Sail Away

We arrived at the port and could not believe how much it had been upgraded since the last time we were there. Everything was new and sparkling clean. We checked in quickly and had only a short wait until we boarded. Everyone from Cunard was friendly and efficient.

We found our cabin and were greeted by a welcome package from our girls. Champagne, a fruit basket and canapés to come were waiting for us.

We are happy with our cabin. It has a lot of room. Not as much storage as we would like, but we are working on it.

The ship is absolutely beautiful. The library is two stories tall and full of beautiful wood. There is a huge section of travel books that Liz would love!

The Queens Room is a ballroom that is stunning. It is also used for afternoon tea etc.
The stairways are all very lovely.
The gym looks inviting (well it looks good, I will have to work on the inviting part).

The casino is nice, but small. There weren’t many Blackjack Players last night. (Yes Liz, I earned my Blackjack by walking the agreed upon distance.) Everything is just really great.

The big thing tonight was our sail away. We witnessed “the making of maritime history as fireworks and fanfare marked the first and only meeting of Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth 2 and the new Queen Victoria”.

The regal fleet departed at 6:30 p.m. Queen Mary 2 departed from her home port, Brooklyn Cruise Terminal while QE2 departed from Pier 92 and Queen Victoria departed from Pier 88 both at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. Then, the three Queens rendezvoused and sailed past the Statue of Liberty during a spectacular fireworks celebration at 7:00 p.m.

This was the first-time in Cunard’s 168-year history that three Queens have been in service at the same time and with QE2 retiring in November 2008 will be the only time they will be together (part of a press release).

It was a big deal and very moving. I have sent a video, I hope it works. (Note from Liz: so far, no video in my inbox.) The Queen Mary 2 is the ship in view, but we are all sailing out together. If you look carefully you can see the Statue of Liberty in the background. We are sailing towards it.
We sailed down the west side of Manhattan and past our old apartment. I was thinking of walking along that very route in the opposite direction as we left our apartment on 9/11 trying to get out of danger. At any rate, Jeff and I loved it.

We had our champagne and canapés and toasted The Statue of Liberty and New York as we sailed out to begin our voyage.

We were both extremely happy that we decided to board in New York instead of Fort Lauderdale.