GOOD FOR BODY AND SOUL ONBOARD ACTIVITIES LET ALL GET INTO THE ACT.

Byline: Story and photo by Eric Noland Travel Editor

ABOARD THE QUEEN MARY 2 - Five straight days on the open ocean might seem a recipe for numbing boredom, but Cunard Line offers a wide array of activities on the Queen Mary 2 to keep passengers engaged - and their minds exercised.

Many of the available activities, in fact, have a strong element of self- betterment. Among them:

RADA: It was just a little snippet of text from Shakespeare's Sonnet 138: ``Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.''

This was to be my first contribution in a group recitation, and after several minutes of rehearsal, I could deliver the words with confidence and force and just the proper inflection. Yet when it came time to speak in front of the assembled group, the lungs refused to draw air, the throat constricted and the line came out as a feeble squeak.

An inauspicious stage debut, to be sure.

But these acting workshops, conducted by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, were certainly enlightening and great fun. During the hourlong sessions held daily, a half-dozen members of RADA's Graduate Academy tutored passengers of, ahem, varying levels of experience.

The company also stages excerpts of plays in two evening performances. A prior commitment prevented us from seeing the first, but we were dazzled by scenes from Anton Chekhov's ``The Bear'' and ``The Proposal,'' presented in costume and with simple stage sets. In the latter, it was intriguing to watch Emily White, my coach with the sonnet, perform a difficult role with effortless ease.

The work of the company was worthy of London's West End, and we wished there would have been more performances on the voyage.

As for the workshops, my only complaint was that a full 40 minutes was spent learning about how the actors gear up for their work - body stretches, breathing exercises, vocal hoots and hollers, games to rev up energy - which leaves only about 20 minutes for passengers to actually learn, rehearse and perform a part.

Oxford: At England's University of Oxford, admission standards are withering and the annual tuition is $20,000, so it was a delight to find two professors on board to deliver lecture series.

Dr. Gary Lock spoke on natural history sites in the British Isles, while Mary Acton held forth on modernism in art and architecture.

Two other speakers, Sir John Lister-Kaye and Dave Gelly, spoke on their fields of expertise: Scottish history and wildlife (Lister-Kaye) and jazz music in the '30s and '40s (Gelly).

The hourlong lectures were held daily, and in series. If you so desired, you could essentially take a five-day course on a single theme. Or you could do as we did - cherry-pick subjects from the day's menu based on what sounded most interesting.

Spa: For veteran cruisers who are accustomed to bellying up to the buffet at all hours, it's probably unimaginable to approach a weeklong ocean journey from a standpoint of wellness austerity, but if you're so inclined, the ship can accommodate you.

Its Canyon Ranch SpaClub is a two-story facility spread over 20,000 square feet, with 51 staffers, an extensive range of fitness equipment and programs, and all the requisite pampering treatments: massage, aqua therapy, skin and body treatments, beauty services. Meanwhile, the ship's dining room menu has nightly spa-cuisine selections, with figures listed for calories, fat and carbohydrates.

My only beef was that the spa assesses a fee even if passengers just want to use the fitness equipment - $79 per person for the voyage, $25 per day. We had no inclination to spoil the cruise by setting foot in there, but this seemed a nickel-and-dime policy nonetheless.

One tip: It's a very big ship, and if you want to get the blood pumping by making loops of the promenade deck at a walk or a run, it only takes three laps to log 1.1 miles.

Museum: Throughout the ship, maritime history is presented through exhibits of archival photos, maps and informative text. A stairwell or hallway might conform to a particular theme - one-upmanship in the quest for speed, the glory days of ocean liners, crew life behind the scenes.

Our favorite exhibit was in Stairwell C, chronicling the evolution of oceanic exploration and passenger travel on the seas. It was a little too heavy on Cunard's history for my taste - kind of a company infomercial in spots - but it was still informative.

A panel on Deck 5 is devoted entirely to the fate of the Titanic, but with an interesting twist. Wireless radio on ships was a newfangled gizmo in 1912, and the sad tale of the ship's collision with an iceberg on a fateful April night is related through transcribed dispatches from ships that responded to the Titanic's distress calls.

It's heartrending to read them.

From the Carpathia: ``Shall I tell my captain? Do you require assistance?'' From the Birma: ``We are coming. You are only 50 miles away. Hope you are safe. I am.'' From the Carpathia again: ``Are you still there? We are firing rockets.'' (The Carpathia was the first ship to arrive on the scene, and this call was issued just an hour before the last of the crippled Titanic slipped below the surface.)

An audio guide to the exhibits is available free of charge, but we found that the information panels were detailed enough to render the device superfluous.

Library: There's plenty of time to read on a crossing of five-plus days, and the ship's library offers 8,155 volumes, all displayed in wood-paneled stacks in a room that overlooks the bow. With a swipe of your ID card, you can take a book back to your stateroom or to a steamer chair on deck.

The number of books ``is constantly changing,'' said librarian Mary Darden. ``We're always rotating in new books and taking out books that then go to the crew library. We really listen to the passengers, if they have requests about books we don't carry, and try to address that as soon as we can.''

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The cozy library of the Queen Mary 2 holds 8,155 volumes - plenty of material for bookworms. The cruise also offers acting classes, lectures from Oxford professors, a spa and a museum.

Eric Noland/Travel Editor