Capnpugwash is back on the high seas, BTB on QM2

[Salacia]

Aggsy,

I wonder if you are not one of those 'jogging against the flow' types the good Capn was writing about recently. :D

 

Mister Chicken, no matter: it's all water down the drain :D (Ok, I've exhausted all my very limited knowlege and puns about drains, so I'll stop now :)) Cheers, -s.

[capnpugwash]

Update No 20

 

We sailed a little after 5pm and it was too warm to go to the sail away so instead I went up to the cool of the Commodore Club and had that cold beer. Afterwards I walked along deck 7 to the stern and the deck was as crowded as I have ever seen it, John Maxtone-Graham the historian was talking over the tannoy explaining things about the ship and how it all works. It was very interesting and quite unexpected.

 

I went to the Chart Room before dinner and it was almost empty, a CC member who I have known for a while found me and we had a nice chat and arranged to have some lunch later next week.

 

Sitting in the bar a few stools away was an American wearing an Aloha shirt, which I thought was serendipitous after the heated discussion that occurred on another thread, I don’t know where he ate as he disappeared down towards the photo area. Heading into the dining room there was a man who looked just like ZZ Top complete with the hat, I don’t know if it is him but if not it is his double. I arrived at my table and waited alone for 15 minutes, no-one arrived so I ordered a Caesar salad and some spaghetti, I had just ordered and another guest arrived, we were the only ones there for the evening. The upshot was that I had finished my meal by 9.30, which is something of a record.

 

We are 6 hours out of New York and the fog has rolled in, the foghorn is sounding regularly and I have goose bumps on the back of my neck.

 

Today is Saturday June 11th and it is around 5.30am, we are heading due east in slight seas at 21 knots and we should continue this routing until we are off the Grand Banks when we will start a great circle track. We have a rising barometer and the air temperature is 57/14 degrees with a force 5 headwind. We have a wonderful 2976 nautical miles to go until we get to Southampton.

 

I had an early breakfast in King’s Court, they seem to have had some Weetabix delivered in New York which is great, I am having internet connectivity problems which only started yesterday, having tried everything I know I am going to have to go to the internet guy on board and be made to feel totally inadequate as he fixes the problem by simply clicking on some unknown key or doing some other easy fix, at least that is what I hope will happen.

 

It is only 7.20 so there is still three quarters of an hour before the spa opens and a two hour wait for the internet desk to open.

 

More later

[north east girl]

Hi Capn, We were offered a great price for this eastbound trip via e mail. Unfortunately not due some time off from work until 1st July. Would have been lovely to be onboard.

 

Thanks for all your updates, have a great journey back. Have you any plans to meet any cc members on this trip?

 

Catherine

[capnpugwash]

Hi Capn, We were offered a great price for this eastbound trip via e mail. Unfortunately not due some time off from work until 1st July. Would have been lovely to be onboard.

 

Thanks for all your updates, have a great journey back. Have you any plans to meet any cc members on this trip?

 

Catherine

 

There is a CC meet in Connexions 3 on deck 2, but that is a windowless box so I won't be going.

Sorry that you are not on board.:)

 

Update No 21

 

As you can see the problem has disappeared without recourse to techno man. It seems that it may just be in the vicinity of my cabin that the Wi-Fi is not working but as I was heading to the spa I tried it and I was able to connect, sadly I wasn’t able to see so I just posted what I had written. After the spa I went to the Purser Desk to report this matter and to try to get it fixed, there was a sweet young lady there who blamed it on the satellite and all other things, she was not the sharpest knife in the box and couldn’t grasp that it was working yesterday morning in my cabin and isn’t working now so something was obviously done yesterday that made this difference. As it works elsewhere on the ship it clearly isn’t related to the satellite either. Fortunately she wrote the complaint down on the “to do list” which is dealt with later on this morning.

I was walking along deck 7 and saw a small fishing boat about 8 miles away, between us and them were a large number of 8 to 10 inch pink floats, he was either collecting and emptying lobster pots or perhaps had a number of drift nets in the water, whichever it was we were only 30 feet away from the nearest of them and as I could only see those on the starboard side, realistically we could have been sailing blithely through the middle of them all. With smaller propellers I suppose that could be a major concern as the nets or lines could wrap themselves around the propeller and damage it or the engine. As these weigh over 300 tons each, that situation is unlikely to happen.

Mr Maxtone-Graham is lecturing on his favourite subject this morning, Ocean Liners and their history. He is normally very popular but the lecture is in Illuminations rather than the theatre. I would like to go and hear him but fear that it might just get too crowded, having said that it will possibly be empty and I will have put a hex upon him.

Just to let you know, the Wi-Fi is now operational.

More later.

[capnpugwash]

Cap'n:

This is the one thing about taking a cab to the pier in October that has me a bit concerned. It's unpleasant to be sitting at a standstill watching the cab meter tick higher every minute. Do you recall what your '10-minute' cab fare was? We'll be staying in Brooklyn before our cruise so the distance and experience may be similar to yours.

 

$15 plus a tip.

Queen came from Zagats, I think

Temperatures will do

Photos etc has been in a while but last time at Manhattan I was just waved through once I told the IO tha I was in transit.

[Underwatr]

$15 plus a tip.

In that case I won't sweat it. On the other hand, I wonder how unmetered car services account for waiting time.

[M & C]

Any sign of the racing pigeons?

[hwfiv]

In that case I won't sweat it. On the other hand, I wonder how unmetered car services account for waiting time.

 

If you're in an unmetered car service, then your price is the price they tell you when you book the car. So the good news is that, even if you're stuck for an hour in traffic, that price doesn't go up. Or it shouldn't! And if it mysteriously does, just do what we New Yorkers do, and tell the driver "no! that's not the rate that I was quoted".

 

But I take car services all the time, and I've never had one try to pad the fare because he hit traffic. Usually, they'll do whatever they can to get around it, so they can get on to their next customer. But in a yellow cab, yes, the meter will continue to go up as long as you are in the cab - regardless of whether you're moving or not. Although I do believe that the meter in a yellow cab goes up a bit slower when the car isn't moving. But don't quote me on that - because I rarely pay that much attention to the meter until I arrive at my destination.

[Underwatr]

Although I do believe that the meter in a yellow cab goes up a bit slower when the car isn't moving. But don't quote me on that - because I rarely pay that much attention to the meter until I arrive at my destination.

As someone who is unaccustomed to paying cab fare, every click makes me twitch. :)

[capnpugwash]

Any sign of the racing pigeons?

 

There are at least 2 of them still on board and hopefully more, I will explore.

[capnpugwash]

Any sign of the racing pigeons?

 

I think that there is only one left.

 

Update No 22

 

I needn’t have worried, the lecture was very well attended and there was actually standing room only. He has a wealth of knowledge on his subject and he was both informative and entertaining. He told us that he has a further 4 lectures to give during the week and if possible I will try to attend most if not all of them. Sadly he is also on board to further his sales of books by signing them after purchase; it seems that nothing or no-one is immune from the influences and vagaries of commercialism.

It is now 1.45pm and the sea is quite as calm as the Atlantic ever is in spite of the force 5 headwind that we are fighting with, we are south, south west of Halifax and making 22 knots. The air temperature is currently 57/14 degrees and the barometer is rising. It is quite difficult walking along the deck and I was certainly being buffeted by the wind across the deck.

I went up to the area of the Boardwalk Café on deck 12 which was where the pigeons were to be found last week, I walked all round the deck but only found one pigeon in residence outside the kennels, he was totally unperturbed by my presence and just carried on strutting his stuff. I have no idea what may have happened to the others but I hope that it is nothing untoward.

I then went to the Commodore Club where I met one man who is a CC member; we had a nice chat for almost an hour and then went our separate ways. I went back to my cabin and taking my passport went and saw the UK Immigration Staff who are on board, the afternoons are always very quiet with them and although I was not due to see them until tomorrow I went and there was no queue, no problem and everything was fine, she did look at every page in my passport for some reason but I knew better than to ask her why she was doing it.

More later.

[thranite]

I think that there is only one left.

 

 

Has pigeon been on the menu?

 

:rolleyes:

[Dugald Drummond]

Has pigeon been on the menu?

 

:rolleyes:

 

Speckled Jim?

[Mister Chicken]

Has pigeon been on the menu?

 

:rolleyes:

 

Capn,

Perhaps your fellow "transit passenger" is a Passenger Pigeon. :D

[Dugald Drummond]

Speckled Jim?

 

By way of explanation.....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm_JcrakoQU&feature=related

[Palmetto Lady]

Having disembarked from the QM2 yesterday, I am curious. What is G32??

[capnpugwash]

Having disembarked from the QM2 yesterday, I am curious. What is G32??

 

It is the on board disco at the rear of the Queen's Room on deck 3.

[capnpugwash]

Update No 23

 

The afternoon passed without incident, and it is almost 6pm and time to get ready for the first formal evening of this eastbound leg. The weather is unchanged and we have sailed 530 nautical miles leaving 2692 to Southampton. Our speed through the water is almost 23 knots. It is the welcome aboard cocktail party tonight for all the passengers, and will be held in the Queen’s Room.

 

I went to the Chart Room before dinner and was fortunate to bump into Commodore Rynd and his wife, Julie. They were just passing through on their way to the cocktail party, they stopped for a chat and I commented how nice it was to be going along at 23 knots, he explained that we were riding along on the Gulf Stream which had surrounded it with clumps of seaweed from the Sargasso Sea. It seems that we could lose the influence at any time as it is very difficult to track and locate.

 

I went into dinner and we have a new set of guests. There are two sisters from Mexico City who are travelling because their father was unable to do so. There is a couple from the USA comprising an Italian and his wife who is originally from England. John Duffy was also there tonight and the last guest was the man who had arrived 15 minutes late last night, he surpassed this tonight and got to the table at 8.50pm. I must say that I consider this to be very rude behaviour, not just to his fellow guests who had to wait for him to arrive but more so to Mr Duffy as his host, there was no apology at all. Maybe life’s too short but I happen to think that there is no excuse for poor manners.

 

The meal was fine and after finishing I went to the commodore Club for half an hour, there was a young man sat at the bar in a polo shirt and shorts which I thought was a bit off really, the shirt was perhaps OK but the shorts certainly weren’t. Anyway after a brief word from the barman he left, only to reappear in a jacket and trousers. I left there at 12.15am which of course is 1.15 and walked long deck 7, it was so very pleasant, a slight breeze and a nearly full moon reflecting on the almost calm sea, of course I didn’t have my camera with me but I will try again tomorrow, I know that never works but it is too late to do it now.

 

More later.

[ColumbiaSC]

Capnpugwash, I am enjoying your reports as usual, but things seem a little tame on the current Eastbound trip. But it is only Day 1. Could you inquire about whether John Duffy will be on board the Queen Mary 2 Oct 7th through Oct 23rd?

 

Does John Duffy host a table only at Second Sitting? I assume so, but . . .

 

Don.

[capnpugwash]

Capnpugwash, I am enjoying your reports as usual, but things seem a little tame on the current Eastbound trip. But it is only Day 1. Could you inquire about whether John Duffy will be on board the Queen Mary 2 Oct 7th through Oct 23rd?

 

Does John Duffy host a table only at Second Sitting? I assume so, but . . .

 

Don.

 

Don, I believe that he is on board then, he goes on leave on July 20 and returns in time for the Round Britain trip. Regarding hosting, the answer is yes. The tables are only hosted on second sitting.

[mrincredible]

Hi Capn

 

As you are now a verteran of the north atlanctic, which is your favourite sailing direction?

 

Many thanks

[capnpugwash]

Hi Capn

 

As you are now a verteran of the north atlanctic, which is your favourite sailing direction?

 

Many thanks

 

West is best, imho. 25 hour days.:)

 

Update No 24

 

Today is Saturday June 12th and the morning is beautiful, the water is very calm and glasslike, the sun is reflecting in a broad band across the surface. Surprisingly the air temperature is 53/12 degrees and the moderate breeze has shifted to a north westerly force 4. We are still making 22 knots so I assume that we still have the benefit of the Gulf Stream.

I went to the King’s Court for an early breakfast at about 7.15 this morning; I shared a table with a lady who is a CC member. We bumped into Commodore Rynd in mufti as he walked through and picked up a glass of juice. He stopped by and we all had a nice chat about various things. 5 minutes later he was off to continue his morning tour of the various facilities. It is heartening to me that the boss has his hands on the basic operations of the ship and that he has a visible presence whilst on board. The Master of the Ship has a large number of roles that he must fulfil and this, whilst apparently minor, is vitally important. After all the food and beverage areas are the heartbeat and the public window of the ship and the staff, by which the whole is often judged.

The ship was rocking a little for about an hour this morning which was interesting but the motion has now subsided. It is 11am and we maintain our speed. The air temperature is 53/12 degrees yet in a sheltered area the sun is nicely warm. The sea is a lovely turquoise/green colour looking into the sun and on the other side of the ship with the sun behind it is a slate grey. We have now sailed 850 nautical miles since New York and roughly level perpendicularly with the south east tip of Newfoundland. The ice is very far north at the moment so I think that on the next westbound crossing we will be able to sail a very northerly great circle route which will bring us close enough to actually see this tip of land.

More later.

[RJChatsworth]

Good Afternoon Cap'n

 

Good to meet you in the CC yesterday afternoon.

 

I endorse your comments about people who are constantly late. Why are they so selfish, rude and arrogant to believe their time is more important than anyone else's time!

[rosler28]

I won't tolerate bad manners. What if that person had decided to set elsewhere? You woul be waiting all night.

 

Unfortunately, I can guess what nationality they are.

 

10 mins max and then order. I would also tell that person in quite clear language as to what they had done wrong.

 

I wouldmnever, ever be late.

[Nippy Sweetie]

On one cruise we went on a "lady" was always up to an hour late which was bad enough (we didnt wait after the first few days) but she also arrived drunk and was one of those people that know absolutely everything about anything. We used to be glad when she was very late so we minimised contact time but then she complained that we were rude leaving the table while she was still eating!!