mcloaked

That may well be but from what quite a few people seem to be posting, 'flexible' dining seems to be a recipe for a poor and chaotic experience for both guests and dining room staff for quite a few even if it works OK for others.

I am not so sure about the return of cocktail parties - we are at the cusp of autumn, Covid cases are nudging upwards and there are the gatherings of Halloween and Thanksgiving in the next few weeks, which will inevitably add to transmission of Covid, as well as people preferring to go to indoor events rather than outdoor events as the weather turns to winter. The UK has had a good start to the autumn booster campaign with over half of all over 50s in the UK population having had their autumn bivalent Covid booster jab now achieved in the past month or so. People in other countries may not have been part of such a rapid programme of getting the jab as soon as it is available. Given there are a few new 'variants of concern' starting to cause a rise in cases (XBB and a couple of others like BA.4.6), and with higher transmissibility than Omicron BA.5 which is the current predominant variant (around 80% of all cases at present), so will likely grow as a fraction, and even vaccinated/boosted people may have more susceptibility to the new variants, I would imagine Cunard will be cautious in taking additional steps that might give rise to bigger case numbers on board - of course others may know more than me!

Whether you have been out in the city or coming back from the immigration hall after disembarking in NYC, means you go into the departures 'shed' at the same entrance that you enter from outside for initial check-in, and check in again, and how long takes depends on how long the queue of people is to get to the next available desk - yes, if you are already checked in and have a cruise card, then it is a bit quicker than when first checking in for a new cruise in Redhook, but you still have to have your credentials checked, and go through the departures passport control again and go through security to get on the ship. Most other places in the world at ports, if you have got off the ship with your cruise card, you simply queue for the gangway after showing your card to one or more security officials between the portside entrance area and the gangway itself, and then scan your card in once just inside the ship entrance, and then go through security and the scanner, or the same within the terminal before getting on board. A few places demand you take your passport as well, and have to clear customs/immigration/security in the port terminal, in which case you don't get security a second time on the ship, but just scan in as you step aboard - Venice is a port where this happens for example.

I had a look at one of the Starlink live coverage maps - which is a 3d map and you can drag the globe to see every part of the world. Certainly the UK seems reasonably covered, and most of Europe, but Scandinavia looks sparse. The Atlantic looks covered but not as far north as a latitude line just south of Greenland, and that line continues on to just north of Hudson Bay as you go west to America. So yes there is a ring along that path around the north of the world and little coverage further north than that. But the typical routes that QM2 goes TA looks like there is coverage, and of course the Caribbean looks OK, which is presumably one reason that RCL would not be unhappy with coverage.

Nice review

Yes using the mobile phone 4G or similar at ports is very useful to extend the daily ship internet purchases. Though I am still on an old (quite a few years old!) mobile phone data plan which has no additional cost for using data in Europe, at the moment. However if I upgraded my plan to a new one, then I would have to buy data if I wanted to use the phone in Europe, so it is a decision dilemma! 4G is generally fine, but there are cheaper tariffs now, even for 4G, and of course 5G is now available in a lot of places too!

Nice blog report and interesting to hear that the steamer chairs on the promenade deck have been nicely refurbished with their new blue livery. I wonder if the same is the case on Queen Victoria? Perhaps someone on QV could report whether that is the case?

If it is possible to make an error in selecting February 29th then some fraction of people will do it, even if completely inadvertantly. Of course it would also be very easy to code the web site so that selecting the 29th of any month other than February simply refuses to login, rather than crashing into oblivion! On the other given the historic performance of the web site coding engineers, I might not bet on the robustness of adding that in as an option!

The leap year issue with day 29 is surely a practicality management decision, as frankp01 says. However I must admit I would not wish to put my date of birth, even without the birth year, into an open forum as it increases security risk. There are always some less honest people who might use that information to try to get into someone's account, not just on this forum. Just suggesting to be careful in the current times.

Maybe Cunard are sending out emails in a rolling fashion with emails going to passengers on cruises in September first, and may then send out the same or similar mails to people on October cruises a bit later - and that may also be because they might want to wait in case they need to change policy once the new system has been in place a few weeks - so they will prefer to send definitive information that is less likely to be changed between the time of the email and the departure for any passenger receiving the mail.

Your voyage starts on the 4th, two days before the larger change in policy I quoted above becomes implemented. However if it was me, I would check by a direct phone call to Cunard agents, that, for that specific voyage, you will only have to confirm you took a test with a negative result, for that departure, as opposed to getting a fit-to-fly cert with a confirmed negative test result, so that you are sure which policy applies to your departure on that date.

Yes that is the case.

I seem to remember that for those sailings where you are recommended to do a test, but certification is not required, you are asked to 'confirm' you were negative. On the other hand for youngsters in that situation you are required to show 'proof'. Quoting from a Cunard email: rom 6 September 2022, there will be some changes to our vaccination policy, and in addition, self‑testing prior to travel will change from ‘mandatory’ to ‘highly recommended’ for vaccinated guests on the majority of Cunard holidays, including yours. Only guests sailing on longer, or more complex itineraries, will be required to have an observed or in-person lateral flow/antigen test and provide a fit‑to‑travel certificate before departure. Our new vaccination and testing policy comes into effect from 6 September 2022 onwards. Vaccination requirements for your voyage. For your voyage all guests aged 18 years and over need to be fully vaccinated* with an approved Covid‑19 vaccine a minimum of 14 days prior to travel. If more than 270 days (calculated from the last day of the cruise) have passed since the full completion of a vaccination course, a booster vaccine will also be needed and must be administered a minimum of seven days prior to travel. Guests who have had one booster vaccine, regardless of the date, are considered fully vaccinated. At this time, a second booster vaccination is not required, however, we strongly recommend all guests to have booster vaccinations at the earliest opportunity, should they be available to them, in order to comply with evolving vaccine policies from the countries we visit. Guests 17 years of age and under are not required to be vaccinated. *The definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ is having completed an approved (by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), European Medicines Agency (EMA) or the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing (WHO EUL)) two‑dose Covid‑19 vaccination course, or the approved single‑dose Janssen Covid‑19 vaccine (plus a booster if applicable). Testing requirements for your voyage. For your voyage, while testing is no longer mandatory, we highly recommend that all fully vaccinated guests aged five and over, take a Covid‑19 lateral flow/antigen test in the three days before, or on the day of your ship's departure. Guests aged 5‑17 years who are not fully vaccinated will still need to take a Covid‑19 lateral flow/antigen test in the three days before, or on the day of your ship's departure. You’ll no longer need to provide a test certificate for these guests, but you must be able to provide photo evidence of your negative test if asked. Guests will also be asked to confirm that a test has been taken, with a negative result, as part of the pre‑boarding health declaration at the cruise terminal." Of course not all voyages will have had the same email sent to passengers.

There is a new video of the forward section at

For those just off QV, one question. It was stated a while back that all the dining chairs in Britannia dining room were changed soon after the refit/drydock. Can someone say what the new chairs are like - i.e. are they still classic dining chairs with arm rests but in different colour/style, or are they armless with nowhere to rest your arms?