Our Introduction to the Queen Mary 2

The other night we watched a documentary on the National Geographic channel on the building of the Queen Mary 2. This was of special interest to us because we (or at least I; Craig had seen it once before and thought I'd be interested) first saw this several months ago, at which time Craig and I looked at each other and thought that we had to go for a sail on this magnificent ship. Craig thought it was totally out of our price range, but when we came upstairs, I did a quick and dirty Google for cheap cruises and discovered that it really wasn't out of reach.

Several weeks later, an opportunity came for us to get away for our first real, totally non-working vacation together in longer than either of us could remember. I did some serious looking for QM2 deals -- and found one that was too good to pass up.

Let me back up a few decades and explain why this ship appealed to us.

Both our dads were in the Navy, so we both spent some time around big ships when we were kids -- and have memories of riding the elevator from the hangar deck to the flight deck of aircraft carriers. And at the age of 8 I got stuck in the conning tower of an old fleet-type submarine. My legs weren't as long as the sailors', and I had trouble reaching the first rung of the ladder going down.

When Craig was 6 or 7, his dad was stationed in Panama. When that tour was over, the Navy sent him, his brother and his Mom to New York via ship. He had fond memories of being at sea.

When I was in high school, I spent a summer in Norway. This was in 1962, when the predominant form of transatlantic travel was by ship. I traveled as part of a group of 20 American girls from New York to Oslo on the Norwegian America Line's M/V Oslofjord. It took us 10 days to get to Oslo, with stops along the way in Bergen, Stavanger and Copenhagen. We traveled Second Class. One of the girls in our group and I shared a tiny inside cabin with two older ladies who didn't speak English. There were two sets of bunk beds (I had an upper) with a narrow walkway and small sink/vanity between them. The other facilities were down the hall.

We didn't spend a whole lot of time in our cabin. There were nice lounge areas where we hung out with other girls in our group, and a some of the guys traveling with another group. The food was way too plentiful and really good (lots of native Norwegian fare, such as brown goat cheese and reindeer steaks), with a huge "cold table" before every meal. Dinners typically included a meat course and fish course, along with appetizer, dessert, etc. And the all-Norwegian crew and staff were terrific.

The trip home was on the M/V Bergensfjord, a larger ship that held 800 passengers, versus the 600 on the Oslofjord. It was a newer ship, too (launched in 1955 v 1949). This time my first roomie and I shared a much larger (with private bath) cabin with two other girls in our group. I took an upper bunk again, the one on the outside with the porthole. Since we boarded in Copenhagen and didn't stop anywhere else, it only took us 8 days to get home. The food was as good as on the Oslofjord, and the same group of guys was on board, too. Yep -- it was pretty terrific.

So, both of us had nice memories of spending days at sea. Neither one of us was attracted to the typical island-hopping cruise with non-stop manufactured fun. And so sailing on the QM2 seemed like a good fit.

We ended up booking a five-day cruise out of New York, with two full days at sea and stops in Halifax and Boston. We left New York on the Thursday before Memorial Day, and got back the following Tuesday.

Getting ready for our trip

So, we made the decision to book the trip on the Queen Mary 2, and made it pretty quickly to take advantage of a great rate on a Britannia Club stateroom. The QM2 offers several levels of accommodation: Queen's Grille, Princess Grille, Britannia Club and Britannia. The Grille classes are at the top end, and consist of various kinds of suites, butler and concierge services, very special dining in their own dining rooms, private lounge areas, etc. The Grilles were out of our price range.

Britannia includes inside, oceanview and balcony staterooms, and includes dining at a fixed time in the grand Britannia dining room (with options to take meals in other restaurants).

Britannia Club falls somewhere in between. The stateroom is exactly like the other balcony staterooms (248 square feet), but all the Britannia Club rooms are on Deck 12, which is the bridge level at the top of the ship. There's also a small-ish, intimate Britannia Club dining room, with open seating, which means we could have dinner at any time between 6:30 and 9 p.m.

We were able to get a Britannia Club stateroom for only $100 per person more than a regular balcony room, so we went for it.

It wasn't until after we had made the booking that it sunk in that there would be a dress code for after 6, and a couple of formal evenings. And I remember thinking, "Craig is going to have a cow."

Having worked for most of his adult life as a self-employed artist (and now film-maker), he's pretty much managed to avoid the suit-and-tie look. And until early this year he owned a tux (a hand-me-down), which he wore to some formal events, and which ended up being given away in a used clothing box because it no longer fit.

Well, he did a little grumbling. We had two formal nights, and the others were "elegant casual," meaning he needed a sport coat, but no tie. Not so bad. We found a gently used tux at an upscale Goodwill store for $12.50. Except for the pants needing to be shortened, it fit. Problem solved.

It turned out that the formal wear I had stashed in the closet no longer fit me, either. And, having gotten tired of fooling with hair color, I'd gone through the pains of letting my hair grow out to a not-awful salt-and-pepper gray. I was okay with it for going to work, but when I started trying on formal dresses, I felt like Kate Smith's mother! (If you have to ask...) I found my two dresses (on a buy one-get one free deal), and acquired the proper undergarments -- and still hated the way I looked. So I bit the bullet and went to a salon recommended by a friend for a restyle -- and color. Much better!

Since we were heading north from New York, and going into the North Atlantic, we figured it would be chilly, and packed sweaters and jackets along with more summery things. Since we had decided to drive from Baltimore to the cruise terminal in Brooklyn, we didn't have to skimp on packing, and ended up with more than we needed, but now we know.

We did our passenger pre-registration on the Cunard web site. We have EZPass so we don't have to waste time at the toll booths between here and there on I-95. We printed out a map and directions to the terminal. We got our cruise documents in order. And finally it was time to go.

Setting Sail on the QM2

Our (or actually Craig's) first view of the ship was from the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge. I was driving, but he was a gog about the huge white superstructure with the red stack that dominated the landscape. I finally managed a peek in the right direction, but my first real look at her after we pulled into the terminal area and were creeping towards the unloading area.

She's magnificent -- and she's huge. Our balcony is on the very top, the second one aft of the first vertical white line, just behind the "golf ball" at the very top of the ship.

When we made it to the terminal building, I hopped out. A porter unloaded the car and put our luggage on a cart, and I waited while Craig parked the car in the adjacent lot. We were about 30 minutes past our suggested check-in time by the time we got in line, but the line moved quickly. As it grew behind us, we were happy we arrived when we did. Cunard assigns check-in times by deck to help cut down on wait times, and it seems to be a good system.

At check in, we were photographed and issued our key cards, and then walked right onto the ship. Walking into the grand lobby and seeing uniformed crew assembled to welcome you aboard takes your breath away.

We boarded on deck 3, and our stateroom was on deck 12. We were directed to the best elevator bank. Someone on cruisecritic.com had pointed out that the up elevators were always packed, and suggested hopping on any elevator with space and going down first if necessary. That turned out to be excellent advice, and that's exactly what we did.

When we got to our level, we saw a pile of luggage, including one of ours, in the elevator lobby area. A steward pointed us in the right direction, and we found our room halfway down the port side corridor. The rest of our luggage was already there, and just a moment later, our steward (Joue, pronounced Joey) arrived with the final bag. And we were officially on vacation!

There was a split of bubbly and a plate of strawberries waiting for us. We checked out the balcony and settled in. There were two closets, separated by a unit of four drawers, a deep shelf and a safe (topped by the shelf with our flotation jackets). There was more than enough closet space, the drawers were adequate, and the luggaged stowed under the bed. The bathroom had enough counter and shelf space for all our stuff -- and we were settled.

The Kings Court buffet on deck 7 (the Promendade Deck) was open for lunch. It was a little bit of a cattle call, since that was the only lunch option, but we got enough to eat and found a nice little table in a kind of bay window, and we watched some folks starting on their three laps around the deck that make up a mile.

Then it was time for the flotation jacket drill in our designated assembly area, and then there was time to explore. We found the glass elevators on each side of the ship that run between decks 7 and 11, just below the wings of the bridge. They turned out to be our favorite means of conveyance, and connected the observation deck (11) with the Atlantic Room (card room), Commodore Lounge (comfy seats, big windows with great views, scale model of the QM2 behind the bar), library (more comfy seats and windows with great views, plus a huge selection of reading matter) and Promenade.

Although we were scheduled to depart at 5, the sailing was delayed until 9 p.m. so we could see the fireworks over the Brooklyn Bridge, marking its 125th anniversary. Our first dinner in Britannia Club was a little rushed so that we could make it topside, but we met our wonderful dining companions (Milla and Boris and Maureen and Ed) and knew that dinners were going to be enjoyable times.

Alas, we made it to the top of the ship at about 9:05, just in time for one last big boom. Apparently the fireworks got wet in the afternoon rain. But since we were topside, we stayed to see the ship pass under the Verrazanno Bridge. It was dark, and it was unseasonably chilly, and the ship creates its own wind. We were pretty bundled up, but it was still kind of chilly. But we joined a group of other adventuresome souls on an even higher observation platform and watched as the lights of Manhattan began to recede behind the ship. A helicopter escort went past below eye level. The Statue of Liberty stood vigil. And we held our collective breath and then cheered as the mast at the bow of the ship cleared the bridge, and then turned to watch the stack clear (by about 7 feet, close enough to divert the smoke) and cheered again.

By then we were all freezing, and headed below to warm up and settle in for the night. We opened our balcony door so we could hear the ocean sounds, and spent half the night looking at the lighthouses on Long Island as we sailed past. And that was our first day on the QM2.

See below for some additional photos.

QM2: Stateroom 12026

This was our home for five wonderful days. Note the closets and drawers on the left. And -- there's a bathroom on the right. (Sorry CCR -- couldn't resist).

There was a small sofa to my right, a desk, TV and fridge on my left, a coffee table in between, and the balcony behind me. It was 248 square feet total, and quite comfy. This is the standard balcony cabin on the QM2, no matter which deck you're on.

QM2: Manhattan skyline from our balcony

Pretty neat, huh? That's the Brooklyn Bridge on the right, celebrating its 125th birthday.