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We were due to sail out of Cape Town yesterday evening (April 10th) at 6:00 pm. By the time Russell began his lecture at 6:30 pm, we had still not heard the familiar sound of the engines starting up. Finally, at 7:00 pm, we all received a message from the bridge. We would not be leaving that night.
As we have mentioned before, the weather in South Africa is highly unpredictable. Due to a combination of high winds and choppy seas, the captain (presumably in consultation with Cape Town and Viking London) decided it would be unsafe to set the ship in motion.
So on April 11, we spent the entire day still docked at Cape Town. This was markedly frustrating for two reasons. First, the weather on top of Table Mountain had cleared. As the day went on, the view became clearer and clearer.
But second, we were not allowed off of the ship. Viking continued to ask Cape Town Immigration to reboard and pass us through, but continued to get a negative response. So we stayed aboard ship and watched one of the most beautiful days in Cape Town from a distance.
(To be fair, it would have been a logistical nightmare for us to go back ashore. If Viking Neptune suddenly saw a clear weather window, they would have to suddenly round up 500 shoreside guests and get them back aboard ship before the window closed.)
This was frustrating for another ship as well. The Cunard Queen Victoria was stuck floating around outside of Cape Town. They were due to dock, but couldn’t come in until we had left our berth. Social media was full of not-very-nice comments about Viking from Cunard posters. As a result of our delay, the Victoria lost their entire day in Cape Town.
We did not sail until after midnight on the early morning of April 12th. Because we are now behind schedule, the captain has announced that we will have to skip our next port of Luderitz, Namibia, to make up for lost time. On top of that, we will arrive in Walvis Bay, Namibia, later than originally scheduled. We will only have half a day instead of a full day.
Most of the guests accept that all of this is beyond Viking’s control, and the safety of everyone aboard must come first. But after missing several ports – and all multi-day safaris – in East Africa, it is disappointing to start missing ports in West Africa as well.
