Nearly the end

Cartagena

So nearly at the end of 7 weeks

What have I learnt.

Cruising is seductive because it is so easy. The days slide by from meal to meal with difficult choices being confined to what event/talk to attend and what time to go to the laundry.

However there are elements of a floating retirement village such as the age of most of the passengers.

Mayhem in the laundry

Author Bill Miller was a speaker on board.

Agatha Christie has been mentioned on this site and there is plenty of scope for a novel on the Queen Victoria.
I have mentioned the positioning of the single ladies for the 6 dance hosts, one lady places her water bottle on the chair in the front row, she always occupies, about 1 hour prior to the start of the dancing. She does get a lot of dances.

Then there is the laundry.

Panama Canal

Bridge of the Americas

Going through the Panama Canal was one of the main reasons I chose this trip. I was not disappointed. We appraoched the Bridge of the Americas on the Pacific side of the canal, about 6.20 am. Then the Miraflores Locks which looked as if the Queen Victoria would not fit.

Community is where you find it.

Chocolate for Easter

Queen Victoria is a community of about 3000 people, about 2000 passengers and 1000 crew. About the same size as my village of Blackheath.
Here the ethic mix is far more diverse than Blackheath, passengers about 700 from the US, 400 or so from the UK, 200 or so from Australia and fewer from Canada, Germany, and many other countries.

The Pacific

Monument to the Bounty in Papeete

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I have a thing about journeys and I do get caught up into the history of these routes.

This has happened again in a way I did not expect. When I was planning this trip I was reluctant to say how I was going to the UK. I felt uncomfortable about the self indulgent 7 weeks. The first few days I wondered what I had done, 7 weeks but now that has changed.

I am sailing…

Sydney to Southampton 2015

So it is now just a little over a week into my trip on the Queen Victoria from Sydney to Southampton, a journey of 51 days across the Pacific and through the Panama Canal.

Queen Victoria in Sydney

I know there are quicker ways of going to the UK.