rafinmd

Day 4, Monday. July 4, 2022, Boston, Massachusetts By the time I went on deck about 5 land and lights were already visible ahead of us. I have a long history with Boston as I have been there several times on cruises and land trips, my brother spent 4 years at Harvard, and I a month at an actuarial seminar at Northeastern University. Things started off with much more routine issues. I had a notice that there was not a credit card registered to my account and I needed to turn in my Canadian Customs declaration. The Customs Declaration was easy but the computer would not bring up the credit card scanner. While there I adjusted the gratuities. I would normally augment them a little bit but this time was a more substantial increase as the crew was working extra hard cleaning everywhere and serving all the normally self service food in Kings Court. The other routine matter was the result of a packing mistake. For formal nights on short cruises I use a Travelsmith Black Blazer and matching slacks but I had forgotten that since March 2020 I had replaced the slacks. The come un-hemmed. I packed them in the bag that went with Luggage Forward and when I left home decided those could be my backup long pants. The first gala night I put on the Travelsmith slacks and the legs extended down to my toes and were just not going to work. I had to go to my only other pair of long pants that I had worn since leaving home. They were in urgent need of laundry so that became my second order of business. The laundry rooms open at 7:30 and I lined up at 7:10 to be sure of getting a washer. The guy with the key came about 7:20 and they went in the washer. Back about 8:05 to move them to the dryer and they were done at 9. After moving the laundry to the drier I went down to Kings Court for a waffle. As noted before I prefer to eat outdoors and there were tables open at the back of deck 7. I did take the plate back to Kings Court when finished. My plans for the day were quite modest. There was a shuttle from the ship to Quincy and I boarded it about 11. I had thought of lunch at Panera which is fairly close to Quincy. The walk was along a greenway in the median of a wide boulevard where an ugly elevated highway once ran. Unfortunately, when I got to my destination it turned out the staff was out enjoying the holiday so I wandered back on various side streets to Quincy Market, a finally back to the shuttle. As I boarded the shuttle I confirmed something I had feared. I had looked for Durgin Park “in the shadow of Fanueil Hall”, an iconic steak house where my family celebrated my brother’s graduation in 1962 (and it was a legend way back then) and been back a couple times since then but the guide confirmed it is no longer in business. It will be missed. My afternoon was pretty low key but I did get to afternoon tea for a scone with a gentleman on the guitar. It’s been extremely crowded on sea days so this was the right time. There was a bit of drama at dinner but this time of my making. I had requested advance copies of the dinner for my own planning purposes but the staff was quite sure I needed to be on a diabetic diet, and I had to turn in my selections the day before. When my salad came it was awful. The waiter explained it was special for as a diabetic. I was quite forceful that I could eat what was on the menu, I just had to plan my other meals around it and think this time the message got through and I walked out with Tuesday’s menu. The rest of the meal was Rack of Lamb and Key Lime tart. It was followed by red, white, and blue petit fours. The complainer in chief was not present. Sunset came about 8; at 7:45 I caught a glimpse of the sun going down sandwiched between the platform for the rescue boat and the top of the cruise terminal. The Boston Pops concert was shown on the big screen in the Royal Court Theater. There was a celebration of the fireworks up on deck 13. I was a bit disappointed in that as the views were through the plexiglass barriers and the display was nice but a bit awkward to see. I also went down to the Promenade Deck where I could not see the fireworks but the bangs in the distance were very evident. I woke about 5 and when I went out on deck the sun had just risen over the bow. My parting shot will be a wish for healing for the people of Highland Park and the shooting victims. Roy

A bit more explanation perhaps. When I saw @srdancer post I had heard nothing about the shooting and the idea of restricting gun sales to those over 150 brought to mind some codger wheeling his walker into a gun store on his 150'th birthday and calling out "It's my birthday and I want my AK47. and that image tickled my funny bone. And to me that little touch of humor moved the needle from a direct political comment that might have offended some and made the subject a little less political while still getting the point across. Don't really get a lot of instant news on the ship and hadn't heard of the horror that inspired the comment, and there's definitely nothing funny about that, not to mention 2 or 3 other mass shootings the same day. I don't no if we have any big gun rights advocates among the dailyites and I think the benefits of keeping this space non-political vastly outweigh the value of an outright political comment and pushing some people away. It's still very important that we keep talking. I'm a bit sensitive to this as I have a gun rights person in my own family. Roy

No you weren't but 150 as opposed to an outright ban. I think the difference is adding a touch of humor that makes it a bit less political, and perhaps a better way of getting the point across. Roy

There have been comments elsewhere on the condition of the QM2 elevators. Ironically, this seems to be primarily an issue for those in the Grills. I believe the ship has 18 main passenger elevators, 3 each at the A and D landings, and 6 each at the B and C landings. As far as I can tell 16 are working just fine, the 2 with problems are both at the aft D landings; the ones that serve the Grills restaurants. Also a bit of an issue for the Queens room. Roy

Today's sunrise is very early over the stern of Queen Mary 2 coming into Boston for Independence Day Roy

Thank you Rich for the Independence Day report. Greetings from Boston, probably no better place to be this day than possibly Philadelphia, and I don't think their cruise port is still active. I like all the days except I'd rather not be able to fry an egg on the sidewalk. I don't think it will get quite that hot here today. I've been to Western Australia but not to Geraldton. The meal sounds nice. My alternative is Hearts of Palm, Sirloin Steak, and Rose Scented Pavlova as served on Queen Mary 2 yesterday evening: Today’s care list: Melinda with stage 4 cancer StPeteCruiser recovering from Appendicitis Covid in Durango shelter staff Heartgrove brother about to be discharged with extremely poor prognosis From the rotation: Bennybear DH with melanoma Strength and healing for Kazu StLouisSal with weakening legs and covid Cruzin Terri with continuing health problems Celebrations and Shoutouts: Curt discharged to rehab facility Ann and Pat in Newfoundland Sam feeling better Volendam caring for refugees 5 days for Cat in My Lap (Zaandam 7/9 to 8/13) Welcome home Nicklepenny jimgev in Alaska rafinmd (QM2 to July 8), Mister Boston (Celebrity Summit to July 10) Norseh2o (Insignia to 7/4), Crazy for Cats (Zaandam to 7/9), GTVCRUISER (Carnival Panorama to July 9) and ski ww (Oosterdam to July 16) at sea Vacationing Staff Captain Sabine - Our first female Staff Captain and HAL’s likely first female Captain(I know this is a repeat but she’s worth it) Roy

Today's sunrise is very early over the stern of Queen Mary 2 coming into Boston for Independence Day Roy

Today's sunrise is very early over the stern of Queen Mary 2 coming into Boston for Independence Day Roy

Day 3, Sunday, July 3, 2022, Bar Harbor, Maine After a foggy night the weather turned nice and stayed that way for our day in Bar Harbor with clear skies and a temperature of about 75 (24C). There were 2 other ships here today, the tiny American Independence (it looked a bit ragged) and a ferry to Yarmouth, NS. Since last year cruise ships are a little less welcome in Bar Harbor, now required to anchor out of sight on the far side of Bar Island, which makes the tender ride a bit longer. I have been to Bar Harbor many times before (including just over a month ago) and my plans were modest, primarily getting to a church service. My goal was the Congregational Church, just behind the village green with a 10AM service. If I ran late there is an Episcopal church next door with an 11AM service. I was ready and left my room about 8:45. Tender tickets were required to go ashore and they were given out in the Royal Court Theater. Before entering we were required to perform a “step test”, stepping across an 18-inch gap (roughly half a meter) between 2 lines on piece of carpet. I was given a ticket number 3 and noticed that others in the room had number 2 so I settled in for a bit of a wait. It turned out that 2 and 3 were called together so the wait was not long at all and we headed down to the tender dock. When I was in Bar Harbor in May on Adventure of the Seas we used local tour boats to get ashore; QM2 used her own tender boats which are much smaller and loaded very quickly. When we got to the dock we landed right next to the final ramp up to land. That was a big advantage over Adventure where the bigger boat had to land at a spot much further out with an additional ramp and cross a section of dock with no railings. I think it was on the tender that I realized that in my final preparations I had not packed a camera to take ashore. I did have my IPAD but find it clumsy to use as a camera and only took a couple of photos ashore. I arrived at the church about 9:45, almost perfect timing for the 10AM service. I did not see any notices at church requiring masks but everyone was wearing one. After the service there were just a couple of things I wanted to do. The first was a bit of shopping for sundries. The visitor center suggested a supermarket 5 blocks down from the main street. I found it but all I ended up finding was a spare comb. The other thing was ice cream. There are several lovely ice cream shops in town. I tried one in May and would have happily returned but wanted to try another as well. At least one more in reserve for a future visit. I saw a lovely assortment of interesting flavors but as soon as I saw pistachio I knew that had to be it. I asked for a kids extra small but it was still quite enormous. The tender ride back was very easy. I boarded a tender just as another was pulling up behind it. We left as soon as that tender had discharged it’s guests, a very short wait to get under way. The upper deck on the tender was open and I had a lovely view on the way back to the ship. I had a quiet afternoon on board. We had the same four people at dinner. The couple seemed a bit more mellow or perhaps I am just getting to tune their negativity out a bit. I do hate to change tables as I feel that is unfair to my waiters Edgardo and Neil. I will if it is really necessary but not right now. Service was also faster tonight and we were out about 7:15. My choices were Hearts of Palm, Sirloin Steak, and Rose Scented Pavlova. I had a momentary lapse on taking the picture of the salad. I did not attend the featured entertainment, singer Roy G Hemmings. The sun setting over Bar Harbor was very nice. I slept well and woke early, actually ahead of a very beautiful sunrise over the stern. Today’s parting shot is best Independence Day wishes for all my fellow Americans. Roy

I have uploaded the first 3 Daily Programmes to the blog: https://morethangetaways.wordpress.com/m219-programs/ Wordpress has changed how their file upload works and it is a lot harder so this is likely the last cruise where I post programs unless I can find another hosting site. I've also posted the letter we got on embarkation about Covid Protocols: https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2022/07/covidletter.pdf And the Bar Harbor Congregational Church bulletin: https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2022/07/bhchurch.pdf Roy

I do hope the pharmacists in Gander can work the magic they did 9/12/01. You and Pat have nothing on me. I just came back from Bar Harbor and did not remember to take a camera with me. Roy

Today's sunrise was just a bit late as the sun came up before 5 in Bar Harbor: Roy

Today's sunrise was just a bit late as the sun came up before 5 in Bar Harbor: Roy

Today's sunrise was just a bit late as the sun came up before 5 in Bar Harbor: Roy

Thank you for the Sunday Daily, Rich. I'll pass on the scarecrow, don't like the mirror but disobedience sounds appropriate for the July 4 season. I love the Sparks quote but have not been to Miyako. Fried Rice sounds nice but probably not good for my blood sugar. My alternative is Caesar Salad, Roasted Goose, and Strawberry Ice Cream as served on Queen Mary 2, July 2, 2022. Today’s care list: Melinda with stage 4 cancer Sam recovering at home from Covid complications StPeteCruiser recovering from Appendicitis Covid in Durango shelter staff Heartgrove brother about to be discharged with extremely poor prognosis From the rotation: Cruzin Terri with continuing health problems Tana with persistant cough HAL Sailer DH Nephew Curt with serious mowing accident and new dimentia Cruising-along niece awaiting a kidney Celebrations and Shoutouts: Seasick Sailer friend Ron recovering from successful gall bladder surgery Welcome home Tioga Cruiser Curt discharged to rehab facility Ann and Pat in Newfoundland Volendam caring for refugees 6 days for Cat in My Lap (Zaandam 7/9 to 8/13) Bon Voyage Mister Boston (Celebrity Summit July 3 to 10) rafinmd (QM2 to July 8), Nickelpenny (Westerdam to 7/3) , jimgev (Noordam to 7/3 plus land trip), Norseh2o (Insignia to 7/4), Crazy for Cats (Zaandam to 7/9), GTVCRUISER (Carnival Panorama to July 9) and ski ww (Oosterdam to July 16) at sea Vacationing Staff Captain Sabine - Our first female Staff Captain and HAL’s likely first female Captain(I know this is a repeat but she’s worth it) Roy

Day 2, Saturday, July 2, 2022, At Sea, Queen Mary 2 My morning walk was about 5 laps around the promenade deck, a bit windy but not bad. I noticed that a couple of the “Commodore’s cufflinks (spare propellor blades) were missing from their mounts, don’t know if it’s routine maintenance or recent damage. At 5AM we were headed East, almost due South of Boston. I spent a lot of the day in my room. I don’t remember it in the past but the Cunard Insights lectures are now broadcast live on Channel 47 and with covid around it seems safer to watch in private. There were 2 in the morning. Seth Gopin led things off with a talk on skyscrapers He was followed at 11 by Photographer Neil Leifer on Mohammed Ali as seen from a photojournalist point of view. In his new update Captain Hall indicated we were 60 miles SE of Nantucket and would be slowing down to 10kt from 1:30 to 9:30 as we pass through a Right Whale habitat. We will pick up our Bar Harbor pilot at 5:30 and anchor at 700. One of the things I don’t like about QM2 is there are very limited options for outdoor dining. In most of my past cruises for lunch and breakfast I have picked up food in the buffet and taken it to either the Aft of Pool decks outside to eat it. With Kings Court midship on the Promenade deck there is no place designed for that. I miss that particular in times of Covid. I decided to get an easy to carry lunch and looked at the promenade deck (possibly perched on one of the boxes used to store the recliner cushions. I ended up walking aft and to deck 8 where there were a few tables. Not a good option but interesting. The afternoon talk was at 12:15 and I caught only part of it. Historian William Fowler spoke on the Declaration of Independence. It was well underway when I got back from lunch but I was eventually able to hear the first half in replay. The one thing I did attend in person was a classical piano concert with Caroline Oltmanns. She presented a variety of works Scarlati, Chopin, and contemporary James Wilding. This was the first of 2 Gala nights. There were 2 new people at Table 302, a couple from Australia. They have been on since Southampton, and it sounds like the missing couple is in quarantine. I’m beginning to wonder about the table. The lady declares herself a “food critic” and complains about everything. Dinner ran long, and things were not perfect but I am fed very acceptable food and all I need to do is be here, while the negativity is a real drag. My choices for the evening were the Caesar Salad, Roasted Goose, and Strawberry Ice Cream. The featured entertainment was the Royal Cunard Singers and Dancers with “Be our Guest”. I did not go. We also had the Black and White Ball in the Queens Room. I dropped by just briefly and it looked liked people were having a great time. I did not sleep as well as Friday night but still quite well. Sunrise came very early, before 5AM and I was just a bit late. My parting shot is based on dinner. It’s a quote that sounds like Casey Stengel but it’s actually Colonel Potter from MASH. “If you aren’t where you are, you’re nowhere” Roy

In case you don't hear much from me, the internet has been particularly awful today. Roy

Today's sunrise is a subdued one take from Queen Mary2's bow on the way to Bar Harbor. Roy

Captain Hall spoke at a fair length about that in his noon update. The area stretches about 80 miles and we were to enter at 1:30 and emerge tonight about 9:30. He indicated specifically Right Whales. Roy

Today's sunrise is a subdued one take from Queen Mary2's bow on the way to Bar Harbor. Roy

Today's sunrise is a subdued one take from Queen Mary2's bow on the way to Bar Harbor. Roy

Today’s care list: Melinda with stage 4 cancer Sam recovering at home from Covid complications StPeteCruiser recovering from Appendicitis Covid in Durango shelter staff Heartgrove brother about to be discharged with extremely poor prognosis From the rotation: Cruising-along niece awaiting a kidney Bennybear DH with melanoma Strength and healing for Kazu StLouisSal with weakening legs and covid Celebrations and Shoutouts: Lindaler successfully resettled Seasick Sailer friend Ron recovering from successful gall bladder surgery Tioga Cruiser enjoying Grand Canyon Good dental checkup for kochleffel Ann and Pat headed to Newfoundland 1Angelcat’s kindly vet Sharon DH now retired Volendam caring for refugees Bon Voyage ski ww (Oosterdam July 2 to 16) 7 days for Cat in My Lap (Zaandam 7/9 to 8/13) 1 day for Mister Boston (Celebrity Summit July 3 to 10) rafinmd (QM2 to July 8), Nickelpenny (Westerdam to 7/3) , jimgev (Noordam to 7/3 plus land trip), Norseh2o (Insignia to 7/4) and Crazy for Cats (Zaandam to 7/9) at sea Vacationing Staff Captain Sabine - Our first female Staff Captain and HAL’s likely first female Captain(I know this is a repeat but she’s worth it) I'll pass on the meal suggestion. My alternative is beef consume, roast turkey breast, and apple strudel as served on Queen Mary 2, July 1, 2022. Roy

Day 1, Friday, July 1, 2022, Board Queen Mary 2, Red Hook, New York I left the Renaissance about 10:45 and caught a taxi to Pier 11 Wall Street, arriving about 11:15. Buying a ferry ticket was easy and from Slip C I joined a queue of people waiting for the South Brooklyn ferry, shaded and grabbing a bench in the boarding area. My first view of QM2 in the distance was a bit hazy but lovely indeed. https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2022/07/1stookqm2.jpg My first cruise was on something a bit more modest, and once boarding started the crew was quite serious about mask wearing, holding some patrons who arrived without one until some were secured from the vessel. We made one stop at Pier 6 which some other ferry passengers told me had a waterpark (I would think some passengers making New York a port call might enjoy) before arriving at Red Hook just a stone’s throw from the ship. On the way to the ship I paused for a photo of the forward end of the ship and located my cabin just forward of the C of Cunard. My energy level was fairly normal when I arrived at the terminal but that changed over the course of the next hour plus. While some people have reported standing in the sun I was lucky that the line started in the shade. The line to enter the terminal ran 3 passes between the terminal entrance and the customs exit. At noon+ there were still a LOT of people leaving the ship and trying to get on their way. I wonder if some of that might have been delays by some people who were disembarking after being quarantined (not people booked for 21 days but some who had booked a simple transatlantic). I think this was supposed to be the basic process: Step 1: Preliminary review of documents. Step 2: Security Step 3: Health check Step 4: Traditional check in Step 5: On to the ship For step 1 there were 3 lines for regular passengers and 2 more for people reserving wheelchairs. I was directed to the one on the right and I thought I had everything in order. The line moved EXTREMELY slowly, with most of the delays seemingly caused by people searching for documents on their phones. One person in particular must have spent at least 10 minutes on her phone trying different login credentials before apparently finally pulling up her document. There should be a way to let such people stand aside while they do the search and start on the next person. When I FINALLY got there I had 2 double sided sheets of paper (a) My e-ticket, (b)Arrive-Can printout, (c) Negative Covid Test, and (d) “Cleared” online health declaration. The guy looked at all of the papers except the online health declaration, my passport. He also wanted to see my vax card which I thought had already been uploaded, no problem there. What he wanted to see that I didn’t have was a boarding pass with a bar code. I looked at that several times in the online check-in and could never get to it, and the E-ticket indicated it was all that was needed, so I hadn’t worried about it. He refused to go any further but passed me off to the wheelchair line, which had little printers. That moved as slowly as the first line but when I finally got there the gal rechecked everything the first guy did and printed out the boarding pass, a little receipt type slip of paper smaller than my hand. By this time between the wait outside the terminal and inside I had been standing with almost 30 pounds on my back for about an hour, having accomplished barely 2 minutes getting something done but I finally had a green sticker on my boarding pass. Step 2 was the standard security screening which went reasonably normally. Step 3 was the health check where a gal had a little phone type device and recorded my answers to the same questions Cunard had insisted I answer on my own from home but nobody looked at. Fortunately, that was also quick. Finally, on to the traditional check-in line and another 10-minute wait. By this time my legs were close to collapse. When I finally got there and she entered my data and the computer wouldn’t let her go any further and I had to wait for at least one other party at the next station for a different agent. I am pretty sure when I sailed Adventure of the Seas to Halifax, Royal had gotten a confirmation directly from Canada about approvals but this had not happened for me and I had to show my printout for a third time. She also recorded the approval code on a list on a clipboard. Cunard had also rejected my photo so that was retaken. FINALLY, I was ready to board almost 90 minutes after arriving at the terminal. I thought it would be easy to get to my room but not quite. I boarded at stairway C. My cabin is all the way forward before stairway A. I took the elevator to deck 6 and started walking forward. My path was blocked at stairway B as the area between A and B on deck 6 (both sides) is the quarantine zone so I had to go down to deck 5, forward to A, and back up to 6 and arrived at my cabin about 2:10, plopping my bags down on the bed, exhausted. I was hungry and needed lunch but needed a bit of rest even more. I finally summoned the strength to go up to Kings Court about 2:30 for an eclectic lunch of skim milk, fruit salad and soft ice cream. Self service is suspended in Kings Court and all food is dished out by the crew. Not a big deal and probably a good thing in general but Cunard does not normally do this so it places a burden on the crew and makes them less available for other things. As I got to the elevator on deck 7 I was stopped by a crew member who asked about my muster station and since it was station A (the gym) he scanned my card indicating I had been to the muster station. https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2022/07/lunch01.jpg It was about 3 when I returned to my room and my big bag that had been sent by Luggage Forward was sitting outside. I wrestled it up onto the bed and started the slow process of unpacking. My email from Luggage Forwarded said it was delivered at 2:01 so Cunard got it up to my room quite quickly. Unpacking was a slow process. Normally, all aboard is 5:30 and sailaway at 6. At 5:30 the emergency signal (7 short and 1 long blast on the horns and bells) was sounded and we had Captain Andrew Hall’s safety message. Shortly after 6 Captain Hall came back on the PA and told us we would be we would be delayed by some late arriving passengers (not surprising considering the current turmoil in the airline industry, and our departure would be around 7. While I had planned to check in with my table and introduce myself and then get dinner in Kings Court until we passed the Verrazano bridge I instead headed down to dinner. I am at table 302 on deck 2, a 6-top near the port side entrance. There was just one other person at dinner, a lady from the New York suburbs. My choices were beef consume, roast turkey breast, and apple strudel. Service was quite quick and we were finishing about 7:15, just as I saw us starting to move. I watched the bridge cam from my room and as we were getting closet to the Verrazano bridge I went up to deck 13 to watch us go under the bridge. I got a good shot of the bow going under the bridge but not so much the rear funnel. https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2022/07/bridgefwd.jpg Sunset was about a half hour away. I went down to deck 7 and watched from a lounger under lifeboat 15 as the sun dropped into the clouds near the horizon. The featured entertainment was violinist Venus Tsai. I did not attend. I was in bed about 10:30 and slept very soundly until about 4:30. I did go out on deck early Saturday. There were clouds but I did see a bit of color ahead of the ship. My parting shot has to be about the check-in process. Talking about a “perfect storm” on a cruise blog is probably not a good idea but I will anyway. There were so many changes that could have made a difference. 1. A better Cunard Checkin process to get to the “boarding pass” 2. Encouraging people to print things out instead of having them search through phones and a holding pattern for people having difficulty retrieving them. 3. Equipping all checkin staff with mobile printers 4. When all documents are in order and all requirements obviously met, having agents pass people on to the next step with the boarding pass where the capability is already there. There just must be a better way. Roy

Thank you for the report, Rich. Love all 3 of the days and the Rowling quote. Been to Honolulu several times, always on Crystal or land trips. It will be some time yet before I'm ready to comment on the meal. Oops, just realized my lists are on the other laptop that isn't yet connected to the wifi. Roy

Roy