We flew from Monroe, LA to Newark the evening before the cruise, arriving about midnight. We stayed at the Country Inn & Suites by Carlson in Elizabeth, NJ. It was an OK place to stay. The room was small. The staff was friendly. We had booked a King room and instead had 2 double beds. It was fine. They served breakfast in the morning, called us a cab and we headed to the ship.

We had a fantastic cruise! We arrived at the terminal at about 11:45. We were the 3rd group called to board and were on by about 12:30. We walked through the welcoming staff and I felt like royalty! We went to our room first. It was very nice. Pretty small but then most ship cabins are. The balcony was great! Our luggage had not arrived, but our champagne had. We were in an AA cabin so we had a full bottle. I must say Pol Acker is not the greatest champagne but after a glass, it's bearable. We shared our bottle, called home, and then decided to investigate the ship.

We started at the top. It felt like we were the only people on the ship. We seldom encountered anyone while we looked around. The QM2 is quite beautiful. Everything is decorated very tastefully. The library is amazing. The book cabinets are gorgeous. I must say I don't read very much when I'm on a cruise (too much other stuff to do), but if I did, I would have been in heaven. We worked our way down to the spa, where we booked our appointments, then went to the King's Court for lunch. We ate in the Lotus section. The KC is pretty confusing. We decided not to go all over looking for different foods but to decide on a certain type and eat there. This was the only time we ate a meal here. We did do tea one day here. It was quite nice. We never had trouble finding a table near a window. The staff cleaning the tables was very friendly and efficient. Read more