Queen Mary 2 to Transatlantic

The only true transatlantic liner, the QM2 has glamour and prestige to match her size and luxury. For me, it was love at first sight.

The Queen's Grill and Princess Grill  restaurants are reserved for those in the corresponding upper deck suites. Yours truly, ensconced in an upper deck balcony cabin, was assigned an open seating table for dinner in the Britannia Club.

Here, the multi course food was never less than superb, and the view of the sea through the big windows did nothing to diminish my appetite, either. With seven full days at sea en route to New York, eat, drink and be merry became the theme of the week.

I spent ample time in the Canyon Ranch spa, lolling about on heated recliners and making occasional forays into the hydrotherapy pool. The library became a daily diversion for an hour or so, as did afternoon tea, a daily, much cherished ritual in the Queens' Room.

The QM2 is, in essence, a small city at sea. Beautifully decorated for the holidays, the great lady rode out the often choppy ocean in a series of slow, stately rolls that never amounted to anything much. The ship is, indeed, incredibly stable.

I was able to do some of my Christmas shopping right here, on board, before retiring to my room for some much needed rest. I never used the balcony- the winter Atlantic weather precluded that. But it was nice to have the light coming through the windows, all the same.

At night, we put on our glad rags- the QM2 is still a dressy lady- and savoured our multi course dinners. We listened to cool jazz with new friends in the Chart Room, and then partied until the small hours in the enormous, two level G32 night club.

This was more or less my entire routine for seven days and nights, as we sailed between two continents. At the end of those seven days, the sudden sight of the Manhattan skyline proved to be something of a shock after seven days afloat on the North Atlantic.