QM2 Crossing - Day 7

Disembarkation from QM2 in Southampton
My wife was very pleased about the fact that she did not have to pack our luggage the night before our arrival into Southampton and the end of our crossing, because our steward took-on that task for us.  The last night of a crossing is often filled with mixed emotions because of the reality that we must leave the womb and enter into the real world the following day.  We said our goodbyes to our newfound friends we made during this crossing, had a great dinner and  recognizing that we need to wake up earlier than usual the next morning, we went to bed at about 11:00pm.

When I woke up, we were just backing into our berth in Southampton andy the Ocean Cruise Terminal  46 and 47 just across from the dock that the Titanic departed from in 1912 at dock number 44 and 43.  It was rainy, but we were told it would clear-up as the day progressed.  We put our large piece of luggage outside our door before we went to bed.  We had pink luggage tags and Princess Grill passengers were asked to meet in the Chart Room at 8:30am for disembarkation.  We had a quick breakfast in the Princess Grill then headed down to the Chart Room.  I made a quick run around the ship to take a few last-minute pictures, then with great efficiency, it was announced in the Chart Room that we could proceed to the gangway.

I liked the new Ocean Cruise Terminal which was very efficient.  We easily found our large piece of luggage in the designated area, loaded all of our luggage onto one of the carts and proceeded to exit where the taxi's and buses were eagerly waiting.  It was a very short distance to the WhiteStar Tavern Hotel where we would stay for the next two nights, and I pondered the idea of walking, but it would have been a bit of a struggle and task to drag our luggage, so we took a taxi.

We made our way to the WhiteStar Tavern / Hotel, but as we expected, it was too early to check-in, however; the guest services person at the hotel was so kind to store our luggage while we went for a walk.  I don't want to go into details, but as my wife and I walked around the streets of Southampton we were a little discouraged by some personal issues.  We had a fantastic trans-Atlantic crossing on the Queen Mary 2, but we were facing some issues back home that gave us some concern.  We walked to Ocean Village and found a little cafe to rest a while and stay warm, because it was a little chilly.  I looked past a line of people waiting to get on a boat that tours the port of Southampton and saw a cinema and decided to go check it out and see if there might be a movie we could watch while we wait for our room to be ready.  Terri waited in the cafe and I went to check out the cinema.  To make a long story short, there was a local church conducting a Sunday morning service in the cinema and so Terri and I went to church.  It was called Life Church Southampton, and they had an excellent guest speaker that morning.  It's amazing how God works, because both Terri and I felt so welcomed and our hearts were comforted, which was just what we needed at that very moment.

After meeting some very friendly people at Life Church Southampton, it was time to check-in at the WhiteStar Tavern / Hotel.  We checked-in, our luggage had already been placed in our room, so we kicked-back and relaxed a little in our boutique hotel room.  My wife was exhausted, so she took a nap while I wrote in my blog and loaded some more photos and video onto my computer.  Later that day, June 24th, I wanted to watch the QM2 depart Southampton on her next voyage, so we walked to the Ocean Cruise Terminal.  QM2's departure was delayed an hour so we waited around the dock for two hours.  When it was finally time for QM2's departure, What A Great Show it was to see that massive and graceful liner move away from the dock and head out to sea.      

QM2 Trans-Atlantic Crossing Day Six

This morning we spent about hour in the Canyon Ranch Spa to luxuriate in the Aqua Thermal pool, then to the steam room.  I had two interviews scheduled this morning, one with the Chef and then the Chief Engineer, all before noon.  After my interviews I took a few more pictures and went up to deck twelve to catch the ship’s whistle again on video.  When QM2 opens up her voice it’s thrilling to hear those powerful Whistles. 

Lunch was in Princess Grill and we enjoyed continued conversations with our tablemates, and of course fine dining.  It was a challenge for me in retrospect, to manage my time onboard…it seems we spent an awful amount of time in the restaurant eating and socializing…and I kept thinking I need to get this footage or that footage, or explore the ship more.  I was also regretful that I didn’t see as many shows because we were either in the restaurant or too tired.  Some of the shows start at 10:45pm and by that time we had both had a long day of creating video, taking pictures, exploring the ship, so we were tired and ready for sleep.  It doesn’t help our time management situation since our suite is so ridiculously comfortable. 

This afternoon we filmed in the Commodore Room that has fabulous views forward over the bow. It reminded me of the Observation Lounge on the original Queen Mary.  I couldn’t get enough of the ship’s library, in fact I found a few books I absolutely must get….Ted Scull’s books and Daniel Butler’s book Cunard Line’s history.   Also, “The Queen Mary The World’s Favourite Liner by David Ellery” was one of the best books on Queen Mary I have ever seen and I’m surprised I don’t have it in my own library of Queen Mary books.

I scheduled to meet a fellow passenger in the Chart Room at 6:00pm then a young man at 7:00pm.  What a great surprise it was to have this young man come up to me and said, hey are you Barry Vaudrin that makes the Youtube videos?  He said, it’s because of your videos you made on the Queen Mary that I’m here on this trans-Atlantic crossing right now.  Basically he heard that his grandmother crossed on the original Queen Mary and so he was searching for videos on Youtube and found my Cruising Authority videos featuring the Queen Mary. My videos inspired him to go see the original Queen Mary in Long Beach and that sparked an interest to cross the Atlantic on the QM2.

It was our final dinner in the Princess Grill and we enjoyed further discussions with our tablemates.  Actually, they were people at neighboring tables.  It was yet again a fabulous dinner.   When we returned to our suite, my wife had one less thing to worry about….our cabin steward packed our luggage for us.  We put our large piece of luggage outside of our door and went to bed.