Day 1

After a leisurely embarkation process that is nowhere near as stressful as air travel, we board QM2 via Deck 2. We are all ushered in the right direction of our staterooms by staff located at strategic points. Yes, I have my own bathroom with a toilet, basin and shower and they are spotless. There's a TV that permits me to send and receive e-mails at US$1.50 a time, check how much money I've spent onboard, and arrange for wake-up alarms etc.

I was introduced to my cabin by Abraham, the Steward that takes care of the staterooms in our part of the ship. Yes, I have a bathroom with a toilet and shower and they are spotless. Abraham has his priorities straight and immediately points out my bottle of complementary "Bon Voyage" champagne, courtesy of Cunard. This is how everybody should travel and I can easily see why the rich and famous of days gone by preferred the original Queen Mary to flying.

While I'm unpacking we have a mandatory emergency drill and have to grab out lifevests and head to muster points all around the ship. It goes like clockwork which is good because it is very easy to get lost. From the photos of QM2 you might be forgiven for making the observation that there don't seem to be enough lifeboats for the 4000+ people aboard. QM2 sports some canisters that automagically become Zodiacs if necessary - quite a clever way to ensure safety while maintaining aesthetics.

We "pushed back" from Dubai a little late but then that's a ritual in Dubai. I'd managed a place on the open-air Observation Deck immediately below the Bridge and had fantasic views as we sailed out of Port Rashid. There was a helipcopter overhead taking publicity photos and I'm hoping I'll be able to see me in the picture if they are ever made available. Fortunately I was wearing my signature colour - lime green - so I'll stand out. I was also right under the foghorn and boy is that sucker loud. Cunard are not kidding when they say it can be heard for 10 miles. When they tooted farewell to Dubai I had the biggest grin on my face. [Editor's note: in the end Cunard's publicist chose to use the dawn arrival photo shown, and not a dusk departure one, but my apartment is visible as the highest building on the left of the image. Thanks to Brett & Susan for finding the photo on Cunard's website.]

As we spun around to face the harbour entrance I got some great shots of the side of QM2 with my apartment building in the background. That will definitely be a wonderful memory for me as I love my little apartment and its views over the sea.
I was so pooped that I crashed fast asleep around 8pm without having eaten a thing all day. I made up for that this morning with the best Eggs Benedict I've had since leaving NZ. Little did I know it would be the first of many wonderful meals aboard QM2.

After breakfast I went to a lecture by one of the pilots of Concorde. He explained to us that because she flew faster than a bullet there was never a military version of the aircraft made. No point - everytime she fired a round, she would have shot herself! Later in the cruise the same lecturer explained to us what caused the fateful Paris crash that signalled the beginning of the end for this wonderful aircraft. It turned out to be a tragically unique set of circumstances, very much a freak accident, but preventable with a couple of modifications. Who could have known that September 11 would take out 30% of British Airway's regular supersonic trans-Atlantic customers spelling economic death for Concorde?

Well, I'm due to see a thing in Illuminations, the planetarium, in a few minutes. It is huge - you have to image something that is movie theatre sized with a domed ceiling. I'm told the dome drops down over the audience when being used as a Planetarium but the rest of the time it is used as a movie theatre with a starry ceiling. [Editor's note: Yep, the dome drops down over 150 seats in the centre of the theatre.]

Anyway - I have to run or I'll be late. More later ...