Prior to our cruise I had watched a special on the travel channel about the design of the Queen Mary 2. The narrator explained that while most ships concentrate on the interior and encourage passengers to come inside, the Queen Mary's construction was designed to encourage passengers to look out. Ahhh, once in the buffet area I understood. The tables are arranged in alcoves with large windows looking out over the public decks, and the sea. Of course in the center there is additional seating to accommodate the many passengers, but we were able to enjoy a spot in the alcoves on many occasions.

The actual design of the buffet area was different than our past experiences. I suppose because of the size of the ship they could and did scatter the various buffets around the 7th floor, not centrally located and well not that easy to find, easy to miss. One must cross over the center of the ship to go from one to the next... Turn right for one area, down  a corridor, then turn left for another.....

We found the selections average at best, desserts limited and not very tempting... I don't know what I expected from a buffet that must service over 2,000 passengers, still we noted that other cruise lines do this much better. We tried the carving station which was good, the "Lotus" pan fried vegetables, passed on the pizza and burgers that did not look worth a try. The buffet "procedure" did not facilitate serving many people at once. The eggs and other made to order items were prepared in the buffet line which resulted in long lines and long waits even if you did not want a made to order item. Not once while seated in the buffet area was I offered a drink by a server. The coffee on the other had was just great. Frustrated with the buffet we chose either pastry and coffee from room service (which was prompt), or a late breakfast and on occasion lunch in the dining room.

Back in our cabin we unpacked, next we went to muster drill (painless) and then headed to the pool decks on level eight for our sail out of New York. The pool area is very nice, spacious, two levels to chose from. There is a bandstand and a group is getting ready to perform, and an outside bar. My favorite pictures of the pool area were taken while in port in the Bahamas'.

Myself, although I love to lay around the decks, I don't usually "jump" in the water. I did notice on the sea days that the pools were not crowded, the hot tubs were! Even though there is plenty of deck space it was pretty full.... Ahh the advantage/disadvantage of perfect weather. I being one of the more fortunate ones had full sun on my balcony to where I retreated. 

We head to the bar for a cocktail to enjoy during the sail away. This was the first indication we had that something was just not right on this particular sailing. The bar was three deep with passengers trying to order a drink, no servers in sight, bartenders slow and understaffed. After waiting for a while we give up and head to the indoor pool bar.

Look at this long shot.... I get a sense for how big the Queen Mary is. At the indoor pool bar there is one bartender, the same lack of service, and add to that a lack of caring. (If you cant figure out the last picture, it is all the billfolds, with nowhere to go!) With too many unhappy people we just give up completely and decide instead to watch the sail away from our cabin balcony, drink less.... What a disappointment and I don't understand. In the 10 or so cruises we have taken I have always been happy. It just cannot be that aboard this fantastic ship I will feel differently.