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There’s Something About Mary
The transatlantic crossing is back. Just don’t call it a cruise.
What’s the best way to combat jet lag? If you’re crossing the Atlantic you might take an exceedingly civilized cruise aboard Cunard’s Queen Mary 2. As you steam from Southampton to New York, clocks turn back an hour each night for six lazy days. Meanwhile you’re transported back to a more elegant era, where an 8,000-volume library supplants the Internet, and couples dine in their best evening wear. Celebrating 170 years in service this year, Cunard has made old-fashioned glamour their calling card. And not once do they ever use the C-word; it’s a voyage, dammit.
When it came on line in 2004, the QM2 was the biggest passenger liner ever built — with 17 decks, she towers over the waterline like a 23-story building. The ship carries the largest ballroom at sea, and its promenade deck flanked by lounges is a third-of-a-mile long. But you don’t have to stand at the railings to get a front-row view of the Atlantic: The Commodore Club, tucked away at the bow, was globorati’s favorite hideaway, and the perfect place to enjoy jazz, drinks and ocean panoramas.
The QM2 is also home to Canyon Ranch’s first onboard spa, a 20,000-square-foot haven with a thalassotherapy pool (featuring airbed recliner lounges, body massage benches and “neck fountains”); a thermal suite with an herbal sauna and aromatic steam room; and a dramatically tiled Middle Eastern-inspired steam chamber where therapists perform a signature “Rasul Ceremony” (that’s a medicinal mud and steam therapy).
Cunard has long been a leader on the food front: Before Marco Pierre White teamed up with P&O, Todd English opened his first restaurant at sea on the QM2. It’s tempting not to eat anywhere else when you’ve got English’s “truffled potato love letters” and North African-inspired chermoula shrimp.
The QM2 embarks on its 2010 world cruise in January, charting a new east-to-west route that includes a maiden stop in South Africa — where she might even bump into her older (retired) sister, Queen Elizabeth 2. Its new owner, a UAE real estate magnate, initially planned to turn the liner into a floating hotel off of Dubai. But we now hear the QE2 will temporarily anchor itself to host another crowd — the influx of fans for the 2010 World Cup.
read more: 08. Journey | cruise
