End of the Journey; Queen Mary II crossing live, May 27 to June 3.

I am posting the link to our blog. It is a daily report with pictures of each day’s activities as we work our way around the world celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary.

This segment is live on the Queen Mary II as we sail from Southampton to New York May 27 to June 3 and then fly home. It is the third and final time on one of the Queens on this extended trip. We sailed on the Queen Elizabeth on Feb 8 from San Francisco to Sydney, a segment of her world voyage, and then picked up the Queen Mary II on April 18 for the last segment of her world voyage, Cape Town to Southampton. We have been in Great Britain for the last three plus weeks having a great time. Hopefully our experiences will give others ideas, answer questions or maybe just provide some fun reading.

Just a little about our travel style...we are in out early seventies and love to travel. We have been taking trips of at least a month and up to five months since DH retired. Before that we planned trips. both cruise and land vacations. to maximize our limited vacation time. This is the forth trip longer than 2 months and the second one around the world. No organized tours, We do our own planning based on the way we like to travel and what we want to see/do. We like to drive ourselves and use cruise ships instead of long haul flights where possible and explore at our own pace. Being retired, we have the time so why not....no jet lag! We like lots of sea days and not to port intensive, but have found we don’t really enjoy staying on a ship longer than a month or so. Our only issue when traveling now is I have a bit of amobility problem so we have to be aware of steps and long walks.

This latest adventure started Feb 4th when we flew to San Francisco to spend a few days in the wine country before boarding the Queen Elizabeth and sailing to Sydney. We then flew on to Tasmania and drove around the island. From there we went to Melbourne and drove the GOR. Next stop was Bali and then on to Bangkok. This was the stagging area for our time in Burma which included a river cruise, then back to Bangkok for a few more days. Next were Seychelles and Mauritius and then on to Jo’burg, South Africa where we picked up another rent car and drove the “Wild Coast” and the “Garden Route” plus two safaris before finally winding up in Cape Town for a few days and boarding the Queen Mary to sail to Southampton. We arrived in Southampton on May 3rd, picked up our rent car and headed north. I have posted the daily blog with pictures through May 26 and will continue on the ship as we have internet.

If you are interested in what we are doing on the ship or have done on earlier parts of the trip, click on our blog, the last post comes up first. Or you can scroll down the page to the Index and click on any earlier post. They are listed in order by Date/Location. Hope you enjoy.

http://www.rtw50thanniversary.blogspot.com

I will check this thread as we go and again as internet allows. That way I can answer any questions...well maybe.

Congratulations, and what a wonderful way to celebrate :)

I look forward to following your voyage, have a fantastic time, and look after our ship for us!

I have followed your blog from the beginning and have enjoyed every post. So many beautiful photos, wonderfully written daily adventures and meals and your delight in all that you have seen and done. One of the best and most thorough blogs ever! Thank you.

Cheers, Patti

Have a wonderful time

Very enjoyable reading! Thank you for sharing with us !!!

Dear cwn,

Before reading your report further I have to tell you how much I like your photos of the fairy-tale-like, charming landscape. Each of them was well chosen and taken from the right angle. Thank you so much, congratulations to your wedding anniversary and best wishes!

Cats :)

Thank for the kind comments!

I finally was able to get our first two wonderful days up. Today is the big day! We are eating at Todd English tonight.

I'm on same ship same time but not having a good time. After traveling non stop for over 100days boarded ,asked my room steward to not disturb me for at least two days. His reply against the rules,must ck at least every 24 hours when asked why he's just smiled. After two days looked around .i know why this ship is a floating cementary with the corpses standing upright.service fine but don't know where they are going to find replacement cruisers. The casino only has .25 cent slots a few 1.00 and 5 @5 the food is bland and before you go nuts this isn't a dis but want some of the kook aid they're drinking

I'm on same ship same time but not having a good time. After traveling non stop for over 100days boarded ,asked my room steward to not disturb me for at least two days. His reply against the rules,must ck at least every 24 hours when asked why he's just smiled. After two days looked around .i know why this ship is a floating cementary with the corpses standing upright.service fine but don't know where they are going to find replacement cruisers. The casino only has .25 cent slots a few 1.00 and 5 @5 the food is bland and before you go nuts this isn't a dis but want some of the kook aid they're drinking

We have you beat as we have been traveling for 115 days nonstop. Doesn't sound like our cruise. Yes there are many older cruisers including us, but I see many young people too and young families...there are two families with young children in the Queen's Grill.

Food taste differ..we happen to like the food and we don't gamble so I won't even address that comment. Sorry it is not to you liking but it sounds like cursing may not be your style. This is our forty something cruise since 1984 and we have cruised on most lines and have enjoyed them all. There is little difference in the way the ships operate, Queen Mary is very similar to any ship we have been on, but we like the food here better than most especially in the Queens Grill!

Hope things improve for you.

We have you beat as we have been traveling for 115 days nonstop. Doesn't sound like our cruise. Yes there are many older cruisers including us, but I see many young people too and young families...there are two families with young children in the Queen's Grill.

 

Food taste differ..we happen to like the food and we don't gamble so I won't even address that comment. Sorry it is not to you liking but it sounds like cursing may not be your style. This is our forty something cruise since 1984 and we have cruised on most lines and have enjoyed them all. There is little difference in the way the ships operate, Queen Mary is very similar to any ship we have been on, but we like the food here better than most especially in the Queens Grill!

 

Hope things improve for you.

Congratulations on your 50th anniversary. What a wonderful way to celebrate! Thank you for sharing your journey with us.

As for mercury51, although hope springs eternal, I wouldn't expect any improvement in his sour mood. He's spouted complaints of the same ilk before. Given how unhappy he's been, why he's sailing on QM2 again is a mystery, but one not worth pursuing further.

I'm on same ship same time but not having a good time. After traveling non stop for over 100days boarded ,asked my room steward to not disturb me for at least two days. His reply against the rules,must ck at least every 24 hours when asked why he's just smiled. After two days looked around .i know why this ship is a floating cementary with the corpses standing upright.service fine but don't know where they are going to find replacement cruisers. The casino only has .25 cent slots a few 1.00 and 5 @5 the food is bland and before you go nuts this isn't a dis but want some of the kook aid they're drinking

:confused:

Wouldn't Las Vegas be THE place for you?

CWN,

How are the children behaved in the QG?

Welcome home and thank you so much for letting us travel with you.

Thanks Hattie,

Glad you enjoyed it. I will get the rest of the cruise up hopefully later today. We got off this morning. It seemed like a bit of a zoo...there were hundreds doing self service so it took a while to get everyone else started.....about 15 minutes later for QG. we started off at 8:30 were in the taxi at 9:15 and at the hotel around 9:45 and they had our room ready!!!!

wripro,

The QG children were very well behaved. There were a boy 4ish and girl 6ish not far from us and they ate in the DR for every meal. There were an even younger boy and an older girl at two other tables in QG who were very well behaved also when we walked by anyway. It was a couple of the old people who were an embarrassment...demanding and rude to staff!

Thanks for following.

I'm on same ship same time but not having a good time. After traveling non stop for over 100days boarded ,asked my room steward to not disturb me for at least two days. His reply against the rules,must ck at least every 24 hours when asked why he's just smiled. After two days looked around .i know why this ship is a floating cementary with the corpses standing upright.service fine but don't know where they are going to find replacement cruisers. The casino only has .25 cent slots a few 1.00 and 5 @5 the food is bland and before you go nuts this isn't a dis but want some of the kook aid they're drinking

DW and I were on this cruise, our 5th on the QM2 and 4th crossing. It was our favourite Cunard cruise yet. The weather was perfect -- a mill pond for the entire voyage, with the last few days warm enough for sunning and swimming in the pool. The crew were happy and helpful. The food was great. The lecturers superb (particularly Bill Miller and Joshua Levine). And we met lots of nice people and made a few new friends (usually at the Commodore club at the bar). While the age group on most crossings is skewered to retired folks who have the luxury of extra travel time, we were pleasantly surprised to see a number of folks in their 40s/50s, as well as a handful of young families. We enjoyed it so much we booked another crossing for later this year in August. But maybe after 63 cruises we are just not demanding enough!!

Congratulations on your golden wedding anniversary! What a fantastic way to celebrate. Right now I am reading your blog and enjoying it so much. Thanks for sharing it with us.

We were also on this May 27th crossing and it was our first time on the QM2. We had a great time and no real complaints! :) Food was great in the Britannia Dining Room where we ate most of the time.

Hope you arrived home safe and sound. :)

I'm on same ship same time but not having a good time. After traveling non stop for over 100days boarded ,asked my room steward to not disturb me for at least two days. His reply against the rules,must ck at least every 24 hours when asked why he's just smiled. After two days looked around .i know why this ship is a floating cementary with the corpses standing upright.service fine but don't know where they are going to find replacement cruisers. The casino only has .25 cent slots a few 1.00 and 5 @5 the food is bland and before you go nuts this isn't a dis but want some of the kook aid they're drinking

Not sure what denomination of slots you're looking for but this is not true. We're not gamblers but a few nights we were in the casino playing penny slots with friends we made on the ship. I would say half the slots are 1 cent and 2 cents. :confused:

Once again thanks for reading the bog and all the kind comments and good wishes!

We are home now and I am in withdrawal...no one to serve me eggs Benedict and lovely pastries in the morning!!! Unpacking is the pits! Plus I need to get the last two page of the blog done and have a mountain of laundry!!!!

Just some thoughts/observations about the two ships and passenger levels.....Our three cruises were great...Queen Elizabeth Feb 8 San Francisco to Sydney in the Britannia DR, QM2 April 18 Cape Town to Southampton, upgraded to QGs and QM2 May 27 in the QGs Southampton to NYC.

I will say there appears to be a slight difference in the food on a World Voyage (better) and a regular cruise. The food was excellent in the Britannia DR on the QE, though we do not like the fixed eating time, but we were trying out the idea of doing the cruise to move from Point A to Point B, as it was cheaper in the Britannia Class than to fly Business Class to Sydney and we had the time. Would we do that again...yes and go to Todd English when we want a special dinner.

We found that the Kings Court on the QE was very nice for those nights we didn't want to dress up or just wanted to eat early after a long hot shore day. Turned out we ate in the KC about half the time. That is really unusual for us, in over 40 cruises the Buffet Dinning room is some thing we have always avoided...too noisy, too crowded and we like to be served! Yet on QE it was never crowded and food was always fresh looking; not dried out. We did go usually by 7PM.

We were upgraded just before sailing from Cape Town and were delighted! The QG is worth every penny for the DR food and service and room service alone!. We ordered exactly what we wanted every night with all the little extras we fix for ourselves at home...grated cheddar cheese, chives and bacon for our almost nightly baked potatoes. Most nights, between the menu always available and the nightly specials, we were able to pick out combinations of foods we thoroughly enjoyed. Our waiter got to know what we liked and added our favorites to the order even when we forgot to ask. We really liked having the same waiter and table for all the meals.

The QG menu selections on the world voyage segment were a little higher end than on the TA, but, of course, you could order ahead those special things. However it was nice not to have to think 24 hours ahead.

We originally booked the QG on the QM2 TA because we would be celebrating our 50th on that cruise and really wanted to celebrate it. After two times in the QG and one in the Britannia we will mostly be booking the QG from now on, especially if we happen to be on the QM2. We thought the Kings Court a nightmare on the QM2 and didn't even like to walk through it to get to a more convenient elevator! Depending on the cruise we would go back to the Britannia on the QE..or maybe try the BC so as to have the open dinning time.

We are not night people and do not dance anymore...we don't go to the shows or the dances...not our thing and they are too late for us anymore. However we really enjoyed most of the speakers on all three cruises. That kept us as busy as we wanted to be during the days.

Also we tend to spend a lot of time in the cabin and on our balcony even if it is cool to cold as long as it is not raining. The Britannia cabins are just a little too tight for us. DH likes to spread out with his electronics and we both like to read with out having to be in bed. There wasn't enough desk space/comfortable seating for that or to enjoy a room service lunch with out being cramped.

The QG cabins are wonderful, lots of space. Plus it was really nice to have the dinning room lunch and dinner menus available for room service! It was nice to have the concierges, and not to have to go down to the pursers desk. We used him a number of times for various travel related arrangements, copies of statements etc. We liked the special evening events and the service in the Queens Grill Lounge. We did attend several of those events.

it was also nice to have the bar set up in the room...our steward changed out all the can drinks for coke and kept them supplied through out the cruise. The many perks were worth the additional price to us.

There were things we liked & didn't like about both ships. The QE is much easier to get around in and the KC is much nicer. But we didn't like the Queens Room being out in the middle of every thing on the QE, made it noisy and very confining when they closed the curtains trying to make it a private venue. That room on the QM2 was much nicer. The QM2 was harder to get around in with all the half levels and places accessible with only one bank of elevators, but loved all the open deck space. We wear fitbits and easily made our 10,000 steps just going to lectures and the dinning room....

You stated you ordered just what you wanted every night.

We will be in the Princess Grill this trip. Does that mean you can order anything you want to eat even though it is not listed on the menu? Do you need to let them know ahead of time? For example: can you order different veggies not listed or even a special entrée like steak Diane?

Of simple easy like I would like some cookies?

Also for room service, you can use the regular menus from the Princess Grill to order for your room?

Thanks for your help.

You stated you ordered just what you wanted every night.

We will be in the Princess Grill this trip. Does that mean you can order anything you want to eat even though it is not listed on the menu? Do you need to let them know ahead of time? For example: can you order different veggies not listed or even a special entrée like steak Diane?

Of simple easy like I would like some cookies?

Also for room service, you can use the regular menus from the Princess Grill to order for your room?

Thanks for your help.

The off menu ordering is a QG perk unless you have a very amenable head waiter or your request is minor. Yes you are able to order from the menu to eat in your cabin.