Queen Mary 2
I came home aboard the Queen Mary 2, embarking from Southhampton, England to Brooklyn, New York. The hour is moved back 5 times durring the transatlantic crossing. She’s called “2” because she is a completely new build of the ship beginning in 2002, modeled on the original RMS Queen Mary from 1936. Both are named for Queen Mary of Teck, who christened the original, the grandmother of Elizabeth II, who christened the second. I had dinner in the Britannia Club Restaurant, spent time in the forward facing Commodore Club, the Golden Lion Pub, Carinthia Lounge, and ended most nights at the Chart Room with live jazz.
Tea is serves daily in the Queens Room ballroom. The first Gala Night theme was “Red and Gold.” The pictured Standard is combined with the Royal and the Bowes-Lyon banners.
The theme for the second Gala Night was “Roaring Twenties.” I’m wearing my Clan Leslie scarf. It was fashionable for men to wear scarves with a suit in the 20s and 30s. Lucky for me I had bought the scarf at Leslie Castle, or I wouldn’t have anything 20s. The ship orchestra played music from the 1920s swing.
There was a final night party. The band Island Rhythm played in the Queens Room. They were the only musical group that were made of members of the mostly Filipino hospitality crew. They played covers and tore the room down. What an amazing band! The other musicians pictured are the folk duo Aileen and Sticks, who payed my request for The Green Fields of France (Willie McBride), and the Vlad Zincenko jazz piano trio. There were many other musicians, entertainers and lecturers I saw on the ship.
I disembarked on Saturday, 26 September in Red Hook, Brooklyn Harbor, New York.
