DadTheBigKid

Nonsense - your wording was fine. It was my sense of humour that got away from me;). But thanks for taking the time (and expense) to post your review/blog. Best wishes to you and your lovely wife for many happy voyages. Stay joyful :) Cheers

You too I think it's the least we can do after such a wonderful holiday

Glad you had such a good time. Now it's time to do it again! We are crossing in just 3 weeks and I am very much looking forward to it. Cheers!

Well I am now envious of you 😉

If your in Brittania you may meet our American couple from our table who are staying in Europe and getting the first QM2 return !

Say hi to Hugh and Caroline for us!

Hi there.

 

Just browsed your voyage and could have been there with you.

 

Good also to see the photographs. Well done and so pleased you made the most of what is my favourite iconic journey.

 

There is only one way to cross the Atlantic.

 

I'm glad it created some sort of picture and it was a fantastic holiday of pure indulgence and pleasure.

So spoilt and so glad we did it!

Thanks for taking the time to post here as well as the official review section.

Have you decided where to go for your next Cunard experience ?!

Hi Hattie

Next Cunard? We are not sure.

Reality is we have to find a family get together over a weekend in September for our Anniversary. also in August 2017 we have paid for a villa on Portugal for our kids and their partners . I am sure we will be paying for some food as well!

I have to admit Cathy is the organising force for all this so probably the next 18 months are budgeted for as such.

So 2018 October is Cathys 50th and amongst considerations are a sun cruise, Fjords or Transatlantic again sometime in that year.

Hmmmmmmm. 😀

Glad you had a nice time.

 

Keith

Thank you Keith

Forgot to ask... how much was the 3 day spa pass? :)

From memory $70 or $75.

Subject to your activity interests and outside weather I would say 3 days is ample. We felt a bit like we had to show horn in the last day, others though may want to go every day?

...yikes, a satisfaction survey at bedtime? :eek:

Hmmmm my wording could have been better I think!! Thankfully, to my knowledge, I've not been assessed in the bedroom department!! 😀

We have done several transatlantics which we love as we love sea days and find them to be very relaxing, doing as much or little as you wish.

 

I think the closest experience would be our first cruise on the SS Norway which was the old SSFrance. My grandmother sailed on this ship in the 70's on her trip to Europe and back so it was a special trip for me. All our other cruises have been on "cruise" ships.

 

My DH loves jazz and this QM trip will feature Herbie Hancock and other musicians which should be fun. I'm not sure if this will be a different kind of experience not typical of a "regular" crossing or not.

Well have a great time, look forward to hearing about it

Thanks for a wonderful travelogue. We are embarking on our first Cunard trip on the QM2 (westward bound) in August and are so looking forward to having 8 sea days to come home after being away for a month. You have made the anticipation even more real. Congratulations, too, on your anniversary. What a special way to celebrate.

Thank you, I envy you a trip on this special ship.

On your previous cruises do you think you've been on a similar ship?

Thank you for your reports from your crossing; so pleased to read about the wonderful time you had on board QM2. She clearly worked her magic on you both.

I hope that trip was just the first of many; it would be a pleasure to buy you both a martini in the Commodore Club one day, if we find we're on the same crossing.

 

Thanks again, best wishes and happy sailings for the future :)

Thank you .

That would be lovely to share a drink looking out as we glide across the ocean 😀

Hello

 

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. You are a beautiful couple.

 

Deck Chair

Thank you for your lovely comments

Happy Anniversary!

 

Enjoyed the review and your final summary.

Thank you 😀

Such a great review. Looks like you had a ball. It's really fired me up for our September sailing out of New York. We last sailed QM2 in 2008 and I'm very excited about going back. This time I have three little ones in tow. Only one last time. Anyway thanks for taking the time to post.

Thank your and your welcome.

I am sure you'll have a great time. So much or so little to do as you wish 😀.

Enjoy and Bon voyage

Hello everybody,

we have two upcoming cruises on QM2 and QE this summer and I am curious if there is a webpage where we could check out the entertainment in advance. Especially Theatre Entertainment and party band.

 

Any idea?

 

Thanks in advance!

Hi I am not sure about the band and Theatre but the lectures are advertised in advance on the Cunard site under your cruise number from memory. I am sure someone more experiences can help you further.

thanks and thanks for the photos, you both look wonderful.

:d:d

Beautiful formal photo :)

thank you, we were very please and I am a lucky man!

Great! Can't wait to read and see more :D

Thank You. It was magical

This is it, its over!

We had chosen to express self dis-embark and were queuing in the grand lobby just after 7.00am. After 15 minutes we were moving and 10 minutes later we were in a taxi to the train station. We were actually home by 11.30am!

So in summary and with certain topics from the threads in mind

We loved the dressing up and surroundings and it was the main reason my wife was keen to choose Cunard. However the odd drifting away from dress code did not affect us and we were focused on enjoying our time onboard this wonderful ship.

All the staff were great and if you smiled and chatted you found out that many staff have a great sense of humour.

As mentioned earlier it is a magical mix of feeling busy and relaxed at the same time.

We would do this again and would recommend plenty of research for new cruisers / crossers as it is an amazing experience and for us is so different for anything we have done before so we never felt out of place or "all at sea". In a strange way though the research initially allowed me few time's to go "Wow" but I think this on balance was better than feeling lost or out of place.

All the people we met were fantastic, American, Canadian, New Zealand and UK. If you smile invariably its returned and if you say hello it is always returned. The quizzes we loved and allowed us many opportunities to chat to others.

Silly Bowling and deck quoits were fantastic fun and we met a different crowd.

We met people who said they were a bit bored by the end of the crossing, I accept other peoples opinions but there was no way we felt the same luckily.

Enjoy, get involved and DO NOT BE SCARED OR FEEL INFERIOR. It really is a holiday for all sorts in our opinion.

Thank You.

This was our last full day on board.

Started slowly and made our way to the head chefs version of "come dine with me" feeding Fidelis Morgan and Celia Imre in the Royal Court theatre. Good fun and the head chefs being Yorkshire twins had a great calmness and sense of humour.

Then we had a walk on the promenade and breakfast in the Kings Court. Then to the Spa again which was lovely and after we watched the chiming of 8 bells at noon. The ticking of the final box was sitting in the hot tub on deck 8 , gazing out to sea with the ships wake and horizon on a nice clear day. The hot tub was great but I can safely say that the Pavilion pool was very , very cold and I only did two lengths. Brrrrrrr!

It was then time to organise our prize for winning three stamps during the crossing for silly bowling and deck quoits , we will be proud owners of a Cunard pencil and USB stick.

Back to our stateroom for the sad task of starting to pack and treated ourselves to lunch in our stateroom while carrying out this harrowing task.

We then took part at 16.00 in another trivia quiz and afterwards watched our first film in the Illuminations which was The Intern, an absolutely fantastic film with Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway.

Time to change for our last evening which was informal.

We teamed up with a French Canadian lady for our last quiz in the Golden Lion Pub and then met our dinner companions for our last meal together which was lovely and as usual took 2 hours to finish ! Great conversation.

In bed by 22.55 and ready for express self embarkation around 7.30am.

** below one picture is from last nights Cunard Singers " Broadway Rocks **

Up and showered to get to Connexions to get tickets at 9.00am for the 1.30pm planetarium show and then went to "silly bowling" for 9.30am. I actually won this somehow and we collected another stamp for a whizzy prize at the end of the voyage I am sure.

We then had a coffee in the Commodore club and got very jealous with its drinks selection as we hadn't been before, but we were coming back tonight.

We returned Library books and got a book for a fathers birthday in book shop sale.

Then a dash to Golden Lion for "name that tune" quiz. It was ballads and not that great for us.

After this we had a pub lunch and then went to planetarium. Infinity express was an interesting show about how we have slowly learned where we are within the galaxies and universe.

Deal of the day was 1lt of gin and 1lt whisky for $25.

We then took part in a "wipe out " quiz and were consistent on gambling all our points on the last question and losing!

We've discussed going to the casino and today was the day.

Armed with our $3 tokens and $20 cash we had a go on black jack and roulette. We won a bit on both, lost a bit on both and cashed in the $20 as we had started with. A perfect 30 minutes of risk!!

For the 3rd time on the crossing we had afternoon tea and walked back through the Clarendon fine art gallery.

Then a quick feet up in our room.

We dressed for our last formal night and went to the Commodore club where we had a G&T and cocktails while playing cards and chatting to an American Couple.

We then went to the 8.00pm quiz in the Golden Lion before our evening dinner.

After dinner we watched the Cunard singers and Dancers in "Broadway Rocks".

Then bed time while viewing tomorrow's itinery and completing a satisfaction survey.

Breakfast in bed while watching the film Bridge of Spies on TV at 7.00am. Been wanting to watch this film for a while and it was very good.

We then decided to use our 2nd day Spa Pass. We used the pool , extremely warm hot tub, as well as the steam room and saunas followed by a coffee and a lazy watching the world go by in the relaxation lounge .

This was helping me get through book 5 of The Game of Thrones.

Apparently today we are back to a leisurely force 8.

Dropped swim things off in room and went to games corridor for some card games then at 3.30 to the Illuminations for an insight lecture by Fidelis Morgan on "London's oddities".

We felt a bit seasick so spent the evening in the room watching a film with food delivered. We weren't actually sick and felt more tired. The QM2 handled the Atlantic very well and we think the Lecture being dark and having some movement took us down!

a bit of an early night so we were firing on all cylinders for tomorrow.

Watched Mr Holmes movie on the TV in our stateroom in bed before showering and dressing.

We went to the connections to get two tickets for planetarium and then had a coffee on deck 2 games corridor before 10.00am quiz in Golden Lion and then a pub lunch.

The sea and wind were fun today and the planetarium was cancelled unfortunately. At noon we were told the winds were force 8.

We retired to the chart room for a tea / coffee and game of Jaipur before the 2.00pm "wipe out" quiz in the chart room.

We decided to be good and changed for 30 minutes in the gym.

On the way back to the room we used the forward scenic lift which with force 8 winds was kind of fun.

We took an afternoon nap and a bit of room service before going for cocktails and quiz in the Golden Lion Pub.

Our evening meal as ever was lovely with our evening companions and we ended with a Port and Baileys before coffee.

Back to the room and bed as we had ordered breakfast in bed and wanted to watch an early showing of Bridge of Spies on the TV the next day.

During the night sleep was interrupted by the movement slightly as it felt more pronounced and we were told later it was close to Force 10!

"please note I forgot to say on Day 3 we did spend a bit of time after dinner in G32 for an Abba "old mans dance" with "stylish wife dancing" :)

We showered and had a quick 3 laps of the promenade before some breakfast.

Then it was down to the photo gallery to choose our formal portrait before heading to the Golden Lion for a Name that tune quiz. We scored an ok 13 / 20.

Then it's off to the Royal Court Theatre for "An Audience with Celia Imrie". This was fun and was held with her old friend Fidelis Morgan asking most of the questions.

It was then time for deck 2 games corridor. We had got some games before the cruise and fully intended to use deck 2 board game tables for playing while watching the ocean from the Windows. This was our first time after 3 1/2 days onboard. It is such a magical mix of being busy and yet not being busy all the time!

After a couple of games of Jaipur we went to the deck quoits tournament and we played each other in the final!

Cathy won and I found the support for the female very sexist :).

Afternoon tea was devoured quickly so we could make afternoon trivia at 16.00 in the Golden Lion Pub.

We teamed up with Hugh, Caroline and an American lady we played with yesterday. We scored an ok 13 / 20.

We then had a couple of hours in our state room for cards and a snooze and prepare for this evenings events including an informal dinner.

Dinner as ever was lovely with good conversation.

Before bed we watched Troubadour in the Royal Court Theatre. They sang a mix of old and contemporary classics with a great amount of humour and talent, very good.

Then bed looking at tomorrow's itinerary.

Awoke a bit later than normal and as ever in both New York and on our crossing we slept very well. The bed and pillows are close to perfect!!

We like to watch the morning TV show from the entertainment director on channel 23.

We then had a short walk of two laps of the promenade deck before some breakfast in Kings Court.

We then went to an insight lecture from from Giles Ramsay on "Christopher Marlow: Poet and Spy", this was very interesting.

We then slowly made our way to the Pavilion Pool where we took part in Silly Bowling which was fun and we briefly met a couple from Barnstaple which is about 35 miles from where we live.

After this we got our swimwear and used the 1st day of our 3 day Spa Pass.

The Canyon Ranch is very luxurious and amazingly relaxing.

After about 2 1/2 - 3 hours we left for some late lunch and then to the Golden Lion pub for the 16.00 Trivia Quiz.

We then had 2 hours in our room and got ready for the 2nd formal night. We didn't go to the Captains Cocktail Party but went to the Golden Lion pub for Early Evening Trivia before our Evening meal.

Another lovely meal with our great companions Hugh, Caroline,Rodger, Beryl,"Ginner" and Sue.

The day ended and we retired slightly merry and very happy to review tomorrows activities before zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

This was our first full day and we were very excited as it was also our 25th Wedding Anniversary.

We had a champagne continental breakfast in our room and the sea is very calm today.

A slowish start with breakfast in bed and the morning entertainment show. We eventually went to the pursers office to see where we could purchase a soft drink package ( in any bar) and 3 day spa pass each ( from the Canyon Ranch Spa). We also found out that we could not view our account through the TV and had to get a print out from the Pursers office.

10.30am quiz in Golden Lion. Met up with Two couples who were a mix of American and British and had fun scoring a average 50%.

We had a Light Lunch in the Kings Court and a quick trip to the Library after looking at the Terrace pool and hot tubs. Cathy got an Anthony Horrowitz novel and I got a book of card games.

It was then time for a complementary Black Jack and Roulette lesson with Tony in the Empire Casino. Quite entertaining indeed.

At 3.30pm it was time for afternoon tea in the Queens room which was very nice indeed and the cakes and tea in particular were spot on.

We then had 30 minutes in our room for more down time and then Cathy had an appointment in the Salon ready for our combined first formal evening and Anniversary evening dinner. We had given our Bon Voyage bottle of champagne to the Brittania restaurant at lunch time so it was ready for this evening. ( or not quite as explained in Day 1!)

We had cocktails in the chart room before a formal portrait photo session and a quick peek through the shops.

Then our evening dinner in the Brittannia Restaurant with our midland and American table mates.

After dinner we went to the Queens theatre to see a good show of song, dance and comedy.

This rounded off a wonderful anniversary.