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Tomorrow will be the last full day of our transatlantic crossing and I\u2019m a little sad. I could use a few more days before returning to the real world. Mary and I have done this sailing once before, 11 years ago, and we loved it. As I mentioned earlier, we had low expectations for this voyage, but it has far exceeded those expectations, for many reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a few exceptions the food has been very good. We don\u2019t eat in the restaurant every night, but when we do it is really nice to be waited on and choose anything we want off the menu, without worrying about the cost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The dress code on this ship is Smart Casual most nights and then there are 2 very dressy Gala nights. The dinners on the Gala nights have more extravagant menus. We went to the first one, which was a Red and Black theme, because they had chateaubriande on the menu and I do love chateaubriande. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I mentioned in an earlier post, we both packed very lightly for this trip. For the QM2 portion of our vacation I brought one nice top, one dress with a coverup, one black skirt, and some nice brown pants. That\u2019s it. Mary brought two nice shirts, some nice black pants, and two scarves. We usually can take turns wearing outfits so we don\u2019t look the same every night, but honestly, I don\u2019t really care. As long as I look decent, I\u2019m fine. We both looked very nice for the Gala nights, but neither of us were in red and black, and we definitely weren\u2019t in formalwear. But we were allowed in the restaurant and I didn\u2019t see anyone give us the stink eye. (There\u2019s a fair amount of stinkeye on the QM2. We\u2019ve gotten it for various reasons this voyage, and we really don\u2019t care since giving someone the stinkeye is only a sign of poor breeding. :))<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tonight is the second Gala night, Roaring Twenties themed, and we will again look nice but not like the Roaring Twenties. Tonight\u2019s menu has two of my other favorite cruise foods – Beef Wellington and Baked Alaska – both of which are hard to impossible to find on land. After dinner, I will go to the showroom for the second concert by Anthony Inglis and the National Symphony Orchestra. Mary will go back to the room and do laundry as the last concert (on Tuesday) was enough for her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was excited that this cruise had the National Symphony Orchestra onboard. Anthony Inglis has done a number of talks, which I haven\u2019t gone to, and the musicians have participated in some trivia games that sounded good but I didn\u2019t go. There are three concerts in total – Tuesday\u2019s was an All American Evening featuring Rhapsody in Blue, Scott Joplin, Rogers and Hammerstein and some others I\u2019ve forgotten. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We got to the Royal Court Theater around 7:45 for the 8:15 performance. I tend to avoid people as much as I can – a lot of them are coughing – and spotted some empty seats at the top of the balcony. We made our way up there and the young woman who was all alone in the top row moved over to the end of the row. We put a seat in between us and the woman said she sits up there because she gets claustrophobic with all the people below. I said, \u201cThat\u2019s exactly why we\u2019re here.\u201d She added that the theater gets very hot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At about 8:05, a young man came and asked if the seat was free between the young woman and Mary. The young woman looked at Mary and asked, \u201cIs that seat free?\u201d beseechingly, I think. She so wanted Mary to say no, but Mary couldn\u2019t lie so the young man sat there. I was worried he was going to try to make conversation with our introvert friend, but he left her (and us) alone. At about 8:10 a man and his wife came and sat next to us, which was disappointing, but not unexpected. Then, right at 8:15 another man came and I think he squeezed in between two couples. The announcer asked people not to save seats and the late man clapped very loudly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The concert began and the man next to me moved closer and closer until eventually he was partly in my seat and right up against me. I tried to move a little closer to Mary, but that only seemed an invitation for the man to take more of my seat. It was hot, very hot. I had a hot flash and could feel sweat dripping all over my body. It didn\u2019t help that I was snuggled up against this man on one side and Mary on the other. I was very annoyed with him but tried to concentrate on the concert, which I really did enjoy until the last two pieces, which he hummed along with. I do believe the man in my lap was being squished by the man who came late, but I still despised him.The crowd and the heat are why Mary is going to skip it tonight, but I\u2019m just hoping I can find a better seating strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are all sorts of activities on the ship, and we have done exactly two – the concert on Tuesday and trivia on Wednesday because we happened to be in the room when it started. Mostly we have been lying in our warm snuggy bed in our our bathrobes, changing into other clothes when it is time to go eat, then returning to our bed and bathrobes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve been feeling a little bad that I don\u2019t want to do anything but lie in bed, not even go out to the balcony and look at the ocean, but Mary keeps pointing out that the whole point of this crossing was to relax and regain some energy before getting back to work. We have walked some around the promenade deck. 3 laps equal a mile, and I did about 3.5 laps this morning. My Garmin watch is very confused. It thinks I did 7 miles in 25 minutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve been having breakfast every morning in a room called the Corinthia Lounge, where they have just a few items, but one of them is Greek yogurt and fresh fruit, and it is divine. The first couple of mornings we had the place to ourselves, but it has been discovered and yesterday morning we had to leave because we had a couple who were both coughing on one side of us and a woman about a foot away from us on the other side who spent an extended amount of time blowing her nose. I was out of there and we found a different place to sit where there weren\u2019t that many people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of the time the ship feels very uncrowded, other than meal times in the buffet. There were huge crowds leaving the theater on Tuesday night and it took forever to get an elevator back to our room, but I think tonight I will walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The biggest problem with the cruise has been that Mary and I both packed for hot August weather and not for a September cruise in the middle of the ocean. Mary had to buy a QM2 sweatshirt to keep her warm and I have been thankful for my Paris hoodie. But I have no pajama pants and very cold legs at night. At least the room is a little less cold now. We had it very cold in the beginning so Mary wouldn\u2019t get seasick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have a tv across from our bed that shows the view from the front of the boat and we spend a lot of time watching the ocean on tv. There is also afternoon tea, with scones and cream, and I\u2019m going to head there now I think, for a little fortification before our Gala dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div>