Queen Victoria
4
My wife and I were on a cruise from Chile to Southampton in February/ March 2019. We flew to Santiago to join the ship (Queen Victoria) , sailing back to Southampton via Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Aruba, Curacao, Colombia USA and the Azores.
The first part of the voyage was brilliant, visiting fascinating places in South America, including transitting the Panama Canal. However news of the spreading Covid pandemic was reaching the ship and we all wondered what would be the effect on our voyage and return to home. The decision was taken to return to Southampton, missing out Colombia and the Azores and only stopping in Port Lauderdale to pick up provisions and drop off American passengers.
We were able to enjoy the full run of the ship with the staff and crew going out of their way to make our changed holiday as full and exciting as possible. Extra activities, shows and concerts were provided as we sailed across the Atlantic to Southampton in more seadays than we had planned for. Arriving in Southampton in lockdown was quite a shock.
We have travelled with Cunard many times before and have always thoroughly enjoyed the experience. However this must go down as one of the strangest cruises ever.
Having said that, we cannot wait to start cruising again and already have 2 cruises booked for 2022.
