Our destination today was Nha Trang in Vietnam, it was the first time that Queen Mary 2 had berthed there and we were lucky to be only a short tender ride into the port. We didn't really know what to expect but Nha Trang was a superb destination and we really enjoyed being there. The town is set along the palm tree lined narrow beach front and the french colonial style hotels, shops and bars are easily reached. It is a very popular spot with the Vietnamese to ...

Our Chinese adventures concluded with our two day visit to Hong Kong. Although it was showery it did not put us off and we were very excited to be able to spend overnight in this Chinese Manhattan. Hong Kong was given back to the Chinese from the British in 1997 but still carries a weird British charm muddled up with an oriental flavour. The city is very compact but enormously tall, the apartments and office blocks rival anything in Manhattan and because it wa...

Our next Chinese stop was Shanghai, so very different to Beijing. Shanghai is the metropolis of China, full of huge sky scrapers and high rise offices but also bursting with ancient tradition and culture. Queen Mary 2 was berthed at the Port of Shanghai, the biggest port in the world and from here there were millions of containers ready to be shipped around the globe. It wasn't too far into the city and our tour bus was hosted by a young guide called Pinky. ...

Queen Mary 2 made her maiden call to Beijing with our port stop at Xingang, but there were no crowds waiting or bands playing to welcome us like we had in Japan. Instead we were greeted by a huge modern cruise ship terminal building that looked like an airport, in the middle of nowhere! Tianjin is the closest city of 9 million people and is China's 4th largest city, Xingang is Tianjin's modern port area built specifically for industry about one hour away, the ...

We were at sea on Friday on route to Nagasaki when the earthquake and tsunami hit northern Japan. We didn't feel anything onboard, the news was quickly spread around the ship from SkyTV. A group of 34 passengers were on an overland tour to Tokyo and all were safe but shaken. We could not dock at Nagasaki on Saturday because all ports were closed for safety reasons, but we met a ship off port that brought the 34 passengers back. Everyone on board is very saddene...