| The corridor to the new Club balconies was open, mainly due to it not being there. We went outside onto the new top deck and as Rob has suspected, it was very slippery when wet, as were the steps, since they had some sort of coating on rather than being just wood. It would be okay if your footwear had a good grip but many ladies shoes do not, including those I was wearing, so you are likely to go arse over tit leading to Cunard being sued and closing it off. I almost slipped down the sopping steps leading down to the sun deck so very carefully went back the way I had come. Why did they not think of this? It's a wonderful area BUT needs something to make sure the passengers are safe because it would be a shame if they ended up closing it off due to planning stupidity. The navigational map had gone from outside the Pavilion Pool, replaced by an flat screen TV which didn't have the navigational info working. It was the same on the cabin TVs. Just that annoying blue screen. Also we noticed, the time and date on the TV was almost five months out of date. We returned in time for room service breakfast. |
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| Since I could feel us speeding up, I headed out onto the deck. Captain Wells had informed us that from 9am we would be going full throttle for about two hours as we performed our sea trials to set up the new track pilot system. For this, we deviated off course from some miles behind Saga Sapphire but only got up to has much as 22 knots. What was this full speed nonsense then??? A quick wander around while this went on led me to the extended kennels, which meant the aft bit of Deck 12 was now closed off. I popped into the logo shop and they were impressed the Cunard jacket I was wearing and had bought onboard was four years old. They said it looked new. We also tested the pods for around an hour before speeding back from 0-20 knots in ten minutes, as well as 0-10 knots in 345 metres, the full length of the ship. We then resumed our chartered course and I went back to the cabin where I noticed they'd put tea and coffee making things with the kettle. |
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Due to the weather, they then decided to close the forward observation area so we made a quick dash up to deck 13 to hear the noon whistle. We waited for Captain Wells to give his announcement but he didn't so we decided to go back inside and have lunch. Seven minutes later, as we were in the lift, he came on and began by saying it was noon. The funniest bit was when he said, "Nab Tower in the morning and boarding the pilot at 3.45 in the morning, and then going up through the Solent, north of the Isle of Wight, and up Southampton Water towards, um, towards Southampton." Lunch in Chef's Galley and they were trying to fix a fire door which kept sticking in the closed position then back to the cabin. We caught up with and passed Saga Sapphire, who was heading back to Dover. I bet they got a surprise seeing us zoom past. I couldn't help notice the shower head had a leak which made a bit of a mess. Later we couldn't get into the cabin because they had realigned all the locks so I went down to the Purser's desk and joined a very long queue to get a new card. I also discovered they threw out anything left onboard before refit rather than bag it up and return it to Carnival House in Southampton, so my £40 Voyages of Discovery fleece was gone forever. We hit the first of several thunderstorms, which was quite exciting. Once we had passed Dover, they were more intense and at one point it rained so much you couldn't see past the balcony. I even managed to get a photo showing some fork lightning for the first time ever. The balcony did become a little flooded with the downpours. A late night snackette in Kings Court and when we returned to the cabin, found Joey had put some drinks in the minibar for the first time all cruise. |
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| Morning and returning to Southampton. I have done several three Queens and the visibility here was akin to arrivals in May 2015. FTF Events had a boat out snapping photos of the star of the day - us! - but the rain was so awful coming up Southampton Water, creating such bad visibility, I went in until reaching Dock Head when it seemed to have cleared. Disembarkation was reasonable but they had closed one route to make sure everyone had their passport checked by British immigration officials. My friend Maureen Hunt came to pick me up and offered to gave Rob a lift to where his parents were parked. Before leaving, I saw they were rolling out a red carpet for various dignitaries and I saw Paul Clifton of BBC South heading to the pass office. Also there was Olivia Braddock, who I first met on Mary a few years before and invited me to the Royal Princess media event when they launched the ITV series, The Cruise Ship, in 2013. It was good seeing her again. |
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| Well that was the end of the before and after refit cruises on the fabulous Queen Mary 2. It was my ninth on that ship and the trip where I became a Diamond World Club member almost ten years after my very first cruise on the QE2. Despite being Diamond now, I wouldn't care if they decided to revert to points per night so I was demoted back to Platinum. Most other cruise lines have changed due to the unfairness of people only doing short cruises to gain the benefits without putting the money in. It's taken ten years to get this far but over 77 nights. Why should someone doing 15 two night cruises be in the top tier? But back to the ship. While I quite liked the majority of changes (especially seeing the back of some dreadful carpets!), I hope the new walkway and steps over the Deck 12 cabins can be made non-slip. My Mary is still my Mary and I look forward to returning to enjoy a longer cruise at some point.
For photos of Mary entering dry dock in Hamburg, go here while what she looks like before refit can be found here. To see photos of the three Queens sailing, go here |
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