Day 4 - Southampton

Saturday 18th November 2017

Rather early start this morning, already berthed in Southampton, Mayflower Terminal, weather overcast and a little damp today, still, better now than in Belgium.  

Finished packing then breakfast.  All too soon our disembarkation time arrived and without having to wait any longer we were ashore. Quickly though and got our lift back for morning coffee and then away up the motorway home.

Day 3 - Zeebrugge, Belgium

Friday 17th November 2017

This morning berthed in Zeebrugge, a lovely sunny morning, perhaps a bit cool but excellent considering the time of year.

After breakfast and giving time for the rush ashore to clear we made our way  off to take the free shuttle into Blankenburg.  Strolled down through the town to the seafront, town very quiet, out of season so lots of shops haven’t opened.  Decided to forego the pleasure of a morning dip in the sea, tide a long way out and just not quite warm enough for such excursions.

Much more pleasant to just make a couple of visits to the local chocolate shops to make a few purchases.  Being quite unable to find a nice looking coffee shop we resorted to getting the bus back to the ship to have coffee on board, and we even managed to find a nice comfy seat by a sunny window to enjoy it while the ship was still underpopulated.

Spent the afternoon sitting out on deck just enjoying the sun until it began to sink toward the horizon and we moved into the Crows Nest lounge.  Managed to procure our sailaway champagne, somewhat delayed since Southampton, but thereby lies other story.

After dinner in the buffet, oriental theme today, off to the Palladium theatre for the Headliners show, “Reel to Reel”, a show of mainly songs from the musicals with some theme music from well known movies.

Sadly, now it’s time for packing  Clocks back to UK time tonight so extra hours sleep even though the need for an early start remains.

Day 2 - at Sea

Thursday 16th November 2017

Last night clocks went forward on hour just to confuse us even more.  This is doubly tricky as we are slumming it in an inside stateroom, so no daylight to help with body clocks.

After breakfast went for a few laps of the Prom, weather quite pleasant if overcast with some showers about, sea pretty near flat and wind very light.

Morning coffee in the Costa coffee shop, down in the bowels of the ship,  for some reason most of the ship’s public rooms seem to be a jumble of enclosed spaces without any WOW factor, not very impressive, especially for first time cruisers.  Even the atrium which in our experience is designed to impress on this ship certainly doesn’t.  Still the coffee was good.

Spent some time in the Crow’s Nest watching the French coast moving past very slowly.  Lots of ships and ferries about, as well as some seagulls, but no whales or dolphins!

And so to afternoon tea and scones.

Wasted some time sorting out P&O’s shambolic accounting system, another new frustration, and our credit card, eventually straightened out.

Ship has arrived at it’s anchor point off the Belgian coast, so we will be stationary tonight, in the morning the pilot will come aboard and then we will proceed into Zeebrugge to tie up alongside for the day.

Dinner in the Buffet again tonight, Italian theme.

Then to the Rising Sun, the ship’s pub, for a little something to drink while being entertained by the High Tides Duo,  well one of them, the other not well, playing some great classic pop songs, accompanying himself on guitar, interesting mix of Cliff Richards, Dire Straits, Elvis, Johnny Cash, etc. all very good, and not too loud!  Time to go, its Karaoke next.

Closed the day with a bit of NFL back in our cupboard.

Day 1 - Southampton

Wednesday 15th November 2017

Today we are off on a very short cruise to Zeebrugge and back with just one day at sea.  This will be on the P&O Arcadia, a new ship for us, though we are familiar with the class of ship.

Arrived at Mayflower Cruise Terminal and went through the usual hell of joining our ship.  P&O seem to delight in making up procedures to drive the passengers mad!  Still, eventually got on board and went for walkabout to find  the layout of the ship, discover the venues we are likely to need and to get a spot of lunch.

Managed to unpack and then off to attend emergency drill.  Already getting dark, next it was sailaway. While we were having our dinner in the Belvedere Buffet we were confused by the Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth, going past the windows on the wrong side going the wrong way, not sure why, but eventually we managed to get going and the Isle of Wight appeared again where it should be.

Dinner tonight in the buffet, couldn’t be bothered with the main dining room, as expected the the was Best of British!, but food was fine anyway.

Tonight’s entertainment in the theatre, the Palladium, was a very good foursome giving us a tribute to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, “Walk like a Man”.

Time to retire, as usual the first day at sea just wears us out, can’t decide if it’s the stress or just the sea air?

Day 8 - Southampton

Friday 13th October

At some time early this morning berthed at QE2 terminal Southampton.  Not too early a need to leave the stateroom so time for a coffee and finish the packing before breakfast.

Joined our group of preferred passengers for disembarkation, soon the call came through giving us the option to get going, quite a bit before our decks official time.  And so off we go, quickly through the terminal and over to the short term car park to collect the car, already there waiting for us, quickly and efficiently completed the formalities and off onto the roads of Southampton.

Another excellent adventure completed.

Day 7 - at Sea

Thursday 12th October

Rude awakening this morning when the Captain announced an evacuation of a seriously sick patient by an Irish helicopter.  Short delay and temporary course change.

After breakfast a few turns on the promenade before a return to our stateroom to start the packing.

Another helicopter evacuation needed, this time by a Cornish helicopter, another short delay and course change needed.  Captain said it was almost unprecedented for two evacuations on the same day.

 

 

Drama over for the day, so not much to do but the dreaded packing, we have been putting it off as long as possible. 

Just time to keep ourselves fed and watered and to try to keep ourselves occupied to avoid too much concentration on tomorrows departure.

Day 6 - at Sea

Wednesday 11th October

A lovely sunny morning, just the odd spot of rain about with associated rainbows.

After breakfast joined the queue to the Officer's Cocktail Party, 11.15 am seems a bit early to some of us, but most attendees seemed to get stuck in without much trouble.

Day continued sunny so just sat out and enjoyed the sun and the sea.

 

 

The afternoon talk was to decide whether the moon landings were a hoax faked up by NASA.  The evidence as presented convinced even the most sceptic that man really did walk, and drive, on the moon.

Managed to fit in afternoon tea, some blogging and some dinner before going to the Theatre for the performance by the Cunard Singers and Dancers of "Rhythm of the Night", another excellent production and performance.

Day 5 - at Sea

Tuesday 10th October

Usual start to our day.

Then off to the Theatre to see Dr Hoffman's second talk, this one on the Hubble Space  Telescope.  The telescope almost became a billion dollar disaster for NASA, just when they were looking for funding for the International Space Station, fuzzy images!

Fortunately, the scientists found why the images were fuzzy.  An incorrect set up in the grinding of the mirror caused a tiny error in the focus.  This led to a solution being designed to make corrections and then to the space shuttle mission to fit the new parts.  The mission required 5 space walks each lasting about 8 hours.  Dr Hoffman with his partner completed 3 of the 5 space walks.  Another team of two  astronauts made the other space walks. Fortunately it was a success and the comparable images proved just what an improvement the fix made.

 

 

Dr Hoffman

 

Since then Hubble has been upgraded several times, the original was all 1970's technology and things have moved on dramatically.  Hubble has multiplied our knowledge of the universe by several thousand times, especially in deep space where images from earth based telescopes showed empty space but Hubble showed millions of galaxies.

This afternoon off to the planetarium for the "Infinity of Space" presentation.

Tonight we went to the Cunard World Club Cocktail Party for a small glass of something and a few formalities including a presentation to the most travelled guest.

Time for a light supper before retiring for the night.

Day 4 - at Sea

Monday 9th October

Dull day today, though fog has largely cleared.

Breakfast and then time to relax and do some sorting out and blogging.

Proper sea day, got very little accomplished, just as it should be.

Weather brightened up later for a promenade on deck.

 

 

View Forward

 

Room service dinner tonight - fajitas our favourite.

Day 3 - at Sea

Sunday 8th October

Breakfast and then time to enjoy the sun out on the promenade deck. 

Sailing east this morning in very deep water, about 3800 metres heading towards the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, where the water is much shallower, about 100 metres.

 

 

Ships Bell, used at noon on sea days

 

Approaching the Grand Banks, where we were promised the chance of some whale watching, the weather cooled noticeably and quite soon we entered some thick fog.  The fog horn started blasting and everyone moved inside, visibility less than the length of QM2.

Tonight is the welcome cocktails with Captain Christopher Wells.

So on with the posh gear and down to the Queens Room.  Captain not in attendance, looking after the ship in the fog!  So Deputy Captain officiated.  Bit of a chat about the numbers and various nationalities of the passengers and crew.

Then off to dinner in the Britannia Restaurant, might as well make the most of getting dressed up. 

After dinner off to the theatre for tonight's performance of "Apassionata"   by the Cunard Singers and Dancers, all very good and most energetic.

Day 2 - at Sea

Saturday 7th October

After a good night's sleep being very gently rocked in nice sea air awoke to a calm sunny morning.

After breakfast attended the lecture by Dr Geoffrey Hoffman.  He a veteran of five Space Shuttle flights.  The lecture mainly concentrated on the human aspects of space flight and what is was actually like to be an astronaut and to be in space.  Illustrated with numerous photographs of space flight and notably the views of planet earth from orbit.

Next to the Planetarium for the presentation showing aspects of extreme weather on the other planets in the solar system.

Next to the talk by Charles Barclay of the Royal Astronomical Society about demystifying the night sky.  Quite a lot of guidance for stargazing even if very little about actually identifying the actual stars.

 

Grand Lobby

Enough education, this is supposed to be a holiday, time for tea and scones.

Relaxing afternoon and then dinner in the buffet.

Day 13 and Day 1 - New York, New York to Queen Mary 2

Friday 6th October

Fairly early start, not too much rush, bus transfer not due till after 11am so time to have breakfast and get everything packed up.

Joined the Cunard group in the lobby, bus delayed by traffic caused by an accident so not away from the hotel until just about noon.

Nice quick trip through town and under the Hudson to Red Hook Cruise Terminal.  Official procedures to let us go all quick and smooth, on board QM2 and to our stateroom by one o'clock.  Amazing efficiency.

Room very nice, view rather obscured by lifeboats, but that's what we booked so no surprise.  Went for a walkabout to investigate the ship, all very smart since the refit.  Quick snack then back to get on with the unpacking, not used to all this interaction with our cases.

Enjoyed our bottle of Pol Aker during the sailaway.

 

Statue of Liberty from our balcony

 

Then dinner in the buffet and back to our room.

Day 12 - New York, New York

Thursday 5th October

Another hot and humid day in prospect.

After breakfast took our now familiar walk up to catch the bus.  Quick ride on the Midtown route to get us to the start of the 'Downtown' route, just outside a shop, on three floors, of anything M&M, in Times Square.

This definitely the most popular and busiest route so bit of a wait for a nice seat up top.  Bus travelled down Manhattan, through Koreatown district, Noho and Soho to the Civic Area.

Off the bus to walk over to the One World Tower.  Collected our tickets and went straight in to ride up the lift.  The lift went up to the 102nd floor in 60 seconds! but you would never know it.  3 floors of views and restaurants and gift shops!  Views without parallel, stupendous, almost like being in a plane, definitely a long way down.  Absorbed all we could and then returned down to ground level.

Outside to view the North and South 9/11 Memorial Pools, which were built on the footprint of the twin towers with the names of all those lost displayed around the 2 pools.

Then into the 9/11 Tribute Museum, a subterranean complex showing artefacts from the disaster, remaining parts of the foundations, stairs used by survivors to get out of the building and a display of photos of the victims.  They also had an area where they played recordings by family members who lost loved ones reading out their names.

On the way back to the bus stopped at Dunkin Donuts, we have been looking to stop at a Dunkin's for the last 2 weeks, another reminder of previous holidays to the USA.

Rode the bus back up via Wall Street, the Lower East Side, Chinatown, Little Italy and the United Nations Building.

UN Building

Dinner and back to our room for some NFL and to prepare for tomorrows transfer to QM2.

Day 11 - New York, New York

Wednesday 4th October

Breakfast in hotel and then off to catch the bus.  Luckily flagged down the driver of a bus on his way to the start of his days route.

Weather continues hot and quite humid.

Validated our tickets for the bus and attractions included in the ticket and joined the 'Uptown' route.

Basically the route went up one side of Central Park, passed all sorts of celebrities homes (some we recognised the names), the Dakota Building and Strawberry Fields, Grant's Tomb over by the Hudson and then back down the other side of Central Park, through the Museum Mile, among many The Guggenheim and on by the Zoo back to the start.

A View of Central Park

Entrance to the Dakota Building - where John Lennon was shot and killed.

Yoko Ono still lives there

Swapped over to the 'Midtown' route.

This went straight over to the Hudson River where we got off to catch the Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise boat.  This took us for a much more peaceful trip down the river to view Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty.  A nice break from New York traffic.

Manhattan Skyline 

Statue of Liberty

New Yorkers certainly have got their traffic management down to fine art to cause the maximum frustration.  They make the best streets through the city six lanes wide, use the lanes by the curb for parking, the next lane each side for double parking and leave two middle lanes for "moving" traffic, thousands of Yellow Cabs, Black Limousines, Buses delivery trucks, bikes, pedestrians et al, everyone adding liberal amounts of horn use to aid things.  Progress you can imagine is slow, walking looks quicker.

All too soon back on the bus to continue to The Empire State Building.

The Empire State Building

Off the bus to take the lift ride up to the 80th floor for views over the city, through glass.  Then a short lift ride up to the 86th floor for the proper viewing level outside.  Fantastic views all round, bit of heat haze in the distance.

Back down to walk back to our hotel, bit of a long walk but buses hard to come by and getting a bit late.

Dinner in nice restaurant just by the hotel and then back to room, another long tiring day.

Day 10 - Central Valley, NY to Newark Liberty Airport and transfer to New York, New York

Tuesday 3rd October

Up early, quick breakfast and on the road again.

Considering we were getting close to the big city areas and major highways the journey was not too stressful.  Found the rental car returns and gave back the car, whizzed into the airport via the AirTrain and found the Welcome Desk.  Helpful lady there found us the Cunard Rep and after a short wait she organised a ride to our hotel.  Really nice big black limo-cum-suv, somewhat frightening drive, but certainly effective at delivering us to our hotel through New York traffic.

All booked in and up to 14th floor for our room.  Nice view of the building across the alley!  Small but comfortable room.

Just a short rest then out to explore what's near.  First to Central Station for photos and took the opportunity to eat in the food court there, hotdogs and pretzel, very New York!

 

 

Main Concourse Central Station

 

Then a tour around the area to check out the bus stops nearby ready for our Big Bus ride tomorrow, with a few photo stops along the way.

 

New York Skyline - Chrysler Building

Stopped for pizza and a coffee on our way back to the hotel.

Time for rest and recuperation, feels like a long day.

Day 9 - Plymouth, Massachusetts to Central Valley, NY

Monday 2nd October

Today consisted pretty much just a long highway drive.  Really not much to say except weather held up nicely and traffic not uncomfortably heavy.

Found our motel, definitely not the best there is, but it will do for one night. 

Quick trip down the road to the 'outlets', looked round the shops but nothing to inspire us and so just had dinner and back to motel for the night.

Days 7 and 8 - Plymouth, Massachusetts

Saturday 30th September

Out for breakfast at the Ihop, very slow service, due to the cook not having arrived, puncture on his way to work, though breakfast good.

Some rain overnight and temperatures well down, but the day's weather doesn't look as pessimistic as predicted.

Went down to the town, viewed the Plymouth Rock.  Supposedly the rock where the Pilgrim Fathers first stepped ashore in America.  A disappointingly unspectacular piece of rock.

Decided that even though weather rather cool we would take the Whale Watch trip today.  So bought our tickets and joined the queue for the boat.  Soon onboard a happily fairly large boat  and the off to see the whales.

Longish trip out from harbour, about 90 mins, the stooged around for quite a while without luck.  Moved a couple of times, no luck.  Last chance before abandoning the day, and success, Humpbacks, right by the boat, and then more also very close and then some more.

 

Spot the Whale?

 

All too soon heading back to Plymouth.  More sightings, fair way off, but these were breaching (that is jumping out of the water, not bad for a 40 ton 40 foot whale!), a very rare occurrence in these waters, according to the naturalist on board.

 

Sorry about the blur

Screenshot form a video, distant subject, moving boat!

 

Weather continued cool, just a couple of showers and sea not too rough at all.  Some passengers might disagree but we were fine.

Got back to town a bit later than planned, just about getting dark.

Dinner and then definitely time for recovery.

 

 Sunday 1st October

Better day today, clear and sunny and comfortable though not high temperatures.

Down to town, parked and walked along to the Pilgrim Hall Museum.  Introductory film describing the arrival and first year of the "Pilgrims" and their interaction with the native population.  The museum had exhibits of all sorts of artefacts, paintings, furniture etc.

Then off along the main street, stopped for a coffee and a cannoli.

Next to view the Spooner House, closed.

And so on to the Mayflower Society House.

 

Mayflower Society House

 

We took the guided tour of the house. The house originally belonged to the grandson of Edward Winslow who was a Separatist who travelled on the Mayflower in 1620.

Later owners extended the original house extensively.  The house is full of historic bits and pieces to show it's development over the years all with an emphasis on the Mayflower connection.

All around the town were gaily painted lobster statues.

 

This is just one of many

 

Quick stop at the National Monument of the Forefathers.  Couldn't quite get to the Sparrow House, too many roads closed and the one-way system.  So, time for dinner then back to finish the packing.

Being Sunday lots of American Football to watch before bed.

Day 6 - Freeport, Maine to Plymouth, Massachusetts

Friday 29th September

All packed up again this morning for a day on the road.  Nice sunny day again, still comfortable temperature.

Quick stop at Walmart for a few bits and pieces then away down the turnpike.

Busy day on the road, though steady progress without holdups.

 

Took the longer bypass road round Boston to avoid busier parts.  Nice rural bit of highway.  Long journey but soon over and checked in to our motel.

Out for an early dinner and then quick trip to the town to check out what's there and start a plan for the next couple of days.

So back to motel for the evening.