SUNDAY, August 16, 1987
TRANS-ATLANTIC VOYAGE
QUEEN ELIZABETH 2
AUGUST 16 – 21, 1987
Greg and Karen, my niece and husband, delivered Aunt Audrey and me to the docks in New York City around 1:00 pm and the Queen Elizabeth 2 had not even docked yet. She had skirted a large storm and consequently was delayed. We walked in the waiting area a long time, then checked in at our respective alphabet letters and co-ordinated our embarkation group (2), then returned to Karen and Greg for another hour or so of visiting.
Meanwhile the QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 docked and managed a turn around in a very short time. We boarded around 4:00 pm, found our cabin 1012, dropped our carry-on bags and headed to the forward Boat Deck area to meet Karen and Greg on the roof of the pier. We leaned over for the next two hours, watching the baggage and food loading process. Had long chats with a brother and sister, Frank and Betty from Southampton. Betty is a singer and may do a duet with me at the talent show. We set our clocks forward two hours at 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm so we kidded about being two hours different from the dock. At our 8:30 the Queen Elizabeth 2 backed away from the pier and turned downstream, and since Aunt Audrey was very hungry, we headed for the Columbia Restaurant where we were seated at table 217 on the starboard side. I spotted the Statue of Liberty passing by to Starboard, so missed getting a picture of it. I ordered Victoria potage, roast lamb and salad. The vegetables were snow peas, carrots, and celery. The mint jelly was in a hollowed out mushroom cap! For dessert we both had a vanilla souflée with chocolate sauce, followed by coffee.
When we were done, we walked around to see what we could find. Oh yes – during dinner, my waiter asked “Where’s hubby?” and I told him………..He then joked about me needing a “joy boy” (which I later found to have been “toy boy”), and I quipped about not wanting to rob the cradle! “Just a minute” said he, and he then brought over an older waiter named C…….. He stayed only momentarily saying something to the effect that he wouldn’t be a joy boy but we could meet. We’ll see. Mark, our other waiter talked with me about Torquay where he is from, so I’ll ask him further about it.
On our walk around, we found the Lido deck, two pools aft, one enclosed and one outside with two Jacuzzis and a kiddie pool. Also we saw the tennis and shuffleboard areas. Eventually we returned to the cabin to unpack (my suit case hadn’t arrived earlier) and we settled in for the night. I bathed, in our large bathtub, sporting the old-fashioned taps, washed clothes and read the information sheets till midnight. I then tried in vain for a long time to get to sleep.
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