Cunard never disappoints; their ships are unfailingly beautiful, luxurious and complete with amenities, yet they capture a glamour of days gone by. I have been lucky enough to sail on this line several times, and am posting a travel diary I wrote during one of my voyages- a six-day sailing on the QM2. I hope you enjoy my notes of a ship with the flair of a bygone era.- Heidi Wednesday – A Stroll in Olde Londontowne …
ABOARD THE SEABOURN ODYSSEY – It is kind of funny, but most people on this ship are repeaters so as soon as they board they already know where everything is, including their favorite bar, favorite place to read or favorite place to eat. They even know who they want to play Trivia with. They never refer to the deck plan. But we were new to the Odyssey, so it took us many days to figure out the …
ABOARD THE SEABOURN ODYSSEY – Last evening we chatted with Capt. Bob Sample from Guernsey in the Channel Islands. A former pilot for British Airways, he is age 86 and traveling alone on his fifth Seabourn cruise. He has already signed up for another one this summer in the Med and confided that he is bringing his new lady friend along. At lunch today we met Eleanor and Dave from Ft. Worth, Texas, traveling with her parents, …
(Today’s coffee special is a hazelnut latte) ABOARD THE SEABOURN ODYSSEY – We have now had several days at sea on board the Odyssey and life is falling into sort of a pattern. People are involving themselves in all sorts of activities – or not – depending on their interests. One fact we have already learned is that lots of these passengers book these crossings every year. In fact, the cruise sales specialist already appears to be …
(Christmas lights twinkle as we sail from Funchal, Madeira) ABOARD THE SEABOURN ODYSSEY – Yesterday was our only port day on this trip. We visited Funchal, the capital of the Portuguese island of Madeira. The last time we visited Funchal, on another transatlantic crossing, I was feeling unwell and did not go ashore. Chet went then and participated in an excursion that included a gondola ride to the hill station of Monte and then a ride down …
ABOARD THE SEABOURN ODYSSEY – Okay, so what letter in the Greek alphabet is the name of a famous movie star? Delta? That was my first guess, but I went back to my sorority days and ran through that alphabet in my head and then whispered, “No, I have it!” and scribbled “Zeta” so that my team members could read it and approve…or not. They did, and Catharine Zeta Jones won us 20 points in Team Trivia. …
This morning I received a blog post from Jackie Finch, one of this website’s prolific writers, telling about her upcoming cruise on the Regal Princess. That was coincidental, as I was just sitting down to write my article about my upcoming cruise on the Seabourn Odyssey. To explain: Before one of our writers leaves on a trip, we publish a pre-cruise article that tells a bit about the ship and the cruise itself. We typically include a …
For 12 July nights at sea, on a grand ocean liner crossing the Atlantic between England and New York, we dressed for dinner. That is, we dressed not as formally as the rich folks on TV’s Downton Abbey from the early 20th century, but we were decked out in plenty of formality and pomp for the 21st century. Not one of the 12 evenings was listed as “casual.” Explained a British passenger on the ship, the Queen …
ABOARD QUEEN MARY 2-When the Queen Mary 2 made its way toward the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, beneath which we could see New York’s skyline peeking into the purple sunrise, half the ship’s passengers already were on deck. Passengers began arriving from their cabins by 5 a.m. Clad in bathrobes and other early morning garb, we lined the deck railings to watch the city emerge as Queen Mary 2 glided smoothly toward Manhattan (in the middle of the picture above), …
On a July voyage between Liverpool, England, and Canada’s Halifax, Nova Scotia, Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 spent six nights and five days at sea. Nearly a week, without possibilities for going ashore, seems a long time when you are looking over a brochure for a future crossing of the North Atlantic. But once Queen Mary 2 leaves the last glimpse of land and the sea-day countdown begins, time zips by in a series of meals, concerts, parties, …
All Things Cruise is dedicated to the joy of travel. Specializing in ocean, river, ultra-luxury, small ship and expedition cruises.
Heidi, Editor-In-Chief
