We started our full-time travel life on a ship. Seven nights on the Queen Mary 2, three daughters, seven bags, and no real idea what we were doing.
May 14, 2022. Linds' parents and my parents both showed up at Indianapolis airport to see us off. That part was harder than we expected. Then a night in Brooklyn, three girls in one hotel bed, nobody sleeping, and by morning we were standing at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal about to board something the size of a city block.
The Route: New York to Southampton
Seven nights across the North Atlantic, May 2022.
What the Queen Mary 2 Actually Is
The QM2 isn't a cruise ship in the way most people picture one. It's an ocean liner, purpose-built for North Atlantic crossings and not Caribbean beach hops. The distinction matters. The ship handles open-ocean swells that would leave most cruise ships sideways. The three replacement propellers mounted on the bow (crew call them the Commodore's cufflinks) are the size of a small house. It displaces 76,000 tons, does New York to Southampton in roughly seven days, and doesn't really apologize for anything.
If you're expecting a floating resort, this isn't it.
Boarding in Brooklyn
Boarding moved quickly, which helped. The staff could tell we had our hands full. What nobody tells you is how disorienting it is to walk onto something that enormous. The corridors go on forever. Lily and Cora spent the first twenty minutes running in opposite directions to see how long it took to find each other.
The girls spotted the Statue of Liberty as we pulled out of port and stood at the railing quietly for about thirty seconds, which is roughly their personal record for standing still.
Five Kids on the Whole Ship
There were five children total on board during our May crossing. Our three and two others. The average passenger age felt somewhere around retirement. People were endlessly kind about it. We couldn't walk through the dining room without someone stopping to ask about the girls, about our travels, about how all of it worked. By day three the whole ship seemed to know us.
The kids' club ran for Lily and Cora during the mornings. Harper couldn't participate independently, so she stayed with us. Seven days is a long time when one of your kids needs you constantly. We managed, but it's worth knowing before you go.
The Rhythm We Settled Into
By day two we had a routine. Breakfast together, then Lily and Cora to the kids' club. Harper and I would find something to explore while Linds had an hour to herself, which four years of full-time travel later I understand was probably the most valuable sixty minutes of the whole crossing. Lunch together, afternoon depending on weather, dinner at the main restaurant, then every evening at the Golden Lion Pub.
The pub was the best part. An act called the Newfoundland Duo, a father and son named Evan and Baylea, played folk music every night from around 10pm. We bought the drinks package around day three and regretted not doing it sooner. We'd find a table, the girls would settle in, and the music ran until late. It felt nothing like what you'd expect in the middle of the North Atlantic.
The Food
Our running joke for the week was "it's okay." Delivered completely flat, every time someone asked. The selections were genuinely limited. The restaurant brought toddlers actual glass cups, which added a low-grade stress to every meal that nobody needed.
The buffet was more manageable. After a full dinner one night the girls made straight for the soft serve, and Harper treated her cone like it might be legally confiscated.
The one genuinely good thing we ate: room service desserts on the last night. A warm salted caramel and chocolate brownie with white chocolate chip ice cream. Not okay. Actually good.
Days at Sea
On the days where weather cooperated we used the pool. The water temperature was physiologically incorrect for recreational swimming. This is the North Atlantic in May. The girls didn't care. They jumped in without hesitation. I complained about the cold and then got in anyway. Linds stayed dry on a deck chair and made no apologies.
Most days were overcast and cool, with swells on a couple of nights. The ship handles rough water better than anything we've been on since.
On day five the navigation channel showed us passing directly over the Titanic site. Lily and Cora were old enough to understand what that meant. Harper was mostly interested in the donut she was holding.
The lunar eclipse happened somewhere around night three or four. We were a thousand miles from land in any direction and the moon went dark over completely flat black water. We stood on deck for the whole thing.
There were also just boring stretches. Seven days at sea with young kids in unpredictable weather and limited entertainment options means some afternoons you run out of ideas. We got creative. Sometimes we found things to do. Sometimes we sat and watched the water.
One evening in the Golden Lion, table after table of passengers started telling us how well-behaved the girls were. We appreciated it more than we let on, because from the inside it mostly feels like we're yelling at them constantly.
The English Channel
On the evening of day seven, the ship's TV channel showed us entering the English Channel. We'd been watching that screen for days. Crossing into it felt like something.
The Last Night and Southampton
Luggage had to be packed and placed outside the door by 11pm. Disembarkation was 9:30am in Southampton. Nobody slept. We arrived in England running on nothing, dragged everything off the ship, and stood in the terminal with five hours to kill because our Airbnb host never replied to our check-in message.
So we found a park. Bags piled at a picnic table, girls running loose at St Mary's playground for an hour and a half. Then to The Polygon mall across from where we eventually got into the Airbnb. Noodles, and Lily and Cora's first-ever Coke, shared between them.
Would We Do It Again with Kids This Age?
Probably not. The QM2 is a real and genuinely impressive thing, and there are pieces of it we still talk about: the Newfoundland Duo, the eclipse, the Titanic coordinates, the way the ship felt at night in heavy swells. But it doesn't pretend to be a family product, and seven days of working against that reality with a toddler who can't be in kids' club is tiring.
If your kids are older and curious about ships or the experience of crossing an ocean slowly, the math changes. For families with young children who want a cruise built around kids, there are better options.
What the QM2 is: a serious, slightly austere ocean liner. You leave New York. You cross the Atlantic. You arrive in Southampton. That's the experience, and it's worth something.
FAQ
Queen Mary 2 with Kids: Common Questions
It depends heavily on the ages of your kids. The QM2 is an adult-focused ocean liner, not a family cruise ship. There is a kids' club (The Zone) but it has age minimums and may have limited capacity on crossings with few children aboard. On our May 2022 crossing there were five children total on the whole ship. Families with older kids who can entertain themselves and are genuinely interested in the experience tend to get more out of it than families with toddlers.
The standard eastbound crossing from New York (Brooklyn) to Southampton is seven nights. The westbound crossing from Southampton to New York also runs seven nights. Cunard operates the route year-round, though schedules vary by season. We sailed in May 2022 and had mostly overcast weather with significant swells on a couple of nights.
The North Atlantic is not the Caribbean. Swells are common, particularly in spring and autumn, and some nights can be noticeably rough. The QM2 has large stabilizers and handles ocean conditions better than most ships, but if your kids are prone to motion sickness it's worth having medication on hand. Our girls were fine throughout, though a couple of nights had enough movement to feel it.
Yes, satellite wifi is available for purchase on board. It is not fast and it is not cheap. We used it sparingly. If you're planning to work or stream content during the crossing, temper your expectations. The crossing is genuinely a good opportunity to disconnect, which with three kids was not entirely unwelcome.
Our honest assessment: okay. The main dining room is formal in style but limited in selection. The buffet (Kings Court) is more flexible and better for families. There are specialty dining options at an extra cost that reviewers tend to rate more highly. The room service desserts on our last night were genuinely good. The restaurant's habit of serving toddlers in actual glass cups was a recurring source of stress.
For families starting a longer European trip, it can make a lot of sense. You avoid a transatlantic flight, you gradually adjust time zones over seven days rather than all at once, and you arrive in Southampton with a built-in story. The tradeoff is seven nights at sea with the limitations described above. We used it to kick off two years of European travel and would do the crossing again, though probably when the girls are older.
This post contains no affiliate links. We paid full price for our Queen Mary 2 crossing and have no relationship with Cunard. Nobody comped our tickets, upgraded our cabin, or asked us to write this. Everything here is our own experience, bought and paid for.
