At Sea

Monday May 6^th, 2024

Happy Birthday Brian!

If it’s a sea day it must be Zumba. Neil Kelly’s Zumba class is such fun, and it makes me feel a little less guilty about eating all of those chocolate truffles last night.

The only problem is that the first insight talk of the day is right after the class.

One thing that really stands out during this cruise is how well dressed everyone is. In the evenings most women are in cocktail dresses and the men are wearing jackets and ties. On the formal night nearly everyone was in tuxedos, kilts and long dresses. During the day most people are dressed smartly, and there is not a lot of exposed flesh and tattoos.

So in the midst of all this tastefully dressed crowd, there’s me in shorts and a T shirt, looking quite scruffy with my hair all over the place.

But there is nothing I can do about it if I want to go to the 10:00 lecture and I don’t want to Zumba away in pants and a blouse. Luckily no one stares at me, and I can just quietly fade into the background.

At 10:00 AM on sea days Chris Frame has been giving excellent talks on Cunard and maritime history. Over the years on Cunard we have heard many similar talks, but I love the way Chris puts a slightly different view on the subject matter, and he is very informative and entertaining.

Today’s talk was on the transatlantic liners. A presentation very close to my heart. He had some fantastic photos, and it was an excellent talk.

The enrichment speakers have certainly been wonderful this voyage, and as I headed off to lunch I realized we needed port days to relax because the sea days were so full of wonderful programming.

At the choir practice we sang Dancing Queen, one of my all time favourite songs. It will not be in our regular program but when we sing our last song and take a bow, as the crowds scream for an encore, we will oblige with belting out our wonderful interpretation of that great song.

I had been a bit disappointed that there hadn’t been a captain’s welcome on board party. Not that I only want a free glass of sparkling wine, but I love to know the statistics of the nationalities on board and you get to mingle with, and get introduced to the senior officers.

There was also no senior officers party.

However, there was a World Club party. Well not one party actually, with so many World Club members on board, there were 3 parties – 2 tonight and 1 tomorrow evening.

Deirdre is the most traveled sailor so she had to go to all three parties, we just got invited to one.

With a rather small Queens Room, I was wondering where the cocktail parties would be held. When our invitation arrived, I was somewhat surprised to see that the party will be at the Pavilion Pool.

There was the usual very long queue at one of the entrances to the pool for those folks who wanted their photo with Captain Inger, and a somewhat shorter queue for those of us who wanted to get in sooner and find a place to stand. Preferably not too close to the edge of the pool.

As it turned out, there was plenty of space to stand, although not that much in places to sit. However, if you don’t mind being away from the main action there is a mezzanine level with very comfortable seating where you can sit in style and watch the proceedings below.

While the captain was involved in her socializing duties, I chatted with her very charming husband, Klaus.

The party actually turned out to be very pleasant, with Blake on the piano playing soothing background music.

Despite my misgivings, it was a great party.

Captain Inger gave a short speech,

and then Chris Foy made a presentation of a bouquet of flowers to Deirdre. They were the same flowers that she had received at the earlier party and we are expecting that they will reappear at tomorrow’s party.

It was actually all very nice, and it finished in time for us all to go and have dinner at Sir Samuels.

It was Brian’s birthday celebration, and Sir Samuels turned out to be a good place to celebrate.

I have to stop making comparisons but the restaurant really is very drab when compared to the Veranda, but the menu is similar, with a plethora of extra priced items such as caviar and oysters.

We had a lovely evening with great service, and we will certainly return for the next segment of this trip.

Brian had had a fun birthday on board, and it was great that his birthday and the maiden voyage coincided.

I had decorated our cabin, and we had celebrated with champagne.

The more I thought about it, the more I have come to terms that I really must stop comparing Queen Anne to the other Queens.

Yes, the rooms have similar names, the general layout is similar, but this is a totally different ship. Once I got over constantly comparing and contrasting, I came to the realization that Queen Anne is a really beautiful ship. Yes she is big, the Queens Room is small, the promenade deck isn’t what we are used to, but she also has a lot to offer if you stop comparing and complaining.

Not everyone will like her, but I really do. The photos that are out there, ours included, really don’t do justice to the extraordinary public spaces.

She is a bit monochromatic, but she is elegant, she is uncluttered, she is bright and airy despite having low ceilings. She has loads of outside areas where you can enjoy the fresh sea air, and spread out. She is no ocean liner, but she is a gorgeous modern cruise ship.