QE2 TRANSATLANTIC DECEMBER 2005

MY JOURNAL: Page 5 (1, 2, 3, 4

10-10-04 DO WE COUNT AS "SENIOR CITIZENS" TOO?: While browsing around my most favourite cruise site (Cruisecritic.com) I came across an article on their "Top 10 Cruises for Seniors". The QE2 was listed as #7.

They write: QE2's "annual world cruise attracts middle aged, middle income passengers taking a segment, and older, affluent seniors signed up for the entire voyage. Her transatlantic crossings and regular cruises have a bit younger passenger roster but seniors predominate. Many are theme cruises ranging from Big Band to Art Festivals to British Comedy. Dancing hosts are on every sailing; QE2 has 10 on world cruises".

The age question comes up a lot on the various groups and message boards. And as you may have seen from some of the posting though, what EVERYONE stresses is that the common thing is not so much age as the amount of interesting and well travelled people with stories you meet.

10-10-04 DRESS CODE, AND JEANS IN THE DAY:  The dress code for the crossing will be smart. 4 nights in tux and 2 in jacket and tie. So good excuse to get more clothes even though we have enough...

As BLAZERBOY writes: "on the QE2 last year, and agree that it is more formal- four formal nights out of six on the crossing, and the majority of men wore tuxes. But I wanted to add, in case anyone is fortunate enough to be in one of the grill restaurants, that even on casual nights, they required a coat and tie for dinner. Since, on our trip those were only the first and last nights, it meant having a jacket and tie ready for the first night, and held out of our luggage on the last. The maitre d' in the Britannia Grill (equivalent to Princess Grill on the QM2) would not let people in with out a tie unless their luggage was lost."


On the CRUISEMATES boards, a chap who has been on the QE2 a few times (Jon) wrote this about jeans:

"The other Jon Date: 09-26-04 17:12 In my experience you do not see too many jeans during the day on QE2, although more appear the further into the cruise/crossing. Dark casual trousers are probably a better bet though as it means you don't need to change for high tea. It is like the shorts in restaurants rule, you do see them at breakfast / lunch time (I've done it myself - shame on me) and no one says anything. This is unlikely to be an issue in December though....!"

The Dress code is:
Dress code applies from 6.30pm every evening.
Formal dress: Tuxedo, dinner jacket or dark suit with tie for the gentlemen, cocktail dress or other evening attire for the ladies.
Informal dress: Suit or sports jacket and tie for the gentlemen, regular/cocktail dress or suit for the ladies.

18-10-04 HOW EXCLUSIVE IS DELUXE; QE2 VERSUS QM2: Over the last day or so, there has been a lot of chat about the duplex suites on the QM2 and how they compare to the QE2 similar suites.

`the privacy and also the sense of "exclusiveness". I guess some snob value too.

Here is some of the discussion that took place in the Yahoo Group: CunardShipQM2

MKelly: " My wife and I were on a QM2 Caribbean cruise this past May. We were in one of the duplex suites that are situated on 9 and 10 decks aft. The accommodations, service, etc., were flawless. However, given the recent discussion thread on the locations of the restaurants, I wanted to raise one issue about the location of the room. The view from the room is mainly the fantail of the ship, looking onto the outdoor pool on 8 deck. When you walk out on the balcony, you are immediately aware of the stares of people by the pool. We would have preferred that there be a little more privacy, namely, that the room one be on side of the ship. When we were on the QE2, a number of years ago, we were in a room that was part of the balconied Signal Deck rooms that had been added after the ship was built."

STONEYARD: "When I saw the deck plans I was surprised that the most expensive accommodation was placed all around the ship. I thought it would be a separate annex with direct access to dedicated lounge, terrace and restaurant. The Queens Grill Restaurant and Lounge are not even connected and the Queens Grill Terrace has a stairway running though it.

As you say, on QE2 most of the expensive cabins are located in a very secluded `motel' high up (with nothing above) at the front of the ship. A private stairway links it to the Queens Grill Lounge and Restaurant. Almost a ship inside the ship.

P&O in Oriana have the most expensive accommodation grouped together in the middle of the ship. All balconies have views to the side"

Although Karen from the CunardQM2 group did make one point that is interesting (and only reminds me again how we may regret having booked a top notch cabin for our crossing...).

KAREN: "(In response to the question: Are) most new builds locating their top accommodations similar to QM2? I think most are, and that makes no sense to me. The most stable, smooth-riding area is amidships, and I would think luxury suites would be placed there, rather than forward and up on one of the top decks. That area can be an awfully rough ride in a storm or crossing the North Atlantic in the winter. If I paid considerable money for a suite, I'd like it in a comfortable part of the ship!"
 

Had to shield the images of the tossing Atlantic from Mark as he half watched the Building of the QM2" last night on the Discovery Channel... and definitely cannot show him this comment until we are on our way...!

MKELLY did later add the following which cheered me up: "I would say that the size and extras on the QM2 exceeded the QE2. However, I did enjoy the secluded nature of the QE2 suites. When you would leave your room, a private staircase and lift took you directly to the Queens Grill Lounge and restaurant. One other point about the location of the QM2 duplexes. During the anticipation stage of our cruise, I imagined sitting on our balcony while cruising the Caribbean. Given the tropical climate, I thought it would be easy to walk down one deck and take a quick dip in the 8 Deck pool to cool off. Well, I soon learned that the only direct path to the pool is through the Todd English Restaurant".

16-10-04 MORE TIPS AND THOUGHTS: Here is another of the people who wrote to me about the QE2 after they had seen postings early on. Marc was the first person to write, and he has been a great source of information. He has been on the QE2 six times - and done 3 crossings. The December one will be his 4th. He - not surprisingly - talks about how addictive the QE2 can become...!

Here is what he wrote:

"Hi! I saw your post about the Dec 15th crossing. I am also on, on lovely deck one!

This will be my third annual Dec crossing and my 6th QE2 voyage.

You will love QE2, but be warned that it can get rough in December. In 2002, we had rough seas and we lost silverware and plates from the tables. Last year, we had moderate seas.

The crowd tends to be older but wonderful!!!!! Your partner will have great fun. The outside temps tend to be in the 40s and 50s (F) until we hit North American and then it gets down to the 30s (F). Strolling on deck in December is a delight! Cool crisp air. People in everything from furs to trendy sweat suits. I leave for 12 nights aboard Queen Mary 2 in a month, but it is the QE2 December crossing that I am really looking forward to!! What else would you like to know? Marc"

In response to comments and questions he later added:

* "I GET SEA SICK VERY EASILY BUT THAT DOES NOT DETER ME. IF YOU ARE PRONE TO MOTION SICKNESS, GET THE PATCH FROM YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE YOU GO. ON BOARD, START TAKING SEA SICK TABLETS RIGHT AWAY. YOU CAN GET THEM IN THE PURSER'S OFFICE OR FROM YOUR ROOM STEWARD. IF YOU NEED A QUICK FIX, GO TO THE DR'S OFFICE (STAIRWELL C, DECK SIX, AS IN SEASICK) AND GET THE SHOT IN YOU REAR. IT WILL PUT YOU TO SLEEP AND SURE THE PROBLEM. CUNARD DOES NOT TELL YOU THAT IT CAN GET ROUGH"

* "I NO LONGER TAKE JEANS AS THEY ARE NOT NECESSARY. I TAKE KHAKIS AND DRESS SHIRTS FOR DAY WEAR AND MY TUX FOR EVENINGS!"

16-10-04 RING, RING - IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ATLANTIC: had always assumed that once we were out past land and certainly in the Atlantic that our mobile phone will not work. I know the ships have GPS and all that jazz from satellites, and there may be phones from the ship that work through satellite (as they had that on the "Aurora"). But recently there was a scurry of activity on a number of the boards and the groups on the topic. It did all start to get a bit technical at one point.

But the consensus seemed to be: you are on a crossing, in the middle of the atlantic.... why not just "switch off" in all senses of the word (although I am sure 6 days with no email checking will be hard for me... plus it will mean there will be at least 600 spam emails waiting..)

Here is some of the discussion on the topic of mobile phones on the QE2/ QM2 crossings:

RACINGLAWYER: "Question. Does anyone have any experience with the successful use of an International Cell phone during an Atlantic crossing?"

COLINCAMERON: " Take it you do mean an International Cell phone and not a satellite phone? In that case I'm afraid you're out of luck. You'll pretty much loose the signal when you loose sight of land... Part of the attraction of being in the middle of the Atlantic is being out of touch with land people".

TRANSATLANTIC TOM: "Yes, I couldn't agree more with Colin....one of the many wonderful things about a transatlantic crossing is being out at sea away from "the real world"....as far as I'm concerned being aboard a Cunard liner out in the middle of the Atlantic -at that moment in time- IS the center of the world/universe !!!"

CRUISR: "As you are going from Southampton to NYC, if you have an Intl. phone, you will get service all the way out the channel, past the Isle of Wight and depending on how good your signal as you are sailing along the coast of England. You will then lose it. I had my US cell phone with me and I received a signal (when I was on my balcony) at about 7:00PM the night before we docked (I guess we were off the MASS/RI/NYC coast)".