The Long Crossing

As promised, today we're posting some photos from around the ship. Considering she is carrying about 2,500 passengers according to the captain, there don't seem to be any crowds anywhere, even at the pools.


We came on board not really knowing what to expect. Some people had said that the 'crossing' experience is different from a regular cruise, just because of the uninterrupted length of time with no change of scenery. Some said that the onboard service would be different than we've come to expect on a ship; some even said they didn't think we'd like it. We have to say that we have been pleasantly surprised by our actual experience. Our Princess Grill suite is quite roomy and comfortable;

Our stateroom attendant, Ronald, has been very friendly and attentive, and all of the staff have been just great. We've been to the Queen's Grill Lounge a couple of times and chatted with Gyorgyi, the bartender from Budapest.

She's given us some good tips about the ship, especially the warning about the time changes. Most of the time, moves from one time zone to the next are done at midnight or 2:00 AM. Captain Wells had the time change moved to noon instead. Gyorgyi says that for most of the crew it is great, since their nights aren't being cut short for 5 days in a row, and their sleep patterns aren't interrupted. Same goes for the passengers – except that lunch service starts and ends at odd hours to incorporate the lost time and it is a bit confusing. And we all know that you can't get between cruise passengers and their food! We've only had the experience for one day so far, but we have noticed that having the day shortened instead of the night makes for an easier adjustment. We'll update you on that as we go along.

The lecture program so far has been interesting. We have a maritime historian talking about the great ocean liners, a former US ambassador talking about current events, and an astronomer who gave some lectures on the universe and the US space program. The astronomy is quite topical given that Monica has her 'Understanding the Universe' lecture DVDs along instead of a book. The QM2 has the only on-board planetarium at sea and we were looking forward to experiencing it – only it is broken and they don't know if it can be fixed before the end of the crossing.



In Illuminations

It has been rather nice, with two formal nights in a row, to see everyone dressed up, and keeping to the dress code throughout the evening. We weren't sure if that would be the case. Last night was our turn for the captain's welcome aboard cocktail party in the Queen's Room. It is quite a spectacular ballroom, the largest at sea (no surprise since Royal Caribbean isn't likely to need a ballroom as such and only RCI has bigger ships – but QM2 doesn't have an ice rink…)

Captain's reception in the Queen's Room

The next formal night will be the 'Evening at Ascot' theme. At the knitters' get-together Monica found out that there will be an opportunity to make hats to go with our outfits. If she decides to do it, we'll show you the final result…

Here are some more ship photos:

The Winter Garden

Grand Foyer

Veuve Cliquot Champagne Bar

The Pavilion pool and bar

Looking down over the terraced sun decks

Along the Promenade Deck as
we cruise at 21 knots

The Royal Court Theatre

Sir Samuel's coffee corner

Monica also managed to catch the end of the fruit and vegetable carving demonstration in the Winter Garden. Here are the final products – these guys sure are talented!

Today, Friday, we're having a lunch with the Cruise Critic members and dinner at Todd English. That means a repeat of yesterday's 3 miles around the Promenade Deck is on the agenda as well!

Setting Sail

for Jolly Olde England!

Dinner at Aureole on Monday was excellent and not overly expensive considering the location and the notoriety of the chef. Here are a couple of photos of the restaurant and our meals.

Inside the restaurant. Upstairs is the wine room. The Aureole in
Las Vegas has a wine tower that sommeliers 'fly' through
to retrieve bottles.

Dessert - not as rich or as huge as it looks, but delicious chocolate and cherries!

We were out in good time to get to the show, which was also quite entertaining. On the way back we figured out that we had walked to, from, or across Times Square a total of 10 times in three days!

According to the Concierge, the drive from midtown Manhattan to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal at Red Hook could take anywhere up to an hour, given the traffic around the Brooklyn Bridge construction zone. Of course, because we allowed that long, it only took 20 minutes! And gave us the opportunity to photograph yet another well-known monument partly covered in scaffolding! We think we might just start a new blog asking people to identify what's behind the scaffolding from just the picture and a few clues-we've got a big enough selection. This time it was the Brooklyn Bridge itself. You can see from the photo that it is covered and under construction for about ¼ of its length. Why should we be surprised?

Once we finally got on board the Queen Mary 2, we started our wander about. She is a large ship – at one time the largest passenger ship in the world, before Royal Caribbean built the Freedom class ships and then Oasis and Allure. She's still quite impressive at 151,000 gross tons, with a capacity of 2,760 guests. Our first impression of the interior was that there are many different areas to just sit or get a drink and listen to the musician who might be playing at the time.

We had lunch in the Princess Grill, our assigned dining room, and found not only our table but the first couple of our tablemates, a British couple going back after a week's holiday in NYC. We had a very nice chat and a delicious meal; we also have one of the best tables in the room, overlooking a small terrace on the aft of the ship. It's ours for 3 meals a day if we want – but there are other venues we also need to check out, like the pub and a restaurant that features recipes by chef Todd English. At dinner we met the other two couples, both American. Looks like we'll have a pretty good table for this cruise.

Unlike regular cruise ships, where a lot of the design focus is on the outer decks, the QM2 designers put a lot of work into the interior, having a number of different spots available for passengers to use. Even some of the corridors have small tables and chairs by the windows, with board games and puzzles left out for passengers to just take a seat and work on them. (It reminded us of Le Boreal and the penguin puzzle that Lily left out for everyone to take a crack at!) And we could see why. Although the weather was quite clear and bright Wednesday morning, it was very windy, and one of the open areas on Deck 12 was closed because of it. That's not to say there's nothing to do outside. There is one covered pool, the Pavilion, a splash pool on Deck 13 and a Terrace pool on the aft deck where the New York sailaway party was held. In total there are five pools of different sizes spread over different decks, but it does seem strange to not have a true "pool deck" on a cruiseship. But then, as was pointed out to us by another guest, this isn't a "cruiseship" it's a "liner" and they are different. And truth be told, they are. This ship was built for trans-ocean crossings and for speed. While a ship like Oasis or Allure, with its rounded cruiseship hull will cruise at about 20 knots tops, this ship, which has a deeper v-shaped hull is quite capable of a sustained cruising speed in the 30 knot range.

Here are some more photos of New York to round out today's report:

Two NYC icons  - the Statue of Liberty and the
Staten Island Ferry

The sailaway party

Tomorrow we'll try to post some photos from around the ship. Oh, by the way, though we hadn't seen much before we got onboard about the entertainment and programs – the Daily Programme (yes, that's what it's called) is chock full of things from special interest and current events lectures to art and drama classes and fitness classes and spa demonstrations. So there's really no shortage of things to do; they just don't advertise that fact before you board!

Oh, and the reason the line doesn't post a departure time is that the ship has to pass under the Verazzano Narrows Bridge when the tide is low enough for it to fit. The distance from water level to the underside of the span is 67 metres and the ship is 64 metres high to the top of the aft stacks. We got this shot just as we started going under the bridge, so you can see how little room there is:

The internet is rather fickle on board - the best times for access are early in the morning or late at night; so we'll post the ship photos as soon as we get a chance.

It's Got To Be That New York City…….

…rhythm in our lives, in our lives!!!!! (With apologies to Barry Manilow!)


Other than a brief stop in 2009 on Crystal Symphony, this is our first trip to New York since our very first trip in (we think) 1998 with Norm and Barb. And most of that trip is a blur, so this has been an almost new experience for us.

The flight down on WestJet was uneventful. Until we landed. WestJet has only been flying to La Guardia since earlier this summer and it showed. After a normal landing, the pilot seemed to "jump" on the brakes as we rumbled down the runway! All we know for sure is that we were perilously close to Long Island Sound when we turned on to the taxiway!!! Welcome to New York!

After getting settled into our hotel, The Grand Hyatt beside Grand Central Station, we set off to explore the same way we always explore. But first, some food! We hadn't eaten since our sketchy breakfast at 6:30, so we found a great restaurant just up the street and directly across from Grand Central Station called the Pershing Square Cafe. We went there for lunch and decided that it would be our breakfast spot for the rest of our stay.

No, this is not an optical illusion - the road really does run
right over top of the restaurant!

After that, we walked. And we walked. And we walked some more. One of Larry's colleagues gave us a pedometer for this trip. According to it, we walked 7 miles!!! Walked over to Broadway, up to Times Square, all around Times Square, over to Madison Avenue, down to 34th St, across to Macy's, all over Macy's and, finally, back to the hotel. In time to change and head out again for dinner and the first of the three shows we are seeing this trip. By the time we finally got back to the hotel, we had walked about 12 miles total on the day. No wonder our legs and feet hurt!!!

Before going to the theatre, we felt we should have something to eat, since all that walking had burned off most of the calories from lunch. Norm and Barb suggested a place near Times Square called Famous Dave's (must be related to Famous Sam in Stouffville!) so we checked it out as it was on the way to the theatre. Good BBQ food – and lots of it – and quick service. It seems that nothing moves slowly in Manhattan, except the pedestrians!

Times Square from in both directions - up

...and down

Our first show was an off-Broadway production that has been running more or less continuously for 18 years, called 'Forbidden Broadway'. It is a spoof of current Broadway shows and stars and it gets updated at least once a year depending on who and what is popular and/or award-winning. This current version is called 'Alive and Kicking', and among the spoofs are: Newsies, Mary Poppins, Evita, Anything Goes, Smash (from TV), Book of Mormon and Wicked. And they do a spectacular job of tearing them apart. We barely stopped laughing through the whole show… and all this with 4 cast members, no sets and a pianist!

Sunday morning dawned nicer than expected so, since we had to be back at the hotel by about 1:00 to get ready for the afternoon, we decided to have breakfast and then make a first visit to Central Park. We took a cab the 17 blocks between our hotel and the park, just to save a little time. Here are a few photos of the park to give you an idea of it:

Sunday morning pickup softball games

Horse and buggy tours of the park

The Pond

We'd last seen it looking down from the 'Top of the Rock' on top of the Rockefeller Centre, when we were here in 2009, and from there you have no idea of the topography. It is, in places, quite hilly and there are lots of huge rock formations dotted around. They've made the park very family-friendly; and it is so peaceful that you forget you are in the middle of a city of over 10 million people!

Our second show visit was the afternoon matinee performance of 'Nice Work If You Can Get It', based on the songs of George and Ira Gershwin. This show is in an 'on-Broadway' theatre and was really our very first experience of a Broadway show. And it lived up to expectations! It was very funny, musically wonderful, and the costumes and set design were first rate. (As an aside - If there is ever a touring cast for this show and it comes to Toronto, make sure you get tickets – you'll have a fantastic time!!)

After the show, we were invited to visit our friend Jim Brochu, and we spent a great couple of hours with him. We'll be seeing him on board Crystal Symphony on the way back from England, so we really didn't have to say 'farewell' for too long. We had dinner at a little restaurant on 46th Street that he recommended called Joe Allen, and wandered slowly (especially through Times Square) back to the hotel to crash for a second night.

Just for Jane - Jim & Steve's cat, Steinbeck

Pedometer count so far: about 17 miles. At least we're working off all that food!

Just to keep all of NYC in one post, we'll add Monday's explorations. We had heard that the Intrepid Air & Sea Museum had opened its display of the Space Shuttle, so that was our main destination for today. We had also decided that we'd try one of the well-known New York restaurants, Aureole, which happens to be only about three blocks down 42nd Street, so we had the concierge make a reservation for us. More about that meal to come tomorrow.

The space shuttle 'Enterprise' is the one on permanent display here, although right now it is inside a gigantic tent on the rear end of the Intrepid's flight deck. For those of you who don't know, the Intrepid is a WWII vintage aircraft carrier that was turned into a floating museum a number of years ago. We were awed by the actual size of the Enterprise; although you can't go inside it, there is a huge amount of information on the shuttle program and the future of space exploration in the displays around the ship. Here are a few photos so you can see what we mean about the size:

While we were in the shuttle exhibit we had a bit of a thunderstorm. Fortunately we didn't get too wet running between the tent and the access to the Intrepid's hangar deck, so we toured around the ship while we waited for the rain to pass.

Once we'd seen everything we wanted to, we headed back towards the hotel. The Intrepid Museum is right beside the cruise ship terminal (not the one we're leaving from tomorrow – too bad) so it would be the equivalent of 12th Avenue if they were all numbered. We were heading back to Grand Central Station, which is at Park Avenue (or in number equivalent, 4th). We figured that each block is about 1/2 mile…so the distance to the hotel was about 4 miles. We're getting tired just checking the totals on the pedometer!

Of course, we couldn't go all day with no food, so we stopped at another place Norm and Barb had suggested – the Five Napkins restaurant, which also happens to be in Jim's neighbourhood. The burgers, although they looked great, were just a little too big for a late lunch before an early dinner. So this is what we had instead:

Larry's lobster roll sliders

Monica's Asian Chicken Salad

Back to the hotel, shower, change, repack the stuff we'd taken out of the suitcases and prepare a blog post – all before dinner and our last show, Rock of Ages. Hope you've enjoyed New York City; we sure have. Tomorrow we'll be boarding the Queen Mary 2 around noon to start that new adventure.

A couple of last shots of New York before we go:

The front facade of Grand Central Station and the Crysler Building

The moon peeking out from the top of the Empire State Building

On the Road (Water?) Again

Well, here it is - another three months gone by and time for another trip.  This one has been referred to as the ultimate decadence tour - taking a cruise to go on a cruise! We'll be spending a few days in New York to see some Broadway shows and visit with friends there before boarding the Queen Mary 2 for the 7 days across to Southampton. We'll be meeting a few people on board who will also be joining us on the return trip on Crystal Symphony - so we're not the only crazies! After a night in a Dover bed & breakfast, we'll be heading back this way on the northern route. Not only are we looking forward to visiting Dublin and Iceland for the first time, but also to the trip itself as we 'know', via Cruise Critic, a number of people who will be sailing with us. Keep an eye on the blog for more details.

We're trying to get our requisite 'cat in the suitcase' blog shot, but Franklin isn't quite as curious about our packing as Thomas was...

...as you can see, he's much more interested in taking a nap.

We hope you'll enjoy following along on this trip. With 16 sea days out of 21, there will be lots more to report about shipboard activities...But we'll have to keep an eye out on the sea as well. Anybody know about the chances of icebergs in August??