Queen Mary 2 Maiden Voyage - 18-21 January 2004

Queen Mary 2 heads into gleaming seas as we savor the afternoon sun of our first sea day. My efforts to send daily updates to this site soon had to be abandoned, and a more leisurely pace obtained. Here I have tried to catch the section of glass flooring on the bridge, an opening looking directly to the upper Observation Deck below, and the ship's side.

Another passenger making an image, intent on capturing that afternoon light.

Here appeared for the first time class segregation outside of the dining rooms, Deck 11 aft. I did not begrudge anyone the compensation: Britannia Restaurant was decoratively more interesting than the Grills. Since this is 21st century sea travel we are called "guests," not passengers, though I greatly prefer the latter term. As John Maxtone-Graham has pointed out, guests do not pay.

Good Morning America crew getting B-roll in the Grand Lobby.

While on deck we are chasing a sky of fire.

That lurid circle is actually a light source in the Library.

Stephen Payne's "touch of Independence", or of any ship with a traditional docking bridge. This was Alan's favorite daytime spot.

And Mr. Payne's three-deck stair to Deck 8, evoking no other liner I've been on.

Crew members enjoying a respite. This aft portion of Deck 13 is the perfect spot for a crew space, subverting any tinge of class notions by allowing those in service to look down on those they serve for a change.

The Broadway Cafe on Deck 12, a popular sunning spot. I was foolish in this sun and got quite lobstery.

The pleasures of the verandah.

Afternoon constitutional, snoozy reading, and the ship boils her way westwards at about 25 knots.

Ever the photogene, QM2.

A Good Morning America cameraman obliges these USC fans, celebrating the Rose Bowl game nearly three weeks previous.

Later, the QM2 steel logo invites us to take a stroll ...

... from port to starboard ...

... where GMA and other photographers are back hard at work.

Unique among QM2 stair towers, B has this skylight at its summit, recalling the earliest days of sea travel when decklights provided much needed light to the dark reaches of a ship's hull-bound interior.

Ship influences are busting out all over, and here we are looking at the Payne hommage to Rotterdam of 1959.

Dusk, and there's still a roll underfoot. The pools were handsomely laid out, but I swam only once on QM2, finding the pool impossibly crowded, or netted over, or me with an agenda of someplace I thought I just had to be.

Starboard side counterpart to the one with a P on it for Princess, the maitre d's stand at the Queen's Grill entrance.

a study in circles as I try in vain to photograph every square inch of the ship

A dining room entrance in less-restrained style: Britannia.

Some may tap QM2's columns and find them hollow, but a discreet touch of this vase at the dining room's entrance gives off the cool solidity that can only be real alabaster.

Bas-relief detailing surrounding Britannia's lower level.

Glass mural in the grand corridor evokes Normandie glass treatments.

Nearby, South America as one of the four bas-relief murals (rumored to be fibreglass -- no tapping!)

Cunard lion and Inca god.

The North American mural. I prefered the glass/gilt works to either side. These continental wall adornments were more enjoyable to me conceptually than visually; ultimately such a dogged representational approach to collage ends up hackneyed and unconvincing.

Wheelchair lift to the 1.5 Deck corridor.

Queen's Room formalism, an enormous public space that functions well for tea and dancing.

Side gallery seating in Queen's Room.

Long processional run downhill to G32. Revelers seeking Outkast and Jay-Z must first walk past Queen Mary 2's big band playing dance tunes for an older demographic.

The archway with its illuminated circles, a reprise of a theme first taken up in the Grand Lobby.

At the entrance to the ship's disco, a bowl of roses for a Queen, with murals to educate passengers on the regal namesake of the room, not the ship.

Commerce on Queen Mary 2 was driven more by the Mayfair shops (particularly regarding Maiden Voyage-associated items), though the starboard side Gallery had works on display.

A wide enough space that art browsers, along with foot traffic, and those seeking a quiet chair looking out on the water, can all happily coexist.

Maritime art by James Flood, with non-sacred works also available.

The Chart Room was occasionally taken over for art auctions ...

... but most often left to its best intended use.

A capacious social center in ocean liner grand style.

Sir Samuel's is a wine bar across from the Chart Room.

Decoratively this is my favorite room, though I never put a dent in one of those chairs.

In vino veritas, with a mural and furnishings to stir thoughts of an Italian liner of the 1950s.

Chart Room and Grand Corridor.

B stairs between 6 and 7 Decks.

Time for a sunset stroll:

We are in the kind of latitudes where a sunset swim in open air can be just the thing before dinner: Pavilion Pool & Bar.

The Pavilion's retractable roof from topside: the sliding roof will keep this space alive on cooler crossings of the Atlantic.

Deck 13 sun space spans the ship's unprecedented width.

The Regatta Bar, a favorite spot for refreshment after athletic endeavour.

My Waterloo, a fine place for death match struggles between Juan and me, which he usually won. Once we were shooting when we noticed that a GMA crew was training their lens upon us: we proceeded to throw up brick after brick, unable to sink a basket for b-roll.

This is a formal night, and the Grand Corridor is set up for sessions with the ship's photographer.

Juan and I preferred to use the self-timer on a late-night tour of Britannia, but the spirit was the same: you dress up, you get your picture taken.

It was fun to come into the dining rooms at night and see the places all laid out, to get a feel for other sections of this enormous room.

More alabaster and a lovely curve to the stairway.

A grand corner in a grand room.

Tomorrow we dock in Barbados, our sequential sea days at an end.