We are to take the Queen Mary 2 (QM2) from Southhampton to NYC, arriving on September 8th, on the opening day of NY Fashion Week. This is QM2's first fashion cruise and there are people from the fashion world aboard.
Queen Mary 1 is retired to Long Beach, California. We visited her some years ago. In 2004, she was replaced by QM2.
When we enquired of a steward, where we might take a photo of the ship, he pointed us in a particular direction and reminded us that the Titanic sailed from the next dock on its ill - fated voyage!!
On arrival, embarkation was efficiently organised - check in, security check all completed and we were on board within half an hour.
Our stateroom is very well appointed.
We were greeted with a bottle of champagne on ice - nice touch!
We adjourned to the Carinthia Bar for a spot of lunch (I'm still not going to tempt your palate - maybe at dinner tonight?) There was a fantastic array of food on offer and next door in the King's Court - an even wider selection - we are British you know and more British now that we have brexited!!
We returned to our room to unpack - I have never taken so many clothes on holidays - I have been well trained by Ryan Air! With three black tie events, a Roaring 20s evening and dressing for dinner each evening, one requires an extensive wardrobe. At 1630 hrs the siren rang out and we had to go to our station for a safety demonstration and a lesson on how to put on a life jacket.
Afterwards, we repaired to deck, we were to sail at 1700 hrs and the champagne was flowing- at a price!!
As we waited whom did I espy but a former, Irish politician! We had a word with him and he asked if there were any more Irish on board? I replied that iit was probably unlikely. He looked relieved!!
As it turned out we didn't sail until 1800 hrs and as we sailed out of port, the British flags were distributed and the English passengers treated us to renditions of 'Land of Hope and Glory' followed by ' Rule Brittania' as we looked on with a wry smile! Brexit is alive and well !!
My only other experience of a cruise was from Fremantle to Singapore en route to Ireland, having completed a gap 6 months in Australia. On that occasion, there were streamers connecting the passengers with their loved ones on land. As the ship sailed out the streamers broke. For K and I, it was very emotional - we had no one to see us off! However, in those days, unlike today, travel was relatively expensive, and it would probably be many years before one saw one's loved ones again, if ever?
The pilot took us out to the English Channel and we saw the pilot ship return.
We were commencing our 8 day voyage to NYC.
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