Editor’s Note: Cruises that go terribly or tragically wrong are always in the news, starting with the Titanic. But what about the many, many cruises that are sheer joy? Last year retired French professor Jeffry Foster went on a world voyage. We are presenting his diary in several parts. Here’s Part I:
World Voyage Part I
by Jeffrey Foster
Tuesday, January 3 : I arrived at the Brooklyn Terminal shortly after noon and found there to be two long lines:one for most passengers and a second for those who had platinum or above status because of many voyages aboard Cunard Lines. 1800 people boarded the ship in NYC . The ship had begun its voyage from England before Christmas having traveled to the Caribbean prior to its arrival in NYC. Fortunately for me I was able to be in my stateroom by one pm. I had lunch and after the mandatory fire drill, returned to my room an unpacked. The show after dinner was okay and then I went ot the main lobby to listen to a harpist perform before retiring for the evening.
Wednesday, January 4 : The three meals are served in the main dining room and in the Kings Court. People are assigned a specific table in the main dining room for dinner. For breakfast and lunch the maître d’ places guests at different tables for each of the meals. For me, I prefer to go to the Kings Court for breakfast and lunch which serves buffet meals. There are several restaurants to choose from : the Lotus, the Carvery and La Piazza. I have noticed a difference on this trip. Before passengers could serve their own beverages, now everything is done by the staff. Hand sanitizers are everywhere and upon entering a dining facility, it is obligatory to use it…After breakfast, I went to the main lobby and sat to do some Sudoku. However an employee was redoing the immense flower arrangement there, so I must admit this distracted me. Then I decided to attend the morning lecture. While waiting for it to begin, a flute concerto by Mozart was piped into the room an of course this made me think of my dear friend Tara Helen O’Connor. The lecture by Eamonn Gearon dealt with Saudi Arabia. It was interesting to learn that it is the only country in the world named for a family and was founded in 1932. A highlight of each day is the Afternoon Tea with its various sandwiches, pastries and scones. The commodore had a cocktail party prior to our dinner. The evening was formal and the most interesting dressed individuals were five year old brother/sister twins:Abbey in her lovely white organdy dress and Joseph in his tuxedo. Their grandmother told me that Joseph couldn’t wait to put on his suit. My choice for dinner was a fabulous salmon Wellington stuffed with wild mushrooms. Hope it’s served again. The most entertaining show featured Worbey & Farrell, two hands, one piano.
Thursday, January 5: The weather-let me just say that I really haven’t felt like strolling along the deck as yet. Besides the wintry temperature and the winds, we have even had snow flurries and this evening stormy weather has been predicted. I get much exercise by walking to wherever I want to be on the ship. And I can assure you that this ship is the largest of Cunard. Today I missed tea in order to be able to attend the third lecture of the day. It was by the same speaker as yesterday who now spoke about the Arab invasion of North Africa :”from Cairo to Casablana” fascinating. The other two lectures were excellent as well. The first was by a young man who explored all seven continents and told of his and four comrades exploits of Antarctica. The other was given by the former head of the British Army who spoke of his forty years of service and explained many details about the various military exploits of England during this period. As most of you know, my hobby is needlework, so I took the opportunity to meet with several people who share this interest and each showed our current project. I am fortunate to be at a table with four others:one Texan, one British woman and two south Africans- Hazel and her cousin who now lives in England. We seem to be getting on fabulously well and for the last two evenings have remained at our table chatting until the next seating. The show tonight featured the Royal Cunard Singers & Dancers in a program « Hit Me with a Hot Note -interesting cotton club, jazz Motown and early rock& roll.
Friday, January 6: A day of intellectual overload and nostalgia. It started after breakfast with a lecture on the history of the maritime Queens. For me it was like Proust’s Madeleine. It took me back to September 1962 when I boarded the Queen Elizabeth. I was a naïve twenty-one old, had graduated from Brooklyn College and was going to France to study at the Sorbonne and even more important to me, meet my French family for the first time. In those days, the ship was divided into three classes:first, coach and tourist. You can guess correctly that as a poor student, it was tourist for me. In the other classes as well, the bathroom facilities were in the hallway and not in individual staterooms . There were steel doors locked preventing people from one class to get to any other. One evening I found that a door to first class was open, so naturally being curious and a bit nervous, I ventured into the luxurious section of the ship. It was obvious that I was not dressed for this class, but the people said nothing as I looked around me in total amazement at its incredible beauty.that can never again be equaled because of current fire regulations. Those magnificent wood columns and parquet floors still remain with me today. I returned back home in June 1963 on the Queen Mary. Both of these ships had two kosher kitchens:one for dairy and one for meat. It made it easy for me to sit in the kosher dining area of these ships for all three meals where I could dine and not be concerned about dietary laws. On both ships we had to rent deck chairs where blankets were given to us by the stewards and at 10am and 3pm bouillon or/and tea was served. Of course tea was also served indoors and I recall being asked if I wanted English or Russian tea. Of course I didn’t know what they meant ; so I asked. British tea served with milk, Russian with lemon ! Then it took five days to cross the Atlantic, now it’s seven. Another feature of those ships was that they rocked terribly from side to side and I did get sea sick. I recall one evening when all seats were bolted down and the dancers were sliding as they attempted to perform. When I took the QE2 about ten years later, things had changed.
My second lecture by a former US public offical who spoke on the history of British/American relations. Things were not always rosy between us throughout the centuries. The third lecture dealt with North Africa from the time of Lawrence of Arabia to the present. Then it was to the planetarium for a show called Infinity Express. My brain needed a rest, so back to my room to do laundry. After dinner which I cut short in order to attend a program featuring Dale Kristien who starred for five years as Christine in “The Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway. I was truly disappointed by her voice. I left before the end to go to see a 3D film called “Abduction.”
Jeff Foster is a professor emeritus who served as chair of the French Department at the College of Charleston, Charleston, SC. He has been a volunteer at the Spoleto Festival USA and has been the house manager of the Chamber Music Series for about thirty years. He loves to travel and goes to France every year.
cruise ship graphic via shutterstock.com