May 5 to May 12, 2024
I have always wanted to go on a Transatlantic crossing since the Queen Mary did them in my childhood. She was the epitome of class, awesomeness and wealth. We finally decided now was the time!! We had several considerations – #1 I had wanted to do it for most of my life, #2 We were going to Europe this summer, #3 What an awesome way to avoid jet lag (which gets worse as I age) and #4 The cost wasn’t much more than the one way plane fare. (And we could relax, eat and sleep for 8 days to get used to the time change, just enjoy the ship and no TSA or airline hassle.). Of course we chose an inside cabin as the only thing to see for nine days was water. The cabin was very comfortable with a reasonable amount of space. Lots more than even the best first class seat on an airplane.
Before we get into the details, I wanted to point out that in all the cruises we have done, we were never really sad and disappointed to leave the ship. In this case we both were. There was just something about the ambiance, class, and the “Britishness” of the experience that was special. If you have the time to do this, do it. It is by far the best way to get to Europe.
The Queen Mary 2 docked in Southampton, England and on the date we choose, also went 2 more days to Hamberg, Germany. We decided to go all the way to Hamburg since it fit with other things we were planning.
Boarding in New York was easy. We let Cunard arrange our air travel which was one less worry for us. We flew into La Guardia which used to be a horrible airport. They have redone the entire terminal and what a nice airport now!! Clean, nice art, nice shops, nice people, etc. Our Cunard representative was waiting in the baggage area for all of us who arrived on that flight. Unfortunately, Mike and I had barely made the flight in Charlotte but our luggage didn’t. It was still in Charlotte and would be put on the next flight. Not to worry, the Cunard rep took those who arrived with us to the ship and we waited at the terminal until the next flight arrived. Our luggage was there and the Cunard rep was there with us.
We boarded a Sprinter van with the others who had arrived when our luggage did. Straight to the ship and breezed through check in at Cunard and to our well appointed cabin. The Queen is one of the ships now using Starlink for Internet and it worked well.
Our dining time and cabin class put us in the main restaurant – the Britannia Restaurant for meals. It is very nicely decorated with subtle colors, which I prefer. Cunard assigns you a table for the duration of the voyage but you do have the option to change tables or sit with others when and if you prefer.
We met lots of people doing the entire voyage – New York, Hamburg and back to New York. When we got to Southampton, same thing, people doing the voyage across the Atlantic and back. Of course, not all, but lots of them were.
The ship gains one hour most days. She doesn’t gain it during the night like most cruise ships, she gains it at noon. The captain came on then and told us lots of ship facts – speed, depth below us, approximate location, temperature, weather, etc. He always ended by saying some quote. The last day it was, “There are good ships, there are wood ships, there are ships that sail the sea. But the best ships are friendships, and may they always be.” An Irish toast.
The buffet is good and they have various stations – bread, salad, grill (for eggs cooked to order, hamburgers, etc.), desserts, drinks, etc. Like on most ships but not quite a extensive.
We had room service twice a day and chocolates every night. There must have been a fair number of German’s onboard. They made announcements in English then in German.
We had cloudy, cool weather for the first few days. But, that was OK. We had lots to explore and do without going outside. Other people did walk. They had a deck where you could walk around the ship, 3 laps were 1.3 miles. At the prow of the ship, the had what looked like sculptures. They were called “The Captain’s Cufflinks” and were actually spare propellers for the ship. I would hate to be the one replacing them mid ocean, but they did have people who could do that if needed!
The Queen has one of the largest libraries at sea, about 10,000 books. It works like a library too since they have two staff for the library and you have to check the books out. The library is at the front of the ship with seating and ocean views. The shelves are gorgeous wood with glass fronts. There is also a Planetarium.
Queen Mary 2 is an ocean liner. It is not a cruise ship. An ocean liner is built with speed, agility and hull strength to transport passengers across oceans. They have a deep, streamlined v-hull that can withstand tough conditions. Cruise ships can certainly cross the ocean but they are mainly built as floating hotels and for entertaining guests. The Queen Mary 2 has a normal cruising speed of about 30 knots. Most cruise ships have an average speed of 21-23 knots and you can feel high seas easier on cruise ships. On Queen Mary 2, we had about 30 feet seas occasionally and we only felt a slight rocking motion.
There are lots of activities during the day. We went to most of the dance classes. They were taught by a male and a female professional dancer. The first day was the Cha Cha Cha. Just a little much for us, non dancers. Next day was a slow waltz. It didn’t seem too slow to us! Next was the Fox Trot, then another Latin dance, Rumba, then line dancing, and we gave up. They had a different class every day of the voyage.
They also have Zumba, putting competitions, bridge lessons and games, aerobics, art classes, trivia games, enrichment lectures from guest lecturers from well known historians and artist, Quoits tournaments, croquet, darts competitions, movies, shuffleboard, table tennis, paddle tennis and more. They also had movies as well as music shows in the Queen’s Room. There are several pools and hot tubs – all heated. One pool has a retractable cover they can open when the weather is nice. There is a kid’s program and pools for kids. There is a spa and a casino.
Entertainment was offered most of the afternoon and all evening. There were several very good pianist, each with different song themes – blues, country, classical etc., a harpist, a Folk Duo, Harmony String Trio who were excellent, a Jazz Trio, a Dixieland Jazz group, an excellent Queen Mary 2 Orchestra, a Queens Room Quartet, etc. Lots of music whenever and wherever. The Royal Shakespeare Company was onboard with an enhanced program of theater productions and workshops. Evenings they had music in many venues and shows in the Royal Court Theater. – musical and comedians mostly, but they were good. One night there was a tribute to the big bands, which of course meant lots of dancing.
And the BEST activity – the British know how to do Afternoon Tea!! They set it up in the Queen’s Room with live music. The tables are in groups of 2-6, set with white linen, place settings of a small plate, tea cups and saucers (all white Wedgwood), silver spoon for the tea saucer, fork and knife on the plate and real flowers. Strawberry jam was set out (individual jars, probably a hold over from COVID), sweeteners and cream for your tea. At 3:30, a line of servers with white coats, black pants or skirts and white gloves came out with silver tea pots and started serving. Everyone clapped a cadence for them to enter. There were so many servers, it didn’t take long (there were several hundred people there). Then they all came out with little sandwiches on a tray. Everyone got sandwiches. Then they brought out the sweets platters. Then circulated with trays of more sweets and sandwiches. Then they brought out the scones!! Wonderful scones!!! With little dishes of clotted cream that was soooo good. And they keep bringing tea and all the other stuff until most people left. It was very coordinated and great!! It was awesome and they have it down pat!!
We always find our favorite place to sit and our favorite bar. This was no exception. We mostly sat in the Chart Room which has comfortable chairs and seating and is also a bar. We also checked out several other bars – the Golden Lion, the Champagne Bar, the G32 in the evenings for dancing, and Corinthia Lounge with a large area and comfortable seating where they did trivia games, etc. But we always ended up back in the Chart Room.
We ate at almost all of their venues. We ate in the Golden Lion, a British Pub. Excellent fish and chips and Sticky Toffee pudding. All the food was great!
The Britannia Restaurant was the main restaurant. The buffet was called Kings Court. It had a regular buffet, grill area with hot dogs, hamburgers, etc, a sushi area, an area for light meals such as salads and sandwiches, and another area for pizza. There is also a speciality restaurant called the Steakhouse at the Verandah. There is an area called Sir Samuel’s which had “light bites”. There are also separate restaurants for suite guests. The service was good and the food was good. Not the best we ever had on a cruise ship, but certainly very good.
Our first formal night was our second night on board. We will have 2 on our 9 day cruise. You don’t have to participate but most people who sail on the Queen enjoy dressing up and dancing in the Queen Room to a live orchestra. There are several themes for the formal nights. The fist night was “Black and Gold”. We had gold accessories and wore some black. Some people really went to a lot of trouble to go with that theme, but most of us just accessorized. Our second formal night was a “Masquerade Night”. We had fancy masks. Most people wore masks. Again, only some people went all out. Both nights were lots of fun. You got to see everyone dressed up and enjoy the dancing and music.
Supper on formal nights was a step up. The first night we had Lobster Bisque, Chateaubriand and Cheesecake. The second one, we had onion soup and surf and turf – large shrimp and filet. It was good. Mike also had a lemon thing with a lemon cello topping.
The British Immigration representative came on board a few days out from Southampton. Everyone took their ship ID and passport to him. Everyone on board ship has to do this, even if they aren’t getting off in Southampton. Nice that we could do it on ship and not have to go through Immigration when we got to England.
The Queen also has Kennels. We couldn’t go in but we could see in and there was a walkway the dogs could go on with their owners. Cunard ships have always carried animals on board. Some worked for their passage, such as Britannia’s three cats finding the ship’s vermin. More exotic travelers have included an elephant, a hippo, a raccoon and a monkey. Some have even hitched a lift across the Atlantic, including one sparrow who forgot to disembark at Southampton and landed in New York. Dogs and cats continue to travel in style across the Atlantic on board Queen Mary 2. There are 24 kennels, lots of space to play and a dedicated owner’s lounge. So as not to cause any homesickness, British dogs find familiarity with a lamppost taken from the Cunard building in Liverpool and dogs from the USA naturally enjoy a New York City fire hydrant!
The 14th deck has a “Look Out”. You can see far out to the front of the ship. Cunard also has free laundry machines on every other deck; free soap, free washing machines and dryers. They even had irons and ironing boards for those who still do that (not me!).That was nice!!
When we arrived in Southampton, we had scheduled an excursion to Stonehenge. The other option was an excursion to Windsor Castle. Interesting note: We docked at the Mayflower terminal – one of five in Southampton. White Star (now Cunard) has always docked here. This is where the Titanic sailed from.
We left the ship on a bus and had a ride of an hour and 15 minutes. The guide said it was the best weekend in a long time. It was beautiful, sunny and mild. There were some interesting things on the way there – New Forest which is a protected area where animals have free reign – roaming horses, ponies, sheep, cows pigs, donkeys and deer. It was set up a long time ago with rules – no cutting trees, no fences and no hunting. The only one who has cut trees here was Admiral Cornwall. He had 2,000 trees cut to make one warship in the 18th century. Since 2015 it has been a National Park.
We passed Salisbury Cathedral which has the highest spire in England (in Salisbury). It is 404 feet. It is early English Gothic and took 38 years to build. Of note, the Salisbury Cathedral has the best copy of the Magna Carter in it. (Only 4 copies remain.) We also went through Hampshire, England where Florence Nightingale was buried in St Margaret of Antioch Churchyard.
Stonehenge is interesting!! Stonehenge dates to 3,000 BC so 5,000 years. Same age as the Egyptian Pyramids. It is surrounded by burial grounds.
I had been to Stonehenge about twenty years ago, and really wanted Deedee to see it. When I came there was no visitors center, just a fence around the site. Walk in, go anywhere you wanted. and next to no people. Now it’s overrun with tourists. Still very much worth the visit.
In 1918, the property was sold for 6,600 pounds. Today it is worth 51 million.
From the bus parking, it is a 5 minute shuttle ride to the stones or you can walk – about an hour for 2.6 miles. Summer and Winter solstice days are free admission and you can walk among the stones.
We took the shuttle bus to the rocks at Stonehenge. There were lots of people but the area around the stones that you could go in was large enough, people dispersed around fairly well. It was easy to get to the edge of the ropes and get good pictures. Then back to the Welcome Center which has only been there for 10 years. The buildings themselves were OK but the “decorative” stuff with the pipes on the outside were awful. They were supposed to represent the stones and help the building blend in to the landscape. I think it failed miserably and would have been better off without the decorations.
Back to the bus. There are 130 burial mounds around the stones. The people were buried in a crouching position. They can tell if a man or woman was buried there. Men had objects such as tools and weapons. Women had household objects and jewelry.
We returned to the port, we visited with an old friend of ours and Stony Truitt’s. Mike is a retired corporate pilot that flew Global’s and many other aircraft types all over the world. For a time he was Elton John’s pilot. He is also a precision watch maker, and is doing that in retirement. Mike took us to a delightful pub tucked away in a corner that would be difficult for any tourist to find, so was a local house. Wonderful food and great company
Southampton has 2 high tides and 2 low tides – called double peak high and low tides. It is a good shipping port because of that – there are 17 hours of rising tides. It is the largest container port in England.
Lots of people must have boarded in Southampton. The ship was definitely more crowded.
In Hamburg, Cunard arranged for a bus to take a us to the train station. We went from there to our hotel for the night.
Overall, this was a fabulous way to cross the pond. We were never without something to do if we wanted, but most of the time, relaxing, reading and just unwinding were our preferred choice. We are both looking forward to finding an excuse to do this again.
Next up – Hamburg and Zurich.