Nearly 2 months onboard QM2

[MylesS]

Hi all,

We've just spent the last near 2 months onboard Queen Mary 2 - from the 23rd of June to the 11th August (with a 1 week gap, as one trip was sold out!), and I thought I'd share some of the times we had here, as we were onboard for a lot of the "surprises" the ship has had during that time.

Firstly, this was not one whole cruise as I'm sure many will be aware. We did 3 back to backs. The 3 back to backs were the following:
- Roundtrip Transatlantic Crossing & Independence Day Celebration
- Eastbound Transatlantic Crossing (We were unable to get the Westbound crossing after the 21 night trip as it was sold out)
- Mediterraneann Highlights

Queen Mary 2 is our favourite ship, and she didn't disappoint during the last few months. There's been a lot said about her age showing and general wear and tear being "worse" - but for a 20 year old ship, I think she is in splendid shape. We saw a lot of TLC happening, especially in the Med, so I think they were using the gap in the transatlantic crossing schedule and taking advantage of the good weather to do this.

A highlight was on our second Eastbound crossing where the ship was doing 26 knots to avoid a storm in the early hours of the morning (12-1am) -- this is the fastest I've personally seen her go in a while whilst onboard.

As I've previously posted, we were impacted by the late arrival into New York due to the medical emergency and diversion to Halifax. We had our tour cancelled, but we made the most of the almost extra day at sea and sailing into New York & under the bridge in broad daylight is something I don't think I'll get to experience again. After disembarking for immigration, we made the most of a bad situation and went to the local IKEA in Brooklyn for some food and good views of the ship.

Halifx, although foggy was a lovely port and Peggy's Cove is somewhere I think we'll return to in the future. Boston, also affected by weather was a nice port and we enjoyed our tour. Due to the fog that had been following us for the past week, it made it hard to see the 4th of July fireworks, but the themed food in the Kings Court was great. We missed Newport due to weather conditions, but Captain Hall had found us a nice sunny space in the sea, and parked us there for the day.

The 3 transatlantic crossing we did were lovely, with plenty of time to relax and unwind in the spa, play games on deck 2, and enjoy the shows & other entertainment. A first for us, this also included the casino. Weather was great, other than a lot of fog throughtout them.

The Mediterraneann was a lovely end to our travels. Lots of ports and great tours provided by the ship. Hiking in Cadiz, a catamaran in Barcelona reminded us of our Christmas Caribbean cruise, and wine tasting in other ports. The port replacement for Villefranche was great, and props to Cunard & all involved who arranged great tours so last minute.

Weather between Civitavecchia and Valencia was very rough, ironically more so than the bay of biscay and transatlantics. This was great though as personally I love bad weather on QM2.

As reported the day before we had broken our mouring lines. We were returning from our nearly 8 hour tour to see QM2 in the middle of the harbour at an angle. One passenger who spoke Itallian was causing a right fuss, shouting and swearing at our guide in Itallian (we believe he thought the ship was leaving) -- eventually the tour guide just told him to "shut up" and a port police officer had to come on the bus to calm him down while we were taken to the ship's new bearth. 2 hour wait in the terminal before reboarding, but no issues, we just patiently waited before returning to the ship for dinner.

The staff throughout our time onboard were amazing, it was always lovely to see & say hello to those that were surprised we were still onboard/had come back so soon after the last trip, especially the staff in the Kings Court speciality restaurant. We had 3 seperate cabins for each segment, so 3 seperate cabin stewards. No way to fault them, amazing in every way, as were our waiters & sommelier at dinner.

If I had to point out a downside to doing 3 back to backs like this it would be the entertainment. Over the course of a longer trip like this, it can get repetitive, even with the movie offerings in Iluminations. Obviously we understand we were "unique" to staying on for so long, so I'm not complaining. This would just be the only thing I'd like to see changed/improved or as a warning to anyone else thinking of doing something similar.

Great trip and great 6 weeks, and would love to do it again. We're back on for Christmas this year and in the process of fully planning out next years travel, which I'm happy to say will still be with Cunard.

Thanks for reading!

[LibertyBella]

I love your report and your attitude!  I always say travel is an adventure, and you had a few--great memories. 

 

We sailed QM2 last year, and yes, she is a beautiful ship. We are booked on QV next Summer, but could never do a two month vacation, as we have many pets--cats, dogs, and birds,--so I am a bit envious of your long and wonderful voyages.  

 

Thank you for sharing!

Edited August 14, 2023 by LibertyBella

[alibabacruisers]

Thank you for your informative recap!  Love to hear your enthusiasm too!

[TowandaUK]

Thank you for your report.
We were in Southampton on June 23rd prior to a cruise on another line, and saw your Sailaway. It was so beautiful that we immediately looked at Cunard cruises when we got home and have subsequently booked for next spring. 

[nybumpkin]

11 hours ago, MylesS said:

As I've previously posted, we were impacted by the late arrival into New York due to the medical emergency and diversion to Halifax. We had our tour cancelled, but we made the most of the almost extra day at sea and sailing into New York & under the bridge in broad daylight is something I don't think I'll get to experience again. After disembarking for immigration, we made the most of a bad situation and went to the local IKEA in Brooklyn for some food and good views of the ship.

We were aboard with you for the June 23-30 crossing - thanks so much for posting your two-month experience!. I'm sorry we didn't have better weather for the daylight arrival into NYC - the smoke from the wildfires in Canada didn't make for great views. I took a photo of our view of the Statue of Liberty that day, compared with the same view I had in March sailing from NYC to Bermuda:

[NE John]

25 minutes ago, nybumpkin said:

We were aboard with you for the June 23-30 crossing - thanks so much for posting your two-month experience!. I'm sorry we didn't have better weather for the daylight arrival into NYC - the smoke from the wildfires in Canada didn't make for great views. I took a photo of our view of the Statue of Liberty that day, compared with the same view I had in March sailing from NYC to Bermuda:

I too was on that same voyage with the smoke. I still feel bad for the lax embarking after us. 

[nybumpkin]

3 hours ago, NE John said:

I too was on that same voyage with the smoke. I still feel bad for the lax embarking after us. 

 

 

 

They definitely had a rough time - at least we had food and drink, which many of them did not.😮

 

Looks like we took our Statute of Liberty photos at about the same time - the same two boats are passing in both pictures.

[IB2]

A sensible precaution, surely, would be to embark with at least one set of clothes in the next larger size up from the rest of your wardrobe?