M419 - About to cross The Atlantic for the first time!

Hi.

We weren't planning on doing another on this year, but other plans unfortunately fell through so we decided "What the hell"

This will be our third time on QM2, so we do know her quite well. But we've never done a T/A before.

Where's the best place to stand to watch our arrival into NYC?

Very excited now!

... Where's the best place to stand to watch our arrival into NYC? ...

Have a great crossing, Bon Voyage! :)

She slips under the bridge about 5 - 5:15 AM. The Statue of Liberty should be visible on her port side. I've seen people congregate on her propeller deck. The deck appears to be completely dark to aid visual navigation from the bridge.

How exciting for you! Have a great 1st Transatlantic!

Hi JollyJackTar52! I will be one of your Onboard Guest speakers on your crossing. I'm sure you will have a great time as there is always plenty to do on TA's. :)

Fair winds and following seas on your TA.

Thanks for all the replies! It seems as though we will be having 2 early starts for the holiday. We're travelling down to So'ton by Train on the Sunday and staying in the Ibis Budget near the Station, so will probably be up to watch her come in (About 5:30 to 6AM I assume?)

Spent most of last night looking through pepperrn's excellent photos. Thanks for sharing those!

mallorcasaint, what will be your subject matter?

I also understand that some days are in fact, 25 hours to make for the time difference? Is this correct?

 

I also understand that some days are in fact, 25 hours to make for the time difference? Is this correct?

Yes five of the days will be affected. The clocks go back during the night.

Thanks for all the replies! It seems as though we will be having 2 early starts for the holiday. We're travelling down to So'ton by Train on the Sunday and staying in the Ibis Budget near the Station, so will probably be up to watch her come in (About 5:30 to 6AM I assume?)

 

Spent most of last night looking through pepperrn's excellent photos. Thanks for sharing those!

 

mallorcasaint, what will be your subject matter?

 

I also understand that some days are in fact, 25 hours to make for the time difference? Is this correct?

The QM2 on 8th September is scheduled to arrive at QEII Terminal Dock Gate 4, entrance , some distance from the Ibis Southampton, So it is unlikely you will see her arriving from the hotel. But I am sure you will have a great time once on Board. Of Course the terminal could change but it is a busy day that day as

QUEEN MARY 2

AIDASOL

COSTA MEDITERRANEA

RUBY PRINCESS

are also in port.

For all the speakers see

https://ask.cunard.com/help/cunard/life-on-board/Speakers

(mallorcasaint speaks on Royal Astronomical Society)

Astronomer and astro photographer at the Norman Lockyer Observatory in Sidmouth Devon. Cruise ship lecturer and STEM Ambassador

http://www.southamptonvts.co.uk/Live_Information/Shipping_Movements_and_Cruise_Ship_Schedule/Cruise_Ship_Schedule/

The QM2 on 8th September is scheduled to arrive at QE2 Terminal Dock Gate 4, entrance , some distance from the Ibis Southampton, So it is unlikely you will see her arriving. But I am sure you will have a great time once on Board.

Oh, I'll be getting up and walking to wherever she comes in! :D Our Travel Agent said he understood that we'd be departing from the Ocean Terminal but it would be confirmed by Cunard in due course.

I was thinking of trying to get on what looks like a carpark on Town Quay - here - http://here.com/l/50.89253,-1.40548,16/TownQuay.

"here" says it's about a 25 min walk from the Hotel. Any good?

... I was thinking of trying to get on what looks like a carpark on Town Quay - here - http://here.com/l/50.89253,-1.40548,16/TownQuay. ... Any good?

Was taken from the Town Quay car park of QM2 at the QEII Terminal on the morning of my first crossing :)

Have a great time! :)

Oh, I'll be getting up and walking to wherever she comes in! :D Our Travel Agent said he understood that we'd be departing from the Ocean Terminal but it would be confirmed by Cunard in due course.

 

I was thinking of trying to get on what looks like a carpark on Town Quay - here - http://here.com/l/50.89253,-1.40548,16/TownQuay.

 

"here" says it's about a 25 min walk from the Hotel. Any good?

The Terminals can change, but if it is QE11 then see for the location.

From the Town Quay, yes you can see the Solent but again QE11 terminal is unfortunately the first one on the right as the ships enters Southampton Water from the Solent.

see

http://www.abparking.co.uk/directions/qe2_cruise_terminal

I personally would not bother as it can not be guaranteed what time the ship arrives. What you must get up for however is the QM2 Going Under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

Thank you again all.

And thank you Pennbank for the information about the other ships in port that day.

Hi JollyJackTar52 I deliver talks on astronomy on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Oh, I'll be getting up and walking to wherever she comes in!

Unfortunately Southampton is not the easiest of ports to see your ships arrive. The one exception is perhaps City Terminal and staying at the Holiday Inn.

I am often in Vancouver and there it is great to get up early and watch the ships sail under the Lions Gate Bridge and arrive at the Canada Place Cruise terminal - are there other ports that are easy to see the ships arrival?

The Ibis has the SMALLEST hotel rooms I have ever stayed in. There is nothing at all wrong with any aspect of the hotel, but remember that if you inhale with vigor your chest and back will press against the walls..................

Hi JollyJackTar52 I deliver talks on astronomy on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Nice of you to introduce yourself, AstroExeter.

Dear Husband and I won't be on this crossing, but will look for you on future voyages. I'm sure your lectures are very interesting.

Bon Voyage (in advance).

Jimmybean

Hi JollyJackTar52 I deliver talks on astronomy on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Sounds very interesting. Thank you.

We're also planning a day in the Spa, an Evening in Todd English, making heavy use of the Library and the Gymn to keep off those extra calories!

Hi,

We have another Question!

Financial Constraints mean we aren't able to extend our Stay in NYC. We aren't overly bothered about this as we did NYC last year on a fly holiday (it was cheaper at the time to fly to and from NYC and do Norwegian Fjords on QM2 than it was to do NYC on QM2)

However. We'll get into NYC early hours as all Transatlantic Veterans will know and our flight back to Birmingham from Newark departs at 19:05 local time on the same day.

The Voyage Personaliser says that we can't book any excursions, so would anyone be able to tell us what Cunard will do with us, given the Voyage "Includes Flights & Transfers" - Surely they won't take us straight to Newark?

The Voyage Personaliser says that we can't book any excursions, so would anyone be able to tell us what Cunard will do with us, given the Voyage "Includes Flights & Transfers" - Surely they won't take us straight to Newark?

I've done this (flown back on arrival day) a few times before (and also stayed over in New York).

You'll be given details on board of which coach to head for on arrival at Redhook.

Your coach will then typically take you on a tour of Manhattan's traffic jams.

There is a guide on board, the most recent one I had was very good with his information, if a little laid back and gave out a slight air of disorganisation.

One I had several years ago was less good... only seemed to know the prices that "A Listers" had paid for their apartments and where they were located.

They will take you to somewhere like Macy's and then give you an hour to two hours (depending on the number of traffic jams you've enjoyed) of free time to get some lunch (other spots they may stop at instead include the Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Grand Central, the World Trade Center.

Your luggage stays securely on the coach.

The coach will cross and re-cross Manhattan with the guide pointing out the tourist sights and apologising for the traffic.

The only down side is that once they've picked you up after lunch they'll usually head more or less straight for the airport (maybe via one or two more sights), so be prepared for quite a wait before your flight.

Hope this helps :) .

Hi

 

I've done this (flown back on arrival day) a few times before (and also stayed over in New York).

You'll be given details on board of which coach to head for on arrival at Redhook.

Your coach will then typically take you on a tour of Manhattan's traffic jams.

 

There is a guide on board, the most recent one I had was very good with his information, if a little laid back and gave out a slight air of disorganisation.

One I had several years ago was less good... only seemed to know the prices that "A Listers" had paid for their apartments and where they were located.

They will take you to somewhere like Macy's and then give you an hour to two hours (depending on the number of traffic jams you've enjoyed) of free time to get some lunch. Other spots to stop include the Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Grand Central, the World Trade Center.

Your luggage stays securely on the coach.

The coach will cross and re-cross Manhattan with the guide pointing out the tourist sights and apologising for the traffic.

 

The only down side is that once they've picked you up after lunch they'll usually head more or less straight for the airport (maybe via one or two more sights), so be prepared for quite a wait before your flight.

 

Hope this helps :) .

pepperrn, Thank you. That sounds much better than the coach ride straight to the airport we'd feared. We got to see the main sights last year, including - and most importantly - the "Stay Pufft Marshmallow Man" Apartment Block from Ghostbusters. Can't you tell we grew up in the 1980s?

pepperrn, Thank you. That sounds much better than the coach ride straight to the airport we'd feared.

A warning however.

A couple of years ago (December 2012) a couple booked the coach to the airport and then decided to make other arrangements. They didn't tell anyone (the purser's desk, or stop at the coach to say something) of their change of plans.

So my coach with over twenty people on it waited in vain at the ship for well over an hour (I forget the exact time) for them to arrive and board.

The coach driver and guide established, when they didn't show up after a while, that they had indeed left the ship, so then paged them in the terminal.

Still no sign, so still we waited (you can imagine the fuss if we'd left without them).

Eventually after a very, very long wait, we headed for Manhattan.

Thanks to them our lunch break and free time in Manhattan was chopped short to under 45 minutes.

If they are reading this now, I'd like to thank them for thinking of others when they decided to change their plans. So very kind of them :rolleyes:

I'm sure this won't happen to you :) , at least I hope not :(

All best wishes,

We got to see the main sights last year, including - and most importantly - the "Stay Pufft Marshmallow Man" Apartment Block from Ghostbusters. Can't you tell we grew up in the 1980s?

(My (younger) brother's kids think I grew up in the 1880s... "what, you didn't have mobile 'phones when you were growing up? Did you have television?"... )

:) Yes, I can :) HeHe.

 

(My (younger) brother's kids think I grew up in the 1880s... "what, you didn't have mobile 'phones when you were growing up? Did you have television?"... )

My Great granddaughter aged 16, dressing for her High School dance earlier this year, asked me if I wore a crinoline to my first dance when I was her age.

You should have seen her face when I replied, "No, it would have got in the way when I was up on the roof putting out incendiary bombs" !

Oh. Which reminds me. (Not the nostalgia, about NYC :) )

Anyone wanting to do NYC and is looking for a great hotel. We used The Hotel Metro (http://hotelmetronyc.com/) when we did our fly-holiday last year.

Very reasonably priced, art deco styling and you could not ask for a more central location. It's practically next door to The Empire State Building & 5 mins walk from Macy's. There's an excellent rooftop terrace from which the Empire State practically smacks you in the face and a small gym too.

There are also plenty of bars & restaurants on W35th street too, including the Hotel's own Metro Grill.

We did briefly look at this again for September, but they are currently only permitting a minimum of a 3 night stay and it would have blown the budget :(