they had a good supply of leggings. They also had a great sale going on, but I was rather weighed down by the biltong so decided against making any further purchases.

 

We took the train back to the hotel, and then checked out as we were on our way to board Queen Mary 2. I was soooooo excited. My ship was calling me!

 

On the previous 2 occasions when I have boarded QM2 in Dubai, embarkation has been somewhat chaotic, and the computers have crashed.

 

Not so this time. We went through security, and were then questioned by a young lady about whether we had recently been to China, if we had been in contact with Chinese nationals, and were we Chinese. We answered in the negative to all of the questions. I was wondering what would happen if you said yes to any of them. Nobody seems to be interested in noro virus any more.

 

Although there was a sign saying that there was a priority line, they didn’t seem to be using it as the regular line was going very quickly. We showed our passports to the immigration man, went straight to the check in counter, had our photos and passports taken, registered our credit cards, received our cruise cards and headed on board. The only hold up was for the lift once we got on the ship.

 

We embarked on deck 1 which is always a disappointment.

 

I love it when you enter on deck 2 and are immediately in the Grand Lobby. You look around the lobby and see how magnificent it is, and you see that beautiful, huge flower arrangement. The string quartet is playing to welcome you on board. It is magical and always makes me cry.

 

This time we entered though the bowels of the ship and were greeted by the scrum of people fighting to get into the lifts. I do prefer deck 2.

 

When we got to our cabin I saw that my friend Deirdre had been trying to call me. I called her back, and she said she was in a hospital in Dubai. Kim, her partner had slipped on deck 14 while having his morning walk, and had injured his knee. He was seen by the ships medical staff, and was immediately transported by ambulance to a private hospital.

 

It was looking like he would need surgery and a long period of rehab. His ability to continue on the ship for the rest of the world voyage was not looking good. At least he was close to reasonable medical care when he sustained his injury, but to end the world voyage this way was very disappointing.

 

With us having an overnight in Dubai it was hard to resist spending a night on QE2. Ruth was very happy to settle in to our cabin on Queen Mary 2, and declined to join me on QE2. So as soon as I had organized my stuff somewhat in our cabin I took a cab to QE2.

 

I know there are people out there who are very unhappy that QE2 has ended up in Dubai, and that the alterations that have been made to convert her in to an hotel have totally destroyed what she was, but I for one am happy about the fact that she is still available to us.

 

I was very excited as I checked in and couldn’t wait to be shown to my stateroom. I was in a similar cabin to the one that we occupied last year. I settled in to the cabin and although I had planned to explore the ship and take photos, somehow I ended up taking a nap, and next thing I knew, it was time to get ready for drinks in the Yacht Club. This all felt way too familiar.

Deidre had been updating me all day on Kim’s condition. Deirdre and Kim had also planned to spend the night on QE2. Obviously this was not going to happen, but Deirdre ended up deciding that she would come to the hotel herself, and give Kim the opportunity for a quiet night’s sleep.

 

Drinks in the Yacht Club was very reminiscent of old times, except we were there at happy hour and they had 50% off all drinks, not something I have seen on Cunard lately. I was delighted to finally meet Deirdre’s friend Bob, I had heard so much about him over the years and we all had a lovely evening, although Kim in the hospital was much on our minds.

 

When I returned to my cabin I saw I had an email inviting me to be part of a movie they would be filming on the ship tomorrow. Sounds like fun, but duty calls. No stardom for me, it’s more important to be with my friends when they need me.

DAY 5

Friday January 31^st, 2020

 

The Third Queen

 

I had planned to spend the morning wandering around QE2 taking photos, but it was not to be. Deirdre asked me to accompany her to the hospital, so naturally I obliged.

 

Kim is in a small private hospital that apparently specializes in pediatrics and orthopedics. We took the lift to the floor where his room was, and initially thought we were in the wrong place. There didn’t seem to be any patients or staff anywhere. Finally we found Kim, but still no staff in sight. Eventually a nurse appeared and announced that she needed to take a temperature. I had assumed she meant Kim’s vital signs, but I was wrong. She took the temperature of the empty refrigerator in his room and left again. I assume the fridge was in good shape.

 

We spent the morning trying to get through to Kim’s medical insurance company and finding a doctor who could update us on Kim’s condition, and what the plan was. Mostly we wanted to know if he was stable enough to fly back to Australia and receive his medical care there.

 

Deirdre was also trying to work out whether she should stay with Kim or return to the ship. This was becoming more urgent as time was fleeting and we would soon need to return to the ship as all aboard time was rapidly approaching.

 

Finally the hospitalist did appear, and although she didn’t examine Kim, she declared him unfit to fly. She said that his surgery was scheduled for tomorrow, and discharge plans would depend on what happened with the surgery.

 

After much discussion between Deirdre and Kim it was decided that Deirdre should return to the ship, and fly back to Dubai if needed. Not an easy decision.

 

Feeling very conflicted we took out transport back to the ship.

 

I had seen a mini mart at the cruise terminal so I decided to stop by and purchase supplies before I went on board. It was closed. Luckily there is a very well stocked convenience store in the terminal, and so heavily laden with chocolate and Coca Cola I went back on board in time for the sail away.

 

It was a lovely sunny day and we had lunch at the Boardwalk Café. The weather has not been great on my recent voyages, so it was great to finally be able to sit out on deck and enjoy the café.

 

Previous sail aways from Dubai have been in the evening, so it was great to sail off in brilliant sunshine.

 

We blew 3 blasts on our whistle (or is it horn, I’m always confused about this), and off we went. I listened hard to see if there would be any reply from QE2. She remained silent. I know that she would have saluted us if she could. I was so upset not to hear her. This departure would be the last time QE2 and QM2 are together. On QM2’s next visit to Dubai she will not be in Port Rashid, but at a new cruise terminal 20 miles away. This was the last meeting of the 2 Queens. I felt quite sad.

However, here I am back on QM2 for the next 85 days. Life is good.

 

We watched Dubai disappear into the dusty distance, and set off to reacquaint ourselves with the ship. She really is magnificent. Seeing the Queens of 3 eras over the past few days, I can’t say which one I prefer. All three are beautiful examples of nautical engineering. They are all very classy and just being on board makes you feel special. However, only one has the Commodore Club, and I am glad that I am on that ocean liner.

 

We passed through the Straits of Hormuz in the evening, with a navy ship close by, but our passage was uneventful.

We had asked for a table for 8, with singles, for dinner. We did get the table for 8, but there are 2 couples and only 2 singles. I had secretly hoped that the man of her dreams would be at our table, but no such luck. Still, they look like an interesting enough group so I think we will have a good time.

 

After dinner we decided to miss the show – it had been a long day and that super comfortable Cunard mattress was calling. I answered the call.

 

DAY 6

Saturday February 1^st, 2020

 

Muscat, Oman

 

Happy Birthday Emma!

 

I had no idea that sailing into the harbor in Muscat would be so beautiful. As the sun rose we sailed past steep the mountains and it felt like we were in a fjord as we quietly glided into the port. There was a rather strange structure at the entrance to the harbor. It looked like something out of the Jetsons. It is a giant frankincense burner. I’m not sure if it is functional or not.

We had booked a private tour, and the instructions said to meet our driver at 8:00 at the ship.

 

We disembarked and walked past the coaches and taxi drivers in search of our guide. We walked up and down, but he was nowhere to be seen. I called the tour office, but no one answered the phone. I was beginning to think that we would be doing Muscat on our own.

 

Then Ruth, sensible as ever, suggested that I ask one of the ship’s tour people where we should meet our guide. Apparently we had to take a shuttle bus to the terminal and they would meet us there.

 

We took the bus to the terminal, had our bags X-rayed, and looked in vain for our guide. There were several other people also in search of their guides so we didn’t feel alone.

 

Finally we found out that we had to take another bus to the port entrance, and wait for our guides there. Sure enough, when we got off the bus at the port entrance, there was Moosa waving at us, so all was well. Now I know for next time that meet us at the ship actually means take buses to the gate to the port.

 

My first impression of Muscat was that it was thriving, very clean, and well organized. The roads were wide, and in good shape. There were lawns, trees, and flowers everywhere. Not bad for a town on the edge of the desert. The late Sultan, no doubt having seen the skyscrapers of Dubai, had decreed that there would be a maximum height to buildings, and thus you felt you were in a garden city rather than a concrete jungle.

 

Our first stop was at the Grand Mosque of Oman. Although I thought I was modestly attired in an ankle length dress, apparently not. As I exited the car a man came running over to me insisting that I rent a garment from him that would meet the mosque requirements. I tried to argue, but to no avail, and so Moosa paid him his required fee, and I put on the long black voluminous garment and tied my white scarf around my head – now looking like some crazed nun.

The mosque is amazing – it truly is very grand, and of all the mosques I have visited over the years it is certainly the most spectacular. Our visit there was only hampered by the fact that the ridiculous garment I was wearing was way too long and I kept on tripping over.

Our next stop was at the Royal Opera House. The Sultan was a musician, and loved opera, so he built this amazing theatre. The tour we had was very interesting, the only problem was that our tour guide gave us the heads up that she had flu, as she sneezed and coughed her way through her presentation. We all stood as far away from her as possible, so I missed quite a lot of what she said.

 

We then visited the Mutrah Souk. Unlike the souks in Dubai where you are accosted constantly by the vendors, this was a very pleasant experience. We didn’t buy anything, however it was fabulous to wander through the alleyways and observe the vendors and shoppers.

 

Next stop was the Bait Al Zubair museum which had a wonderful display of Omani culture and history. The museum was very well laid out, and with Moosa as our extremely knowledgeable guide we learned a lot of fascinating information. I realized that I really hadn’t known much about this very interesting and strategically important country even though I had visited Oman previously.

 

Our final stop was at the huge Al Alam palace, where the Sultan entertains his guests. He actually lives in another large palace a way out of town.

 

The late Sultan seems to have been an authoritarian ruler, but in the 50 years he ruled after deposing his father, the vision he had for his country was amazing. It will be interesting to see the path that the new Sultan takes.

 

Dinner was delicious again. Some people have complained that standards had dropped in the Britannia dining room. I certainly don’t see this at all. There are plenty of choices offered on the menu, the food is very tasty, and our waiters are very attentive. All in all, the experience is just as wonderful as ever.

 

After dinner I decided to go back to the cabin and catch up with emails, but the internet was down. Hopefully this will not be long lived.

 

DAY 7

Sunday February 2^nd, 2020

 

At Sea

 

Bad Hair Day

 

How I have been looking forward to a sea day – a day spent in the Commodore Club and at the pool simply relaxing.

 

The internet is still down, and there is no cell phone service. I’m fine with that, I’m still very taken with the idea that you can have internet and phone reception out there in the middle of the ocean, although I have to admit the not being able to post blog updates is annoying.

 

More annoying is the fact that Deirdre has been unable to phone Kim to find out how he is doing. The ship and the satellite we use are no longer communicating – apparently it is the satellite’s fault, not ours. However, I think in most relationship problems there is some fault on both sides. Johan at the internet center does not agree with this, and puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of the satellite. Whatever the issue is, they do need to start communicating again.

 

Passengers visiting the internet center were getting very angry, and actually quite rude. There is nothing Johan can do – so we just had to wait. Several passengers have not gone online to get their visas for Sri Lanka yet. Hopefully they will be able to get them before we arrive there in 2 days time.

 

I don’t like the cold, and spent most of this winter in Mexico. I had planned to return home just before the cruise to get my hair cut and highlights done. Brian did not think it was fiscally responsible to fly home for the day to get my hair done, and was sure it could be done on the ship. I asked the question on Cruise Critic, and was informed that this was indeed possible.

 

When I first started getting highlights in my hair it was a rather uncomfortable process involving a bathing cap with holes in it and a crochet hook. Things have advanced since then and now all it involves is several small sheets of aluminium foil and a paste like substance.

 

Julie, my hairdresser, gave me the name of the color formula she uses, and I phoned the Spa at Sea folks at Canyon Ranch to make sure they could do it. The answer was affirmative, so with some trepidation I made my appointment. Julie is the only person who has worked on my hair for that past 16 years, so I did have concerns about letting someone lose with it, but the Canyon Ranch person reassured me I would be in good hands.

 

I forgot to bring the scrap of paper on which I had written down the time of the appointment with me, so I stopped by the spa to ascertain when it was. They had no record of it. I should have decided not to pursue things any further at that stage, but I like living dangerously so I made another appointment.

 

On arrival in the salon at 3:30 I explained to the man who was doing my hair exactly what I wanted done, and showed him the instructions on what color formula to use. I also explained exactly how to cut my hair, and despite the fact he seemed to want to do something completely different, I explained that I have had it this way for the past 30 years and saw no need to make a change.

 

He indicated that he understood what I wanted, however, when he was finally finished at 7:00 my hair definitely had an all over orange glow to it and I looked more like Cleopatra with a very short fringe, rather than my usual somewhat shaggy page boy style. During the process he had used toners and tonics liberally, and he must have washed my hair at least 10 times. Now I must admit I don’t really understand this hairdressing stuff, but not only was the ship not communicating with the satellite, I was clearly not communicating with him.

 

He seemed very happy with the outcome, and admired his masterpiece with glee, misreading my concerned look as meaning instead of blow drying my hair straight as I usually do it, I wanted curls and armed with a curling iron he started trying to produce ringlets telling me it would look wonderful. I thought there was smoke coming out of my hair, but he reassured me that it was steam.

 

Note to self. Stick with Julie in future.

 

Ruth reassured me that the new bronze color of my hair was very becoming. She is a good friend, but I didn’t believe her for a minute.

 

Still, I wasn’t going to let the hair mishap spoil my evening. It was the Black and White gala night. This meant I got to wear my white and silver jacket that spreads sparkles everywhere I go. No problems finding my way back to our cabin tonight!

 

I’m not sure the orange glow to my hair really went well with silver sparkles, and the once bouncy ringlets were now just hanging straight down despite all of the mousse and hairspray that was meant to keep them springy.

 

I love the gala nights as the menu is really great. Tonight I had snails, beef Wellington, and a lemon soufflé. Food heaven for me.

 

The featured entertainment tonight was the sensational voice and comedy of Mike Doyle. The Royal Court Theatre was packed. He always draws a big crowd. Although I had heard much of his material before, it is always a delight to hear him, and he makes me laugh. He also has a fabulous voice. It was a great show, and we all left feeling upbeat and happy.

 

I followed the trail of sparkles back to our cabin, pondering whether this jacket will ever lose all of its sparkles, and that a bad hair day really can’t spoil the joy of being on Queen Mary 2

 

 

DAY 8

Monday, February 3^rd, 2020

 

At Sea

 

My hair has not lost its orange glow, but I am getting used to it, and surprisingly enough no one except for Ruth has commented on it. I’m not sure why.

 

I enjoyed a wonderful lazy day reading in the Commodore Club, lunching with friends in the Carinthia Lounge, walking around the open decks with Ruth. Ruth managed to go to several talks, all of which were apparently excellent.

 

Despite my resolve not to join the choir on this segment as it really is too time consuming, somehow I am singing again. It is a short segment so we are only doing 2 songs. Neither patriotic music nor show tunes for our audience’s pleasure this time, but 2 hymns. The first one is Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, a rather pleasant and upbeat hymn written by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, the man who brought us my all time favorite piece of patriotic music, Jerusalem.

 

I’m not sure how appropriate the other one is; Nearer, my God, to Thee. Perhaps the band really was not playing it as the Titanic groaned and sunk into the murky depths, but I still have that association. Andrew, our choir master, reassured us that we would not be required to sing it should the Queen Mary 2 hit an iceberg and sink on this voyage. That’s a relief.

 

After choir practice I went to listen to that very funny lady, Pam Ayres, who was reading poems from her latest book, Up in the Attic, as well as some classic older poems. She has written a wonderful poem about Queen Mary 2 which describes her take on life on board here. It is great fun.

 

Tonight was the Virtuoso Voyages cocktail party. Deirdre is the Virtuoso Voyages host, and thus organized the party. It was in G32, probably my least favorite venue on the ship, but it went very well, and several officers as well as the captain were in attendance. Kim is still languishing in hospital in Dubai, but insisting that Deirdre not leave the ship in Sri Lanka to join him.

 

Dinner was delicious again, and it was fun to hear updates on what everyone had done today. There are so many things to do, definitely something for everyone.

 

Because of the time difference, the Super Bowl was broadcast on the ship at 4:00 this morning. Two of our tablemates had watched it. One got dressed and went to the Golden Lion to watch the game. The bar wasn’t open, but there was coffee, tea, and juice available, as well as snacks. The other stayed in bed, ordered a few beers and tacos from room service, and watched it on her cabin TV. I like her style.

 

We had all had a great day at sea.

 

Some days nothing really memorable happens, and that’s perfectly fine with me. In fact a drama free day makes for a nice change!