Travel is. . .

Regal. . .

When I was a new travel writer, back in the 1980s, I would hear my colleagues talk about the elegance of Queen Elizabeth 2, an elegant Cunard ship that sailed transAtlantic voyages from New York to Southampton.

The experience sounded to me like the epitome of luxury cruising and, given as I was a child of movies and television, my experiences were colored by what I'd seen on screen. I saw men and women walking the decks of magnificent ships. In addition to mind-boggling jewels and jaw-dropping evening wear, I saw women wearing tailored tweed suits and heels, with a fox stole tossed casually across their shoulders walking small dogs on the deck. The men were all handsome and well-groomed and it was a luxe experience I wanted.

When QE2 was commissioned to take troops to the Falklands, she stopped at Port Everglades and writers were invited to lunch aboard the vessel while she prepared to go into a war zone.

After a tour of the vessel I was in love.

A few years later I had assignments to write about the Cunard QE2 experience. I sailed as a reporter twice and once, after writing a Caribbean guidebook, sailed as a lecturer.

Reality was as good as my dreams.

When Queen Mary debuted, my husband and I, along with a couple of dear friends, booked passage from New York to Southampton.

Each experience was memorable.

Queen Elizabeth, Cunard's newest regal vessel, and Queen Victoria, which joined the fleet in 2007, sailed into Port Everglades late last week. A couple of days earlier the duo had meet up with Queen Mary and the three sisters made nautical history in New York Harbor.

The ship is on a maiden world voyage and Queen Victoria will traverse between the Atlantic and Pacific.