My first voyage on Queen Elizabeth

[rafinmd]

The airport shuttle is picking me up in an hour for the BWI Amtrak station and a train to New York. Tomorrow I'll be stepping aboard Queen Elizabeth for her transatlantic crossing, before flying across Asia via Angkor Wat, and then crossing the Pacific on the Crystal Symphony. I'll do daily updates here as well as have some pictures at:

 

http://angkorwatmyway.wordpress.com

 

Roy

[Whitemarsh]

The airport shuttle is picking me up in an hour for the BWI Amtrak station and a train to New York. Tomorrow I'll be stepping aboard Queen Elizabeth for her transatlantic crossing, before flying across Asia via Angkor Wat, and then crossing the Pacific on the Crystal Symphony. I'll do daily updates here as well as have some pictures at:

 

http://angkorwatmyway.wordpress.com

 

Roy

 

Bon voyage, have fun. If you get the time, check out the Yacht Club and let us know what your impressions are on your blog. Oh, and if you hit rough waves (or even choppy waves) be sure to let us know how the ship handles it.

[capnpugwash]

The airport shuttle is picking me up in an hour for the BWI Amtrak station and a train to New York. Tomorrow I'll be stepping aboard Queen Elizabeth for her transatlantic crossing, before flying across Asia via Angkor Wat, and then crossing the Pacific on the Crystal Symphony. I'll do daily updates here as well as have some pictures at:

 

http://angkorwatmyway.wordpress.com

 

Roy

 

Roy, have a good time.:)

[Underwatr]

Sounds like a nice trip. :)

[Mysticalmother]

Have a good trip - I will be embarking in Southampton as you disembark so I'm really keen to read your blog!

Not sure whether Atlantic waves are worse than Bay of Biscay ones......!

[imacruizer]

Bon Voyage, Roy! Looking forward to your daily reports!

[Cornus]

We'll also be boarding tomorrow...hope we meet up on board!

[Thaxted]

Have a wonderful journey, Roy. We'll be following your blog.

[Scrapnana]

Can't wait to follow your adventures. Bon Voyage!

[glojo]

Bon voyage, have fun. If you get the time, check out the Yacht Club and let us know what your impressions are on your blog. Oh, and if you hit rough waves (or even choppy waves) be sure to let us know how the ship handles it.

Hopefully I will remember to regularly check your blog and look forward to seeing as many pictures as you can post :)

 

Someone recently posted an excellent link showing either the Queen Elizabeth or the Queen Victoria navigating through storm force winds with the sea hitting her beam on. The ship was as steady as the proverbial rock.

 

Unfortunately some of us might feel ill when we have a bath as is displayed on numerous occasions when someone talks about a cruise being very rough whilst another passenger on the same cruise will tell us how smooth the seas were.

 

We are all different, we all have different tolerances and thoughts about what is rough or calm.

[bobby1119]

Bon voyage, have fun. If you get the time, check out the Yacht Club and let us know what your impressions are on your blog. Oh, and if you hit rough waves (or even choppy waves) be sure to let us know how the ship handles it.

 

Hi Whitemarsh,

 

I did a crossing to NY last January on Queen Elizabeth immediately following an eastbound crossing on Queen Mary.

 

There are some very lovely spaces in the ship, although the ersatz deco motif is a bit overdone in some areas. The Yacht Club lacks the legendary status of its namesake, although the silver QE2 model is displayed prominently in the room.

 

I was in QG where I found the food and service in the restaurant to be stellar, far superior to the grills on Queen Mary. My stateroom on Deck Five at the corner starboard stern was huge (it was an upgrade from PG). Because of the very rough crossing, it was like being in the drink blender.

 

We encountered two large winter storms that produced 25 foot swells. The ship shuddered and shook with a thunderous crash as she mounted the waves and plunged into the troughs. It was quite exciting. At times it was difficult to keep steady when walking or standing. QE and QV are not liners by any stretch of marketing imagination.

 

 

Incidentally, Captain Wells made a special announcement to inform us about the Costa Concordia tragedy which was unfolding during our stormy crossing.

 

Overall, I enjoyed the ship enough that I am contemplating a Med cruise in November that calls in Israel.

 

Bobby;)

[glojo]

Hi Bobby,

I was not on the Queen Elizabeth last year but some folks that were took the time to record those rough seas and having seen numerous clips to me it indicates how it is much nicer to have a longer, slimmer bow that could cut through those types of condition. What impressed me however was how upright she kept compared to the likes of the QE2. That ship still had the 'liner' type bowand whilst still pitching and tossing it appears to have far less vibration or flexing when compared to the Vista type ships?? (question)

 

The Queen Mary is certainly a better sea keeping ship and I am looking forward to our crossing the Atlantic on her next January :)

 

Look at the privacy partition between the balconies and check the angle with the horizon and see how much the ship rolls (or does not roll)

 

 

Also check how much the ship is rising and falling. Those conditions are dreadful but that ship is amazing and yes waves are crashing into the front end of the ship, but she is taking it all in her stride.. I don't know what folks expect when they cross any expanse of water in adverse conditions but to suggest these ships cannot cope with advers conditiosn is in my opinion most unfair.

 

YES a thousand times yes the Queen Mary is the better sea keeping ship but she is FAR bigger than these ships and has that bow designed to cut through heavy seas in a better manner than her smaller sisters.

 

If we want to know what it looked like when we look forward from I believe the Commodore Club then here we go and again look at how stable the ship is...

 

 

No furniture sliding about, no glasses being broken, no passengers on the floor whether by choice or falling over. Of course there will be vibrations\flexing as those seas are not to be fooled with and if we think the Queen Mary or the QE2 would not have slowed down then we are kidding ourselves and perhaps being unfair..

[Whitemarsh]

Hi Whitemarsh,

 

I did a crossing to NY last January on Queen Elizabeth immediately following an eastbound crossing on Queen Mary.

 

There are some very lovely spaces in the ship, although the ersatz deco motif is a bit overdone in some areas. The Yacht Club lacks the legendary status of its namesake, although the silver QE2 model is displayed prominently in the room.

 

I was in QG where I found the food and service in the restaurant to be stellar, far superior to the grills on Queen Mary. My stateroom on Deck Five at the corner starboard stern was huge (it was an upgrade from PG). Because of the very rough crossing, it was like being in the drink blender.

 

We encountered two large winter storms that produced 25 foot swells. The ship shuddered and shook with a thunderous crash as she mounted the waves and plunged into the troughs. It was quite exciting. At times it was difficult to keep steady when walking or standing. QE and QV are not liners by any stretch of marketing imagination.

 

 

Incidentally, Captain Wells made a special announcement to inform us about the Costa Concordia tragedy which was unfolding during our stormy crossing.

 

Overall, I enjoyed the ship enough that I am contemplating a Med cruise in November that calls in Israel.

 

Bobby;)

 

Thanks for that. Interesting point about the Grills on QE being superiour to the Grills on QM2. I thought that companies liked to standardise these sort of things, so it will be interesting to make the comparison for myself.

 

Do you know if the tables for six are near the windows? I want to avoid a 'courtyard' view if possible. I'm assuming the layout in the QG is pretty much the same as the layout in the PG.

 

The rough weather experience on the QE does sound exciting. But wouldn't it have made dining in the Grills (up there on the top of the ship) quite an experience? I'm not concerned about my stateroom as it's in the middle of the ship.

[rafinmd]

Thank you Whitemarsh, Thaxted, Captain, glojo, scrapnana, underwatr, bobby, Mysticalmother, imacruiser, and cornus

 

The Airport Shuttle arrived at 7:15 for my 25-minute trip to the BWI rail station. I was a bit concerned about traveling on Good Friday, and the station was very crowded but the boards showed all trains as "On Time". At 8:35 I boarded the Business Class car of "The Vermonter" one of the Northeast Corridor's trains serving an extended route into Northern Vermont. The car offers 2 and 1 seating and I settled into the last single seat. There is wifi on the train, but it is extremely slow, making the wifi on a ship seem blazingly fast by comparison. We left BWI about 7 minutes late and arrived in New York 3 minutes late.

 

On arrival I walked to my hotel, the Gem Midtown on 36th street. They stored my bags and told me my room would be ready at 3. My last time in New York was in the aftermath of Sandy, and I was left with a ship that couldn't get to New York, a depleted laptop battery no cell service and a hotel with no power. My communications lifeline was a Panera store on 8th Ave at 28th street. I went there early the next morning got coffee and used their power for both laptop and cell phone and their wifi to make arrangements to get out of New York and on to Charleston, the Crystal Symphony's next port of call.

 

I returned to that Panera today for both lunch and dinner, having lunch at the exact table where I worked out my escape from New York 5 months ago. After lunch I walked to the High Line trail which has reopened, and work appears to be under way for the final extension of the trail. I continued my walk to the Intrepid museum. The whole port area sustained heavy damage in Sandy; the Intrepid is reopened but the sign says the space shuttle Enterprise will open "in spring".

 

I plan to retire early tonight and hope to go down to the Hudson in the morning to watch Queen Elizabeth's arrival.

 

As today's parting shot, my return to New York brings a lot of emotional baggage. The area seems to have mostly recovered, but there are still quite a few signs of Sandy's presence. There also seems to be a very unusual amount of construction going on near the Hudson, perhaps also an after effect of the storm. May the next storm of it's magnitude be a long time in coming.

 

Roy

[bobby1119]

Thanks for that. Interesting point about the Grills on QE being superiour to the Grills on QM2. I thought that companies liked to standardise these sort of things, so it will be interesting to make the comparison for myself.

 

Do you know if the tables for six are near the windows? I want to avoid a 'courtyard' view if possible. I'm assuming the layout in the QG is pretty much the same as the layout in the PG.

 

The rough weather experience on the QE does sound exciting. But wouldn't it have made dining in the Grills (up there on the top of the ship) quite an experience? I'm not concerned about my stateroom as it's in the middle of the ship.

 

Whitemarsh (what's you real name?),

 

The views from the tables in the QG on this ship are great. There were larger tables in various locations throughout the dining room. There were only a few tables overlooking that silly courtyard. Although I was sailing solo like you, I was invited to join two other gents whom I know from CruiseCritic at their table. It was so delightful.

 

PG is almost identical to QG. I loved the Verandah Grill - such a refreshing alternative to Todd English whose time has come and gone.

 

I am sure you have inferred from my posts and observations that I am a QE2 diehard (I loved that ship and might forgive you your comments about the grand old lady someday:rolleyes:). Queen Elizabeth was very, very pleasant, although she is a cruiseship and not a right proper liner like our wonderful Queen Mary 2.

 

When are you sailing and what's your itinerary?

 

Bobby

[Louise D]

Hi Whitemarsh,

 

I did a crossing to NY last January on Queen Elizabeth immediately following an eastbound crossing on Queen Mary.

 

There are some very lovely spaces in the ship, although the ersatz deco motif is a bit overdone in some areas. The Yacht Club lacks the legendary status of its namesake, although the silver QE2 model is displayed prominently in the room.

 

I was in QG where I found the food and service in the restaurant to be stellar, far superior to the grills on Queen Mary. My stateroom on Deck Five at the corner starboard stern was huge (it was an upgrade from PG). Because of the very rough crossing, it was like being in the drink blender.

 

We encountered two large winter storms that produced 25 foot swells. The ship shuddered and shook with a thunderous crash as she mounted the waves and plunged into the troughs. It was quite exciting. At times it was difficult to keep steady when walking or standing. QE and QV are not liners by any stretch of marketing imagination.

 

 

Incidentally, Captain Wells made a special announcement to inform us about the Costa Concordia tragedy which was unfolding during our stormy crossing.

 

Overall, I enjoyed the ship enough that I am contemplating a Med cruise in November that calls in Israel.

 

Bobby;)

 

Bobby, thanks for those interesting comments. I will be doing the same westbound crossing on QE in January at the start of the world cruise and I hope that it will be a little calmer than a drink blender. I am also interested in your responses to Whitemarsh regarding QG and PG and the fact that you thought that QG on QE is better than QG on QM2. I am not sure why this would be so. Can you enlighten us further on this?

 

Louise

[Whitemarsh]

Whitemarsh (what's you real name?),

 

The views from the tables in the QG on this ship are great. There were larger tables in various locations throughout the dining room. There were only a few tables overlooking that silly courtyard. Although I was sailing solo like you, I was invited to join two other gents whom I know from CruiseCritic at their table. It was so delightful.

 

I've requested a table for six so it's good to hear that they're scattered throughout the restaurant - better odds of getting something near a window. I am concerned about the table location being near the courtyard, so I may investigate what I need to do to avoid being stuck there. To me, sitting at a table with a view of the courtyard would be the same as being placed near the entry to the PG & QG restaurants on Mary - not exactly the 'place to be seen' or where the cool kids sit.

 

How wonderful that those two guys invited you to join their table. It's always more enjoyable when you're dining with friends.

 

PG is almost identical to QG. I loved the Verandah Grill - such a refreshing alternative to Todd English whose time has come and gone.

 

You know, I too had a less than positive opinion about TE (after a lacklustre lunch there in 2012) but I have to say that the two TE dinners I had recently were both excellent (despite the irritating sommelier on the final night).

 

I am sure you have inferred from my posts and observations that I am a QE2 diehard (I loved that ship and might forgive you your comments about the grand old lady someday:rolleyes:). Queen Elizabeth was very, very pleasant, although she is a cruiseship and not a right proper liner like our wonderful Queen Mary 2.

 

I did promise not to slag off the QE2 anymore, and I will try to stick to that. :D

 

When are you sailing and what's your itinerary?

 

Bobby

 

So glad you asked. :D

 

 

Regards,

Peter

[rafinmd]

I walked down to Chelsea Piers and watched QE come up the river. Won't be long now.

 

Roy

[Whitemarsh]

I walked down to Chelsea Piers and watched QE come up the river. Won't be long now.

 

Roy

 

Nice pic, she looks great.

[bobby1119]

I've requested a table for six so it's good to hear that they're scattered throughout the restaurant - better odds of getting something near a window. I am concerned about the table location being near the courtyard, so I may investigate what I need to do to avoid being stuck there.

 

Regards,

Peter

 

Peter,

I have a visitor's pass today to be onboard QE. I'll try to get up to the QG and see if I can do some research for you; e.g, finding out what the table numbers are near the courtyard.

Bobby

[Rotterdam]

Sunny & a high of 58 degrees......sunset somewhere around 7:00pm...should be spectacular!!!!!

 

As a NY'er we are happy to have you back....we are still doing recovery work after Sandy - alot of it infrastructure downtown....

 

The piers on the westside seem almost back to normal - I picked up friends from a cruise a few weeks agao & all seemed fine.

 

Have the best of crossings - full moon - smooth seas to you!

 

 

 

 

Thank you Whitemarsh, Thaxted, Captain, glojo, scrapnana, underwatr, bobby, Mysticalmother, imacruiser, and cornus

 

The Airport Shuttle arrived at 7:15 for my 25-minute trip to the BWI rail station. I was a bit concerned about traveling on Good Friday, and the station was very crowded but the boards showed all trains as "On Time". At 8:35 I boarded the Business Class car of "The Vermonter" one of the Northeast Corridor's trains serving an extended route into Northern Vermont. The car offers 2 and 1 seating and I settled into the last single seat. There is wifi on the train, but it is extremely slow, making the wifi on a ship seem blazingly fast by comparison. We left BWI about 7 minutes late and arrived in New York 3 minutes late.

 

On arrival I walked to my hotel, the Gem Midtown on 36th street. They stored my bags and told me my room would be ready at 3. My last time in New York was in the aftermath of Sandy, and I was left with a ship that couldn't get to New York, a depleted laptop battery no cell service and a hotel with no power. My communications lifeline was a Panera store on 8th Ave at 28th street. I went there early the next morning got coffee and used their power for both laptop and cell phone and their wifi to make arrangements to get out of New York and on to Charleston, the Crystal Symphony's next port of call.

 

I returned to that Panera today for both lunch and dinner, having lunch at the exact table where I worked out my escape from New York 5 months ago. After lunch I walked to the High Line trail which has reopened, and work appears to be under way for the final extension of the trail. I continued my walk to the Intrepid museum. The whole port area sustained heavy damage in Sandy; the Intrepid is reopened but the sign says the space shuttle Enterprise will open "in spring".

 

I plan to retire early tonight and hope to go down to the Hudson in the morning to watch Queen Elizabeth's arrival.

 

As today's parting shot, my return to New York brings a lot of emotional baggage. The area seems to have mostly recovered, but there are still quite a few signs of Sandy's presence. There also seems to be a very unusual amount of construction going on near the Hudson, perhaps also an after effect of the storm. May the next storm of it's magnitude be a long time in coming.

 

Roy

[Rotterdam]

I walked down to Chelsea Piers and watched QE come up the river. Won't be long now.

 

Roy

 

 

I belong to Chelsea Piers & was in the pool and saw QE!!!! She looks lovely!

 

Enjoy!

[Whitemarsh]

Peter,

I have a visitor's pass today to be onboard QE. I'll try to get up to the QG and see if I can do some research for you; e.g, finding out what the table numbers are near the courtyard.

Bobby

 

Thanks Bobby! I'm looking for a six top with a good view out of the windows to the sea. Nothing near the courtyard - yuck.

 

If you get the chance, have a squiz in the PG as well for something similar. It's good to have all the options.

 

How lucky you are to get visitor passes. From memory, you've had these before haven't you? Thank you again, I really appreciate it.

[bobby1119]

Thanks Bobby! I'm looking for a six top with a good view out of the windows to the sea. Nothing near the courtyard - yuck.

 

If you get the chance, have a squiz in the PG as well for something similar. It's good to have all the options.

 

How lucky you are to get visitor passes. From memory, you've had these before haven't you? Thank you again, I really appreciate it.

 

Hi Peter,

 

We had a wonderful visit. The weather is glorious in New York today, sunny and mild. What a great sailaway the passengers are going to have, especially since the ship is sailing from the Manhattan terminal.

 

We had a pleasant lunch in the Lido and then roamed around the ship. It's every bit as lovely as was my impression when I did a crossing last year. Shame it does not do more cruises from New York.

 

As to your dining room question, There were only 4 tables for 2 adjacent to the courtyard, numbers 24, 25, 30, 31. Most of the tables in the QG were configured for 2. Identical in the PG. Iko Pranic is the Maitre'd in QG; Jamie Firth was in PG.

 

Be forewarned! There are many QE2 artifacts and memorabilia aboard. :rolleyes: So you must be on your best behavior and keep your promise to be kind to the old girl's memory! ;)

 

Cheers,

Bobby

[Whitemarsh]

Hi Peter,

 

We had a wonderful visit. The weather is glorious in New York today, sunny and mild. What a great sailaway the passengers are going to have, especially since the ship is sailing from the Manhattan terminal.

 

We had a pleasant lunch in the Lido and then roamed around the ship. It's every bit as lovely as was my impression when I did a crossing last year. Shame it does not do more cruises from New York.

 

As to your dining room question, There were only 4 tables for 2 adjacent to the courtyard, numbers 24, 25, 30, 31. Most of the tables in the QG were configured for 2. Identical in the PG. Iko Pranic is the Maitre'd in QG; Jamie Firth was in PG.

 

Be forewarned! There are many QE2 artifacts and memorabilia aboard. :rolleyes: So you must be on your best behavior and keep your promise to be kind to the old girl's memory! ;)

 

Cheers,

Bobby

 

I'm looking forward to the QE2 artefacts, actually, so I will be kind. :)

 

Thank you for checking out the Grills dining rooms. If I understand you correctly the tables near the courtyard are tables for two, so I shouldn't worry about being stuck there as I've asked for a table for six.