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Luxurious Dubai

The Queen Elizabeth 2 will end her career as an offshore resort at Dubai in November 2008. As part of our world cruise on the QE2 in 2006, Perry McGinnis and I were invited to a luxurious banquet in Dubai, United Arab Emerites on the Persian Gulf. Oil was discovered in the sea off Dubai in 1967 and, after that, the nation was transformed from an impoverished region to a sophisticated state with one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. Dubai has the tallest, largest, most modern anything in the world that money can buy. It’s cheaper to shower in oil than in water, which is desalinated from the sea.

The evening of the banquet, we world cruise passengers went to the Madinat Jumeriah Hotel, where we were greeted by rows of men in white robes, red head scarves, and beating drums to announce our arrival. Young women sprinkled us with rose petals, and belly dancers performed on the stage of a huge ballroom, where baskets of red roses hung from million-dollar chandeliers on the ceiling. Outside the ballroom was a souq displaying spices, an artist painting flowers on womens’ hands, and a falconer holding his hawk.

The banqauet was large enough to choke a camel: duck-liver parfait served with port wine, poached figs, walnut bread, cold cream of tomato soup with basiland creme fraiche, herb-roasted fillet of beer on au gratin potatoes, Tahitian vanilla bean Bavarois with nutmeg crepe, mango ice cream,and petit fours. Our glasses were constantly filled with fine French champagne.

Queen Mary 2 celebrates Bob Hope

Queen Mary 2 celebrated her 100th Transatlantic Crossing on Sept. 21, 2008. Upon arrival from Southampton to New York, she had logged 711,288 nautical miles since her debut, with 316,719 of those nautical miles on Transatlantic voyages alone. The ship entered service in 2004 and has made dozens of maiden calls around the world, including San Francisco. More than 229,000 guests have crossed the North Atlantic; 450 pets crossed the ocean; 97,000 pounds of lobster were served; 2,700 pounds of caviar served; 206,200 bottles of Champagne opened and served; and enough tea was used to fill five Olympic-sized swimming pools.! 

Collector items from the life, career, and estate of Bob Hope will be sold during a live televisioned auction in October 2008 and at the same time, Cunard Line will pay tribute to the comedian when his daughter, Linda, presents a program on the Queen Mary 2 during a Transatlantic crossing from New York to Southampton in September 4, 2008. Linda will share an intimate look inside the life of her father, moderate a film and TV retrospective, and offer personal anecdotes about the memorabilia showcased on board.