2008 AUGUST NYC & QM2

NEW YORK CITY and TRANSATLANTIC CROSSING
17 & 18 AUGUST Sunday and Monday
New York City

Note: pictures can be found here: http://travel.webshots.com/album/565601780UMdAie
Or2008 NYC and QM@ at http://community.webshots.com/user/rdrue

After a fun Saturday in SF with Lavina and Kim/Russ and Desi, we flew off at 9pm on a “new to us” Virgin America A320 – great leg room, entertainment system (including Google routing of the plane), arriving NYC about 8am. Still, it is hard to sleep on the plane….we only managed to catch a few winks. After waiting for our luggage (and as luck would have it, ours was about the last piece to come down the chute) and then being stuffed into a SuperShuttle van, it is 10 before we finally arrive at the Warwick from JFK. The historic Warwick is in a great location on W 54th and 6th Ave. We lucked out and were able to check in despite the early hour into a large corner room with windows on both sides and a beautiful marble lined bathroom.

Next to the lobby, the “Murals on 54th” restaurant was still serving breakfast. I had the buffet while Stella ordered eggs and Canadian bacon off the menu. With tax and tip, that meal set us back $60 but what the heck!...we WERE in NYC, and that’s what we can expect if we eat in the hotel. Back upstairs, the comfy king-sized bed beckoned our sleep deprived bodies so we decided to take a “short” nap…hahaha…by the time our peepers opened and we ‘hit the streets, it was 730 pm! However, the evening was super -- warm and comfy—and the walking was pleasant. It was Sunday night so all the “normal” stores were closed but a few blocks away was a 24 hour Duane Reade drugstore (think Longs or Walgreens) where we picked up some water and soda, some blue potato chips. On the way back, we stopped into one of the many neighborhood delis that NY is famous for and got a Black Forest ham and cheese wrap to share back at the room.

Monday we were up at the crack of dawn…8:00 am for us! It’s our one full day in NYC before we board the QM2, so we’ve got to make the most of it. First we went diagonal from our hotel to a “small” camera store to see if they have a battery charger for my camera (left in Santa Rosa) and voila, they have one….complete with an auto adapter and a plug for Europe! AND at a price slightly less than a plain Canon charger! It was meant for me!

Per advice from the salesman we go around the corner on W54th to a small deli named Stage Star…obviously a Stage Deli wannabe…that surprised us with their great breakfast selections. I picked a breakfast panini…ham, egg and cheese…while Stella had the turkey with egg white sandwich with hot sauce…it was just down her alley! Everything was good and it was filling! Best part…it only cost 20% of yesterday’s breakfast!

After breakfast, we wandered in some of the shops along 5th Avenue, including a 3-level Disney store. I spotted a t-shirt and pen that I wouldn’t mind having, but as we will be back in NYC next month for a couple of days on the return trip home, it would make better sense to get it then, instead of lugging them with us over the Atlantic and back.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is said to be a “must see” among the travel books, and given that it’s only a block away from our hotel, it didn’t seem like there would be any reason not to go, especially since Stella wanted to see Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” She was disappointed tho, as the Van Gogh collection was not scheduled to be there until next month.

After the MoMA we took the subway to Greenwich Village to try and find “The Pink Tea Cup” …. a restaurant supposedly good for soul food. After some general wandering around Washington Square Park and the Arch and a look at some of the NYU buildings we set out to find our restaurant for an early dinner. If we weren’t looking for it we would have walked right by it, as the front was quite assuming and it was located in the middle of a residential area. I ordered a pork chop with black eyed peas and rice. Stella had the BBQ chicken, squash, and okra with tomatoes and corn. The best part of my meal was the gravy and for Stella, it was the okra. Whoever wrote that rave review must have had okra with gravy…it was a forgettable experience to say the least.

Afterwards, we jumped on the subway to South Ferry where we rode the Staten Island ferry and had a wonderful views of NYC and the Statue of Liberty from the water. That turned out to be the highlight of our day. It was 8:30 by the time we got back to our hotel, watched the Olympics, and packed for our embarkation onto the QM2!

19 AUGUST Tuesday
New York City and QM2 Embarkation

While Stella was washing her hair, I took off to get a haircut to make her happy…she claimed my hair was threatening to overtake my ears and I was looking “frowsy.” Then it was back over to the Stage Star Deli (a new favorite of Stella’s) for quick lunch. We shared an eggplant parmesan panini and a buffalo cheeseburger. Both were good!

After checking out, we jumped into a cab and headed off to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. We were certain we were being filmed for a future scene of two slob tourists unwittingly getting caught up in a diamond heist (we were only 7 or 8 blocks from the famous NY diamond street) and chase . . . we were speeding and weaving and honking and cutting all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge before we lost those chasing us and went on to the terminal at a more leisurely pace. The queue for check-in was long but it moved along and we were onboard before 3:00 pm.

The QM2 was every bit as grand as it’s been advertised to be. Even our cabin – a lowly inside on the 4th deck – looked elegant and decorated to appear larger than it really was, so it did not feel “closed in” as we thought it might. As we walked down the hall towards our cabin, the front of the ship looked like it was a million miles away. We turned around and looked behind us….same perspective! Goodness, this ship is HUGE!! The QM2 is as long as the Eiffel Tower is tall.

After our mandatory life jacket drill, we stayed on deck to watch the ship set sail. It was a perfectly beautiful day but not overly humid. The views of the Statue of Liberty, the NY skyline, the East River bridges and almost all the way up the Hudson to the NJ palisades and of course Brooklyn were great. The ship is so big that we could scarcely tell that we were moving.

We chose the second seating for dinner like we normally do, but we were starved by 6:00 and decided to go for the buffet instead of waiting until 8:30 to eat in the dining room. We looked at the Kings Court venues (there are 4 choices: Asian (Lotus), English (Carvery), Italian (La Piazza) and a burger grill (Chef’s Galley). All are open for lunch buffet-style but for dinner, one is open as a buffet and the other two are sit-down dinner by reservation (on a rotational basis). We looked at all the offerings and settled for the Carvery. On previous visits to Great Britain, we were not impressed with the British cuisine, and were not anticipating uch mbetter on the ship….but we were pleasantly surprised. The prime beef was succulent and tender, the mushroom soup was tasty, and even the pea mashed potatoes, despite its strange green color, was good. For dessert, the banana flambé was one of the best we’ve had. We will definitely be eating well onboard!

Stella spent the rest of the evening unpacking/setting up “house” and doing several loads of laundry. This is one of the nice amenities of Cunard… complimentary laundry facilities. It sure beats having to haul quarters around. Our cabin happened to be conveniently located only 4 doors down from the launderette, and knowing my wife, I’m sure this was not a coincidence. She hates toting dirty laundry around and those washing machines will get plenty of use with Stella just a few doors away.

20 AUGUST Wednesday
At Sea

Stella got up just in time for lunch…..while I was up a bit earlier for my coffee and explorations of the ship. Of course, we had lost an hour last night, and think we will continue to lose an hour each night as we cross the Atlantic. This is probably better than losing 6 hours in one crack!

We checked out the lunch buffet venues and settled on Italian. The butternut squash soup was really good. Stella had salad, roast chicken and pizza while I had a pork chop and tuna pasta. The hot dessert over in the Carvery caught Stella’s eye….and it turned out to be a winner….it was lemon tart meringue….like a lemon meringue pie, only baked in a large rectangular pan and served warm….m-m-m-m-m-m delicious! To balance the hot, we cooled down with tapioca pudding with fresh mango sauce…that was also good!

We then took a leisurely wander around the shops. I found a neat T-shirt and watch, and Stella bought herself a silver evening bag for tonight’s formal dinner. We checked out the library (awesome collection), the bookstore, camera shop and photo gallery. We found a small glass elevator tucked away in one corner that offered a view of the ocean. BTW, this ship moves along so fast that you could get dizzy watching the waves go by, but so far (knock on wood), no rocking and rolling.

We retired to our cabin for an afternoon of reading and napping, getting up in time to get ready for our first formal dinner (there will be 3 formals plus one semi-formal). For tonight’s dinner, I had cheddar soup, followed by filet and lobster medallions. Stella had a duck and pear salad, then rack of lamb. For dessert, I chose the sugar-free lemon cheesecake and Stella had the strawberry flambé. It was our first experience with a strawberry flambé…warm strawberries served in a meringue cup with two scoops of vanilla ice cream on the side….ONO! Everything was good, but this dessert stole the show.

21 AUGUST Thursday
At Sea, 30 approximate miles north of the Titanic sinking

We treated ourselves to breakfast in bed this morning….it arrived at 9:30…two plates of baked beans, grilled tomato wedge, slice of English bacon, a fat link sausage, a triangle of hash browns and scrambled eggs. On the side, a plate of fresh fruit, toast, apple Danish, orange juice, coffee and hot tea. Stella loves room service. She says there is something very decadent about having food brought to you, and eating in bed. We were out of our cabin by 11:00 and up to deck 7 to do some reading while our stewardess cleaned up after us. We couldn’t help but walk thru the buffet areas, and tho we had just eaten breakfast, several items caught our eye…if only we had room in our tummies! Maybe later!

Preceding our formal dinner, we had an afternoon of tranquil reading, roaming around the various public rooms, shops, etc.

We again sat by the captain, sort of, as our table for two is adjacent to his table of 10 with 8 different guests every night. The butternut squash and apple salad sounded good to both of us, so we had it for our appetizer. It was a first for us and turned out very good. I had a crab and shrimp bellini (crab and bay shrimp mix over a small cracker-sized pancake) – also very good – followed by a dinner salad of lettuce and tomato. For dinner, we both had the roasted sea bass – it was perfectly cooked and absolutely delicious! Stella chose the crème brulee cheesecake – it was ok. My dessert was a tiramisu parfait (a slice of vanilla ice cream with bits of tiramisu and edged in chocolate).

After dinner, we went to the show featuring former Broadway singer Jeri Sager, whose vocals we had enjoyed just a few months ago on our North Atlantic cruise on the Maasdam. It was the same show but Stella enjoyed it just as much as she did the first time….
favorites like “Memory” from Cats, Fantine’s song from Les Miserable, and other hits.

Then it was a couple hours of reading in bed before the lights went out.

22 AUGUST Friday
At Sea, Blustery and a slight roll to the ship

I had trouble sleeping last night, or so I thought – I was up early even tho we lost another hour last night -- I was ready and out on deck at 9am. Guess I didn’t have trouble sleeping! However, I am one of a very few passengers up ‘wandering’ the decks -- many more are inside the various dining venues. I’m now in Sir Samuel’s (elegant coffee café) working on these notes and also downloading pictures. The music they play is clearly superior to what Starbucks offers these days – quite enjoyable!! Of course, the Queen sleeps on in our cabin.

She was up to join me by 11:00 and we headed for the Carvery for breakfast. There wasn’t a choice…at that late hour, the dinner room and other buffet venues had closed and were getting ready to change over to lunch. Breakfast was fine – two eggs over easy with sausage, oatmeal, and fruits for Stella, scrambled eggs and cheese with baked beans and sausage for me, toasted English muffin on the side. Oh, there was also blood sausage. They look like black disks. I had Stella try some…she had a bite and made a face. I guess she didn’t like it. 

After breakfast, we went to the planetarium on deck 3…the only one at sea. It was neat…a theatre with a dome in the middle and red-colored seats that recline underneath. It was only a half-hour show about the galaxy and planets.

About an hour later, there was showing of Romeo and Juliet in the Royal Court Theatre. Of course, Stella dragged us to that….lucky for me it was only an hour long. Actually, it wasn’t half bad. We came out just in time for afternoon tea. We had great expectations for that, after all, the English are known for having tea. There was an assortment of finger sandwiches – tomato, cucumber, ham, turkey, tuna. And of course, scones…little raisin ones, served with clotted cream and strawberry jam, as well as trays of pastries. They all looked wonderful but when it came to taste, they were all pretty dry. Luckily, Stella found some jasmine green tea to wash them down, otherwise, they might still be stuck in our throats! After that disappointment, we went back to our cabin and curled up with our books. Stella is reading “Shogun” and I’ve got Tom Clancy’s “ Cardinal of the Kremlin” (sequel to “Hunt for Red October”).

Tonight’s dress code was semi-formal – tie and jacket still required, but I got to wear my “dressy” khakis and tan nubbies, and Stella wore a comfy pants outfit. It was another great dinner, starting out with Thai fishcakes with sweet chili sauce for appetizers. They were lightly fried and only two each, but sure were filling. Mine was followed by a beet and mushroom salad, while Stella had a slice of chicken and mushroom terrine (it was finely ground chicken with the texture of fishcake, shaped into a roll and wrapped with bacon, then sliced). For our entree, I had smoked salmon fettuccini and Stella had pan roasted halibut. Our waitress recommended the banana foster for dessert and good thing we took her up on it…..it was not your typical one. First there was a slice of banana cake, topped with a half a finger of banana that had been flambé in a rich caramel sauce which also was drizzled over the cake. There were two scoops of rum raisin ice cream on the side…yum!

I was tempted, by the way to try “cock a leekie”,

A traditional Scottish Cock a Leekie soup recipe includes prunes though some cooks will leave the prunes out of their recipe because they are not to everyone's taste. Other chefs will include the prunes in the cooking of Cock a Leekie soup but will remove them before serving the soup…

but I was happy I had the Thai fishcakes!


23 AUGUST Saturday
A Glorious Day at Sea

We lost another hour last night. We are now 10 hours ahead of Hawaii and the acceleration is catching up with us. We had set our alarm to arise by 8:15 so we could try breakfast in the dining room but the hour came too soon and in our bleary state, decided to bag those ambitious plans. Pffft…who needs to eat, anyway? It was 11:15 am (still only 1:15 am HST!) before my eyes managed to prop themselves open and 12:30 before Stella and I stumbled onto the 7th deck to check out lunch options. As soon as the elevator door opened and the delicate aroma of cooked garlic and other spices filled our nostrils, we knew we had arrived on the right floor. Instead of sticking to one venue, we have learned to pick and choose….corn soup and noodles from Lotus, a slice of strip loin and baked macaroni with eggplant and zucchini from the Carvery, chicken Caesar salad from Piazza.

After lunch, I read and intermittently studied the back of my eyelids while Stella did laundry and started to do some preliminary re-organization for the most dreaded day of any cruise….disembarkation! We will be getting off in Southampton early Monday morning, which means bags have to be packed and out in the hall by tomorrow night.

Tonight is formal….our last dress up night and typically, a great meal including escargot, lobster and baked Alaska is served. I was right! Only bad thing was, they also offered chateaubriand….another favorite! Now what? Our sweet waitress solved the problem by arranging for a trio of entrees….shrimp, lobster tail, AND chateaubriand….sorta of a high class mixed plate….and boy, was it ONO! Stella opted for the roast duck and was not as lucky…it was on the dry side. For dessert, Stella stuck with tradition and had the baked Alaska with cherries jubilee while I had the amaretto crème brulee. It was good, tho not the best that I’ve ever tasted. Overall, it was a four star dinner!

The after dinner show featured dances from around the world, like the Argentine tango and those Russian numbers where the men kick up their legs and feet while crouched low to the ground. The women were beautiful and wore fabulous costumes. It was a very enjoyable way to end the day.

24 AUGUST Sunday
Preparing for Embarkation

We decided that we wanted to experience having breakfast served to us in the dining room, so we set the alarm and forced ourselves to get up early, even tho we lost another hour last night. I didn’t have anything special….eggs, fried potatoes, sausage, Wiltshire sausage, beans, tomato sauté, English muffin. Stella had a waffle and eggs Benedict with fruit. By the time we rolled out of there, we were stuffed!

At 1:00 pm., we went to see another short show in the planetarium, called Cosmic Collisions. It was narrated by Robert Redford.

Stella spent the afternoon packing our four bags and doing last minute laundry. We had an early dinner at the Piazza so she could finish up and get the bags out in the hall in plenty of time. They were outside by 9:30. Now time for bed!

25 AUGUST MONDAY
Disembarkation at Southampton

It turned out to be a long night….Stella got a total of about 3 hours of sleep and I got a little more. The rest of the time was spent tossing and turning. We had to be up by 7:00 a.m. and out of our cabin by 8:30….who can sleep under that kind of pressure?

We were in the dining room for breakfast by 8:00 and off the ship before 10:00 a.m. Our hotel is by the ROSE BOWL, a cricket stadium with a capacity of 100,000….more importantly, a close 10 min cab ride to the airport for our flight tomorrow to Paris, where we will be spending the next 3 days exploring. Earlier, we were thinking of wandering about the town of Southampton, but turns out today is a holiday commemorating Princess Diana and many shops were closed. Anyway, the sky is gray and overcast….threatening rain, so we decided to just relax at the hotel, work on the blog and read. Tomorrow we’ll start another adventure in Paris!

…good nite and good luck