Today, our cruise on the Queen Mary 2 from Southampton to New York City, actually, Brooklyn.  A few things about Cunard. Has been sailing for 184 years.   Founded by Sir Samuel  Cunard  to provide transatlantic service in 1840 with the Britannia He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1787.  His father fled the American Revolution because he was a Loyalist to the British Crown. By 1900, Cunard advertised their ships as floating palaces, and shared design features similar to The Ritz. Lusitania and Mauretania had revolutionary steam engines, where the first ship to shore by Marconi wireless transmission was made on them. The Lusitania was sunk by a German-U-boat killing 1195 people in 1915, leading to the U.S. joining World War I. When the Titanic sank in 1912, Cunard's Carpathia arrived to rescue the survivors. In the late 20's/30's, Cunard got loan guarantees from the British government, merged with its rival White Star Line and launched the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.

 The view from the Queen Mary 2 on arrival morning. Checking-in and getting off a cruise ship are always hassles.  Not so bad this time, but why did the ship have to port in Brooklyn, a long ride into town? Manhattan  has the longest running cruise port in the U.S. The Titanic was supposed to dock at Chelsea Piers, now a sports/entertainment complex. In 1935 piers 88, 90, 92 and 94 were added. Piers 92 and 94 were later sold. On your GPS, 88 and 90 are at 711, 12th Avenue, New York, NY. Norwegian Cruise Line uses these two piers the year around. Also seasonally utilized by Carnival, Crystal,  Holland, Princess, Disney, Aida, Costa, Regent Seven Seas and CUNARD. In the early 2000s, additional home ports were added:  Cape Liberty in Bayonne, New Jersey and the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Brooklyn, NY. The consensus is that the Queen Mary 2 is docked in Brooklyn because it is too long. You can hardly see him, but my blue-bar pigeon welcomed me to New York. And finally, we are in the USA.