Make it Count

Bravo Carnival!  With some trepidation, I went into this cruise, but with an open mind.  Look for a future post on the ship itself and our cruise experience with Carnival.  Their “Fun Ship” the Miracle worked her magic on us while we cruised onboard for a week in April. We had a fabulous time, completely unwinding, leaving the stresses of work behind.
 
While we were all aware our cruise would coincide with the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of Titanic prior to taking this cruise, a fact I reminded the family once we had booked the cruise.  Once onboard and into full cruise mode, though, that fact became more of a distant memory as the cruise wore on.  In fact, we forgot about April 15^th completely, though for me, who was more thorough immersed in all the Titanic anniversary hype, it did take some time to get out of this mode.  Yet instantly, I would get brought right back to Titanic on our return a week later as we sailed up the Hudson.

For one who has been thoroughly immersed in Titanic mania for more years than I care to mention, there were constant little reminders staring me in the face right at the beginning of the cruise; ones I chose to keep to myself to avoid boring my family who are well versed in my ship obsession and others I’d reveal as I saw fit.   

“New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra was bouncing around in my cranium during the sailaway.  It wasn’t playing on the ship's tannoy, as would be the case on QE2, but only in my head.  There’s this whole mystique of sailing out of Manhattan that truly is something to be experienced. 

This would be the first time we’d actually done this.  We sailed into Manhattan on QE2 back in January of 2008 and now we would be doing a round trip out of the Manhattan cruise ship piers.  Mental note; Miracle was tied up to Pier 88, same pier that the Normandie burned, rolled over and died in during WW2.  Granted it was the opposite side, I think, but it is still the same historic pier.

This is the only way to sail in and out of New York City, as countless other liners have done in the past, including the Carpathia, and all of the great Cunarder’s and other famous liners such as the S.S. United States.  For instance, our QM2 trip last year from Brooklyn was completely anti-climatic and just not the same.  Why, why, why did I wait too long to experience a classic Transatlantic Crossing on QE2, which in our case, included the glorious Manhattan arrival.  Geesh!  I am sounding like a Cunard marketing brochure.

 Of course, any trip to these piers brings back the memories of QE2’s final call and subsequent departure in tandem with Queen Mary 2.  Bittersweet memories for sure.  Look, there's the Miracle next to my beloved ship back in 2008. 

The mandatory lifeboat drill was our first priority after getting to our cabin and exploring the ship for some time.  Yes, we did have enough lifeboats! There would be no need for Rose to count them.  SOLAS regulations, a direct result of Titanic have taken care of that for us.  I swear I caught a glimpse of Thomas Andrews watching over us on deck during the drill.  Yes, we also had a very detailed drill thank you to the latest disaster, Costa Concordia and that showboating Italian captain.  Very impressed!  They took a head count.  It was here I learned we also have an Italian captain, instantly posting this fact to Facebook.  I missed the bit about not using phones or cameras during the drill….oops, my bad.  Friends responded “nice knowing you.” 

Everyone took this drill seriously, really.  Although the girl with the green hair in front of me seemed a bit distracted and disinterested, she too was texting away like mad, probably trying to get her last bit in before we got out of cell phone range.  One takeaway here I’ve never heard mentioned before was the request to always wear shoes throughout the ship to avoid stepping on glass.  Was this in response to Concordia or just practical? Doesn’t much matter as it makes total sense. 

Standing on the boat deck (beautiful real teak decks mind you), listening to a crew member talking while another one stood on a chair demonstrating how to don the life vest, my mind wandered to the scene in Cameron’s Titanic on the boat deck.  You know the scene where you hear the steam venting from the boilers and seeing all the chaos.  One of the officers then asks the women and children to step forward and the noise diminishes for both dramatic and practical effect in the movie.  True Titanic fanatics appreciate this clever device, knowing that the sound of the steam venting of the boilers, needing to be vented since the ship was stopped, was truly deafening and added to the chaos.  Here we were all lined up just like the movie.  The only distracting noise was from the longshoremen on the pier below with their forklifts loading up the ship.   No need for warning shots to be fired by ships officers, though, and the tuxedo clad quartet was nowhere to be found.  They’d have really stuck out too since I think I saw only one tux the entire cruise.  Thanks have to go out to another Facebook friend who warned I would be mistaken for the wait staff if I brought my tux on this cruise.  Sadly, I would not be doing my James Bond impersonation in the Casino this time, but I digress.

My mind further wandered here as they show off all the safety features of the vest.  Yeah, I know how the vest goes on, the whistle (Rose reference again…’Come back!”) and how the strobe thingie works. 

My eyes catch a detail off in the distance of the structure of the pier; look at those exposed rivets of the original frame.  Rivets= Titanic = old! This is one old pier with a lot of history.  I bet most of the passengers on this cruise have no idea how old these piers are and their history.  Seeing the rivets, reminds me of Fenway Park and my Massachusetts roots.  I offer one of my useless facts to my kids; “Did you know that Fenway Park opened the same day Titanic sailed from Southampton in 1912?”  Rolled eyes were the response from mildly amused offspring and spouse.   “You know you are full of useless information, dad!”  Tough crowd I say.

As we sail down the Hudson, I make out the remnants of Pier 54, the pier that Cunard’s Carpathia docked at, delivering the survivors she rescued from Titanic.  Dutifully noted in my brain, but at this point we were all standing on the forward observation deck over the bridge and looking down the Hudson at  the Freedom Tower….oops, 1 World Trade Center, easily the highest structure now on the Manhattan skyline.  There was an eerie sense of quiet as we neared Battery Park.  Lots of New Yorkers on board, mostly solemnly admiring the view.  Lots of picture taking; sounds of beeps from the point and shoot cameras and shutter sounds from the DSLR cameras like my Nikon.  I filled a 4GB graphics card alone here, but came prepared with my backup card in pocket. 

Battery Park and the Winter Garden appeared as an ever present reminder of 9/11, like an open wound.  Seeing the tower proudly rising offers consolation, but every time I pass by this site, memories of that day flood back to the surface.  1 World Trade Center is looking proud and defiant now.  I wish there were two of them.  I guess one is like giving them the middle finger. 

Our first reminder of Titanic occurred on our way to dinner on the first formal night.  That dreaded backdrop of grand staircase and clock appeared again amongst the sea of ships staff photographers angling for our business.  I thought it was tacky on QE2, was aghast to see it still in use on QM2, yet not really too surprised to see it once again on the Miracle.  Despite this, we got our picture taken with this backdrop and we even purchased it.  Picture prices are reasonable and it was a good picture!  Shocking!  You don’t even have to buy the leather-bound holder if you don’t want to.  Cunarders know what I mean there.  Overheard in the gallery area, were complaints about how expensive the pictures were.  Really.  All I said was “they’re half price compared to some other lines.“  No one is twisting your arm to buy them either.

“Meet me at the clock!” then became an overused comic relief statement uttered too many times throughout the cruise.  Obviously, seeing the 3D version of Titanic right before our sailing was having some detrimental impact.  Kelly even did a Rose impression one early morning, goofing around, asking for Jack, while we were standing above the bridge, trying to talk with the 20 knot breeze in our face.  How come they could do that so easily in the movie? 

Actually, there was an area of the ship that had a split stair, that Kelly thought reminded her of the Titanic staircase, but a modern one.  While not prominently featured, it included a water fountain, and also a plaque from the builder, Kvaerner Masa-Yards, now part of the mega shipbuilding conglomerate STX Finland Cruise Oy, builders of the current largest cruise ships in the world for Royal Caribbean; Oasis and Allure of the Seas.  Ultimately, we never decided to meet here and “make it count."

“Make it count!” I’d toast at dinner with my kids, in reference to Jack’s toast in the movie.  Corny, yes, but we were really having a good time!  This is NOT Cunard.  At this point, I was calling this cruise the “anti-Cunard” cruise.  There was actually plenty of life on board here and the ship was still rockin’ after 11PM!  I did not get my feet run over by a octogenarian in a scooter either on this cruise!  No offence to Cunard loyalists, but different ships for different folks here.  Carnival caters better to families, plain and simple.  How many four person cabins will you find on Queen Victoria for instance?   We did not have to fight our way through a sea of scooters, wheelchairs, and walkers to get to our table in the main dining room either, a plus.

I did not make off with the men after dinner to the library to have a cigar and a brandy.  I never did find the equivalent to Queen Mary 2’s Churchill’s on board although the Frankie and Johnnie’s nightclub had that stale cigar/cigarette smell to it, along with some menacing looking ceiling fixtures.  Instead, the kids went off to their kids clubs and we either made our way to see evening’s show or the comedian in the “Punchliners” comedy club.  Is that a veiled reference to ocean liners in the name?  George Lopez is the creative consultant for this program and it appears to be very popular.  Absolutely no mention of Titanic was made by any of the comedians in any of their acts, although the adult shows dived right into much more entertaining steamy topics.  Dentures would have been hitting the floor if these guys were performing on a Cunarder.  That Catskills style comic, though, was somewhat of a bore compared to the Brooklyn born and raised comic who really hit it off with passengers, who all appeared to be from the tri-state area. Yeah, we like our friggin’ comics when they get down n’ dirty.   Lisa Lampanelli would have fit right in.  No topic was off limits, but he never touched on any Titanic humor.  I think he just ran out of time after dealing with “Princess” in the front row, who was apparently having an orgasm every time he looked at her.  You had to be there.  Let’s just say she was more than a handful and leave it at that.

While we at sea for the actual Titanic anniversary, nearing our first port of call, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Carnival thankfully did not run the Cameron movie on board, have a Titanic themed diner, or even mention the tsignificance of the day in the daily program.  For that I am grateful.  A very small mention might have been nice, but the ‘Funtimes” ain’t the Daily Programme on a Cunarder. 

"Funtimes" is focuses heavy on the shipboard activities and is completely lacking the typical items I’ve become accustomed to such as detailed information on the ships position, course, and other navigation facts of the day.  Different ships, different “guests”, and different priorities I guess.  Heck, we never got any towel animals on any Cunard cruise!

 So, that night while we slept in our perfectly posh obstructed view cabin (by 1912 standards – we even had our own bathroom!), others were observing more somber remembrances of the occasion off in the North Atlantic.  We slept soundly; knowing our lifeboat would have been easy to jump right into if the need arose.  Yeah, there it is right outside our french doors in the above picture. All kidding aside, this was a great cabin - an outer cabin for the price of an inside unit, with the ability to get some fresh air and take in the sounds of the seas rushing by.  

It wasn’t until seeing the archway of Pier 54, heading back to Pier 88 on April 20^th, was I reminded of the significance of that day in history and Titanic began bearing down on us again.  Carpathia would dock at this pier 100 years ago to the day with the Titanic survivors.  Sadly, there was no Bill Miller or Ted Skull narrating our arrival up the Hudson.  I could have filled in......

As we approached Pier 88, I could make out another ship.  It was the Fred Olsen Line’s Balmoral, fresh from her historic transatlantic crossing and rendezvous with the Azamara Journey at the approximate site of the sinking of Titanic.  Passing through customs, the agent made a comment, throwing me off guard a bit, saying I should be getting back on the Balmoral, which was heading back to Southampton.  He noticed my QE2 shirt, worn proudly that day.  I sighed, “Only if she were still sailing.”  Unsolicited, the customs agent then mentions he misses her dearly and all the people he met when she used to dock in Manhattan.  Wow!  Once again, bringing it full circle all back to QE2. 

Love Boat Final Episode

The former Pacific Princess, made famous as the cruise ship featured in the TV series "Love Boat" has been reported sold to a Turkish company specializing in shipbreaking.  The ship has been tied up in Genoa, Italy since 2009, when it was seized by the Italian Coast Guard for non-payment of a shipyard bill.  Previous attempts to sell the ship were unsuccessful and now it looks like she's been sold for scrap;  a sad end to the ship that without a doubt, was instrumental in the rapid expansion of the cruise industry in the 80's.  More information on the ship's history can be found here.  She was built in 1971, almost as old as QE2 and she served Princess well for most of her time in service.

While I cannot credit the TV show for sparking my interests in ship, I watched "Love Boat" as a teenager religiously.  There was something about seeing the ship in the opening credits, with the bow shots of the Pacific Princess slicing through the water, and then from above, with the ship at speed with smoke from her funnel that always intrigued me.  Sure, now that I see some of the clips, the show was a bit cheesy, but I recall they would cast a wide variety of the current stars as passengers so it was always fun to watch, and  for that matter, also dream of taking a cruise one day.  For instance, the clip above shows that one of the "Brady Bunch" girls was "onboard" for that cruise....err episode.  And then there was the Marcia episode.....I'm sure I watched that one.  Yeah, I watched the "Brady Bunch" alot, and it had nothing to do with the dad, Mike Brady, being an Architect.  Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.


Check out this website that lists each and every episode and the guest cast. 
Admittedly, I also had a thing for Julie, your ever cheerful cruise director.  She had that Dorothy Hamill (USA Olympic gold medal figure skater from my childhood)  hair style going on for a while that was all the rage.  Funny thing, I've never had a cruise director on any of our cruises even remotely resembling her. They've all been men.  Well, Max, on the Costa Magica was along with his wife, who was also on the cruise staff  played the Julie part well, so that is as close as it gets for me.  Cunard's had a fine staff of cruise directors in our experience.  I believe we've had Ray Rouse both on QE2 and most recently on QM2, but the "Julie" type remains elusive.

Now the show ran for a long time, ten years, maybe too long.  My interest in the show was clearly waning, though, by the time they tried to spice things up by introducing captain's daughter to the plot line.  They also had trouble with the real Julie and had to replace her.  The show was never the same.

Back to the captain, Captain Merrill Stubing, played by Gavin MacLeod of  "Mary Tyler Moore" TV sitcom fame.  I have to admit, it was pretty cool to see our last name, by no means a popular name, on the TV screen.  Hey, maybe I would be a ship's captain one day....It was only recently that I learned that he isn't really a true MacLeod of Scottish heritage at all, but American Indian! Indians go bald? Oh the humanity!  He thought it would make a cool stage name.

Now my interest in ships, Clydebuilt ships actually, goes back farther in time, to that Irwin Allen blockbuster "Poseidon Adventure."  I'll never forget seeing the opening credits and recognizing her instantly as the Queen Mary, probably since I had spent many hours at the kitchen table recently painting and gluing up the Revell model of her.  That insane childhood obsession with Queen Mary is another blogworthy topic that continues to this day.  Recently, we played the "Poseidon Adventure " DVD, on New Year's Eve actually, to coincide with a friend's overnight stay onboard her in Long Beach that very night.  Happy to report....she did not sink that night.

Liner Bows

People ask me "Why the fascination in QE2 and her replacement QM2?"  My response is always because both are true ocean liners and there is nothing quite like traveling at speed through less than idea seas.  It is both exhilarating and reassuring that you are on board a ship that can handle the toughest weather that can be thrown at her.  Those comments inevitably launch into a discussion of ocean liners and their differences from the typical cruise ship of today and that often used phrase "form follows function."  It really does apply here. 

Ocean liners are ships traditionally purposely designed to ferry passengers on a specific route or a "line" on a schedule.  The traditional "line" crossing of the Atlantic required a ship with speed to make the crossing under five days, at the highpoint of this type of travel to and from Europe, and to make this crossing safely,on time, and with consistency, despite the weather and sea conditions.  Before the arrival of the Boeing 707, this was the main way to get to Europe and the ships could be regarded as very large and elegant ferries, depending on your class of cabin.  Nowadays, cruise ships are used mostly as "the" destination and not as a pure form of transportation to get to a destination.

Oddly enough, though, QE2 was designed to function as both North Atlantic ferry and cruise ship.  In fact, when the ship was introduced, there was a conscious effort put forth in the advertising that the ship itself was the destination.  This turned out to be the case throughout her service life. 

To this date, Cunard effectively uses this strategy with their current ships, the true ocean liner Queen Mary 2 and the cruise ships Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth.  Both of these ships are designed for the cruising mode, at reduced speeds, which is reflected in more fuller bow sections, which give more interior space, with the resulting less efficient hull form.

Now, the North Atlantic can be notoriously rough certain times of the year, usually from late Autumn to early Spring.  Ships built for this application require strengthened hulls to take the constant strains imposed upon them all the while at the high speeds necessary to keep to their published schedules.  These design constraints dictated slender bow sections to efficiently slice through the seas, bow profiles to deflect the seas in all conditions, and big powerplants to drive these ships at speeds averaging over 28 knots.  Even with this speed, there had to be extra reserve speed available to make up time when bad weather was encountered.  As illustrated in the photo above, QE2's bow configuration was designed for speed and seaworthiness.  In fact, this hull design was one of the first passenger ships modeled with the earliest computer aided design back in the early 1960's.  This hull form was so successful that when the time came to design her replacement, Queen Mary 2, her bow sections were basically lifted right from QE2.  According to her Naval Architect, Stephen Payne, even with all the most sophisticated modeling software available today, they ended up with a scaled up version of QE2's bow, but with a more efficient bulbous bow design.  In the end, why mess with success!

This head on bow shot of the Carnival Miracle shows the difference in bow designs and is the basic hull design that the Cunard Queen Victoria/Elizabeth sisterships has evolved from.  Not that there is anything wrong with this ship in my eyes, mind you, but as form follows function, this ship is designed for cruising speeds maximum of about 22 knots, and must slow considerable when encountering rough seas. 

I am eagerly anticipating another winter crossing on a liner, Queen Mary 2, in January, and hope to see first hand how she handles the North Atlantic like QE2 and her predecessors.

QE2 Arrives in Dubai - November 26, 2008

Two years ago today, QE2 arrived in Dubai, bringing to a close 39 distinguished years of service with Cunard.  The excellent photograph above is courtesy of Furstleur Photography, who had posted a full album of photographs of the day, but unfortunately, these photos have been taken off their website.  It is hard to believe two full years have passed since this day.  As documented here, on my favorite QE2 website, she sits, engines running in rotation, her fate still unknown.

QE3 Arrives in Southampton

QE3 arrives in Southampton.  Photo courtesy of Cunard



Almost tied up at the pier in Southampton.  Photo courtesy of Cunard.



Turning around, unaided by tugs.  Photo courtesy of Cunard



Photo courtesy of Cunard

Queen Elizabeth (3) made her maiden call to her homeport of Southampton, UK today.  From at least these photos posted on the Cunard Facebook page, she looks rather stunning.   Other angles, particularily of the stern area are less flattering.  In a few days, the Queen will name the ship.  She better not go off message and name the ship Queen Elizabeth the Third!  All the names have been welded to the hull with no room to add a "3" and the ship fully stocked with Queen Elizabeth merchandise.  As Cunard says, "the world awaits!"



QE2 Time Machine

Here is a compilation of pictures I have accumulated over the years, showing the forty plus years of QE2 history.  Some of these pictures are mine, others were culled from the internet.  The somewhat chronological order illustrates the changes that have occured over time to the ship, set to an aptly appropriate symphonic interpretation of Pink Floyd's "Time" from their "Dark Side of the Moon" album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5w-zFiPrfs

New YouTube Postings

Over the weekend, I posted three videos on YouTube.  These were taken with my Nikon D90 in video mode, which was a handy feature but not as easy to use as a minicam.  These are raw, unedited, and without any added music.  The camera can record up to 5 minutes in high resolution, but without a tripod, it gets heavy very fast.  Another downside, the camera can not refocus as you pan the camera.  There is just no substitute for a real minicam.  

Here is the view from our five deck cabin porthole on our Farewell to the UK cruise.  Call me crazy, but I just loved this cabin, located down low and above the engines.  In addition, while in several ports, the gangplank was only several cabins away down the passageway. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxKC-6hpE3Q

The second short video is of Queen Elizabeth 2 backing out of her berth at the Manhattan pier for the final time. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORf2G1l-fzo

The third video, which I'd love to somehow rig up as a screen saver, is a bow view of QE2 on a spectacular day, which happened to be my final full day onboard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdgnlAx8G5k

Voyage Number QE817 - September 30, 2008

Our final voyage on QE2 began a year ago today, which is hard to believe a full year has past.  I will be revising and posting a daily account for QE2's emotional historic Final Farewell to the UK in upcoming posts.

Update:  I have posted a video on the departure from Southampton.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6wSynafiFg&feature=channel

Roger and Wendy dropped us at the Queen Elizabeth II terminal.  Thankfully, unlike our January embarkation, which was a bit chaotic since that was the boarding also for the World Cruise, we did not experience any problems whatsoever.  The line moved swiftly and in no time, we were waiting in the terminal for our boarding number to be called. 

This farewell voyage was sold out months before.  Actually, it was sold out before our January 2008 crossing.  I managed to grab a cabin, using the internet to my advantage, watching daily as cabins became available quite silently due to cancellations.  I got lucky and booked an M7 (?)  cabin at first, but then my travel agent got busy for me.  Ultimately, I wanted a cabin with a porthole and when one popped up, an M1 with a third pulman birth, I grabbed it.  That was about the 3rd cabin selection and while it was more expensive than the windowless 90sf cabin up in the bow I originally booked, it was worth every penny.

While we waited to board, we found the outside observation deck and ventured outside for a glimpse of our ship and object of my obsession.  We totally missed the waiting and the observation deck in January due to the computer delay during the embarkation process.  It was nice to be able to see her up close and personal for the first time since I last saw her in April in New York City.

Ryan was more than a little excited stepping foot onboard for the first time. 

Ryan, the Funnel Bar, and the iconic funnel.

Flags in our cabin for the sailaway festivities.  We would forget to take them with us.  The child care program was basically non-existent.  We think there were about 5 kids onboard and everytime we tried to access the daycare area it was closed.  We didn't need it anyway.  We had too much to do on our own anyway.

Vertigo inducing view of the A stairwell, looking from our 5 deck level all the way up to the boat deck level.

The P & O Artimus passed us with a horn salute just as we were slipping our own moorings.  Interestingly, I believe that Captain McNaught did a stint as Captain on this ship after the QE2's final voyage to Dubai.

We're off!  Lines have been cast away and Ryan heard the "voice" of QE2, her famous horns, for the first time.  The weather was dreary, but the rain we had earlier on our way in to Southampton from Luton held off for our departure.  Is this the end of the pier that you see as Titanic leaves Southampton in the movie?

Off on the horizon, oil refineries that we completely missed on our January 2008 departure from Southampton were ablaze.  Calshot is off to the right, birthplace of my great grandmother Emily Cochrane.

QE2 gets her own water show escort.  Not every ship gets this treatment.  The Artimus passed us with absolutely no fanfare.

Southampton at our stern.  The sea were dead calm, but all that was to change as we entered the English Channel.  We had been told that our stop at Cherbourg, France had been cancelled earlier due to strong storm with high winds that would potenially prevent us from docking in port.  Rather than risk the potential denial of entry to port, "No Ports" McNaught told us we were skipping this port and we would be arriving at Cobh a day earlier than schedule.  Thanks Roger for reminding us of his nickname in the car on the way to Southampton.......A nickname he dutifully earned on the Worlc Cruise that Roger and Wendy took.

Going back to our cabin, the signs of rough weather were cropping up on the ship.  Similar to our January trip, I was hoping for some decent weather for at least a day so we could experience some decent seas.  I know, I'm crazy.

Captain Chris Wells Appointed Master of New Queen Elizabeth

Cunard has announced the appointment of Captain Chris Wells as Master of the new Queen Elizabeth, currently under construction by the shipyard Fincantieri in Italy.

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Cunard-Line-Limited-1039243.html

While I am deeply disappointed that QE2 Master Captain Ian McNaught was not chosen, I am beginning to understand why this appointment was made by Cunard.  While from a public relations standpoint, it would have made complete sense for Captain McNaught to assume command of the new QE3 (I just have a hard time calling it simply QE) and act as a figurative bridge from old to new, the job of the Master during construction will involve overseeing construction in the yard in Italy, and no time at all at sea and no interaction with passengers.  Captain Wells was involved with the construction of QM2 and perhaps is better suited for this role. 

Captain McNaught has been at the helm of Queen Victoria at times since the retirement of QE2 to Dubai.  In fact, I believe he was at command of the Queen Victoria when she called on Port Rashid, Dubai, and tied up right at the stern of QE2.  For those former QE2 crew now on QV, that must have been very difficult to see the ship once again.

I have to admit that this bit of news takes some of the excitement out of the 2011 QE Maiden Tandem Crossing with QV that we have a deposit on.  I was absolutely certain that Cunard would capitalize on Captain McNaught's overwhelming popularity with QE2 fans to lure us unto a new ship.  In fact, I have 2 rooms on deposit on QE for this historic Maiden Crossing and Maiden Call to NYC.  I have time to reconsider either switching ships or canceling altogether.  Perhaps, in the big picture, eventually, Captain McNaught will be back in command of a true liner, the Queen Mary 2.  Time will tell where he lands, but I am of the utmost certainty we shall sail with him once again.

Captain McNaught and my son Ryan, Newcastle, UK, October 8, 2008