Alvin was our guide and driver of the 10 passenger jeep and he was assured a generous gratuity when he stopped for a Rum Punch Break. He is working hard to support 3 year and 3 month old boys.

New York City to Hong Kong on Queen Mary 2

Welcome to our Queen Mary 2 half way around the world in 65 days. We're glad you are interested and will try to keep the Blog interesting for you.

"How do you pack for such a venture and long time away from home?" is the #1 question. First you get a Phyllis who is very organized and has done it before. This was a tough one because she had to deal with beach wear informal, tux formal, equator hot and NYC below freezing! We ended up with 3 identical large bags that each weighed 50 to 55 lbs.

Barry did prescriptions with Walgreen mailorder needing a "vacation waiver" to get refills before time was up. How many hairsprays? Deodorants? Toothpaste? Those are the items, along with shoes that add the weight.

Meeting the ship in New York turned out to be a big deal we thought we had planned for with an extra layover day in the City. But oh, no! Twelve hours before the planned departure from Houston, Southwest was advising us to go earlier and get in before the snow storm and that's what we did thankfully.

It has been exactly one week from departure and we are in the Atlantic opposite the mouth of the Amazon R. headed for Salvador Brazil and it is the second of 4 at sea days which we love. We hope you enjoy it with us!

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It felt like we were returning to a familiar place when we entered our modest but adequate and extremely efficient stateroom. Phyllis has, after a week, rearranged the original closet plan and that has been a big help. You see Barry is prepared for the NYC fireworks celebration but there was nothing to make the temperature and wind tolerable!

January 13 was an historic night for Cunard; the cruise industry and New York harbor when the 3 Queens (Mary,Victoria and new Elizabeth) met on the Hudson River and led by QM2 they paraded slowly past the Statute of Liberty. We were serenaded and saluted with a 20 minute firework show that was spectacular BUT it was 10 below with the wind blowing down the Hudson. We dressed warmly and went out for a few pics and hurried inside to watch from a bar.

After a day and night at sea, the temperature warmed nicely when we pulled into Ft. Lauderdale Port, the last of 7 cruise ships in the harbor that day. Ft. Lauderdale is officially the largest cruise port in the US. Very impressive and they are building more space. 250 passengers boarded.

We were very happy to see an excursion to the Everglades offered by QM2 and we took it. We had driven across Aligator Alley a couple of times but never stopped to meet the locals. It's well worth it and fear not, you will see many and large aligators

There are over a million aligators in the million plus acres of the Florida Everglades and this clown picks a rock to cling on to!!

7 cruise ships departed Ft. Lauderdale Saturday evening with the QM2. In our 2004 Queen Mary 2 maiden voyage our ship was getting all the attention in ports. This is a picture of the Oasis of the Sea

Barbados for a Day

We opted for a half day tour in a jeep which gave us a good overview of an island country we had never visited before. Barbadians got their freedom from Britian around 1960. The Britt's influence is seen in the many Anglican churches.

We were surprised when we came upon a rural police station named for Eric Holder Jr. Our guide said nothing but when I asked him, he confirmed that our Attorney General is a native of Barbados (and he has a birth certificate and cannot be elected President of the USA)

Barbados is unusual in that

it was not created from a volcano like most all other Carribean Islands. Rather it came from the bottom of the sea (FedEx next day air, no doubt) and it is made of porous coral which you can see is