Photos from Sea - Part 1

As promised, lots more photos from our crossing (in a two-part series).

Bridge alert! Crossing under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge which spans the entrance to New York Harbor. Although it doesn't look as dramatic in our photos, the clearance is alarmingly close, especially when moving at speed; the bridge on just clears the ship's funnel by 9-12ft. The ship also blows its horn as the funnel passes under, which must give the car drivers on the bridge quite a fright.

Underway in the open sea. We had very nice weather the first two days, with plenty of sunshine, unseasonably warm temperatures and a fairly calm sea.

One of the aft pool decks, though everyone had run off to change for dinner

The view looking forward from our stateroom balcony, which was fairly near the front of the ship.

And the view aft, looking down onto the boats suspended over the promenade deck.

From our balcony at night

Bridge Alert!

A view through the windows of the lower decks down in the hull.

Looks quite tame really. However, before we boarded her for the New York to Southampton crossing, the QM2 had made a quick run up to Quebec. On the way back down to New York, she had to go right through a tropical storm out at sea, including a Force 11 gale (that's right, all the way up to 11). The wave tops were taller than the windows at this level. Some of our passengers who experienced it said it was quite exhilarating, though several others were said to be looking a little green. 

We were also told that on that day, QM2 left at the same time as two cruise ships, both of which had to turn back because it was too rough for them to make the passage (relatively) comfortably. So if you're going to travel by sea during hurricane season, at least do it in an ocean liner. We managed to avoid them on our crossing though.

On to the entertainment:

We never ran out of things to do. Being at sea for a week, the nice people at Cunard kindly laid on a mass of shipboard entertainment for each day.

Bridge alert at 10:30am! We didn't actually play, so this was as close as we got to this bridge.

Sometimes however you just need to relax in one of the lounges and peruse the martini menu.

Note the Churchill variety of martini

Or if champagne is more your thing...

Dinner time! (No, the mini Mini didn't follow us everywhere)

Several evenings had a ball theme, such as the Ascot Ball in this case.

The ship's ballroom band played each night, giving us all a chance to practice our newly learned dancing routines.

The Ascot Ball featured a ladies hat parade. Unfortunately for Selina, we didn't know there was going to be an Ascot Ball, so she didn't have one of her fabulous hats with her!

Hello Southampton

And so the QM2 had docked on schedule in Southampton, finishing the voyage with a fairly dramatic 180 degree spin within her own length before pulling alongside the pier unassisted (I think). We have a little time to throw up a quick update post now before we disembark.

The Atlantic fog stuck with us right up until late yesterday afternoon, so thick at times you couldn't see from one end of the ship to the other, but finally cleared as we enetered the English Channel.

Our last couple of days were very calm on the water, almost erie in fact, with the ship barely making a wake behind her as we silently slid through the fog.

We did manage to get some time to dabble in a few deck sports. I took part in one of the shuffleboard tournaments, making it to the second round but alas being knocked out in a dramatic 'sudden death' round after a 1-1 draw. Selina and I also enjoyed a few games of paddleball, which is like tennis but 8 times sillier and therefor more fun.

Our last night aboard included 'The Last Night of the Proms' by the National Orchestra, with lots of British classical tunes and marches, and we were all given little flags to wave. It was perhaps a very fitting reintroduction to the mother country.

Stay tuned, more stories and a load of photos from our crossing to come later in the weekend.

Fog!

Not much to see today, though still a pleasant 18degC/64degF. Also, it's days like this when you can really appreciate radar.

From 48deg 41.14' N, 17deg 37.77' W

Aboard the Queen Mary 2

Hello from the mid-Atlantic. Yes, for those who were worried that they may have to read Morse code in order to understand this post, you can thank modern technology that the internet can be reached from sea.

Our position as of posting this is 47deg 12.06' N, 26deg 2.60' W.

 

As you might be able to tell from the quick mobile post we got out before getting too far offshore, we left New York to a fine sunset, enjoying drinks on the aft decks as we made our way out to a calm Atlantic. Our course actually took us due east, rather than a more north-east great circle route, in order to skirt around the bottom of the remnants of another tropical storm.

A couple of improved shots of New York as we departed

The sea remained fairly calm throughout the first two full days at sea, but yesterday, Monday, was noticeably rougher with a moderate swell. Alas, neither of us have particularly good sea legs and we both felt very unsettled on and off throughout the day, as we navigated through the ship trying to find out where the best location was to avoid the worst of the motion. Ironically, the pub, located on deck 2, was probably the best place, though we figured it was best to stick to soda water and ginger ale. 

I am happy to report however that today is much calmer, with hardly any noticeable roll or pitch as the ship ploughs (or plows, if you prefer) through the water.

The end of another day as we continued on through calmer seas

The ship itself is exceptional. She is a massive 150,000 tons, with a similar waterline hull size to a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier (with a very different superstructure, of course). Built as a proper ocean liner, her structure is entirely of steel, with a higher freeboard and deeper draft than similarly sized cruise ships in order to survive a 40 year lifetime of North Atlantic crossings. The interior design takes a lot of influence from the liners of yesteryear, with design cues from such ships as the first Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, the Normandie, the Rex, and of course the QE2. (Yes, I'be been reading a book on this stuff.)

The food is wonderful; four-course meals in the evenings, three courses at lunch, a variety of hot and cold breakfasts, all with perfectly sized portions. The service is great too, not only in the restaurants, but throughout the ship. There is essentially one crew member on board for every pair of passengers. Also, for a ship this size, there are only ~2500 passengers, so although we are running full, the ship never feels busy, even at meal times.

Our dining room. The middle opens out to a lower deck section below.

Mini-Mini joins us for dinner. Note that I have been given three forks. Oooh.

We have been keeping ourselves entertained, attending dancing classes before lunch, and going along to several of the lectures by guest speakers held onboard: Selina has been attending a daily art lecture, whereas I have been going along to a few lectures on submarines given by a naval historian. The ship’s library and bookshop also provides a quiet retreat. And there is always a promenade deck to take in some fresh air and gaze out at the grey sea (I even spotted a dolphin keeping pace with us yesterday).

From the promenade deck. I would say the angle of roll to the horizon was fairly accurate, or felt it at least, though I fully admit this is tame compared to what the Atlantic can throw at this ship on occasion. Only last week they had to go through a force 11 gale thanks to a hurricane. That would have been interesting.

In the evenings, there is live music in all the lounges, the balls have given us a chance to practice our newly learned dance moves, and the UK’s National Orchestra is onboard this voyage for a couple of concerts covering the First Night and the Last Night of the Proms.

Neither of us have been cruising before, so I can’t say how it compares to a Mediterranean or Caribbean cruise, but our understanding from fellow travellers we have spoken to is that it is a more relaxed pace, since you have 6 full days at sea with no stops and the hustle and bustle which can come with the shore excursions.

Age-wise, we are certainly in a minority, with the majority of guests being probably 60 and over (I guess you have more time for this sort of thing when you retire), but we have managed to gravitate towards a few other younger couples during the evening socializing, and frankly after all our travels over the past couple of weeks, the relaxed pace of everything suits us just fine.

Mini-Mini relaxes on the aft sun deck at sunset.

Stay tuned for another update later in the week. I think some deck quoits and shuffleboard might be in order.

Bye bye New York

So long America. It's been fun. Cheers until next time.

Neil and Selina (at sea)



(Posted from my iPhone, sorry for the photo quality...)

New York, New York!

We had a full day in New York without having to worry about bags, transport or our next hotel room, a unique situation on this trip so far.

Selina had never been to New York, and I hadn't been in several years, so we set out to hit up as many sites as we could. We hopped a cab up to Central Park, then grabbed lunch from a street vendor, which are everywhere in New York, yet largely absent from Chicago.

A walk down 5th Avenue provided plenty of temptation to spend more money, which we resisted for the most part. We did feel obliged to make a stop in the famous F.A.O. Schwarts toy store however.

The Chrysler Building

The Rockefeller Center by day

Despite some well dressed manikins, we passed by Saks and the other department stores, and proceeded down to the Empire State Building. We were half expecting a bit of a crowd since it was now approaching mid-afternoon, but it was relatively quiet and only took a few minutes to get our tickets and get an elevator to the top. That said, the 86th floor observation deck was still quite busy, so I'd hate to think what the place must be like during the busy tourist seasons. Needless to say, the views were excellent, and we were blessed with having a clear day with very little haze to obscure our view.

Empire State Building

The view south, towards the financial district and New York Harbor (Statue of Liberty is just visible to the right, at the bottom of the Hudson river)

The view west, with Times Square below, and New Jersey beyond the Hudson.

We also splashed out a but and bought the upgraded tickets for the 102nd floor, which is right a top the building's spire, riding up an old school manually operated elevator. The 102nd floor is enclosed, not open air, is round and is smaller (kind of feels like being in a lighthouse, a very tall lighthouse). Since the 86th floor is already taller than anything else around, the views form the 102nd are not a whole lot different, but the nice thing was that there were a lot fewer people so you didn't feel like you were squeezing up to the edge to get a good photo, so it was a bit more relaxed up there. Plus we got priority for the express elevator back down to the ground floor.

Looking up towards the 102nd floor

The inside of the building itself was beautiful 1930's art deco styles, not unlike several similar period buildings in Chicago, complete with several engineering-themed plaques in the walls". Our observatory tickets also got us a buy-one-get-one-free discount at the Empire Room, a swanky looking bar and lounge on the ground floor of the building, similarly decked out in 1930's style decor.

Oooh.

Two drinks each later, we set off again, calling in at the hotel to drop off some purchases and collect our jackets. The sun as beginning to set now, so we walked a few short blocks to the famous Flat Iron Building which looked great in the setting sunlight, before taking a quick subway ride down to the Brooklyn Bridge (we couldn't go through town without using the subway at least once!).

The Flat Iron Building on Broadway

The Brooklyn Bridge at sunset

The financial district again. No sign of any protesters though.

For dinner, we decided to go for sushi, a cuisine we have come to love living in Chicago. We figured that it may well be our last opportunity to eat good sushi for a while (I don't think Broseley or Ironbridge will have big sushi bar scenes).