May 31, The Queen Mary 2 at Sea

Sunday, May 31 - Day 116 - The Queen Mary 2 at Sea

Early this morning we completed our great circle track across the Atlantic Ocean and settled into a westerly course towards New York City. Tomorrow we will pass near the resting place of the Titanic.

Sun rise today is at 5:21AM. We miss it big time as Carolyn wakes about 8:45AM to find...surprise...Dick still sound asleep. She gets up and dresses and Dick opens his eyes at 9AM. We make it to breakfast just before the dining room closes at 9:30. Our waiter has learned what we eat and asks if we are having the usual, we say yes. The service was a bit sketchy the first day or so, but has settled into the almost perfect service we had on the Cape Town to Southampton run.

The Captain’s church service is at 10AM in the Royal Court Theater. It is well attended and we sing one of our all time favorite hymns, How Great Thou Art. Hard to believe next Sunday we will be back in our own church!

At 11AM we go to hear an interview with celebrity Christopher Biggins in Illuminations. He is a British actor and TV presenter. We don’t know any thing he has been in, but he happens to be sitting very near us in the dining room. He is very friendly with a great booming laugh! Then we stay for Joshua Levines 11:15 talk on "The Blitz, September 7, 1940." He is filling the house and by 11:05 there is not a seat in the room, people are standing and sitting on the steps to hear him. He is an excellent speaker and his photos and videos are great!

It has been a busy morning so we retire to the room and order the California burgers...hamburger with all the trimmings..bacon, avocados etc, from the Queens Grill menu. They are not too big, but delicious!

Dick decides to take a nap, his knee is better, but still bothering him some. Carolyn goes to see the screening of "Mr Ocean Liner, the Life and Times of Bill Miller". He is the lecturer on ocean liners and she has really enjoyed his talks.

Back in the room she finds Dick sound asleep. Since her knees are feeling much better, she decides to explore the top decks a little since she has yet to do this. It is a very pretty afternoon, but still really windy so deck 13 and 14 are closed still. Eleven is open and there are a few people walking and playing some of the deck games. She finds the kennels and watches the people interact with their pets. There are 5 dogs and their people out this afternoon. It is had to imagine bring your pet on a ocean voyage!

It is informal tonight and we go early as we are hungry. The dining room is very empty and we get a chance to talk to some of the staff as they check on us. We both have Caesar salad and the tempura shrimp as our main. This is a favorite of Carolyn’s. We finish off our bottle of white wine from yesterday and it goes very well with the shrimp dish. Dick has key lime pie and Carolyn has the chocolate volcano for dessert. As we are leaving the people sitting on either side of us are just coming in.

The sun is low in the sky and casting a very nice glow on the promenade deck so we decide to walk a little. While we are watching the sun set several whales go cruising past the ship. Carolyn saw a pod of dolphin off our balcony while we were dressing earlier. We stroll back to our cabin, get ready for bed and read awhile. It has been a pleasant Sunday at sea.