ROYAL RENDEZVOUS

On Thursday, Feb. 5, Cunard's newest ocean liner--the Queen Elizabeth--arrived and berthed adjacent to the legendary Queen Mary ocean liner.  It was the second time these sister ships met.  The first time was in 1967, when the original Queen Elizabeth was still in commission.  The original Queen Elizabeth was the sister-ship to Queen Mary and together made over 2,000 trans-Atlantic voyages.

The royal rendezvous marked the first time a Cunard liner ever docked and disembarked passengers in the Long Beach harbor.  Prior visits by Cunard vessels to Long Beach were only floating salutes, as the modern ships hovered in place while honoring their antecedent.   QE's arrival began a day-long series of events and activities to celebrate the unprecedented meeting of ships. This once-in-a-generation event ended with a whistle salute by both ships followed by a wonderful fireworks display (discharged from a nearby barge) at 7 pm.  At 7:30, the QE slowly pulled away and continued her global cruise, leaving the Model Ship Master's team somewhat emotional.

For the historic event (well, at least for ocean liner lovers), we booked a room on the Queen Mary.  Always fascinated by the luxury aspect of these seagoing marvels, we booked a "first class" two-bed cabin which was situated amidship (less engine vibration as well as wave thrusting).  The room was full of original equipments that we are posting photos here for your enjoyment.  (The only things we did not like was the shiny black flatscreen TV which bit away some classic element of the room.  And it was not even British =)) We wished they have had a "third class" room as we really wanted to have a feeling of how the working class spending four days crossing the Atlantic.