Queen Mary 2 Transatlantic – Part 2

Following on from my blog Queen Mary 2 Transatlantic Part 1 Day 3 was an early start for me. The first few nights on this cruise the clocks go back by 1 hour so my body clock was telling me to wake early!

Today was a quiet day for the group, we had nothing planned except for the Planetarium show at 2pm. The rest of the day was completely free to enjoy what the ship had to offer. I spent the day exploring the ship and took lots of footage with the works camcorder. Spent an hour or so in the library soaking up the atmosphere with over 8000 books! The library is stunning and for a trip like this a great place to go and chill out.

We then met for the Planetarium in the Illuminations, I was unable to take any camera footage due to copy rights. The show was OK, not something I would normally attend, certainly made you think what else is out there. If you haven’t seen it, then I will not spoil it for you and let you experience this whilst on board. It lasts about 30 minutes and is very interesting.

This evening was our 2nd formal night, but this time was not themed. We were split in to two groups to dine in the specialty restaurant Verandah. I was in group 1, so had the pleasure of the first evening in Verandah, made a bit more special for one of group whom was celebrating her birthday. The food was amazing, we met at the Verandah bar for 7pm and left just by 10pm. We were seated straight away and the food just kept on coming. It is a french themed restaurant and set at the back of the ship on deck 8. I feasted on a seafood salad and lobster thermidor  followed by a rum baba with plenty of Pussers Rum.

After dinner we headed to the Royal Theater to watch the Musical production of different West End and Broadway shows. I’m not a great fan of this type of entertainment but thoroughly enjoyed the show. Then it was on to the Golden Lion Pub, where they was having a Karaoke Night. It was great entertainment again and one of our group closed the night with his rendition of Angels (Robbie Williams).

Day 4 – A busy day for us on board. We met as a group to have a mini seminar in the morning with one of the heads of Cunard entertainment Jason. We got a heads up on how Cunard are bringing changes to the way they do things. As always Cunard have an amazing entertainment team and have always had a wide variety of special guest speakers on board. They are trying to cater for all and one of the things I have noticed on this ship is the mix of age groups. The entertainment also reflects this. I will cover this in another blog to come.

One of the amazing insight talks that I attended today was with the ‘Greatest Generations’. These special guest speakers were on most days and freely around the ship to talk to. They are all former service men from the US military and fought in WW2. The insight talk we attended today was regarding the Normandy landings, both Joe and Steve are in their late 90’s and it was very emotional to her their accounts of that time. I feel very privileged that I was in a position to hear their stories as they are the last of their generation and sadly will not be with us in a few more years to come.

Steve liked to dance and was often caught chatting our group up for a spin on the dance floor!

We all left the Theater teary eyed and reflected on what these great men and woman had done for our future. It made us remember own family members that are no longer with us that also had stories to tell. Even now just thinking of this, I am wiping the tears from my eyes, so thank you Cunard for allowing us to meet such a wonderful collection of men, whom have achieved so much and still live life to the full.

After lunch I headed off to join a seminar run by the Canyon Spa ranch, you will find in the daily planner that they often have different seminars throughout the day and all can be for various things. From beauty, to massage to healthy eating and exercise. The one I attended today was for detoxing and I thought this was apt after the amount of food I would be consuming on this cruise.  As always, they are very formative but with the purpose for you to purchase something at the end. It was interesting and I have taken lots on board and found certain tips very useful..  I am now currently writing this sipping my green tea ready for my Aloe Vera shot!

Later in the afternoon, we headed on to the Sir Samuel’s Bar for the Godiva afternoon tea experience. One word…. Stuffed. The cakes was amazing and there was so much left over we had it plated to take back to the cabins and bring out for the following day.

After the most amazing rich tea that we experienced, group 1 headed off to the bridge for a tour. Unfortunately we didn’t get the captain’s presence but Tristian, the deck cadet was happy to show us around the bridge. I have done a few of these tours now on various ships, so can say it is all very similar when it comes to the equipment used on these large ships. However, Tristian did like to tell us of some of the stories he has encountered especially with views from the bridge to the forward cabins! As you can see they do get a view of the side of the ship, so just remember to keep curtains closed and cover up on the balcony!

Group 2 dined in the Verandah restaurant, so group 1 ate in the Britannia. We met up after our said dinners and then headed for the Queens room to watch the dancing. Not a busy night for me but another great day and evening and an early ish night ready for day 5..

Watch for my next blog and part 3

Dawn x