QM2 Transatlantic to Southampton, October 11, 2015

Well, it’s just about time for what seems to be my annual Cunard crossing. Last year I continued to Hamburg and returned home on the tiny Wind Star. This one will be the opposite, with my return (from Rome) on the Allure of the Seas. I will be reporting in pretty much my usual manner with a companion blog at http://getawaysfrom21044.wordpress.com with photos, Daily Programmes, and hopefully menus.

I will later establish a thread on the RCI forum for the Allure, and will have a thread on the Maryland cruisers forum for the entire journey. I have noted that people on another thread were wondering about hotels in Brooklyn. I’ll be staying this time at the Comfort Inn Cruise Terminal and will have a report by the weekend. My 2016 crossings will be January 3 with a return on Queen Victoria, and that time I’ll be staying at the Marriott Brooklyn Bridge.

My thread for the entire journey is here. It requires CC login and will duplicate this thread while I’m on QM2:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2267306

I will answer questions but will go on line only once or twice for day so responses will require patience. Only 1 more sleep until I leave.

Roy

Have a great time Roy

I look forward to your postings. Have a wonderful voyage!

I always enjoy cruising vicariously through you Roy.

Thanks so much for sharing. Hoping that King Neptune smiles upon you and wishing you very smooth seas :)

I always enjoy cruising vicariously through you Roy.

 

Thanks so much for sharing. Hoping that King Neptune smiles upon you and wishing you very smooth seas :)

I second Jacqui. Safe travels!

I've been checking your "getaways" blog often waiting for you to start writing. Always love to follow you. Just wish you were going to be on Victoria in 2016 longer so we could meet you as we don't board until after you get off.

Happy days and beautiful seas!

Patti

Vaya con Dios, Roy! I'll try not to ask too many questions, but I will be following your posts.:) -S.

Thanks all. Salacia, the question you ask may be just what everybody else was wondering about so ask away.

I have a Pops subscription with the Baltimore Symphony. My travel schedule often conflicts but they have a generous exchange policy. My series included Saturday which would have been too close for comfort but they offered the same program on Friday, and I decided to stay in town and catch an early Saturday train. I left home about 3 on a local bus for the commuter rail network, and then a train on the original B&O line into Camden yards. Rain had been predicted but it was sunny as I left with the first storm clouds forming as I stopped for dinner. Leaving Panera there was a drizzle as I boarded my bus to my hotel (Sleep Inn near the shot tower). When I reached my destination the drizzle had become a downpour, and I was pretty well drenched after the block walk from the bus stop.

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Continuing on the same bus line I entered the Myerhoff Symphony Hall about 7:30 and enjoyed a program of music from the 50's and 60's. Somewhat I haven’t seen before; the Symphony seemed to be observing a “casual Friday” with the musicians in everything from tuxes to ty-die. The sound of 5 singers and 100+ musicians was still great. The program ended about 10 and I returned to the hotel by light rail and about a 10-minute walk.

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As my first parting shot, this is the Symphony’s 100th anniversary season. Congratulations, and may you have 100 more.

Roy

Roy, have a wonderful time.

Keith

So what is the planned arrival time for New York tomorrow morning? I plan to be watching from near the Verrazano in the morning...

Your guess is as good as mine although it often is bridge about 5AM.

Roy

Thanks, Keith

My Ipad alarm is not very loud and I slept through it until 5:45. Friday’s rains had passed and my time at Sleep Inn passed quickly as well I caught a cab just after 8 for the mile drive to Penn Station. Things may be busy for the start of the holiday weekend as I’ve never seen ticket lines at Penn before, but the QuickTrak line went quickly. I think much of the line was for MARC commuter rail tickets, and a number of people just got out of line as I was leaving, preferring to pay the cash surcharge on the train rather than be left behind holding a ticket.

I have about 80 pounds of “stuff” this time. My big bag at about 50 pounds left October 1 by White Star luggage and should be in my cabin when I board QM2. The other stuff goes in an overhead bin sized back pack and a small foldable one. On Friday I had found everything would fit in the big bag, including the little one. I split the load today with mostly computer stuff in the small bag (10 pounds) while the big one was about 21 pounds. I found that with that load I could easily get both bags into the overhead rack.

Train 152, a Washington to New York service, was scheduled for 8:54 but listed as 3 minutes late. It actually arrived at 8:51 and pulled away at 8:58. The train was busy but not crowded, and there was a lot of room in business class. The ride is slightly slower than Acela Express but not a lot slower. The top speed I saw was 120 mph. I have often found the internet on the train terribly slow, but today it was quite satisfactory. At our scheduled New York arrival time of 11:45 we were just entering the Hudson tunnel and we pulled into the station just 5 minutes behind schedule.

The connection for New York’s subway system is right below Penn Station. My C-line train started out very crowded and I had to stand for a stop or 2, but by the time we tunneled under the East River we had about 40% of the seats open. I wandered somewhat aimlessly around downtown Brooklyn gradually locating the Marriott Brooklyn Bridge (I’ll stay there New Years) and found after walking several blocks that the Panara where I planned on lunch was a stone’s throw from the Marriott. That was just 2 or 3 blocks from the B61 bus stop.

The bus also started out packed but traffic thinned out as my stop approached. It was about a 3-block walk to the Choice Hotel Cruise Terminal (after going out of my way and getting directions). I checked into the hotel about 3:30. It appears to be about 6 blocks to the ship; the hotel will have a shuttle.

The hotel is fine but nothing special. The location is convenient to the ship but not to much else. I took a walk about 5 and found limited services (primarily a few deli’s), but several expressways nearby make it difficult to go places. The hotel seems also to lack vending capability. There’s just one soda machine (out of service) but no food at all. On my walk I passed a McDonalds about 2/3 mile away and got dinner; I really didn’t see much else. If I stayed here again I think I would plan to take the B61 back to downtown Brooklyn for dinner.

After a quiet evening in the hotel I retired for the evening about 10.

Like my travels today, my parting shot is a bit of a combination of New York and Maryland. In Queens today a group of firefighters and others, including some from my home county, participated in the “National Stair Climb”, an event honoring fallen firefighters throughout the country and especially those who perished in the World Trade Center on 9/11. While I was relaxing on the train, the participants climbed the equivalent of 110 stories on Citi Field’s stairways, as did those who made the ultimate sacrifice on 9/11. I generally eschew the elevators on cruise ships, but it will likely be the end of the week when I get to 110 stories on QM2. Doing it all at once is a real challenge, and doing it with a heavy load of equipment as the brave men and women who did it on 9/11 verges on the superhuman. Congratulations to the people who completed the climb today and thank you to those who did it under real conditions.

PS: The hotel is about a half mile from the pier. I took an early morning walk down for a glimpse of QM2 backing in to the berth:

https://getawaysfrom21044.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/backingin.jpg

Roy

Nice shot Roy!

Bon Voyage!

Enjoying your blog so far. We did this a few years ago, QM2 NYC to Southampton, then Carnival from Barcelona to Galveston. Great way to travel. We'll be with you from Barcelona this time on the Allure.

Bon voyage,

Tony and Debbie

Roy, hope embarkation day was a smooth one for you. At last you had perfect weather for it!

Bon voyage Roy, I hope you have a great trip.

I look forward to reading your blogs.

Susan

Internet in my cabin this morning was awful.

I rose at 5 and took a walk to the pier about 5:30, just in time to catch QM2 backing into her berth. I left the hotel about 10, and paid a visit to First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn. It’s tquite a nice church, with a very lively service. The church is about a half mile walk from the B61 bus route, a bus unfortunately passed as I started the last block. The one that came 20 minutes later was crowded but also gave me an opportunity to make myself useful.

A British lady with a large rolling bag seemed to be looking at a map and a bit bewildered. I confirmed that she was headed for QM2, trying transit access for the first time. Her instructions had her leaving the bus at the auto entrance to the terminal, an extra quarter mile walk. I ended up staying on the bus and getting off with her at the closest stop to the port and walking back with her to the access street. When I left her she could see the ship and was confident she would be ok walking. A lady after my own heart. It was a couple blocks extra walk back to the hotel where I got my mid-sized bag out of storage and boarded the shuttle to the pier.

I arrived at the terminal about 1:35 and was on the ship in about 10 minutes. After a quick lunch in Kings Court I was in my room just after 2. The big (49.2 pound) bag sent with White Star Luggage was waiting for me, and of course I had the small (10.5 pound) carryon. The middle (28.1 pound) bag checked with the porters showed up about 3:30. My steward Fernando came by and introduced himself about 3.

The muster drill was 4PM. My station is in Kings Court; we carried our life jackets down and put them on in front of the staff. I had planned to be out on deck as we left New York, but there was a bit of a hitch. One of the tour buses had broken down in Manhattan, and was quite delayed. Captain Wells came on the PA about 5:40 and announced all were on board but it would be another half hour before we could leave.

I am at table 71 in Britannia. There was one empty seat but we have 4 ladies at the table, all from the UK. Our servers are Leonard and Ramina. I had the steak which was excellent, and we were finished about 7:30.

The evening entertainment was Flautist Johathan Johnston. He was quite good, although I was quite drowsey.

Most of the rest of the evening was devoted to unpacking and I called it a night at 11:00.

As today’s parting shot, Monday is a holiday in North America. If you’re in the US have a great Columbus Day, and if in Canada Happy Thanksgiving.

Roy

My Ipad woke me as planned at 5 with an unpleasant surprise. No amount of sweeping with my finger would get the alarm to stop, and the only things I got from my efforts was setting the snooze function to restart the alarm later. I think the Ipad is just a door stop for the rest of the trip.

When I got out to the promenade deck about 5:30 we were somewhat southeast of Cape Cod proceeding almost due east. Sunrise came in a little after midway through the walk. Also in mid-walk, there was another cruise ship heading southwest off our starboard side. The morning wind was noticeable but not bothersome and the temperature was probably about 50F/10C, a very comfortable walk.

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On the morning show Entertainment Director interviewed the first 2 Insights speakers, Detective Simon Dimsdale and writer Richard Sterling. Dimsdale started things off at 11 with “So, how do you catch a killer?”. He is a very popular speaker and when I arrived at 10:45 there were no seats left in Illuminations, but I did see him on the TV re-broadcast.

I went up to deck 13 just in time to catch the noon testing of the horns. QM2 has many with varying tones including one from the original Queen Mary. At noon we were still headed almost due east at 23kt, but would soon veer North on our great circle route. Winds were up to 35 knots and it was very noticeable on the upper decks. I did get a surprise that the Boardwalk Café was open, it seems to be a rare event and totally expected with a brisk breeze, even with the shelter provided by the Pavilion Pool. I’m not really a fan of the venue but went in partly because it is so rare. I had planned to get a hot dog, and after picking up the bun noticed that there were grilled chicken breasts. It was actually quite good, but if it happens again, I’ll take a knife and fork and forgo the bun.

Cunard does not do Cruise Critic Meet and Mingles, but there is a traditional get-together at 2PM

on the first sea day. There were just 5 of us, all returning to the USA on the Allure of the Seas. We enjoyed an hour of great conversation, finally adjourning for the 3:30 activities. A helpful bar waiter took some photos of the group. There was an afternoon classical concert with guitarist Dimitris Dekavallas. I was disappointed that it conflicted with the get-together but he is supposed to have a second concert that I will make a priority.

https://getawaysfrom21044.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/meetgreet.jpg

While several headed off to afternoon tea I went to Illuminations for Richard Sterling’s talk on Julie Andrews. I enjoyed the talk but will not make a priority of his future presentations.

Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada. Looking back at last year’s menus it appears to be a coincidence, but I was able to celebrate my Canadian heritage with a traditional turkey dinner. One of my tablemates has apparently decided not to get dressed up for formal nights. It’s a pity, I would much rather have her here dressed as she was last night than her empty chair. Leonard and Ramina are do not spend much time getting to know us but their service is very efficient. We again left the dining room about 7:30.

The evening entertainment was singer guitarist Zach Winningham who played 60's and 70's music. He was good but I have seen better. He will have a cameo in the Farewell show. I took a rambling return from the show dropping in briefly on Pat Patton in the Golden Lion, the 175 ball in the Queens Room, RADA’s Cunard Street in Winter Garden and Pianist Gaza Torocsik (easy listening) in the Commodore Club.

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Today’s parting shot comes from Simon Dimsdale’s talk, a sad commentary on air travel today. He told of suspects being in Bagdad in 205, and going down to get them. His way of getting there was the back of a US C-130, and he compared it to low cost airlines in the UK. He said “actually, the C-130 was better, at least the water is free”.

Roy

Hi Roy,

I believe we met briefly on Crystal at a M&G, a few years ago! Loving your blog. We'll be on "Mary" on Nov 12th. Can't wait! Give her a pat for us!

Linda and John Wishe

Roy,

As always, it's a delight to read your account. We look forward to following your journey across the Atlantic and hope that our paths cross again some time.

John and Elizabeth

Thank you Mudhen and thaxted.

My walk was much like the one Monday, with my 5 miles completed about 7:30. The wind was a bit stronger but still manageable. It was also our longest day, the one day we did not move the clocks forward at noon. Sunrise came late in my walk, and I watched it from the bow. That may be a bit of a misnomer as it isn’t really the bow. Designed for the North Atlantic in all seasons, QM2 has about 3 “bows”, several levels of protection from heavy seas and what we walk on as the bow is the most protected level. Spare blades for the azipods are interesting “sculptures”.

https://getawaysfrom21044.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/dawn1013.jpg

Overall, it was a pretty busy and successful day. There were 3 Cunard Insights presentations. Captain William Wells started things off at 10 with a talk about the “Life and times of a ship’s pilot”. The morning concluded with a talk by Simon Dinsdale on “Cold Cases”. The UK supplies an immigration officer on Eastbound crossings, and today was my day to meet with her. When I went down about 9:45 the line ran back to the Chart Room and I went straight to Illuminations. I returned after the Wells lecture to find no line and I was processed in less than 2 minutes. The IPAD instructor had a help desk set up. It was supposed to be for connecting to the wifi, but I went anyway. He arrived about 10:55 and I was supposed to be 4th in line. At the time, the alarm came off snooze and started sounding. I effectively jumped the line and he showed me the thick: hold down the home and power buttons for a while and it will reset. I was up in the Royal Court Theater in time for the start of Dinsdale’s talk. The theater was nearly full and Illuminations would have been totally inadequate for his audience.

In his noon report Captain Wells reported we had force 6 winds and had 2239 miles to go. He used a litany of terms to describe the North Atlantic, all ending in “and gray” and running from “cloudy and gray” to “lumpy and gray”. We were to pass north of the resting Titanic about 10 PM. Soon after the announcements the Mark Hodgson Trio started playing jazz at the Pavilion Pool.

At sea I will usually budget about ½ hour per day for internet use. My Platinum World Club status gives me 260 free minutes or about 37 per day. I had good luck with the wifi in the Commodore Club, and my blog postings, file uploads, and email checks came in at 25 minutes on line. I did get to 37 minutes, primarily by downloading a book to my IPAD, but still have an average of over 40 minutes per day available.

The day’s final lecture was William Montgomery on “The Psychology of Success” at 3:30. He was good but made an unfortunate choice of yellow print on some of his slides, making them very difficult to read. I had time after the lecture to drop in briefly for afternoon tea in the Queens Room with Lara Szobo at the Harp. A lovely display of cupcakes was displayed in Kings Court. Neither I nor my tablemates saw them open for taking, but I suspect they were set up for the tea buffet.

The Welcome Aboard cocktail party was held before dinner, and Captain Wells introduced the senior officers. There are 2448 of us from 33 nations. The leaders are UK (1279), US (577), Germany (301), and Canada (71). There are 1259 crew from 55 nations, and a full complement of 12 dogs.

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We had the same 5 of us as Sunday at table 71 for a lovely dinner. I dropped by the Chart Room after dinner for a taste of the Sunrise Strings, and Winter Court for Andrew Cavedish-Gray. The evening entertainment was the Royal Cunard Singers and Dancers in Crazy in Love. The shows are getting a bit old but the troupe of 4 singers and 12 dancers does an excellent job

Today’s parting shot is a bit of a brag. You can teach an old dog new tricks, even if it is a bit of a challenge. This was my first dinner at sea in a self tied bow tie. I sort of learned to do it in the last few months with the help and patience of a former Scoutmaster and his wife. It’s still a challenge, one that I totally failed Monday. I got it done Tuesday but spent the night concerned that I would never get it back on if it came undone. Fortunately it survived the night.

https://getawaysfrom21044.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/tiedup.jpg

Roy

This is a great read, and is feeding my anticipation for December. Thank you very much for posting, I shall be following along with you.

Scarlet

Congratulations on the bow tie! It's a skill not easily mastered, and you look perfectly dapper.

Thank you Scarlet and John

I would call this a strange day. As I headed down to Kings Court around 5:20 the wind was noticeably howling. After getting my coffee I tried one of the few doors not roped off and the difficulty pushing it open told me I did not want to be on deck. I walked about a half hour on the inner corridors, and each time I approached Stairway A the fog horn was quite prominent. Things were definitely out of kilter, even Jo Haley’s 6AM morning show did not start until almost 7:30. Today’s weather was certainly a lemon so it was a good day to make lemonade.

I had a very relaxing day. There were only 2 Cunard Insights presentations jammed together in the middle of the day. Richard Sterling’s 11am talk was about an apparently well known Brit I had never heard of, romantic composer Ivor Novello. I would normally have been on deck for the noon Captain’s report but definitely not today, and watched another QM2 tradition– the sounding of the ship’s bell in the Atrium. In his report, Captain Wells reported that the area we were just leaving was the location for shooting “Perfect Storm” and is an area where currents collide producing crazy weather. At noon we had 50kt winds and a temperature of 13C. The weather did improve somewhat over the morning and “we can now see where we are going”

but it was anything but clear. I did make 2 brief forays outside, both times walking out deck 6 aft, up the stairs to 8, and back inside. I would not have cared to be outside any longer.

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The second Insights lecture was at 1:15 (just 30 minutes after Sterling wrapped up after the daily time change) with Captain William Wells on the Bermuda Triangle. He served several years as a pilot in the Bahamas, so he has some first hand experience.

The lecture program ended early to make room in Illuminations for a screening of the opera Carmen in 3D. Including intermission, the film runs 2 hours and 50 minutes, ending only 10 minutes before early seating. I opted to skip lunch (except for a glass of skim milk) and instead make full use of afternoon tea. My preferred cruise line is Crystal and I think they do most things better than Cunard (as should they, for the price). There are 2 exceptions. I actually prefer QM2's promenade deck to those on Crystal, and while the afternoon teas are different, I rate them a tie. Sadly, I usually rush to the tail end of tea after the 3:30 lecture, but took full advantage. Tea is also offered in Kings Court and I got a look at it on the way down. The music today was from the Queens Room Orchestra and a number of people were dancing. Ramina came by and offered me some treats.

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We had another fine dinner at table 71. It was an informal night but I decided to take advantage of my first success with the bow tie and wore it again with a more casual shirt. The headline entertainment was “Julian Lloyd Weber presents” a program hosted by Julian featuring his wife and cellist Jiaxin Lloyd Weber and pianist Yuanfan Yang (age 18) with music by his brother Andrew, their father William and others.. Yang announced that this was his first time on a luxury cruise ship and the experience inspired him to write a piece for the shsip, “Ode to Queen Mary 2" finished this morning and premiering tonight. The show was presented for late seating at 7 instead of the usual 10:30. I had gone directly from dinner and stood in the back of the balcony. This was the first complete piece I heard, the actual first public playing of the piece. I returned to Royal Court for the 8:45 performance, originally thinking I would leave at the point of the performance where I had entered but instead stayed for the full second show. I still got to bed a bit earlier than usual, rocked asleep somewhat by some motion of the ship.

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I’ll take my parting shot from the William Wells presentation. In his discussion of the Bermuda Triangle he mentioned marine superstition. One of the superstitions he mentioned was a fear of ships that had been renamed. I’ll have to say that’s one superstition I don’t buy into. One if my 3 favorite ships falls into that category. After Crystal’s 2 ships, number 3 on my list is the Prinsendam, which spent it’s first 14 years under various lines as the Sun, first for Royal Viking and even for a while as the Cunard Sun. I have never seen anything unlucky about that ship.

Roy

That sounds an amazing experience, do you think "Ode to Queen Mary 2 " will become a regular piece on the concert stage ?

Thanks so much for your detailed reports.