Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 10:50:11 EST
From: cruiseaz @ aol.com
Subject: Report: QUEEN MARY 2 is "outstanding"
( Copied from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linerslist )

I spent the night on board QUEEN MARY 2 yesterday and would say that if anything is the key word for it is "outstanding" -she is wonderful, very ocean liner like, and I love the art deco feel and the reflections of the original Queen Mary. The other key word is perhaps "understated" - which is fine by me for many days at sea at a time. It is very obvious that Joe Farcus had absolutely no role to play in this ship's decoration and the criticisms I have seen are actually fairly minor. Nothing stuns and nothing surprises - but nothing annoys and nothing grates either - and what a relief that is. This ship is really quite outstanding and will be very successful. She has the right feel in the right areas.

By the way, I think the friezes in the two main corridors are fascinating. I had a chance to look them over while waiting for an upgrade at the Purser's Office. We finally got a living room, dining room table for six, two-deck high wall-to-wall windows with power drapes, king size bed, three bathrooms, wide screen plasma tv, sitting balcony on the upper level, bathtub jacuzzi with a view of the ocean, butler's pantry, balcony looking astern, binoculars, walk-in closet. Yes, as we were kept waiting for an hour and a half for our stateroom (the note from check-in just said "Upgrade to Q Class"), we were upgraded all the way to the Windsor Suite! So I am completely unable to talk about what the normal cabins are like (what a disappointment).

I loved the ship, I loved the decks, I loved all the steamer chairs and wooden pool chairs, the terraced decks aft and I particularly loved the wonderful forward viewing area below the bridge, from which one can see exactly the same view as Commodore Warwick does when he stands on the bridge wings! The bridge also has viewing windows in the back by the way, which can also be curtained to obscure the view.

There are two forward-facing lounges, the Commodore Club with its excellent model of the QUEEN MARY 2 behind the bar (a somewhat smaller space by the way than the original room on which it is based on the QUEEN MARY) and the smaller Atlantic Room, which is more like a card room, as well as the Library itself - fantastic. I didn't visit the ranch as I don't spa.

The Queen's Room is a bit Hollywood Bowl but it is a great ball room in comparison to QE2 and the adjacent G32 (the ship's hull number) Nightclub is okay - I liked it - I think things are a lot different when viewing this ship by night as opposed to by day.

The heritage of QE2 is also maintained by having the Chart Room in the same sort of space as the Golden Lion Pub, one above the other, echoing back to the old QE2 arrangement, except in QM2 the Chart Room is above while in QE2 the Golden Lion is above, deckwise. Only those who had travelled QE2 would notice. Unlike some, I rather liked the Winter Garden, although the hard surfaces on the port side walkway fore and aft tended to accentuate noise and chatter.

I loved getting around this ship, the corridors and stairways are fantastic, sometimes reminiscent of the old QUEEN MARY, sometimes of QE2, but the flow is excellent and for such a large ship she is much easier to get around than the rather chopped up QE2. The arrangement of the lifts is also good as getting from deck two to deck twelve is ten decks and even someone like me who uses stairs as much as possible was forced to resort to the lift fairly often on this ship. The central lift well was quite handy - surprisingly it's the same sort of arrangement as COSTA VICTORIA. The stairs and passageways and their decoration are excellent as far as I am concerned and some of the criticism I have read has probably been a bit petty - considering that this ship has been built at all - and as another lister said, decorations can be replaced. I particularly loved all the ship portraits in the stairwells and lifts and wish I had had more time to see them all. I was several times delayed just looking at the fascinating black and white Manhattan photos in the corridors on our deck nine.

Near the Pursers Desk there is a painting of QM2 and QE2 together and the QE2 does begin to look a little more like the AQUITANIA with her very tall funnel in comparison to the QM2, whose BRITANNIC proportions I find myself getting used to.

The dining rooms are great too - the Grills are understated but comfortable and with views onto the promenade deck. The Britannia restaurant is fascinating as it has a Gallery running right through it but out of sight. In the three-level upper area, the top level is one deck above The Gallery, while the lower level is below it - a very interesting use of space and I only finally understood this when going aboard. The lower level of three in the top deck has a balcony view down onto the lower level, which stretches the whole 140-foot width of the ship! This does not show up in the deck plan but look at the side profile of the ship - there are three decks of windows and the upper and lower rectangular windows are the upper of three levels on the upper level and the lower level of the Britannia Restaurant, while the middle level of round what I call "Royal Caribbean" windows is actually an art gallery threading its way through the sides of the restaurant on either side of the ship as a passageway.

If I have any criticisms at all, they are minor - one slightly annoying, one quite amusing. The annoying one is one particular aspect of the huge food court on deck seven (I usually refuse to serve myself anything other than an outdoor breakfast or maybe a hamburger by the pool when I am on a ship) and the neat fact that some of the artwork is not Cunard at all - but French Line - which I find terribly amusing.

1. Specifically what I object to in the food court (so-called King's Court) is the brushed aluminium serving areas - the seating areas are fine and some have great views out onto the open promenade. But they might have found a way of hiding the brushed aluminium - it is just a little too much reminiscent of institutional cafeterias or even Home Line's ATLANTIC. A little mosaic tile would have made these areas look much warmer in my view, but perhaps the real culprit is the USPH.

2. This is really not a criticism as it is quite humorous - those French builders managed to sneak in some French Line right under the noses of Cunard it seems - even someone of Stephen Payne's knowledge it seems - but perhaps Cunard thought that capitalising on some of the famous CGT ships that had been built at St Nazaire would not be such a bad idea after all. The huge tapestry by Barbara Broekman in the Britannia Dining Room of an ocean liner leaving Manhattan is most definitely a French Line ship! It's the bridge (and not the funnel) that makes it look like either the PARIS or an earlier FRANCE, or perhaps the LAFAYETTE! Also, on deck seven amongst the historic displays is a photo of a Lego model of an ocean liner with black hull and red funnel with black top - no, not a Cunarder but ILE DE FRANCE in her three-funnelled days! This slight Gallic twist is amusing.

This ship is a real winner! Just as a bonus we got to see the CARONIA sail past us, leaving Southampton later than scheduled and Grimaldi's 12-passenger GRAN BRETAGNA arrive, both at night. Then in the morning sister company P&O's AURORA sailed by on her way in, slightly late, and gave us a proper salute. The first time for me to have heard that wonderful QUEEN MARY whistle!

- Kevin in London, in haste so excuse any errors or omissions