DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
Members' Mausoleum => Calendar Events / Announcements Archive => Calendar Events / Announcements '26 I => Calendar Events / Announcements '04 II => Topic started by: Gerard on August 06, 2004, 01:35:20 AM
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I've missed you all! I just got back from that long and wonderful vacation, including spending almost a month on board the Queen Mary 2 - crossing the Atlantic from NYC to Southampton, cruising the North Sea, and then sailing back across the Atlantic from Southampton to NYC. I won't go into long, boring details about it. I just wanted to say hi to y'all and that, despite an incredible time, it's good to be back home and back on our beloved DS board. Now it's time to go and put in the umpteenth-millionth load of laundry.
Gerard
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Welcome back, Gerard. :D You were missed!
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Welcome back!!!
I'm getting envious - I just read an account on the WordPerfect forum from someone who returned from a week in Majorca and now I read this!! It really sounds great. :)
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Welcome back, Gerard! :) I'm glad you had such a wonderful time. :D
ProfStokes
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We want to hear all the details.
Welcome Back Cuz!!
We missed you!![/size][/color] :-* :-*
Patti
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Welcome back Gerard. I'm sure it must have been a wonderful trip. If you do get a chance and feel like it, please let us know a bit about your travels. I love going to different places myself and always enjoy hearing about other peoples vacations.
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Yes, yes....we want details.....in your own inimitable and oh-so-humorous style. :D
Did you wave at Scotland for me? ;)
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Welcome back, Gerard. Sounds like a fabulous time! :)
--M
http://home.triad.rr.com/smrainey
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Welcome back Gerard! Glad you enjoyed yourself!
Cassandra
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Welcome back!
Aren't you glad someone invented washing machines?
;)
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Thank you, everybody, for your warm welcome backs!
I'll do one, hopefully quick recollection of my adventures, so as not to clog up our beloved message board with my inane blabberings on a non-DS related part of my life.
The Queen Mary 2 is a marvel - it is constantly emphasized that she is not a cruise ship, but an authentic ocean liner, the first in 35 years (preceded by her sister, the Queen Elizabeth 2), and the largest (150,000 tons) and longest (1,132 feet) ever built. Although she will mostly do cruises, most in the Caribbean, throughout each year, she is primarily designed to make transatlantic line crossings from NYC to Southampton; 26 are scheduled for 2005. She is constructed to withstand the worst the north Atlantic can throw at her, including 100 foot waves, something no current cruise ships (other than the QE2, which will now do cruises in Europe plus her annual round-the-world cruise) can handle. Her interior decorations are very traditional, most done in Art Deco. As the largest ship, she has many other "largests", including the largest spa/gym, library, and ballroom at sea. Her most lavish cabins are also the largest ever on a ship - they are in reality floating homes, two stories, with several master bed- and bathrooms on the second floor, and a reception hall, living room, dining room, den, guest bathroom and spacious patios (and private whirlpools!); they are larger in size than the average American home. Cost for a one-way crossing in them is around $26,000 per person, double occupancy, but you do get your own private butler and maid. She has many "firsts", such as the first outdoor glass elevators and the first planetarium. To give you some idea of her immense length, the distance from our stateroom to the self-serve laundramatte on our deck was one-fifth of a mile. By the time I finished doing laundry, trecking back and forth, I actually walked more than one mile. Now you can see why I did laundry only once during that one-month on board and waited until I got home.
While on board, I actually did not make a pig of myself with the virtually 24-hour availability of food, and I worked out for two hours everyday in the gym, plus I cardiowalked six miles everyday. I was a good boy, and at the end, rather than gaining the average ten pounds, I actually lost ten pounds.
Security leaving NYC was very tight because of Al Qaeda threats against the ship, with armed coast guard men and women on board (they left the ship with the pilot after passing under - with less than thirteen feet of space - the Verazzano-Narrows Bridge) and an escort by coast guard and NYC police boats and helicopters. No one was allowed to remain on the pier to wave bon voyage, a disappointment, as friends had come to do that just that.
The Oxford Lecture Series, something organized uniquely for the ship by the British University, had such renowned speakers on board as English mystery author PD James, British actor Richard Johnson, who starred in The Haunting with Julie Harris (the film was shown as a prelude to his lecture), and noted maritime historian William Miller, among others.
After crossing the Atlantic to Southampton, we began our cruise which included Edinburgh, Scotland; three ports in Norway; Hamburg, Germany, and Rotterdam, Holland, sailing back to Southampton for the crossing back to NYC. Because the QM2 is an ocean liner, and the most currently famous one in the world, being as this was her inaugural (maiden) season, our entry into those ports was for the first time, so at each one she was greeted by enormous numbers of people and various types of receptions. While cruising to a port in Norway through one of the fiords, National Geographic was there with a helicopter taking pictures for an upcoming feature in its magazine. In Hamburg, where we stayed for 24 hours, the reception was overwhelming and unexpected by both the ship and the city in its immensity. We were escorted along the Elbe River by 800,000 people who lined the banks (some had camped our for two days previous to maintain a choice spot) and over 1,000 boats and vessels, from small power-boats to tour boats, and the fireboats sporting the huge fountains of water. Overhead, the German airforce had fighter jets fly in formation and patterns. Hamburg was in a holiday mood; beyond the security perimeter on the dock was a carnival with band stages, and tons of concession stands. Our tour busses were mobbed in the city proper and people asked for our autographs and to have their pictures taken with us. By the time of the evening fireworks and lasershow display given by the city, 2,000,000 people were present - the streets were so packed by the massive throngs that cars, busses and other vehicles were simply abandoned. Some tour busses could not make it back to the ship until the wee hours of the morning. This was the largest and most elaborate reception ever given to an ocean liner in history. It was awesome.
The whole trip was a once-in-a-lifetime wondrous opportunity. But now I'm glad to be back with all of you. Our next thing is to see if we can somehow get the 2006 DS Festival to take place on board the Queen Mary 2!
Gerard
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Gerard -- Thanks for making me turn greener than green. I mean really green. Wow, that sounds fantastic.
And the guy lost weight. Judas priest...........
:o
--M
http://home.triad.rr.com/smrainey
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P.D. JAMES?!!!! You had P.D. JAMES on board with you?!!!
I have her latest, "Murder Room" on the computer desk right in front of me. I'd have crawled across the length of that ship just to hear her talk about writing.
What could you possibly do for a vacation encore after a trip like this???....Space Shuttle? ;)
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Gerard!
Your account is SO interesting. What a trip! What was the weather like? If the sea is rough, do you feel it at all, or is the ship so big that you don't even know you're on a ship? Ten pounds! Do they have trainers in the weight rooms? This whole thing sounds like some sort of wonderful fantasy (I want the $26,000 cabin). How extensive is the library?
Wouldn't a Dark Shadows cruise be fun? I read somewhere that Jonathan Frid participated in one sometime in the early 80's. Does anyone know anything about that?
-CLC
Who must confess to being rather scared of big boats! lol
;D
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Her most lavish cabins are also the largest ever on a ship - they are in reality floating homes, two stories, with several master bed- and bathrooms on the second floor, and a reception hall, living room, dining room, den, guest bathroom and spacious patios (and private whirlpools!); they are larger in size than the average American home. Cost for a one-way crossing in them is around $26,000 per person, double occupancy, but you do get your own private butler and maid.
My kind of travel, heh.
Thank you for the marvelous account. Dr. Markway, cool! :D
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Thank you, Midnite!
Yup, Raineypark, none-other than PD James! Of course, the book store on board had Murder Room for sale, along with many of her other books, just so people could buy them and have her autograph them during her book-signing session in the library. If I would've known she was going to be on board, I would've brought my own copy of one of her books from home to have her John Hancock in it. She was absolutely charming, the theater/lecture hall (which also served as the planetarium) overflowing.
Speaking of the library, Connie, it has over 8,000 volumes, along with periodicals, CD-Rom's, computers, etc., anything you would fine in a professional library. It is situated at the front of the superstructure, with panoramic windows overlooking the bow and the seas ahead. It is a warm, inviting place, with writing tables and comfortable chairs and sofas. A desk located in the center (where several of the noted authors on board had their book signings) is where Queen Elizabeth II sat when she was the first person to sign the guest register when she christened the ship.
For the most part, the water was calm. There were occasional heavy seas, but the stabilizers kept movement to a barely perceptible minimum. I only felt anything substantial (I wear the transderm anti-seasickness patch, since I get seasick if I stir my coffee too fast) late one evening (actually early one morning) while in the night club called G32. Since it was so late and most passengers had retired, the stabilizers were shut off to decrease drag and the QM2 began a gentle but somewhat substantial roll. I and others sat at the bar and watched with fun glee as the level in the hootch bottles ran from one side to the other. And then our fascination - along with that of the bartenders - was caught when a bottle of Jack Daniels would tip over and balance on its edge, return to center, and then tip to the other side, again balancing on its edge without falling completely over. Of course, the amount of libations enjoyed by many in the night club, which would've put Roger Collins to shame, might have had something to do with that apparent phenomenon. The one weather problem that was more frequent on the north Atlantic was fog. At one point, one could only see a third-way down the promenade deck. But it was rather romantic and mysterious, as we sailed away in that thick blanket, everything around us muted by its heaviness, even the sound of the water washing against the hull far below soft and distant, the mournful but assuring call of the foghorn echoing through the mist.
Gerard
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Hi Gerard welcome back.!
Love Anne :-*
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Gerard....
This all sounds too good to be true! That library -- from the sound of it, I'd be happy to just stay there. lol
How much time did you actually get to spend with your feet on land?? Did you spend any time in Scotland?
I was wondering if you got a lot of good pictures. If so, do you think you might be able to post some? (if this isn't the appropriate place, maybe on a webpage or something?)
(only if it's not too much trouble of course)
;D ;D
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You could literally spend all day in the library, Connie! As a matter of fact, I jokingly said to one of the minor officers who was up there when I went up to do some quiet reading myself that I would love to work there (since one of my degrees is in library science). She replied that they are looking for another person with experience to work there. I actually thought about it for a moment.
In Scotland, we spent an entire day in Edinburgh (docking in South Queens Ferry and having to travel back and forth from ship to shore by tender). I and my friend had been in Edinburgh before, so we just walked about, did window shopping, had lunch in a pub, and sat around in parks rather than doing tours of all the places we had seen once before. However, the day before, as we cruised along the Scottish coast, the Royal Coast Guard treated us to a demonstration of life-saving practices as sea. A helicopter came along side the ship and very cautiously and with incredible precision maneuvered itself over the bow, where scores of passengers had gathered (including myself) and - with both ship and helicopter moving - floated between the crane masts right above our heads with literally a few feet to spare between the whirling blades and davits, we all reaching up trying to touch the landing pads. It then moved forward where it lowered a man onto the forecastle (very forward tip) of the bow. It then momentarily flew away and returned, removing the "victim" who pretended to be injured and had to be lifted from a moving ship. Then it swooped to the side where it dropped another man into the churning water and then "rescued" him. We all applauded wildly at the end of the demonstration.
In Norway we went to three ports, spending four days there on dry land (at one port we stayed overnight). I have one Norway story to tell and then I'll shut up. We were warned about how expensive the nation was. Of course, by that, we thought it would be New York expensive or even London expensive. Were we in for a shock. While I was at the purser's desk exchanging some American moola for Norwegian clankenhoorgenegers (or whatever they're called), another man came up and wanted to exchange 20 dollars. The girl behind the counter said, tongue in cheek, "Only 20 dollars? Are you planning on buying just a cup of coffee?" Anyway, on shore, I and my friend decided to have lunch and went to a nice cafe. As the usual northern climate constant rain had broken for awhile, we ate outside in the glorious sunshine. Since we were in a wondrous foreign land, we decided to sample some local cuisine and we each ordered a cheeseburger platter. It included a cheeseburger, french fries and an orange soda. And then we got the bill. Fifty dollars. Yup, that's right, fifty dollars. Needless to say, we didn't buy another thing in Norway. One crewmember, while on shoreleave, decided to treat some of his fellow crewmates to a couple rounds of drinks. There weren't many of them in their little party. And then he got the bill...........five-hundred dollars. He was stunned and had to use a credit card his parents (from Greece) had just sent him "for emergency use only." He didn't know what was more traumatic: the bill, or having to explain to his soon-to-be very angry parents about that upcoming charge.
My friend took pictures and is still transferring them from those teeny discs in his camera to large CD's on his computer. It's going to take him awhile. He took over 4,000 pictures. Then he'll send copies of the CD's to me. Then I'll post all of them on here. I'm sure Midnite won't mind!
Gerard
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Wowie!! A cruise has always been one thing that I've never been particularly interested in, but this has made me reconsider!!! (Not that it's likely to make any difference, but I can add it to all the other things I'd like to do!)
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welcome back Gerard funny i just finished The Murder Room and would crawl
across the floor with Rainey to see her! i see she is 84 i hope she can write
at least a few more! sounds like you had a nice time!!!
jennifer
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Welcome Back! It seems like a few of us has done some interesting, some weird and some we haven't heard from yet, this summer.
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Gerard:
Welcome back to the mainland! Your accounts are fascinating. Like Jennifer, I had never considered going on a cruise -- but my idea of one has never come anywhere near the grand, historic, and enriching voyage you experienced.
You'll have to post pictures of the highlights, as well as of yourself before and after losing the 10 lbs. 8)
Ben