Month: August 2008

Contributed by: filbert Wednesday, August 06 2008 @ 12:06 PM CST

Part 10

May 20 (Tuesday, Day 24, At Sea) –

Even with the time change we slept in until around 9:30 AM.  We ordered coffee and a fruit plate and Snookums finally showered in order to do a load of wash.  Then we went to lunch at the buffet.  The buffet is separated into four distinct areas that are actually pretty far away from each other.  It’s a weird layout since you have to walk quite far to get items from the four different stations.  There is an Asian station, the grill station, the Italian station and the carving station.  Today we both ate from the Asian station and enjoyed red curry with beef and vegetables.

Ship’s library

For people that haven’t sailed on Cunard before, here are the scheduled events for part of today:

11:00 – Skin Care Ingredients: Separating Hype from Reality (Canyon Ranch Day Spa)
11:00 – Amber Lecture (Jewelry Shop)
11:00 – Darts Competition (Golden Lion Pub)
11:00 – Silly Bowling (Poolside)
11:15 – Book Signing (Library)
11:15 – Salsa Dance Class (Ballroom)
11:30 – Queen Elizabeth 2 from 1969 to 2008 Lecture (Planetarium)
11:45 – Quiz Time (Golden Lion Pub)
Noon – Eight Bells to mark the exact time of midday (Grand Lobby)
12:15 – Jazz Pub Lunch (Golden Lion Pub)
12:15 – Interest Corner: Pet Lovers (Champagne Bar)
12:15 – Masonic Brethren Gathering (Boardroom)
12:30 – Tango Dance Class (Ballroom)
1:00 – Planetarium Film (Planetarium)
2:00 – $1,150 Snowball Jacket Bingo (Ballroom)
2:00 – Duplicate Bridge Session (Atlantic Room)
2:00 – Power Pump Fitness Class (Fitness Center)
2:00 – Watercolour Class (Chelsea Room)

This afternoon we did some serious sea watching.  Filbert put on a jacket and his shortwave radio earphones and set up on the balcony.  When he would see something, he would motion and Snookums would get up from reading on the bed and join him.  We saw several pods of dolphins.  We also saw a whale that blew through its spout several times and we saw its back once, but didn’t see its fluke.  Filbert also saw a big turtle.

This afternoon we sailed within two miles of where the Titanic went down.  It took the same route that we did (Liverpool to New York) and managed to hit an iceberg in mid-April.  On our cruise we haven’t seen any icebergs!

Tonight is the last formal night and is the Ascot Ball.  We got all dressed up and had a nice dinner in the sit-down restaurant.  Our table mates talked about going to Ascot (in England) for the races and how the women all wear hats or fascinators (a headband with feathers in it).  The wife of the loudmouth man had her fascinator on.  We went to the Ascot Ball after dinner and saw many women wearing hats and fascinators and some men had top hats. We didn’t stay long, though, since there weren’t any available seats.

We went to the casino and decided to play the “pusher machine”.  This is the machine that we first got hooked on while on Holland America’s Prinsendam (and also introduced Snookums’s sister to on Holland America’s Noordam in December, 2007).  It has a bunch of quarters in it that are teetering on the edge and some metal pushers that keep going back and forth to push the quarters.  The idea is that you put in your quarter and it’s just enough to cause the pusher to push other quarters down the chute and into your pocket.  We spent about 1 hour there and lost $20 so we felt we got our money’s worth.  Another lady had just stumbled on it that day and she played until she was out of money (but we think she only had $20 or so).  She just kept on laughing and saying “They have to fall”.  We know better, but we still play it!

The loooong hallway

We decided to check out the buffet area for the “all night snacks” and ended up having a few little things.  Our dining mates told us that lots of people would be there and there were.  Most of the nights we went back to our stateroom after dinner (around 10:30 PM) and promptly fell asleep so we missed out on the nighttime ship activities until tonight.

May 21 (Wednesday, Day 25, At Sea) –

Worst seas of the trip

We had breakfast in the main dining room and then went to the internet center on the third deck in the very front of the ship.  The ship was in four to seven foot swells which was the roughest water we had experienced yet.  (Four to seven foot swells aren’t very rough.)  Then we went up to the 12th deck to the Commodore Club which is also at the very front of the ship.  Then Snookums proclaimed she needed to go back to the stateroom since she was feeling seasick.  She took a Dramamine and was basically sleepy the rest of the day.

Rigged for cool weather

The seas calmed down around 2 PM which meant that Filbert could do his last sea watching of the cruise.  It was colder so he put on more layers.  He saw one more dolphin (not a pod of dolphins, but a single dolphin) and that was it.  Snookums continued to sleep and read.

Flowers in the atrium

We had an interesting discussion at dinner about American and British terms.  Snookums commented that the television kept saying “Be sure to retard your clock one hour tonight” and she hadn’t heard “retard” for “turn back” but figured it was just British.  Well, the British hadn’t heard that term either and assumed it was American.  None of us could figure out where the term came from and realized that basically every passenger on board the ship figured it was the “other kind” of English!

We got back to the room around 10 PM and decided we had better pack.  It was actually easier packing from this cruise compared to the Royal Caribbean one since our stateroom was much smaller and we didn’t have room to spread our stuff around.  We packed up and put our bags outside our room by 11:30 PM, turned our clock back for the last time and went to sleep.

We were going to tip our stewardess (Maureen from Pretoria, South Africa) extra except that the last two nights she never left us ice and didn’t take away dirty room service dishes.  If she would have done her job the whole trip, she would have received a nice little bonus.  Instead, she got the normal tip.

May 22 (Thursday, Day 26, Disembarkation at Brooklyn Port) –

We were supposed to disembark by deck number and since we were peons on the lowest deck, we were scheduled to be called last at 10:45 AM.  We were enjoying our wait in the buffet dining area with a great view of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan and were having discussions with British guests regarding the U. S. election.  The British seem to know as much about U.S. politics as most Americans do.  Around 9:30 AM there was an announcement that any remaining U.S. citizens could leave so we left, immediately found our luggage and had no line at Immigration and Customs.

Lady Liberty

Farewell to QM

We got in line for a cab and although there were only four groups of people in front of us, it took about 45 minutes for us to get a cab.  (There was an announcement that played over and over saying that the cab line was on the right and on weekday mornings it might take awhile – and it did!)  We spent five hours at La Guardia waiting for our planned AirTran Airways flight and ultimately arrived at our house at 11 PM (as planned) after flying via Atlanta with a 3-hour layover.  It was a long day but we came back to an intact house so that was good!

Things to note about Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas:

• U.S.A. Times (4-page newspaper) is not delivered to the cabin
• WiFi is only available in certain public spaces
• No afternoon tea time (i.e. no high tea)
• No self-serve laundry facilities
• Only non-dairy creamer is available at the all-day coffee stations
• Room service takes forever
• The rock climbing wall is pretty neat
• The ice show is pretty neat
• The cabin attendant was fairly competent, but most other ship’s staff were pretty apathetic and unhelpful
• The lunch buffet was basically the same every single day, and not very noteworthy
• Dinner cuisine was laughably boring, unimaginative, and uninspired
• Dinner service was similarly laughably incompetent
• Balcony cabins had a decent sea view

Things to note about Cunard’s Queen Mary 2:

• U.S.A. Times is delivered daily
• WiFi is only available in certain public spaces
• Afternoon tea is splendid
• Self-serve laundry facilities are the nicest we’ve seen
• Heavy cream is available
• Room service is VERY prompt
• The sea view from “sheltered balcony” staterooms is pretty poor, unless you like standing to watch the sea

Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, August 05 2008 @ 11:56 AM CST

Part 9

May 16 (Friday, Day 20, Southampton, England) –

We ate the Holiday Inn Express continental breakfast which included three kinds of individually wrapped “good” cheese as well as normal American continental breakfast foods.  We arranged for a cab to pick us up at 11:45 AM and we zipped through the Queen Mary 2’s embarkation process and got to our stateroom by 12:20.

Within 20 minutes of being on the ship, we knew that this cruise was going to be MUCH better than the Royal Caribbean one.  Our 248 square foot stateroom with balcony was quite a bit smaller than the one on our prior cruise but was extremely clean and well designed.  And, a half bottle of chilled sparkling wine was waiting for us along with a plate of canapés.  There was even a pen and free postcards.

Our QM2 stateroom:

Departing Southampton

We went to lunch in the King’s Court buffet area and then returned to our room.  Our luggage was there so we were able to get it unpacked by the 4:00 lifeboat drill.  After the lifeboat drill we explored the ship before getting dressed (jacket for Filbert, pantsuit or dress for Snookums) for our 8:30 dinner.  Our tablemates are three couples from England, all older than us.  One served in the RAF during World War II and lost his sight several years ago due to picking up river blindness from Africa’s contaminated water during the war.  It was so nice to have excellent service at dinner compared with what we had received on Royal Caribbean.  No wine was spilled and all orders were delivered correctly.

Table 103, Britannia Room

Canyon Ranch Spa is connected to Cunard’s ships and there is always an appetizer, entrée and dessert on the menu that is from the Canyon Ranch Spa.  The fitness classes are also from Canyon Ranch Spa as well as the actual spa on the ship.

May 17 (Saturday, Day 21, At Sea) –

Snookums’s cold caused her to sleep a lot today and at some point after lunch she decided that she wanted room service.  The salads and hamburgers we ordered were delivered within 15 minutes!  We also went to the front desk to verify that our shipboard credit amount was the $400 we were expecting.  The $100 from the travel agent wasn’t on our account so the purser said she would follow-up on it.  And we believed her (unlike on Royal Caribbean) since she was so professional and took a copy of the email stating that we were going to get $100 from our travel agent.  Anyway, we are thrilled with the service on Cunard so far.

Snookums went to afternoon tea and really enjoyed the scones and clotted cream.  A string quartet played during it.

We went to the Captain’s welcome party prior to dinner and looked at everyone in their formal attire.  We didn’t see a single man in a suit.  On most other ships, “formal men’s wear” includes dark business suits.  Not on Cunard, where formal wear means a tuxedo..  The Captain told us that 1,500 passengers are from England and 400 are from the U.S. and the rest are from other countries.  The ship holds 2,600 passengers and there are no empty staterooms.   900 of the passengers left from Southampton and will spend 5 nights in New York before getting back on the QM2 for the return 6-night trip to Southampton.

The Captain also told us that we are not on a cruise but instead we are on a voyage or a crossing.  The Queen Mary 2 is an ocean liner and not a cruise ship.  The main difference is that this ship is long and narrow and gets to its widest part about 1/3 of the way from the bow whereas a cruise ship gets wide right away.  The QM2 can also go 30 knots and can sustain really big waves.  (We’re on the 4th deck and our balcony has a metal front (compared to Plexiglas or nothing on other ships) in order to deal with waves that crash that high.  Our stewardess told us that last week on the sailing from New York to Southampton, the waves were as high as our deck!)  So, it has the same types of facilities as a cruise ship, but to a nautical-type person, it definitely is an ocean liner and not a cruise ship.

We were one couple short at dinner, as one of the couples at our table asked to be moved to another table.  Later on we found out that they were offended by one of the other men at the table (NOT Filbert!).  This man is kind of loud and opinionated but he’s okay.  Supposedly he downplayed the RAF service of the old man and this offended the other man.  Neither the old man’s wife (nor the old man who is hard of hearing as well as being blind) nor Snookums heard him downplaying the RAF service so we think the other man that got upset must have misunderstood a comment made in jest.  Oh well, the three remaining couples (Snookums/Filbert, loud man and his wife, RAF blind man and his wife) get along.

We went to the Black and White Ball after dinner but the Queen’s Room that held it (and which is the largest ballroom at sea) was packed, so after walking through and seeing everyone dancing to the orchestra in their fancy clothes we went to bed.  We also remembered to turn our clocks back one hour which is something that will happen every night on this cruise.  We prefer the 2 AM clock changes to what Royal Caribbean’s noon time changes.

The obligatory picture of a guy taking a picture

Black and White Ball

May 18 (Sunday, Day 22, At Sea) –

Snookums’s cold was being stubborn and she was reading and sleeping a lot.  We ate lunch in the Lion’s Pub which is a non-smoking area during lunch , when it serves traditional pub fare.  Filbert had fish and chips and Snookums had steak and mushroom pie.  Filbert also ordered Stella Artois to wash down his fish and chips.  We had seen a news story on British TV that Stella was the beer of choice for rioting soccer hooligans, but Filbert felt no impulse to go out and knock any Manchester United fan’s heads.

Snookums wanted Filbert to experience tea so we went to that at 3:30.  Today was a tea dance which meant that the ship’s orchestra was playing during it and many people were dancing.  We both enjoyed the finger sandwiches, pastries and scones.  Filbert drank several cups of tea with milk while Snookums asked for water with lemon.  We got on the dance floor, too, but after two songs realized that other couples were actually dancing counterclockwise around the floor while we were staying in one place.  We decided to get off the floor to save our lives and actually had a hard time dodging the dancers!  Then we went to the movie “Kite Runner” which we enjoyed (other than the fact that its subtitles meant that Snookums had to read).

We decided to take a nap prior to our formal dinner (yes, two nights in a row for Filbert wearing a tux).  When our alarm clock went off at 7:45 PM to give us time to get ready for dinner, we both decided to continue sleeping.  We finally woke up around 9 PM and ate from the fruit basket in the room.  We were still full from tea so we didn’t even bother ordering room service.  We watched two fascinating episodes of BBC’s “Blue Planet” with David Attenborough narrating and fell asleep.

May 19 (Monday, Day 23, At Sea) –

We woke up early enough to eat breakfast in the sit-down restaurant (that stops seating people at 9 AM) and enjoyed it.  They have traditional English items on the menu including English bacon (thin slices of uncured pork), two kinds of English link sausage, mushrooms, broiled tomatoes and baked beans.  Snookums had eggs benedict and Filbert had an omelet and sides of mushrooms and tomatoes.

Filbert attended the nature lecture by the scientist on the ship.  Cunard prides itself on its lecture series and for this voyage there is an entomologist, an art historian that knows all about Rockefeller Center, and another man that knows all about New York City and Cunard.  Filbert also went to the planetarium’s film.  (The QM2 is the only ship that has a planetarium on it.)

While Filbert was enjoying educational pursuits, Snookums enjoyed a 55-minute Thai massage at the spa.  She spent three hours at the spa not only relaxing during her Thai massage but also enjoying the herbal steam room, the Finnish sauna, the aqua-therapy pool, the ice fountain, the aromatic sauna and other spa-only facilities.  She figured that the steam room helped her chest (and now nose) cold.

In a fog

In the afternoon the fog had burned off and it was around 60 degrees outside.  This meant that it was prime sea watching time for Filbert so he was on the balcony in his coat and gloves with his shortwave radio.  He saw dolphins around 4 PM.

The purser’s desk called to say that our $100 shipboard credit had been taken care of and was now on our account.  You can’t ask for better service than that (and it was our travel agent’s fault to begin with).  We wrapped up our busy day by going to the movie theater before dinner to see “Bucket List”.

Dinner for Snookums consisted of cock-a-leekie soup (leek soup with chicken broth), the Canyon Ranch entrée of 7-spice chicken, bok choy and rice and two desserts.  One was maple walnut ice cream and the other was nougat glacé.  She had to order the nougat glacé to see what it was.  It was a pyramid of vanilla “fluff” with little pieces of nougat in it.  She never figured out the glacé part.  Filbert had seafood chowder, sirloin steak with mushroom sauce and some kind of vegetable and the very nice cheese plate for dessert.

Big band night

Tonight was Big Band night and the RAF couple from our table ate quickly in order to leave dinner by 9:30 to get a seat in the Queen’s Room for the event.  The rest of us (the loud guy and his wife and us) enjoyed our normal leisurely dinner and left the table around 10:15.

Contributed by: filbert Monday, August 04 2008 @ 11:47 AM CST

Part 8

May 12 (Monday, Day 16, Barcelona, Spain to Stuttgart, Germany) –

We had decided that if it wasn’t raining we would take the public bus to the airport for $6 each rather than a cab for $40.  This meant walking with our three rolling suitcases and one duffel bag four blocks to the bus stop but since there was a McDonald’s between us and the bus, we decided to stop there for breakfast at 8:30 AM.  (Nothing else is open in Barcelona at that time of day so we HAD to go to McDonald’s.)  The breakfast menu consisted of the fruit and yogurt parfait, muffins and coffee along with all of their normal hamburger items.  Filbert ordered a cheeseburger and Snookums had the fruit and yogurt parfait which was ½ the size as the ones that we get in the U.S. and it was twice the cost.

Over the Alps

Our flight on GermanWings to Stuttgart, Germany was uneventful and we landed in sunshine.  Filbert was excited to finally use his high school German on people other than Snookums.  He was surprised at how much he remembered, and irritated that he didn’t remember more.  Two of Snookums’ sisters (for purposes of this Internet article, Sister #1, visiting, on her way home from a 2-year stint in India, and Sister #2, with her husband and family in Germany) were waiting for us as we walked through the unmanned customs lane at 2:30 PM.

We had to stop at the Army base in order to get special passes for us and since Sister #1 was visiting had gotten hers earlier in the day, the woman was ready for us (and Sister #2 was ready as well since she had our forms already filled out).  We were asked for a paper itinerary and all we had was our electronic itinerary.  This flustered the woman for just a minute or so and then she commented that the Army needed to get on the ball and realize that technology had advanced past paper.  She wrote down a reason for us not having a paper itinerary (uh, like the fact that NOTHING is on paper anymore!) and we got our passes and were allowed on base (Panzer Army base) and got to their house (and the handmade “welcome” signs) around 4:00.  Nieces #5 and #6 (belonging to Sister #2—are we straight on that?–Ed.) were home from school and helped with our luggage.  Filbert immediately opened one of the many German beers that were cold and ready.

Beer

More beer

OK, time for the Cast of Characters in Germany:  Filbert and Snookums, your intrepid traveling couple; Sister #1, Snookums’ older sister, en route from India back to the States; The Colonel, married to Sister #2, another of Snookums’ older siblings, with a family totally consisting of Nieces #1 through #6 and Nephew #1 (of which, Nieces #2, #3, #4, #5, and #6 are currently with the family, as Niece #1 and Nephew #1 are both off at college in the U.S.)

May 13 (Tuesday, Day 17, Stuttgart, Germany) –

The Colonel took leave today so the five of us (Sister #1, Sister #2, Colonel, Filbert and Snookums) went off to explore. We got the grand tour of the little Army base (Patch) that the Colonel works at and then went into the small town that is near their house (which is NOT Stuttgart which is also close) to go to the beer store.  Filbert was overwhelmed and the Colonel tried to steer him the right way.  The final tally was two total cases of three different beers plus two bottles each of two other brands of beer.  Snookums bought three bottles of Diet Sprite.

Then we went to the local mall and shopped at a Real—like a German WalMart since it sells clothes, food and appliances.   We ended up buying some various wursts for dinner as well as braunschweiger, yogurt and some other miscellaneous items.  We ate at the German vendor at the food court.  Our other choices were Greek, pizza and Chinese.  Snookums had curry with turkey, spaetzle and salad.   Filbert and the Colonel had wienerschnitzel.  Sister #1 had chicken cordon bleu.  Everyone but Snookums had beer, too.

Niece #3 gets physical on the pitch

We got home in time for our wurst dinner and then went to Niece #3’s high school varsity soccer scrimmage.  This was against a local German club team and Patch High School lost to the Germans which was expected given that the Germans have played together for many years.  The weather was great for the 7:30 PM game.

May 14 (Wednesday, Day 18, Stuttgart, Germany) –

We walked to the Army post exchange which is about 2/5 mile from their house.  We wandered up and down the aisles and ultimately Snookums and Filbert ate at the food court while waiting for Sisters #1 and #2 to finish shopping.  Snookums had a pretzel roll with ham and Swiss cheese on it from the German bakery.  She also bought five individual pastries for everyone to share for dessert tonight.  Sister #1  found bargains of two pairs of shoes for $5/pair (and she says she has no heels after being in India for two years) as well as two skirts for around $5 each.

Base housing

After dinner we went to Niece #3’s band concert.  We were promised that it would be 1 hour and 15 minutes long, but the band conductor apologized to the crowd at the 1-hour mark.  It ended up being 1 hour and 30 minutes long.  We’re sure Niece #3 was the best trombonist of the three, but it was hard to tell!

Niece #3’s band concert

Throughout yesterday and today Filbert continued to sample the various German beers.  He enjoyed them all except for the beer/cola variety that he bought one bottle of to try.  Everyone thought it tasted like a mix of flat beer and flat cola and no one liked it.  It must have been popular in Germany, though, since the beer store had at least six brands of it.

May 15 (Thursday, Day 19, Stuttgart, Germany to Southampton, England) –

We woke up and did two loads of wash to have clean clothes for the final leg of our trip.  Pat took us to the airport around 2:30 PM.  While waiting for our flight, Snookums had a two-hour nap on the airport chairs.  She started getting a chest cold yesterday and the sleep was needed.

The German passport control guy was stumped and kept flipping through our passports and finally asked how we got into Germany.  We explained that we came on a cruise to Barcelona and no one there stamped our passport.  That was all he needed to hear and he stamped our passport for us to leave Germany.

Our Lufthansa flight from Stuttgart to London Heathrow was uneventful but we were surprised to find that we ended up on a regional jet rather than the 737 that we booked but we still got a little snack so all was well.

Stuttgart: planes in the rain

We landed in London around 6 PM, got our luggage and found an ATM to get some pounds.  We made our way to the central bus station in Heathrow in time to catch the 6:50 bus.  We had a nice 2-hour ride to Southampton and then took a cab to the Holiday Inn Express.  We were staying for free using points and it was about 5 miles from the ship in the middle of nowhere, but the price was right.  We ordered Chinese food to be delivered, since we really were in a suburban “middle of nowhere” (at least from a walking perspective) just off the “motorway.”  We went to bed around 10:30 PM.  By the way, the only bed types that Snookums found when she was looking for Southampton hotels were “double” beds.  Sure enough, a double bed is for two people but is smaller than a queen bed in the US.  We liked king beds but we survived.