New York   We stayed in Florida the whole winter instead of coming back to NY for the month of December, as is our custom. We followed the changes in our neighborhood in the papers.

As we drove into New Jersey I purposely went over to Liberty State Park on the Hudson to see the view of Lower Manhattan as it is now. Yes, it looks like something is missing, but otherwise the skyline looks as I had always known it. On exiting the Holland Tunnel I found you can drive right down West Street past the site. Going down our South End Avenue you could still see the gouges in the road surface from all those power shovels transferring debris, as we witnissed it the night we were evacuated. However, right in front of our building the street had already been repaved, just three days earlier, and the rest of the street has been done since. I took a walk to talk with neighborhood merchants. Some expressed how helpful financial aid from the city has been to tide them over.

At the site, you can only walk along Church Street, which lies along the eastern side, and then only on the far side of the street. A small firehouse had memorials, including scores of firefighter arm patches from all across North America. The fence around historic St. Paul's Chapel is still hung with memorials on all four sides of its block. One was a signed city flag from Birmingham, England. Further on were pictures of individuals all labelled at the top "Remember Me". One was of a family of four, which had been in one of the planes. Another poignant one of a man had been taken from the Jersey side of the river with the skyline behind him, the two towers just to the left of his head.

The visual aspect of the site is one of immense openness. It is just that much more amazing that comparatively little damage had happened to the buildings on all four sides. The image reminds me of the view of Central Park (on a much smaller scale), where buildings line up all around an open space.

A unique aspect of this tragedy is that most of it was visible in real time on television. There have been other tragedies that were remembered in their time, but lacking the vivid images of this one, the equivalent emotions don't immediately spring to mind; I'm thinking of the sinking of the Luisitania with so many non-combattants on board, bringing the US into WW1, and the firebombing of the citizens of Dresden at the end of WW2. And Hiroshima and Nagasaki. You could argue wartime versus peacetime, but tragedy is tragedy.

On Board   We sailed again on the QE2. As we sailed down the Hudson, a minute of silence was asked for as we passed Lower Manhattan. Rumor has it that David Bowie is a passenger this trip. Some have seen him, but not us.

The theme of this crossing has been British Comedy. A highlight was the presentation by John Cleese discussing Fawlty Towers (they showed an episode). He was also interviewed on another occasion. (I've always said Cleece, but he says Cleeze.) As we did with Julia Child last year, we went to Cleese's booksigning, and I asked him to shake Bev's hand (mine, too). As we chatted he held on to Bev's elbow. It was a nice gesture.

Once again we had a hosted table. All hosted tables are tables for eight. We were seated at the Engineer's table, and I feel that the conversation is so good that dinner was the highlight of the day. We were invited to the Engineer's party last night before dinner, which was combined with two other receptions this year in the Yacht Club, which is the nightclub. Tonight we were invited once again to the Wardroom party before dinner. Bev has always looked good in her long gowns, but this year I bought myself a tux for the first time. It really does elevate one's outlook. Not only will I be able to use it on both crossings, I'll also use it on the train out of London the day after tomorrow.

At the Engineer's party I made it my business to introduce the two of us to Bea Mueller, the lady from New Jersey who now lives on the QE2 full time. She was charming, and her closing words were something like "I hope to see you again when you come here to my home".

The WorldClub is for any repeat passenger. I think Bev and I will each have by the end of this summer about 40 nights on Cunard, but at a ceremony they gave pins to someone who had reached 100 nights, and to a couple who each had reached 300. They introduced someone who has the second-highest total, in the 700's, and then of course Bea Mueller who's in the 1400's.

The Cruise Hostess is Maureen. She is a woman of a certain age, very English, very dignified. She also stands apart because of her long, grey hair, which she wears in the style of the 1940's, shoulder length in back, and often combed high on the sides and front as was the style then. At receptions, when she stands next to the Captain and asks you your name to announce it to the Captain, you really feel you are at an Occasion.

I always go to Maureen's lectures on the history of Cunard, because she always adds interesting facts. I think she said she worked on both the original Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary. She pointed out that the Brittania, Cunard's first transatlantic ship in 1840, would fit into the QE2's Grand Lounge, where we were sitting. She said the QE2 may not be the biggest or the glitziest, but it is the fastest. It can even go backward at 19 knots, which is faster than many ships can go forward. She also said that the QE2 gets 50 feet a gallon.

One of the Engineers at our table told us that the Queen Mary 2 will have pods below it, which can turn the thrust of the engines 360 degrees. Therefore, the QM2, like other modern ships, will need no tugboats (as the QE2 does), since she will be able to go sideways on her own power away from the dock. As a matter of fact, she could theoretically cross the ocean, yes, sideways.

The staff rotates regularly, including Captain Paul Wright, so he will not be on our return crossing, but he's great fun. The term used is that Captain Wright is the Master of the ship (that's MAHsta). We also went again to the interview that Maureen always does with the captain, because it's always different, fun, and interesting. He told about moving to Devon and going out to look for a sailboat, but his neighbor warned him not to get too big a one, since they're hard to maneuver. He didn't have the heart to tell the man what he did for a living.

He also told about how a couple of years ago in New York a tug slipped and the QE2 brushed into a Japanese naval vessel in the next berth. It was no more than a scratching of paint. When the two captains got together, the Japanese captain told him what an honor it was for his ship to have been "kissed" by the QE2.

But Captain Wright and Maureen go on and on and tease each other during the interviews. He implied that she remembers personally when Cunard ships used sails. She gave him a smiling glare. It went on and on like that. At one of the receptions I went up both to Maureen and Captain Wright and told them they should consider doing a music hall act/vaudeville act called "The Captain and Maureen".

There was an accident in the middle of the trip. Two Filipino crew members were seriously scalded by a burst of steam while working in the engine room, and were at first attended by the ship's hospital. The decision was made to go at high speed (31 knots) to get closer to Ireland quickly, since the helicopter has a one-way range of 250 miles. Just before midnight the helicopter hovered over the landing pad on the top deck (it's apparently safer than actually landing) and took them on board to the burn centre at Cork Hospital, which serves all of southern Ireland. Passengers weren't allowed on deck during the manoeuvre, but afterwards I could see the red light of the helicopter going off into the darkness. We then slowed down considerably not to get to Southampton too quickly tomorrow morning.

Next year will be the last one the QE2 does transatlantic crossings, and the QM2 will take over in 2004. The QE2 will be doing European cruising out of Southampton. Captain Wright thinks the ship still has about eight years in her.

Our trip this year runs for 5 weeks and 2 days. To get near that equivalent time on a round trip, next year we'll have to go instead in late July and all of August, and it will come to six weeks even. I was surprised that today they actually had the QM2 schedule for 2004 ready, and we'll be able to go back to late June and July for a trip of six weeks and one day.

The QM2 will be the world's biggest ship. Its maiden voyage will be 12 January 2004, from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale, and it will work out of there for the spring of that year. On 16 April will be the Inaugural Westbound Transatlantic, followed by the Inaugural Eastbound Transatlantic on 25 April 2004. [Note: 2004 Series 8 describes it from our window.]

Transatlantic crossings are made by ocean liners (which of course can also do cruises), whose hull is up to four times thicker and superstructure much stronger than cruise ships. If a cruise ship crosses the Atlantic to reposition itself, it will choose a southerly route to play it safe.

The QM2 crossings will also be six days, and cruises a week or two. In the morning we take the train to London for one night before leaving on the Orient Express.