Any 12/9 QM2 cruisers online? Embarkation

[MeLuvDaSea]

My complaint about the transfers stems from the amount of time it took, to begin with. We could have hopped in a taxi and been at the ship terminal within minutes. Instead we waited quite a while before the Cunard rep would call the bus. This was not her fault as she was waiting for a passenger to locate their last suitcase.

 

Once that was done, she called for a bus and led us outside quite some distance from our starting point. Another long wait until the bus came. Once we were on the bus it headed for Pier 21. -or so it seemed. Instead, just before leaving the airport, it swung around and came back to pick up more passengers. Another long wait. We finally arrived at the ship, about 1 hour after landing in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

On the return, I really did not have much to complain about but I understand why some did. The bus-driver dropped us all off on a sidewalk halfway between terminals 1 and 2. There were no porters nearby, and some of the older passengers said they would not be able to walk the distance to either terminal on their own. Those were the very vocal ones. To make matters worse, the driver could also not tell them which terminal hosted which airlines, so they had no idea which way to go, if they wanted to.

 

I was spared any problem because our luggage was all on wheels, and I knew that Delta used Terminal 2. So my wife and I just walked the distance without much discomfort.

 

I hate that I am even talking about this because we had a wonderful trip and have already booked our next 'voyage' before this one ended. We are doing the Los Angeles to New York, 13-day segment of the QE2 world tour. It won't be until Mar. 30th, 2008 so I will have to find something to do the meanwhile.

 

Sincerely,

Don

[cusyl]

. The layout of the ship is fairly complicated and not well suited for disabled passengers

 

We found the food selection in the main dining room to be too fancy for our humble tastes, an "always available" New York Steak or Salmon on the menu like other ships would have been great. You could custom order them but expect to wait a long time.

Actually, I found the ship easy to get around. The secret is to go to the stairway that is near where you want to go and then use that elevator.

Since it was my second trip I knew where the handicap elevators were and it was easy to get to the (half) decks. What I had forgotten, but it is posted on these elevators, is to keep the button pushed down until you reach your floor. The ship is very handicap friendly.

 

I agree some of the foods were a bit "too fancy", but I did try some new things. John was able to order a steak on nights he didn't see anything he liked on the menu. Our waiters were great and we never had to wait extra time and they had his special salad ready for him every night.

[travel-to-go]

Don,

I am so happy to hear that you had a marvelous time. You are a lot like me. I drive myself crazy with worry and near panic before I go, then once I walk on that ship, cross that portal, all is trandformed, as if by magic!

 

You see, I told you all would be all right. Aren't you glad you didn't cancel? Still, I knew exaclty how you felt at that point, and my heart went out to you.

 

That is awful about that bus driver dropping them off midway between terminals. Fort Lauderdale has gone through tremendous work to make their terminal more passenger friendly in the past two or three years. they have relocated most car rentals to an area accessed via one shuttle bus, their parking is as good as it can be, and so on. They have truly come a long way. Even the TSA people, though strict, had marvelous senses of humor (although I find that is as much how you treat them- they're people, just like us! I usually get them laughing at ANY airport. They don't want to be, or be seen as meanies! They are just doing their jobs.) Being one who can not walk very long distances, even with rollaway luggage, and also not able to stand for too long (left leg goes numb very quickly. It can be excrutiating- not pain, exactly, but that pins and needles feeling like hn your foot going to sleep, only worse)

 

As for h-cap access on board, I am very aware, having been an advocate for people with all sorts of handicaps, of things that most [people simply do not think about. There were a few things about QM2, that I feel were ill-designed for this day and age. The half decks I thought were awful.. a person with a handicap does not want to feel singled out. Those lifts difinetly put you in the spotlight. If, like me, you don't use a wheelchair, it is particularly embarassing (especially being on the heavy side- SOME people love to think you are just using it because you are lazy, and equally that is why you are fat- Believe me, I have heard that from someone with a wife who he severly restricted in her activites about someone using a handicapped parking space who -visually- he determined wasn't really handicapped, just fat and lazy! This when I complained to him, in my offical company capacity as Disability Action Coordinator about his employees' use of the handicapped spaces for thier utility trucks!) Additionally, since the lifts did not go to the same places on both sides (one to the art gallery, the other to the photo gallery) and one was broken, it kept me from being able to get there at times. I just can't understnd that design on a modern ship! I guess it is all about attitudes and whether you take things into consideration, and most people simply do not ever think about these things, exscept when following a code they may or may not understand the reason behind.

 

 

Karie,

who is so glad to have had the opportunity to see things from other than her own perspective