Background My high school senior project consisted of a lengthy report about the Queen Mary 2. After seeing how much work and passion went into the project, my parents decided to send me off on the Queen Mary 2 on her April 29, 2006 transatlantic voyage. It is worth noting that I was only 18 years old at the time and sailed on her alone.
Booking As a side note, the booking process (which was set up by my mother) went very smoothly. My mother even said that the sales representative that helped her sounded more like a friend than a pushy sales person. She related my mother's story of sending me off by myself to her own experience if she did that with her children.
Embarkation Due to the infamous stories about ship embarkation, I had in mind that the process would be long and boring. To my surprise, however, it was nothing at all. When we arrived at the newly commissioned Brooklyn Terminal, a peer gently took my luggage away. After this I proceeded with security, check-in, and photography. Then I entered a large room filled with long rows of seats. However, we completely skipped this section and immediately boarded the ship. The entire process of embarkation took no more than 10 minutes (even though I went into the check out line before I was scheduled to)! An elderly lady in front of me was greeted by name by two ship officers. They escorted our group to the elevators, where a bellhop commanded sending us off to our respective floors. When I reached Deck 4, a maid asked for my stateroom number and sent me off in the right direction.