At Sea

July 13^th, 2025

There was no avoiding it. Laundry had to be done today. I gathered everything into our laundry bag and headed for the deck 8 launderette. Horrors – the only functional dryer was now missing, and the other, now with a sign on the outside instead of the inside, was still nonfunctional.

I decided to try the deck 11 launderette – it is near the A lifts and thus close to the Commodore Club, and actually closer to our stateroom. All 3 washing machines were in action, but I was prepared to wait until the first one finished. I am glad I stayed in the launderette as in a few minutes there were an additional 4 people arriving with overstuffed laundry bags, so together with the folks waiting to use the ironing boards, and 2 random people, whose presence in the crowded, stuffy launderette remained a mystery to me, we all stood around chatting, and generally having a good time.

Finally a machine came available, and I was able to leave the launderette for a while and headed down to the Commodore Club. There was a Coke and crisps waiting there for me. I do love the staff on this ship 

Laundry went well, and now we are all set for the next part of the journey.

We went to the Kings Court for lunch. We seemed to arrive at the same time as the other 2,900 people on the ship. It was hard to find a table, and get through the crowds to get to the food. One thing we love about Queen Mary 2 is that even though there are a lot of passengers on board, it never feels crowded. Well today it did. We vowed never to return to the Kings Court. Then I saw the display of chocolate. Hmm, maybe we will be back.

When I had thought about the options for venues to have lunch, I failed to mention the Boardwalk Café. Brian reminded me of this. In good weather we really enjoyed eating there, although it was often hard to find a table as it was such a popular venue.

The Boardwalk Café has not been open at all this voyage. That is strange. I can see why it would be closed during the crossing, but the first week we had OK weather a lot of the time, especially when we were in port, but it remained closed. I hope they haven’t decided to stop using it, they had really good chips.

At his noon announcement captain Hashmi said that due to the weather conditions, we had not been able to make up as much time as he had hoped, and we were expected into Southampton between 9:00 and 9:30. This is a bit worrisome for a lot of folks I imagine.

We are concerned because we have tickets for Buckingham Palace and the gardens for 1:00 and it will be a challenge to get off the ship, take our transport to London, drop our bags in our London hotel, and get to the Palace in time. However, I am still hopeful that this will be achieved. Fingers crossed. At least we don’t have a plane to catch.

Tonight was the final gala night of the voyage. Cunard has been doing away with theme nights, but we still had the roaring twenties ball tonight.

I think this is my favorite theme. Although my fringed flapper dress has seen better days – it is still wearable, and I can hide a lot of it under my synthetic boa.

In the past we have seen people with inflatable Tommy guns on roaring twenties nights, but there was none of that nonsense tonight. Everyone was dressed up, many in keeping with the theme. No one looked inappropriate. This was Queen Mary 2 at her best.

There were snails on the menu tonight, yay! And surf and turf. Except the surf was no longer lobster tails, but 2 large shrimp instead. I missed the lobster tails, but they were still there if you were prepared to pay extra. I wasn’t.

At dinner the inevitable parade of chefs interrupted the calm of the evening, with much clapping in time to the Strauss Radetzky March and waving of napkins. Luckily there was no waving of napkins in our little corner of the dining room. I’m not sure quite hygienic this custom is.

The show tonight was one we have seen several times before – Let’s Dance – the most recent time being last week, so we decided to give the show a miss and go to the Queens Room where the roaring twenties ball was in full swing.

It was a lovely sight to watch the dancers and listen to the music. The Queen Mary 2 Queens Room is such a beautiful place, and when filled with elegantly dressed folks gliding across the dancefloor with the music of the Queens Room orchestra playing in the background, it really makes for a magical setting. I would have loved just to sit there and soak in the atmosphere, but all too soon the stroke of midnight was upon us. Time to get some sleep in preparation for our busy day packing tomorrow.