On Board the Queen Mary 2

July 29th

Embarkation on the 28^th couldn’t have been smoother. Our Cunard transfer was there at the hotel to pick us up at 11:30 and the 40 minute ride to the port in Brooklyn was filled with NYC’s dizzying scenes. The city not only never sleeps. It never stops moving. The busy intersection of so many lives is a little disconcerting to small town folks like ourselves.

The Queen Mary 2 is a lovely ship and in the days to come, I’ll post pictures of this grand vessel, but we still haven’t learned our way around yet. It’s about 5 times the size of the Pacific Princess, though not like a mega cruise ships that bob around in the Caribbean. The QM2 is an ocean liner, which means she cuts through the water like a sleek dolphin. The seas have been slight and we hardly experience the sense of movement save for the deep rumble and slight vibration of her engines.

Our home away from home, Cabin 11026!

Yesterday was our first full day aboard and—shock of shocks!—I slept in till almost 8! (You must understand that usually we’re up at 5:oh-dark-30 AM to let the dogs out.) After a leisurely breakfast at Kings Court (the Lido deck restaurant. We’d forgotten we could’ve gone to the main Britannia Dining Room.) we joined the watercolor class at 10. Ordinarily, I’d think painting and cruising wouldn’t go together, but as I said, we’re enjoying very placid seas. (One of our table mates opted for a fencing class at the same time. Yet another activity that could be contraindicated by a heaving deck!)

We lunched at the main dining room and met some nice folks from Australia. We dine in the evenings with a family from England and a couple from NYC. Directions over the sound system are often repeated in German to accommodate those passengers. Our cabin TV offers movie channels in German, French, Spanish and Japanese. The Queen Mary 2 caters mostly to a British clientele, but welcomes international travelers--like us!

In the afternoon, we attended a concert of the Green Spring International Ensemble, a talented collection of music students from 11-18 years of age. There were 4 harpists, a string quartet, and three pianists along with a choir. A 17 year old diva performed the Queen of the Night aria from Mozart’s Magic Flute. It’s piece that has struck fear into the heart of many a more experienced soprano, but she popped off all 5 of the F’s above high C with ease. This group will be performing several more times on our way to Southampton.

Serenaded by strings during High Tea

After the concert, we attended high tea in the Queen’s Room complete with finger sandwiches and so many decadent sweets I can’t imagine why the Brits as a people don’t all weigh 400 pounds and have no teeth.  

Tonight was the first of many formal nights, so the DH and I dressed to impress. Fortunately, the DH likes doing a Bond impression. (He did, however, untie his tie and loosen his collar toward the end of the evening.) The evening entertainment was Apassionata, a production show put on by the ship’s troop of dancers and singers. In every lounge, you can find a pianist, or harpist or string quartet noodling away to deliver classical bliss.

There are so many activities listed, we’d run ourselves ragged trying to do them all. Tomorrow,  we hope to make the Planetarium show, try our hand at water colors again and catch the Green Spring kids whenever we can.

More soon…