Cape Town, South Africa

December 27^th, 2024

I had meant to wake up early to see us sailing into Cape Town, but that didn’t happen. As it turned out it was a rainy, overcast morning with the mountain shrouded in low lying clouds, so the view would not have been that great any way. Fingers crossed for good weather on our next visit.

We docked at 7:00

And soon after the folks with early fights were disembarking and the luggage was being unloaded.

Everyone had to do a face to face meeting with the South African immigration agents, and we were called off the ship deck by deck. With only about 230 guests on board, this was a quick process, and we were soon making our way to the Victoria wharf to do some shopping.

The cruise terminal is about a 15 minute walk to the shopping mall. The mall is fantastic, and we have spent a lot of money there in the past.

We were there last year prior to boarding Queen Mary 2 and we bought biltong as well as Laphroaig and Veuve Clicquot to keep us supplied on our trip back to New York (which actually only went as far as Southampton due to issues with Queen Mary 2). The Veuve was only $35 a bottle, and absolute bargain.

This year all we needed was biltong, but I was tempted to buy a bottle or 2 of Veuve because it is so much nicer than the ship’s champagne.

The mall has a Woolworths, Pick n Pay supermarket, and a Clicks pharmacy, so it is great for picking up all the essentials and little extras you need. It also has great stores for buying souvenirs for yourself and others. I love the Carrol Boyes store, but we didn’t have time to stop there today as friends were picking us up from the mall and taking us out to brunch.

We went to the Gardener’s Cottage restaurant, which is in a very pretty setting and the food was delicious. We had a lovely time there. We had met our friends on Queen Mary 2 and had traveled with them on Queen Anne earlier this year. I just love how some people you meet on cruises turn out to be great friends.

When we were done with brunch we met up with friends from medical school and they drove us to their home in Fish Hoek on the Cape Peninsula Road going by Hout Bay and Chapman’s Peak to Noordhoek and then to Fish Hoek.

This is one of my all-time favorite scenic drives – the sea and the mountains are spectacular. We kept on wanting to stop to take photos, but there was so much traffic we never were able to do so. Maybe next time.

We spent the afternoon in our friends’ beautiful garden drinking tea and eating mince pies, (which have been absent on the ship), listening to the sound of African birds and catching up with all of the news. We first met in 1972. It’s hard to believe it was that long ago. I am always so impressed that with old friends even though it may be years since you had actually seen each other, the time doesn’t matter at all. It’s like you had seen them yesterday.

We went out to dinner in Groot Constantia, and I had one of my favorite South African dishes, bobotie.

Then all too soon, it was time to get back to the ship. In reality, it was past time to get back to the ship. All aboard was at 9:00 and at 8:45 we were still on the motorway. Finally, we arrived at the cruise terminal, jumped out of the car, retrieved our shopping bags from the boot, and walked briskly into the almost deserted terminal.

I must have looked a bit frazzled when I handed over my cruise card to the security man at the top of the gangway, as he calmly said to me, “it’s only 7 minutes to 9, no need to rush”.

Well, I did need to rush. The Abba sail away party started at 9 and I didn’t want to miss a minute of it.

When we got to our suite, I checked to see if the gangway was still there.

It was

And I realized we were just across from the restaurant in the cruise terminal. Better keep the curtains closed while I change.

We headed up to the pool deck and it was packed. We couldn’t even find a seat. Worst of all, although there were a few familiar faces, everyone else was new! Is it going to be this crowded from now on? And who are all of these new people anyway and what are they doing on my ship?

We went and sat on the sun loungers on the deck above for a while,

and looked out at what we could see of the Cape Town skyline. After all of that rushing, we were still in the port.

It was time for dancing, and we went back down to deck 8 to join the crowd. We met some of the new people who seemed to be quite alright and had the best time dancing the night away. It may be more crowded, and there are new people to meet, but this is still my happy place.

Just before going to bed at about 11:00, we felt the bow thrusters starting up. We were off! Next stop Durban.