Travel Story

Sailing from New York to Bermuda on the QE-2

To start out our Tampa - New York - Bermuda - New York - Tampa trip, we flew to New York. We travelled with several friends, mainly from the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

After landing in New York and arriving to the cruise ship terminal by bus, we immediately went through customs. It was a festive event, with balloons and a Dixie music group as we boarded the magnificent and historic Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship.

Aboard, we started with an afternoon tea party. We were served by white gloved waiters and waitresses some wonderfully aromatic English tea, sandwiches and European Pastry. Just before departure we participated in the mandatory emergency drill with 1700 of our fellow passengers. It was funny to see all these people, including ourselves with orange lifesavers around our necks.

Sailing out from New York in a sparkling afternoon sunshine and blue sky was a spectacular sight.We passed the famous, familiar skyline, the Statue of Liberty and the Verrazano Bridge which seemed we had cleared by only a few feet with our 13 story tall ship.

Our travel agent friend, Dennis, who arranged this trip for us gave a cocktail party for our Tampa crew as we left New York harbor and turned south-east direction in the Atlantic Ocean sailing straight toward Bermuda Our friend, Don was the official videographer of this great voyage.

This voyage all the way to Hamilton, Bermuda enjoyed very calm seas, sunny, warm conditions with gentle breeze.

In our rooms which were very elegant and roomy for a ship cabin, had a bathroom with shower. We also had a satellite television, which included BBC and Armed Forces Radio network programs, CNN and many cable satellite channels with great movies. We skipped the use of satellite phones, ( $12 per minute charge) or Internet e-mail ($7.50 per message) for obvious reasons. When ever we left our cabin for any period of time, we found it clean and organized upon our return. At night, our bed was set with chocolate mint on our pillow.

Our first night dining event called for "informal" dress code. In QE-2 language, that required coats and ties for the gentlemen and dress for the ladies. The second night dinner on the other hand required formal appearance, meaning tuxedo or dark suit for the gentlemen and evening gown for the ladies. The dress code was strictly enforced. For breakfast and lunch, were allowed to enter our 580 seat dining room in casual dress.

The food was absolutely out of this world! For example, our September 1st lunch menu offered 6 appetizers, 3 soups, 1 egg specialty, sorbet, 7 entrees, 10 desserts and countless beverages, wines. Our two waiters, Omar from Singapore, and Patrick from Croatia and our wine steward Carlos from Portugal pampered us like royalty during the entire voyage.

Following our first night fantastic dinner, we had enough energy left to attend the 10 p.m. showing of Tostoy's Anna Karenina, in the ship's very elegant and plush theater. It was a wonderful film, we highly recommend it.

Princess Diana

After midnight returning from the movie theater saw the tragic news on CNN about Princess Diana's death. Next morning, the Captain announced the news on the loudspeakers to all the passengers, some of whom were not aware of this said event. The Captain, told us that he had sent a telegraph to Buckingham Palace. He was considering to curtail the festivities aboard but decided not to, because he knew Princess Diana as a fun loving person and she would have probably wanted the passengers to enjoy the voyage to the fullest. All the activities continued as planned.

On Monday, Labor Day morning around 7 a.m. Atlantic time, the hilly island of from the ship. We went to the front of the top deck to watch the anchoring procedure. Our ship picked up a harbor captain who maneuvered the QE-2 as close as possible to Hamilton. We had to anchor about 30 minutes of ferry ride from the Port of Hamilton due to the ship's size. The lowering of the anchors was very interesting. The chain was gigantic, as must have been the 12 ton anchor. A swirl of mud surfaced in the pristine blue waters indicated the point where the anchor hit the ocean floor. They had to lower more and more chain till finally it held the ship.

The ferries from each side of the ship were leaving to the shore every half hour, this shuttle service lasted all day till midnight.

Our 30 minutes ferry ride which took us in among many small inhabited and uninhabited islands lead to the Port of Hamilton. The pink, yellow and blue houses lining Front Street provided an impressive, colorful background to the busy port scene. A pleasant walk along the waterfront shops, restaurants was a good way to start our visit. We had to be extra careful crossing the streets due to the left had drive rule of Bermuda. There are no car rentals to visitors, bicycle and moped rentals in addition to the usual transportation options were available. We took a very scenic bus ride from Hamilton to d , the old capital of Bermuda. The narrow, hilly road, with hardly and straight sections, run through wonderful scenery. Lush vegetation, beautifully colorful villas built in the hillsides, walls of flowers alongside the road. Bus #10 took us from Hamilton to St. George on the north side of the island, bus #3 followed the southern route back to Hamilton.

St. George is the old capital has the look and feel of a historic city. Near the center of the city is St. Peter's Church, the oldest continuously functioning Anglican church building on the Western hemisphere. Built by colonists in 1612.

The church building could be reached after climbing a few steps from the main road. Interesting wood roof structure was visible inside in addition to the old statues, furnishings, candleholders etc. Around the building is an old cemetery with worn tomb stones, some of them are three centuries old, of free slaves, and other Bermudians. From the church we walked down to the main square on the ocean front, which was encircled by the Town House, restaurants and small shops. We had lunch on the balcony of one of the small, quaint restaurants with a great view to the square and the harbor beyond. St. George is very pleasant to visit, the historic atmosphere and old time charm is offers a unique experience.

The next day Madelyn and I took another ferry ride to Hamilton, this time we stayed in the capital. We had walked through a public park which anywhere else would have been called a botanical garden and there would be an admission. The locals had lunch and rested on the park benches, enjoying the surroundings. We had a wonderful seafood lunch, went for a pleasant walk and visited the Cathedral.

The tiny island of Bermuda surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean is a true tropical paradise. The Government limits the number of tourists or cruise ships arriving at a time. The look and feel of the island is very clean, neat, organized the citizens seem to be all in a middle class to upper middle class range. The streets are very clean, the parks and buildings are well maintained. The Bermudians have created a wonderful life for themselves, others could learn from them.

E-2 stayed anchored in Bermuda for two days. From here it took another day and a half of sailing to return to New York City. Among many other entertainment options, we had the pleasure of Harry Belafonte singing for us. It was a class act. We arrived back in NY early morning. About 6 a.m. we reached the Verrazano Bridge, passed the Statue of Liberty as the sun was getting up and lit the side of the Manhattan skyscrapers with a golden glow. We slowly made our way to the cruise port where it took about 20 more minutes to maneuver the huge ship docking position.

From the QE-2, we walked through customs and a bus was waiting for us with our luggages. We went on a 5 hour long New York City sightseeing trip with a very knowledgeable local tour guide. The sightseeing trip took us to the highlights of Manhattan: Wall Street, port, Greenwich Village, Soho, Harlem, Times Square, Central Park, Fifth Avenue, etc. We stopped for a brief visit at the largest cathedral in the world, the Statue of Liberty would fit comfortably under its central dome. It is the Saint John the Divine, the mother church of the Episcopal diocese of New York, it will take approximately 50 more years to complete . The construction started about 100 years ago with no budget or schedule of completion. Work is done as funds are raised.

At the end of the sightseeing tour, the bus took us to our hotel, the elegant New York Helsmley. After a short rest, we headed to Times Square to check out the last last minute discount broadway offerings. We were lucky enough to get tickets for the Tony Award winner, Barrymore, a one man show presented by Christopher Plummer with great skill for which he received a standing ovation.

Next day I met my cousins, Zsolt and Gabor and their mother, Marika. They both study in New Jersey, Marika just arrived from Hungary for a month long visit. We had a pleasant time which included a nice lunch and a walk in Manhattan. It was nice to catch up of things going on in Hungary, practice the language and receiving some nice Hungarian gifts. Later I caught up with Madelyn and Sandra at the Lincoln Center, than we walked in Central Park. At night we saw another Tony Award winner Broadway Theater production, titled "The last night in Ballyhoo". It was written by Mr. Uhry, the writer of Oscar winner "Driving Miss Daisy". The play was set in the 1930's Atlanta, with lots of humor, it introduced us to a family dealing with serious issues. It was an outstanding theater experience.

Next morning we visited Greenwich Village, where the artists were starting to display their creations for the local art show. The pleasant mood of the "Village" and the displayed art made for a nice few hours of visit.

The same evening, after a pleasant flight we returned to Tampa with wonderful memories of this trip.

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