Queen Mary: Onboard and At Sea

OK, so in the interests of brevity (and your sanity), I'll condense the six-day voyage into one post. One 20-page post. Kidding.

When we left New York on Friday, the sea was very calm. In fact, it was hard to tell we were on a boat at all (aside from the lifeboats and the aircraft-sized bathroom). That changed on Saturday. It poured with rain and by the afternoon, the seas were officially listed as "rough." Not rough as in "spill the water from your glass." No, this was "can't walk in a straight line and send half the passengers to their cabins to vomit" rough. I don't seem to get seasick so I enjoyed the challenge of trying to walk normally and pretending it wasn't an effort. At least, I enjoyed it until the next morning when I woke up with my legs screaming from the effort. Apparently, walking while drunk or at sea is quite the workout. Who knew?

Speaking of workouts, did I mention that there was a Canyon Ranch Spa on board the ship? That's right--massages, manicures, pedicures, saunas, etc. Even an Aquatherapy pool. They also had a killer schedule of fitness classes and a great gym. Since I figured I'd be spending the two weeks after we arrived in England eating my way from one side of the country to the other, I decided to pack in at least one workout each day. 

On Sunday morning, our Core Conditioning instructor decided to do a balance ball workout. In rough, 12-18 ft  seas. Need I say more? With each roll of the ship, there were ladies flying everywhere. I looked around me at one point and all I could see were spandex-covered bottoms with legs stuck up in the air like flagpoles.

After the class, I moved into the gym to do a few minutes on the treadmill. Until now, I've never really understood the purpose of side rails on a treadmill. "How uncoordinated do you have to be to need rails ALL along the edges," I thought. Well, I guess they have a purpose after all. I spent 15 minutes bouncing from one rail to the other before calling it a day and heading back to the cabin to nurse my bruises.

Several people have asked about the food on the trip, and let me tell you, it was sensational! As a vegetarian, you get used to people piling boiled veggies on a plate, topping them with melted cheese and calling it dinner. On the QM2, every meal was a taste sensation! Each night they even brought us the menus for the next day so we could make sure there was something suitable for our "dietary restrictions."

Plus, we got to dress up for dinner. Not my guy's favorite part (I have to wear a TIE?!) but I was in heaven. I took a completely separate case of formal and cocktail dresses to wear in the evenings. Here's an example from one of the "semi-formal" nights:

It was kind of cool how seriously everyone took the dress code. Certain nights were "formal," requiring black tie, and it was great to see everyone all dressed up to the nines. The featured artist onboard was James Taylor and one of his concerts fell on a formal night, so the band even wore suits onstage!

Anyway, I'll wrap this up by saying that the six-day voyage was one of the most pleasant ways I can imagine to travel to the UK. I never thought of myself as a "cruise" person. It seemed so boring, to stay in one place for a week and be carted around from country to country. The truth is, it was so relaxing I could easily have stayed onboard for another week. We put our wallets in the safe at the beginning of the voyage and didn't take them out again until it was time to disembark. We had amazing meals, worked out, got massages, visited the planetarium, listened to a great concert, and spent a lot of time napping and reading. Oh, and they advanced the clocks by one hour each night so we didn't even have to deal with jet-lag when we arrived in Southampton. Brilliant, huh?

I leave you with this proof that even people who spend half their lives with hay in their hair can get dressed up when the occasion demands.

Related Posts:

1. Queen Mary: Leaving New York
2. Queen May: Day One
3. Europe Vacation