Rob's very short "blog" of his Mediterranean Cruise in 2008

[Rob Lightbody]

Subject : Hello from the QE2 in the Med at 28 knots via Satelite (15 Aug 08)

Hello from the Mediterranean, on a beautiful clear blue calm day on board the utterly, utterly sublime and wonderful QE2.

First, I have to say, I've dreamed of doing this for over 20 years, and for the past year I've thought of little else, and yet its exceeded my wildest dreams.  This is the best thing I've ever done in my life, W O N D E R F U L.

I'm sitting in the Yacht Club which is mostly deserted despite there being 1,800 passengers on board.  The moment I sat down a waiter came over and offered me anything i wanted.  If I open the door to the beautiful teak deck behind me, people are playing in the pool, the jacuzzis, playing shuffle board or deck Quoites?, sitting on the deck chairs or are along the boat deck on a steamer chair, reading a book.  Everyone is absolutely loving it, you can tell from the atmosphere on board.  Even the crew appear to to be enjoying it (or are very convincing at making it look that way).

This morning Mum and I were up before Dawn, standing under the bridge, as the QE2 passed between Africa and Gibraltar at over 28 knots, as the sun started to come up ahead of us.  I have some wonderful photos and videos of this.  Being a nutter, seeing Africa and Gibraltar was overwhelmed for me by seeing the QE2 simply storming past all other shipping on this busy channel.  Everything *appeared* to make way for us as we zoomed through.

Last night at 1am (2am UK time) after drinks in the Chart Room and a 5 course 2 hour long wonderful relaxed dinner in one of the very best restaurants *in the world*, we played shuffle board under the moon and the stars and larked about on the teak decks.  Absolutely amazing.  Leo & Kate eat your hearts out - except this ship is better.

On our first night out as we headed from the English Channel towards the Bay of Biscay we encountered gale force 10 winds.  The ship started rolling and pitching quite severly at times  when really the only thing you could do was stand still and hold on.  The ship creaks, rattles, sways and even shoogles a bit but she maintained an average of 26 knots through this weather - 3 knots faster than the Queen Victoria & most other cruise ships can do on a calm sea.

There is a lovely mixture of ages on board, mostly English but also with QE2-lovers from around the world including a large group from Japan.  The majority have sailed QE2 before, and many of them have sailed many, many times.  They are not at all happy about what's going to happen in Dubai, and the news about that is getting worse.  The captain tried to calm things at the cocktail party, but there are many people who will never sail with Cunard again if (when) their QE2 is ruined in Dubai.  Their is a lovely sense of living history on board - both for QE2 herself, and her predecessors.

We've been upgraded to the Princess Grill which, for QE2 officianados, is the best restaurant on board and does serve the best food.  It is entirely original, was originally the very best restaurant - an exclusive grille, for the top 100 or so passengers on board.  It is leather and wood lined, has a lovely ambience, the service and the food are completely and consistently amazing and people have very long leisurely meals and really enjoy the experience.

Lisbon yesterday was lovely although everybody did the same thing.  after more than 48 hours on board, they stepped off, turned round, looked up and said or thought "wow - thats our ship!".  The same thing happened on their return, and I'm sure people returned early to their QE2 because by not long after lunch the sun decks were all quite busy.

I'll stop now, I have purchased one hour of internet and am going to use it very sparingly!

[Chris]

What a fantastic snapshot in time Rob. I sometimes stumble upon emails sent from QE2 in my "sent items" - it always takes me back to that table in the back starboard corner of the Yacht Club... I used to get distracted looking out of those magnificent windows at the ocean speeding past and feel the pitch of the ship which always seemed exaggerated when sitting at the edge of the Yacht Club. There were often Spanish lessons going on in the afternoon there which were also distracting from my email duties - as it so happens my internet time was wasted quite quickly!!

[Rob Lightbody]

19-Aug-2008

"Nothing to do, so little time to do it all in" is a quote I'd heard about transatlantic ocean liner travel and I completely understand now as the days start to run out on this wonderful, wonderful voyage on this wonderful old ship.  We've still to try the midnight buffet (we thought we'd do it every night!) and we've not made it to a ball in the Queens Room.

As I type this on Tuesday morning, we're in a pea-soup fog, approaching Gibraltar, I am in the near-deserted Yacht club, someone is playing the grand piano and in the background every few minutes I can hear QE2's foghorn sounding.  Its one of the many very special moments we've had on board - memories I will treasure.

After my last post, we'd gone past Africa watching the sun rise

Three nights ago we were up on deck at 11pm in all our finery after a long leisurely dinner, with a famous astronomer to talk us through the lunar eclipse that was happening above us.  It was fairly amazing.  The moon casts a wonderful reflection across the ocean as we move along - I don't think I've seen it like that in my life.  Like a movie poster but its real.  Two nights ago we drank after-dinner drinks outside the yacht club on a milky-smooth Mediterranean as we travelled leisurely between Sardinia and Cannes.  We stayed out until 2am even though we had to be up at 6.30 the next morning just because it was such a perfect moment.

I swam!  in the pool!  I really swam, which is an achievement because I can't actually swim!  It was as we were leaving Alghero and the ship was rolling a bit so there was wonderful big waves crashing about, kind of a surreal moment, and something I'd desperately wanted to do.

Our stop in Alghero was cancelled because there was a big swell that made it too difficult for our tenders to operate.  We weren't too disappointed to be honest and enjoyed the day on deck looking out at the view.  Lots of small ships were around us waving up and shouting hello at us as we lay anchored in their bay.

Cannes was lovely but hectic and hot and after an enjoyable excursion to Nice with a wonderfully crazy french guide, we headed back to the ship to cool down and rest.
Barcelona was good too - drinking red wine and eating tapas at 10:30am!  However by this time I was running out of steam and ended up sleeping for 13 hours last night!

When I was on board 21 years ago I discovered sorbet.  Real fruit sorbet, freshly made, and halfway melted.  Its beautiful and I'd forgotten how much I like it, or where I discovered it, until I was back on board.

Anyway, this trip continues to be wonderful, I'm so, so glad I've done.  Only a couple of small things have been a bit of a let down.  One is some of the clientelle, who have just come for the sun, and hardly even know what ship they're on.  Grown men wearing football strips on the QE2 should not be allowed (yes I am a snob).  Also the captain has done nothing to instill any sene of occasion to this trip even though we've had 3 final calls (the last time QE2 will ever be at that port).  When he left Cannes, he didn't even give one toot on our wonderful whistle despite there being lots of small boats in the bay.

After Gibraltar we have 2 full days at sea, and then we'll be home...

I've posted some of my favourite photos on flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/lightbody)

[Chris]

Was your Captain David Perkins?

[jdl]

Great Blog Rob,

It's once of my greatest regrets that I never booked anything in her last year or in 2007, I faffed around too much and then time and funds weren't available, really nice to live what might have been via your blog.

jdl

[Rob Lightbody]

20th August 2008

2nd last sea day at home here on QE2 ... lovely swell causing us to pitch in a smooth motion that is not at all disturbing, despite the horizon going up and down by a significant amount!



We have an invite to the QE2's cocktail party in his quarters before dinner tonight which is nice!  Tonight is the last formal night on board, and is the Maritime Ball, and I'm going to have to to (try to) waltz with my Mother in the Queens Room <gulp!>.  Has to be done though...



Yesterday in Gibraltar we only got off for a short while.  For a lot of the passengers, Gibraltar and the duty free shops was a major attraction for this trip, but not for us, especially with our strict baggage limits on our flights home!  So I spent a lovely time in the Jacuzzis and the swimming pool on a deserted pool deck, under the gaze of the Rock of Gibraltar on a blisteringly hot day.  The view in the other direction was of Africa.  Yet another memory to cherish from this wonderfuly trip.



I had a lovely sit before dinner in the Chart Room listening to the pianist (he played Billy Joel songs which I love) and looking out at the rock.

After dinner (wonderful and leisurely as usual) I ran outside to take pictures of QE2 in the dark, just before she sailed... I was terrified that QE2 would sail without me, but it was worth it and I made them promise not to leave before I got back on!  These photos might be the best I've ever taken of QE2... I've had a number of technical glitches so here's hopeing (i forgot the wire to my good camera, my new camera failed and corrupted its memory cards).  

On a related note my Sanyo HD700 camcorder has been worth its weight in gold.  Its best feature is the ability to take 7mp photos at the same time as recording video, when a lot is going on at once, this feature is invaluable.  Highly recommended.  Unfortunately my laptop isn't powerful enough to show me the videos so I'm going to have to wait until I get home to know if they're OK or not!

we were out on deck for sailaway under a moonlit Rock.  The funnel bar was jumping (it had cool disco lights illuminating its canvas covering).  The funnel, sadly, was not lluminated and there was not even the shortest toot on the whistle... maybe it was too late at night.

Two days on board QE2 as of now, how lucky am I?  Thats the way I'm looking at it.  A lot of people on board have travelled on the "new" QM2.  A lot of them prefer QE2 and call this the real thing.  They're right.  Outside the window right now as I type this is a tanker, we're simply flying past it.  I wish I could see their view of this magnificent, sleek liner at sea in its final couple of months.

[Blue Bombay]

Rob, its great that you had a wonderfull time on her, its only a pity we never crossed each other onboard.

Louis

[Rob Lightbody]

Final day at sea, ever, on QE2 - Aug 21st 2008

I woke up at 7.30, feeling a bit better than last night, went to breakfast with Alison and Betty.  I just had Corn Flakes, a blueberry danish and toast.  All very nice.  We went to the photo display place and bought 3 pictures from last night - one of mum, one of me, and a group shot of us all at dinner.

Then Mum and I went to the lido for a cup of tea, and then out on deck to try to recreate some of my photos from 1987.  



We managed quite a few and it will be fun at some point to put them together with the originals.  After that we bumped into Alison and Betty, spent some time with them up by the funnel bar, and then went down through the shops and the E? stairway to lunch.  



I had fish & chips and scrumpy jack sorbet - really, really good!

After lunch, mum went for a snooze and i went for an extensive wander taking photos.  Finding some things for the first time, saying goodbye to other things, feeling quite emotional really.  Everybody on board seemed very relaxed, and I suspect it felt quite like a day at sea on the transatlantic.  Some people reading, some people playing board games.  I signed the farewell book.  I wrote that I wished her lum would reek for longer, and that she was my ship of dreams.  I mentioned Dad and what he'd done for the ship.  At 5 I met A&B by their cabin (1091) which is the mirror image of ours.  Surprising considering its 2 decks up.  we went up to the funnel bar and Ali took photos of me and mum in our 1987 location on the helipad.  mum and i then had tea and a Bud by the bar before heading down to pack and get ready for dinner.

We met A&B for champagne at the champagne bar which was lovely.  they had wee flickery electronic candle-lights all over the place and canapés.  A wee bit pricey, but i think it was worth it for the special moment.

For our last dinner i had salmon swirl with salad, cock-a-leekie soup, and then curry cooked by the indian chefs - didn't manage to finish it!

then we had a few drinks in the crystal bar, then the mums left A&I to it... we sat up drinking and laughing into the wee hours, it was so sad that such a fun time was coming to an end.  Then i went back to the cabin to pack, calm mum down, and put the bags out in the corridor.  After that i went for one last photo/video tour and to say farewell to this lovely old ship.  I did daft videos including a full lap of 3 deck on foot with the camera running - capturing the sounds and spirit of the ship.  The camera has stereo sound and I think the sounds will be as important as the images in the future when QE2 is gone.

It feels like a home from home and i'll miss her.

Our cabin, central on 3 deck, was just great - I'd have booked it again very happily -

stairway C to the champagne bar and restaurant
stairway D to the library and the boat deck
Stairway F to the pursers office
stairway H to the pavillion and the pool.

[Twynkle]

Rob - this is so good!
Your memories will keep QE2 well alive in ours!
Matching the photographs - strange how her funnel looks a bit younger!!
Thank you.

 

[Cunardqueen]

Hey Rob
 Great photos showing you back then and later, Hasnt time been kind to you, and what a great idea to recreate the photos! Interesting to see the subtle changes.
 cheers