Our Eastbound Transatlantic Voyage on Queen Mary 2

“I wanted freedom, open air, adventure. I found it on the sea.” Alain Gerbault, The Fight of the Firecrest Crossing the Atlantic on Queen Mary 2 The first sight of Queen Mary 2 is almost impossible to describe adequately. The experience is similarly challenging to relay in a way that shows the grandeur of the journey. Even our photographs only capture parts of it, but certainly not the whole of the voyage. As a true ocean liner, constructed for crossing the Atlantic rather than simply cruising, she is magnificent in scale. As heir to giants like RMS Mauretania , SS Normandie , and QE2 , as well as her own namesake, QM2 is also crafted for speed, luxury and comfort. In every category, she and Cunard deliver. From the moment we stepped on board, the experience was absolutely wonderful. The service was exceptional. Staff learned our names, interests and preferences with stunning speed and professionalism. Our room steward, Rex, greeted us warmly each morning as though we were l...

  “To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.” Robert Louis Stevenson, El Dorado   Between Voyages: A Morning in Southampton We felt the rhythm of the ship change ever so slightly around 4:00 AM, and wondered if we were pulling into the dock at Southampton.  By 4:30 AM, our curiosity got the better of us, and we hastily dressed and went up on deck to see what was going on outside. The ship had already passed the Isle of Wight, and was slipping silently up the glassy waters of the Solent towards Southampton under a sky streaked gold and red by the rising sun. A few other passengers were already standing at the promenade rails of Cunard's  Queen Mary 2 , watching in silent wonder as the world unfolded around us.  Gone were the bracing sea breezes and chilly winds of the North Atlantic.  Instead, the smell of fish and sea salt hung in the warm, still, hazy morning air.  It almost felt strange to see land after so many days out at sea. The sho...

“Sail through the good days, and on bad days pick a spot of blue sky to steer toward.” Richelle E. Goodrich The Last Sea Day on Queen Mary 2   We woke up early and turned on the navigational channel – a ritual to orient ourselves, little different from checking the weather on trail mornings. For the first time since departing Newfoundland, the map no longer showed an endless blue field. We were in the Celtic Sea, edging toward the English Channel. The faint outline of Ireland had appeared on the screen, and by day’s end, the coasts of England and Wales would also come into view. Land and the end of this voyage are near – we are no longer in the middle of the Atlantic, but we’re also not yet to Europe. Today is the last full sea day. We still have time left to savour this voyage. For a week, we had been gently spoiled aboard Cunard's Queen Mary 2 . The rhythms of breakfast in Britannia, morning promenade laps, enrichment lectures, afternoon tea, evening music with drinks - the...