CupCaked wrote:

"Did ever maiden wake
From dream of homely duty,
To find her daylight break
With such exceeding beauty?"

Mabel, in "The Pirates of Penzance" by Gilbert & Sullivan


Didn’t Goethe say something about good architecture being like good
music? If that is indeed true ... and I think it is ... this ship
sings! Yes, I loved the ship.

We couldn’t make the maiden voyage of this new Cunarder in January,
but the tandem transatlantic crossing certainly made up for it and
allowed me to become acquainted with my new Best Friend. Yes, I loved
the ship. The goose-bump producing send-off in New York on April
25th, the fireworks, even the ever-present police presence, all led
to a heightened sense of excitement. The two Queens in the Hudson
River on their way out to do a crossing together, and later, the sure
and steady QE2 always at our side, was something I probably won’t see
again in my lifetime.


Karen! Memorable, awe-inspiring, and historical, the attention around
the ship. The NYC "welcoming committee" and sendoff to the great QE2.


I kept pinching myself. The Queen Mary 2 AND
the Queen Elizabeth 2: a ship lover’s dream comes true. All I needed
now was to conjure up the image of the late, great Normandie out there
with us or at her berth in New York, waiting to sail, and my vision
would be complete. Throw in Rotterdam V, and I’d be in ocean liner
heaven.


Beautiful dream, indeed.

This review will be somewhat different from what I usually write.
There has been so much written and posted online about this ship that
it would be redundant for me to post photos and tell you how big, how
tall and how much the QM2 weighs. All of that information is out
there already. The super-stats have been beaten to death. Instead,
I’ll try to give you impressions of my trip, what I thought of the
ship, the maiden eastbound voyage and being a part of the tandem
crossing of the QE2 and the QM2. And I’m happy to report that I’ll do
it all in just one installment.


Somehow, it isn't so important about this ship. This is some sort of
symbol of desire and a type of conveyance of a lifestyle.

Karen, I was very moved by the sendoff of the Queens, and if you look at
some earlier posts you may see my account of it. I was very impressed
with how much excitement this ship caused. That you feel it lives up to
its liner classification and that you love it is sweet frosting on the cake.

Ben (feeling unusally giddy)

And this ship is all it is touted to be, an
ocean liner and NOT a cruise ship.


It should be interesting to watch
her ocean-going career unfold and see what Cunard/Carnival Corp. has
in store for her in the years to come.

Karen Segboer






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http://www.cupcaked.com/reviews
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