Queen Mary 2 in the port of Rotterdam (Dec 2022)

Itinerary
Saturday 10th December	-	Southampton, UK
Sunday	-	at sea
Monday	-	Rotterdam, Netherlands (for Amsterdam)
Tuesday	-	Zeebrugge, Belgium (for Bruges)
Wednesday	-	Le Havre, France (for Paris)
Thursday 15th December	-	Southampton, UK

The cancellation of our Queen Elizabeth cruise in April 2021 left us with a credit and looking for something else in a narrowing range of options quickly being booked-up by other passengers, so we were lucky to get two very nice Queens Grill suites for Andrew, me, Gerry and Angie.

Gerry hadn't been on QM2 and while the other 3 of us had, it was quite a while ago and only in her main Britannia Restaurant. This time, we would be in the prestigious Queen's Grill!

While Andrew & Angie shared a Queens Grill Penthouse, Gerry & I had a Royal Suite called the Queen Anne Suite; an unusual shape with no balcony but with a great view over the ship's bow.

The View!		The Queen Anne Suite - Living Room with 7 Windows! The only drawback was that it was so cold!

The Bedroom Inside with borrowed light		Bathroom with Jacuzzi bath		Cloakroom		The Queen's Grill Restaurant

Our suite may have been quite 'lavish' but it was marred slightly by an air-conditioning system that never got the room warm enough and the hot water flow was so poor that it took nearly 25 minutes to fill the bath deep enough to use the jacuzzi.

Our Destination Highlights included:-

	The Euromast (1960) 606ft (185m)		Hotel New York (1901) The old Holland America Line Headquarters		Pilgrim Fathers' Church Old Rotterdam		SS Rotterdam (1959) Hotel & Tourist Attraction
S.S. Rotterdam (1959) - faithfully preserved as a hotel & tourist attraction

The Bridge		La Fontaine Restaurant Tourist Class Dining Room		Ritz-Carlton Room First Class Lounge		The Smoking Room with reversible benches

	Honfleur (from Le Havre) "La Lieutenance" & the Medieval Harbour				Chateau de Breuil (from Le Havre) Calvados Winery Tour & Digital Presentation

Although we also docked in Zeebrugge and could have taken an excursion to Bruges, we chose not to as we had already 'done' Bruges before (as recently as earlier this year in fact). Instead, we took the shuttle into local Blankenberg, hoping to find a Christmas market but there was nothing. So much for the title of our cruise!

The Carinthia Lounge ex-Winter Garden		Grand Lobby Dressed for Christmas		Illuminations Planetarium Theatre		The Queen's Room Black & White Ball

It was interesting to see how Queen Mary 2 had changed since we had last been on her but 5 nights in the winter wasn't the best way of appreciating a ship of her size. In any event, all our meals were taken in the Queen's Grill, which was quite good, though its somewhat bland decor and poor outlook are no match for the splendour of the Britannia Restaurant. So aside from a couple of very nice snacks in the refurbished Carinthia Lounge (previously the under-used Winter Garden) and Planetarium show, we didn't try anywhere else and there wasn't enough time to properly enjoy what the ship has to offer.

As for the 'works canteen' or King's Court Cafeteria, the ship's alterations have done nothing to improve the messy and confusing layout, so it's probably just as well we had the Queen's Grill this time!

For more photos of Queen Mary 2 and the ports visited on this cruise, see account at Captain Martini >>

Cruise Mileage: 722 nautical miles
Total Mileage to date: 223,688 n miles