Lisbon and Vigo

Lisbon

We were woken quite early by traffic noise: we were passing under the 25^th April suspension bridge, with its 2^nd largest European span. On its upper deck it carries road vehicle on an open metal grid hence the noise. Under the road is a railway.

QM2 passes under the 25^th April Bridge (nice of the Captain to take the ship out and under the bridge so we could take photos!)

We then docked at Alcantara Quay just under the bridge and after breakfast took a 20 minute bus ride into the centre of Lisbon. It was perfect weather warm, dry and very clear. We decided to climb up to the Sao Jorges Castle and we had to go into the castle to get the superb views over Lisbon.

Lisbon from Sao Jorges castle with 25^th April bridge in background and QM2 just visible

Back down to have a good look around Lisbon which we really liked. A quick lift ride up Eiffel's other tower, see the mad Station where trains are 3 stories higher than the booking office and back to ship for a late lunch, lazy pool time. Enjoyed leaving and passing under the bridge and sailing out into the Atlantic. It was just light enough to see the views before dinner. Show was a 4^th rate comic/singer/ impressionist called Allan Stewart. He's been on telly years ago on Saturday night at the London Palladium but he was not for us!

As we left Lisbon Captain tells us Noro Virus is 'at normal levels' and ship will return to normal. There is a rumour that the captain went down with the bug. He first cancelled his Champagne reception for loyal cruisers (not us ...yet) then did not turn up to the rearranged event!

Vigo

Clocks went forward this morning for mainland Spain so it's still dark as we arrive in the Old fishing port of Vigo. Still light enough to realise than there's not much old about Vigo – very high rise and modern! Have a good look around and climb up to viewpoint which sadly does not give too good a view of harbour due to high rise hotel on seafront and police headquarters at rear of city.

Grand Princess, Police headquarters, QM2 and Hotel Bahia de Vigo

Back down to though Old Town which although nice was nothing special.

 

Oldest Street in Vigo – or so said tour guide on a Segway we overheard!

By now it was raining so back through a built for cruise passengers shopping centre to ship for lunch and a lazy afternoon on ship. Island Boy had a quick trip back to town as he took some pictures on too low a resolution! Formal Ascot dinner where as many as 10 Ladies wore Ascot hats! Then an excellent dance show in the theatre.

Final Day at Sea

As we write this we are probably half way across the Bay of Biscay. It's a warm sunny day with a breeze from behind the ship which is cancelled out by our 20 knots so on deck it is very pleasant. The ship is hardly moving around in the slight seas: this is what we hoped for.

An after thought about QM2: all the decks are REAL wood! So much better than all the other ships we have been on with wood effect rubber or lino.

We arrive at Southampton at 06 30 tomorrow morning and we have opted for self help so we can leave the ship as soon as we dock and carry our cases ourselves: no looking for ours amongst all the others!

Queen Mary 2 – the verdict!

We have now been on board a week and have decided we generally like the ship. Its best point, its size almost becomes its worst point! Being large with relatively low numbers of passengers means it never feels full. We have never felt the ship is crowded and always have managed to get a buffet table or pool side lounger. However its size means you do a lot of walking: not a bad thing with all that food to burn off.

The ballroom, restaurant and theatre are the full width of the ship and double height which makes them both impressive spaces, but to allow for passage along the ship there are mezzanine 'by passes' which were a little confusing at first but now we know our way around seem very sensible. The layout is like no other ship we have been on and we like that.

The promenade deck is very wide, is open and goes all around the ship. There are outside glass lifts and a viewing window onto the bridge. We can watch the officers drinking coffee whilst the ship is steered by computer.

Food is excellent - there is always a roast joint at lunch for Jack. It would be nice to have vegetables served by waiters at dinner in the restaurant like P and O rather than all on the plate from the kitchen. The food quality however is very good, but choice a little too fancy for us sometimes.

The planetarium is amazing: a huge dome is suspended from the room and scenes are projected on to it. You sit in reclining seats and view the planets with Harrison Ford explaining. We particularly like the underwater scenes.

Before the cruise Island Boy assured Island Girl that the QM2 was a liner and would smooth out any rough seas: wrong. It copes with waves very well but we have had a lot of long wave length swell and the ship seems caught out by this and every so often it pitches far more than we expected. Seasoned QM2 ers have said they have never noticed this before!

 

Ship moored in Las Palmas. Our cabin is the one in the top left corner of the photo

Our cabin has an enclosed (not glass fronted) balcony but it is much larger than we expected and is not inset like the glass fronted ones so we can see forward and aft and down at the sea. The cabin is nice and roomy, with more room at the end of the bed than other ships we have been on.

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote

Las Palmas

Another fine and sunny morning as we sailed into Las Palmas on Grand Canaria. Watched ship arrive from observation deck below ship's bridge and after breakfast ventured ashore. As we left local TV reporters were doing news reports and interviewing passengers. Nice little holiday town with a long and sandy beach. Alan wanted to swim but was persuaded not to as it was pretty windy and rough.

 

On Playa Las Canteras, Las Palmas

Back to ship for lunch and our usual lazy afternoon by pool and walking around the ship: we just about know our way around now.

There was a classic car line-up by the ship with some impressive old motors.

Cars lined up on Quayside.

As we sailed off in the evening it seemed that half the island came to wave us off and a drum band and car horns added to the atmosphere. It made us late for dinner!

 

Drum band plays us off from Las Palmas

Show was good with the QM2 singers and both of the ships show bands: stayed to the end! Jack enjoyed the medley of Osmond hits although not sure about the rest of the audience!

Lanzarote

Sunrise was just early enough to see as we arrived and docked. Much less developed than the other Canary Islands we have visited with only one high rise building ( a hotel). After that they decided they did not like high rise and they are banned!

Early breakfast as we are the first tour away so we can beat the crowds in the Timanfayaya National Park. Success, as we are the first coach to arrive in the volcanic wilderness where we see bush burning in a hole, water boiling and forming a geyser before a ride through the lava fields with many volcanic eruption craters

One of the many craters we saw

Then off to a vineyard where we sampled the wine and saw how they managed to grow grapes in the volcanic ash and only 8 inches of rain a year!

Each vine is surrounded by a dry volcanic stone wall to try to gather atmospheric water.

Then back to the ship past the holiday resorts and the capital town of Arrecife. Seeing the small town we decided not to visit in the afternoon so after lunch we had yet another lazy time by the pool before afternoon tea in the ballroom, dinner and the variety show with David Copperfield and the two pianists.

Tea was interesting as we shared a table with a couple ( mum and daughter we think) from Malvern. It turned out that Mum worked with Bro Nic at, as she said 'the Ministry'. She said Nic would know her as June from computing!

Looking forward to a quiet day at sea on Sunday before Lisbon on Monday and Vigo on Tuesday. Hope to get a chance to see the planetarium show on Sunday.

We are told by the Captain that the Noro Virus outbreak is under control whatever that means. We still are having all our food and drinks served for us which is a pain especially to get tea and coffee exactly as we like. All board games and magazines have disappeared and we are told all library books had to be sanitised! Our dinner companions were not struck down: it was fortunately a false alarm..Everyone is neurotic and we all try not to touch handrails and lift buttons (use of elbow or key card recommended): public loos are definitely a no go area.

First two Ports: Madeira and Tenerife

Funchal - Madeira

After two days at sea it was nice to finally make landfall in Madeira. Not so nice was the VERY heavy rain! We ventured off the ship to look around Funchal but the weather very soon beat us and after sheltering from a very heavy shower in the cable car bottom station we decided the cloud would not clear so we returned to the ship for lunch and a lazy afternoon by the inside pool.

We were in port with Arcadia and hoped we might bump into James's school friend Jamie who is lead singer and we now know his parents were also on board!

Queen Mary 2 and Arcadia in Funchal Harbour

Nice dinner but show was a rubbish singer – should have walked out but for some reason we stuck it out!

Santa Cruz – Tenerife

A very busy day in Tenerife where the weather was much more kind to us- hot and sunny!. Early breakfast and off the ship to explore the bustling town of Santa Cruz. Found an excellent market area to browse around but really just a Spanish town and not a tourist place. Back to ship to find all buffet food is being served by crew. We knew this meant the dreaded Noro virus was on board!

After lunch we went on an organised tour to the foothills on Mount Teide – the 3718 metre volcanic mountain in the centre of the island. Very interesting seeing the lush pine forests turn into moon like landscape of lava fields. We had a great view of the summit from the National Park at a pretty high 2000 metres.

Jack and Mount Teide in the background – if the definition were better the cable car would be visible!

On return to the ship the Captain explained that a number of passengers (our steward(ess) told us 38) had Noro virus like symptoms and we all had to be careful!

Nice dinner – little unsettling when one of our companions got up half way through saying he felt unwell – 39 now?

Show was David Copperfield who was excellent. We had previously seen him on Celebrity Solstice and the show was absolutely identical – even the ad libs!.But it was still entertaining and highly enjoyable.

Exploring Queen Mary 2

We had a good trip to Southampton and arrived at the terminal at about 11am, but boarding seemed very slow and it was getting on for 1pm before we were on board. At least we were able to get straight into our cabin and our luggage had arrived.

We like the cabin which is very spacious

We have now just about explored the entire ship which is BIG! There is a lot we like about the ship like the good food and plush fittings. Although there are four pools, one of which is covered they are all a bit small.

The self service eatery is very confusing and it is easy to miss a menu choice as it is all spread out, seemingly at random! The quality and choice is however very good as is the evening Britannia Restaurant. There are some great touches like the wide prom deck which goes all around the ship.

 

and the glass lifts which have views aft from behind the bridge

We are on a table for 6 at dinner and have a nice round table by a window. Alan has not managed to upset our companions....yet! Both the other couples are much older than us. One couple is in their eighties but look and act much younger.

We are now through the Bay of Biscay which was pretty rough with force 6 winds Jack took a pill on Monday which made her very sleepy! Tuesday has been much calmer, sunnier and even warm at 18C. The Captain said the boat has been unstable because although the waves are only 1.5 to 2.5 metres, there is a swell which unsettles the ship. It seems that this is quite unusual as seasoned QM2ers say the ship usually copes very well with stormier seas!

We have seen a couple of shows now and are not too impressed so far. The singer last night was pretty poor and we hope the Royal Cunard 'Viva Italia' showtime is better tonight. The Entertainment Director makes us laugh: but for all the wrong reasons.

Just got back from leaving show before the end (there was a natural break when the scenery broke): it was decidedly mediocre!

After 2 days at sea swimming, exploring ship, snoozing and of course eating we are looking forward to visiting Funchal in Madera tomorrow. Today exploring became eating when we accidentally found ourselves in the Ballroom during afternoon tea