En route from Los Angeles to Honolulu among the 1,941 passengers of this Cunard Queen Elizabeth sailing, (there are 999 crew aboard as well), G and I occupy a starboard side aft cabin labeled 7113. The ship’s cabins are all full even as the complement of passengers is about one hundred below capacity. There are lots of solo travelers aboard which accounts for that discrepancy. Cruising at 21 knots (25 mph), this leg of our 2,581 mile journey will consume four days across open water. The weather forecast for our first day at sea, February 5, 2013, calls for partly cloudy skies, winds at 30 knots gusting to 40 knots (35 to 40 mph) with a high temperature of only 68 degrees. High temperatures will be warmer each day as we cruise. The ship is rocking a bit but the sensation is not at all unpleasant as the stablisers (British spelling) do their job.
Our course is South Westerly as we steam between the Fieberling Tablemount to our north and the Jasper Seamount (both ocean floor geographic features) to our south. The Jasper sea depth can be as little as 1,475 feet which is much more shallow than the average 13,000 feet of water that is the average depth between our keel and the sea bed. We experience a light chop and are told that on day two the chop will decrease while the swells will increase. It does. “Swell,” we reply.
The Queen Elizabeth, as is most common with today’s seagoing vessels, sports a bulbous bow. As such, a bulb protrudes at the front of the ship just below the waterline. Such a feature would seem to restrict the ship as she cuts through the water but that is not the case. The bulb modifies the flow of water around the hull and actually reduces drag. That means ships with bulbous bows use less fuel, are more stable and boast both increased speed and range.
Why, one might ask, do smaller watercraft not make use of this feature? Ship designers research indicates that the bulbous bow is effective only on vessels longer than about 50 feet in length that intend to operate at their maximum rated speed most of the time. Going slower negates the benefit of the bulb. Twenty-one knots does not seem to be all that fast when one thinks of travel on terra firma.
This ship is the third (of three) in the Cunard fleet. Launched in 2010, it is the sister to the Queen Victoria, which has been in service since 2007. These two vessels are described as cruise ships by design, unlike the third Cunard ship, the Queen Mary 2, which is referred to as an ocean liner. A cruise ship is for cruising and an ocean liner is for crossings. We are, however, crossing in a cruise ship. Go figure.
Owned by Carnival Corporation, Cunard ships are designed to feel different from the other brands also owned by that parent corporation that include Holland America, Princess, Celebrity, Carnival and Costa (of the ill-fated Concordia, still lying on its side off the coast of Italy). There is no neon or glitz or adventure here as the ship offers no water slides, zip lines, wave pools or rock climbing walls. Instead, there are ballroom dancing lessons (so that one such as me does not embarrass one’s self on the floor of the Queens Room in the evening) and lectures about the history of Cunard or the science of sea waves. There is bridge and trivia and table tennis and something called “deck quoits.”
In the Carnival Corporate way, everything costs extra. There is an $11 per guest per day hotel and dining charge, and a 15% automatic gratuity to all bar charges. Bar bills are as you might expect; a vodka tonic is $7.25 ($8.34 with automatic mandatory tip) and an Amoretto on the rocks is $6.95 ($7.99 with a/m tip). There is complementary Afternoon Tea in the Queens Lounge from 3:30 to 4:30 with scones and all the trimmings. The line on day one is long but dwindles on later sea days. Ten paces forward from the last person in the line is the Golden Lion where tea without the scones is $2.75. It sits empty. Postcards can be mailed for $2.90. Movies are free. Bingo is $10.00 per card but there are cash prizes. In the Fitness Center, an unpublished fee applies for the Yoga Class but both the Stretch and Relax Class and the Fab Abs Class are free.
The Christian Fellowship Gathering is “unhosted.” Make up your own communion punch line (no pun intended) here.
G is a Diamond Member at Cunard, which, in the terms one might associate with an airline’s frequent flyer program, a top-tier sailor. As such, she receives 480 free Internet minutes (28 per day on this 17 day leg of our cruise) valued at $167.95 at a rate of $0.35 per minute. And, she is invited to dine for free at one of the ships alternative dining venues, choosing either a lunch at the Verandah restaurant of a dinner in the specialty dining areas of The Lido restaurant. As a first time Cunard passenger, if I wish to accompany her, there is a $35 charge. She has also been invited to an exclusive wine tasting event at 3:30 in the afternoon next Monday. I can come with her for a charge of $30.50.
There is more to say about the Internet aboard Queen Elizabeth. For people who simply want to go to the Internet café to check for email, the Pay As You Go rate is $0.75 per minute. The speed of the Internet connection is unbearably slow. If you do not have your own email address or you can’t access your regular address from the ship because you don’t know how or their system does not support your system, you may sign up for a “personalized” address to send and receive email while on board. You are charged for the time you use at $0.75 per minute and $3.95 for each email you send or receive. Should you wish to print a page, you may do that for $0.50 per page. SKYPE and similar voice calling services are not supported aboard ship so FaceTime or Viber will not work for voice calls. They may (we haven’t tried yet) work for texts but the per minute charge for WiFi will apply. What takes a minute on shore will take considerably longer to complete at sea. Younger demographics, I surmise, will rebel against these charges and refuse to sail on cruise ships unless they can remain connected; if not for free, for a much more reasonable amount. Should cruise lines fail to heed this warning, I allege, they will become Oldsmobiles.
My MacBook Pro using Mail 6.2 (Apple’s latest software) would promptly send email but not receive it without a long (and costly) delay. The same was true of Gloria’s iPad. My iPhone, however, would both send and receive. Please note that the ship is all Apple. There is a note buried in the internet instructions that to send mail your SMTP Mail Server addresses may
have to be changed to 172.31.0.2 “but before you do that you are advised to try sending e-mails with your original settings first.” It doesn’t say anything about “receive mail.” Christian, the harried but earnest young man staffing the Internet centre, says he has never seen that before. I suspect Christian sees a lot as he calms those who have mounting dollar signs in their heads who have logged on but find themselves unable to log off and stand in line to get his help stopping the cash flowing overboard.
When it is time to Log Out from the ship’s system, one must click the LOGOUT button or the costly minutes continue to march onward. The screen containing the LOGOUT button vanishes, however, so logging out becomes a time consuming and anxiety-producing chore. I was unable to log out from my iPhone and Gloria was unable to log out from her iPad. Fortunately, I was able to attempt to log back on with my MacBook Pro and, after being told that we were already on line, to then log off from the computer. Precious minutes are wasted during that discovery and subsequent execution of that process. It is not that much money but it feels as if the hole in your pocket cannot be shuttered.
Cunard operates three class levels aboard the Queen Elizabeth. At the top are the Queens Grill passengers followed by the Princess Grill passengers (together they make up 17 percent of those aboard) followed by us Britannia level passengers. Queens and Princess passengers have paid for
larger accommodations and are afforded more luxurious dining venues and access to some areas of the ship not available to Britannia guests.
No complaints will be heard regarding the Britannia Restaurant where evening dining is hosted. The two level dining room is quite lovely and the food is tasty if not delicious. We avoid both bread and dessert.
For the first two days at sea, the ship is in “Code Red.” That means that the passengers and crew are asked to wash their hands very often so as to help reduce the threat of a noro virus outbreak. By banning us from self-serve food lines and preventing us from touching coffee pots or water spigots that may harbor the virus, they are helping to keep us all safe. To further that cautious outlook, we are encouraged to not use the public toilets but to return to our cabins for toileting. To remind us to avoid the public toilets, their doors are all propped open.
For breakfast and lunch most guests dine at The Lido restaurant that is run as a cafeteria. Coffee or water or tea is not brought to your table nor is it available at a self-service station during “Code Red.” Instead, these beverages are obtained by standing in a line at a beverage station manned by one or more crewmembers. The line can be short or it can be long. While one waits, hot food cools or, if the process is reversed, beverages cool while hot food is obtained. Either way, it doesn’t make much sense to us until we realize that this is about health restrictions. This procedure is
changed after two days as that is apparently the time for them to determine that we didn’t carry the virus on board.
We are trivia fans while on board ship. On our initial foray, we joined a couple from Arizona, Larry and Kathy, who we had seen ballroom dancing last night. They are amazing. Soon after, we were joined by Roger and Camilla McGuinn.
Ring a bell? McGuinn, lead singer for The Byrds, now makes his living keeping folk music alive. Camilla is a classically trained guitarist, co-writes with him and seems to be the marketing force behind his current work. They live in Orlando. We did poorly at trivia but made good friends. Question: What kind of creature is a Pacific Sea Wasp? Google it.
During subsequent days and trivia events, the six of us continue to be partners but never win. It matters not at all since Gloria and I have become friends with Roger and Camilla. After trivia, we head up to the Commodore Lounge with them for a cocktail. Roger is aboard as a lecturer and on our third full day at sea he captivates a theater full of listeners as he plays and narrates an overview of his career.
Other lecturers also capture our interest. One hour learning about whales we may encounter on this cruise is particularly interesting. The lecturer is both informative and humorous, a great combination.
On our third day at sea, Gloria and I continue our tradition of walking on deck and are soon aware that something is amiss. Small groups of passengers have gathered at the rail on deck three and scan the horizon as if looking for something. We are far at sea, farther at sea than I have ever been and there is nothing to see. Soon, however, curiosity gets the best of us and we inquire of one of these lookouts and are told that a capsized boat is floating somewhere nearby and we are going to circle and see if there is an emergency afoot.
We find the subject wreck that turns out to be a skiff of about 24 feet in length that has apparently been floating for some time. Barnacles have made it their refuge. We circle it and contact the United States Coast Guard as is required by maritime law. We circle it three times in all and, once we are certain that no human life is at risk here, the Coast Guard releases us to continue our journey which we do.
Later on day three, we comment to each other about vibrations aboard the Queen Elizabeth. They seem to be more pronounced than what we have felt aboard ship during previous cruises.
That evening, invited to dine at the table of Jonathan Leavor, Chief Pursor and a long-time friend of Gloria, we learn that one of our engines failed during the day. Other passengers heard a “bang.” We did not. In any event, the engine difficulties do not seem to have impacted us. Both of our propellers continue to turn and we have not lost speed. We shall see if that remains true as we continue steaming west.
Our first night in the Britannia Dining Room we are led to a table of four. We had expected to be at a table for six o r eight. Looking forward to meeting people and making friends, this four top table was a disappointment. When no one came to join us, we were even more let down. On the second night, we asked if we could join a larger group and, for the third night, we joined a six top and met some new friends.
I surmise that we are below the average age aboard the Queen Elizabeth.
This cruise began at Southampton in England and made its way to Fort Lauderdale as a “first leg.” Then, the QE traversed the Panama Canal en route to Los Angeles as a second part of its itinerary. From Los Angeles, the third portion of this cruise is to Auckland. The fourth leg is Auckland back to Los Angeles. Then, QE finds its way back to Southampton. We meet many who are traveling, as we are, from Los Angeles to Los Angeles. We also meet passengers here who are “all in” traveling from Southampton to Southampton. Our 35 days seems like child’s play to their 135 days.
Such a long cruise accounts for the older demographic. No person who needed to hold down a job (like no child who required time in school) could take this many days away from their “normal” life. Folks aboard this ship are past those concerns. There are many passengers who are aided by walkers and canes but there are also dancers and joggers and exercise fanatics. When I see someone younger aboard, it is invariably an entertainer.
We have a regular entertainment staff that includes four singers and twelve dancers. Headliners have included a song and dance man and a comedian. There is a stage production available nightly and, so far, only one has necessitated an early departure from the comfortable seats.
The ship is, on this leg, mostly American and Canadian. There are also lots of Brits. Few Asians have joined us; the majority of non-English speakers are German.
Gloria and I are determined to gain no weight on this cruise, In fact, we would both like to lose a couple of pounds. That, of course, is a tall order during a vacation that is in many ways centered upon food and drink. To help us reach our goal, we are walking at least four miles every day and we always—or almost always—avoid the elevators. Instead, we walk up and down flight after flight of stairs. Our cabin in on deck seven. We eat both breakfast and lunch on deck nine. Dinner and evening and midday entertainment is mostly on deck two. We have come to know stairway “B” and stairway “C” quite well and our leg muscles greet the upward trips with a cautious if not hostile
familiarity. (Gloria here…may I add that hostile familiarity grows as the day and evening progresses. Whose idea is this stairs thing anyway? Why isn’t skinny the predominant gene in my family heritage?)
(Paul here…may I add that I have noticed a phenomenon: elderly men of slight build wear their pants very high and elderly men of girth wear their pants very low. I am determined to become that rare elderly man who wears his pants at his waist.
Gloria…It is Friday our fifth day on board. It is strange how quickly we adapt to whatever surroundings or situation we find ourselves experiencing. On Tuesday afternoon there
was that split second when Paul thought we had been on board for two days. I reminded him that just the day before we were having lunch at our friends Jake and Caroline’s house in Dana Point. How quickly we adjust to life onboard. Since then, as Paul mentioned we have played Jeopardy each day. It is more social than a test of our general knowledge and we enjoy it greatly. We have seen two “stage shows” performed by the Cunard singers and dancers. It hurts to be sophisticated, but if I was their mother, I would be proud. We enjoyed a really good singer, (Lion King in London, and other high level shows in London’s theater district) he was really good and worth the price of admission had there been one, Last night we loved the Irish comic. His wit was sharp, his jokes funny and he adlibbed to audience members.
A very fast 45 minutes. I haven’t been able to see Paul on the dance floor yet, but it’s really late by the time we get out of the shows, and sleeping sounds better at midnight. Must be all the damned stairs! Tonight is karaoke in the Golden Lion Pub, and if it’s like any other voyage I’ve been on it will offer up a good share of fun, so I think we shall participate, in an audience way, not a singing way. My voice would cause ‘man overboard’ cries in less than five seconds. Sort of like the game “I can name that tune in .. notes”, I can make a man want to drown himself. Tomorrow is Honolulu Hawaii. It will be nice to ashore, and wander around. We have both been here before, more than once. The standard tourist sites aren’t puling us back, so the hop on -hop off trolley might be a fine way to spend some time on our land legs. That and a good internet connection, this one is frustrating to say the least. Who knows, perhaps I might have already talked to some of you before you read this.
I noted earlier that Gloria is a Cunard “Diamond.” The Cunard “Membership Benefits Guide” has much to say about “Diamond” status. “Once you have completed 15 voyages or 150 nights on board you will reach the pinnacle of the Cunard World Club, Diamond membership. When you next travel with Cunard you can look forward to receiving all of the Platinum benefits as well as: 1) a Diamond Membership Pin, 2) Priority Luggage Delivery. You will receive luggage labels in your documentation that entitle you to Priority Luggage Delivery. (This did not happen with Gloria on this trip). 3) Complimentary Internet Time Plan. Enjoy an additional four hours of Internet time, giving you up to eight hours in total. 4) On Board Sales Priority Reservations. Simply call your dedicated Voyage Sales Specialists as early in the voyage as possible to make an appointment time that is convenient for you. 5) A Complimentary Meal at one of the ship’s Alternative Dining Venues. You may choose to have one lunch at The Verandah on Queen Elizabeth; alternatively you may have one Dinner in The Lido. 6) Dedicated Diamond Member Contact at the Shoreside World Club Desk. And, 7) Priority Disembarkation. Guests not booked on a Cunard transfer may, if they wish, enjoy priority disembarkation. Wow. Gloria’s room key denotes her Diamond status with a Black Bar emblazoned with the word: DIAMOND.
I am a first time cruiser with Cunard. No matter that I have cruised with other Carnival brands including Princess and Celebrity. Here, I am a passenger whose room key is branded with a scarlet letter red bar. To rid myself of this lowly designator, I must work my way up to Silver status. That is automatic after completing my first voyage.
Then, I look forward to becoming a Gold member. When I have completed at least two voyages or 20 nights on board, I will be so recognized. I get a pin and am invited to a cocktail party. I will have achieved this level before we reach Los Angeles. My next step will be more elusive.
To reach Cunard Platinum status, I must complete seven voyages or 70 nights on board. If I make that, I’ll get a new pin, I’ll save 20% on dry cleaning and laundry, I’ll get invited to a Senior Officer’s Party and more. A long shot for certain.
As a lifetime Platinum level Thee-Million-Mile Flyer with American Airlines, a lifetime Sliver level One-Million-Mile Flyer with Delta Airlines, and a lifetime Platinum Honored Guest Member with Marriott Hotels, I have become spoiled. I have become accustomed to special recognition, upgrades and elevated accommodation and treatment as a matter of basic expectation.
With my new attraction to cruising, instead of becoming a loyal customer of a single line, I have haphazardly spread my business around. First with Celebrity, then with Royal Caribbean, then with Princess, then with Royal Caribbean again, then with Silver Seas and now with Cunard I am with everybody a nobody. My ninety (or thereabouts) days on ships over the past two years earns me nothing in the way of “special treatment.” Frankly, I miss it. Talk about spoiled? That’s me.
Gloria’s Diamond Status is, therefore, quite an achievement as you can plainly see. Her history on Cunard is storied. She first boarded the Queen Mary (which now lies moored at Long Beach, California, as is a hotel, museum/tourist attraction) in 1964 as a teenaged girl emigrating first to Canada and then to the United States. At dinner last night, Jonathan was impressed that she was aboard that ship. Since that first Cunard experience, she has crossed the Atlantic many times, traversed the Panama Canal and more.
Gloria tells the story of when she revisited the Queen Mary after it had been retired from transatlantic service and became permanently moored to terra firma. She wanted to show Mandi and Paul how she first came to America. I’ll let her tell it:
Gloria… My kids’ parents are connected to Cunard, deeply. My husband immigrated to the US onboard the original Queen Elizabeth, which now lays sunken in a Japanese harbor. Every four years his family would return to England to visit family and he traversed the Atlantic many times aboard the Queen Elizabeth or Queen Mary. A love of ships developed that lasted a lifetime, and our children had a larger base knowledge of things maritime than their counterparts. Don’t get me started on the Titanic, but that ship did account for many school reports, all A’s, for not just them but their friends too. I had to wait until I was eighteen years of age to immigrate to the United States without a legal guardian. And so at the ripe old age of 18, I boarded the Queen Mary, bound for New York and my new life in the new world. Not so new at that point, but so much younger than England and brand new for me, I was clueless. Some of my memories were fond on that crossing however the rough seas that negated any cooking of hot food for two days and the ropes that were strung along the companionways to hold on to while walking were not. I arrived in New York happy, naïve and ready to embrace this new life I had chosen.
When I was thirty we moved to Southern California. One of the first things we did was to go and visit the Queen Mary in Long Beach. There were three classes on the Queen Mary, First Class, Cabin Class and Tourist class. (I had sprung for cabin class for my passage. It was expensive at one hundred twenty pounds sterling.) On the tour, our very young guide who was probably attending a high school near Long Beach showed us a portion of a dining room all set for dinner. She explained that there were three classes onboard and that this was a replica of the cabin class restaurant. She noted that in the “olden days” passengers would dine in this room for all their meals while on board. OLDEN DAYS? S**t! I was only thirty and there was only twelve years since I sailed. I was incredulous;
shoved into a museum somewhere like a curiosity. But time heals all wounds and here I am on board a new Queen Elizabeth, the crew and entertainment staff are young, but compared to so many of the other passengers I am a spring chicken and don’t belong in a
museum. All is good.
Even with all that history, however, Gloria’s Diamond gets her free Internet time and not much else. We have yet to save 20% on laundry because we’ve sent none in. We didn’t get the luggage tags for priority luggage handling but the regular luggage handling was more than satisfactory.
The point? The point is that frequent customer programs are designed to encourage and ensure repeat business: to instill “loyalty.” They mostly don’t work very well. The concept of loyalty in this world is mostly dead (not completely dead: See “The Princess Bride” for the joke here).
We are at Starbuck's in Honolulu as we post this. Due back on the ship in three hours, we are catching up. Our next entry should occur in four or five days. Bon Voyage.
Seen the Sea
Saturday, February 09, 2013
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
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Comments

2025-02-16
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Fred Yaeger
2013-02-10
Loved your blog...Enjoy