Cruising the High Seas in Style
The largest ocean liner in the world and arguably the most luxurious, you can imagine I felt pretty lucky to be spending four nights aboard the Queen Mary 2, especially considering I was a first-time cruiser - I mean way to set the benchmark high.
With fifteen restaurants and bars, five swimming pools, a casino, a ballroom, a theatre and a planetarium (the first at sea) the ship is quite big; to say the very least.
Before long it was time to set sail. We were lucky enough to stay in a Britannia Club Stateroom which included a spacious balcony - perfect for savouring the ever-changing view right out our window. To take advantage of this luxury, we took our seats, popped open the French bubbly and clinked glasses as the horn sounded and we set off - bon voyage!
We were going to be on the ship for a total of four nights, as the ship headed from Melbourne to Kangaroo Island, before then returning back to Melbourne and continuing on its world voyage, up along the east coast of Australia.
Still in sheltered, calm waters, in Port Phillip Bay, we simply sat on the balcony and enjoyed the amazing sunset that was - what a truly unforgettable moment. As the ship cruised out of the bay, into the tameless Southern Ocean we prepared to go down to the Britannia Restaurant for dinner, where we would be wined and dined each evening till our hearts, and bellies were content. I was well and truly accustomed to being treated to three courses each night, let me tell you.
Our first day at sea - not the best first day at sea, I'll be honest. We woke to incredibly rough seas and an overcast, frankly miserable day, which unfortunately endured into the evening.
Fast forward to our third and final full day on the ship, however; (read about our adventures on Kangaroo Island here) a picture-perfect summer's day - the forecast, calm seas, blue cloudless skies, and sunshine. It was heaven, and it seemed everyone else on board thought so too. Everyone, like seagulls fighting over the remains of a chip or crazed shoppers on Boxing Day, swiftly reserved ownership of one of the many deck chairs bathed in that glorious stuff called sunshine. They were worth fighting for, for that would be the place where they would lie, like seals on the beach, all day. But I mean who can blame them most of them (residing in the UK) hadn't seen the sun for months - at least that's what they said.
So, with a pina colada in hand, there we lay, on deck four, the memories of the rough seas experienced on day one but a distant memory.
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