March 25, 2010 Cape Town, South Africa
The exchange rate $1 equals 7 Rand
The QM2 was welcomed by a naval band playing patriotic songs for several countries. We caught the shuttle to the V & A Waterfront where we bought 2 day tickets on the Hop On double decker bus, Hop Off which we rode to the Table Mountain Cableway. The cable car rotates on the way up. Even though it was overcast, we enjoyed the tremendous view on top. The bus gave us ear buds with a running commentary of several highlights the entire 2 hour “Red tour” round trip. This was much better than ship sponsored excursions. Cape Town is a beautiful, very clean, & modern city. Fox news broadcasted that Cape Town is the 3rd most dangerous city (behind 2 Mexican cities) with 6 deaths per day, but we’ve felt very save in both of the South African Cities. Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa and largest in land area.
The World Cruise Banquet started at 5:30 in the evening with a cocktail party in the Queens Room followed by an hour journey by bus (8 in our convoy) to the Vergelegan Wine Estate accompany with police escort. Once there we waited another ½ hour to get off the bus. Actually, we did better than others who had longer times. They started serving before many voyagers arrived. At our table only 3 of 9 were seated. Our table included 4 passenger couples plus Social Hostess, Freda Singleton (she did the most work to making the banquet as pleasant as it was). Our table was in the center and behind the table with President & Managing Director Peter Shanks, Desmond Tutu (who gave the opening prayer) & his wife, and the balance of that table were passengers who had the most time traveling with Cunard. Captain Bates’ table was to our left. The food was the poorest we’ve had of the cruise. The wines were good and plentiful. Ray Rouse, Captain Bates, and President Shanks gave brief speaks. I enjoyed having a classy, elegant, and beautiful date in Jan! The entertainment was good and many danced to the orchestra.