Tuesday, 7 May-Wednesday, 8 May 2024

New York City to Tucson

This will be the final blog to end our wonderful 42-day trip. If you have been following along, you have been witness to all the exciting adventures, luxury cruising, and champagne drinking we have enjoyed. LFLatSea has also shared a few snafus, mostly related to the little bit of air travel and hotels we have used. But we have returned home healthy, happy, and still married. This blog will sum up our final day in NYC and our journey home to Tucson.

Tuesday, 7 May 2024

New York City

We have no planned activities for today except re-arranging our luggage for tomorrow's flights to Tucson. The weather is sunny and warmer, threatening to reach 80 degrees today. When I was here this past November I had breakfast at Cafe Un Deux Trois, just a few steps from the Millenium Broadway Hotel. Today's breakfast of eggs Benedict, served with roast potatoes and small salad, is just as good as I remember, and the decor whisks the imagination to morning in Paris.

Because New York has a special springtime glow today, we put off re-packing and instead take two buses to the newest set of attractions in the city, Hudson Yards. Built over the railroad tracks that go under the Hudson River to take trains from the former Penn Station to New Jersey, the area has been transformed into a post-modern center of culture and shopping. The High Line reaches its northernmost point here and provides a seamless connection to everything on the west side below 34th Street.

A very high-end shopping mall provides a playground for the rich and famous, as well as offering a view of the "Vessel," a monumental metal sculpture that serves as a symbol of the area.

In the distance, behind Will is the "Shed," an art and theatre center whose outside skin can be opened in summer weather.

Looking at all the items we can't afford to buy makes us hungry, so we walk east a few blocks to the Hudson Yards Tavern, an authentic old saloon that serves up very large burgers and fries.

After lunch we realize it is already late afternoon and we haven't begun our packing for tomorrow. We take a cab back to the hotel, enjoying the very slow ride through horrible traffic.

Since we ate a very large late lunch, we think a slice or two of pizza will serve as dinner. Because we don't want to fight any more city traffic, we decide to stay in the Times Square area. But that creates a problem for those who want a light dinner:  you can either order something (pizza, hot dog, falafel, etc.) from a street cart and eat it standing up in the swarm of pedestrians; or you can find an Italian restaurant that serves pizza and sit down for a full meal, for a full price.

Standing on the corner for the last dinner of our vacation isn't an attractive idea, so we go to a restaurant right across from our hotel, el Osteria Doge. It turns out to be a nice place with an extensive menu where we end up spending $80.00 for a small pizza (four slices), one salad to share (admittedly a very large salad), two Pepsi's, one sorbet and one gelato for dessert. So much for a quick and cheap dinner.

Wednesday, 8 May 2024

New York City to Tucson

Although we have a long travel day today, we are fortunate that all goes smoothly. We awake at 5am to make sure we are ready and checked out in time for our hired car and driver to pick us up at 6:30 for the ride to LaGuardia Airport (LGA), New York's airport closest to Manhattan. At this hour of the morning the traffic heading out of the city is very light and we get to the airport in about 35 minutes.

A very gracious airport worker helps us check our luggage outside without having to go to the check-in counter. Very soon, two wheelchair pushers arrive to take us both to the gate (a nice treat for me, since we have been ordering only one chair on all the previous flights). I refuse to refuse the chair ride and we are soon whisked through security and on our (very long) way to the gate.

Because we are so early we have time for a good breakfast before our 9:25am Southwest Airlines flight to Chicago's Midway Airport (MDW), where we will change planes for Tucson (TUS). We don't usually fly Southwest, but the airline has some advantages for this trip: it is the best timing and routing from New York to Tucson, and they don't charge anything for all our luggage. Those of you who have flown Southwest know all about its line-up and seating procedures--and the free-for-all choosing seats once you board the plane. Because we are in wheelchairs we don't have to stand on line and we are among the very first to board.

There is the usual short delay getting everyone on board, but we are soon airborne for the short flight to Chicago, where we have a two-and-a-half hour layover. We manage to amuse ourselves while we wait for the three hour, 40 minute flight to Tucson. All goes well as we are again wheeled aboard, along with a rather large contingent of other passengers in wheelchairs, and we arrive, along with all our luggage, only ten minutes late. Our friend and fellow MountainView resident is at the airport waiting to drive us home. 

By 5pm, the previous six weeks have begun to fade quickly into the past.  Of course, I have lots of photos and the narrative of LFLatSea to stimulate my memories. Thanks to all of you who have kept up with us as we traveled, and especially to those who sent us emails as we sailed along our way. You may be sure that I will be returning with news of future travels, as soon as we figure out what we can afford to do.

Monday, 6 May 2024

New York City

Today the weather has turned clearer and warmer, even inching up to the mid-70's by mid-afternoon. We enjoy a very large breakfast at Junior's, a restaurant that started out in Brooklyn, but now has a branch  in Shubert Alley on 45th Street, just a short walk from the hotel. 

We have arranged for a private car to take us the 10 miles north to Riverdale, an exclusive residential section of the Bronx on the Hudson River.  This is the location of Atria Riverdale, where my cousin Helen has been in assisted living for about a year. Will and I had become very close to Helen over the past 30 years; she would often visit us in Richmond and in Tucson, and we would often stay at her co-op in the city. Most of her New York friends and relatives are gone, so she really appreciates visitors. I saw her last November, but Will hasn't seen her for several years.

The car ride takes only 30 minutes, but costs close to $75.00. We take Helen and her long-time care-giver, Marie, to lunch at a nearby Italian restaurant. 

We are pleasantly surprised that Helen is doing well and seems to be more aware of things than when I saw her in November. We are also pleasantly surprised by all the lovely spring flowers that are starting to bloom.

In the afternoon we cancel the car we had hired for the return trip and instead take the NYC Transit Express Bus that in one hour drops us a short walk from the hotel for about $3.00 each. The bus is very new, with wifi ports at every seat and first-class messaging about the route and upcoming stops.

Although we enjoyed a very large Italian lunch, we search out a "traditional" Chinese restaurant that serves familiar dishes rather than just dim sum or exotic cross-overs. Luckily, we find one nearby.

We have had a long day and gladly return to the Millenium Broadway for a quiet evening.

Sunday, 5 May 2024

New York City

Here we are on a cool, rainy day in New York. Last night we put our luggage outside our stateroom door for pickup overnight. This morning we are up at 6am just as we are passing the Statue of Liberty, clearly visible from our veranda, since the QM2 is sailing backwards into its berth in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Although we are not scheduled to debark until 8:50, we have our last dining room breakfast at 6:30, return to our stateroom for last minute chores, say farewell to our room steward, Ting (from the Philippines), and head out to the Grand Lobby to wait for our number to be called--it's still only about 7:45.

Things are very chaotic as the hordes of passengers create long lines waiting to depart. Of course, folks are always trying to get into earlier groups, but the ship's crew make sure there are no cheaters (that is, until we ourselves, become cheaters--but by special permission). After leaving the ship, passengers must collect their luggage and go through customs and immigration. At 8:50 we are the first people on a line for departure, but there are two other lines ahead of us. The problem is that we have a prepaid car picking us up at 9:30; unless we start moving soon, we might have a problem.

To speed things up, I first ask a female office if we could skip to the front of the three lines since Will is still using a cane and walking very slowly. She says," no!". A few minutes later, a young male crew member comes by and I tell him about our waiting pre-paid car. He immediately lets us skip ahead and go down the gangway before anyone else. I guess money is a more convincing argument that being old and handicapped. At any rate, we are able to exit quickly and find our luggage waiting in the terminal. There is a long line waiting for porters, so I tell Will to take his carry-on and go through immigration and find the car that is waiting and tell the driver I am on my way with the luggage. Will, then, has his own difficulties at immigration because they want to know where I and the luggage are. But with help from another dock employee he manages to get through.

Although I have to wait about 15 minutes for a porter, good luck strikes again. The woman who takes our luggage is also helping an employee who is bringing two persons in wheelchairs. Without any reason, this employee tells me to come with him and the porter and skip all the lines to go through the handicap lane. Amazingly I am outside with my luggage in the shortest possible time. And our driver arrives very quickly.

There is very little Sunday 10am traffic as we drive through Brooklyn, over the Brooklyn Bridge, north on FDR Drive, and exit at 34th Street (our hotel is on 44th Street). Then the traffic problems begin. No one told us that this morning is the five-borough bike race and most of the midtown streets are blocked to traffic. From 34th Street on the east side, our driver must go town to 23rd Street to drive to 8th Avenue on the west side. We drive up 8th Avenue, fighting a great deal of traffic, since many of the other avenues are closed. We reach 44th Street and make a right turn to travel the one very long block, plus a little bit more, to reach the hotel. So just when we think all things are good at last--when we reach Times Square, the rest of 44th Street is closed to traffic! Our hotel is a short walk from the Times Square corner where our driver deposits us, but it doesn't seem very short with two heavy suitcases, a bunch of smaller bags, Will with his cane--and it's raining and the sidewalks are slippery. It's a good thing we paid a flat fee for the ride; in a taxi the meter would just have kept on ticking.

We are in the Millenium Broadway Hotel, where I stayed during my brief trip to New York this past November. Of course, it is 11am and check-in time isn't until 4pm. But lucky again, a very kind check-in clerk is able to get us into a very nice room right away--without any extra charge as most hotel are doing nowadays.

Will Awaits His Lunch at Brooklyn Diner

We drop our stuff and head to the Brooklyn Diner, just around the corner, for wonderful pastrami sandwiches, Heinekens, and two chocolate and two raspberry rugelach (not quite like the ones my mother made, but delicious anyway). Our friendly young waiter is from Gaza and he recently flew to Cairo and paid the Egyptian government $14,000. to allow his 76-year-old mother to get out of Gaza. She is now safe in Cairo and he is back at work in New York.

This has been a very long narrative. I will stop here and pick up again in the next blog entry.

Saturday, 4 May 2024

Last Day on QM2

Since I spent most of the previous blog talking about the negatives of sailing on QM2, I will turn to more positive aspects of the activities and venues on board. There are three daily lecturers who cover topics on immigration, science, and the excesses of contemporary journalism ("What really happened to Princess Diana?"). None of these were particularly appealing to us, but many passengers attend the lectures in the Art-Deco inspired "Illuminations" Auditorium. "Illuminations" is also the venue for planetarium shows, two of which I attended on my previous crossing. This week, no surprise, the planetarium equipment is out of order.

Part of Planetarium Projection System

"The Royal Court Theatre" is the setting for most evening entertainment. During the day it is home to five young members of the Royal National Shakespeare Company from Stratford-upon-Avon. They appear daily in several different programs: an exercise of how actors train their bodies to reflect feelings (with audience members participating); a mash-up performance of lines from several Shakespeare plays to tell a story of romance on an ocean liner; an original musical play about the life of Joan Littlewood, one of the most important and unsung creators of the revolution in British theatre in the 1950's and 60's. Her theatre company at Stratford East (a borough of Greater London) introduced important works, including Shelagh Delaney's kitchen-sink drama, A Taste of Honey; Lionel Bart's pre-Oliver! musical, Fings Ain't What They Used t' Be; and the pastiche vaudeville, Oh! What a Lovely War. 

We do enjoy a couple of good-looking desserts--

--even if we can't taste exactly what they are.  And we visit the champagne bar on two occasions, even though we are charged exorbitant prices for very small quantities. 

I leave you with this final photo from QM2:  a selfie with King George V, who looks just as unhappy with the food as I do.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we begin our three-day interlude in New York City and then we fly home to Tucson on Wednesday. I am sure LFLat Sea will return while we are in New York.

Sunday, 28 April-Friday, 3 May 2024

Life on Board QM2

Rather than giving a day-by-day rundown of our travel on Cunard's QM2, I will present this summary of the highlights (some) and lowlights (many) of our transportation across the North Atlantic.

Highlights First:

The QM2 is a beautiful and well-maintained ocean liner, with many large spaces more like a resort on land than a ship at sea.

There are umpteen bars and eating places from which to choose.

The staterooms are taken good care of, with cleaning and maintenance twice a day.

The cost of transportation, in a stateroom with a balcony, is significantly less than flying Business Class.

Our regular dinner servers in the Britannia Restaurant are excellent and take good care of us.

One day has been almost warm enough to venture out on deck for a short walk. But most days the ship has been wrapped in heavy fog. Sometimes the sky and the sea are invisible.

See Description in Photo Below

Lowlights Next:

The ship is very large and walking from one place to another is lengthy and difficult.

There is a rigidly-enforced class system (although not identified as such). If you haven't booked a more expensive stateroom you are forbidden to eat anywhere other than in the Britannia Restaurant--the other three main restaurants are off limits.

The food is very bland and although the menus contain some pretty wild beyond-the-normal imaginatively named courses, none of them are especially interesting. Occasionally, something good appears on the table: the pita chicken sandwich I had for lunch today was quite good, but Will's lentil soup came with a hair in it. The server and the manager tried to explain it away as a food tendril that drifted from one preparation to another, but neither Will nor I are convinced. The Spanish Chicken last night was tough and pretty awful.

At meals and in the bars all drinks, except water and juice, cost money, including coffee at the Barista's.

I sent out a bag of laundry on Monday morning. It was delivered on Tuesday evening well serviced--except that my light blue dress shirt was torn to shreds by the laundry machinery. I know that accidents like this can and do occur on busy ships. But the way the incident was handled was abominable. The person returning the laundry said that he would report it to the manager. When talking with the Purser's Office several times over the next two days I was told to make a claim on my own insurance. I absolutely refused: I did not cause the damage and did not want to wait the several weeks for insurance to respond to the claim. Later, I am told I have to fill out a damage form. I do that and write a note on it saying that I expected Cunard to cover the damage immediately and that I wanted the shirt back, or at least a photograph of the damage.

Two days later and I have had absolutely no response. So I march down to the Purser's Office again and demand to speak to the manager in charge. Of course he is apologetic about the lack of response, but he had not seen my note, blah, blah, blah. But he does credit the $75.00 to my account and says he will send a photo to my email. I haven't received it yet.

On Thursday there was no hot water in all of the staterooms for several hours. Of course, I was already standing in the shower when the hot water went off. Trying to get information about the problem and when it would be resolved was impossible; no one was answering phones and the cabin stewards knew nothing.

Shall I continue? Sorry, I don't have the energy for more complaints. But as I wrote in an email to our friend Anita:  "after our previous two cruises, traveling on Cunard is like taking a Trailways Bus."

Thursday, 2 May 2024

At Sea on QM2

This morning we awake to deep fog outside our veranda. It is much to cold (low 50's) and blustery to spend any time out there, but we do get a first-hand look at the weather. During the night the ship rolled port to starboard quite a bit. At one point I was awake enough to feel myself rolling toward the edge of the bed. The rolling action has pretty much subsided today.

Today's posting will cover two days in Southampton and boarding QM2.

Saturday, 27 April 2024

Southampton, UK

Our one full day in Southampton brings us typically British weather, cold and rainy most of the day. We have a relaxing morning at the hotel after the buffet breakfast. It's not much fun outdoor exploring in this kind of weather so we take the five-minute walk to the shopping mall, where we exchange a small amount of euros for British pounds and pence.

The Westquay Mall is very large and very busy on this Saturday shopping day. There are branches of Marks & Spencer and John Lewis department stores, as well as many American and international brand stores; lots of places to eat as well. 

Entrance to Westquay Mall and Cinema

Mall Interior

Pedestrian Walkway Connecting Two Parts of Mall
(Medieval City Gate in Background)

We have a light snack before returning to the hotel to start rearranging our luggage for boarding the QM2 (different regulations than for boarding airline flights). And since the heavy rain continues, we return to the mall for excellent burgers and fries, accompanied by more excellent German pilsner, at Carlucci's restaurant.

And that's it for our day in Southampton. Tomorrow I will have a chance to see more of the city since we aren't scheduled to board until 3:45 in the afternoon. In fact, I will continue this blog entry:

Sunday, 28 April 2024

Southampton, UK, and Boarding QM2

There is no rain this morning, although it is still windy and cold. After breakfast we set out to walk to the neighboring port area, but the weather is too rough for Will. He returns to the mall, where I will meet him after an hour's walk to the ports and the few remaining sights in the old town. Although we are not scheduled to board QM2 until 3:45pm, we have to check out of our room by noon. We will need to be back at the hotel before noon to vacate our room and bring our luggage to the lobby for storage until we are ready to leave.

The walk along the waterfront takes me past the large number of docking terminals, several with large ships roped to them. 

Some buildings still in use date back to the 19th century . . .

. . . while others across the road are even older.

I even have a distant view of the QM2, behind a large P&O ship, from the City Pier.

From here I walk away from the water and up the High Street. Just a few blocks away are some period buildings remaining from earlier times. There isn't much history left, because Southampton was bombed continuously during WWII.

Some of these buildings abut against the remains of the medieval city walls, which extend all the way to Westquay Mall.

At noon we bring our luggage down to be stored until we are ready to leave for the QM2. We have reserved a taxi for 3pm--advance taxi reservations are absolutely necessary when ships are in port. Then we hike back to the mall for a light lunch in the Marks & Spencer Cafe.

Our taxi arrives on time for the short ride to the pier; I give him a generous tip since I have a little bit of British money still in my pocket. Boarding procedures are quick and easy, although the walk from the terminal up several ramps to the ship is quite long. And the walk to our stateroom, in the way-aft section of Deck 5, seems to go on forever. Unlike most cruise ships that hide distances by creating bends and walls in corridors, on QM2 you can see the entire length of the ship as you look down the hallway.

The cabin is very nice, although much smaller than the ones we are used to. But we have all the amenities (bathrobes, slippers, etc,) and electric outlets we need. We have a short rest before our 8:30pm dinner in the Britannia Restaurant. Cunard still separates diners by the price they pay for their stateroom. We cannot eat in the Princess or Queen's Grill Restaurants; they are reserved for the "nobility." Besides the Britannia Restaurant, which is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we may also eat in the King's Quarters, a huge self-service facility which always has a huge and pushy crowd. We try to avoid it as much as possible.

I will give further reports from the QM2 as we continue to sail westward. For now I leave you with some photos.

Atrium Lobby Flower Arrangement (from above)

A Very Long Hallway on Deck 2, Location of Most Passenger Services

Entrance to Britannia Restaurant

King's Court Buffet--Las Vegas at Sea

Sir Samuel's Barista Lounge

The Queen's Room

The Chart Room

Ship's Library

View of Bow Through Library Window

Will Relaxing in the Library