We sailed south on the first leg of QM2's 2014 world cruise to Cape Town. The first few days to Madeira were not the greatest. The weather was roughish, the passengers were newcomers and the crew was shaking down. In addition, the poor weather kept everyone indoors which, with a full ship, left little room for manoeuvre.

Madeira was a pleasant interlude and from there onward we had a pretty good voyage to South Africa as everyone settled down. The nine-day sea leg from Tenerife to Cape Town was on the long side and as we passed near the Cape Verde islands and not so far from St. Helena it felt like a missed opportunity.

We had a cabin on Deck 4 with a sheltered deck - fine by us as we are not sun worshippers but did appreciate the protection from the wind. The cabin (and our attendant) was fine - no issues at all. Read more