LONG LIVE THE QUEEN QM2 REVIVES DIGNIFIED ERA OF OCEAN TRAVEL.

Byline: Story and photos by Eric Noland Travel Editor

ABOARD THE QUEEN MARY 2 - The Atlantic Ocean was in a foul temper here off the coast of Newfoundland. Under a gray canopy of clouds, the winds were tearing across the surface of the water at 65 mph, and the seas were rolling in upon us in surfable swells of 25 feet and higher.

Not a particularly hospitable environment for a cruise ship.

But, then, we weren't on one. In fact, you rarely hear the word on the Queen Mary 2. This isn't a cruise, it's a crossing, a passage or a voyage. And this isn't a cruise ship, it's an ocean liner.

Looks and handles like one, too. It's not one of those bulbous, flat-bottomed beasts that waddles around the bathtub waters of the Caribbean. Instead, it has a tapered stern, 32 feet of draft and a severe, soaring prow that resembles a cleaver - and has a similar effect on seas. The ship was carving through these furious waters with barely a shudder.

The Queen Mary 2, which made its maiden voyage for Cunard Line one year ago this month, is the longest, tallest, heftiest passenger vessel afloat - nearly the length of four football fields, as tall as a 23-story building and more than three times the bulk of the Titanic.

Our Atlantic crossing in November offered a link to the golden age of travel, before a 1960s surge in jet service enabled travelers to zip across the ocean crammed together in a fuselage, clad in sweat suits and subsisting on honey-roasted peanuts. The QM2, as it is affectionately called, follows respectfully in the wake of the Mauritania, the Imperator, the Ile de France, the Normandie and, yes, the first Queen Mary - luxury liners that traversed the ocean in elegant style.

We did, too. And as we glided up the Hudson River at dawn on a Saturday morning, we regretted that our journey from Southampton, England, to New York had only required five-plus days.

``I think Cunard Line has re-created an unbelievable era of art deco and the euphoria of trans-Atlantic travel,'' said cruise director Brian Price, who began his career in 1963 as a purser's clerk on the first Queen Mary.

The Queen Mary 2's public rooms are lavish, from the three-deck-tall Britannia Restaurant, with its skylight dome, to the 10,500-square-foot Queens Room - the largest ballroom at sea. Cabins are stylish and comfortable, and some of the high-end ones downright opulent. Contemporary impressionist and modernist art is displayed at every turn.

Food and drink is sumptuous, with Sevruga caviar, chateaubriand and lobster served in the main dining room - done surprisingly well, given the banquet format - and alternative choices ranging from the stylings of Boston celebrity chef Todd English to an Asian tasting menu. An entire bar, meanwhile, is devoted to the bottlings of Veuve Clicquot Champagne. And formal tea is presented by white-gloved servers every afternoon, accompanied by live music.

Against such a backdrop, it only seems fitting that the dress code is formal for three of your six nights at sea.

But all of this isn't the sole province of luxury travelers. The ship will make 26 Atlantic crossings between April and November this year (an equal number of westbound and eastbound trips) before paying a visit to the West Coast in early 2006. With an early booking through Cunard, an inside cabin can be had for $1,500 per person, an ocean view for $2,200, a balcony for $2,500. (Travel agents and Internet booking sites can often book lower fares.)

The QM2 distinguishes itself from conventional cruises in the diversions it offers. No blender drinks in pink plastic souvenir glasses. No hairy chest contests. The offerings are - there's no other way to say it - refined.

On our trip, professors from Oxford University were on hand to give lectures on subjects ranging from British antiquity to art history to the emergence of jazz in America. Students from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art conducted acting workshops by day and performed scenes from the plays of Shakespeare and Chekhov by night - the latter were worthy of London's West End.

A string quartet presented a recital of Mozart and Strauss. A wine seminar provided contrasting sips of Old World France with New World Napa. Museum displays tracked the history of ocean voyages, including the sad fate of the Titanic. And the ship's library held 8,155 volumes.

``This is for the trans-Atlantic purist,'' said hotel manager David Stephenson. ``The lecture on Stonehenge was absolutely packed - 600 people. (We know - we were among them to hear Dr. Gary Lock of Oxford.) And the RADA workshops, well, it's not exactly Royal Caribbean's rock-climbing wall.''

There is ample time to enjoy these offerings, because the ocean crossing means five straight days at sea. It might take a little time for veteran cruisers to adjust to a routine that doesn't involve scurrying daily into a touristy port, but we found the pace to be gloriously restful.

The Queen Mary 2 maintains another tie to a bygone era of ocean journeys by offering three classes of travel - a condition that would be unthinkable on most cruise ships.

There is a separate dining room and lounge for the passengers who have booked the most lavish accommodations (private elevators, too) and still another dining room for those who book junior suites.

We'd heard about some of the high-end staterooms and were keen for a glimpse into one (along with everyone else on board), but Cunard officials were not about to disturb the high-rolling occupants with a stampede of looky-loos. So you'll have to use your imagination: The Grand Duplex has 2,249 square feet of space spread over two stories, with marble baths, separate whirlpool tub, an oversize balcony and private exercise equipment.

But life in third class wasn't akin to steerage. Far from it. Our stateroom, though the second-smallest on the ship at 248 square feet, was extremely comfortable, with a queen-size bed, love seat, desk and floor-to-ceiling glass exterior wall, with a door that opened onto an 8-foot-deep balcony (large enough to accommodate two loungers). The bathroom, with a shower but no tub, proved perfectly adequate - especially with its array of fine Canyon Ranch toiletries.

The room was all light colors, with fine-grained blond wood and a white comforter on the bed. There was luggage storage space beneath the bed, built-in drawers for clothes, and spacious closets - essential for hanging up all of those formal garments you were compelled to bring along.

The TV had an extensive music entertainment program (the soft jazz of Diana Krall and Norah Jones, Broadway show tunes, classical adagios), along with a channel devoted to information from the bridge, including a chart showing the ship's exact location.

We weren't allowed into the Queens Grill (first class) or the Princess Grill (second) but weren't exactly suffering in the Britannia Restaurant, with its formally dressed servers, Wedgwood china and Waterford crystal.

I've always found cruise-ship dining to be more miss than hit, since the galley can rarely cook items to order - much like a hotel banquet or a wedding reception (700 entrees out the door ... at once!). But that wasn't the case here. Dishes were superbly prepared, with no shortcuts on ambition: parsley- and citrus-coated lemon sole, chateaubriand (prepared exactly to order), herb-crusted lamb rack, broiled lobster tail.

Our only complaint was that although the wine selection was extensive, pleasantly global and remarkably reasonable, the service was chronically overwhelmed. Our first night, we ordered a pinot noir that would pair nicely with our appetizer and main course, but it didn't arrive until we'd finished the first course. On subsequent nights, our white wine would be kept in an ice bucket several paces off, but rarely did anyone come around to refill our glasses, a problem I ultimately remedied by retrieving the bottle and setting it on the table.

Neither did the ship have a list of wines by the glass. In any dining venue. We felt sorry for an Australian woman at our table who was traveling alone. When she inquired about a glass of wine, the sommelier said, ``Red wine, we have merlot, pinot noir, shiraz and cabernet sauvignon. Do you want to hear the white wines?'' Sorry, I need more than that - country, label, price.

A staffer told me privately that the absence of a by-the-glass wine list was a Cunard decision; the line wants the servers to push bottles of wine instead.

But at least the bottle prices are reasonable. Having just been murdered by the markups in Dublin and London, we were thrilled to find reputable wines from California and Australia in the high $20s and low $30s.

The QM2 has the requisite - and hugely popular - buffet spread for breakfast and lunch, but we preferred the refinement of the Britannia room for both meals. And for alternative dining, we enjoyed a fabulous dinner and an ordinary lunch at Todd English (there is a supplemental charge for each), as well as a delightful Asian tasting menu of a dozen courses at Lotus.

Other choices include an Italian-themed restaurant, a carvery and the Chef's Galley, a small dining room from which patrons can observe chefs at work from behind glass (a supplemental fee is charged for this).

When we returned home from this trip, a lot of people wondered what we did with ourselves during a solid week at sea. Five-plus days without a port call or a shore excursion?

But we were busier than we thought we'd be and left many things undone.

We never got to the planetarium film, because it booked up quickly and always seemed to be scheduled during lunchtime. There was a running bridge tournament and also window tables where people hunched over games such as Monopoly, backgammon and chess, but we never paused to try our hand at anything. The golf-putting contest on the Sun Deck looked like fun, especially when the ship was gently rolling and pitching in 20-foot swells. Churchill's Cigar Lounge was richly fragrant and would have been an ideal spot to light up an Arturo Fuente and order a snifter of cognac. And we never once set foot in the casino - which undoubtedly would have felt like Monte Carlo in a James Bond novel with us attired in tuxedo and gown.

But in the course of the week, a favorite undertaking was ... nothing. The Promenade Deck was lined with wooden steamer chairs with soft pads and wool blankets. Early in the voyage, when sunlight occasionally poked through the cloud cover and before the wind and swells kicked up, this was the place to be, alternately reading a novel and dozing off in an afternoon nap.

There was a breeze at the rail. The water shot past below as we plowed along at 26 knots.

At these moments, it was comforting to think that the legacy of the great liners was safeguarded so impressively on this memorable ocean cru ... uh, crossing.

Eric Noland, [phone]

eric.noland(at)dailynews.com

IF YOU GO:

ITINERARIES: The Queen Mary 2 is currently wintering in the Caribbean, offering cruises of a week and longer. From April through November, it will conduct 26 Atlantic crossings, broken up by the occasional cruise itinerary (Mediterranean, Baltic, New England foliage, etc.) It will visit Los Angeles in early 2006, offering one cruise each to Mexico and Hawaii.

FARES: With an advance booking through Cunard, an inside cabin for an Atlantic crossing runs about $1,500 per person, double occupancy. An ocean-view cabin is $2,200, a balcony $2,500. The fares rise from there to $30,000 per person for a Grand Duplex apartment (whew!).

TOUGH TICKETS: The two most difficult reservations on the ship, without question, are dinner at the Todd English restaurant and any treatment at the Canyon Ranch SpaClub. Neither can be reserved in advance of the trip. In the departure lounge, seek out a table near the gangway where Todd English reservations are taken. A supplement of $30 per person is charged for dinner, $20 for lunch. (You can probably skip lunch; we found it disappointing.) Book spa treatments the instant you get to your cabin. My wife waited until the next morning, and learned that the next available opening for a manicure was four days hence.

EASY SWIPE: A technological wrinkle enhances the experience on this voyage. When you check in, you're photographed and issued a photo ID badge with a bar code. It serves as the key to your cabin and your charge card for the entire trip. This enables you to lock your cash and credit cards in your room safe for the duration. All transactions on board are made with the card --- even if you just buy a couple of postcards in the bookstore. This prevents someone else from ordering a couple of drinks and asking that they be charged to a bogus cabin number --- potentially yours.

TIME CHANGES: One advantage of a westbound crossing is that you get to set your clock back an hour on almost every night of the voyage. This permits late-night revelries without any real forfeiture of sleep.

TIPPING: No need to board with a fat envelope of currency to take care of the stewards, waiters, etc. A charge of $11 per passenger per day is automatically added to your account to cover service gratuities (though you're permitted to tip individuals something extra, obviously). As on most cruise lines, a tip of 15 percent is also assessed on every purchase of alcoholic beverages.

THE BRIDGE: No tours are offered, but the ship is experimenting with allowing passengers to observe the officers at their work through a window at the back of the bridge. Located on Deck 12, this peek behind the scenes is only offered at sporadic times, but it's fascinating to see the screens holding radar readouts and electronic charts, as well as the big Starship Enterprise-type chairs and a tiny steering wheel worthy of a video arcade.

SISTER ACT: The spirit of the original Queen Mary lives on aboard the QM2 --- and a piece of her soul, too. One of the Queen Mary's original steam whistles was converted to compressed air and mounted to the starboard side of the QM2's funnel. It is one of four whistles on the ship, and still sounds a resonant bass A, two octaves below Middle C.

By the way, the new ship is the Queen Mary 2, not Queen Mary II, to signifying that this is the second ship by that name. The Roman numeral is only used for a ship's name when it corresponds to the title of a British monarch.

SEASICKNESS: If rough seas get the best of you, relief is available in two forms. Cinnerazine pills are dispensed at the Purser's Office Reception Desk. They're effective if taken before a seasickness incident, according to medical staffers. If you've already vomited, injections of Phenergan can be administered in the Medical Center on Deck 1. According to passengers we talked to who availed themselves of this remedy, you feel zonked for a couple of hours but then are spared any seasickness distress for six straight days.

INFORMATION: www. cunard.com; [phone].

CAPTION(S):

5 photos, 3 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) no caption (Queen Mary 2)

(2 -- 3 -- color) Above, a floor-to-ceiling tapestry of the Queen Mary 2 itself dominates the three-deck-tall Britannia Restaurant. Above right, a couple tries the dance floor in the Queens Room during afternoon tea.

(4) Though there are many activities on a Queen Mary 2 crossing, many choose to while away the hours on a steamer chair along the rail.

Eric Noland/Travel Editor

Box:

(1) no caption (Queen Mary 2)

SOURCE: Cunard Line

(2) How big is the QM2?

Gregg Miller/Staff Artist

(3) IF YOU GO (see text)