Fort Lauderdale

Our friends Vince and Debbie R. from Marco Island drove over to meet us at Port Everglades. They are good friends we met though Race Committee work in Florida. They arrived at 9 AM which gave us time to call the girls in the morning and catch up with the news.

Our first order of business was to go to Wal-Mart and buy the drawers etc. We bought a lot of things to make the cabin the best it can be. Next stop was Costco to lay in some more Champagne. The final stop was the storage locker to pick up the stored luggage. This was the point where we realized we had forgotten the key to the lock on the ship.

It seemed like a good time for lunch and Bloody Marys! We had a great lunch and view of the beach.
We went back to the ship and got the key and unloaded the stuff we had bought. As we carried on drawers, everyone was saying what a good idea it was. (Ellen asked me if the drawers were really that big a deal. The answer is yes. We are all set now though. )

Jeff and Vince went back to storage to pick up all the luggage while Debbie and I waited at the port. I made some more phone calls. It was the last time with a phone until January 30 in LA.

We boarded and went to the cabin. What a lot of luggage! I was in shock looking at all of the stuff we needed to store. I didn't even have the heart to take a picture of it. It was overwhelming. (It took until Thursday afternoon the 17th to get it all put away. All systems are now go on the cabin. Everything put away and the luggage stored. No more tales about the luggage. )

We went to join our friends Stirling and Clare from Naples, Florida for sail away. Here is Stirling with an extra bubbly bottle of champagne. We were escorted out of the harbor by 3 fire boats. The QE2 led. We won't see the QE2 again until February 24 in Sydney.

Next stop is Aruba on Saturday. We will have a beach day on our own.

A Phone Call from Fort Lauderdale

I spoke with Mom and Dad (Jeanne and Jeff) today when they were in Fort Lauderdale.

Their friends drove across Florida to see them and they all spent the day together. They had to get the majority of the luggage out of a storage unit, went to Wal-Mart to stock up on supplies, and there was also a mention of some wine purchased at Costco. (I'm not sure if they actually went to Costco today.) They had a nice lunch, too.

Mom said that it was pretty crowded in the cabin with all of the suitcases! I told her to take a photo. I also told her that her "readers" want photos of their stateroom, so hopefully we'll get some soon!

They are signing up for some classes-- there is a computer lab on the ship, and they have signed up for classes on Adobe Photoshop and Xcel. Mom also should look for a typing class! ;-)

Mom said that there are so many activities on the ship, all the time, that she hasn't even opened a book. That's saying a lot.

Dad said that the food was good. He's having a great time. He thinks it's unlikely that they'll be able to watch the Packer game on the ship, however.

(For those of you who don't already know, Ellen will be at Lambeau on Sunday! I will be watching at Parrot Key with my friend Gina, so maybe I will see some of you there!)

The next phone update will be in two weeks when they're in L.A. on the 30th.

Hopefully we'll get another email update soon.
Liz

The First Days at Sea

Thanks to Liz for all of her work trying to keep up the blog even when I don’t send her anything! I love the pictures you added of the fireworks Liz, they are better than the ones I had. I am having a little trouble sending the pictures. My video clogged up the works.

Thanks to all of you that are leaving comments. They download onto our email and then we go offline to read them. The internet is slow and it is 50 cents a minute, which really adds up when you can’t type. I am reading and appreciating the comments even if I can’t respond to all of them. We love the connection with all of you, thanks!

Monday January 14 was our first formal night. We had the Captains Cocktail Party in the Queens Room which was really lovely. The pictures of the room don’t do it justice. The band had about 12 pieces and the champagne was good. The captain is really a funny guy. He was making cracks about the lack of storage in the cabins which is somewhat of a problem. He said he can hardly move in his cabin because it is full of drawers and soap dishes. The crowd roared. We have almost no drawers and no soap dish. Don’t worry, we are getting some tomorrow in Ft Lauderdale at Wal-Mart. Jeff says it is the Clampets (from the Beverly Hillbillies) meet the Queen Victoria.) We are also picking up the rest of our luggage.

We had a good dinner. We were on our second night and our second dinner table. The search continues tonight! Don’t know quite what we are looking for, maybe a group like the Tuesday night C Boat dinner group or the Thursday night Petersen Pizza party.

Today was our first regular sea day. No more excuses about getting organized.

I went to the gym first thing in the morning due to my agreement with Liz, no exercise= no Blackjack. First the Precor machine. I didn’t last too long, but I did it. Then the treadmill. I thought I was doing the treadmill until the Stretch and Relax Class, but it turned out I did it so long I ended up with the ZUMBA class which is Salsa Aerobics. It was a lot of fun. When I was done my face was tomato red, but I did it. I think that will be my regular class.

After that Jeff and I took a class on Using Adobe Photoshop and then went to a lecture by a maritime Historian that was speaking on the history of The Cunard Queens. He was a good speaker and quite funny.

Next our friend Stirling Kenny from Naples took us to lunch at the Todd English Specialty restaurant. It was an excellent lunch. When I was in there on Sunday making some reservations for Jeff and me, I saw Todd English. He was there with a big wad of the press giving an interview.

Then off to the casino for me and Jeff went to a Classical Guitar concert. I had a great day at the casino- I think it was a reward for the ZUMBA.

Sorry no pictures today. Tomorrow is our first port. The exotic Fort Lauderdale, FL!!!!!

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.

"Three Seafaring Queens Spend a Day in New York"

Sunday night, the Queen Victoria left New York carrying 3,000 bottles of Champagne and more than 2,000 lobsters, “all of which,” Ms. Marlow said, “are expected to be consumed before the end of the month.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/nyregion/14ships.html?

Text Message from Dad (Jeff)

Dreams seem to find me
I needed a good memory of NYC and I got it tonight with the three ships leaving in formation
Great stuff

"3 Queens for a Day in NY Spectacular"

The NY Post published this tidbit today:

"A Shore Thing"
There will be a meeting of the queens by the Statue of Liberty today when ocean liners Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth 2 and Queen Victoria convene between Battery Park and Liberty Island, where a 7 p.m. fireworks show will mark the historic occasion. This also marks a changing of the aquatic guard as Queen Victoria was christened at the end of 2007 and Queen Elizabeth 2 will be removed from service at the end of 2008. For more info, go to www.cunard.com.

*********

The NY Post also published this article on December 25th:

"3 Queens for a Day in NY Spectacular"
December 25, 2007 -- The three Cunard Queen ships - the Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth 2 and the new Queen Victoria - are expected to meet in the waters off lower Manhattan next month, with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop and a fireworks spectacular celebrating the event....

The Queen Victoria was christened Dec. 10 in Southampton, England, by Prince Charles' wife, Camilla Parker Bowles. It will embark Jan. 6 on a three-month, around-the-world cruise, including a trans-Atlantic crossing with the QE2.

After the Victoria and QE2 arrive in New York, they will rendezvous with the QM2, which homeports in Brooklyn.

The Queen Elizabeth 2 is expected to be retired from service later next year. Cunard is building a new Queen Elizabeth for a 2010 launching.

Thanks to Sharon B. for letting us know about today's article!