|
| |
Crossing with the Queen
True, the venerable QE2 is entering its final Transatlantic season, but it
is not sailing off into the sunset BY JAY CLARKE
jclarke@herald.com
SOUTHAMPTON, England - ''I always wanted to go on the QE2,''
said Parker Nolen, an Atlanta businessman, ``and when I heard this was its last
series of transatlantic sailings, I decided to go for it.''
Nolen, a passenger on a May transatlantic voyage on the venerable Queen
Elizabeth 2, is one of many people opting to sail on Cunard Line's grand old
liner before it is replaced by the new Queen Mary 2 in December. The QE2's final
transatlantic season will run through early December. Then, after making her
traditional winter World Cruise, she will be based here in Southampton to make
cruises in and around Europe.
Until that time, however, the celebrated ship will ply the Southampton-to-New
York oceanic passage for which it is so famous.
Many other ships have sailed the Atlantic, but since its introduction in 1969,
the QE2 has been the undisputed queen of transatlantic liners. For much of that
time, it has been as well the only passenger ship making regular crossings. And
over those 34 years, it has developed a coterie of passengers whose loyalty is
unbounded.
''From the very first, I felt at home [on the QE2]. I've been on other lines,
but I've never had that feeling,'' said Miriam Dykes of Soquel, Calif., who has
traveled on the QE2 more than 200 days since her first trip in the 1990s. ``I
had a fantastic time that first trip, and it's been fantastic ever since.''
QE2 Capt. Ian McNaught, one of Cunard's youngest captains at 48, agrees.
``There's something magical about this ship. It's a special ship.''
• • •
Crossing the Atlantic on the QE2 is indeed special. There's a
regal quality about this grand old vessel. The QE2 is a queen in spirit as well
as name.
It moves through the sea with speed and grace, as if it knows it is a monarch
among passenger ships. Traveling at more than 30 miles an hour -- much faster
than even the newest and biggest cruise ships -- it could cross the Atlantic in
five days, but prefers to do it in a more leisurely six.
This is no cookie-cutter ship. Staterooms are odd places, some close-walled with
squirrelly entrances, others as grand in size and style as one would expect on
Cunard's flagship. While newer ships favor modular cabins, those on the QE2 take
many shapes. There are 25 price categories for staterooms; deck plans that show
cabin categories by color look like a kaleidoscopic jumble.
Nooks and crannies appear here and there, along with occasional isolated
one-story staircases. The ship offers facilities not found on others, including
a nursery, dog kennel and garage for cars, all of which were in use on my voyage
last month. A Catholic priest is aboard every voyage to conduct daily
nondenominational services as well as Catholic Masses. The ship also has a
synagogue.
The lounges, dining rooms, clubs and shops all reflect an elegance not often
found aboard modern ships. In the Caronia restaurant, dark wood columns and
wainscoting complement tall white-draped windows that look out onto the sea. A
golden bust of Queen Elizabeth II rules over the graceful Queens Room, whose
edges are bordered with cosy alcoves. Ringing the mezzanine level of the
double-height Grand Lounge, the Royal Promenade sweeps a path to the Queen's
shops.
Crew members are polite and solicitous, and the QE2 even has gentlemen hosts --
men whose job is to socialize and dance with single women (no hanky-panky
allowed) -- and a pillow concierge, who helps guests select from nine types of
pillows.
PLENTY TO DO
The question most people ask about the QE2 and an ocean crossing: What does one
do during six days at sea? After all, there are no island stops en route, no
shore excursions.
That's not a problem. As on modern cruise ships, the QE2 offers so many
activities that the problem may be what not to do.
Active types can take a dip in one of the two swimming pools, one outdoors, one
indoors. They can take a turn around the deck on the jogging track, work out on
fitness machines, play paddle tennis and practice golf driving.
A computer learning center offers 16 terminals for study or for passenger access
to e-mail and the Internet. There are cooking demonstrations, bridge
tournaments, bingo games, classical recitals, ballroom dancing classes, arts and
crafts workshops.
Lecturers on our voyage were a varied group: Celebrity author Linda Fairstein
talked about crime writing, retired Capt. David Leney told stories about
piloting the Concorde, explorer Shirley Critchley described her hunt for wild
elephants in Nepal, and amateur yachtsman Peter Waring reminisced about the
famed Whitbread Around the World Race.
Enrichment programs included watercolor instruction, prompts for wannabe actors,
facial makeup tips, French lessons and health advice.
In the evening, production shows and cabaret acts play to guests in the Grand
Lounge, movies are shown in the full-size cinema, gaming tables and slots stand
ready for action, as do the bars and lounges. Shoppers can browse among
duty-free racks and even poke around a mini-size branch of London's most famous
department store, Harrod's.
OR JUST RELAX
More than anything else, though, the ship's six-day seagoing interlude offers
passengers a golden time to wind down. Unless one is really driven, there's no
need to do anything but relax.
Curl up in a comfortable chair by a window and read a book. The QE2's library is
at least twice the size of any I've seen at sea -- a beloved resource for many
passengers.
Stretch out on a chaise lounge and let your thoughts fly with the sea breeze.
You can reserve a chaise on the top Sun Deck for the entire cruise for just $17.
Luxuriate with a massage or treatment in the spa, forget telephones, personal
problems and business cares, and let your biggest worry be what to wear in the
evening.
That's something to consider, because all nights are formal except the first and
last. Tuxedoed gentlemen and gowned ladies roam the decks, passages and common
rooms from 6:30 p.m. on, but after a day or two, it all seems quite natural.
Actually, passengers dress well during the day as well. Pretty pastel outfits on
women, nice shirts and slacks on men -- not once did I encounter men in
undershirts or women in raggy tank tops.
NO STUFFINESS
For all the dressiness, though, the atmosphere on board was never stuffy on my
recent voyage.
In the bars and cocktail lounges, the chatter was as animated as any at sea.
Indeed, the volume and ineptitude of karaoke singers in the always overflowing
Golden Lion bar exceeded that on many lesser ships.
Probably the most popular early-evening spot is the Chart Room, whose back bar
frames an enormous illuminated glass chart of the QE2's transatlantic routes.
While passengers sip on cocktails, a harpist and a pianist alternate with
memorable Gershwin and Porter tunes -- the latter performing on an elegant Art
Deco piano that once graced the original Queen Mary. Late-nighters gravitate to
the Yacht Club, an aft-facing lounge that serves as a discotheque.
Only in its dining rooms does the QE2 segregate passengers, who are assigned
dining venues according to their level of accommodation. The most exclusive
restaurant is the Queen's Grill, which the Berlitz Guide to Cruising describes
as having ''the best waiters and service.'' (Oddly, though, some passengers
entitled to dine in the Queen's Grill request a downgrade to lesser restaurants
that have better sea views.)
Other single-seating venues are the Princess Grill, Brittania Grill and Caronia
Restaur ant. The Mauretania restaurant, which services the lower-priced
accommodations, has two seatings.
If you've heard that the English aren't the world's best cooks, don't fret. Even
on land, it's an outdated complaint. And on the QE2, the food is first-class. I
dined in three of the four top restaurants, plus the casual Lido venue, and was
never disappointed. Each restaurant, by the way, has a comfortable adjacent
lounge where passengers can enjoy pre-dinner drinks.
So who sails on the QE2?
Predictably, most passengers are over 55, but the manifest lists persons of all
ages. All are travelers who know they will enjoy a week at sea and aren't in a
hurry to reach their destination, be it Europe or the United States. The family
of a British doctor I talked to, in fact, crossed to New York, spent a day there
and came back on the return voyage.
On my sailing, there were infants, teens and young marrieds as well as mature
adults. They boarded the QE2 for many different reasons, but the start of the
QE2's last season was the impetus for more than a few on this voyage.
''My grandmother gave me this trip,'' said Ryan Gellert, a twenty-something from
Marin County, Calif. ``She had sailed on the ship's maiden voyage and had
planned to go on this one because it was the last season, but she couldn't make
it.''
''We heard this was the last series of transatlantics, and we were going to
England anyway to visit our daughter, so we decided to go on it,'' said David
and Sylvia Forster of Stuart, Fla.
''For a single older lady, there's no place better,'' said Dykes, whose husband,
an Air Force colonel, was killed in an airplane accident 39 years ago. ``Our
kids have never been along, but my daughter-in-law came with me once and loved
it.''
''I like it because it has single cabins,'' said Helen Harris, a Michiganer who
has sailed on the QE2 four times since 1974. Then, with a sigh, she added,
``This is my swan song. I'm getting too old to travel alone.''
The QE2 is getting old, too, but it's well kept, and those who love liners don't
mind its idiosyncrasies, things like toilets that flush the old-fashioned way
(no vacuums here), odd squeaks and groans when the ship rolls, portholes instead
of windows.
So many passengers are repeaters that the first thing they do upon coming aboard
is to look for people they have met on previous voyages, said Maureen Ryan, a
cruise hostess who has been on the ship since its inaugural voyage. ``They know
the staff, too. It's kind of like a club.''
Indeed, so attached to the ship do some passengers become that one, Beatrice
Miller, decided never to leave it. She has now lived aboard the ship year-around
for four years.
QM2 COMING NEXT
After December, when her last transatlantic voyage ends, the QE2 will embark on
a new role. But for both the veterans of ocean crossings and a younger
generation of ship lovers, it won't be the end of transatlantic travel.
Entering service early next year will be the biggest and most elegant passenger
ship in the world, Cunard's Queen Mary 2, which will take over the QE2's ocean
runs.
For Miriam Dykes and others who love transatlantic liners and the gracious style
of ocean crossings, that's welcome news. ''I'm set. I'm going on the QM2,
already have my reservation for March,'' said Dykes.
As for the QE2, its devotees still will be able to enjoy its unique ambience on
European cruises or on its traditional winter world cruises, which she will
continue because the QM2 cannot fit through the Panama Canal.
So, for the world's most celebrated ocean liner, it's not ''farewell,'' it's
``till we meet again.''
|
