This Blog Is Closed

Dear Friends

After your generous acceptance of this Blog, it is with great regret and embarrassment that we must tell you it is closed and will not continue from now on.

It has become a much bigger task than anticipated.

Sorry about that.

Barry

We want to tell you a bit about our home on the QM2.

Our room is on the 8th Deck out of 11 Decks and are in the middle of the ship but we love the picture of our hallway...it goes forever!! It is 3 football fields long!! There are 2,470 guests and 1,500 staff on board. The Brittish are 1,316 srong and we have 582 from USA. It is a floating city or floating resort. Take your choice.

Here we are filling up at the gas station in Salvador, Brazil. The statistics on this ship are unbelievable. It holds 1.4 million gallons of heavy fuel oil and 1 million gallons of Marine Gas Oil. It is one of the fastest ships in the ocean with 150,000 Horse Power.

We spent Sunday in the 3rd largest city in Brazil called Salvador de Bahia (State) and because we toured the city in our 2004 visit on QM2, staying aboard ship was more appealing but it is a wonderful mix of old and new.

Our dinner companions are an interesting group and by chance they are all German. The maitre d' who assigns tables is probably responsible. Peter at the left is from South Africa but born in Germany. Regina and Gareth are from San Jose,CA retired from HP and are examples of freed East Germans making it good in the USA. Marriana is from Germany and winters in St. Tropez along the French coast. She is on till the end in England but the others are off in Cape Town.

Almost any afternoon you will see this bathing beauty on her deck chair at her favorite pool site until the mandatory 4 p.m. rain shower scatters everyone under cover.

When out at sea you occasionally see another ship, usually a freighter but it will be at least a mile to the left or right in another traveling lane. Otherwise you see nothing but ocean.

Sun worshippers like us, usually pick out what becomes their favorite deck to lay out and read a book (Kindle that is).

As said before, people watching is a sport in itself with 2,470 guests of all ages and all sizes!

Last night at the late show in the Royale Court Theater, the comedian spoke with great wisdom when he said:

"I was out on the pool decks today and Gentlemen, please take some advice from me. If you look down to your toes and you can't see your Speedo, you shouldn"t be wearing A SPEEDO!!!

The deck chairs are placed close together and sometimes you are stuck with an unwanted view.