All Aboard!

Yesterday it was the transition from land to sea.

Our first view of “QM2” was seen from the taxi amid very snowy and windy conditions.  She looked very inviting after our slow journey from midtown Manhattan to her berth at Brooklyn and, although the boarding procedure was chaotic to say the least and our cases took an age to get to our cabin (just in time to change for dinner!),  we got aboard safely ……….

……. to find a very nice room and a bottle of bubbly waiting for us.

Our rather snow covered balcony gave us a great view of Manhattan for the rest of the day and evening and, as we’re on the starboard side, we’ve got the sunshine. every day.  Sailing was delayed 7 hours (from 5 o’ clock to midnight) due to waiting for passengers on plane flights delayed because of the bad weather.

When midnight came we were on deck to see the boat set sail.

It was excruciatingly cold (-10C) and we could only manage being outside for a few minutes at a time before having to go in for a warm.

Having got away at oo:30 hrs (and being frozen to the marrow) we were soon passing………….

……….. the Stature of Liberty ………

………. and, half an hour later, we arrived at what the intrepid few of us had been waiting for: to pass under the Verrazano-Narrows bridge………

….. where we witnessed one of the most dramatic things we’ve ever seen - QM2’s funnel only just making it under the bridge! You obviously have to be both confident and competent to aim 151,400 tons of ship at this bridge!  After this breath taking event we took ourselves below to get warm, have a cup of tea and got to bed.  These late nights don’t seem to be abating!

This morning dawned a wee bit warmer – enough for us to have a good walk around on deck (three times round is 1.1 miles) ……..

…… before having a game of deck quoits with a few other mad loonies who also wanted a bit of fresh air.

Well, “QM2” is a very impressive ship and hopefully we’ll soon find our way around its vastness.  Yesterday wasn’t an easy day for either passengers or Cunard, with a few issues to be addressed. But for now it’s full steam ahead to catch up for the delay in sailing.