The main reason a transatlantic crossing on the Queen Mary 2 was on our travel radar to begin with was because some friends from our Arthur Murray studio back home in Alpharetta took the same cruise in the fall of 2013. The Queen Mary 2 boasts the largest ballroom on any cruise ship, a natural magnet for ballroom dancers like us. For dancers of the more “pop” styles, directly behind the Queens Room is the G32 nightclub, meaning you can FoxTrot and Waltz until the end of the day in the Queens Room, then boogie until the wee hours of the morning in G32.
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| Queens Room Ballroom Dancers |
It shouldn’t surprise you, then, to hear that we danced every night on the Queen Mary. We also danced during the afternoon high tea we attended. The predominant ballroom dances in the Queens Room were FoxTrot, Swing, and Quickstep with the occasional Cha-Cha, Samba, and Waltz. We had all these dances covered except for the Quickstep, but we managed to pick up the Quickstep basic while onboard.
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| Dance Pro Demonstration |
The ballroom dancers on our cruise represented all skill levels, from beginners to obviously advanced and practiced, and multiple styles–International Standard, Arthur Murray–were represented. We found it interesting that we could recognize the dancers who were taught similarly to us, presumably at Arthur Murray studios or by Arthur Murray trained dancers. That ability to recognize styles, in fact, enabled us to strike up some conversations with fellow dancers.
In addition to the evening dancing, a professional dance couple was onboard. Each night, they danced a demonstration dance, and each day they offered free group beginner lessons. We took advantage of such a group lesson to pick up the Quickstep basic: while it was too crowded for really effective lessons and mastery, we got the gist enough that we’re still working to perfect it. And it was especially good to see so much interest in learning ballroom dancing. We also learned that the pro couple offered optional private lessons, but we didn’t take lessons. There’s always next time.
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| Dance Pro Demonstration |
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| Group Dance Lesson on Queen Mary 2 |
