Post card from the queen elizabeth 222
by Published on 14th October 2017 06:29 AM
Thu Oct 12th Palma de Majorca(Spain): Ashore: We are in charming Palma today: a seaside lined with white hotels andfluttering palms, the smells of wine bars and leather shoe shops and the huge,imposing cathedral. Warm & welcoming: After three pleasantsea days onboard the Queen Elizabeth, it is all like slipping-on thatfavorite shoe, maybe a well-worn Gucci loafer. It is comfort, ease, thisgreat sense of familiarity. Cunard in fact creates familiarity they are the great link on all the seas to the great history & glamour ofocean liner travel. (Yes, P&O is still around as well, but theywere never associated with glamour and the likes of movie stars posed on theBoat Deck.) Comparatively, Cunard has this extraordinary history agreat fleet of ships including some of the most famous ever built (somepassengers still all but genuflect at the mere mention of the iconic QE2and just about everyone has seen or heard of the original Queen Mary &Queen Elizabeth), a magical sense of shipboard luxury and long lists ofcelebrated passengers from millionaires to movie stars to maharajas. Onboard the Queen Elizabeth (and the two other Cunard liners), one feelsa part or at least connected to this great history. When berthedalongside, say, a Celebrity or Royal Caribbean ship, there's just not the samesense of that maritime history, a sort of ocean-going one-upmanship. Generally and for me, the Queen Elizabeth is like a good no, very good London hotel gone to sea. You feel happy to be aboard all cozy,comfy and well looked after. At last look, the QE gets its very highestratings for decor and for enrichment lectures. Yes, the ship itselfis all chandeliers, exquisite carpets, soft chairs & sofas and heaps orshould I say tons of Cunard memorabilia. Just about everywhere you look,there's Cunard and related memorabilia: the gold bust of Queen Elizabeth IIthat once graced the main lounge on the QE2; a Christmas card fromHer Majesty displayed in a glass case; a solid silver model of the QE2 madeby the famed London jeweler Asprey; and the original bell andbuilders plate from the first Queen Elizabeth. And as for enrichment,Claire Bloom was here in June and talking of her long career going back to Limelightwith Charlie Chaplin. There are so many others and just weeks ago,celebrating the 50th anniversary of the launching of the QE2,"maritime stars" such Commodore Ron Warwick, Captain Ian McNaught andthe divine Maureen Ryan took to the podium in the gloriously grand Royal CourtTheatre. Fri Oct 13 at sea in theMediterranean: Traveltrends:Neil is a PhD sociologist from Bath who specializes intrends among contemporary population. In our lunchtime chat, hediscusses cruising and brings up several interesting points comparing, say, ahalf-century of travel between the late Sixties and today. (1) Comparedto, say, 50 years ago, we take trips to the other side of the earth withouthesitation and even if it means 20-25 hour plane rides; (2)Americans especially used to go to Europe for a month or two, but they now gofor a week and sometimes even, say, a long weekend in London or Paris; (3) In travel, we once relied on the mail, with letters and post cards, but now we are in constant, easy, super quick contact; (4) There'sgreater people-to-people contact these days through the likes of Airbnblodgings; and (5) We no longer think that items are cheap just because ofthe dollar or the pound note, but instead we deal in local currencies and atfar fairer prices. Yes, each an interesting concept. Counting every penny: And coincidentallyjust read that it has been sixty years since Arthur Frommer published his firstedition of Europe on 5 Dollars a Day, the instant new bible for travel to Europe but on a shoestring. A huge success -- and today at 88, Frommeris still involved in what became his publishing empire.Stuffed cod on a bed of spinach: Casualdinner with Jonathan Leavor, the ship's Hotel Operations Manager and who has beenwith Cunard for nearly 40 years. We went down memory lane, recalling somany Cunard staff & passengers. Jonathan noted, "QE2'sworld cruises were legendary & given to much lore and a long list ofanecdotes. I remember one lady brought along several trunks for the95-night voyage. But one of the trunks was filled with one of herfavorite foods: Her preferred brand of Boston Baked Beans!
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