Southampton
July 15th, 2025
When we got up this morning, we were clearly not in Southampton yet.
During breakfast we continued to watch us slowly make our way up the Solent. It was pretty to watch, we have always slept through this part of a crossing previously, and it was so much better than looking out on the docks at breakfast.
The only issue was that we really needed to be off the ship early because we had timed entrance tickets for Buckingham Palace and we didn’t think they would let us in if we arrived late.
Although we had been told that we could wait to disembark from our staterooms, with all of the luggage we had to negotiate through the lifts we thought it would be wise to wait on deck 3 so we could just walk off the airbridge as soon as we had the go ahead to disembark. I thought that the Chart Room would work well.
When we arrived on deck 3 it was clear that many of the passengers who were doing self disembarkation had the same idea. The Chart Room and the Champagne Bar were packed. So we headed towards the dining room, only to find that we had to join the long queue of other passengers who had the same plan.
Finally we were able to find somewhere to sit and wait, and we waited, and waited, and waited. We had been told that we would be able to disembark at 8:45 and it was now 10:00 and nothing was happening.
Finally, an announcement was made that the holdup was due to a malfunction of the airbridge. Thus, we couldn’t get off the ship.
We continued to wait, by this time we were giving up any hope of getting to the Palace. Then an announcement was made that we could disembark via the crew gangway on deck 2. This was a difficult decision. Getting our luggage down to deck 2 would be a challenge, and then trying to maneuver our suitcases down the gangway would be another challenge. However, we were up for the challenge.
The first challenge, however, was getting out of the dining room. Everyone else had the same idea to leave the ship so there was total gridlock with us all trying to get out of the dining room in an organized manner.
Amanda Reid, the entertainment director, was trying to do a bit of traffic control, but chaos reigned.
Then the announcement came that the airbridge was now functioning correctly, so we could disembark on deck 3. Phew, no lifts or gangways needed.
However, we still had to join the queue to get off the ship. Slowly but surely we moved in the general direction of the airbridge. At least there wasn’t too much pushing and shoving going on. We were concerned about the Palace, but passengers with flights to catch must have been getting quite anxious. It was now 3 hours after we had expected to disembark, and there was still a sea of people and suitcases in front of us.
Finally it happened. My cruise card was scanned for the last time, and I was dragging 2 suitcases and 2 backpacks down the airbridge, on our way to find our transfer.
I waved goodbye to Queen Mary 2, and we climbed into the car that was taking us to our hotel in London, the Londoner in Leicester Square.
We did get to do the Palace tour and see the gardens. It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon after our hectic morning. Rain had been expected, but none appeared. No need for the rain jackets in our backpack.
After the palace we checked into our hotel, left the backpack in the room, and walked to a nearby restaurant (Maharaja of India) for dinner.
I was ready to go to bed by then, but we had theater tickets so we took the underground to Waterloo station and walked to the old county hall to watch Agatha Christie’s “Witness for the Prosecution”.
It was an excellent play, and I really enjoyed the parts I was awake for.
When we came out of the county hall, guess what? It was raining! So much for leaving our rain jackets at the hotel. Yet again, my weather app lied.
It was really only light drizzle, so we didn’t get soaked.
We had a wonderful 2 weeks on Queen Mary 2, but now it is time to move on to the next phase of the journey.
We have a busy day planned for tomorrow, then we fly to Munich on July 17th, and join our riverboat in Regensburg on July 19th.
See you on the Blue Danube on Saturday!
We had a similar experience in May of last year when the QM2 arrived Red Hook about 4 hours late. The queue went from the Grand Lobby, down the main hallway, along the port side of the Britannia Dinning Room, around the perimeter of the Queens Room, back up the starboard side of the MDR, past the Grand Lobby and disappeared heading towards the bow of the ship. Cunard had assigned just on individual to organize and maintain the queue which he was miraculously but just barely able to do. Surprisingly, once disembarkation began, the line moved very quickly. We had been waiting at the back of the MDR on the port side and were off the ship in less than 15 minutes. While the whole process was stressful, it was well worth it to steam into New York Harbor in mid morning under brilliant blue skies and a bright sun lighting up the QM2. Glad you made your Palace tour. Did not realize that plays were performed at the old (Marriott?) County Hall. When you walked from Waterloo Station to the play did you take the shortcut through the graffiti tunnel?
All those large suitcases being rolled around do make moving around more of a challenge. Hopefully we won’t need early disembarkation next time! I don’t think we went through the graffiti tunnel – but we were running (as always) so may have missed the fact that we were there!