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| Cunard Port Terminal in Southampton |
Saturday, May 25 - Day 1 - Embarkation
What a truly gorgeous day in Southampton and after a nice walk through the town and parks a taxi picked us up in front of our hotel and about 10 minutes later we were at the port in the Cunard hanger ready to check in for our week long transatlantic cruise to NYC. The taxi driver was so nice and answered all my questions about Southampton which benefits greatly from all the cruise ship traffic that comes in and out of their port. He said that each ship brings about 1.5 million pounds in revenue to the city through port fees and taxes as well as hotels, taxis, restaurants and shops that get utilized by the embarking guests. Southampton it also turns out is only about a 45 minute drive to Stonehenge. I would love to have seen it so maybe next time since I now know where it is and the taxi company, Westquaycars.com that picked us up also do tours to Stonehenge and other places of interest like Winchester Cathedral where Jane Austen is buried.
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| Southampton, Harbor |
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| Our Room with Complimentary Champagne |
The ship or sailing vessel, is massive and one of the largest in the world. It's lush interiors with deep red carpets and gold, bronze and silver accents immediately transport you to a long past time of cultured cruising. They still have dress codes on the Cunard ships and there is certainly an air of sophistication and elegance everywhere you look.
The passengers however are an eclectic group and look pretty much like they did on the Norwegian and the Costa ships but with the majority being British, American and German.
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| Fabulous mural in the gym of runners crossing over from London's Tower Bridge to NYC |
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| The impressive library with over 10,000 books |
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| Indoor Pool |
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| Casino with large lounge chairs you could sleep on. My Aunt would love that! |
Mom and I explored the ship and found the Canyon Ranch Spa, the indoor and out door pools as well as the largest floating library with almost 10,000 books that are available for loan. The library itself is stunning with dark lacquer wood cabinets and comfortable but stylish chairs and even an extensive magazine section.
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| Lounging on deck, mom protecting her head with the daily Cunard news letter |
There is just so much to do and the Cunard liners as you may expect consider themselves sailing vessels not cruise ships and is all about preserving the old world adventure of traveling across the Atlantic in luxury and on the sea.
We've met so many people already, some at our hotel like the retired couple from New Zealand who introduced themselves as "kiwi's," I loved that and several American people who, like mom, have traveled across by ship, traveled around for anywhere from a week to several months and now are going back by ship. It seems this is not as unusual as I thought.
We met a couple, as we sat on the old-world wood and green deck chairs, in the bright sunshine that surprised, I'm sure, even the most optimistic Southamptoner, as we waited for the ship to leave port. The husband was British, the wife, Canadian but what I found most interesting is they eloped to Cape Cod in 1993. The then fiance had a business conference in Cape Cod, Brewster, to be exact, and she contacted a local minister she found somehow and they were all set to get married. The morning they were leaving the cottage they had rented, dressed in their wedding finer, a couple renting the cottage next door asked about their formal attire and so they shared who they were getting married. When the couple arrived back to their lodges after the ceremony and dinner they found their cottage covered in balloons and the neighbors, like all good and friendly New Englanders, gathered with food and beer to welcome them home and celebrate their nuptials. They of course never kept in touch with them it was just one of those wonderful surprises in life where people come together, spend a joyous evening and then move on in life with a great memory to share with other strangers over 20 years later on the Queen Mary 2. Life is so great like that!!!
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Peaches by Karen Kneffel B. Germany 1957
I liked this painting in one hanging above one of the main staircases |
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| Royal Theatre |
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| View from our seat in the dinning room |
The evening show was at 7:45pm for both dinner seatings so the theatre was packed and the entertainment staff introduced themselves, the dancers, danced, the singers, sang and the orchestra played and all was lovely. We also got a quick introduction to all the events, lectures and available activities that we can enjoy during our cruise. Cunard is known for artistic and intellectual lectures and on this trip we have political experts, an astrological professional, classes with the professionals at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (that's so exciting for me,) and many other interesting experts. Lots to look forward to.
After a lovely, lovely dinner in the Britannia dining room mom went to play a little in the casino and I headed down to the room, I was so exhausted and it was already almost 11:00pm. We have the late dinner seating but hopefully they can move us to the earlier one, we are just waiting to get confirmation. It's just to late to finish dinner near 11.
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Sunset as we sailed past the last remaining land of Europe so I say goodbye to the EU
and look forward to seeing NYC |
Sunday, May 26 - Day 2 - At Sea
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| They have game tables and puzzles always set up and amazingly they were always being used |
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| Winter Garden Lounge |
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| Queens Room for a High Tea Dance |
We turned our clocks back an hour last night before bed so we woke up having had an extra hour for sleep and ready for an early morning breakfast and then Sunday mass at 8:30am in the Illuminations theatre. That theatre space is the only floating planetarium and mass took place on the stage with a sparkling curtain behind and a starry sky above. It was presided over by a minister not a priest but he did a very nice service with an interesting homely and although he wasn't as stunning as Don Giovanni, it was still nice to attend mass on board and surprisingly, although I'm not sure why it surprises me, the place was packed. Perhaps because I always think of England as mostly Church of England not Catholic.
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| Rehearsing for the show |
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| Lecture on Skyscrapers |
After mass I went to a class taught by graduates of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts which was fantastic. I got some great new lessons for the summer classes I'll be teaching so it was not only fun but productive. There were about 50 people and they did vocal and physical warm ups and then storytelling which is the precursor to acting. My group consisted of me, Billie, an elderly women from NYC and Suzanna, also and American.
Mom kept busy swimming in the indoor pool and then reading and relaxing in the solarium where she got some sun which clearly makes her happy. After my acting class I did some reading as well in the spa lounge and then met mom at 1:00pm for lunch where we sat with a couple we met yesterday from Florida. They're in their 80's and truly you would have thought they were 70 at the most so spry and energetic and funny. And a nice elderly New York couple were sitting between us who spent the whole time talking about their medical problems but they were both thankfully in good heath just some hearing impairment but that dominated the whole conversation. It made them happy to talk about it so I couldn't find it too annoying. And they at least seem to have made Cunard and other cruise ships adjust their policies and make positive changes for those who have hearing loss so it was interesting at times to hear about all the people they contacted and the many letters they wrote. It often takes some badgering to get things done.
We've met so many people already and mostly ones who crossed the Atlantic from America and now returning. We met three more people tonight who had done it as well and one women , Francis, who sat next to us in the theatre was 83 (soon to be 84 in September) who lives on Long Island and left New York on the Queen Mary 2 on May 2 and has stayed on the whole time and when we dock in NYC on June 1 she will have been a whole month and amazingly she's done this whole journey all by herself as her husband of over 60 years passed away 6 years ago.
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| Mom in the fabulous high backed chair |
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| Mom in the Elevator |
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| Browsing for books |
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| High Tea |
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| High Tea |
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| High Tea |
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| Outside the Illuminations Theatre |
This afternoon as mom relaxed and read her book I attended a lecture by a retired professor from Rutgers University in New Jersey on New York City Skyscrapers. It's one in a series of three and so fascinating. I got lots of good information to use in the lesson I have to teach this summer on Skyscrapers so again it was fun but also productive. It's too bad I can't write this cruise off as a working expense but I'm pretty sure the IRS wouldn't consider a few hours of being entertained a business expense even if it did inspire some lesson plans.
We had dinner in the buffet restaurant (tonight was evening gowns and black tie for men so we opted for the less formal choice.) It was still delicious and that's where we met a lovely couple who live in the Villages in Florida but are originally from Yorkshire, England and who came over on the Princess line 5 weeks ago and spent a few weeks with their son and his family in London and are now heading back to the States where they'll fly home from NYC.
The show this evening was fabulous, a young man of 30 from Indiana and his fiance (who just accepted his proposal 4 days ago) Zach Winningham. He performed 60's and 70's hits and dedicated a beautiful song to his mother who passed away from breast cancer when he was young. A charming young man with great vocal qualities spanning several musical genres.
Then it was time to turn the clocks back another hour and head off to bed. I don't know why I'm so tired since it's not like I've been running a marathon but I just am. Perhaps it's all the fresh sea air.
Monday, May 27- Day 3- At Sea
Early morning wake up again but another very restful night sleep. The inside cabin is very relaxing and that extra hour of sleep each night is really a pleasant treat. Breakfast was especially nice in the Britannia dining room as we were sat with two very lovely German couples, one from Berlin and the other from Hamburg and a nice couple from California who have been traveling since March 30 and because they don't ever fly they have taken a train across America to Florida where they picked up a Holland America Cruise ship to Europe almost the exact same itinerary as mom's that went out of Miami but they did a week of the Northern lights in Scandinavia. Then they got off in Rome and spent a few days there, took the train to Paris, spent a few days there and then trained it England where they've been for several days and now on the QM2 to NYC where they'll get on a sleeper train all the way back to California. Quite a trip but we are hearing more and more of these kinds of tails every time we meet a new American couple.
The couple from Hamburg were so interesting as well because the wife is one of the premier handmade wooden doll makers in Germany. She doesn't have a website anymore or I would have included it here but she prefers to only sell by referrals now as she can only make a limited amount.
It was so nice starting the day talking about art and travel with such interesting people and then mom went off to read her Adriana Trigiani book "The Shoemaker's Wife" and I went to a lecture on Columbus' discovery of the New World. It was so interesting and afterwards I had time to read the book the librarian here recommended, "The Explorer's Code" by Kitty Pilgrim who was on the ship a year or so ago giving lectures. The book takes place partly on the Queen Victoria so it's interesting to read it as we cruise along.
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| How Tall the Ship is compared to other great icons |
The seas were rough, at least by my standards, with lots of waves but thankfully I don't get sea sick and just would get a little nervous when the ship leaned too far to one side. It doesn't bother mom at all so that's good.
Mom and I had lunch at the Kings room buffet and then I went off to the 2nd installment of the Skyscrapers lectures and mom went off to read and relax. The great thing about a transatlantic crossing is you really are forced to relax.
I had afternoon tea with a nice couple from New Zealand, Bruce and Sharon, whom we met outside our hotel as we all waited for our taxis. As much as I am enjoying all this great food I look forward to getting back to a normal eating routine.
The afternoon was all about spa time and playing in the pool which was a bit tumultuous as the water sloshed back and forth pretty aggressively with each tilt of the ship. Again, good thing I don't get sea sick.
It was formal night again so we ended up eating at the Kings buffet for dinner again with all the other guests who didn't want to go or didn't have the right dress for occasion. The show tonight, a reading by the RADA actors of parts of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" to honor the 200th year since it's first printing, was not until 10:30pm too late for mom she said but I suspect she just wants to continue and finish the book. I do have to admit when I read it last year before I left New York I was so engaged by it that I spent 6 or 7 hours straight just reading it before I would leave the house. I just had to know what happened it's just that good!
The RADA cast did a phenomenal job with the text and somehow capturing the main gist of the plot, it's characters and the overall sense of the world they lived in all in just one hour. It was more of a staged reading but very well done and rather funny. Clearly their intensive training at the Royal Academy for Dramatic Arts paid off.
And right before the show they were playing a movie "Zero Dark Thrity" which I only caught the last 20 minutes of and those who saw it know know it's about the hunt for Bin Laden. Not many people stayed after the movie to see the "Pride and Prejudice" show but those who did I'm sure felt an odd incongruity with what we just saw on the screen and the peaceful, mannered world of Victorian England.
Tuesday, May 28- Day 4- At Sea
It's a testament to how quiet this ship is that we ended up sleeping until 9:15am which never happens especially since we turned the clocks back an hour so we got even more sleep. Realizing it was so late we leaped up and got our day going as quickly as possible. Yes, it's suppose to be relaxing but still no reason to be lollygagging around when there are things to be done like having breakfast.
At the morning buffet we met another lovely, lovely couple from Southern California, Chickie (nicknamed from infancy because she was in an incubator and I guess was like a little chick) and her husband Norman, both retired police officers and in fact Chickie was at one point Sheriff and even worked as one of the first women guards in an LA prison. She's tiny and so sweet so I can't believe that was her career but according to her husband she is very, very good at taking care of herself even with the toughest of tough guys. Their son, Robert is with them and he recently decided to move from Germany where he's been living over 25 years and go back to California and start his life again. An ex-Army man he's hoping to find a new career path and make a good life for himself at 45.
I spent the afternoon at the spa and mom relaxed and read her book so it was a lovely afternoon and then at 2:15pm we met at the Royal Theatre for another wonderful RADA performance this time a condensed version of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing." Again they managed quite expertly to cut the text and although only an hour long the performance captured all the highlights of the play exceptionally well and the plot and character development was well intact simply minus some of the wonderful dialogue that we admittedly love.
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| Chickie, Norman and Edward with mom at lunch |
Dinner was quiet and we are still waiting to be moved to an early seating so hopefully tomorrow. It was a restful evening as well and off to be by 11:00pm.
Wednesday, May 29- Day 5 -At Sea
The morning started off early which was good and we were up and out and at the breakfast room by 7:45am and sat with a very nice couple from England. The husband and wife are both retired dentists and are now enjoying traveling about.
Mom went off to a lecture on American politics and the presidency and I had the 2nd installment of RADA acting class. The class was as phenomenal as the first and even more guests came. We worked on intentions and status in acting all done through fun games.
Mom and I met for lunch and sat with two more fun couples, one from Australia who work for an Australian travel company "Captain's Club" that does luxury trips around the world, especially to exotic and remote places. This trip they said was more traditional and they are traveling with about 46 guests and started in Venice, took the Orient Express to Paris and then over to London and now on the QM2 to NYC and then home.
The other couple from Stuttgart, Germany are making their first trip to NYC so they had lots of questions and I was happy to give them lots of suggestions one what to do and where to go.
Afternoon tea at 3:30pm with white glove service and beautiful music, such a nice way to spend an hour although it wasn't so long ago that we had lunch. You do eat a lot to say the least but the food is very, very good. According to the Afternoon Tea menu "Twinings 300 Years of Heritage - The Twinings journey began in 1706 when Thomas Twining set up a a tea merchant at 216 Strand, London. The firm has traded continuously ever since from that same address and over the past 300 years Twinings have built an unrivaled reputation worldwide for their quality and standard of tea blending." "The history of British Afternoon Tea" Anna Maria, The Seventh Duchess of Bedford is credited with the invention of afternoon tea in 1840. Following in the Duchess of Bedford's footsteps, Afternoon Tea has been a Cunard tradition for over a century and a half. With the introduction of Twinings tea, Cunard's quintessentially British on board experience is further enhanced and perfectly paired with our renowned White Star Service."
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| Winter Garden Lounge Piano Player |
As I sat in one of the many lounges I was listening to a book on tape and just enjoying the view outside the window of the dark blue ocean and a bright light at the horizon and saw some wales, well the water spurting up from the ocean signifying a blow hole and then the fin became visible. I never saw the whole of the wales but saw several spurts and several fins, so exciting!
After dinner at the casual buffet and talking with a couple from Key West, Florida who had taken the QM2 over in early May spent two weeks traveling around England and are now going to NYC and then home by plane. They haven't had the best time as it seems they are very home sick and really just want to see their dogs and I think that since they don't have any interest in the lectures or the entertainment they're a bit board. You really have to enjoy doing some of the activities to make it worth while.
Mom and I, and most of the jam packed audience loved tonight's entertainment, David Copperfield and no, not that one, but a comedian, ventriloquist, musician who was fabulously funny with lots of quirky and sometimes off-color jokes and even a phenomenal opera performance.
The show ended about 9:45pm and mom was pretty tired so she went off to the room to get ready for bed and I attended, in the Winter Garden lounge, a performance by one of the RADA actresses of a bedtime story. The place was pretty full and the story she chose from a book of short stories by various writers who were given the assignment to write a story about a lead character named Roy Spivy. The short story she chose to read us was very well written and performed beautifully by Katie who clearly studied accents and has mastered an American one as she is British.
I've so enjoyed all the performances by RADA and look forward to the final acting class on Friday and two more of their performances scheduled over the remaining two days.
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| RADA Bedtime Story |
Thursday, May 30 - Day 6 -At Sea
Another gloriously relaxing day aboard the QM2. They do specialize in a relaxing cruise at Cunard but with some intellectual stimulation thrown in as well as artistic. After breakfast with two sisters from Michigan and a couple from Britain who had lots of questions about New York City which I was so happy to answer Mom and I headed up to the laundry room to do a wash so that we actually get to go home with clean clothes, so great. The laundry room was packed but we ended up only waiting about 10 minutes for a machine and spent the time chatting with people from England, America and Australia.
I headed to the spa and mom decided to throw in an extra wash and iron and seemed very happy to have all wrinkle-free clothes. It's amazing how many people go each day to iron and wash clothes including lots of men.
And then mom enjoyed a 3D version of the opera "Carmen" in the planetarium theatre which she said was very good.
Mom and I had asked to be switched to the early dinner so at 6:00pm we met up at the dinning room and were sat next to the nicest couple from Manchester, England who have been together for about 26 years but only got married a year ago and this trip is a belated honeymoon.
Right after dinner mom and I were heading to the theatre when mom gasped as we walked down the hall when she saw one of the guys from the Norwegian Epic solo group. Jonathan she knew was taking the Queen Mary 2 home to the States but she was under the impression he was doing it right after disembarking from the Epic but in fact he did over a week hiking in northern Spain and then flew to Austria and then to England and like us boarded the ship on May 25 in Southampton. The ship has over 2 thousand passengers so it's not unusual that she hadn't seen him before but it was so exciting for her to catch up with him and it turns out there is one other person from the Epic cruise they took out of Miami also on board.
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| Sending Jean Marie a birthday card from the middle of the Atlantic in the Queen's Post |
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| Parade of Chefs |
The show was spectacular with gorgeous costumes and dance numbers including a Russian inspired piece that was outstanding. The entertainment on board the Cunard ships is clearly a cut above the rest especially with their own dancers and singers from all around the world.
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| Mom with Jonathan who was on the Epic ship as well |
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| Mom with a very nice Scottish man who let us take a picture with him in his kilt |
After chatting with the English couple we met at breakfast yesterday we went off to the Lion's Head Lounge for a trivia contest. We didn't win but it was still fun but by 11:00pm we were both so tired it was off to the stateroom.
We've met such interesting people each day it will be interesting to see if I bump in to any of them over the next few days in the City while they are touring about. NYC is huge but at the same time very, very small.
Friday, May 31- Day 7 -At Sea
Another glorious day at sea and another nice breakfast with a very nice couple from Canada and the wife is a playwright which is so interesting and has had her first play produced in Toronto. Their daughter is also a theatre professional and having a play produced at the Toronto Fringe Festival which is exciting. You never know who you'll meet and sitting to my right was this tiny, very petite women who turned out to be the owner of the very first Irish Pub in the country of Georgia near the Russian boarder. It's a very male dominated country as you can imagine but she said her business which is open almost 24 hours a day is very successful.
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| RADA Class |
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| Jessica filling out my RADA certificate |
We had our last RADA class which was all about Shakespeare text and I was astounded at how incredible the final performance by mostly non-actors was. It was a great experience to work with this wonderful team of RADA instructors and performers and we even got a certificate at the end. This was definitely one of the highlights of the cruise for me.
Mom kept busy bopping around the ship doing her thing and then we met up for High Tea at the Queens Room with the lovely New Zealand couple, Bruce and Sharon. They've really been such a pleasure to talk with and we've enjoyed their company.
Dinner was only a few short hours later but very, very nice sitting next to Chris and Steven, the couple from Manchester, England. They kept us amused with stories of how a women tried to pick up Steven in the dark, virtually empty theatre showing Carmen last night at 11:00pm. She sidled up to him and sat snuggle next to him not realizing his wife was curled up on the other side. She finally noticed the wife and made her self scarce but we had a good laugh at how he really wasn't sure what was going on even though he found it a little strange that she chose to sit so close to him when the theatre was virtually empty and also since she didn't come in until about midnight when the movie was well into it's second half.
The show featured Zach Winningham again who was as delightful and also the humorous David Copperfield and ended with an incredible performance by the QM2 dancers and singers, a medley of Neil Diamond songs included a lively rendition of "Coming to America' which was so perfect with them all dressed in costumes reminiscent of those worn by 1900 immigrants sailing to NYC to make a better life for themselves.
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| Dinner with Steve and Chris |
Off to bed early after putting in a 4:00am wake up call so we can see the ship sail into New York Harbor.
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High Tea in the Queens room with dancing
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Saturday, June 1 - Day 8 - Hello New York City!!!
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| First view of New York with Police boat close by |
We were up just before the wake up call sounded and out the cabin door by 4:10am. Amazingly the ship was a bustle with activity and lots of people were already up and ready to be amazed by the sight of New York Harbor at day break. Incredibly it was a simply gorgeous, warm morning with clear skies so you could see the moon and the lights of Staten Island, Brooklyn and New Jersey in the distance through the still darkness.
We bumped into Edward who is with his parents and moving back from Germany who said his mom and dad assigned him the task of getting pictures and they'd just stay in bed. I was amazed at how many people came up and how energetic we all were considering the hour. Two NYC police officers were already on board, one with a machine gun, and quietly chatting with passengers who I'm sure were very curious about them and a small police boat was traveling alongside us.
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| View of New World Trade Center |
The original Queen Mary ship's inaugural cruise across the Atlantic ended on this very day, June 1st 77 years ago docking happily for the first time of many, many more to come in New York City. It was pretty exciting considering it was unusual that the QM2 would be here exactly on June 1. It was also a special day for us because the next two NYC bound transatlantic cruises for the QM2 will come in first too late to see sunrise over the harbor and then 2nd too late. We just happened to be exactly on target for a spectacular sunrise on a momentous day in the history of Cunard.
There was something so special and reverent about standing on deck with all these hundreds of other people as the city and it's most iconic sights came into view. The New World Trade center was easily visible in the distance above all else in the city as we crossed under the Verrazano Bridge. What astounded us was the silence. You could almost hear a pin drop as people, young and old, stood speechless as daylight illuminated more and more of the cityscape and a place many, whether returning home or coming for the first time, feel a tremendous respect for and a strong emotional connection to. It was peaceful, warm with a light breeze and truly breathtaking and mom, like many, were sipping their first morning coffee as we glided in although I'm not sure how many took their mug home with them like mom did. She is looking forward to drinking her morning coffee each day in Boston and thinking of that awe-inspiring sail. And for anyone going on a future cruise coming into NY Harbor do get up early it's so well worth a few hours of missed sleep.
After breakfast with Bruce and Sharon we packed up and spent some time in the Commodore's lounge looking out over the harbor from Red Hook Brooklyn where we docked about 6:00am admiring the beautiful Statue of Liberty just past Governor's Island that sits just off of the Red Hook port.
When then met all the waiting passengers in the Queen's Room to be given our disembarkation permission and had a nice chat with Chickie, Norman and Edward who will be picking up their rental car and heading on a 12 day drive across the country to California and home.
After a fond farewell to our beautiful ship and a "thank you" for getting us home safely, I made my decent on to American soil for the first time in 9 months. It's exciting to be back in the city but strange and almost surreal as well.
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| Police Helicopter over the bridge |
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| Lovely couple from Australia we met at breakfast |
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| Docking at 6:00am |
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| From the port looking out to Brooklyn |
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| Statue of Liberty with the Norwegian Gem going by. We took this ship two years ago to the Caribbean |
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| The Kiwi clips the kind couple from New Zealand gave us |
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| Mom checking her voice mail |
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One of the upper level suits we took pictures of because the
housekeeper left the door open |
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| Mom with the "The Boston Commemorative Cup - This extravagant silver cup was presented to Samuel Cunard by the citizens of Boston in July 1840, in commemoration of Britannia's maiden arrival. They were delighted that he had chosen their seaport for his transatlantic service and upon his arrival, he received 1,873 invitations to dinner, sufficient to dine out for over five years." |
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| waiting for a taxi |
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| Mom in the taxi |
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| Mom at entrance of the Megabus to Boston |
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| My view from the room at the Vanderbilt Y, eastside New York |
