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We sailed into Singapore this morning but I decided to stay onboard to enjoy a relatively quiet ship. A little envious of those going on to Capetown and Southampton. But nothing like not having to take a flight home.

Our second port of Nha Trang went much more smoothly even though we had to use the tenders. The included lunch was delicious.

Yes it made for a very long day. But we still got back in time for a quick dinner in Britannia before rushing off to the show.

Chan May on Saturday 16 March. our docking was delayed by about half an hour ….

Yes! we were there!

i had heard afternoon tea had moved to Britannia. much prefer the Queen’s Room.

and Chris Frame is lecturing!

was pleasantly surprised to discover Catholic Mass is being offered every day on this world cruise.

Before i get too out of sync this was the dim sum lunch we had in Sha Tin before boarding yesterday.

Thank you for your kind words. Unfortunately, no. Even though there is a very good deal being offered now, a bit too last minute (and too many days) for a last minute jaunt.

2024 Bear (on QM2)

Hello again! I’m back onboard Cunard after more than a year, and back on Queen Mary 2 after almost 19 years (SOU to NYC in April 2024). The excitement of first catching sight of the red funnel as your taxi approaches is still there, and it’s been very nostalgic rediscovering the ship. I flew in one day early and stayed at the Courtyard Marriott in Sha Tin for one night. I was mainly in Hongkong to get on the Queen Mary, and when asked a friend from Hongkong what was good to eat at Sha Tin she recommended pigeon. So I dutifully ate a deep fried pigeon and some dim sum delightfully shaped like swans and goldfish for lunch before checking out and heading to the Kai Tuk cruise terminal. The area around the terminal is under redevelopment with the cruise terminal looking like the only thing completed, surrounded by buildings that look to me very much like construction worker dormitories. Checking in was very much a breeze with very short lines at Cunard check-in itself, security and immigration. The longest part for me was actually a sit down interview for a survey by the Hongkong Tourism authority. (I was rewarded with a souvenir keychain, and grateful thanks from the lady who could now go home.) After a brief stop at the purser’s office, where we were informed “to the best of her knowledge” they were sailing full, (I am 100% sure that there are unsold cabins) we went to our cabins where my suitcase was already waiting for me. Our steward was there to welcome us and busied himself getting stuff we noticed was missing. After unpacking I even managed to find a free machine in the laundry to do a small load (I’ve already been travelling for a week) and everyone in the laundry was eager to help with instructions. The benefit of joining a world cruise sector is that you will meet people who are experienced with the machines. Muster was reporting to the station after watching the video that was running on loop the TV while i was unpacking. And then it was time to wander around. Coming up: dinner at Britannia.

Hello Everyone! regarding the mystery of the non-appearing photos: i suspect (don't know for sure) it is something to do with cruisecritic being distributed across various servers (cruisecritic.com, cruisecritic.co.uk and cruisecritic.com.au.) While the texts of the posts get propagated relatively quickly, the photos might take longer to migrate across the servers. So i suspect it's not so much an Apple or Windows issue but a geographic one where you are connecting to a server that is different from where the photos were uploaded. in other words: just wait a bit and the photos will appear! (i haven't got a good guess for the sometimes upside down mystery.)

Our send off was from both Kushiro where we had the drummers and Muroran where the Brass Band played Jazz for most of the afternoon until we left the pier! Oh! I didn't know skipping the two Alaskan ports was possible. I can see how that would make for too many sea days. Honestly Dutch Harbour was only OK but I did enjoy our time in Kodiak very much. I suggest you try again the other way, or find your way to Kodiak at a different time of year. We did seem to be blessed by better than usual weather and having one hour extra of sleep is definitely better than losing an hour several nights in a row. Having said that we also braved Hot Rocks in the cold and it was an experience!