It is amazing how a computer wizard like me can forget how to operate this blog. OK it’s 9 months since we were last at sea, but in the last 2 days I have had to go back to Sam (who set it up) for simple guidance and today it has taken me some hours to remind myself how to get my photos onto the blog. But I have done it!
Cartagena and its harbour are surrounded by 4 hills topped with forts. The entrance to the harbour is narrow and well protected. It has been a prominent naval station although there was no evidence of that as we passed by. Some of the photos taken as we left are added below
This was all we could see of the Naval station. It appeared to be a dismembered submarine and an old grey hulk, but we may have missed something.
We have been here a number of times. It is a wonderful City. We docked at about 7.30am and there between the dock and the city was the marina with a multitude of boats of various sizes.
We set off with Jane seated in the new manual wheelchair, crossing the marina and then heading towards the entrance to the main street. It was busy. Tourists were out in force. We walked north, past the entrance to the Roman Amphitheatre, which we have explored in the past. The coffee houses and street venues were full but as we moved further north there were places to stop. We chose the wrong one. No service. But having sorted out the correct procedure we drank coffee and did the daily Sudoku before setting off down some interesting side streets.
It’s unusual to have the first 3 days at sea on a Cunard voyage unless you are sailing in a westerly direction. On voyages to the Med usually day 3 is spent in La Coruna or Oporto or Lisbon or Cadiz. This time the cruise planners at Cunard decided to take us through the Bay of Biscay, down the coast of Portugal and Spain ignoring all the usual stops.
The B of B was choppy, but with stabilisers out, the ships movement was minimal. On Wednesday (day 3) it was sunny and the sea was flat; in the early afternoon the ship swung gently to port and Morocco was soon on our starboard side. The sun was out and the modern buildings close to the coast looked bright and the beaches looked good.
On the port side Portugal and Spain appeared to be gloomy and wet and as we passed the Rock of Gibraltar it was shrouded in cloud.
It reminded me that back in January, on the Queen Elizabeth, the weather was so appalling that the Captain decided against taking the ship into Gibraltar.
Our first port is Cartagena where we will arrive at 8.00am tomorrow – Thursday morning.
Kim arrived on Saturday evening and on Sunday morning at 9.30 the second member of the support team appeared. He was to be the driver of Jane’s adapted Peugeot. I had given him some training a couple of weeks earlier and he seemed to up to the task. In reality I had never had any doubt that former Group Captain Nick Brewer would manage to get Jane, her electric wheelchair and Kim to the Queen Elizabeth II terminal in Southampton Docks. Sadly Nick was not in uniform.
Gary arrived with his massive taxi and loading commenced and by 10.15am we were on our way. The QEII terminal has seen better days. The last time we had used it was in November 2008 when QE2 was making her final voyage to her resting place in Dubai, where she remains.
For some reason everything seemed to be running late. The baggage handlers had not all showed up (it was a Sunday) and the new technology for checking us in needed some tweaking, but we managed to position ourselves in the right place so that we could be checked in early.
An American lady standing nearby, started chatting, and told me she was a frequent cruiser and lived in the Bay area of San Francisco. I told her that I had a godson who is a District Attorney in that same Bay area, Simon O’Connell. She immediately googled him. I explained the story of our good friends, the O’Connells, emigrating when Simon and Daniel were young boys. The family holidays together. She kept coming back to me and it was eventually established that she and her husband live in Danville which happens to be the very same township where Simon and also our very good friend, Simon’s mother, Maggie O’Connell live.
To cap the coincidences, some 30 minutes after these conversations with the mystery lady, we had been checked in and moved to a large seating area on the upper level. As we walked through the door, the very first person we saw was ‘meeter and greeter’ Susan Malizia who is Maggie O’Connells sister! Amazing, particularly as we had no idea that Susan worked for the company concerned. It was great, because Susan made sure we were in prime position to get through security first and straight onto the ship without queuing!
It was back in January 2022 that we were last at sea. It was wonderful to be away after the tribulations of Covid. I can’t remember how many cruises that we had booked were cancelled or rearranged but Cunard looked after us and moved the money forward, and often added another 25% to the money they were holding.
After the January cruise we had 2 more lined up for 2022. June and September, but in May I began to get pains in my left leg. Sometimes in the knee, occasionally in the ankle and often in the backside – yes I know all about pains in the backside – I spent my career dealing with them.
We disembarked on Sunday. Queen Elizabeth arrived at the Ocean Terminal on time while we were still asleep. The disembarkation procedures adopted by Cunard worked immaculately and we were ashore and out of the terminal before the cars arrived to take us home.
Our first trip away from home for 26 months was a resounding success. We all enjoyed being at sea. For Jane it meant a break from the dreadful meals that I have been producing for her over the last 2 years.
We have to thank Angus Struthers, Cunard’s Director of Marketing, for finding the Britannia Club adapted cabin for us at a time when only a limited number of adapted cabins were being released for sale. The result was that we enjoyed the fine dining offered in the Britannia Club restaurant and the food was indeed fantastic.
On our last day at sea we met up again with Peter and John Stafford in the Queens room for afternoon tea, I had spent most of the day packing Janes vast array of clothes, so relaxing at tea was most welcome. John took a number of photos. He appears in the mirror!
The evening show featured the Beatles tribute band once again. They were excellent.
Before we embarked on QE we were concerned about the possibility of a covid outbreak during the voyage, but as soon as we boarded the ship we realised that Cunard had gone to remarkable lengths to limit the risks. The passengers and the crew respected the rules. We were pleased to be away from our homes for the first time and the crew were incredibly pleased to be back in work. Every one of them did all they could to welcome us and to look after us.
I didn’t finish the piece on Lisbon. It somehow published itself. As I said, we sent Kim off on a tour. She liked the sound of the Duck which looks strange and apparently was strange. I’ve never been in one and nor had Kim. It took her on a land tour of the City and then down the hill and into the River Tagus, whereupon the bus became a boat!
Queen Elizabeth sailed at 5.00pm and we had a gentle trip down the River Tagus beginning our 2 day voyage home.
The show in the Royal Court Theatre on Thursday evening was a Beatles replica band. They were very good and are appearing again on the final evening.
During sea days we have 2 or 3 speakers who give 45 minute presentations in the theatre. Some are ‘celebrity’ speakers and on this voyage Nicki Chapman fits into that category. She has given 2 talks – the first described her initial career in the music business, promoting singers and bands, then as a Judge on musical talent shows and the second talk dealt with her career as a presenter – Wanted Down Under, Escape to the Country and many more. Her presentations were very good.
Before I tell you about our visit to Lisbon, I must tell you about our sea day yesterday. The Stafford twins had suggested that we should meet for lunch in the Verandah speciality restaurant. As we are all long-standing Diamond guests we are entitled to a free lunch there on each voyage.
The twins are the same age as Jane. They dress in identical clothes. Down to the last detail. Even their spectacles are exactly the same. They live in Sandbanks and each have their own flat in a block overlooking Poole Harbour. Their routine on the ship never varies. 12 noon for lunch. If possible the same table. The same seats in the theatre. Of course they have become very well known on Cunard ships and they are very popular. They are great fun too.
I first came to Lisbon in the days of Salazar. It was 1967. My girlfriend at the time was studying in France for the summer and my father suggested that I took advantage of Cunard staff rates and go on a Mediterranean cruise.
I had enjoyed the voyages on Queen Mary in 1965 to and from the US, so father arranged for me to join RMS Carmania for a 14 day cruise to the Med to celebrate graduation. I worked as a lifeguard at the Southampton Lido before the cruise to get the spending money together.
Regrettably I didn’t keep any memorabilia or paperwork relating the cruise, but I remember that Lisbon was the first port, then Gibraltar before crossing to North Africa, taking in Algiers and Tangier.
There were a number of people on the cruise of my age and we spent our time together on the ship and ashore. A number of the girls were travel agents on freebies. I remember on the day in Lisbon we met a group of Portuguese students who were very worried about talking to us. Their concern was that the secret police might be listening in and might arrest them. We had no concept of the dictatorship that operated under Salazar at that time.
Jane and I have been here many times since then. Lisbon is a wonderful place to visit, and is regularly included on Mediterranean cruises. But Jane and I decided not to go ashore today. Pushing the manual wheelchair up the hills of Lisbon is not an option and the pavements are too uneven for the electric machine. Tours that were offered in adapted vehicles were unappealing so we opted for a day in the sunshine on our balcony. I think it is only the second time that we have not gone ashore out of the hundreds of port visits we have made over the last 20 years. The first opt out was in Funchal, Madeira when it rained so heavily all day that cars and dogs were being washed down the road into the harbour!
But Kim needed to see Lisbon, so she chose an excursion on an amphibious Duck.
No surprises today. We expected to be in the beautiful city of Valencia and we duly arrived on time. There were delays, though, in getting the all clear from the port authority. We were not told whether that delay was influenced by Covid or Brexit, but the early tours set off late (in the rain).
By the time the Smith party were ready to roll, the rain had gone and a large coach with a wheel chair lift was awaiting us. It was a scary process to get Jane aboard, because the lift took her about 10 feet into the air on the outside of the coach. I was not allowed to go up on the platform with her, but of course Jane took it all in her stride and she was soon safely inside the coach.
Years ago we visited Valencia on a Regent ship, the Navigator, which was much smaller and able to berth close to the old town. The shuttle coach ride for us this time took 45 minutes, but the architecture of the modern buildings that we passed was stunning.
The old town, El Carmen, is home to the cathedral (8 euros each seemed expensive to me to get in!)? The surrounding streets are packed with bars and quaint shops, but it is evident that many have closed permanently as a result of covid.
We returned to the ship in the early afternoon and Kim sat on her balcony in the sun and emerged slightly tanned.
The evening entertainment on the ship has been good and in some instances excellent, but on Tuesday the comedian was very poor. Not funny at all. I won’t name him, but why anyone hired him I do not know. Many Cunarders walk out on these rare occasions and they did so on Tuesday. We stuck it out, hoping he would get better. He didn’t!
Cartagena is a beautiful city. Talking of beauty, Nigel Freer sent me a photo of Linda that he took yesterday when we met in Malaga, with Queen Elizabeth in the background. Lovely.
Today in Cartagena it was raining for a time as we were preparing to leave the ship, but by the time we were ashore the skies had cleared.
There is a marina between the berth and the city.
As we walked from the ship around the marina, I remembered that on the last occasion we were here Tim and Jean Whitehead were on the same cruise. I can’t recall whether we met them on that trip or on an earlier one.
I think we first met when the 4 of us were invited to sit at the Captains table. Deputy Captain Simon Love was the host. Incidentally he is now Captain of P&O’s Aurora. I hope that in time he comes back to Cunard. Tim and Jean had big Southampton connections. Jean grew up in Southampton and we discovered that Jane and Jean had both played lacrosse for Southampton ladies. Tim was a Southampton University alumni as was I some years before him.
As usual I have digressed. We crossed the marina and recognised the entrance to the main street. The city is very pretty and the streets are narrow, the architecture classic and the coffee shops appealing.
But first it was a visit to the excavated Roman Theatre. The entrance to it is in the Town Hall Square. You walk into the new exhibition space and the theatre’s museum and from there you take an underground passage to the Roman Theatre. It is very impressive.
It was then time for coffee. Usually coffee on the ship means suduko. While battling the latest one I mentioned that I had hardly slept last night. Kim said she wasn’t surprised because yesterday, after finding a double espresso for the first time on the ship, I had one at breakfast, one in the Toro restaurant waiting for the Freers, one after lunch and one after dinner. Yes, that would explain the tossing and turning. One double espresso a day in future.
Last night after dinner I spotted Raj who had been our waiter on a previous cruise. Amazingly he remembered us, which ship we were on and where she had cruised. I asked him how he had coped during Cunard’s ‘pause’. He said that after being flown home he took a month long course in teaching on Zoom and found himself a job teaching schoolchildren geography. He said that the pay was poor but it kept him out of mischief!
We toured the backstreets of Cartagena, ensuring that Jane didn’t spot too many fashion shops. In fact there were very few open. It was clear that many retail outlets were permanently closed as a result of covid. We then made our way back to the ship.
