In the middle of the night I could feel the gentle movement of the ship. Previously when sailing from Cape Town,  the first night out was like sailing through the Bay of Biscay. The Cape rollers  caused the ship to pitch and roll, it was always a rough crossing. Not so last night – Queen Mary was as stable as ever. You hardly knew you were on the Atlantic Ocean.

I went to the Commodore Club to catch up with emails. Unfortunately the internet doesn’t work at all in our room. We have had poor connectivity in our room in the past, but this is the first time that it has been totally lacking. It is a bit frustrating as we have to leave the room every time we want to use the internet, but it’s a good excuse to spend time in the Commodore Club.

Whilst we were there I was thrilled to be joined by a Cruise Critic member, who updated me on the world cruise so far. I must admit that I did feel quite jealous of the folks who have been on board since January. World cruises are such a unique experience. And I was missing out. However, I have just had the most wonderful 2 weeks in South Africa, and I have the Bollette around Africa cruise to look forward to in November. I enjoyed just being back in this beautiful room, even if I only have 21 more days on board.

Today’s program was full of great things to do. I missed the craft class as I was talking too much. The insight talks included a talk on the affair between Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton, a talk on ocean marine Life, Stephen Payne talking on the Titanic, and a ”whistle stop tour of the history of murder”. We ended up watching these on the TV as we were chatting away, and lost track of time. It’s eay to do on board.

It was Easter Sunday. I went in search of the Easter display. It was nowhere in sight. However, in the Kings Court there was a chocolate extravaganza. Huge chocolate bunnies and a chocolate fountain. I must admit that some of the chocolate sculptures were a bit weird, even bordering on scary. There was a chocolate scrum going on, but I was able to get to the chocolate fountain and emerge with chocolate covered pineapple chunks. An excellent combination.

At his midday announcement Captain Hall told us that we had only left Cape Town at 1:00 this morning due to the wind issue. Five hours later than scheduled. The result is that we will be late getting in to Walvis Bay, although he hoped to catch up some time. I hope there will still be enough time to do our tour.

When we returned to our stateroom there were 2 chocolate bunnies sitting on our bed. They will not last long around me. I am partial to chocolate bunnies as it happens.

We checked out the shops. I always live in hope that they would have a world voyage scarf, although I know that this is unlikely to happen. Maybe they would have some world cruise T shirts, or at least a tea towel. I was out of luck, there was no world voyage merchandise left. I was disappointed. I mean this is the centenary world voyage, so it would be nice to take something home as a souvenir of this momentous voyage. The shop assistant reassured me that they would be picking up some world voyage merchandise in Southampton. We shall see.

Tonight is the first formal night, the Black and White ball. Where was our invitation to the captain’s welcome party? Well it seems that although the world cruise folks are getting cocktail parties, they are still not happening for the general population. So we asked the South African couple to join us for pre-dinner drinks at the Commodore Club instead. We had a lovely time with them, and I discovered that the one and only Stephen Payne was sitting next to me in the dining room. The man who defied the predictions of Blue Peter, and designed the most beautiful (if only) ocean liner in the world. Wow, how amazing is that!

At dinner, instead of holding a cocktail party, the captain treated us each a glass of sparkling wine to welcome us on board. I  understand that they may not want a crowd of newcomers fresh off long flights infecting everyone with COVID as we all gathered tightly together in the Queens room, but it would have been nice if Captain Hall had given us a welcome speech in the dining room. Previous welcome speeches have been full of great information about the guests on board, the staff on board and the voyage ahead of us. I really missed that. I grabbed Brian’s glass of fake bubbly while he wasn’t looking to help make up for that.

Normally on formal night there are hosted tables, the prize one being the captain’s table. I noticed that there were no hosted tables. In the old pre COVID days I would check the mail slot outside our stateroom door several times a day in the hope that that much coveted invitation to dine at the captain’s table would appear. Once in 2012 it did appear, but the captains have neglected us ever since then. However, one can live in hope. Well, not really now. COVID seems to have put an end to any chance of that happening. I was feeling quite bummed out about this. However, I suppose they still don’t want us folks infecting the senior officers just yet.

Anyway, although I was pondering the lack of parties and hosted tables, I was also thinking, what does one say to Stephen Payne that doesn’t sound like I am some kind of intrusive groupie? There he is sitting right next to me, engaged in a lively conversation with the couple sitting on the other side of him and his wife. I want to tell him that he is brilliant, he is my hero and that his ship is a total marvel of engineering, although what was he thinking with the confusing levels at the front of the ship, and were the shower curtains his idea?

However, as it turned out I did not get to speak to him. Having avoided getting chocolate all over my face and clothes at the chocolate fountain earlier today, I had been impacted by the chocolate souffle this evening. I wasn’t sure he would take me seriously. I will have to wait for another night to make my move. Still, I am very chuffed that I am sitting right next door to my hero.

After dinner we returned to our stateroom and found 2 smaller chocolate bunnies on our bed. It looks like the bigger ones are breeding. No doubt by the morning we will  be overrun by small chocolate bunnies, and I will be suffering from chocolate intoxication.

I have very much enjoyed our first formal night on board, or should I say gala evening. Admittedly we had only been in the Commodore Club and the Britannia dining room, and the public areas in between, but everyone I saw was following the dress code. Black and white filled the ship. There were so many beautiful dresses, and the ladies looked like they had just emerged from the hair salon. It really is magical to be a part of it. Best of all I got to wear my black dress and white jacket that spreads bits of glitter everywhere I go.   It is such a treat to be back on Queen Mary 2.