On Thursday, April 30, we made a resolution to get up early (7am is early even if you are not on a Transatlantic crossing!) so we could have breakfast at 8am and join the fencing class at 9am. There is something wonderfully stylish and timeless about fencing in the ballroom of Cunard’s Queen Victoria.
After the fencing class we went back to the stateroom to shower, and then straight to a Galley Tour, where we inspected the cooking areas.
On Wednesday, April 29, as the Commodore announced we were right “in the middle of our crossing,” we woke up really late. You realize how late when the steward greets you “good afternoon,” and you go straight to lunch (right after my wife’s immigration procedure). It was surprising, at least to me, that although we were half an hour late for that scheduled process, 80 people were still to show up, most of the from the USA.
On Tuesday, April 28, we finally woke up early enough to enjoy a full service breakfast at the Britannia restaurant and attend the morning lecture “Meteors, Meteorites and Comets”, by Howard L.G. Parkin. While the Royal Court Theater was fairly full, by the time his lecture was over, it completely filled out for the next lecture: “Survival in Solitude”, where Terry Waite told us how, while working as negotiator for the Archbishop of Canterbury, he was taken hostage in Beirut and survived for 5 years, 4 of which he spent in solitary confinement, enduring torture and a mock execution.
On Monday, April 27, we woke up quite late again, so we had breakfast at the Lido restaurant, and went straight to the Royal Court Theater to listen to the lecture by Howard L. G. Parkin “The Constellations – Myth, Legend And Mystery”, right after which we attender another lecture, this time by Simon Dinsdale, in which he shared some of his experiences as a Royal Family bodyguard.
After a light lunch, we went to the library.
April 26 we woke up quite late, with the wonderful feeling of not having to rush, and enjoyed a nice breakfast buffet at the Lido restaurant.
After breakfast we took a walk around the ship, exploring the different venues, from the card room to the library. It is definitely not a “flashy” ship, with the decor being elegantly subtle and conservative. Perhaps the weakest point, as with so many cruise ships, being the artwork, and the most interesting one being the Cunardia (the first Cunard museum at sea) celebrating 175 years of history.
April 25, to celebrate my wifes birthday and to move from New York to London in style, we boarded <a href="https://www.cunard.com/cruise-ships/queen-victoria/" target="_blank">Cunards Queen Victoria for a trans-Atlantic crossing (not cruising) onboard the luxury ocean liner (V509).
The night before we had a farewell dinner with some friends in New York at White Street restaurant, which was full of movie industry VIPs already invading Manhattan for the Tribeca Film Festival; our friend Jill, who could not attend the dinner, had a very nice gesture sending a bottle of champagne and a card from Washington DC.
April 16-24 we went to Ft. Erie, Canada, to spend some time with the family.
We had a wonderful time, catching up with work, dining in fine places, and even doing a little sightseeing: the misty Crescent beach, Peller Estates Winery, or dinner at Tiara, in Queen`s Landing. But we enjoyed our time at home, and the delicious home-cooking, the most.
