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!

Lisbon & At Sea - April 24 - 25, 2012

Quiet River to Lisbon

Clearing the Bridge

A smooth glide into Lisbon, up the river gazing at the city and watching the ship clear the “25 April” bridge (renamed from “Salazar” after he was deposed in the democratic revolution of the 1960’s).  The rolling hills are checker-boarded with quaint buildings.  Once on our tour, we board one of the turn-of-the-last-century electric trams used in this city of impossibly steep and narrow streets.  Most of Lisbon’s buildings are post-1755, when there was a major earthquake and tsunami that destroyed most of the city except for the St. Jerome Monastery, St. Mary’s church and another church in the old district.  When they rebuilt the city, they put a lot of loving care into the buildings, using Moorish tiles as outside facades.  The streets are still cobblestone in many areas and the sidewalks are made of limestone and basalt, cut into pieces and laid in beautiful designs, literally everywhere.  The tile work and street-level mosaics are what we came to see; we get an eyeful on our hour-long tram ride.

The Tower

Explorer Monument

The tram tour includes a glass (two or three for the brave or foolish) of port and one of the famous custard pastries while we are told about the ancient history (Romans and Moors), the various historic neighborhoods, and the city squares with their statues and buildings.  Since it is a cool and dreary European day, we are glad to be aboard a tram enjoying the explanation by Isabelle and treats served by her helper.  We also see an ancient-but-functional funicular tram that routinely transports the residents up and down on of the many steep streets.  Fun to see – definitely not a street we would want to live on!

Friendly Port Server

Electric Tram

Tile Work on Building

Another example of tile facade

Typical Square

Funicular Tram on Steep Street

After a switch to bus transportation near a beautiful downtown park, we head to three famous buildings.  The first is the St. Jerome Monastery and St. Mary’s Church, where Vasco du Gama is now buried.  Since we had visited and photographed his first tomb in Cochin India, we hoped to get a picture of this tomb, to which he had been moved by his son.  Unfortunately we are unable to go in because there is a huge funeral going on inside the church.   The next stop is the Tower, a fortress that was initially and strategically constructed in the middle of the river, only to have the river recede and “move” it to the north bank.  Two such fortresses, twins, had been used to protect and control ships coming to the city of Lisbon; the other did not survive history. The final stop by our tour is the Monument the Golden Age of Portuguese Explorers.  When we were on the ship we could see this monument but not the side with the sword or the tiled world map in the walkway in front of the monument.  A great tribute.

St. Mary's where V.Du Gama buried

Steve at the Tower

Explorer Monument upclose

 

Jesus facing the river & bridge

We would have loved a close-up view of the statue of Jesus built in 1959 as a replica of the one in Rio de Janeiro.  It stands on the south bank of the river, overlooking the city and the bridge.  The bridge was built by the same American company that built, and using the same design as, the San Francisco Bridge.

 By sail away time, the sun is out making the city gleaming.  This is definitely a city on “return to” list - intricate, but sadly deteriorating, grandeur, and the friendliest residents.

Another beautiful Tile work

 Now the Queen Elizabeth faces the Atlantic Ocean, headed north.  Over the next two days on our way to Southampton, the wind is expected to pick up to over 60 knots and create waves of 8-10 meters.  This morning we wake to 21 foot waves and a nice roll, something we haven’t experienced since the Indian Ocean. 

Today’s schedule is interesting.  There will be two lecturers in the morning (which we will skip to start our packing), a Captain’s reception at 11:30 AM, pre-UK-immigration passport clearance session at 2 PM and the last formal dinner in the Britannia dining room tonight.  Packing is now down to what we won’t need on the Queen Mary 2 and the trip souvenirs, which must fit into some hypothetical suitcase void that did not exist when the trip began.

This will be our last blog for the Queen Elizabeth portion of our voyage.  We have a seven-day Atlantic crossing on the Queen Mary 2 and will definitely write an entry or two on that trip as our world cruise comes to an end.

Given the very rough seas we face over the next two days, we feel it appropriate to convey the prayer the ship’s Master read at Sunday’s maritime church service.  Some may know the prayer from prior sea-born experience

The Cruisers’ Prayer

Heavenly Father, look down on us, your humble, obedient cruise servants who are doomed to travel this earth, taking photographs, sending postcards, and buying souvenirs.

We beseech you, O Lord, to see that our ship is not detained, or ports missed, or schedules unmet.  Give us divine guidance in our selection of ship.  We pray that the telephone lines are unclogged and the internet freely connecteth.

Lead us to good, inexpensive restaurants where the wine is included in the price of the meal.  Give us the wisdom to tip correctly, even in currencies we do not understand.  Make the natives love us for what we are and not for what we can contribute to the local economy.  Grant us the strength to visit the museums, cathedrals, palaces, and if we skip a historic monument to take a nap after lunch, have mercy on us for our flesh is weak.

Dear God, protect our wives from bargains they don’t need or can’t afford.  Lead them not into temptation for they know not what they do.

Almighty Father, keep our husbands from looking at the foreign women and comparing them to us.  Save them from making fools of themselves in night clubs and bars.  Above all, forgive them their trespasses, for they know exactly what they do.

And when our voyage is over, grant us the favor of finding someone who will look at our cruise pictures and listen to our tales from the launderette, so our lives as cruise veterans may not have been in vain.

Amen!!

At Sea via Strait of Gibraltar - April 23, 2012

We awoke early this morning cruising briskly into the narrows approaching the Strait of Gibraltar, with Algeria on the port side and Spain on the starboard.  The wind is near hurricane force (68 mph – “whole gale”!) as the ship enters the Strait and as the famous Rock of Gibraltar comes in to view.  Gibraltar is a British crown colony near the southern tip of Spain and is only 1 and 7/8 square miles.  The rock is one of the ‘Pillars of Hercules.’  .  I can’t help but think of Prudential Insurance and the 1960’s Wild Kingdom TV show that showed the Rock at the beginning because “The Pru” sponsored the show.  The rock looks a lot more interesting than it did on TV.

Sierra Nevada Mts. in Spain

Gibraltar in sight

Gibraltar

TV Shows where we are loccated

The other side - Africa

Tangiers in the distance

At its narrowest point the Strait of Gibraltar is only 8.5 miles wide.    Opposite the Rock is the northern point of Morocco; Tangiers is near the northwest end of the Strait, right as we enter the Atlantic.

Today, April 23^rd, is St. George’s Day.  This is a day to honor St. George, a Christian martyr of around 300 CE.  In Britain it is customary to fly the St. George’s Cross flag in some way, at pubs in particular.  Also it is customary for the hymn “Jerusalem” to be sung in cathedrals, churches and chapels on the Sunday closest to the date.  It is also customary to wear a red rose in one’s lapel.  We wondered about that last night as there were several people with them in their lapel.  We did not know of this holiday and now we do. Okay, that’s enough geography and history for the day.

The lecture today by Eamonn Gearon was about “The Egyptian Revolution, the Why and What’s Next?”   Excellent overview, and his book called ‘Sahara’ is a very educational read. 

The entertainment director on the ship conducted an interview with Sir David Frost and there was also a book signing following the interview.  David Frost is still as witty and interesting, and still has the same great comedic timing, as ever.

This evening, there is a gathering of the group who went on the Angkor Wat trip to Cambodia.  Some of these travelers will be ending their world cruise in Southampton.  A good chance to say our goodbyes.  Tomorrow, Lisbon.

Civitavecchi (Rome) & At Sea - April 21-22, 2012

In sailing to Civitavecchia, up the western Tyrrhenian Sea coast of Italy, we passed a few islands.  One of which was Stromboli.  It is one of the active volcanoes in Italy and is still smoking today.  Steve takes some great pictures as the ship is sailing nearby.

Stromboli

Port Civitavecchi

The port of Civitavecchia has always been the port and docks for Rome.  It is primarily a commercial port (aka containers) with a large fishing fleet and heavy ferry traffic between the adjacent isles and the mainland.  It is Saturday, the fishing and ferry fleets are idle, and the primary ships coming and going are cruise ships – Cunard, Holland America, P&O and a large and striking passenger sailing ship.  The tours all leave early in the morning, the majority of people headed to Rome.  A few tours go into the Italian countryside and that is what we choose – Tuscany – since we immersed in Rome five years back.

Italian Countryside

As we drive along the road, there is much to view in the rolling hillside.  There are farm fields with durum wheat heading out and anticipating its golden metamorphosis, red poppies along the road and fields of canola plants with their neon yellow flowers.  It is so nice to see “green” after the sands of the Sahara!  Sheep are lazily grazing and there are small towns along the way with a mix of old and new buildings.

Some Sheep Grazing

The tour’s first stop is to a small farm which also happens to have a B&B and Restaurant – Cerrosughero.  The farm’s product is olive oil and we have a sampling with a nice morning snack and then are shown the various machines that are used to make olive oil.  This particular brand has won top ratings for the past 10 years.  The views of the surrounding area are spectacular.  You can even catch a glimpse of the Mediterranean Sea.

Scene from Farm Restaurant

Yummy

Awards

Olive shaker

Ruins - old Tuscania

Tour guide “Mickey” fills us with history and stories as we travel from the farm to the walled city of Tuscania, named after the ancient Etruscans who first settled the area.  This town is one of the many still maintaining its charm as a walled city.  The buildings all look old but we learn many had to be renovated following a devastating earthquake that hit this area of Italy in February, 1971 (does anyone remember this?).  We have the opportunity to just walk around and experience the cobblestone roads and lovely views to the ruins of two churches where the original city was located.  This original city was destroyed by the French in the 1490s and the walled city we are walking was built soon thereafter.  As always, Italy will charm you and make you want to stay.

Quaint house

Friendly Italians

City Gate w/clock

Town water fountain

The back gate to the city

Small doorways everywhere

Nice fountain near cafe

Too bad - back on the bus and home to the ship. 

The weather is coolish (60 degrees) and the air is refreshing.  We take a long walk along the pier, and along with many other passengers, check out the other docked cruise ships.  The sea is right behind a huge breakwater, recently built to protect the harbor area from tsunamis and make room for more ships.

Now the ship will sail to Lisbon through the straits of Gibraltar and up the west coast of Europe.

Our days will be filled with lectures, laundry and packing.  

Today, Sir David Frost will be speaking to us about his life interviewing people.  The movie based on his interview, “Frost/Nixon.” is being screened this afternoon.

And, yesterday, being named as it is, the ship celebrated the actual, not official (which falls in June) birthday of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth!