Friday - April 22, 2005
QM2: A Beautiful Ship
The weather for our crossing could have been better, but if we had to be confined to quarters, I can't think of a more beautiful or comfortable place to spend five days. Cunard pulled out all the stops when they built this ship.
"It's a lovely ship, but its too darned big!" This was a common refrain that we heard from about 80% of the QE2 passengers who had travelled on the Queen Mary 2 before. But I beg to differ. Yes, she is the longest, widest, tallest, etc., but the public areas are arranged in such a way that I never felt as though I had to walk a long way to get where I wanted, and we were up on the 12th deck. There are plenty of elevators to move one up and down and one can reach all the necessary areas of the ship without having to walk from one end to the other. I did feel at times like I was in a well-run hotel rather than travelling on a ship, but I think this was because the weather forced us to spend so much time indoors. However, we shouldn't complain too much about some wind and rain - when the QM2 arrived in New York two weeks ago, she was covered in ice!
The decor of the ship is beautiful. I would describe it as elegant rather than glitzy, with only only a couple of touches that I think are a bit tacky. I miss the real wood panelling of the QE2, but Cunard has done a pretty good job of replicating the look of the lovely woods in man-made materials. There are some really nice Art Deco touches throughout the ship in the murals and decorative panels that remind one of the original Queen Mary. We dined in the two-story Britannia Room, and after arranging a change of table, we were lucky enough to be seated at the bottom of the staircase that opens out into the atrium-like center of the room (you can see our table in the bottom right corner of the picture below). From here, we could sit back and watch the passing parade and had a good view of the Captain's table. We ate here for four nights and dined in the excellent Todd English Room the other two nights. The food in the dining room was very good and I particularly enjoyed listening to the string quartet and the harpist who played during dinner.
A number of the pubic rooms are similar in name and style to those on the QE2, but are larger. We had drinks in the Chart Room and the Sir Samuel bar, listening to some light jazz which was a nice way to start the evening. The theatre where the evening entertainment is located is a definite improvement over the QE2. The room is bigger, the seats are more comfortable, and the sightlines are better. We went to a show in the Planetarium which we enjoyed and had no trouble getting tickets. The library on the QE2 was one of may favorite rooms, but this library beats it. It is a lovely room, with shelves with wood and glass doors, but one of the best aspects is the row of seats in the bow windows where one can sit and read a magazine or paper in the light. I didn't use the spa or the gym on this ship, but the facilities looked beautiful. One really neat aspect for those who love ships, is the observation windows immediately behind the bridge. One can stand here quietly and watch everything going on; it's almost as good as being in the same room.
One aspect of the QE2 that I miss on this ship is the long open corridors between the public rooms and the windows. One could walk along and see what happening in the various rooms at a glance. I think this also made for a better sense of community because you could always see someone you knew when you went walkabout. The public rooms and a the dining areas are all entities unto themselves on the QM2, so you don't just bump into people in the same way. However, there is a lot more open deck space than on QE2 and I could see how this would be very nice for passengers when the ship is enjoying good weather or cruising in the Caribbean.
Our stateroom is much smaller than the one we had on the QE2, but this is comparing apples and oranges because we are in a lower category on this ship. However, we do have a very nice balcony (that would be lovely if we had had any sun and a lot less wind) and the space we had was very comfortable, including a love seat and a king-sized bed.
The staff we have encountered on the ship have been friendly and helpful to a person. We boarded the ship thinking we would be having a quiet ride home, but our social calendar was filled with various receptions and private parties before we knew what hit us. We had one and sometimes two receptions or parties every night! So we came into contact with a lot of the staff, and all had a ready smile and a willingness to please. We had the pleasure of meeting Thomas Stirling, the Staff Chief Engineer, at one of the Captain's receptions, and he supplied me with photos of the ship that I could never have the access to take myself. All of the exterior shots of the ship that I have included here, including the really interesting ones of the ship in dry dock, are his handiwork.
To sum up, I have to say that once I got over my initial separation anxiety of leaving the QE2 and made an effort to enjoy this ship, it wasn't a difficult task. We have been extremely comfortable and pampered, and we will be back for another crossing sometime in the near future, I'm sure.