Greetings from the QM2!

[cusyl]

It says bound for NY, but as you can see, it is tied up at the dock.

[mufi]

Maybe that bit of dockside got snagged and taken for a ride like that guy in the wheel chair.

 

David.

[KenC]

Another day dawns…... The Britannia restaurant may be spectacular but during dinner what matters is quality of food and service, and both have been superb. The service in particular has been wonderful – the Maitre’D has moulded a superb team – which, in our case, is all ex-Queens’ Grill. And it shows. I have never had better service on a Cunarder.

 

..... and I imagine that once my wife gets on board in due course that she’ll test the facilities there with a comprehensive enthusiasm.

 

There is a wide age range on my table, and everyone is raving about the ship, and already discussing “next time”...... Certainly she deserves to be successful.

 

Matthew

Commodore Club,

Queen Mary 2

 

:eek: :eek: :eek:

 

Sounds more like the road to Damascus than a Transatlantic ;)

 

Matthew I am delighted that you have so enjoyed your QM2 crossing - I can imagine what your reactions will be when you cross in QG.

 

Ken

[whherron]

I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to catch up with everyone on board.

 

Mom and I were in Princess Grill. I had 10064, and she had 10066.

 

We were on within a half-hour of arrival at Southampton...we got there around noon. Mom used her American Express Platinum, which *seemed* to get us through faster, but it may have just as well been Princess class. My room included a "king-sized" (two twins pushed together, complete with the hump in the middle) bed, a "love-seat", a plush chair, a regular chair for the desk, more cabinets, closets, and shelves than I knew what to do with, a bathroom with tub and shower, and a balcony with furniture. Mom had the same. We also had a connecting door between the two rooms which Maintenance had to come and help us with...the previous occupant had *taped* the door shut, and they had to tear the tape off for us to open the door. We were unable to open the connecting door on the balcony because of a pipe that was in the wrong place to allow it, but we managed just the same.

 

We both noticed that people in "steerage" class (my apologies to those of you on Decks 4, 5, and 6) complained about the service they received. We agreed that, if they were receiving poor service, they were complaining to the wrong people. Ramonette was our room steward, and there were times that I would run into him coming in and out of my cabin. It was always clean and in good order, he did turndown service each night, and we had fresh fruit that was replenished several times a day. (I credit the fruit and the size of the ship with the fact that I weighed 10 pounds *less* when I got home than I did before I left...I wasn't doing any serious exercising, and I certainly ate plenty.)

 

Those of you in the Fashion Police may want to skip this part. Mom and I had both agreed that we were not going to bring anything but casual clothes, and we acknowledged the fact that we were going to be restricted to our dining choices after 6pm. The first night we were there, the maitre'd in Princess Grill found us a table for 2 just inside of the door, so that we were "out of sight" to the other diners but still able to eat and people-watch as everyone else came in. The food was great, and the service was wonderful. By the middle of the week, they would automatically bring Mom her after-dinner drink without being asked. The one time that my phone rang in my cabin was the second night. We had dinner at Lotus that night, and the call was from the Princess Grill maitre'd asking if we were okay and were we planning to come back later in the week. That's service. (Sidebar: I was more worried about upsetting other people by being "underdressed" than by being embarassed myself.) We ate in Princess Grill three more times during the trip, and each time was an experience.

 

We both had a wonderful time, and I was getting 8-10 hours of sleep a day for the first time in a long time. I doubt that we'll ever do it again (airfare, single-occupancy in the suite, a hotel room afterwards, and additional expenses ran me about $10K, and Mom's bill was close to $12K since she travelled Business Class), but for a once-in-a-lifetime trip it was wonderful.

 

Finally, Brooklyn. I had parked my truck there before I left for England. From the time they called our group to leave the ship at 8:45am, to the time we got our luggage, cleared Customs and Immigration, got the porter to bring the luggage to the truck, and left Brooklyn...30 minutes. It was wonderful how it all worked out.

 

If anyone has any specific questions for me, please let me know.

 

Care,

Bill

[Kindlychap]

We were on within a half-hour of arrival at Southampton...we got there around noon. Mom used her American Express Platinum, which *seemed* to get us through faster, but it may have just as well been Princess class.

 

It was the Grill that did it. Platinum refers to Platinum World Club, not the Amex platinum, which is so common that if they let everyone in the priority queue who had one, it would cease to be priority. I managed it in about 15 minutes, without Grill priority for the first time, but using my Platinum World Club status.

 

We both noticed that people in "steerage" class (my apologies to those of you on Decks 4, 5, and 6) complained about the service they received.

 

I have not noticed complaints about service on this crossing at all. Both Peter and I (both of us were in "steerage") have said precisely the opposite.

 

Matthew

[transatlantic fan]

A couple of quick questions for anyone that was on this crossing,What time did you sail under the narrows bridge?and approx what time did you dock in Brooklyn?

Thanks

[whherron]

A couple of quick questions for anyone that was on this crossing,What time did you sail under the narrows bridge?and approx what time did you dock in Brooklyn?

Thanks

 

We crossed under the Bridge at 4:37am Sunday. My cell phone was nice enough to wake me up at 3:15am when it saw the United States, and I was awake and on my balcony when we passed under.

 

It was pretty close to 6am when we finally docked. They made the final harbor turn about 5:30am, then backed into the dock.

 

Care,

Bill

[transatlantic fan]

We crossed under the Bridge at 4:37am Sunday. My cell phone was nice enough to wake me up at 3:15am when it saw the United States, and I was awake and on my balcony when we passed under.

 

It was pretty close to 6am when we finally docked. They made the final harbor turn about 5:30am, then backed into the dock.

 

Care,

Bill

Thank you very much for that.

Kevin