Reunion

HOME - Longboat Key, Florida - May 7, 2012

A last update......we did make it home after a long travel day on Friday, May 4.  Friends picked us up at the airport and we enjoyed a nice dinner together at our favorite restaurant Pattigeorges.  Saturday was tackle the mail, drive the cars and unpack the small bags we brought with us.  Our other 4 bags were being shipped so we won't be dealing with all of that until later this week.  Lynn is still suffering from the cold and is going to the doctor today in between her to dos.  Steve is settling back into his office and tackling the many to dos that awaited us upon coming home.

It's Monday and it almost seems like a dream that we did the World Cruise.  It was special and  a wonderful trip... now we will slowly re-enter our real life here on land.  We are very happy to connect with Geoff and Lesley and our friends 'live'.

Again, thanks to all who have journeyed with us.  We love being connected to you while on our trips.
This is not the end of our blogging - just the end of this trip.  We will be blogging on our other site once we start our national parks trips again.  You can follow us at -

http://amboomerwilltravel.blogspot.com/

Peace.

New York, New York - May 4, 2012

The ship is under the bridge and we are getting ready to dock in Brooklyn. What an adventure! Thank you all for joining us on the cruise. Happy travels! Next blog - back to national parks! Stay tuned.

At Sea Queen Mary 2 Westbound - April 30 - May 2, 2012

The Atlantic Ocean continues to be kind to the ship with calm seas and fairly clear weather.  Sea Temp is 54.7 and the air temp is 59, reasonably consistently since we left.  Lynn caught the “ship’s cold” so no gym: it would be extremely annoying to everyone else if Lynn was coughing all over the equipment. Walking the deck is the alternative and fairly easy when the seas are calm.  The seas picked up on May 1 and there were squalls.  Today all is calm again.  This ship really can sail the seas!  We looked up the dates on our last cruise across in 2007 to confirm that this trip is taking one day longer.  Not sure why - maybe they are allowing for seasonal weather conditions that would delay the ship’s arrival.   

We celebrated our 24^th wedding anniversary April 30^th in the dining room, then again at the onboard Todd English restaurant on May 1, with cruise buddies John & Eve.  Former President Bush and Barbara came in together while we were eating to enjoy their dinner as well.  Thank goodness no one went paparazzi on them and they were able to enjoy and intimate meal in the Todd English restaurant (yes, the Secret Service was sitting nearby).

There are many different ages of passengers on the QM2.  There was another wedding and we also see many young people working on their computers around the ship.  This morning, we see a man walking around in his NYC trench coat like he is going to work?  We were told that there are 1,000 USA, 800 British and 200 Canadians onboard, with the rest a mix of other, mostly European, nationalities.

Tonight is our last formal night.  We have done everyone – no wimping out.  We now frequently see some of our fellow world cruisers walking towards the buffet in casual clothes – they gave up!  This is also the night that the head chef and his galley staff march through the dining room for their recognition.  Who is going to cook for us at home?  Let alone there is no grocery store open on Longboat Key while they rebuild!

Two more days until we are home; this part of our cruise is getting us ready for that reality.  A good example is filling out our custom declaration form for our arrival.  Now that’s reality!

Aboard the Queen Mary 2 - April 27-29, 2012

The first afternoon on the Queen Mary 2 (QM2) is spent reacquainting ourselves with the ship’s layout.  This ship IS bigger than the Queen Elizabeth and while we were on this ship 5 years ago, our memories are dim and the ship’s layout is unique.  In addition, our cabin is on the starboard side of the ship instead of the port, thereby reversing “forward” and “aft” relative to our previous cabin.  If you are left and right challenged, you can just imagine!

Grand Lobby

We agree the QM2 is a beautiful and amazing cruise liner - after walking at least 3 miles just figuring out where things are on the ship.  The promenade area displays brass wall murals representing the four seasons and four continents impressing us once again.   

Brass Wall Murals

Asia

Description of the blades picture

Our dinner table is still located right next to the same couple we sat next to on the Queen Elizabeth.  And the next table over is another couple we met on the Queen Elizabeth so we feel like we are still at ‘home.’  The food is excellent as is to be expected J

After dinner is the evening’s entertainment. Both the first night and the second night, the orchestra and the dancers put on excellent shows.  In addition, the QM2 has a planetarium theatre called Illuminations.  Daily you can pick-up tickets for one of the four afternoon prerecorded planetarium shows.  There are two different shows so we attend one our first day on ship and the other the second day.  

The speakers on the ship include:

-        Chief White House Correspondent, Ken Walsh
-        Art Historian, Seth Gopin
-        New York-Based Travel Writer, Theodore W. Scull
-        Art /Architecture Expert, Professor Neil Kent



The Blades

Each day we plan on attending some of their lectures throughout the voyage.  Those lectures we miss we can watch on the TV in our room later in the same day or throughout much of the next day.  There are also movies as well in the day and sometimes in the evening, “The Descendents” and “War Horse” to name a few.

This ship’s journey carries all different people and even pets (the QM allegedly has the only kennel-at-sea).  There are 9 dogs and 2 cats on board in the kennels, a woman announces on the elevator as she is going up to visit her dog.



Hitchhikers or Immigrants

We also discover on a morning walk that the ship is providing free passage to immigrants to New York – a small flock of birds is camping out on the Promenade deck.  We can only hope that the deckhands adopt them, just as the QE deckhands adopted a seagull emigrating from San Francisco to Honolulu back in February!

Now for the interesting people onboard (besides us of course) – former President George ‘41’ Bush and wife Barbara, along with several family members (looks like young women but not the other George’s daughters) along with their secret service protection.  We see Barbara walking the deck with a young woman, accompanied behind and in front by secret service officers.  Then, at the evening show, Barbara Bush along with various young women arrives and is seated, after which President Bush arrives, in a motorized scooter, to a standing ovation.  They patiently and graciously smile as many people flash pictures of them.  Thank goodness the ‘cruise paparazzi’ stop their picture taking once the show starts.  Hopefully the rest of their cruise will not be filled with so much ‘in your face’ picture taking.  By the way, they look pretty darn good for 88 and 86 years old.  And today, Sunday, we attended the Maritime Church Service and there in the same ‘pew’ were the President and Barbara with family. No pictures by us – you’ll just have to believe this story.

Another first – the Captain announced at noon that he had just conducted the first official wedding ever performed on a Cunard ship.  Rather remarkable since Cunard has been around since the 1840’s.  Wow!  Congratulations to Barry & Denise Maloney the lucky newlyweds who were also privileged to blow the QM2’s horn at Noon.

We are now, rapidly it seems, experiencing the rest of our whole-day catch-up we lost when we crossed the International Date Line in the Pacific.  The clocks have already been set back (or as the British say, “retarded”) two hours, with three more to go before New York.  More time to eat, read and reflect!

Almost around the World!  (And if this man in the picture can do it – seriously he was on the Queen Elizabeth too – anyone can do it!)

Disembarkation & Embarking Southampton - April 27, 2012

Last Day at Sea on QE

Docking Southampton

Waiting to leave QE w/QM2 in background



Farewell QE



Here we come Queen Mary 2



Queen Mary 2 -April 27-28, 2012

We made it on to the Queen Mary 2 and are finally settled into our room. Unpacked now and checking out the schedule for today. We learned last night that President Bush senior and Barbara are on the ship. I will write more later with updates and some pictures. This ship is quite spectacular and has many more areas unexplored. We sailed this ship five years ago so we are refreshing our memories. Thanks again for following our travels. We are almostaround the world!