Join Pete and Judy on their FIRST crossing on the Queen Mary 2

We are headed off on our first cruise or I should say voyage on Cunard Lines and the Queen Mary 2 which will be a Westbound “Crossing” from Hamburg, Germany, to New York City. Having cruised extensively on Holland America and Princess (with a few cruises on NCL, X, RCI and Viking) we are looking forward to our sailing on this classic line and ship on what is probably one of its most famous voyages – “The Crossing”.

Cunard is probably the most formal of the cruise lines and we are looking forward to experiencing formal nights on a ship where tuxedos for men is de rigueur. There are many other special features on this iconic voyage and we are excited about experiencing the Queen Mary 2 and the Cunard Line for the first time. I will be reporting on my experiences daily as well as providing a contrast to Holland America as that is the line where I have most of my days at sea.

We were in Norway and Sweden for a 1 week pre-voyage and trip before our voyage. We started our adventure in San Diego a week ago to spend some time in Norway and Sweden before flying on to Hamburg to meet the Queen Mary 2 on August 30th.

We started our vacation in Bergen, Norway, flying there on the Norwegian Air Shuttle. This low cost airline offers nonstop service to Stockholm, Oslo and London from Oakland, Los Angeles and New York. Service is limited and they usually only have one flight a day 3 or 4 times a week from most cities. Fares can be half the price of a legacy carrier so it is worth taking a look if their schedule will fit with yours. We took the flight from Oakland to Stockholm, connecting to a flight to Bergen. We had to get to Oakland on our own, but the Norwegian Air Shuttle price was way cheaper than anything else. I was pleased to discover that for $800 per person I could get a ticket in Premium Economy which was better than domestic first class on any legacy carrier. While the Premium Economy seats were not “lie flat”, they were WAY better than a coach seat.

Another plus was the opportunity to fly on the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. This plan has bigger windows, better interior lighting control and best of all the cabin is maintained at a lower altitude (6000 feet instead of 8000 feet) and with more humidity so we didn’t feel as dried out at the end of the 10 hour flight. If you have a chance to fly on a Dreamliner, I would take advantage of the opportunity.

Norwegian Air Shuttle is a low cost airline so having to pay for many things you may be used to getting for free (for example a bottle of water is $4) was worth it to me. The other issue is that since Norwegian Air has very few long haul airplanes (around 13) and they are not a member of any alliance, they have very few flights. This means flights can be delayed for hours fairly quickly and the airline’s ability to recover is limited. If taking Norwegian to meet a cruise, I would give an extra day above what I would normally use when flying a legacy. Norwegian Air is worth considering, but be sure to factor in all the extra costs and the potential hassle factor that may pop up.

We arrived in Hamburg the day before our voyage. Since we arrived in Hamburg from Stockholm, we didn’t have to clear immigration or passport control, but went straight to baggage claim. Our bags were delivered quickly and we easily found a taxi to take us to the Renaissance Hamburg Hotel downtown. The fare was 27 euros. Even though we arrived at the hotel early, around 10:30 am, we were able check in right away.

After settling in our room, we headed off to the Miniatur Wunderland, which was listed as the Number 1 thing to do in Hamburg on Trip Advisor and is less than 1 mile from the Renaissance Hamburg. The Miniatur Wunderland is probably the world’s largest miniature railroad surrounded by exhibits that recreate a variety of cities and landscapes from around the world. These locations include: Switzerland, Scandinavia, Knuffingen Airport, Austria, Hamburg, Las Vegas and more and are spread out over 3 floors and about 14,000 square feet. In addition to the miniature railroad, are miniature roads, cars, people, airports and even a cruise ship. The exhibits cycle thru simulated day and nighttime scenes and are in constant motion with the trains, as well as cars, trucks, airplanes and even the cruise ship moving thru the exhibits. They limit the number of people in the exhibit at any one time, we waited about 1 hour in the café before we were able to get inside. If you can plan ahead, you can avoid any lines by reserving a ticket in advance. The price is 13 euros with 2 euro discount for seniors.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by St Michaelis church. There is a huge pipe organ in the main sanctuary and we were lucky to be there in the afternoon when they were playing the big pipe organ – it is played once in the morning & once in the afternoon. There is an elevator that will take you to the top of the 300 foot steeple for 4 euros, 7 euros if you want to combine the tower visit with a trip to the crypt underneath the church. The view from the top was spectacular and this is one of the highest spots in Hamburg.

After a short walk back to our hotel, we relaxed for the rest of the evening to get ready for our embarkation in the Queen Mary 2 the next day.

There are 3 cruise terminals in Hamburg so it is important to check which one is for your ship as they can change from time to time. The QM2 would be at the Cruise Center Steinwerder which is about 7 miles from our hotel or about a 25 euro cab ride. Our boarding pass said we should arrive after 2:30pm but after reviewing some posts on Cruise Critic it appeared that you could arrive pretty much whenever you would like as long as you were willing to accept longer check in times if you arrived during the peak hours.

We arrived at the cruise terminal about 1 pm and there weren’t any lines or delays at the curb. We were met by a porter who quickly took our bags and we were soon inside the terminal. The line looked fairly long and they had 9 stations for normal check in and 3 for priority check in. There wasn’t any line at all for the priority check in people, so whenever there was a gap in the priority line they would take people from the main line. The line moved pretty quickly and it took us about 50 minutes to get to the front of the line and check in. Check in took about 3 minutes and much of that time was waiting for a runner to get our cruise card from the central bin.

There wasn’t any line at passport control or security and we were quickly up an escalator to the level where we would enter the QM2 thru a folding jet bridge that spanned the distance from the terminal to the ship. After security scanned our cruise card, we had an opportunity to take our embarkation photo with 2 crew members in the upper Grand Lobby. For those not interested in taking a picture it was easy to bypass and there wasn’t any “chute” guiding you toward the photographers. We always enjoy the embarkation photo so we posed for a couple a pictures and then headed off to find our room.

Our first impression of the QM2 was – this is a big, and beautiful ship. The ship was recently “remastered” and everything we saw seemed new and the ship has a fresh, clean look that made a wonderful first impression. After having spent so much time on the Amsterdam, a much smaller ship, we noticed right away how much bigger everything is on the QM2. The hallways seem a little wider, the overheads a little higher and to our surprise our cabin was much bigger.

After what seemed like a long walk down the port side hallway, we found our cabin – number 6036, which is all the way forward on the port side. Our bags were waiting for us outside our door which was pretty speedy delivery based on our normal experience over the years.

Our room is extra big since we don’t have a verandah, but our room makes use of the space that is used by Verandah cabins close by. You will see this feature on other ships so it is always useful to closely examine deck plans and try and spot any cabins that may be larger than the standard in that category.

A small, 375 ml bottle of Champagne was waiting for us on ice, courtesy of the Captain. Our friends sailing with us inquired if they could exchange this bottle for some soft drinks or water and were told no – champagne or nothing. I thought that was a little odd since on the HAL ships, you can exchange any champagne gift with something of equal value.

Our room has a 32” flat screen TV and for those interested it has HDMI inputs on the back that are connected and work. However, one of the other rooms we were in has the TV bolted to the wall and on that TV the HDMI adapters may be more difficult to reach unless you had an angle adapter or something similar. The TV has 2 USB ports on the side and can play movies off a portable hard drive or USB stick.

Even though the room is larger, it has slightly less storage space than we had on the Amsterdam in a similar category and the closet uses hangers with a single metal stud coming from the top that connects to a plastic slider to prevent people from stealing the hangars. Not sure if they had a problem with people stealing hangars, but these types of hangars take up more space than other options. Our cabin steward brought us some wire hangers that we could use on the second, smaller closet that didn’t have any hangars originally.

Under the desk is a small refrigerator that came stocked with a couple of beers, some sodas and a bottle of water. There is also an order form in you want to have it replenished. Room service is complimentary and available 24/7 and the same menu is always available. There is a hang tag provided to order breakfast room service which includes eggs to order and a normal selection of cereals, fruit, juices, pastries, yogurts etc.

We had some laundry to do from our first week and thought if we went to a laundry room early – this is now around 2pm on embarkation day, we may find some empty washers, but everyone else had the same idea and the machines were all in use. The laundry machines are free and detergent is provided, but not fabric softeners, so bring your own. The laundry room is open from 7:30 am to 9:00 pm.

The mandatory lifeboat drill was at 4:30 and the muster locations are inside the ship in the various lounges. At least that is where our drill was held so I assume that all the muster locations are inside the ship. They announced the drill over the public address system and we waited for them to finish all the instructions, which were repeated in German since this voyage has a significant number of German passengers. We left our cabin about 4:35 and by the time we got to our muster station in the Carinthia Lounge it was already completely full and the briefing was in progress. Apparently everyone else was already in place long before 4:30. I was surprised that they never took attendance and the entire drill took about 30 minutes. It was probably longer than normal since everything was repeated in German. They had us put on our life jackets and once we were finished we were excused.

Our dinner was at 8:30 in the Britannia Restaurant, table 57, which is on the lower level of the two story restaurant. Table 57 is an oval table for eight which is our preference and there were 2 other couples already seated, one from the UK and the other from North Dakota. We learned that there was another couple assigned to the table, but they were not present this evening.

The Queen Mary 2 is a very formal ship. Tonight’s dress code was informal, but the QM2 informal code requires more formal attire than Holland Americas Gala night. On the QM2, informal means men are required to wear a jacket (tie optional) anywhere on the ship after 6pm except for the Kings Court and a single lounge next to the Kings Court. On HAL, all that is required on a Gala night is a shirt with a collar and no shorts. I would guess that about ½ the men wore ties and I didn’t see any of the men not wearing a jacket.

Dinner service was excellent and on par with other cruise lines. The menu offered six starters and six entrees along with a single choice of salad. There were also six choices for desert. There were low calorie or healthier options also on the menu that included 3 courses, but you could order these individually if you desired. Judy ordered the lamb chops and I had the pork medallions in addition to some chicken noodle soup and a salad. All the food was very good and we enjoyed our first dinner on the QM2 very much.

Tonight’s entertainment was a Beatles tribute band called The Beatles Experience. They put on a good show and the time flew by. The show started at 10:30 sharp and the theatre was probably ½ full, pretty good for a late show. We had stopped by the theatre before our dinner at 8:30 to see how many people were already in place for the show. There were maybe 50 people already waiting and we learned by talking with others that there were always seats available for either show even up to the last minute. We’ll see if this holds true when the passenger mix changes to what is more common on a Crossing instead of the Norwegian voyage we were catching the tail end of.

After the show we took a quick spin thru the many lounges – more on those later – but what was striking was how busy they all were even after midnight. It will be interesting to see if this holds up once we leave Southampton.

Tomorrow is a sea day and we are looking forward to getting to explore the ship in more depth.

More pictures on my personal travel blog http://www.theinsidecabin.com

We are headed off on our first cruise or I should say voyage on Cunard Lines and the Queen Mary 2 which will be a Westbound “Crossing” from Hamburg, Germany, to New York City. Having cruised extensively on Holland America and Princess (with a few cruises on NCL, X, RCI and Viking) we are looking forward to our sailing on this classic line and ship on what is probably one of its most famous voyages – “The Crossing”.

 

 

 

Cunard is probably the most formal of the cruise lines and we are looking forward to experiencing formal nights on a ship where tuxedos for men is de rigueur. There are many other special features on this iconic voyage and we are excited about experiencing the Queen Mary 2 and the Cunard Line for the first time. I will be reporting on my experiences daily as well as providing a contrast to Holland America as that is the line where I have most of my days at sea.

 

 

 

We were in Norway and Sweden for a 1 week pre-voyage and trip before our voyage. We started our adventure in San Diego a week ago to spend some time in Norway and Sweden before flying on to Hamburg to meet the Queen Mary 2 on August 30th.

 

 

 

We started our vacation in Bergen, Norway, flying there on the Norwegian Air Shuttle. This low cost airline offers nonstop service to Stockholm, Oslo and London from Oakland, Los Angeles and New York. Service is limited and they usually only have one flight a day 3 or 4 times a week from most cities. Fares can be half the price of a legacy carrier so it is worth taking a look if their schedule will fit with yours. We took the flight from Oakland to Stockholm, connecting to a flight to Bergen. We had to get to Oakland on our own, but the Norwegian Air Shuttle price was way cheaper than anything else. I was pleased to discover that for $800 per person I could get a ticket in Premium Economy which was better than domestic first class on any legacy carrier. While the Premium Economy seats were not “lie flat”, they were WAY better than a coach seat.

 

 

 

Another plus was the opportunity to fly on the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. This plan has bigger windows, better interior lighting control and best of all the cabin is maintained at a lower altitude (6000 feet instead of 8000 feet) and with more humidity so we didn’t feel as dried out at the end of the 10 hour flight. If you have a chance to fly on a Dreamliner, I would take advantage of the opportunity.

 

 

 

Norwegian Air Shuttle is a low cost airline so having to pay for many things you may be used to getting for free (for example a bottle of water is $4) was worth it to me. The other issue is that since Norwegian Air has very few long haul airplanes (around 13) and they are not a member of any alliance, they have very few flights. This means flights can be delayed for hours fairly quickly and the airline’s ability to recover is limited. If taking Norwegian to meet a cruise, I would give an extra day above what I would normally use when flying a legacy. Norwegian Air is worth considering, but be sure to factor in all the extra costs and the potential hassle factor that may pop up.

 

 

 

We arrived in Hamburg the day before our voyage. Since we arrived in Hamburg from Stockholm, we didn’t have to clear immigration or passport control, but went straight to baggage claim. Our bags were delivered quickly and we easily found a taxi to take us to the Renaissance Hamburg Hotel downtown. The fare was 27 euros. Even though we arrived at the hotel early, around 10:30 am, we were able check in right away.

 

 

 

After settling in our room, we headed off to the Miniatur Wunderland, which was listed as the Number 1 thing to do in Hamburg on Trip Advisor and is less than 1 mile from the Renaissance Hamburg. The Miniatur Wunderland is probably the world’s largest miniature railroad surrounded by exhibits that recreate a variety of cities and landscapes from around the world. These locations include: Switzerland, Scandinavia, Knuffingen Airport, Austria, Hamburg, Las Vegas and more and are spread out over 3 floors and about 14,000 square feet. In addition to the miniature railroad, are miniature roads, cars, people, airports and even a cruise ship. The exhibits cycle thru simulated day and nighttime scenes and are in constant motion with the trains, as well as cars, trucks, airplanes and even the cruise ship moving thru the exhibits. They limit the number of people in the exhibit at any one time, we waited about 1 hour in the café before we were able to get inside. If you can plan ahead, you can avoid any lines by reserving a ticket in advance. The price is 13 euros with 2 euro discount for seniors.

 

 

 

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by St Michaelis church. There is a huge pipe organ in the main sanctuary and we were lucky to be there in the afternoon when they were playing the big pipe organ – it is played once in the morning & once in the afternoon. There is an elevator that will take you to the top of the 300 foot steeple for 4 euros, 7 euros if you want to combine the tower visit with a trip to the crypt underneath the church. The view from the top was spectacular and this is one of the highest spots in Hamburg.

 

 

 

After a short walk back to our hotel, we relaxed for the rest of the evening to get ready for our embarkation in the Queen Mary 2 the next day.

 

 

 

There are 3 cruise terminals in Hamburg so it is important to check which one is for your ship as they can change from time to time. The QM2 would be at the Cruise Center Steinwerder which is about 7 miles from our hotel or about a 25 euro cab ride. Our boarding pass said we should arrive after 2:30pm but after reviewing some posts on Cruise Critic it appeared that you could arrive pretty much whenever you would like as long as you were willing to accept longer check in times if you arrived during the peak hours.

 

 

 

We arrived at the cruise terminal about 1 pm and there weren’t any lines or delays at the curb. We were met by a porter who quickly took our bags and we were soon inside the terminal. The line looked fairly long and they had 9 stations for normal check in and 3 for priority check in. There wasn’t any line at all for the priority check in people, so whenever there was a gap in the priority line they would take people from the main line. The line moved pretty quickly and it took us about 50 minutes to get to the front of the line and check in. Check in took about 3 minutes and much of that time was waiting for a runner to get our cruise card from the central bin.

 

 

 

There wasn’t any line at passport control or security and we were quickly up an escalator to the level where we would enter the QM2 thru a folding jet bridge that spanned the distance from the terminal to the ship. After security scanned our cruise card, we had an opportunity to take our embarkation photo with 2 crew members in the upper Grand Lobby. For those not interested in taking a picture it was easy to bypass and there wasn’t any “chute” guiding you toward the photographers. We always enjoy the embarkation photo so we posed for a couple a pictures and then headed off to find our room.

 

 

 

Our first impression of the QM2 was – this is a big, and beautiful ship. The ship was recently “remastered” and everything we saw seemed new and the ship has a fresh, clean look that made a wonderful first impression. After having spent so much time on the Amsterdam, a much smaller ship, we noticed right away how much bigger everything is on the QM2. The hallways seem a little wider, the overheads a little higher and to our surprise our cabin was much bigger.

 

 

 

After what seemed like a long walk down the port side hallway, we found our cabin – number 6036, which is all the way forward on the port side. Our bags were waiting for us outside our door which was pretty speedy delivery based on our normal experience over the years.

 

 

 

Our room is extra big since we don’t have a verandah, but our room makes use of the space that is used by Verandah cabins close by. You will see this feature on other ships so it is always useful to closely examine deck plans and try and spot any cabins that may be larger than the standard in that category.

 

 

 

A small, 375 ml bottle of Champagne was waiting for us on ice, courtesy of the Captain. Our friends sailing with us inquired if they could exchange this bottle for some soft drinks or water and were told no – champagne or nothing. I thought that was a little odd since on the HAL ships, you can exchange any champagne gift with something of equal value.

 

 

 

Our room has a 32” flat screen TV and for those interested it has HDMI inputs on the back that are connected and work. However, one of the other rooms we were in has the TV bolted to the wall and on that TV the HDMI adapters may be more difficult to reach unless you had an angle adapter or something similar. The TV has 2 USB ports on the side and can play movies off a portable hard drive or USB stick.

 

 

 

Even though the room is larger, it has slightly less storage space than we had on the Amsterdam in a similar category and the closet uses hangers with a single metal stud coming from the top that connects to a plastic slider to prevent people from stealing the hangars. Not sure if they had a problem with people stealing hangars, but these types of hangars take up more space than other options. Our cabin steward brought us some wire hangers that we could use on the second, smaller closet that didn’t have any hangars originally.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Under the desk is a small refrigerator that came stocked with a couple of beers, some sodas and a bottle of water. There is also an order form in you want to have it replenished. Room service is complimentary and available 24/7 and the same menu is always available. There is a hang tag provided to order breakfast room service which includes eggs to order and a normal selection of cereals, fruit, juices, pastries, yogurts etc.

 

 

 

We had some laundry to do from our first week and thought if we went to a laundry room early – this is now around 2pm on embarkation day, we may find some empty washers, but everyone else had the same idea and the machines were all in use. The laundry machines are free and detergent is provided, but not fabric softeners, so bring your own. The laundry room is open from 7:30 am to 9:00 pm.

 

 

 

The mandatory lifeboat drill was at 4:30 and the muster locations are inside the ship in the various lounges. At least that is where our drill was held so I assume that all the muster locations are inside the ship. They announced the drill over the public address system and we waited for them to finish all the instructions, which were repeated in German since this voyage has a significant number of German passengers. We left our cabin about 4:35 and by the time we got to our muster station in the Carinthia Lounge it was already completely full and the briefing was in progress. Apparently everyone else was already in place long before 4:30. I was surprised that they never took attendance and the entire drill took about 30 minutes. It was probably longer than normal since everything was repeated in German. They had us put on our life jackets and once we were finished we were excused.

 

 

 

Our dinner was at 8:30 in the Britannia Restaurant, table 57, which is on the lower level of the two story restaurant. Table 57 is an oval table for eight which is our preference and there were 2 other couples already seated, one from the UK and the other from North Dakota. We learned that there was another couple assigned to the table, but they were not present this evening.

 

 

 

The Queen Mary 2 is a very formal ship. Tonight’s dress code was informal, but the QM2 informal code requires more formal attire than Holland Americas Gala night. On the QM2, informal means men are required to wear a jacket (tie optional) anywhere on the ship after 6pm except for the Kings Court and a single lounge next to the Kings Court. On HAL, all that is required on a Gala night is a shirt with a collar and no shorts. I would guess that about ½ the men wore ties and I didn’t see any of the men not wearing a jacket.

 

 

 

Dinner service was excellent and on par with other cruise lines. The menu offered six starters and six entrees along with a single choice of salad. There were also six choices for desert. There were low calorie or healthier options also on the menu that included 3 courses, but you could order these individually if you desired. Judy ordered the lamb chops and I had the pork medallions in addition to some chicken noodle soup and a salad. All the food was very good and we enjoyed our first dinner on the QM2 very much.

 

 

 

Tonight’s entertainment was a Beatles tribute band called The Beatles Experience. They put on a good show and the time flew by. The show started at 10:30 sharp and the theatre was probably ½ full, pretty good for a late show. We had stopped by the theatre before our dinner at 8:30 to see how many people were already in place for the show. There were maybe 50 people already waiting and we learned by talking with others that there were always seats available for either show even up to the last minute. We’ll see if this holds true when the passenger mix changes to what is more common on a Crossing instead of the Norwegian voyage we were catching the tail end of.

 

 

 

After the show we took a quick spin thru the many lounges – more on those later – but what was striking was how busy they all were even after midnight. It will be interesting to see if this holds up once we leave Southampton.

 

 

 

Tomorrow is a sea day and we are looking forward to getting to explore the ship in more depth.

 

 

 

More pictures on my personal travel blog http://www.theinsidecabin.com

Thanks for taking us along. We plan to do this voyage August 29, 2017 so I will be following your blog with great interest.

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I'm excited! If you recall I'm a HAL fan who followed your World Cruise and LOVED your blog.

We booked our first Cunard cruise and crossing two weeks ago (we don't sail until May 2018, alas) and can't wait to follow along to see your viewpoints vs HAL. :)

Have a great trip!

We are in your cabin! Or you are in our cabin! Yes, We are booked in 6036 for a Crossing in October. So very interested in any and all comments,suggestions, info on this cabin as well as your excellent rendition of your experiences onboard. Enjoy your cruise!

That's a really high quality and thorough review so far. True appreciate the level of detail and tone.

We are in your cabin! Or you are in our cabin! Yes, We are booked in 6036 for a Crossing in October. So very interested in any and all comments,suggestions, info on this cabin as well as your excellent rendition of your experiences onboard. Enjoy your cruise!

We will take good care of it for you. We wish we would have brought some of the 3M Command Hooks. There are only 2 hooks inside the bathroom door to hang anything.

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Thanks for taking us along with you, have a wonderful voyage.

Tip: If you want something for room service breakfast that's not preprinted on the card, feel free to write it in somewhere on the form. DW likes lox with a bagel & cream cheese so we write in a detailed request (capers, red onion) and it always comes.

Tip: If you want something for room service breakfast that's not preprinted on the card, feel free to write it in somewhere on the form. DW likes lox with a bagel & cream cheese so we write in a detailed request (capers, red onion) and it always comes.

Thanks for the tip! I will give that a try. I wonder if they will bring Eggs Benedict? Appreciate any and all tips from experienced QM2 people.

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In my experience, not to a Britannia cabin.

Others may have had more success but when I tried I had a phone call saying Eggs Benedict wasn't available and what would I like instead.

Arrived Southampton. Should be a great day.

FYI - My detailed posts are about 24hrs behind real time.

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Loved your World Cruise posts, can't wait to read all about the QM2! Thanks for posting.

Hi there great blog on your trip. I posted about the casino and the poker table onboard our good friend is the manager of casino onboard now we met him onboard the Rotterdam. Tim Hutchison from s Africa please tell him Sandra and Allan miss him. Love your pictures and descriptions of the ship. Hope to see you back onboard the Amsterdam noticed you are in for 2018.

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Hi there great blog on your trip. I posted about the casino and the poker table onboard our good friend is the manager of casino onboard now we met him onboard the Rotterdam. Tim Hutchison from s Africa please tell him Sandra and Allan miss him. Love your pictures and descriptions of the ship. Hope to see you back onboard the Amsterdam noticed you are in for 2018.

 

 

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There is not a poker table on the QM2....did there used to be one before it was remastered? There are 4 card tables - 2 blackjack, 2 3 card poker or similar. 2 roulette wheels.....and then some slots....looking forward to 2018

 

 

Tonight’s entertainment was a Beatles tribute band called The Beatles Experience. They put on a good show and the time flew by. The show started at 10:30 sharp and the theatre was probably ½ full, pretty good for a late show. We had stopped by the theatre before our dinner at 8:30 to see how many people were already in place for the show. There were maybe 50 people already waiting and we learned by talking with others that there were always seats available for either show even up to the last minute. We’ll see if this holds true when the passenger mix changes to what is more common on a Crossing instead of the Norwegian voyage we were catching the tail end of.

 

In my experience more people attend the late show on Cunard than on HAL.

Enjoying your blog as I did your world voyage one. Hope you have a great crossing!

FABULOUS!

I followed your last world cruise [or was it Judy's yarn shopping cruise?!!? ;) haha] and was so excited to see this. QM2 is such an amazing ship...truly one of a kind. Enjoy your crossing. I will be waiting anxiously for your posts. :D

Don't forget your signature jazz-hands photos at dinner!

Day 2, Sailing toward Southampton

We are looking forward to a lazy day at sea. We have been packing up and moving almost every day for the last few days and it does tend to drain some energy.

Here is our embarkation photo

Our day started - as usual when we are aboard a cruise ship – er I meant ocean liner – with a hot, room service breakfast. Holland America’s menu offers more choices, but the QM2 is perfectly OK. The biggest difference is that on HAL you can order various omelets in addition to the normal fried and scrambled eggs. I have heard that you can write in other items on both ships. I tried it once on HAL – on a Panama Canal cruise – and I didn’t receive the eggs benedict I wrote in. Please note that on HAL during their Grand World Voyage, the breakfast hangtag doubles in size and you can order ANYTHING and they will bring it. I suspect that on the QM2 I might have better luck if I was in one of the suites, but I will give it a try and see what happens. Nevertheless, the room service menu on the QM2 offers a good selection and was delivered on time with a smile.

The Entertainment Director, Joanna Haley (Note the ship doesn’t have a Cruise Director – the words ‘cruise’ and ‘cruise ship’ seemed to be banned), hosts a pre-recorded TV show which airs continuously from 6 am to noon. Jo’s show was interesting but very businesslike. Most cruise directors inject some humor and a little frivolity, but Joan, while smiling and very pleasant was all business, not a hint of trying to make a joke. I guess that is OK, but it was striking as it is such a difference from Cruise Directors on other ships. She does remind everyone at least once during every show that I have seen her speak, that the Queen Mary 2 is the “greatest and only true Ocean Liner” not a Cruise Ship.

As an aside, the ships TV system is far superior to HAL. Cunard has more channels, better TV’s, and they publish a TV guide for the entire voyage so it is easier to plan your TV viewing. The TV is a “smart” TV and you can plug in a USB Drive or stick and play movies from these devices, but there isn’t any DVD player.

The photo gallery is now where the poker tables in the casino used to be and the hallway which used to be the photo gallery has been converted into cabins. Large monitors have replaced many of the boards which used to hold pictures so you have to look for your pictures on a computer screen rather than walking up and down boards full of pictures. I was going to buy my embarkation photo - $25 – but they charge a 20% VAT tax until the ship leaves Southampton. So I will wait until we leave port to buy the picture.

The casino wasn’t open yet, but I stopped by to take a look. Before remastering, the casino was billed as one of the largest at sea but it is much smaller now. It used to extend aft from the casino bar all the way to the Britannia restaurant and extended toward the center of the ship across from the Golden Lion. The current deck plan on the Cunard Website is incorrect as it shows 8 blackjack sized tables but in reality there are only 4 tables – with four of the most forward tables shown on the deck plan replaced by slot machines. Two of the four tables are for blackjack with the other 2 dedicated to 3 card poker and another game called World Poker Tour. The rest of the space is filled with a variety of slot machines.

The Library is huge and contains several rows of stacks with a wide variety of books and magazines. The library is billed as the largest at sea with over 10,000 books. In the corner of the library there are 6 computers to use for the internet along with a single printer. The stacks themselves are made from beautiful wood and were highly polished. There are a couple of sofas and a few chairs available, but the library is not that big in terms of available seats. Right next to the library is the bookshop which sells books and some logo, souvenir type items.

Afternoon tea is served at 3:30 in the Queens Lounge. We arrived around 3:20 and there were already about 50 people in line. There are several ways to get into the Queens Lounge and we entered thru the Art Gallery which had started its own line heading up to the entrance to the Queens Lounge. They opened the doors at 3:26 and everyone flowed in merging the multiple lines easily. There wasn’t anyone seating people so you got sit wherever you liked. It seemed the most popular tables were those next to the dance floor with a clear view of the string quartet that would soon start playing. Around 3:35 all the tables were filled and the latecomers were wandering about hoping to find an empty seat. They would have to wait about 15 minutes for the first people to finish up and start to leave. My recommendation is to get there by 3:20 or wait until a little after 4pm. If you wait until 4pm, you will have to take whatever tables happen to be available, so if you want a particular table, get there early.

We are not experts on afternoon teas, so I am a poor judge of whether or not the QM2 tea was done “correctly” and I understand that there are some people who are quite particular about how a proper tea should be conducted. Here is what we experienced. Waiters dressed in white jackets first circulated with small sandwiches – chicken, beef, ham and egg salad serving them from a tray. At the same time other waiters were walking around serving tea, already brewed, from silver teapots. The waiters with the tea were always moving about to refill your teacup as requested. After the sandwiches the next round to be served was a selection of cakes. After the cakes the waiters returned with scones and individual servings of clotted cream. All the food was delicious and the tea was very good and served nice and hot. Throughout all the service the string quartet beautifully played a series of classical numbers.

We had a wonderful time at the tea and may stop by again before we arrive in NYC.

West End singer Philippa Healey was the headliner tonight with the first show at 7pm for second seating and the second show at 8:45 for first seating passengers. Her performance was spectacular including such hits as “Memories” from Cats and “Time to Say Goodbye” among many others. The Royal Court theatre was about 80% full and there wasn’t any issue with getting a seat regardless of the time you arrived.

Dinner was excellent and Judy chose the Sea Bass while I had the Prime Rib. Service continues to be efficient and we were joined by the other couple that had been sailing on the Norwegian voyage and they would be leaving tomorrow in Southampton.

We will be meeting our tablemate from the World Cruise in Southampton and are looking forward to a fun day catching up and visiting this wonderful city.

more on the blog at http://www.theinsidecabin.com

You're taking me right back on board with your reviews! Did you note who is the Captain right now? It's usually either Kevin Oprey or Christopher Wells.

Thanks for your very fun posts. I love your embarkation photo!

Good job! This is a great introduction for those who have not sailed the QM2.

You're taking me right back on board with your reviews! Did you note who is the Captain right now? It's usually either Kevin Oprey or Christopher Wells.

Kevin Oprey.....

Great posts, I'm enjoying hearing about your trip. One question (to everyone) is it normal for the "show" to be at 7 pm for late diners? I thought the shows were 8.30 pm for early diners and 10.30 pm for late diners? How long does the show go for... is there time for pre-dinner drinks after the show and before late sitting?

We will take good care of it for you. We wish we would have brought some of the 3M Command Hooks. There are only 2 hooks inside the bathroom door to hang anything.

 

 

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Great tip! I am definitely going to pack some of these. Thank you!

The shows for the second seating are usually at 10:30 but on occasion the show for the second seating will be at 7:00 BEFORE dinner. I've heard this can be due to a preference of the performers for an earlier show, it's the final night of the trip, or a competing event is later. The shows still run about 45 minutes

The shows for the second seating are usually at 10:30 but on occasion the show for the second seating will be at 7:00 BEFORE dinner. I've heard this can be due to a preference of the performers for an earlier show, it's the final night of the trip, or a competing event is later. The shows still run about 45 minutes

The performer for that night was 7-8'months pregnant so I suspect she may have wanted a earlier night...plus we were arriving Southampton the next day....packing etc....

It was also her second show of the voyage and was 30'minutes....the Cunard Dancers filled the first 15 minutes