safarigal

Dr Stephen Payne is indeed on Queen Mary 2 at the moment and he has given a series of wonderful standing room only lectures. He will be back on QM2 on the May 18th and September 4th crossings this year if all goes well.

So far so good 🙂

I have just joined Queen Mary 2 in Cape Town, after a wonderful 2 weeks in South Africa. We will be on board until New York, and hope to be keeping up with my blog: www.whereissafarigal.com I am a bit behind - too much fun in the game reserves, but should be up and current with Queen Mary 2 by tomorrow 🙂

Thanks!

Does anyone know if the mattress is available in the US?

We are on the November 2023 to February 2024 round Africa cruise on Bolette, which stops in Cape Town on the way to Southampton. There is no sign of it being divided into segments as yet, but maybe it will be closer to sailing, and that might be an indication of whether the 2025 cruise will do the same.

You bet! Thanks 🙂

We received a "booking information" email from Cunard on February 14th. IMPORTANT NOTICES Queen Mary 2 is scheduled to depart from the E Berth Passenger Terminal in Cape Town on Friday, 7th April. Check-in for Queen Mary 2 will take place at the Mount Nelson Hotel, 76 Orange St, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001, South Africa. Guests will then be transferred via shuttle to Queen Mary 2 for embarkation. We look forward to welcoming you on board Queen Mary 2. It did not show our check in time, but I emailed Cunard to see if the arrival time of our plane (we are coming from Hoedspruit) would be a problem, and was told that our check in is at 1:30.

Our check in is at 1:30, but I am sure there will be check in times before and after ours. It is difficult to predict. We will be checking in directly from the airport, but I agree with Windsurfboy, you should chose a hotel that fits in well with what you want to see in Cape Town, and arrange transport to take you to wherever you will be checking in on boarding day. If we weren't flying in directly we would probably stay at the Mount Nelson, because I love the hotel!

We will be boarding in Cape Town on April 7th this year and received an email that said we would be checking in at the Mount Nelson Hotel, and then would be transported to the ship. I think that on previous occasions passengers have checked in at the port, so it is difficult to say this far out where boarding will be.

Thanks for posting that. Missing Bali must be very disappointing.

Thanks!

Thank you so much for the update. What a disappointment. Previous World Cruise parties , especially Melbourne in 2020 and San Francisco in 2017, have been fabulous affairs - almost the highlight of the voyage. Hong Kong in 2019 (?) was a disaster as they tried to have a joint party for both QM2 and QV, but even that sounds better than what you experienced. I am so sorry.

Yes, we have driven around this area several times in the past when the kids were young. I have to admit it, but we feel that we really don't want to do the driving ourselves any more, especially on those narrow roads, and on the wrong side of the road. I guess we are getting to be fuddy duddies! We would rather not do a ships tour or a coach tour as we would like to customize it. I hope we can find a reliable driver - especially as that sticky toffee pudding sounds like a plan!

Does anyone have a recommendation for a private tour guide for 4 people for the day in Holyhead? We would rather not take a coach tour if possible. Thanks!

Yay! It would be very unfortunate if QV had to miss New Zealand :). Good news!

Any word yet as to whether Queen Victoria's bottom will get a clean bill of health? With the issues with Queen Elizabeth, hopefully QV will pass inspection with flying colors. Missing the New Zealand ports would not be good.

We are also on this voyage! Here is the roll call I just started - Looking forward to meeting you on board 🙂

The blog is sparkling enough - I am loving it!

Grrrr! Sorry the internet is such a challenge! It's hard for me to keep track of my 6 favorite people on board :). When do you get to Fiji?

I am so excited for you! Deirdre and Kim are looking forward to seeing you on board 🙂

That's what I am thinking! It's a shame that QM2 is only due to arrive in Soton on January 11th. Otherwise we could have a great back to back winter crossing 🙂. Maybe the powers that be will see sense and change the schedule! Most likely not 😞

Thanks so much for posting these. It looks like the Queen Anne's January 9th sailing will be her first Transatlantic 🙂

Thank you so much for posting this. This is exactly the information I love to read about a world cruise, what really is going on :). I am so glad things are as back to normal as possible, I do miss the choir. I look forward to joining you in Cape Town 🙂

Roscoe I am so excited! It's been way too long!