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.
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