Time to share!

I'm going on a wonderful adventure in a matter of a few days...
I saw a posting on a last-minute travel website that was enticing, to say the least.

I love last-minute travel: it's spontaneous, reflective of the mood of the moment, and just as thrilling as a late breaking wave over your head on a body-surf ride into shore....

So.... here's the deal: I saw an ad for a cruise from New York -- one of the best ports in all of the world to sail from.. nothing quite like Lady Liberty at sunset --- to Halifax, Nova Scotia and Boston, Mass. It was for a quick 6-day roundtrip float up and back...

But the real thrill of the deal was the fact that the ship is the Queen Mary 2 (QM2 to her friends...) only the largest ship in the world, replete with the largest dance floor on the seven seas, which, in turn, is stocked with "gentlemen guests hosts" so that women, such as myself, traveling unescorted will have a partner for every rhythm. (Seems almost barbaric!)

And becasue it would be a last-minute booking the price was slashed 65 percent.... down to $768. Keep in mind that includes meals, royal formal galas, entertainment, transportation and dance hosts! (ha ha ha....)

I called and was told yes, I could book passage in the morning.... I was thrilled and mentally packing ball gowns and bathing suits (indoor spa pool!), and whatever it might take to fill-to-bulging the requisite 10 pink suitcases.....

But when morning came, the unthinkable happened.......

I was told that somehow, over night, the seven hundred-and-change fare had sold out and oh, by the way, the next available category would cost (are you ready?) $12,000 dollars!!!!!!!!!

After I came to, I got downright angry and dashed a letter off to Cunard Lines (of which the Queen Mary 2 is a proud vessel). How could this be? This takes bait-and-switch to new heights!

Withing an hour or two, my phone jangled. A REAL person, Sharleen Gordon, called from Cunard's California office. Like some benevolent tooth fairy she sprinkled fairy dust all over my disappointment. She said I would move onto the top of a priority list... that the first cancellation would come to me, and that the $700+ fare would indeed be observed.

And with a wave of her imagined wand, someone did cancel that night... and now my bags are all but packed..... I'm sailing this week, and will have my dancing shoes on, for sure.

I really want to salute Sharleen and the folks at Cunard for what I consider the best and most efficient customer service I have ever received in my years of traveling. This will be my first experience traveling Cunard and QM2, but given the royal pre-trip consideration I'm already shouting, "Long live the Queen!"

Next time: A trip report!