Aug 6 - En route to Hamburg

Lost an hour this morning because of the time change and awoke bleary eyed but hopeful that this will be a good vacation regardless. A little about the ship:

The RMS Queen Mary 2 is one of the largest ocean liners currently at sea. It's 1132 feet long, 148 feet wide and 204 feet tall (above waterline of course) and displaces upwards of 79k tonnes when fully loaded (which, given the amount of luggage our party has, is quite evident). It has 4 Rolls Royce Mermaid Pod propellers and is powered by over 150,000 horsepower consuming over 3 tonnes/hour of heavy fuel oil and 6 tonnes/hour of marine gas oil - that's diesel and petrol. You can't tell when it's moving. The daily consumption of water is about 80 gallons per person per day - this includes water for cooking and washing the ship. Apparently the ship is being washed. Who knew. There are approx. 2000 passengers on board and 1000 crew.

Checked out the facilities - bookstore, library, spa/salon, pools, gym, courts, bars/restaurants, casino, shops, art gallery etc. Listened to a string quartet on Deck 2 right outside the casino where Mum had glued herself to the 3-card poker table. Dress code was semi-formal and seating at dinner was at 8:30 so of course, Dad and Jean and I were there on the dot looking spiffy and everybody else was late and underdressed. Special Indian food had been ordered but I ate escargot and red snapper instead while Soomi screamed like a banshee all around us. RK had a tiff with the cheaters at the casino ("what do you mean the maximum payout is $1000?!") and then was not given service at dinner since he arrived at 11 pm (us waiting the entire time for him of course) and stormed off to the buffet.

Went to G32 nightclub in the evening in the hopes of hearing some good soul music to get away from the maddening crowd but was accosted by a very drunk Shalin who proceeded to make an ass of himself (as usual) and then had to run away to the Chart Room where the Royal Court Theatre Orchestra soothed my sense with jazz jamming and Sharat/Deep/Aarti soothed my palate with good house wine.

Tooted off to bed then. Couldn't take it anymore.