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Introduction to my QM2 Journal

Queen Mary 2. Photograph by Cunard Line.

On December 12th, 2011, my husband and I boarded Cunard’s ocean liner Queen Mary 2 in Southampton for a seven day transatlantic crossing to New York.

We deliberately chose a westbound journey for the simple fact that we would gain an hour almost daily until we arrived in New York. On eastbound crossings you lose those hours. I would also mention that we deliberately chose a starboard cabin, which allowed us to see the lights of Southampton as we sailed away, as well as giving us a wonderful view of New York’s skyline and the Statue of Liberty when we docked in NYC.

The weather was very rough for almost the entire journey, however, it made for great conversation on the ship and afterwards. We are not prone to seasickness, so we were fortunate to thoroughly enjoy the North Atlantic sea conditions at their finest.

You are invited to read the pages (in the left column) of the personal emails I sent to family and friends during the most remarkable crossing on the most remarkable ship afloat. (My opinion… ;-) ) because she is, quite simply, elegance personified.

For those of you wishing to relive the glamour of transatlantic crossings reminiscent of the 1950s and 1960s, when liners were ‘The Only Way to Cross,’ as author John Maxtone-Graham writes, then I urge you to book passage on this magnificent ship and enjoy a holiday that you won’t soon forget.

This blog is a personal, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, account of our crossing on the QM2 and is not intended to be an official, technical document, by any stretch of the imagination.  I am not affiliated with Cunard in any way and do not proclaim myself to be a nautical expert, either. If you wish to see specific information regarding the Queen Mary 2, then please visit the Cunard website. This is my own account of our holiday as we experienced it. Others on the ship undoubtedly have their own personal recollections, as well. This blog is for personal enjoyment only.

If you would like me to add your Queen Mary 2 experiences to this blog, please feel free to contact me by completing the form below.

Note:  *I apologize for the odd formatting of the paragraphs in the Pages of the journal. When copying and pasting from my Mail program’s stationery, it appears that some attributes were askew. At some point I will attempt yet again to correct them, but it seems to be hit and miss.

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We are human, after all.

As we all watch our television screens and listen to news reports of the Costa Concordia sea disaster (I can’t honestly refer to it as an accident, after what has been reported of the captain’s conduct – albeit alleged) I wonder about maritime safety once something like this actually happens.

On our Queen Mary 2 transatlantic in December in such awful weather, at no time was I panicked or scared.  There were, however, others who were and admitted it freely.

I’m sure there are plenty of others who wonder about their own conduct in the aftermath of an order to abandon ship, even in 2012, when “things like this ought not to happen.”  Apparently, almost 100 years after the Titantic went down in such awful circumstances, things can still happen.  Of all the state-of-the-art shipboard electronics that are designed to avoid events like the Costa shipwreck, all it takes is one moment of human error, it seems.

While the transcripts, satellite evidence, interviews, etc., are yet to be made known, all anyone can do is speculate.  In the meantime, it’s a good time to reflect.

Have we become too complacent when it comes to these monoliths of the seas?  Are we too ready to place complete and unquestioning trust in the captains and officers of these ships?  If you look at any cruise website forums, you’ll see scads of cruise devotees, a startling number of whom are hell-bent on being on a certain ship at a certain time because a certain captain will be at the helm.  It boggles the mind.  Well, at least my mind.

I try to put this into perspective by how I would plan a flight or hotel stay.  Would every detail be dependent on the captain and first officer flying the airplane, or the hotel manager at a resort?  I can tell you without hesitation that it wouldn’t enter my mind.

Why then, do these cruise-groupies place so much emphasis on sailing on a particular ship with a particular hotel manager, or captain, or first officer?  Check out the boards at, say, cruisecritic.com and you’ll see the same names over and over again wanting information as to which crew members will be on board the ship they’re thinking of booking.

Frankly, I don’t get it.

When I book a holiday, it’s to spend time with the people I’m with, not the employees of a corporation.  As to the ‘who’s who on the bridge’ it really oughtn’t come into play, for the sole reason that I, as the consumer, hold tight to the fact that the captains on these vessels are professionals, each one meeting strict standards of their maritime profession.

I have to wonder yet again if Captain Francisco Schettino had his own following of cruise devotees.  Did those over on the Costa boards hold him in high esteem?  Did they ever stop to think that he is human like the rest of us, or did too many individuals place such blind trust in one mortal man?

The cruise industry has learned that sobering fact this past week.  It should be a stark wake-up call for the rest of us who place these men and women at the executive level of these seagoing giants on unrealistic pedestals, because being human means, without doubt, that we have our frailties.