Sunday 12th April

Sunday 12th April

Up for an early breakfast as they are showing the F1 Chinese Grand Prix on the TV in the Pub this morning.  We expected the room to be packed, but fortunately there were plenty of spare seats, so we got prime seats in front of one of the three TV’s.  After the GP, it was upstairs to the sun deck for a couple of hours, before a further hour of Shuffleboard followed by afternoon tea in the Queens Ballroom.  After a hectic day it was time for a rest on one of the loungers on the promenade deck and a couple of hours reading until the sun set around 6pm.

Two of our table guests are temporarily leaving the ship tomorrow in Durban to go on a 5 day tour taking in Victoria Falls and a game reserve, before rejoining us in Cape Town.  After draining the dregs of the Bombay bottle, it was time to adjourn to the Commodore Club for a pre dinner drink.  The Commodore Club is probably the best bar on the ship for us ‘normal fare’ passengers, but it has the disadvantage of being at the opposite end to the Britannia Restaurant where we dine, so by the time we get there we’ve worked up a healthy appetite.

That’s just as well as it was lobster on the menu again tonight.  Always a difficult decision as they had Beef Wellington on the same menu.  Rhubarb crumble for desert, so it doesn’t get much better.

There was no late show in the theatre, so our guests who were leaving us tomorrow invited us up for farewell drinks in the Commodore Club.  By the time we go there it was close to 11.00 pm, so there were very few revellers still around, meaning that we had the place almost to ourselves.  By the time we finished in there it was time to return to the cabin and watch live coverage of the US Masters Golf.  Another late night ( early morning).

Monday 13th April

We docked early this morning, certainly before 06.00 as that was when we were awake and looked out of the balcony to see that we were stationary alongside.  We had to clear immigration before being allowed off the ship and our allocated time was between 7.30 and 8.30am.  We headed down to the Queen’s Ballroom to hand over our passports and the duel completed immigration & health forms.  By 7.15 we were cleared and ready to go, but as the Britannia Restaurant didn’t open until 8.00am we were reduce to having breakfast in the King’s Canteen.  It was absolutely heaving, so it’s scramble for a table while the other one gets their first course, then take it it turns to guard the table whilst the other gets the next course.  I don’t know why we didn’t wait half an hour and be treated properly.  With breakfast over, it was time to get the shuttle bus into Durban.  Within half an hour, we were pulling up at the allocated coach area, just her to the main promenade.  The coach rendezvous point was right outside a huge water/aquarium theme park called uShake, which, judging by the corporate logo must mean shark in Afrikaans. We wandered through the shopping mall which housed all sorts of souvenir and clothes shops as well as eating all the usual fast food outlets you would expect to see in a theme park.  We gave a wide berth to the Dangerous Reptiles and Spider exhibition and walked smartly past its open side door for fear that one of the inmates may be thinking of beating a hasty exit.

It wasn’t even 09.00, yet the sun was blazing though the cloudless sky and it was destined to be a scorcher.  We strolled through the rest of the mall and made our way onto the promenade that stretches about 5-6 Kms along the central part of Durban along to the World Cup Football stadium that dominates the Northern end of the Prom.  We walked out onto a small pier and started chatting to a local who was extolling the virtues of the climate in Durban a opposed to Jo’burg and Cape Town.  He was certainly older than us, but he cycled 30Kms along the sea front from his home every day and then back again.  Just for good measure, he often had a swim in the sea when he reached Durban!!  He helped us identify a particular area in  photograph that we had been given by one of our neighbours.  The photograph had been taken by her father in 1941 and appeared to show a headland and promenade pretty much as what we were looking at.  Clearly things had changed, but the headland was still there, but the promenade had change quite significantly.  So we took an unto date photo and hope that our neighbours can see the similarity with the 1941 version.  We started to walk along the prom, stopping for refreshments and more Kodak moments, but by now the sun was blazing away, even though the temperature was only 27 degrees.  

Durban is the third largest city in South Africa, but apparently has the busiest port.  You can believe that as the number of ships waiting on the horizon to enter the docks was amazing.  What’s doubly amazing is that when they approach the dock entrance, it looks as though they are steaming straight into the houses!

We had planned to walk up to the football stadium, but it was considerably further than it looked from the far end of the prom and also the sun was getting even hotter.  We made a gallant effort and made it about 2/3 of the distance, where we stopped and looked into a number of market stalls that were gathered just above the sunken garden and amphitheatre.  We then dropped down back onto the prom and strolled out along one of the many piers that jut out into the Indian Ocean.  Surfers provided entertainment on one side and sand artists on the other.  We worked our way back to Share and the waiting shuttle bus to return to the ship.  After a quick drink and offloading all the unnecessary baggage, we returned to central Durban to discover some more of this charming city.  One thing we did notice was the almost permanent presence of police patrols along the prom.  Not that there was any sign of unwelcome types or vagrants, but perhaps that was due to the high police presence.  As we walked alongside the hospital away from the prom, there were a few beggars, but what the hell, you get that in Derby.

We finally returned to the ship around 5.30 in plenty of time for a 6.30 sailing.  As usual, there was a delay, due to immigration checks not being fully completed.  However, it did give the chance for the sun to fully go down behind the distant hills and provide some excellent Kodak moments.  There was a considerable gathering of small craft alongside the ship, waiting to escort us out of the harbour.  Far more than anywhere else we had been.  By the time we slipped the ropes it was completely dark, but the armada of small boats persisted in following us out to sea.  

With depleted Bombay, we were reduced to only pre dinner drinks in the Commodores Club before making the long trek to the dining room.  Since we have been  on board, the tables around us have been virtually empty, which means dinner is a quiet affair, therefore I can hear what’s being said and secondly, we get superb treatment from the waiting staff and sommelier.  That was all set to change this evening.  A group of 30 somethings, loud mouthed South Africans occupied the table next to us.  It was clearly someone’s birthday and they had obviously been celebrating before dinner.  The champagne flowed to start with followed by plenty of wine.  The volume went up in proportion to the bottles consumed until they became a pain in the back side.  Just to add insult to injury, the gents took off their jackets, which according to the rule book was not allowed in dinner even on informal nights.  On another table a woman was wearing jeans, albeit bright blue ones, but again strictly forbidden according to all the documentation on board.  Considering this ship is supposed to offer the highest levels of service and adherence to dress code ‘out of respect for other guests’ or so it says in the daily information sheet, the cynic in me says there not prepared to do anything if people are spending the money.

We left the dining room early to get a good seat in the theatre as the piano playing comedian was on again this evening.  He was just as talented on the piano and his original jokes were just as original as they were the other evening.  Most of the artists are off the stage in 45 minutes, but this guy was still going after an hour. A good measure of how much he was  liked by the audience.  After two late nights watching the golf, we decided to turn in and have an early night,