A Tale of Two Ships

“I’ve never been on a real cruise before,” complained Henry one day.  Huh!  Just around the world on a cargo ship and on ferries, houseboats, sailing ships, rubber rafts, icebreakers and other vessels in many countries.  But….  point taken.  

So on to the mother of all cruises – the transatlantic crossing of the Queen Mary 2 from New York City to Southampton, England.  The QM2 carries almost 2,700 passengers and 1,300 crew members.  She’s a big ship, 1,132 feet long, 131 feet wide.  Still a teenager, she was built in 2004 and renovated in 2016.   It will be a 7-day cruise across the North Atlantic, with a maximum cruising speed of 28 knots. 

For contrast, the return trip will be on the 4-masted sailing ship Sea Cloud, from Las Palmas, Grand Canary to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, following closely the route that Columbus took in 1492 when he first sailed to the New World.  Sea Cloud carries a maximum of 64 passengers and 60 crew.  Her length is 360 feet by 50 feet wide.  Most of the voyage will be under sail, weather permitting.  She has 30 sails measuring a total of 32,000 square feet.  The voyage will take 17 days at a maximum speed of 10 knots.  Sea Cloud was first built as a private yacht in 1931 and renovated in 2011. 

Should be quite a contrast!

In between, there will be a couple of weeks to fill in with some time in Normandy, Paris and Northern Spain. 

We’ve spent a couple of nights in New York City.  Here’s our hotel, the view from our room, and an iconic street view:

Barnes & Noble on Union Square!

What a great start to our travels!  This city is a symbol of America to people around the world, and what a rich and delicious stew it is…. so many cultures, colors, cuisines and languages.  A reminder of how important it is to recognize and preserve the principles of freedom that brought us all here…. some of us a century or two ago, and others relatively recently.

And now we board the Big Ship into what will not likely be as diverse a community of souls, but a new and exciting experience nonetheless.  More from the sea lanes and roads ahead!