Tuesday Sept 11th – 2nd Full Day at Sea

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We are looking forward to many aspects of the next 30 days, but it will be a great relief for us to get away from the many political commercials which inundate us at home. There will be plenty of those when we get back in October, but at least we will have a temporary respite – something for everyone to think about when planning their 2020 vacations.

Anyway, let’s begin today’s story. It starts by us sleeping in later than usual. But David got up and went to the Connections Desk to get tickets for a show this afternoon. He was early to get in the line, but that was good because it was very popular. Then he went back to the cabin a little after 9:00 and then we went up to the buffet for a little breakfast – happily they had American Bacon (which Janet likes) as well as English Bacon (which she doesn’t).

We then explored some of the upper levels of the ship. We accidentally found what appeared to be the bridge, but we scurried away before anyone noticed us. We went down a couple of decks and found the Library and the Bookstore. The QM2 Library has a really large selection of books in a good size area, organized like a real library, instead of just a few shelves of books in a small room which we have seen on other ships.

We returned to the cabin where Janet was able to finish reading one of her books. Meanwhile David went to one of the Insight Lectures by Jacki Hill Murphy. She had recreated a 4200 miles journey from the headwaters of the Amazon River on a little stream in Ecuador, all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. This had been originally undertaken in 1769 by the wife of an explorer (can’t remember that woman’s name). Jacki recounted not only the hardships and complexities of the journey, but also the dangers from both wildlife and native tribes in the remote jungles. It was interesting and she plans to publish a book about it.

That got us to Noon, which quickly got us to 1:00 PM. They have announced that since we are going east and will lose an hour on the clock for each time zone, that lost hour will be at Noon each day. So suddenly it was past or normal lunch time and we scrambled to get something to eat before we wasted away. We tried the Boardwalk Café on Deck-12, but it was closed because it was too windy on deck. Then we tried the Golden Lion where there is a Pub Lunch, but it was completely full with no tables available. So we ended up getting lunch in the buffet. We sat with a nice lady and shared travel/cruise stories.

Our show tickets were for 2:00 in the Illuminations Room. We went to the Planetarium and saw a very interesting 30-min presentation about asteroids. It was called “Asteroid-Mission Extreme”. They have limited seating capacity under the dome so that is why there was such an effort earlier to get tickets. And of course there was a line to stand in to get inside, but the seats reclined and we had a very comfortable and interesting viewing.

Then Janet went to Knitting as she had brought her craft bag along to both lunch and the show. She got more done on the scarf she is working on. At 3:45 David met her and we both went to High Tea. Since he does not drink hot tea, David had gotten a glass of Lemonade and a few cookies so he would have something for this occasion. Actually the scones, finger sandwiches, and pastries were pretty good.

After tea we adjourned to our cabin for a little while before heading to dinner. If it sounds like we are eating our way across the ocean, that’s not too far from the truth. Janet is being good and keeping to moderate servings and trying to eat healthy food – David is just enjoying this part of the vacation. Anyway, we have had complimentary champagne the last 2 nights so tonight we had some of our own wine in the cabin before going to dinner.

At dinner this evening, Derek & Trish did not attend, so it was just us and Dean & Chris. We both had the French Onion Soup and the Beef Sirloin Strips W/ vegetables. Janet skipped dessert tonight and David just had the ice cream. Afterwards we went to the evening show in the theater. It was an entertainer of considerable renown in the UK – Gary Lovini. He played a violin very well. It was a very energetic performance with a wide variety of songs. He played some favorites, a classical song, Beatles, and tribute medleys to both the US and to the UK. He even played a Russian song while doing a high-stepping Cossack dance. It was a lot of fun. After the show David was tempted to go to the Illuminations Room to watch “Solo – A Star Wars Story (3D)”. But it’s 135 minutes and doesn’t start until 10:00, so instead he plans to watch it (probably in 2D) on the TV in the stateroom.

About 11:30 tonight we will make our closest approach to the point where the Titanic sank. We will still be 240 miles south of that location. But just to be careful, they said they will keep a special lookout for icebergs tonight. Actually there is an interesting mural on the wall near our elevator describing the time/events performed by the Carpathia. We did not understand why this particular information was on the wall of our ship until the Captain explained today that Carpathia had been a Cunard ship at the time.

Today is 9/11 and there are probably plenty of remembrance activities going on back at home. The newsletter they published for today on the QM2 said “the ship’s ensign will be flown at half-mast today in remembrance of the victims, their families, and the emergency service of the 9/11 tragedy.” We thought that was a thoughtful of them.

That’s about all for today. With there being only 23 hours, we didn’t get as much done as during a full-size day. See you tomorrow.

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Photos

Sheltered Balcony
protects nicely from the wind

Comments

[Jerry and Joyce]

Good to hear about life on the ship. The pictures give one the impression of elegant surroundings. Enjoy your days! Jerry and Joyce