Sunday, November 30, 2008

Home at last!

Its all over! My six month stint aboard the worlds most famous ship has come to an end. It was a great experience and something that I will never forget. The places I have seen and the people I have met where amazing.

I'm back home now enjoying not having to work everyday and looking through all the pictures I have taken. However I'm not here for long as I move on to my new job at the start of the new year. It seems my traveling days are far from over . . . Arkansas or bust!

- t

::haven't decided what will happen to the blog yet but we shall see::

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The End is Near

Well after traveling the seas for the last few months my time is almost up, as is the QE2's. Later tonight we will embark on the historic final voyage of the 'last great ocean liner.'

Coming into port early this morning high winds caused the ship to drift off course and get stuck in a sand bar. A 30 minute delay that required five tug boats to pull us out. Some say its the ships way of saying that it knows its on its final leg.

Later this evening will be a grand celebration as we set sail for the final time from our home port. Scottish guard band, fireworks, and a live broadcast from the captain will culminate into a farewell worthy of a great ship.

I will be out front on the decks of the ship with most of the crew waving goodbye to Southampton as the thousands of people shore side take one last look at the ship.

If time permits I will try and post once more from Dubai airport. My flight is direct to JFK and although it is 14 hours long because of the time difference I leave at 2am and arrive 730am in NY.

Time to set sail once more, but this time on a one way trip. Wish me luck!

See everyone soon.

- t

Monday, October 27, 2008

2 Cruises left!!!

Greetings all,

We just got back from a short 5 day cruise (not very exciting) and that means we are down to our final two cruises!!

We have a 16 day cruise to the med and after that is our one way trip to Dubai. Only 33 more days from now and the QE2 crew will say goodbye to the famous ocean liner.

Be sure to check back in 16 days because it might just be one of my lasts posts. I'll be sure to have a good amount of pics and video for everyone to enjoy.

- t

Friday, October 10, 2008

Tandem time

Today we set sail for the last transatlantic cruise ever for the QE2 and to make it a bit more special the QM2 will be traveling in tandem with us round trip. I got the chance to meet up with both printers from the QM2, Shiva and Berk who I went to school with.

As we take the next five days to sail across the Atlantic the ships will be next to each other the whole time while swapping sides each day just for fun. Once again I plan to wake up bright and early on the sixth day to watch us sail into NYC up the Hudson river and past the statue of liberty.

In other news the technician came aboard today to do a bit of a checkup on the printing press. There have been a few issues lately that have caused me some trouble. After a diagnosis he found there to be a major problem and will spend all of today fixing it so it will be ready to make it through the next month and a half. Hopefully no more problems will occur but you can never be to sure especially because of the abuse this press has gone through over the years.

Well time to head back to the ship and finish up with the technician.

- t

British Isles

We just completed the British Isles cruise which was one of the busiest ever. Since the QE2 is a HUGE (emphasis on huge) British icon, everyone wanted to catch one last glimpse of the ship before she is retired. Almost every port we went to had fireworks as we sailed away and thousands of people came out to see us off. Below is a video from Greenock, Scotland of some fireworks as we were about to pull away.

Recap

So last time I was online I was having trouble posting pictures. To make up for it here is the New York skyline at sunrise as we sailed in.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

[insert clever title here]

Well after a successful 3 week cruise we are back in Southampton. It was great to be on American soil and catch up with friends and family. It was also very nice to use my cell phone for once.

Unfortunately I am having some technical difficulties and therefore I won't be posting any pics or videos this time. I will be sure to get things sorted for the next time.

We are now headed off on what will be one of our most extravagant voyages. The "British Isles" cruise will bring us all around the UK as a final send off to the QE2. There are plenty of special events scheduled including lots of firework displays and such for each port.

Lastly this marks the fourth month of being aboard the QE2. A lot has happened in these past months and yet there is still plenty left in the remaining two. So time to get things going again and look for lots of pics and videos the next time I post.

- t