It was a seven day crossing to Southampton. I have never in my life experienced such five star luxury. One was continually pampered. This was a luxury ferry trip for me but not for others on the ship. I encountered many people who were regulars on Cunard ships. Many seem to have been on the QM II for three weeks already having left from Southampton and had already been to New York, to Quebec City, to Halifax and back to New York. Chatting with people there were many who did several cruises a year. Cunard marketing is very smooth. They had on board a booking office that people could sign up for future cruises.
I had an inside cabin but it did not matter because for most of the voyage all one would see is the ocean. The cabin was cleaned and the bed made twice a day!
It would be easy to gain many pounds in weight because of the amount of food that is presented. I learned to modify my intake after a few days and started to walk around the deck regularly (0.5 KM each circuit) and to climb the stairs instead of ascending one of the four sets of elevators. There are several restaurants available. I mainly ate at the Britannia restaurant and the cafeteria on the seventh floor.
I was determined to improve my Bridge so every day I did an intermediate Bridge lesson. Then in the afternoon Duplicate Bridge with the same partner every day. His name was Heinz. A very nice German who had been a lawyer. We played well together and on the first day I even got some ACBL master points. Dick Chapman was the teacher and Director. Very good teaching but at a fast pace.
Because of the Bridge I only heard part of some of the talks. There are talks every day.
I met several interesting people. On the first day I was in a bar and met up with a Catholic Priest - Father Schoenauer who was contracted to provide Catholic Services. Had a wide ranging and fascinating conversation with him and later attended the first part of a Mass that he conducted.
There were times I thought I was in a luxury nursing home. Many people in wheelchairs and lots of obese people sitting around like vegetables. However also some interesting people. There was a get together for singles each morning. One or two were doing like me - just having a luxury ferry trip. One woman Ann ran a museum in Edmonton similar to the Cambridge Museum which my grandfather E Seville Peck played a part in starting in 1936. Her father who had been a British dentist was a keen sailor and she knew the Brittany coast really well having visited many of the ports I went to on Bluejacket in the 1960s. Another interesting person I met called Gloria Epstein had been an appeal court Judge in Toronto. She is on the Board of Mount Sinai hospital so we had an interesting discussion on comparisons in health care delivery between Ontario and BC.
We arrived in Southampton at 6.30 in the morning. My niece Caryn met me and we drove to her home in Winchester.
Here are a few pictures from the week on an Ocean Liner.
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