Queen Mary 2

Sep 10th - Sep 15th 2024

Tuesday 10th September 2024

Home to Portsmouth

Tuesday was a day off for 2 doctors’ appointments. Luckily we managed to change them to phone appointments so it was a pretty relaxing start to the holiday. Attempted some packing mid-morning - we decided to go with one big case, one small case and one suit carrier.

Had lunch and then Stuart arrived around 15:15 for our journey down to Portsmouth. We had planned to stay in Southampton but the Boat Show, an England cricket match and I guess various cruises had shot the prices up.

We swapped the cars around before packing the car and departing around 15:30.

Journey down the A34 wasn’t too bad really - just lots of people sat in the outside lane which is a bit annoying. At the bottom end Google Maps took us on some back roads before rejoining the A27 for one junction before getting off at the Holiday Inn Express Portsmouth North. By this point it has started drizzling. Check in was pretty straight-forward - I’d rung earlier in the day to get a ground floor room as the property doesn’t have a lift. 

We were allocated 157 and it turned out to be quite the walk. Went on for ages. Room itself was pretty decent. It’s a converted Hilton hotel so the rooms are a bigger than a normal HIE - and it had a very nice walk-in shower. I then went back to the car to get the cases so I really got my steps in.

Met Stuart in reception at around 18:00 for a drink and a discussion of where to eat. We’d all been getting various 10%-40% off vouchers from chain restaurants and decided to go for Harvester. Made a quick stop at ASDA first for a new shirt and then on to Port Solent to the Harvester. By this time it was raining quite a bit so it was a dash from the car to the little lift which takes you down to the dock level. Found the Harvester and they sat us on a really nice circular booth next to the salad bar and the Pepsi Max machine. Top work. Had a lingering dinner working out our plans for the next few days. Very friendly waiter plus the enjoyment of a 40% off voucher!

Didn’t have desert but instead went for a McDonalds for a McFlurry. Tried to order with a girl at the counter who told us they’d been told not to take orders at the ordering counter! The manager came over - probably between doing his homework out the back - to confirm it was their policy not to take orders through the ordering till at the ordering counter. To be honest they seemed more interested in the Deliveroo and Just Eat people than actual customers wanting to order!

Drove back to the hotel and in bed by 22:30

Wednesday 11th September 2024

Portsmouth to Queen Mary 2

Reasonable night’s sleep for both of us. Met for breakfast at 09:00 - original plan was 09:15 but then realised breakfast finished at 09:30. The hotel was full of people in hi-vis jackets so I guess they were early starters. Breakfast wasn’t too bad but nothing memorable.

We’d agreed to check out and be on the road by 10:30 so after a long trip back and forth between the room and the car with the cases, we were ready. Our official check-in time for Queen Mary 2 was 15:45 but we thought we’d try and get on earlier if possible. We had some time to kill so we went to ASDA for some last minute things and then stopped off at the DoubleTree Southampton for some coffee in a very understaffed bar. Lot of people there in reception obviously heading for the QM2 and waiting for their taxis etc.

We got down to the docks at around 12:45. I dropped Nikki and Stuart and all the luggage in the drop-off zone outside the terminal and then took the car around to Parking4Cruises. The chap was dealing with another car ahead of me so had to wait for him to finish and then to take dozens of pictures of my car before I could walk back over the road to the terminal.

Stuart had figured out where we needed to drop our luggage - which we duly did - and then went into the terminal. We were directed to a lift to the 1st floor and then to the left to the wheelchair check-in. Very glad of that when we saw just how many people were crowding the desks and in the roped queuing area. Two very nice ladies did all the formalities for us and printed up our ship cards for the trip. They didn’t seem phased at all that we were over 3 hours ahead of our official check-in time. We then went down and through security before going up the long air-bridge (or ship-bridge) to the actual boat.

Very nice welcome on board in the Grand Lobby on Deck 3. We were told that we could go to our rooms if we liked - which we did like - so we did. We were in 8124 on the Deck 8. Very nice cabin - smaller than the Royal Caribbean disabled rooms plus Mobility At Sea had delivered a scooter for Nikki to the cabin so it was a bit of a squeeze. Our main case arrived after a few minutes so we spent a bit of time unpacking before Stuart came for a nose at our cabin.

We were getting peckish by this point so went down to King’s Court on Deck 7 imaging a relaxed buffet lunch. It was like The Hunger Games in there. Eventually found a table and fought my fellow passengers for a bit of Indian food. Not an enjoyable experience at all! Nikki was on her scooter which she hated. It was like a new car with a vicious clutch - it was either moving or causing whiplash when stopping or starting - plus people everywhere made it a rather fraught experience.

We had an explore of more of the ship before tiredness took over and we decided for a bit of down-time. A much needed nap later and thoughts were already turning to dinner. We got poshed up and went up to the Commodore Club on Deck 

9 for some pre-dinner drinkies using our trusted manual wheelchair! Very nice setting right at the front of the ship so we settled in for cocktails (Diet Pepsi in my case) and mixed nuts. Very enjoyable.

Dinner was in the Britannia Restaurant on Deck 3 at 20:30. We had been allocated table 348 which was quite close to the door and very easy to get to with the wheelchair. Waiters were a bit taciturn but the food wasn’t too bad - possibly a little too faffy for me. 

We had been supposed to sail mid-afternoon but the Captain had come on the tannoy and said we would stay put because of some squally weather and we’d been allocated a 20:30 departure - I think we eventually started moving around 21:30. Didn’t really notice it as we weren’t right by a window (by design) and there was no sea-sickness problems to report.

We had planned to see the second-show of the comedian Jeff Stevenson at 22:15. Quite a good turn-out in the theatre and he was very good indeed. Lots of observational humour and no bad language. Thoroughly enjoyed it. We were losing an hour at 02:00 so we headed to bed after the show at around 23:20 which was 00:30 in new money.

Both knackered.

Thursday 12th September 2024

Queen Mary 2

Woke up after far too little sleep at about 07:00 - or 06:00 in old money. Absolutely amazing beds on Cunard - so comfortable. Really didn’t want to get up but everything is regimented around meal times and breakfast was to be taken at 08:45 or there’d be some sort of maritime court-martial in the offing.

Thoroughly excellent shower - it’s a part of a wet-room so oodles of space and no steps for Nikki to clamber over. Both got dressed and had a peep on the balcony but the weather was pretty awful. Seems we’ve been sailing for ages and haven’t even got as far as Dover yet. This is first gear driving all the way from the Captain. 

Met Stuart at our usual table for breakfast. Again the taciturn waiter but not a bad breakfast at all. Had some cereal and then a cooked offering with some toast plus coffee and juice. Most acceptable. And then we got as far as Dover.

The main plan this morning was Christopher Biggins in the Royal Court Theatre at 11.00. He was doing a show called The Women I Have Loved. Very well attended as it was a sea day - I was looking forward to finding out what the Americans on board made of him! The show was a bit amateurish on the production side. The Entertainments Director introduced him and then you could see Biggin’s hand with a remote control around the curtain triggering a very poorly made video montage of the women he was going to talk about. He then trundled out and took his seat at the computer before accidentally triggering his slide-show and then having to scroll all the way back!

He was quite entertaining through. It was essentially a 45 minute run through the women he’d worked with and met over the years. I felt it could have been a bit more cheeky or gossipy though. Basically every woman he mentioned - Judi Dench, Cilla Black, Joan Collins, Gillian Taylforth etc was “….just marvellous, simply marvellous”. But it was breezy enough and took up an inoffensive 45 minutes.

After this we repaired to the Carinthia Lounge on Deck 7 for a music quiz. We figured we’d have a good enough chance. It was ‘guess the intro’ and we came joint first. After a drink in the lounge we went to see Stuart St John who was a former stuntman, director and actor in the Illuminations Theatre. Very poorly attended and we soon found out why. He talked at length about a Carling Black Label advert he’d made in the 1980s where he played an Australian surfer - but, my god, he drained any sort of interest out of every anecdote. When he started on a really long spiel (with video clips from YouTube) about how he’d directed a film staring his daughter and had managed to get REM to allow him to use Everybody Hurts, we decided life was too short and scarpered. It was time for lunch!

We gave the buffet in King’s Court another go and this time it wasn’t as much of a bear garden as embarkation day. Found enough to keep us going for the next hour before Afternoon Tea! We sat in the Carinthia Lounge for a while before heading down about 40 minutes early for the aforementioned Afternoon Tea in the Queen’s Room. Lovely setting with a pianist and waiters marching out with tea, sandwiches, scones and cakes. We lingered there for a bit enjoying the tea - despite getting annoyed that the scone waiter seemed to be ignoring us!

By about 16:30 it was time for a nap so back to the cabin. Nikki got properly under the covers - I just lay on the bed and we watched New Amsterdam on Netflix before dozing off. We arrived into Zeebrugge at around 17:30 so I watched our arrival from the balcony for a while before the weather drove me back inside.

We met up with Stuart in the Commodore Club for our now traditional pre-dinner drinkies. I do like the atmosphere in there - I think because it’s hidden away at the front of the boat on Deck 9 - many people don’t find it.

Had our usual dinner in the Britannia Restaurant before going to the theatre to watch Queen’s of Rhythm. I was blown away. It was a live band and these 3 girls with excellent voices - they were doing soul and Motown but their version of Proud Mary took the roof off the place. Absolute filth! By the end people were up and dancing in the aisles. Really great performers - the sort you’d book for a party - if you could afford them I guess!

After that crawled into bed knackered by all the eating and eating.

Friday 13th September 2024

Queen Mary 2

Well that was quite the night. I woke up for one of my numerous loo visits at about 01:30 and my heart was going like the clappers. Perhaps too much cheese before bed - and too much Diet Pepsi aren’t good things for me. I was wondering how they’d get me to hospital so woke up Nikki to mop my fevered brow - before I rapidly fell asleep leaving her wide awake. I was popular!

I woke around 05:50 so both of us were knackered before we’d even started the day! Down to breakfast at our now traditional 08:45. Had smoothie and a bagel with cream cheese to get me started while Nikki had a cooked breakfast. We started to come round by this point!

Met Stuart in the Carinthia Lounge at 10:15. We’d decided against getting off the ship - our logic being we’d paid for all our meals, drinks and accommodation on the ship - why get off in the pouring rain to pay again for lunch somewhere else. Stacks up. The ship was much quieter by that point as many had braved the Belgian weather.

There was quiz in the lounge so we joined in with that - and won it. We then discovered if you won you got given a sticker each for a little book which you could trade in for prizes at the end of the cruise. This now became a mission. A glance at the daily planner revealed a darts event in the Golden Lion in a matter of minutes where more stickers would be awarded. Me and Stuart had a go but sadly came second. No stickers.

Went to reception to change the credit card they had on file for me to a pre-paid US dollars card so Cunard couldn’t stiff me on the exchange rate and charges and then bumped into Biggins. Chatted with him for a while as Stuart was at the counter - and then Stuart took over and got a selfie with him while we went to the counter. Lovely man “marvellous….simply marvellous” Biggins©

How, I don’t know, but we were a little peckish by this point. We decided to give the buffet in King’s Court another try - and as we walked in, what did we see?? An empty table! We immediately rushed over and parked Nikki there while we got the lie of the land for better tables - and then realised the place was deserted and nearly every table was empty! All to do with people off the boat on trips. So we moved to a lovely window seat overlooking the picturesque Port of Zeebrugge and grazed our way through the buffet offerings.

After lunch we thought we’d try our hand at the afternoon quiz and, as if to prove this was our luck day, it was on airport codes. Needless to say we won - only defeated by EZE which turned out to the code for Buenos Aires. So more stickers for us. Hurrah!

We went down early for afternoon tea and got a lovely seat at the back of the ballroom so we could watch the comings and goings - and amazingly the scone waiter again decided to give us a swerve. Maybe we smell or something. It was soon rectified and then time for an afternoon quiz followed by a nap and then watching our departure as we left Zeebrugge.

Tonight was Gala Evening so it was posh frocks and dinner jackets all around. Met Stuart in the Commodore Club for our now traditional pre-dinner drinkies. He’d found a very nice seating area next to two windows at the front of the ship. We sat there for ages watching the other ships with sunlight streaming in through the window. Beautiful.

Dinner time beckoned at 20:30 so we went down for our Gala Dinner enjoying the sight of everyone in the finery. Dinner though was a bit of a disappointment for us veggies. Mostly roasted vegetables and very small portions at that. Kept off the cheese and biscuits after my heart experiences the previous night!

Made our way to the theatre for the dancing show but only lasted for about 3 songs before deciding it was time for bed so hit the hay around 23:00

Saturday 14th September 2024

Queen Mary 2

Again a very poor night’s sleep - nothing to do with Cunard and their amazing beds though. Both kept waking up through the night so gave up and got up around 06:00. Couldn’t blame the sea either as it was flat calm. I’d been keeping an eye on an app that shows the wave heights and we were in for 0.3m waves compared to 1.2m over the previous few days. Plus the sun was shining. Beautiful day. By this point we were off the Isle of Wight and it was a sea day - so basically we were going up and down the English Channel. The Isle of Wight was in sight for most of the day I think.

Went down for breakfast at 08:45 and lingered for a while over a very nice assortment before decamping to the Cathinthia Lounge for the first quiz of the day - we came second so no more stickers to add to our 7. We figured we might end up with a Cunard pencil between 3 of us if we were lucky.

For the first time on this cruise the deck was fully open and busy. We took a stroll around the boat seeing all the people on the sunbeds - most with their coats on to be fair - but it was very pleasant in the sun with the sea like a boating lake. We did spot a few braver souls in the hot-tubs as well. We came to the big Queen Mary 2 lettering on the side of the ship and asked a chap to take our pictures - he didn’t do so well so we found someone else! 

We explored the top decks of the ship for an hour or so before going back inside via the spa. My back was playing up so I thought I’d book a massage - they managed to give me an appointment at 5pm. This won’t be cheap! 

Back to the King’s Room and found a very quiet area in there for our lunch. Stuart went for the burgers while me and Nikki had salad and pizza. Very enjoyable. After that we went back to Carinthia Lounge but tiredness overtook and by 14:45 we were back in the cabin and ready for a nap.

They’d left out instructions for departure day so after the nap we started folding things ready for the case - plus working out what we could pack in the big case for pick up between 17:00 and 23:00 - and what to keep for overnight for the small case.

I went off for my massage at 16:45 and was offered an upsell at the spa. I was told I had been awarded an upgrade to my booking meaning I could see the spa doctor for just $199. I explained my view that an upgrade was something given for free so we agreed it was best if we left it. I was then pummelled half to death by Nui who went nuts on the lower right back which was troubling me. Seemed to work so at least I could walk afterwards!

Back to the cabin and a quick bit of packing before dressing for dinner. Headed up to the Commodore Club and while sat there a chap in uniform came in and I did a massive double-take as I was sure I knew him. Shortly after he’d gone I twigged it was the Deputy F&B from the Hilton Marsa Alam. Stuart called his waiter friend over to ask him - he didn’t know his work history but confirmed he was Egyptian. I swear it was him! Kept an eye out all evening but didn’t bump into him again.

Tonight was the nicest dinner of the trip. Really nice food and the waiter a smidge less taciturn. After that we went down to the theatre to see comedian Jeff Stevenson again. So glad we did. Not massively full but he was on top form. Thoroughly enjoyed that and told him so as he was by the doors when we went out. Excellent end to the day. And so to bed ahead of the early start in the morning.

Sunday 15th September 2024

Queen Mary 2 to Home

For some reason every light in our cabin came on at 01:00. No idea why. I wonder if it was a fault - or one of us turned over and hit the light switches. Nikki thought we’d missed our 06:00 alarm and the crew were raiding our cabin to turf us out!

Woke up again just before 05:30 with all the bangs and noises associated with a docking ship. Getting off day isn’t fun. Watched the sun come up over the Port of Southampton - I’m surprised Gainsborough never painted it for its bucolic, tranquil beauty. Well at least it was dry and sunny!

We were showered and dressed by 07:20 so went down for our 07:30 breakfast booking. I was expecting it to be nuts with everyone trying to get fed and use the lifts at the same time but nothing could have been further from the truth. Met Stuart in the dining room and then, amazingly on our last day, we had the best waiter possible. Really attentive and very friendly. He looked after us so well. Why couldn’t we have had him all week!

Back up to the cabin for a tooth clean and to grab the bags and then down to Deck 3 for our departure. They had a wheelchair line so disembarking was very easy indeed. We were down in the luggage hall in matter of minutes and found our case without too much trouble. Stuart had grabbed a luggage trolley so we went outside and I left Stuart and Nikki to go and get the car and bring it round. Simple enough and we packed the car and set course for the open road.

One pit stop on the A34 for a loo/sandwich/chocolate break and we were home by 10:50 - not bad at all. After Stuart grabbed his car and left to drive home we both fell asleep on the couch.

And now talk turns to a quick 4 nighter on the QM2 next June. Hope the sea is as flat calm if we do go!