Malcolm's diary of QE2's final world cruise.

[Malcolm]

Enrique & Rowena

Rowena had been Paul and my waitress in the Caronia for Christmas 2006. She was fantastic then. We were delighted to see her at the start of the WC and she was pleased to find that we were on for the entire trip. Those two were an example of just how good the service on Cunard could be.

[Malcolm]

We got a copy of our account the day before yesterday. There were two charges that we didn’t recognize. The first was for over US$ 150.00 and was from the Caronia Bar; the second was for US$ 36.80 and was from the Britannia Grill Bar (this second amount was unusual not because of the charge but because it was in Paul’s name – I have signed for all the wine in the restaurant).

We went to the pursers. There were two purserettes at the desk, both with their heads down. There was nobody waiting for assistance; when we got there one looked up and then went back to what she was doing. After a pause of about ten seconds she looked back up and asked if she could help. I queried the two charges and she went off to find the dockets. When she came back with a fist full of dockets she started to go through them in silence. When she found the dockets that matched the transactions (the Caronia Bar was room service that had been invoiced the day before we had it, I had signed a wine bill that was issued in Paul’s name) she just put them on the desk for us to see without saying anything. When we had seen them she put the dockets away again without saying anything. I do not believe this level of rudeness (and I believe that it was rudeness, that or indolence, but I don’t think they could be that lazy by accident)  is in anyway acceptable, even with clients who have caused problems in the past (which I don’t think we have done).

The “Cadet” made the navigational announcement today at about 12-04 pm. After which Perky made his announcement.

Paul had been for breakfast and so didn’t come down for lunch. Raul, the Maître d’, had realised that we had gone to dinner early last night and that we were cross about something. He had asked us why we were cross and had passed the details of the party fiasco onto John Duffy. J D had replied saying that he had not been in the Golden Lion at all the previous evening (Raul commented that the Golden Lion was not normally a haunt of J D). Even if we were mistaken about J D it does not make our criticism of the rest of the party any less valid.

We went to the show after dinner. This evening it was the “Crew Show”. I like the idea of the crew putting on entertainment but I do not think that it should be the main entertainment for the evening. It started with three lots of singers. One was the act that had come third in the “QE2 Idol” show earlier in this cruise; one was a male vocalist and the third act was a group of four – one singer and three musicians. These acts were of the standard I’d expect from a general Passenger Talent Show and were not fantastic (although better than the normal passenger show).

The penultimate act was done by a crew member, “Jerry”, and involved him lip synching to the Julie Andrews number “Doh, Ray, Me” from the Sound of Music. He was dressed in a blue and white pinafore dress and did some very funny movements to fit the song. It was what I could only describe as a drag act and was the funniest drag act that I’ve ever seen [With the exception of Hinge & Bracket and I wouldn’t call them a drag act].

The final act was “Kenny”, the Assistant Maitre D’, from our restaurant. He sang “Three Times A Lady”. We had been given advance warning that he was a good singer and he was. The drag act and Kenny saved what would otherwise have been a poor show (although by Cunard’s standards the acts were all above average).

After the show the Cruise Director, Warren Smith, came onto the stage to give his final announcements. He also added that there would be one more act – The Cruise Staff had put together a song that they would now perform. This involved most of the Cruise staff taking part in a joke song that would have been suited to a student panto but the audience seemed to enjoy. It did provide a nice end to the evening, if unCunardly.

After the show Paul and I walked back to the cabin along boat deck. Tonight was our last formal night on this trip. I was in tears. There have been so many highs and lows and now it’s over except for that horrible last day. I have done so much that I never thought I would and also regret not having done things that would have made the trip even more exciting.

When we got back to our cabin there was the final World Cruise gifts. Both Paul and I have got a Wedgewood dish (about 3 inches in diameter) with Cunard and the Cunard logo, Queen Elizabeth 2 and Farewell Celebration 2008 on it. This is quite nice and will go out somewhere at home. We have also been given another ticket wallet (?) although unfortunately not containing a new set of tickets. There is also an extra luggage tag. Both the ticket wallet and the luggage tag have a brass plate saying that they are for the 2008 Final World Cruise. These are what we got at the beginning of the journey; it looks like they have a lot left over and want to get rid of them before the World Cruise ends.

[southfielddane]

You were very fortunate to have had Rowena as your waitress on an earlier cruise. We found her a delightful and very pleasant person.
I`m afraid I will have to read your blog again to give you some examples of where I disagree. So far it has taken 165 double sided pages to print out so I may be some time before I get back to you on this point. The points are really nothing major and probably were a matter of having a better experience of the same event because those we interacted with were more pleasant/efficient. I recall you had problems over the photo at the World Cruise dinner in Hawaii. We had no problem at all. In fact my wife positively swooned when we found that the officer presiding at our dinner table was none other than Zak- he of the much awaited noon announcements! For some time he had been replaced by an Ozzie who couldn`t pronounce the Beaufort scale as " Beaufort" but "bewfort".We told Zak to have a word and sure enough a day or so later the Ozzie officer attempted the " Beaufort" ;
The photo was excellent with everyone properly seated around Zak and it remains a lovely souvenir of a memorable evening.

[Malcolm]

I recall you had problems over the photo at the World Cruise dinner in Hawaii.

When I went to see Lisa about the very poor quality of the photograph she commented that ours was the only one that was no good. Apparently she had checked with the officer involved before the pictures were distributed and the officer had said that my father had said that he did not want his picture taking. I was there; this was not true; the officer had lied - he was far too busy talking to one other person at the table to concern himself with the photographs.

[Malcolm]

Here's the penultimate report. I enjoyed the holiday  ; I've enjoyed rereading the reports  ; but I feel ever so sad now that I'm approaching Southampton and have to get off tomorrow  . I remember how I felt on the evening of the 17^th and I'm starting to feel a bit like that now

[Malcolm]

After breakfast we came back to the cabin to carry on with the packing. The remaining third took far longer to pack than the first two thirds. We haven’t actually finished packing that third yet – there are still lots of bits everywhere that we need to find space for.

There was an email under the door from Karie this morning. She was confirming the web address for the site on the original design of the ship. The address is http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/diad/diadmagazine.php?title=244&year=1969 .

We had thought that we’d have plenty of space in our luggage going home as lots of supplies that we brought with us (toothpaste, mouthwash, soap powder, etc) have been used on the trip and don’t need to be carried back. However there are lots of things (like four months’ Daily Programmes) that we didn’t have coming out and have filled up the space!

We took our excess dollars and paid them onto our account. The pursers tell us that the RNLI collecting box will accept any currencies and so we have dumped our Singaporean, Hong Kong, etc remainder currency there.

We stopped for our final prelunch drink in the Chart Room and went for a final walk on deck before lunch. We had our final lunch in the restaurant and then returned to the cabin. I collected my laptop and went to check emails – I’ve just found that I’ve got my first bit of spam on the address I’ve been using. I went to www.yahoo.co.uk to start receiving all the mail from the groups I belong to. I’ve got far too much internet time available. I’ve got about four hours left on the package for the LA to Fort Lauderdale sector; I haven’t even started on the eight hours for the transatlantic. I wonder if they’ll still be there if I come on again. [They weren’t.]

We went for our final afternoon tea in the QGL – very busy again and then a drink in the Chart Room to pass an hour. The entire ship is talking about how it will be over soon, those of us who did the full world cruise meet up and lament just how short a trip it’s been this year.

I am touched to have received so many emails saying how much you’ve enjoyed reading my experiences. There have been many occasions when I’ve worried that I’m mentioning events that are just too inconsequential.

At 6-45 pm we got a letter from Anna and Yoyo, the CWC representatives on board, saying that because of the “large number” of Platinum and Diamond members there will be no disembarkation lounge available at Southampton. It is so nice that they only send the letter out once their office has shut and it’s too late to provide any feedback!

We intended to go for a drink before dinner at about 8-00 pm. At 7-00 pm I was on my way to see my parents to range a place and time for that drink when I bumped into Babette. At our request she came back to our cabin for a drink and we ended up not even starting to get changed until past 8-00 pm! We finally got into dinner at 8-50 pm.

After dinner we had a final drink (or two) in the Chart Room (We didn’t have that heavy a night, but the bar managed to run out of both Laphroaig and Tallisker). After that it was back to the Cabin to put out the final suitcases.

We didn’t want to go to sleep – that would mean the holiday was finally over so we watched the trailer for the “Your Voyage” DVD and commented on how bad it was; we ordered a pot of tea and a sandwich from room service and then watched this morning’s breakfast show!

We finally went to bed at 1-30 am.

[Malcolm]

I was awake at 6-30 am this morning. We were already docked in Southampton. We can only just have docked because there were still tugs moving round the ship at 6-30 am. I hope that’s a sign that they’re in a rush to get in; that they’ll get the luggage off quickly and in turn we’ll be off quickly as well.

Oh dear. That was written first thing this morning. It’s now 1-15 pm and I’m in the back of a taxi heading up the M 3. Disembarkation was a fiasco. Here’s what happened:

We both were up by 7-00 am. I used our travel kettle, some milk removed from yesterday’s tea tray and some mugs and tea bags removed from the pavilion to mash some early morning tea. We were in breakfast by 8-00 am and were offered the full menu despite it being an in-port breakfast day (ie a limited breakfast menu). As our restaurant stewards have been so good both in sorting out meals for Paul when he couldn’t get to the restaurant and in serving my parents and Paul and I at different speeds for many meals we decided that they deserved more than the standard gratuity. We gave each steward US$ 200.00 on top of the normal Hotel and Dining Charge.

By this time it was just turned 8-30 am, the time at which we were supposed to vacate our cabins. We went back to the cabin to collect our belongings and discuss where we were to go. Whilst we were in the cabin we heard the sound of the tape being ripped off the adjoining door to the next cabin. As we knew that they had already vacated their cabin we guessed that it must be our steward making that noise and went to ask him what it was. I was right. It was masking tape to keep the tobacco smoke out of the cabin next door.

We had also decided that we would give an extra gratuity to our cabin steward as well (also US$ 200.00). I said thank you to Jerome and gave him the envelope with the money in it. I also asked him if it would be possible to stay in our cabin until we were called. He reluctantly agreed.

My parents weren’t so lucky with their steward. At 9-30 they were turned out of their cabin. We all then decided that we would look for somewhere to sit and wait. As the gangway was supposed to be (and at this time actually was) from the Midships Lobby on Two Deck we thought the Computer Centre could be a good place to wait. We were right it was. There were only about two other people there; both Paul and I had plenty of time left on the internet so there was something for us to do; there are toilets on Boat Deck, just up A lift from the Computer Centre and there is also access onto the open deck for the smokers in the group. The only problem is the lack of availability of tea, coffee or cold drinks.

10-00 am came and went and nobody was called to the gangway. Twice there had been announcements saying that they were still landing luggage and that they expected disembarkation to start at 9-30 am and then 10-00 am. At 10-30 am the purser announced that those people on the first transfer to Heathrow could get off the ship but, as they were still landing luggage, everyone else should wait. At 11-00 am there was a rush of airport and coach transfers called and then at 11-30 am decks One and Two were called.

When we got to the Midships Lobby the queue stretched from the exit, halfway round the lobby and into the ship at D Stairway. How much further it went beyond that I do not know. We were lucky – as my mother was in her scooter and Paul was using both his crutches we were able to join the wheelchair line which should have given a fast track to the exit. We stood in the queue for about five minutes. As our driver had been booked to meeting us at 10-00 am I thought I’d better call him and advise him of the delay. He was still waiting but said we should call him when we were finally off.

We continued to queue but the queue didn’t move. I could see Matthew in the line in front of us and Veronica and Norman in the queue behind us. We must have stood waiting for fifteen minutes before the queue moved at all. Apparently high winds were making it almost impossible to fix the gangway and they were at the point of giving up.

Five minutes later there was an announcement that the gangway location had been moved from Two Deck to Five Deck and asking all passengers currently queuing on Two Deck to make their way to Five Deck via the D Staircase. As most people had more than one piece of hand baggage, there were several wheelchairs in our section of the queue and most of the passengers were elderly it did not seem like a particularly good idea to suggest using D where the lifts only go down as far as Deck Three. We  went to A; to find that one of the lifts was out of action completely (or so the Crew Purser told us, although as she also said that as her job was crew related she couldn’t advise passengers) and the other was being used by staff to ferry laundry.

Once we were on Five Deck we had to go through the door marked “Crew Only”, from there to an entrance I’ve never seen from inside before and then onto a wooden gangway. The problem was that there was a very steep slope up onto this gangway, the gangway had quite deep wooden treads across it and there were three steep steps to get back off it again and onto ground level. My mother could not drive her scooter over it. I had to cross the gangway with my hand baggage, go back and collect mother and her hand baggage (and she carries a vast amount). When I went back to get the scooter I asked the security man on the gangway if he would help me with it as I couldn’t carry it on my own. He said that someone would come and help shortly. I looked him in the eye and said “YOU will help me carry it now”. You could see him wondering if it would make me angrier if he refused and then he asked how he should pick it up!

Once we were off the ship it was a long walk to baggage reclaim and customs. The bags had been sorted by colour but not by number. My parents, Paul and I had orange tags but my parents’ tags had a number one on them whilst ours had a number two. Tags one, two, three and four were all mixed together making it difficult to find our bags. Once we’d got our baggage there was nobody on customs and we were out of the terminal and with our taxi in about five minutes.

The problem with the taxi was the amount of luggage we had to fit in it. Putting everything into the taxi was a bit like doing a jigsaw with no picture however we’ve managed to make everything fit (just) and should be home by 5-10 pm (according to the taxi’s sat nav).

We actually got through our front door at 6-05 pm. It has been an experience; one. To be honest, I’m not in a hurry to repeat. I’m very glad that I went, I enjoyed most of it but I’m also very glad to be home.

[18 months on I would now like to repeat the holiday. Not repeat exactly – I would like some different ports and I don’t want to do another long cruise where half of the journey is eastbound – but I would like to do another world cruise. Perhaps one day, in the dim and (hopefully not too) distant future.]

[highlander0108]

Malcolm, my tablemates from the January Crossing were onboard with you for the entire trip.  Roger and Wendy if you evern chatted with them.  As they put it, there was a big "cockup at disembarkation"  They experienced the confusion and delays like you.  They were heading back to Luton, but it took all day to get off the ship.  Mind you, they are not ones to complain, but this event earned Cunard a complaint letter and they ended up with a nice voucher, which they used this year for a QV cruise, in which they saw QE2 in Dubai. 

Ken

[Twynkle]

Hello Malcolm
What an amazing Diary -
Thank you very much indeed for showing us your experience of QE2's way round the World.
Your description of the ending has echoes of other disembarkations - although not quite as elongated or tricky.
It's as if the magic's almost gone when you waken, and when you step onto dry land, the dream is well and truly over - it's back to earth with an enormous, unQE2-erly bump.
Cheers
Rosie
  

[Kathy M.]

Thanks for sharing all of this, Malcolm - it is a great read!

[cunardqueen]

Malcolm,
  Thanks for sharing your story and for your personal comments, warts and all of for what is for many a dream voyage that of a QE2 world cruise.

 If you had known now what you know then, would there have been anything you would have changed? how did the luggage work out? had you overpacked or underpacked?

 Dare l mention the unmentionable subject of weight? l realise that nobody would eat like a king for 4 months and that we all pig out on QE2, but after 4 month l would have been like the side of a house.
 Thanks again for a wonderful diary
 Myles 
 

[southfielddane]

Malcolm
We have enjoyed reading of your exploits and comparing them with our own.
The disembarkation fiasco was a mess wasn`t it?  It beat the embarkation fiasco by a mile. We had a car booked for 9:30am and like yourselves didn`t get ashore until 12:30pm.The high winds were given to us a reason but we were permitted to stay in our cabin until we disembarked. Our cabin steward (Anna) was another example of Cunard staff at their best. Nothing  was too much trouble. We were lucky to have her attending to our cabin on deck 2 when were able to get a last-minute booking on the final Round British Isles cruise last September/October. Cunard still messed up the embarkation by not explaining that we could go straight through the waiting passengers as we had platinum WCC cards by then. Disembarkation was ok. We`ve now booked on the QV for the Canary Isles Cruise next May so it will be interesting to compare the experiences.

[Malcolm]

If you had known now what you know then, would there have been anything you would have changed?

The biggest thing I would like to change is Paul breaking his leg. If that hadn't happened we would both have been able to see and do so much more.

Other than that the changes I'd make would be what we did in some ports. I had spent a lot of time researching the ports in advance and planning what we would do. Most ports we did stick to that but in some we didn't. Hong Kong, for example, we booked a tour because we were docked so far out of the centre.  The tour included far more than we could have done on our own. The problem is that Hong Kong has changed a lot since I was there before - a lot of the places the tour went weren't worth visiting (think Aberdeen or Stanley Market).

how did the luggage work out? had you overpacked or underpacked?

Most of the stuff we packed we used at least once. I am just very glad there was no restriction on the amount of luggage we could take though! How people like Leone managed when they had to fly too and from the cruise I hate to think.

Dare l mention the unmentionable subject of weight? l realise that nobody would eat like a king for 4 months and that we all pig out on QE2, but after 4 month l would have been like the side of a house.

It is not possible to eat three main meals every day and morning coffee, afternoon tea and a midnight snack for four months. You find yourself starting to miss the odd meal; afternoon tea becomes an occasional treat; I don't think I went to the Midnight Buffet after leaving Southampton for the second time. I did put on weight though - far too much! My waist went up by about six inches whilst I was aboard - something I'm still trying to loose!

[Malcolm]

Disembarkation was ok.

Was it? Paul and I did the Autumn Colours and the Farewell to the British Isles; my parents did the Farewell to the British Isles and both final Transatlantics so we were lucky to be able to wait in their cabin. I remember they cancelled the waiting area again (usual reason - too many people) but other than that I don't remember too much about that final morning. Even although I knew that I wouldn't be seeing the ship again I was still pleased to be off and on my way.

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

From what we could tell of the announcement we need approximately 3 ½ engines running to get us to Shanghai on time. We will do 16 ½ knots this morning on three engines and then speed up slightly when a fourth engine is started.

Malcolm, your World Cruise diary has been fascinating reading! I printed it out a while back and am now reading it at my own pace, at leisure, much as I would a good book.

There will be plenty more questions and comments coming from me -- at my leisure! The quote above is one of the bits I read today, and it brought a big grin to my face.

The speed for which qV has to push herself, is here taken at leisure by QE2 on 3 out of her 9 engines... marvellous!

And then, she has all that massive reserve power to push herself when necessary...