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| Russian sub - purchased rather than captured I guess! |
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| Strange to think this was the height of luxury in those days when you compare it to today's top end cruise ships |
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| View from the bridge! |
Monday, 19 September 2016
Day 2 Exploring the Queen Mary
We awoke early - as always after arriving in the US - and set about exploring the ship.
Setting off on the long haul
After a very early start we made our way to Heathrow to park up then check in by 7.55am.
Our flight to Los Angeles was at 10.55am and almost 11 and a half hours later we landed safely and looked for our minivan shuttle to take us to our overnight stay on board the old Queen Mary who is enjoying a long and active retirement at Long Beach.
All went well until we reached the Queen Mary. We went to check in and were told - "Reservation, what reservation?" We'd booked online through an organisation called Hotels1800.com. What we didn't know was that during the time between our booking and arrival in Los Angeles, the firm had gone bust.
Reception passed me their phone and asked me to speak to the firm's legal representative who spoke a lot of legalese gobbledygook which seemed to confirm that the firm was indeed in administration. *
Our original reservation had never existed as the firm had never confirmed it with the Queen Mary. They could accommodate us, but only in twin-bedded rooms, but at least we were in!
We settled down in the bar at the front of the ship as our never-ending day continued (by now it was around midnight in the UK).
* In May 2016, almost 6 years later, a dollar cheque arrived from the administrators of Hotels1800.com for around £15 sterling. NatWest charged us almost £10 to convert it, giving us a massive net take of £5.53! I offered that to my credit card provider as they had originally compensated us for our £239.71 loss when the firm went into administration, but they told us to keep it!
Our flight to Los Angeles was at 10.55am and almost 11 and a half hours later we landed safely and looked for our minivan shuttle to take us to our overnight stay on board the old Queen Mary who is enjoying a long and active retirement at Long Beach.
All went well until we reached the Queen Mary. We went to check in and were told - "Reservation, what reservation?" We'd booked online through an organisation called Hotels1800.com. What we didn't know was that during the time between our booking and arrival in Los Angeles, the firm had gone bust.
Reception passed me their phone and asked me to speak to the firm's legal representative who spoke a lot of legalese gobbledygook which seemed to confirm that the firm was indeed in administration. *
Our original reservation had never existed as the firm had never confirmed it with the Queen Mary. They could accommodate us, but only in twin-bedded rooms, but at least we were in!
We settled down in the bar at the front of the ship as our never-ending day continued (by now it was around midnight in the UK).
* In May 2016, almost 6 years later, a dollar cheque arrived from the administrators of Hotels1800.com for around £15 sterling. NatWest charged us almost £10 to convert it, giving us a massive net take of £5.53! I offered that to my credit card provider as they had originally compensated us for our £239.71 loss when the firm went into administration, but they told us to keep it!
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