Day QM2-4, Tuesday, October 3, 2023, Sept Isles, Quebec(NOT)

I rose about 5:15 and headed out to the Grills Deck about 6. There was already vivid color behind us although it would be almost half an hour until sunrise. When I returned at sunrise it looked like the start of a perfect day. Right!

I had decided today would be the day to do a load of laundry and I was stationed at the deck 8 laundrette about 7:15 (They open at 7:30 but usually earlier than that). The steward unlocked the door at 7:20 and I started my wash. The timer said 40 minutes and I decided to take a walk around the ship. I went down to 7 and walked to the forward door. It was a lot windier than I expected but I headed out anyway and as I rounded the bow it got worse. I tried to come back in by the port side front entry and could barely get the door open.

The wash was done about 8 and after moving the load to the dryer I retreated briefly to my room. That was about the time Captain Hashmi came on the PA and indicated our visit to Sept Iles would be scrubbed. The dryers worked quite quickly and were finished about 8.

I discovered that a blog reader had been trying to contact me and wanted to get together for a bit of a chat. 9:30 at the Commodore Club came up but I got out of breakfast almost at 9:30 and called their room to suggest 10:30. With no answer I guessed they might have been waiting for me and that turned out to be true. We had a nice long chat and when we finished I picked up the day’s supplemental programs, although nothing came up of great interest to me.

Lunch was primarily a spaghetti dish. It seems like portions of most items are sensibly smallish with the apparent exception of pastas, where I always now ask for a half serving. It was the first time I was able to finish a pasta dish. After lunch I walked around the aft of the promenade deck. While I have not completely circled the ship on the deck I have walked the distance today between inside and outside options.

There are lots of options for afternoon tea on QM2. After enjoying it in the Grills Lounge yesterday today I opted to go to the Queens Room for a scone. It was significantly more crowded than the Grills Lounge but there was a live pianist. Afternoon tea is also available in Kings Court and apparently as room service.

I went down to the dining room about 7:15, and 2 of my tablemates were getting to desert and another had recently arrived. The other 2 arrived a while after I did so at various times I saw everybody. My choices for the evening were Chilled Cantaloupe Soup, Chateaubriand, and Baked Alaska.

It was later than usual when I got back to my room but I divided the rest of my evening between organizing photos and packing.

My parting shot relates to events at table 108. Somehow, one of my tablemates mentioned the old movie “Somewhere in Time” and how it had been filmed at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, wondering what the place was like. It turned out that in my travels with Blount Small Ship Adventures I had cruised to Mackinac Island several times and even gone ashore for the night on a 2005 cruise, getting lunch at the Grand Hotel. I went to dinner armed with photos of the Grand and also of the Hotel where I had spent the night. Funny how a simple remark can lead a surprise.

Roy

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Day QM2-3, Monday, October 2, 2023, At Sea, Queen Mary 2

Crystal Serenity is in Sydney, her last port before Quebec.

I rose about 5:15 after gaining an hour overnight to return to Eastern time. I stepped out on the Grill’s deck just before 6 which was to be sunrise. It was quite cloudy but there was a bit of color in the sky. While it was not stormy there was still a 35kt wind across the deck.

Between the temperature (15C) and wind I stayed mostly in the ship. One of the unique features of QM2 is a book shop with quite a large selection along with a very elegant and well stocked library, among the best at sea.

There was a Senior Officers Cocktail Party for World Club Diamond members in the Queens Room at 11:15. I’m not a Cocktail Party type but I stopped briefly for a Diet Coke.

I headed up to the Pavilion Pool about 11:50 for the midday briefing. The wind across the deck had significantly diminished and I climbed the stairs up to deck 13 for the test of the horns. Captain Hashmi reported that we had sailed 360 miles since leaving Halifax and had 300 miles remaining to Sept Isles. We were essentially crossing the ferry route between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland with Nova Scotia 23 miles to our port and Newfoundland 35 miles to starboard. We also were passing Crystal Serenity docked in Sydney.

We are due to be at our berth at Sept Isles about 8 in the morning and all aboard is 4:30PM. The nautical term of the day was “Above Board”. It relates to the time when legal cargo was carried on the top decks of ships where it could be seen for inspection while contraband was hidden below decks.

Lunch was a bit of an experiment. One of my favorites on Crystal Serenity has been the Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwich served at their burger bar, the Trident Grill. Yesterday I asked the Maitre’d for a Grilled Ham and Cheese for lunch today. Well we have a similar Reuben so the chef can tweak it a bit. That was the centerpiece of lunch today. For this, I must say the Trident Grill beats the Princess Grille hands down.

James Brown presented a classical piano recital in the Queens Room at 2 with dance music through the years.

I went down to afternoon tea in the Grills Lounge at 3:30 enjoying a scone, a small apple tart and of course tea.

After the very cloudy morning I noticed bright sunlight at noon and it stayed clear throughout the day. I got my first really nice sun rise/set of the voyage from my balcony about 5:45.

I was very early to dinner arriving right at 6:30. The menu didn’t really inspire me so I improvised a bit. There was a lamb dish and the lamb looked ok but the other components not so much so I got the lamb by itself supplemented by Chilled Peach Soup and Chicken Consume. Desert was Apple Caramel Goldrush. It worked out ok.

I pretty much retired to my room after dinner.

I guess today’s parting shot is that it’s great to be back in the Province of Quebec. My parents grew up just South of Montreal and I still have a lot of family there. It’s a bit sad that I will be as close as Quebec City but not actually there but I still feel an affinity to the area.

Roy

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Day QM2-2, Sunday, October 1, 2023, Halifax NS

Crystal Serenity is also in Halifax.

I seem to have slept a bit late but was on deck just in time (about 6:30) to catch the pilot boat approaching Queen Mary 2. I stepped on deck once again about 7:15 looking for a sunrise that never came but realized we had almost arrived and we passed Serenity draped in fog at Pier 27, the least favorable of the docking positions.

We were free to leave the ship at 8, just as I headed down to breakfast, but I was in no rush to go ashore. It turned out that I did not see any of my table mates in the dining room on Sunday.

I had 2 plans for the day. The primary one was to get to a church and I had picked out St. Matthews Church (United Church of Canada) on Barrington Street. The walk appeared to be about a kilometer which I thought on the edge of my ability. It was a little later than I had planned to leave but still before 10, and I asked a taxi driver how much it would be to get there. He said “Oh, no, it’s just a short walk and go this way. It wasn’t really a long walk but mostly uphill and I ended up stopping to rest at least twice per block. I ended up arriving 10 minutes late for the 10:30 but they were very gracious in welcoming me anyway.

It is a very old church dating back to 1814 and the building is very traditional with gated pews and a lovely organ. The service was excellent.

I had also hoped to get to the Atlantic Superstore in search of a cane but decided it would be too difficult an addition to the day’s activities and I could do without the cane for a while more. Despite being mostly down hill I was still very exhausted and the trip back was not a lot quicker than the trip to the church. On the way back I did find the statue of Samuel Cunard in front of the terminal where NCL Pearl was docked.

It was about 12:30 when I got to lunch, mostly a chicken pasta dish. I asked for a small portion but it was still a little more than I could finish.

My afternoon was pretty quiet, in my room except for occasional jaunts to Kings Court for coffee. It was chilly, but the first time I could use my balcony, and I had hoped for a better photo of Serenity. Not really, but I did get a shot of at least parts of the 5 ships in port with some superstructure of QM2, the top of Serenity in the distance, and The World sitting in between.

Those who know me know I have been obsessed with “Come From Away”. There was a documentary put out by a Canadian agency on the same subject, called “You Are Here: A Come From Away Story” that has rarely been available in the US but I did find it in Canada so much of my time was spent watching the video. Awesome!

I have a cousin in the Halifax suburbs who is no longer very mobile and we were not up to a meeting but I did call him from the verandah and had a nice chat.

Sailaway was scheduled for 6, and I watched on the bow cam until NCL Pearl started moving and then went up to the Grills Deck, a nice deck on the aft, one of the few places on the ship not open to everybody.

I watched as we followed Pearl around Georges Island and headed out to sea.

I wanted to be early to dinner and did not quite catch the sunrise which was still a bit away but I did get the sun passing below QM2 superstructure.

It was just me at Table 108 although I understand others arrived shortly after I left. My choices for the evening were Cherry Bisque, Fillet of Lamb, and Mango Sorbet.

Dining was early because I have a regular fellowship time with my home church which is usually Sunday evening at 7 but was 8 Halifax time. Access to Zoom was difficult at the desk but a little bet better after I moved to the couch.

My parting shot today will be a followup to Saturday’s. I am delighted with the 11th (or was it 12th) hour resolution to keep the US Government running. I just hope Ukraine can get by under these tough circumstances.

Roy

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Day QM2-1, Saturday, September 30, 2023, At Sea, Queen Mary 2

Crystal Serenity has arrived in Halifax. She is where I expected us to be and I think there’s actually a possibility we could be docked right at her stern.

While it was a stormy night I had no difficulty sleeping and in fact slept until almost 6. It turned out not to be a day where I was inspired to take a lot of pictures.

I stepped out on the Promenade deck about 6 to check my GPS. It was not officially closed but the wind was howling, not fit for man nor beast.

Sunrise was supposed to be about 7:20. It would have been ahead of us and there was no way I was going forward to look for the sun. One of the perks of the Grills is a deck aft of the ship on deck 11. I did go out there (wind was coming from the bow so it was sheltered) and it was obvious that even if I could see forward there would be no visible sun. I did notice a bit of lightness among the clouds which will need to suffice as my sunrise.

Breakfast in the Grills was 8 to 9:30 and I arrived shortly after 8 for primarily an omelet, done to perfection. I tend to snack my way through breakfast so I stopped later at Kings Court to make a slice of toast.

I also stopped at the Concierge for a few things, and then headed down to the spa since I am way overdue for a haircut. To my surprise, there was an opening just later so I got that done. Not perfect but it was done well and without the constant sales pitches I’ve heard about at some ship salons so I was quite satisfied with the results.

It was then getting kind of close to noon so I headed up to the Pavilion pool to check our location and catch Captain Hashmi’s noon update. He indicated we had 912 guests continuing from Southampton (or Hamburg) and our location was North 40:27 and West 69:08, crossing Georges Bank. Outer decks are closed the wind across the deck exceeds 50kt. The temperature is 15C and still raining. He still expects we will arrive on time in Halifax at 8AM Sunday. All Aboard will be 5:30. His nautical term for the day was “Toe the Line” although with the wind noise I did not catch the full explanation.

Lunch also started at noon so I headed down to leave my jacket in the room and headed down to the restaurant. I chose an unhealthy lunch of skim milk, some melon, and a cherry cobbler. I did not see any of my tablemates either at lunch or dinner.

I spent most of the afternoon in my suite although I did make a brief visit to the ships but did not buy anything. Sadly, I completely missed a Classical Piano recital at 2PM.

This is the first of 2 Gala nights of the voyage, the Red and Gold Gala. Things started off a bit early with the World Club party for regular Cunard cruisers. The top cruiser was recognized for 1851 days aboard.

Table 118 was full again for the Gala Night Dinner. I’m not sure exactly what the starter was, my best guess was a melon bisque but it was great. I supplemented that with Chateaubriand and Cherries Jubilee for what was a great dinner.

According to the Daily Programme we should still be docked at 8AM and I had a church picked out I would like to attend but that’s unlikely if rain materializes, so we shall see what a new day brings.

As today’s parting shot I feel blessed to now be retired but wish the best to those affected by the apparent US Federal Shutdown whether they be furloughed employees, essential workers forced to work without pay (especially our armed forces) and those whose government services will be delayed or denied. There has to be a better way.

Roy

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