overall impression of qm2

[hollywood heather]

CROUTON, I READ ALL OF YOUR ENTRY'S AT SEA AND THEY WERE FANTASTIC. SINCE YOU KEPT AN OPEN MIND BEFORE YOU WENT(IE:ALL THE NEGATIVE PRESS) WHAT WAS YOUR OVERALL IMPRESSION OF QM2 THE ACTIVITIES, SPA ETC.. WOULD YOU GO BACK TO THE QM2?

[JPEvans]

Heather
Crouton probably didn't notice your post. I will do you the favor. I was on the Tandem Crossing also. I met up with Crouton on a few occasions during the crossing(remember don't say the word "cruise") The QM2 is remarkable. Having been on 14 cruises and this being my first crossing, I've never seen a ship like this. Everyone keeps saying she's too big. I did't feel that, probably alot of my cruises were on very large ships, I guess I'm used to "big". I found her easy to get around. I have a good sense of direction. Some people complained they couldn't find their way. I would think it's the person, not the ship. I was pleasently suprised about the food. I enjoyed all my meals, sometimes things on the menu were alittle funky, but I found that true on all my cruises. My favorite meal was in Todd English for dinner one nite. I had the Lobster chowder, and the Risotto and for dessert the fallen cake. Make a reservation as soon as you board, if you wait you'll be dissapointed. One thing I noticed during our meal, the room was not filled at all, even though reservations said it was fully booked for the crossing. I would think if you walked up at the time you want to eat, they may seat you. Just a thought. I didn't get to see all the shows. They keeped changing the times of them. One nite it was after dinner, another nite it was before. I was told that "Rock at the Opera" was the best. But I missed it because my group had a cocktail party at the same time as the show [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img]
My favorite lounge is the Commodore Club. Sitting high up on the ship listening to the fog horn sound was a neat experience. The most stunning room on the ship(and quite possibly at sea) is the Queen Room. After dinner, the room was filled with elegant couples dancing under those beautiful crystal chandeliers, just magnificent. It's also a nice spot for tea, I personally liked tea in the Winter Garden. This crossing has been a dream of mine since I was kid. I've always been an ocean liner buff. I always wanted to cross the atlantic like in the old days. And finally I got to do it, in the same style and glamor of years past. Also being the Tandem crossing it made it even a bigger deal. I booked this trip in June of 2002. Almost years ago. That's a long time to wait [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif[/img] The departure of NYC on the 25th was probably the most memorable even in my life(so far) It was like the opening nite at the opera and "we" were the star. Many of the activities are a little different that a regular cruise. During the day I went to several interesting lectures, including Terry Waite(the hostage negotiator who became a hostage in Beruit) Most of the activities seem to be more geared to culture rather than cheesy fun. No hairy chest contest, no newlywed game, no dancing waiters with baked alaska. I didn't use the spa but it looked great, The gym is real nice. Everyone who I spoke to who used the spa had nothing but praise for it. If you go to CanyonRanch.com you can find all the info you need before you sail. I will sail the QM2 again, infact I think she's my favorite ship. I'm thinking about an 8 day cruise out of NY in March. All the negative reports must have been worked out, I didn't experience any of them. I'm sure as the ship is in service things will get even better. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

J.P.

[hollywood heather]

THANKS JP. IT WAS GREAT TO HEAR POSITIVE PRAISE AND THAT IT SOUNDS LIKE THEY WORKED OUT THE KINKS. I AM SO GLAD YOU HAD A GOOD TIME. I AM LOOKING SO FOWARD TO IT.

[dougnewmanatsea]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JPEvans:
[B]Most of the activities seem to be more geared to culture rather than cheesy fun. No hairy chest contest, no newlywed game, no dancing waiters with baked alaska.[/B]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Entirely aside from the fact that the ship herself appears spectacular and that her very existance has been pretty much a lifelong dream of mine (I'm very pleased to know that the designer Stephen Payne also dreamed of a brand-new ocean liner when he was told at a young age that it would never happen again!), that is something which really attracts me. I generally do not much like cruise ship production shows, singing and dancing waiters, tacky games/contests/etc... I know some people would and do think I'm a killjoy or a snob but it's just not my thing.

On another note, you mentioned lectures, this brings me to the question: what ship-related activities were onboard? I actually get the feeling that more of the "ship enthusiast celebrities" were on QE2, e.g. Bill Miller. I must admit if I were choosing I'd have taken QE2 as well, simply because it would have been the last chance to be on her as an Atlantic liner. But no doubt there were plenty of other ship enthusiasts on QM2 as well, was anything special organised along those lines?

Doug Newman
Cruise Critic Message Boards Host
e-mail: shiploverny AT yahoo DOT com

[curlyQ]

Hollywood Heather,

do us all a favour darling and...

STOP SHOUTING!!! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[hollywood heather]

Excuse me Curly Q I was not aware that putting everything in "CAPS" meant I was shouting. Thank you for pointing such importance out to me. I will definately try to break that habit.

[katyhotr]

Doug, Bill Miller was on the last westbound crossing and was fabulous!! He had at least 3 lectures and brought us into NY over the public address system talking about all the sights and history of NY ports. Probably the best part of the trip!!

[dougnewmanatsea]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by katyhotr:
[B]Bill Miller was on the last westbound crossing and was fabulous!! He had at least 3 lectures[/B]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
So he wasn't just there as a passenger.

I've never run into Bill (yet) but do read his books! My favorite is "The Last Atlantic Liners", written in the early '80s when QE2 and STEFAN BATORY were the last two ships on the North Atlantic (though not mentioned in his book, there was still scheduled South Atlantic liner service on Costa at the time). The outlook then is very interesting as Polish Ocean Lines were to replace STEFAN BATORY (never happened, POL no longer opreate passenger ships). Cunard was apparently investigating either re-engining QE2 (which of course they did) or building a 45,000 GT (!) replacement. The tone of the book makes it clear that neither was thought probable, and no doubt if you told Bill Miller then that QE2 would be re-engined shortly after his writing the book and a 150,000 GT replacement would be built 20 years later, he would have been very surprised!

Still, it's worth noting that aside from the demise of many of the ships featured in the book that had found new lives as cruise ships, the 20-year old volume is still perfectly up-to-date as an account of the postwar North Atlantic ferry, as there have been no new entrants in the market since then.

Doug Newman
Cruise Critic Message Boards Host
e-mail: shiploverny AT yahoo DOT com