En Route to Southampton

Since passing Gibraltar and entering the North Atlantic Ocean, we rounded the southwest tip of Portugal at Cabo Sao Vincente, and then sailed parallel to the coast of Portugal. From there we joined the Traffic Routing Scheme off the coast of Cape Finisterre at the tip of Spain and entered the Bay of Biscay. It was in the Bay of Biscay where we experienced rough seas at the beginning of our journey. Surprisingly, this time the bay, notorious for rough seas, was remarkably smooth. We were thankful that we wouldn’t be beginning and ending our journey seasick.

As I mentioned before, many passengers spent their final days at sea touring the ship. The entertainment staff helped with that by scheduling a tour of the ship’s galley, a virtual tour of the bridge, and an interview and Q&A with Captain Aseem Hashmi. It was the passengers’ opportunity to see many of the behind-the-scenes activities. Captain Hashmi has a terrific sense of humor and is quite entertaining. He was frequently seen walking about the ship, dining in the Lido, and stopping to chat with passengers.

It was in those final days at sea that we visited the lounges for final chats with friends and to exchange last thoughts about our journey. Ancient sailors entertained each other during long days at sea by telling stories. Things haven’t changed. People love to tell stories of things that happened to them and others onboard ship.

Some of the stories are the same you hear on every voyage, like the story of the two couples put off the ship for fighting in the laundry room. How true they are is anybody’s guess. But you can be sure that the ship’s officers will take action when it’s needed. On a previous voyage, we actually saw a man put off the ship on Easter Island for drunkenness and inappropriate behavior. That passenger’s behavior forfeited him the rest of his journey and cost him a lot of money to get home from such a remote place.

Some passengers get in trouble not because of their actions but those of family members. One passenger told us the story of being awoken at 3:00 a.m. by an officer on the bridge paging a passenger. Apparently, when the parents of a young man didn’t find him in his cabin late at night, they feared the worst and reported him missing. After the ship’s crew did a search of the ship and didn’t find him, they resorted to paging him—twice, awakening everyone on the ship. He sheepishly reported in and had to explain to his parents and the captain that he had been in the cabin of a young woman. The storyteller said that the parents had been fined $2,000 for disrupting the ship.

News always circulated about the ship quickly. During our voyage, we heard of passengers unexpectedly leaving the ship for many reasons: emergencies at home, medical treatment for conditions that required hospitalization, disagreements with spouses, etc. Given the number of passengers and crew on the ship and the age of many of the passengers, it wasn’t unusual to occasionally see an ambulance waiting at the pier when we docked. We sadly waved farewell to a couple that left the ship when the husband developed double pneumonia and required hospitalization. It’s situations like this when you are glad (or wish) you had taken out travel insurance.

And depending on the location of the ship, a passenger may need urgent medical care before the ship arrives at the next port. While we were sailing near the QM2, we heard that a passenger had been taken off the QM2 by helicopter.

Long voyages can test even the best relationships. When someone asked a couple taking the full world voyage how they managed to get along living in a small cabin for so long, the husband joked that they only spoke to each other on alternate days. Sometimes no method worked. One passenger explained that his wife got off the ship and flew home because she was homesick.

It makes you wonder whether people leaving the ship unexpectedly accounted for the large amounts of laundry left in the launderettes. Or could it be that in their rush to pack at the end of a segment some passengers simply forgot they had left wet laundry in the launderette? Imagine unpacking at home and realizing that you left all your underwear behind on the ship.

Launderette

Given the small confines of the Launderette, the heat, and the noise, it isn't surprising that disagreements occur. If surveyed, I would imagine that a large portion of passengers would request larger laundry facilities and more than three washers and dryers on each deck.

Packing on the final days of the voyage is always a chore. It sadly marks the end of the journey and presents the challenge of fitting everything in a few pieces of luggage, while leaving out what you will need when the ship arrives in port. Many times we’ve heard the story of passengers who packed everything, put their luggage in the corridor at the prescribed time, and discovered the next morning that they hadn’t anything but their night clothes (if even that) to wear off the ship. Imagine having to disembark wearing only the bathrobe provided by the ship.

On one voyage when my mother put her luggage out in the corridor, the door shut behind her, leaving her standing in the corridor in her nightgown. Fortunately, we were in the cabin next door and were able to call for the purser’s office to unlock the door. One unfortunate woman tripped in her room, hitting her head. Another passenger found her dazed and standing in an elevator in her underwear. Life on a cruise ship is never without surprises.

On one of our last evenings on the ship, we attended a final cocktail party for the world voyage passengers. It was a festive occasion, but also a sad one since we said goodbye to passengers who had become good friends.

World Voyage Passenger Farewell Cocktail Party

That evening also marked our last formal dinner in the Britannia Dining Room.

Kumar and Muba – Our Excellent Waiters

Ensuring that we had packed everything and laid out clothes and shoes for our arrival in Southampton, we turned in for our last night onboard the Queen Elizabeth.