Review of June 9 Eastbound Transatlantic

[Paul NH]

The Queen Mary 2 spent all day Friday and most of Saturday shrouded in a light to moderate fog. We could not see the ocean more than a 100 yards from the side of the ship. John Cleese made a joke of it Saturday morning in the Royal Court Theater. He said that with all this fog, for all he knew we were just sailing around in circles near New York City, going nowhere and that he thought he saw the Statue of Liberty at dinner Friday night. Finally, by Saturday afternoon, a strong wind began to pick up and the fog began to clear. By late afternoon and early evening, the seas were picking up a little, and we detected for the first time a noticeable, but mild, movement of the ship. We went to bed Saturday night to a gentle rolling sensation, a nice feeling.

 

I recall throughout the night be awakened for seconds at a time, but numerous times, to the sound of the surf hitting the ship, and to a sort of jerking sensation in bed. I would fall back asleep immediately, but remember multiple incidences of this. Finally, on early Sunday I awoke to the muffled whoosing/pounding sound and the slight creaking of our cabin, as well as a noticeable feeling of movement. My family was still asleep so I got out of bed and awkwardly dressed while holding onto a chair.

 

I made my way up to Deck 7 and had a cup of coffee and wrote in my journal, noticing that the seas looked rougher – lots of whitecaps all over the place. When you look at the ocean from about 80 feet above, it tends to flatten the overall picture. I felt fine, no seasickness.

 

Next I went up to the Commodore Club to watch the bow. To my surprise, this room was rocking and rolling something fierce. At one point I literally was having trouble standing and walking without holding onto something. After only a minute or two in this room, I was out of there.

 

Next, I went down to Deck 3 and looked out the windows, noticing that the sea looked a lot rougher than from Deck 7. The waves coming off the bow would collide with the waves approaching broadside and splash upwards. I decided to go down to Deck 2 and watch from the lower windows. WOW! What a show. The bow waves colliding with the ocean waves were a real spectacle – rising about 20 to 30 feet above my vantage point and then almost exploding into white spray. While I was in awe of this sight, out of nowhere a wave washed completely over the window in a white surge, accompanied by a muffled but impressive roaring and gurgling. More WOW!!! There was a man, woman and their 20 year old daughter with a camera there, and they were as excited as me. I took my digital camera out and decided to photograph the area inside the window along with the rough seas outside. Just as I went to snap it, another huge wave washed over the window and I caught it. The sight and sound were awesome, and even a little creepy, as you could feel the power of the ocean behind those waves hitting the windows. At that, the mother told the daughter to get away from the windows, to which the daughter just laughed. I told them about my experience up in the Commodore Club and the 20 year old said something like, “Oooh, let’s go up there.” And off they went to their next adventure.

 

I still felt fine. After watching the waves for a while, I decided to go down and post an interim report on this board. On the way down Stairway A, I almost fell from a sudden lurching motion. The Connexions computer room was deserted, but lit. I went and sat down, noticing that a cabinet in the front of the room had one of its doors loose, and it was swinging open and closed, banging against the long table I was seated at. Just as I logged on and started writing, this wave of sickness washed over me. My forehead went stone cold and began instantaneously sweating buckets. The wave continued down and washed over my stomach and I immediately thought I was going to “contribute” to the computer screen in front of me. I knew I had to get out of that room right away. You can read that live but brief report on a separate string a couple of weeks back.

 

I knew that the center of the ship, close to the water line was the best place to be, so I want to the Golden Lion Pub and laid down on leather sofa there, next to a window. I was feeling better, but still off some. I think once you tilt into seasickness, you do not entirely come back right away when it subsides. I was no longer sick, but still a little uneasy. After about a half an hour I decided to go check on my family.

 

As I came into the cabin, my wife immediately said to me, “Oh thank God you’re back. I feel awful. I can’t get out of bed without feeling like I’m going to throw up.” I told her we needed to get her to the center of the ship, but she literally could not get out of bed. My two boys were stirring by now, so I made them get dressed. I didn’t know what to do about my wife. She needed to get out of the cabin, but couldn’t get out of the cabin. She ended up saying that as long as she laid horizontal she felt okay. Uneasy with what to do about her, I took the boys out of the cabin to show them the spectacle outside the Deck 2 forward windows. When we got to the bottom of the A Stairway and turned right, the fire doors (or watertight doors? … probably not) in the passageway aft were closed. There is a handle on these doors and as I reached for it to open them, a wave of nausea came over me instantaneously, and in a matter of about 2 to 3 seconds, I went from being okay to “All systems red! We’re gonna blow!” Through sheer willpower because of where I was standing, I suppressed it, got the door open and we proceeded to the windows. The nausea receded, and I was okay again, but uneasy because of the two incidences now. The boys were spellbound by the waves and watched them for a while without making a sound. Then we decided to go back to the cabin and check on my wife. She asked for dry crackers. So we went up to the Kings Court.

 

There is a long indoor walkway on the port side of Deck 7 that goes from the Canyon Ranch Spa through the Winter Garden, through all of the Kings Courts, and all the way down to the Princess Grill entrance. I looked down this passageway from the forward end, and could see people walking at crazy angles. It was an interesting optical illusion, as the ship rolled and people’s balance corrected for it. It reminded me of a photograph I had seen of passenger strolling on the Lusitania’ deck (no comparison being made to disaster!) at the same angle. Just a note here that I am not talking about something like 30 degrees or anything, but it was enough that I thought to myself, “Well, look at that.”

 

After bringing the crackers to my wife, she told me that she had twice tried to get dressed and both times had to get back horizontal – that it was the only position where she could stabilize herself. I told her I would go down and get the doctor or a nurse to come up and give her a shot. My two sons decided to come with me.

 

If there is anything that I want to gripe about on this trip, it was the doctor’s office. It was a monkey operation. There seemed to be no system in place. When we got there, there were only about 4 people in the waiting area. I told the man behind the counter that my wife needed a shot, and by this point both my 13 year old son and I made the decision that since we were down here we would have it too. My 11 year old felt fine and did not want anything to do with a needle. I sent him back to the cabin to tell my wife that help was on the way. The man behind the counter scribbled some note on a piece of paper and told us to have a seat. By the time our ordeal was done, all the seats in the waiting room were taken, with some standing. The man behind the counter did not make a list of who was waiting for the shots, and simply told people to have a seat. About 30 minutes later, he walked around and started making a list, and although he remembered that we were next, he got the remaining order wrong and had passengers barking at him that others were waiting longer than the order of his list. During this, two people used the barf bags while sitting there. One woman came in and had to lay face down in the middle of the floor – a similar problem as my wife’s. After about 45 minutes of waiting, with not much happening, the captain announced there would be a watertight door test. The door came down right to the entrance of the waiting room, sealing all of us miserable feeling souls inside. Sometime during the wait I used the phone on the wall and called the cabin. My son answered and said the nurse had not yet arrived – even though the guy manning the counter said the nurse would be right over there in 5 to 10 minutes – about 45 minutes ago.

 

There were a number of annoying things occurring that I will not go into. Suddenly, a German-sounding man started yelling, “WHY IS THIS TAKING SO LONG? I am a doctor and it takes about one minute to give a shot. It should not be like this! I am telling the Captain about this!” Half of me was thinking, “Yeah, you tell ‘em” and the other half of me was thinking, “Will you please shut up!” That was the way of things down there. I told the passengers we had been waiting almost an hour and there was an audible gasp from people. When my son and I were finally called to get the shot we went behind a door to a battleship-gray painted hallway, which was lined with stewards, stewardesses and other staff all looking miserable. We turned right into a doctor’s office and my son blurted out, “We’ve been waiting for an hour,” which I did not like, and told him in front of the nurse to mind himself. The nurse was in a foul mood and proceeded to tell him something like, “If you think you got it bad …” I cannot remember what she said. Anyway, I felt sympathetic to her plight, but I was angry that the whole medical department was so out of whack. If there are heavy seas, it seems to me that they should have a time-polished system of virtually lining passengers up as they come through the door and doing a quick “doink” with the shot. Why in the world they were not able to give out any shots for an hour is beyond me. Anyway, we got our shots, and got out of there, leaving a waiting room full of the still-suffering.

 

When we returned to our cabin, the nurse still had not come. So here we were, the two who were not suffering as near as much as my wife, with our shots, and her still bed-bound. Eventually the nurse arrived, and gave her the shot.

 

By this point, it was time for the Sunday service, which all four of us had intended to attend. But because of events, only I went to the Royal Court Theater. Captain Warwick conducted the service and stood on the stage like a rock even as the ship swayed and some of us were holding onto the backs of the seats in front of us. He must get lots of practice. The service included singing the hymn, “Eternal Father Strong To Save” which has that line “For those in peril on the sea.” (Sung by Titanic passengers on the Sunday morning of their last day) By now the shot had kicked in and I was feeling spacey. But the shot is not so strong that you have no choice on whether to sleep or not. It is not like that at all. But it does affect the mind, sort of blurs it some. People might mistake that for sleepiness. Anyway, after the service Captain Warwick greeted the attendees on the way out of the theater and we got to talking and I was, just like that, invited to look at some slides he had on a particular topic in his stateroom.

 

We were going to go up in the service elevator, but something prevented us (cannot remember anymore), so we took an elevator in the A Stairwell. On the way up, a man got in the elevator on one of the next decks, and quickly began to question Captain Warwick on why there was not a Christian service on board. The captain explained that he had just conducted one, and the man said something like, “yes, but why isn’t one conducted by a minister,” in a mildly nasty tone, and “I’m a minister and had to conduct one myself,” or something like that. Although the subject may have had some importance to the passenger, it seemed inappropriate to bump into the captain in an elevator and start right in on something like that. It was an awkward moment, although Captain Warwick seemed unfazed. I do not understand how someone can feel it is appropriate to speak so forwardly like that with the captain of the ship when you do not even know the person. Because I was feeling spacey from the shot, I do not remember how the brief conversation ended; it may have ended with a shrug of Captain Warwick’s shoulders. Anyway, I had a nice chat with him and his wife and realize how lucky I was to have had a private audience with the two of them for a little while. They are both very nice people.

 

When I returned, my wife was feeling much better and decided to go to the Kings Court and to go for a walk on deck. My youngest son and I went to the Brittania Dining Room and had a nice lunch at a table with other passengers. After lunch, he went off to the Zone, and my wife, oldest son, and I were all dazed from the shot and decided to take a nap and ended up sleeping until 5 p.m.! By then, the seas were calmer. We strolled the deck after our nap, had a nice dinner and danced in the Queen’s Room and G32 that night.

 

Even though the seasickness was unpleasant, it did not last that long, and there are things we could, and did do about it while suffering from it. I compare it to a hangover. Most people get them from time to time, but it does not stop them from drinking again. Even though we experience rough seas and seasickness, my wife and I both agree that we would not stop us from doing another crossing because the pluses are much greater than the negative.

 

So all in all, this was the most unusual day on the voyage, and one that will leave the biggest impression on me when I think back on the experience of a transatlantic crossing.

 

Paul

[guernseyguy]

Next I went up to the Commodore Club to watch the bow. At one point I literally was having trouble standing and walking without holding onto something.

 

Yes, I had that too....:D

 

Sorry to hear your family has yet got its sea legs - I recommend practice!

 

Great review, thanks Paul.

 

Peter

[Paul NH]

Sorry to hear your family has yet got its sea legs - I recommend practice!

And practice we will!

[cq6]

Thank you so much for sharing highlights of your trip. So many of your observations brought back images of our wonderful March cruise. Minor problems like hangers and slow breakfast fade quickly but memories of moments gazing out to sea return again and again. Reading your posts has put me in a mood to start daydreaming about my January cruise. You made my day.

[JLind]

Paul,

 

Your review has me (and travel companions) on the edge of our seats. We appreciate your information as well as your writing talent.

 

I do have one crazy question... How many formal nights on that transatlantic 6 night crossing? We leave a week from today and I am trying to pack. I know that this should be basic Cunard information. But we were told two, and then today we were told three formal nights. We seem to get a different response from Cunard each time we ask. I also have kids 11 and 14. My son does have a tux, but I'm wondering if boys wear a tie on the other dining nights. (OK, so that's actually two questions, sorry.)

 

I don't mean to cut into your writing time, as we are eagerly awaiting your next review installment- but if you have any quick words of wisdom regarding what I might throw into these suitcases, please do tell!

 

Thanks-

Jill

[elaine61]

Another excellent instalment Paul. Keep it coming. It's strange how that nausea just hits you out of the blue isn't it?? Years ago when we first started cruising I used to have the shot, but nowadays I seem to be able to manage with just medication if I need it. But for any other future QM2 travellers (newcomers) who should experience what Paul felt, I and I'm sure he would tell you to get down the doctors and get yourself one of these jabs. They are brilliant.

 

Elaine

[elaine61]

JLind

 

From reading my brochure here, the dress code guide* (*the above is a guide only and variations may occur) it states that the dress code for a crossing is 2 casual (I presume first and last night) then 3 formal and 1 informal.

 

From previous experience of cruising with another cruise line the dress code tends to have formal nights on sea days and a mixture of informal and casual for your days in port.

 

Of course on a transatlantic crossing there are a lot of sea days!!

 

Elaine

[elaine61]

Paul

 

I have viewed your paintings of the titanic. I can now see how you find it so easy to write your reports. Can you tell me after reading about the white caps on the waves and your experience of the waves crashing against the side of QM2 down on deck 2, will you be doing any paintings with your last trip in mind??

 

Elaine

[Paul NH]

I do have one crazy question... How many formal nights on that transatlantic 6 night crossing? We leave a week from today and I am trying to pack. I know that this should be basic Cunard information. But we were told two, and then today we were told three formal nights. We seem to get a different response from Cunard each time we ask. I also have kids 11 and 14. My son does have a tux, but I'm wondering if boys wear a tie on the other dining nights.

Jill, there are three formal nights (tux & gowns), one casual (suits & dresses/pant suits) and two informal (open collar & dress/pant suits). The informal nights are the first night, when you have only just unpacked your suitcases (if you are lucky) and the last night, when the suitcases are packed (if you are lucky.) The informal night is fourth night out. Our boys and the others I saw wore ties on the same nights as the men. We did not have tuxes for our two, but dressed them in dark suits and black ties on two of the nights, and tan suits with ties the other two nights.

 

We had drinks with DanZ and his family one evening, and their two were dressed similarly. The four boys looked sharp! (Now, if we could just get our two to sit in one place for more than 20 minutes ...)

[Paul NH]

Minor problems like hangers and slow breakfast fade quickly but memories of moments gazing out to sea return again and again.

Well put. Those things tend to be trivial once you step out on deck and realize you are ploughing across the Atlantic on the largest liner in the world. I suppose there is a threshold where something is no longer trivial, but we never reached it, thankfully.

[elaine61]

Well I have just had an e mail back from passenger relations regarding dress code for our trips and this is what I have been informed the dress code is as follows!!

September

20 Casual

21 Formal

22 Formal

23 Informal

24 Formal

25 Casual

26 Casual

27 Formal

28 Formal

29 Casual

30 Informal

October

1 Casual

2 Formal

3 Casual

4 Casual

5 Casual

6 Informal

7 Casual

8 Casual

9 Formal

10 Formal

11 Informal

12 Formal

13 Casual

 

Maybe I should keep an open mind!!

 

Elaine

[guernseyguy]

So that confirms the crossing code is:

 

• casual
  
• formal
  
• formal
  
• informal
  
• formal
  
• casual
  

With clocks back (westbound) each night except for the informal.

 

IIRC same as the QE2...

 

Peter

[meenie]

Regarding seasickness: For me, an over-the-counter tablet is the answer: Bonine, a once-a-day chewable tablet. I have sailed many many days over the past nine years and have encountered very rough seas at times. I don't want to jinx myself, but I've never been seasick. Method: at first sign of ship movement, I take one chewable table (if it's daytime), I take 2 if it's bedtime. The point is, don't wait to feel sick! (I don't take them on a regular basis, just if you can feel it getting a bit rocky.) The pills do not make me feel sleepy, nor do they keep me from sleeping at night. They come 8 to a package and cost about $4.00. The active ingredient in each tablet is meclizine hydrochloride...on some cruise lines these are available at the Reception Desk. I think Bonine is far more effective than dramamine, patches, bracelets, etc. It was recommended by my pharmacist, and I haven't stopped thanking him! I have joked that one day I may be arrested for dealing in drugs because I have given them out to other passengers who were on the verge of being queasy!

 

I should have started this out by sending you, Paul, the biggest thank you for your wonderfully informative (and entertaining) entries. Makes me feel like I'm on the ship already!

[DanZ]

JLind:

 

I agree with Paul dark suits for the boys are very appropos indeed. Chances are that they will even abandon you a few evenings in favor of some of the planned activities for their age group.

 

Yes, Guernseyguy, the westbound transatlantic passengers get the better deal when it comes to clock changes. They also get 5 extra hours on that wonderful ship!

 

Have fun!

[DanZ]

Ciaobella:

 

In case you didn't come across my message to you in the Todd English thread, here it is again...

 

Hi Ciaobella:

 

With July 5 fast approaching, I am getting excited for you and your husband. Say hello to that beautiful ship for me and have another dance for us! As Paul NH and I are both suffering from withdrawal symptoms. It's nice to know others are embarking on the adventure. :)

 

By the way, you should check out Paul NH's paintings of the Titanic (no realtionship to your upcoming voayge). He created them to accompany his book. http://home.gwi.net/~paul/home.html. My wife and I were fascinated listening to Paul talk about his research for the project.

 

Bon Voyage!

Dan

[aaannnthony]

DanZ, it's actually ten extra hours!

[DanZ]

Am I having a crisis of math? Five nights, gaining an hour each night, =?

[aaannnthony]

Well, I look at it as plus five versus minus five equals ten. You have five 25 hour days westbound versus five 23 hour days eastbound.

[Finch]

Paul:

 

Thank you for the review; I especially liked the description of the bumpy Sunday, and the evening photo. As a Titanic person, did you notice anything written on the davits? The QE2 has "Welin" embossed on the davits..

 

Enjoyed "Titanic at Two A.M."

[DanZ]

Finch:

 

Davits? Please clarify if you have a moment.

 

Thank you.

[The Golds]

Paul, thank you so much for your reviews of the crossing we are really looking forward to a grand time on QM2 and your reviews helped to re-enforce our dreams....:)

The Golds.

[ciaobella]

Dan,

 

Thanks so much for your good wishes! We are truly looking forward to our voyage and our twirl around the dance floor! (We are actually on the 7/11 westbound crossing, but we leave for London early next week in order to have some time there before embarking on the QM2.)

 

Thank you for sharing Paul's website - you must have had some interesting conversations on your trip! WOW! The paintings are amazing. I'm looking forward to John Maxtone Graham on our cruise - the ocean liner "legends" are fascinating.

 

Also, I loved reading about how your boys enjoyed the trip! We have 4 children who loved cruising when they were little. Alas, they are now somewhat scattered and not as available to take a trip with their parents. I think they would love the QM2! Perhaps our families will meet up some day.

 

Your observations about your crossing were most helpful - hope you get to cruise again soon!

 

Ciao!

Nancy

[slsman]

A wonderful account so far of the voyage.

 

My wife and I were also aboard on the June 9 crossing. I absolutely agree that June 12 was no ordinary day.

 

We had better luck the Sunday morning in the medical clinic. Arriving prior to 8am my wife had her shot within 5 minutes.

 

She headed back to our stateroom to lay down, and I headed to the nearest window, first in the Britannia for breakfast. When I arrived they were just opening the room at 8:30. Somehow I found myself the first person in. The staff then proceeded to give me a loud round of applause I assume for braving the weather and having a strong enough stomach to eat!

 

It was quite a morning....creaking cabins, fire doors closing, and breakfast then lunch with many folks who had become temporarily "single" for the duration!

 

Between meals I headed for the Bridge observation area on Deck 12. It was strangely comforting to find only one officer present in the Bridge, doing his routine tasks and barely glancing out the windows!

 

The most interesting challenge getting around that morning was when changing direction while walking. The ship was moving in all three axis; pitch, roll and yaw. The most pronounced movement that I could sense was pitch. Once I began walking in the direction of travel the ship was moving (ie: forward towards the bow), it slowly became natural to anticipate the movement and prepare oneself. However, if one changed the direction of travel (say, turning 90 degrees when reaching a stairway) then suddenly all of the movement becomes completely confusing!

 

Since a great deal of the personal appeal to me in sailing on the QM2 was involved with experiencing the North Atlantic, I too spent a great deal of time out on deck. The wind that morning knocked the breath out of me!

 

I was going to upload a couple of images from that day, but I don't have an image server. I can send via email if anyone is interested.

 

Looking forward to your next installment Paul!

 

Stephen

[guernseyguy]

Davits? Please clarify if you have a moment.Thank you.

 

Davits - the things the lifeboats hang from - the ones on the QE2 were made by the same people who made the ones on Titanic - unless I missed it the Naval Architect review Genesis of a Queen does not specify who supplied the davits on the QM2.

 

Peter

[DanZ]

Stephen:

 

Yes, the morning of June 12 was fun, wasn't it. Although I think the best of it was between 4 and 5 AM! It would be great to see your photos from that day. You can e-mail them to dzenka@feico.com.

 

Thanks,

Dan