Queen Mary 2
Cruise Diva's
Cruise Diary
Crossing the Atlantic in Royal Style
Part Four
It Was Different
Out There
In the Cunard tradition since
its founding in 1840, Queen Mary 2 was built with safety as a primary consideration. Unlike her predecessors, she was also designed as a multi-functional liner, offering not only cruises, but also regularly scheduled transatlantic crossings between Southampton and New York.
Make no mistake, while Queen Mary 2
offers cruises, she is a transatlantic liner at heart. To withstand all that the ocean can throw her way, she has a stronger hull design and heavier steel. Where you find the real difference between her
distinctive design and that of a typical cruise ship is in her
layout.
A "stepped down" stern
gives QM2 a decidedly liner profile and her red and black stack is
incredible for its huge size, but where she's really different is in
her "lido" area. There are multiple pools and whirlpools,
both on her top deck as well as the aft decks, but no expansive lido
area buffet. There's a small grill tucked into a corner aft of the
Deck Twelve swimming pool, but the main buffet area is lower in the
hull on the promenade deck--a more sensible location when you
consider QM2 spends as much time on the less forgiving North
Atlantic than in calmer cruising seas.
QM2 may no longer be the largest
passenger ship at sea, but she's still big. Really big! It took a
couple days before I was confident that I could find my way to the
Cunard ConneXions learning center without getting lost along the
way. It didn't take quite that long to figure out the closest
computers with Internet access were in the library, along with a
collection of over 8,000 books. And I have to admit that I loved the
little surprises that seemed to be around every corner--little nooks
to read or play board games or just watch the sea slip past.
One tip about getting around
easily--there are four elevator/stairway lobbies lettered A through
D (fore to aft) and the Daily Programme indicates which stairway is
the closest to each public room.
Hint: Illuminations is the
site of lectures, movies, and televised sporting events with
seating for over 500; however, the only planetarium at sea is also
housed in the space. When in use for virtual reality and celestial
shows the screen is lowered from the ceiling and 150 people are
accommodated for the presentation in reclining chairs below. With
seating limited, pick up complimentary tickets early in the day.
Crossing as
Transportation
During my crossing I met several North American families returning home to the United States and Canada after living abroad. Exploring their
options to return to the States after studying in Great Britain, Kevin Skipper booked passage on
QM2 with his young family because “it was less expensive to return on a ship than purchase four airline tickets.” Plus, after living
abroad for several years, the family had an excess of luggage, including children’s car seats, which could be brought aboard at no additional charge. Try that with an airline! The Skipper children, at ages two and-a-half and four, looked forward to the children’s program and loved to “go to
school” as they called the Children's Zone activities. The Skipper
parents were delighted that babysitting on QM2 is complimentary, an
unexpected savings.
Comment
on Commentary
Speaking of unexpected
savings, I was very surprised that my name was announced over the
public address system the last evening on board. Seems my comment
card was randomly selected from those already submitted at reception
and I
"won" the equivalent of my bar bill. Yes, as of 6 o'clock
pm the
night before reaching New York, my bar bill was zeroed out. A word
to the wise... turn in those comment cards.
My final comment? A crossing on
Queen Mary 2 was everything I expected and more. More enrichment
programs, more entertainment, great dining, interesting fellow
passengers, and yes... more princess treatment than I expected.
It was a crossing fit for royalty.
Back to QM2 Crossing Diary --> Part
One, Part
Two, Part
Three
Related:
Crossing
or Cruising? What's the difference? Cruise Diva looks at
conventional cruises, repositioning cruises, and a traditional Transatlantic
Crossing on the largest ocean liner ever to sail the
Atlantic, Cunard Line's Queen Mary 2
Learn more about the
building of the Queen Mary 2 --> The
12-Part Series
Queen
Mary 2, Relive the maiden crossing by Dr. John M. Clearwater
Photographs ©
Linda Coffman, CruiseDiva.com
