I just got off the train yesterday,Yes I took the train from Los Angeles to Chicago,Where the other train I had to take to get to New York from Chicago was 1 hour late leaving Chicago and arrived 2 hours late in New York and once in New York I walked luggage in hand the several blocks up 8th Avenue between Penn Station to the Port Authority Bus Terminal to board the commuter bus that would take me home to Northern New Jersey.The Los Angeles to New York train trip including the 5 hours in Chicago where I had to leave the train from Los Angeles to wait for the train to New York took about 66 hours.The train that took me to Chicago left Los Angeles on time at 6:45 PM on Tuesday,January 24th.One question I would like to ask Amtrak is why can't they run a direct train from Los Angeles to New York without having have to change trains in Chicago? The bus trip from New York City to Northern New Jersey only took about 1 hour and the town in Northern New Jersey where I live is a suburb of New York City and I did disembark off the QE2 on Monday January 23rd and arrived at the Queen Mary and spent the night aboard the Queen Mary before boarding the train in Los Angeles Tuesday evening January 24th.So on Monday,January 9th I boarded the QE2 in the Port of New York and Kyle you are right the departure of Pier 88 was very enjoyable including the Manhattan skyline was lit-up because the QE2 left the pier at 6 PM and it was already dark at that time.But it is also sad that the Cunard Ships will no longer dock at the West Side Piers which are Piers 88,90 and 92.Starting on April 15th which is the next date that the QM2 arrives in the Port of New York,which is less than 3 months from now,On that date of April 15th,The QM2 will then dock about several miles away at Pier 12 in Brooklyn every time she is in the Port of New York and the same for the few times a year that the QE2 calls on the Port of New York,That the QE2 when she is next time in the Port of New York which is in September the QE2 will dock at Pier 12 in Brooklyn.So I am very sad that the tradition of docking the Cunard Ships at the West Side Piers 88,90 and 92 has ended,and Remember that Piers 90 and 92 were built in the 1930s for the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth,Pier 88 was built for the French Ship the Normandy and I have seen pictures from the early 1940s with the Cunard Queens and the Normandy all docked next to each other.I did talk to Thomas who is a cruise host aboard the QE2 last week on January 20th,and he also said that he was unhappy about the move to Brooklyn.Thomas did say that it is going to be a big nightmare to arrange for excursion buses to transport the passengers for tours in Manhattan and also I am hoping that Cunard will arrange for buses to take passengers who are either embarking or disembarking off the ship to or from the Port Authority Bus Terminal,Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal and all 3 of these transportation hubs are located in Midtown Manhattan and I do know that Cunard will still provide bus service for the passengers going to or coming from the 3 New York area airports.This would not be a nightmare if Cunard stayed at the West Side Piers which are located in Midtown Manhattan themselves.So on January 16th the QE2 did sail through the Panama Canal and I did see the locomotives which are called mules guide the ship into each of the locks and at each of the locks there was a large containership next to the QE2 going through the locks also.I did notice when the QE2 was at the Atlantic side of the canal,the ship would rise at each level with water being poured into the locks and when the water level was even with the next lock the doors would open and the QE2 would sail into the next section which would be either another lock or through a part of the canal called Gatun Lake.At the Pacific side of the canal the process would be in reverse remember that the QE2 is going from the Atlantic side of the canal to the Pacific side of the canal.The next day the QE2 dropped anchor because she could not dock in Panama City.I did take one of the ship's tender to this dock and I walked around dock area but I did not go on any Cunard excursions because my reason to want to go on this cruise is to go aboard the QE2 again,sail through the Panama Canal and to visit and spend the night aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach,California.After leaving Panama City the QE2 was at sea for 2 days enroute to Acalpulco,Mexico where we arrived at on Jan.20th.In Acalpulco me and 2 other QE2 passengers chipped in our money to hire a taxi to drive us around the city,This is not a Cunard sponsered excursion,we did this on our own and the taxi driver did take us to the various bars in the city and driver did also took us to see the famous cliff divers who climb up to various heights on the cliff and then dive into the water.This cliff diving thing must be a big tourist attraction because there were a lot of people there watching this.The cliff divers start doing their diving at around the age of 14 and then retire from diving at the age of 35.The divers were all men and I guess there are not any women divers.After the QE2 left Acapulco the ship had 2 days at sea before she arrives in Los Angeles.The night before the QE2 arrived in Acapulco,since I am a Cunard Platinum World Club member I did get a invitation to attend the a reception in the Captain's quarters which is his office.Myself and the other people at the dinner table which is the Captain's Table in the Mauretania Restaurant along with passengers assigned to the other QE2 restaurants.One of these passengers was a former QE2 captain himself,his name is Captain Woodall.I did ask Captain Woodall if he would ever consider taking a crossing or a cruise aboard the QM2.He said no because even though he is retired captain he still considers the QE2 to be his ship.I guess Captain Woodall is loyal to the QE2 because he did serve aboard her until he retired in 1994 and he probably does not have the same feelings for the QM2 which did not enter service until 2004, 10 years after he retired so I can understand his loyalty to ships he has served on.Later that night Captain Rynd was to be the host but instead he sent his 2 daughters to be the hostesses.Nothing against his daughters but I still think Captain Rynd still should have been there if Captain Rynd does like hosting passengers maybe he should instead of being Captain of the QE2,he should be a captain of a tanker or a containership instead.The 2 other QE2 officers who were at the table for other nights one being a staff captain his first name is Hamish I can't remember his last name and the Security Officer James Jewell were so much different from Captain Rynd.They always showed up talked to us passengers,stayed with us until desserts were finished and it was a pleasure to meet them.I now have to leave for work and I can't post a report tommorrow which is Sunday because of work so on Monday I will post a report about leaving the QE2 and arriving at the Queen Mary and about meeting John Clifford at the Queen Mary.