The Queen Mary 2

The Queen Mary 2 is the last 6 day leg of our 105 day cruise. The rough seas are great to watch. We are taking the Great Circle Route and passed within 5 miles of where the Titanic went down.

We boarded on Tuesday and have really just kind of hunkered down for the last leg. We are spending time with various friends, skipping the ship parties in favor of meeting friends in cabins for drinks before dinner. We are not going to the dining room, but eating in the various alternative dining venues onboard so that we can eat with different friends from the QV. That part has been great.

Things haven't been going the best on here. They lost my main piece of luggage. I had packed the things I really need at home and on the Queen Mary 2 in one suitcase and they lost it. After 48 hours they announced that they found it in Southampton, which was much better than finding it on the Queen Victoria heading in the opposite direction. They say it will arrive in Florida, but I can't seem to get any proof from them that there even is a suitcase much less a tracking number.

They have charged us our tips for this leg even though it is included in the world cruise price and I have two pieces of documentation on that. They are very slow and don't seem to get anything done. I have been working on that problem for four days now. There is really no excuse for it. This is not just for us, but the other 350 World Cruisers aboard as well.

I also have a case of conjunctivitis in both eyes and had a bad sore throat. At least now I can leave the cabin without sunglasses, I am almost better. The throat is on the mend, too. It was one way I could really spook them at the purser's desk was to go down there and take off my sunglasses to talk to them! Ha!

We had heard so many great things about the QM2 (The Mary) and we just don't agree. To each his own I guess. The cabin size and storage are much better on this ship, but we don't care for the size of the ship or the public rooms. We really loved the Queen Victoria. Part of it may be the short time we are on here in comparison. It just doesn't seem worth it to really invest ourselves in a new ship. It's just transportation home, and it is great for that. I think the lost luggage, the poor service in getting anything done and the illness has really impacted on our view of the ship and probably isn't fair.

We are just getting rested up and getting organized to hit the ground running when we arrive back at the beach. It also helps that we have so many friends on board. That is one thing that has been so great about this trip.

Southampton, England

Thanks to Kazzie for planning out our day for us. It was really helpful and worked out great!

We arrived on the Queen Victoria and left in the afternoon on the Queen Mary 2. We got a cab from the port and left to spend the day at Beaulieu Abby, Beaulieu Palace and Motor Museum. We had a great cab driver who also came back to pick us up and took us touring in the area.

The Motor Museum has about 250 cars with examples from the 1890s to legendary record breakers.We wandered around the grounds and enjoyed a beautiful spring day in England.

There was also an area devoted to The Secret Army Exhibition which tells the story of the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War. This was the main or maybe only training camp for them. I wish I would have had another hour to spend there. I am looking forward to ordering the book about it when I return home.

Much of the 13^th century Beaulieu Abbey was destroyed during the reign of Henry the VIII, but was still quite interesting.

The Palace House has been the family home of the Montagu Family since 1538.The bells in the picture below were on the wall in the kitchen to show who was ringing for service.As we were leaving, this group of school kids arrived to tour and was dressed in period costume.

Our ride back to the port was through the New Forest, a 145 square mile nature reserve that was originally designated as a hunting reserve by William the Conqueror in 1079. There were many ponies, donkeys and cattle roaming free, often standing on the road.

Derrick also took us the Boat Yard and marina at Buckler's Hard and Jeff walked around checking it out while I did some text messaging to Roscoe, who had sent us a fond farewell from the train station. It sure is hard to say goodbye to all of our new friends. Liz and Ellen, check out the prop guard on the first picture. You could have used one of those. (FUNNY!)

We arrived at the port and boarded the Queen Mary 2 for our return trip to New York. The lines were long and slow. We would have had a much easier time if we had stayed and boarded with the other “in transit” passengers form the Queen Victoria, but we really enjoyed our day.

We went out on deck with our champagne for sail away. This was another special day because all 3 Queen were in Port. QE2 was in wet dock getting some kind of refurbishment, and she hadn't been supposed to be there. The last meeting of the Queens was supposed to be in New York on our sail away.

We took off first and went up the river passing the Queen Victoria and then the Queen Elizabeth 2. Passengers and crew were lining the decks, music was playing and the ships horns were blaring. People were once again lining the shores and boats were surrounding us.

We saw many friends from the Queen Victoria onboard, about 350 of the full world cruisers were taking her back to the US as well as some of the segment cruisers. Marty and Darrel.Jeff and Elaine wave goodbye to the Queen Victoria.

We passed the QE 2 and the crew was going wild. No passengers were aboard. Notice the crew peeking out the doors was at the bottom of the ship.

It was a great send off for our last 6 days of our World Cruise. We set off across the Atlantic.

World Cruise Party

There is traditionally a large party held for the people that are doing a full World Cruise. Ours was held on our last port day in Lisbon. We were also staying in port until 12 AM which was unusual, so it was a good combination. There were about 750 people on our ship that were doing the full world, some started in Southampton and some in NYC.

We were picked up by coach bus and transported to Camp Pequeno, formerly a bullfighting ring.The greeting was wonderful. There were prancing horses as well as about 50 women and men in the traditional dress of the various regions of Portugal. They later did the traditional dances.

The interior was magical. The centerpieces were outstanding, old style candelabras filled with roses, absolutely beautiful and really matched the location.

The waiters circulated with the Hot and Cold Canapes as the wine and champagne was served:

The red wine was Terra do Vale and the white wine was Terra Franca Sogrape. They kept it flowing all night.

Mousse of poultry liver with raspberry sauce

Mini Seafood Fritters

Brie Au gratin with Quince jam

Vegetarian Quiches

Godets of Smoked Salmon (pictured)

The rest of the menu was served Somewhat traditionally.

Soup Course (pictured in small glasses):

Goblet of cold Lisbon Beetroot soup with yoghurt

Melon, Port Wine and Leaf of mint Vichyssoise

Portuguese Bread basket

Entrée Course

Young Filet Mignon with Portugese Serra Cheese and Dauphinois potatoes and fresh carrot, brussel sprouts and chestnuts ( the last part was wrapped in this bundle with what I think was a cabbage leaf on the outside).

The main course was much better than it looked.

Dessert sampler:

Martini glass of Sintra Chocolate ice cream and goblet of Rose Mousse

“Pastel de Nata Fresh Berries in a cream pastry with rose petals

Chalice of Amendoa Amarga with lemon (Portugese Liqueur) This was really bad, Rick and Bonnie have a funny picture of me drinking this… maybe they will send it to be posted. When I took this picture they hadn't delivered the liqueur yet. The Portuguese tart isn't mentioned, but there it is again.

We had Rick and Bonnie and Sandy and Tom at our table. Chris was sick so she and John couldn't make it, but their dining tablemates sat with us. It was great to have friends at our table for this exciting night. Others were not so lucky with their tablemates. It was Rick's birthday so Bonnie was really celebrating (don't know why, but that is how it worked J). Kazzie was seated at the table next to us and Lesley was nearby. It was sure great to have such a nice send off.

There was a huge orchestra and we even danced, if you can believe it.

As the night drew to a close I noticed two things. One was the number of glasses on each table and the other was the melted candles. Earlier in the night there were candle tenders.

The night was a great celebration and Carol Marlow, CEO of Cunard was on hand to speak. She is very dynamic. It was a great ending to a great cruise, truly the trip of a lifetime.

We headed back to the ship with 2 sea days left on the Queen Victoria in Route to Southampton.

The last formal night Elaine had a champagne goodbye party. Here are John and Chris with Jeff and me.

Elaine, Jeff and Raul, our favorite waiter in the Commodore Club

Roscoe and Elaine

I had spent the day packing and Jeff spent the day sitting on the couch watching me. He still felt the sentiments expressed on his tux shirt. He got a laugh from all the others that felt the same way.

The party was a great way to say goodbye to Elaine's friends and some of ours.