For the record, I somehow deleted and lost the first day's worth of the photos I took on the voyage, so have stolen a good number from the Internet.
So here she is, the Queen Mary 2, our home for the last week of our journey:
And it's her 10th Anniversary voyage!! There is lots of hoo-haa going on through the week in honor of that, as well as all the Queens, Mary, Elizabeth, and Victoria, being in Southampton harbor simultaneously.
Friday, May 9
Heard HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Phillip, was having lunch aboard in honor
of the ship’s 10th anniversary, so we headed early for the dock.
No celebrity sighting, alas, and hours of waiting. Finally got aboard around 4:00. Our stateroom is on Deck 5, the second level in white from the bottom. That's cute Captain Ospey on the right, btw, more on him below.
Southampton terminal
Our stateroom is on Deck 5 so we won’t roll
about so much in bad weather, but our balcony is enclosed, so we can't see out to
the sea, only the sky, unless we’re out standing on it. We open our door to a staircase/elevator are,
easy to get anywhere between decks, but very public. We’re learning to think before we open the
door.
This is a pretty fair photo of what Stateroom 5162 looked like:
Love the launderette – ironing boards, soap, even baskets
provided. So convenient and
popular. Interesting to see that almost everyone
ironing tux shirts for the first formal night was female.
There was a chilled bottle of sparkling wine, compliments of the
captain, in our room, which is roomy and has everything we need.
The bathroom is surprisingly spacious and
there’s lots of closet space. Bed is
very comfy and has lots of perfect pillows!
We decided to skip our dinner seating because we didn’t want
to miss any of the celebrations going on this first evening in honor of the
ship’s anniversary. All three Cunard
Queens are in Southampton for this event, and the harbor and docks were FULL of thousands of people and other boats, including ferries and kayaks, to watch it all. There was a special band concert at each of
the three queens, and then, around 8 p.m. or so, the Queen Victoria pull away from her
dock behind us and pulled in behind the Queen Elizabeth in front of us.
Around dusk we were anchors aweigh and slowly
moved alongside, then past the two other queens. While we were passing, each ship serenaded
the others with long horn blasts, and were also joined by horns from the many
observer ships in the harbor. Good
patriotic British music played on the sound system, and then a ten-minute
display of fireworks launched from a barge capped off the departure. It was wonderful and so moving!
Saturday, May 10
Saturday morning we gained an hour and woke to roughening
seas. We finished sailing out of the
English Channel about 10:30, and from then on, the winds picked up and we began
rocking and rolling. However, this ship
was built strictly for regular Trans-Atlantic service, and she goes through
heavy swells and Force 7/8 winds like the proverbial knife through butter. (I
haven’t needed to take any seasickness meds, but did put on the acupressure
wristbands for a few hours in the afternoon.)
Here we are, among the hardy few.
Winds are so strong that the upper decks and portions of the lower are
closed to passengers. This I found out
when I rode in an elevator with the captain!
He was already there when I entered, asked me which floor, I said 13,
and he said he didn’t think it was open.
He got out at 12, looked up the stairs to 13, and said indeed it was
so. He then went through a keycard
access door, and after that the other passengers told me he was the
captain. I check the photo board – sure
enough! Captain Kevin Ospey is a head
shorter than me and totally cute!
Here'a great photo of him standing on the bow bulb of the ship:
I dragged Allen to the morning’s trivia contests, and I
think he enjoyed them as much as me!
Loved walking through the knitters’ gathering, no lessons, just a large
group of well-behaved and –dressed women chatting and knitting. Found the beautiful and well-stocked library,
also a popular place high in the bow.
Spent the day walking and getting oriented, took a lovely
loooong nap (not my usual speed), did some reading, and laid a bit low due to
the movement of the ship, which definitely takes some getting used to. I attending the day’s high tea, my
first-ever, where a harpist played while all noshed on tea sandwiches,
pastries, and scones. Just decadent.
Evening brought the cruise’s first formal night. Watched The Sting yet an enjoyable another
time while we got ready. Allen used the
way cool black-and-white checkerboard bowtie he bought in Grassmarket in honor
of the evening’s black-and-white ball theme.
My handsome date and I met our tablemates at our late seating dinner and
rather like them, then went on to the Black and White Ball, fun to dance and
see the others in their formalwear.
Sunday, May 11
Another hour gained this morning, luxurious, and we tried
out the room service breakfast, wonderful to have the coffee delivered to our
room! Stayed in to watch Argo, a film we
both wanted to see, then off to trivia.
There we’ve made friends with Ann and Bonnie, fun and funny sisters
whose company we enjoy very much. We
stayed to talk long after the games were over.
A walk around the deck for a mile, many areas still closed due to winds,
then lunch and another nap for us both, me in our stateroom and Allen in the
library.
Here's Allen, showing me some really big nuts (his joke, not mine).
Monday evening’s dinner was preceded by a Captain’s
reception where we met Leonni from Australia, a person we both admired and
wanted to get to know better.
She ended
up joining us at our table (squeezing nine into a table of eight, a nightmare
for the maitre’d) but it worked, then after we went dancing at the G32, where Eleanor
the very drunken Scotswoman kept us all busy.
Monday, May 12
Another hour gained, which is okay since we stayed out so
late last night. Rough seas. Trivia in
the morning with our new best friends Anne and Bonnie, sisters whose trip to
England was curtailed by Anne’s bout of pneumonia. Still too windy to walk outside but for the
strongest – like Allen.
We attended the RADA’s presentation of 1001 Nights, a huge
disappointment. Then the Commodore
Warwick lecture, fun and highly informative. He was commodore of all three ships, as was his father, for years. Married to a beautiful much younger Asian wife, quite the couple.
Dinner at the early shift, fun. We tried hanging around and not
drinking. I went to trivia with a really
smart British couple and their grown children, then attended the magician show,
another disappointment, alas. Allen
stayed home. Lights out at 9:15, a good night for us both.
Tuesday, May 13.
Happy birthday, Olli!
Bonnie has started a quilts for kids non-profit in Silicon
Valley. She and Anne are accomplished
needleworkers, always knitting, and fantastic quilters, per Anne’s photos. Nephew of the brother they have little to do
with is Orel Hersheiser.
Scarf-tying class was dumb, fun, and I learned a few tricks.
Wednesday, May 14
Planetarium show for me, a talk with the cruise bookers to
learn of benefits to booking any future cruise (none, really); Allen and I went
to the masquerade ball, but I was too pooped to stay. Allen did, met up with Leonni, danced,
enjoyed.
Left my camera at trivia; Bonnie picked it up for me. Was pleased I remembered enough to track her
down at the upscale restaurant – Bonnie or Ann, Deck 11, reservations at 7 =
Cabin 11009.
We discovered the joys of The Commodore Club, the swanky lounge in the upper bow, lots of sunset and beautifully dressed people (OMG, some of the dresses...).
Thursday, May 15
Ready to go home, I think.
Conversations at this morning’s breakfast table were hard for me to
produce; I’m out of extrovert gas.
Weather is getting warmer, finally.
The Italian? teen passenger who played accordion for us outside on
Deck 7 our last day at sea was a wonder, so poised and talented and modest.
Decided we will walk ourselves and our luggage off the boat
tomorrow morning. Passing under the Verazzano
Narrows bridge about 4:30 already, Statue of Liberty scheduled for 5:15 or so.
Friday, May 16
We were both up way early, and, without knowing exactly where we were in the dark and fog, suddenly there's the Verrazano Narrows bridge going over us! Back to bed for a bit, then right around dawn, the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan skyline appear.
We disembarked, then waited forever for a taxi, with one driver refusing to take us only to Brooklyn - everyone else was a much $$ fare, wanting to go to Midtown. Allen finally just put our bags in another's trunk before telling him where we were going, then we actually ran directions through our phones to get him there.
Brooklyn sure is a lively and wonderfully interesting place on a Friday morning. Got to see a neighborhood full of Sony Pictures film trailers where we got our rental car - no idea which film, though.
Allen valiantly drove us home straight through the torrential downpours that plagued the entire East Coast, being wary of oft-occurring standing water. My hero.
People to remember, stories to recall
- · Anne Fritts, Vero Beach, FL and Bonnie Sternes, Cupertina, CA, sisters
- · Richard and Pamela, met at the tea dance, brother and sister from the Midlands
- · Eleanor, very drunk, Scottish, married to her poor husband for 50 years BUT…
- · The gal from Maumee, OH, who found her brother’s name in the memorial book of US soldiers stationed in the UK who died in WWII in St. Peter’s Cathedral in London. She also made friends early on with Commodore Warwick’s wife, who brought her along to all sorts of things.
- · The PhD candidate from London School of Economics who’s trying to get a job with a DC think tank like the Bookings Institute. Extremely teach savvy, good looking, sharp
- · The couple who’d met a few years ago in CA, then moved two years ago to near Rochester, NY, where he has lots of family. She and I talked about starting over with no frame of reference. Her advice? Hold on. In my own defense, I’ll say she was still mourning her old life. At any rate, I hope to cope far better than she.
- · The men whose purpose was to be available dance partners for women sailing alone.
- · The very tall assistance maitr’d in the buffet who told me he was the highest-paid butter pat arranger anywhere.
- · The extremely personable and capable maitr’d in the Brittannia who always found a very good table for us.
- · The mayo/mustard sauces/garnish with herbs
- · The guy Allen talked with who owns his fourth boat, a 52-footer.
- the French couple in the taxi line who asked about fares to Manhattan and tipping - she was so beautiful and grateful for Allen's advice.
My favorite photo of the entire trip, taken by a ship's photographer...hubba!
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