socialdancer

There are some lovely masks available online, but one real problem for us is that my husband wears glasses and it is not easy to find some that will comfortably go on over glasses - even those described as suitable. Do many people use the masks on sticks that you don't have to wear but just hold in place?

Thank you for the speedy replies, all of which are really helpful :)

We will be travelling on QM2 to the Norwegian Fjords in June. Can anyone tell me how many people actually wear masks on the night of the Masquerade Ball please? Looking at videos on Youtube, very few seem to. I don't want to go to the trouble of getting masks only to find that hardly anyone else has made the effort.

I posted in September about how much extra it was costing for us to book as non-UK passport holders on QM2 next June. Well things progressed quickly - the friends with whom we will be travelling live in Northern Ireland, they booked through a TA in England and it was much cheaper. So we cancelled our direct booking with Cunard and went through the TA - the result, a whopping saving of almost €900 on the cruise cost plus an increase in obs from $60pp to $145pp. Plus we got the same cabin we had booked with Cunard, it became available within minutes of us cancelling with them!

We have just today booked on the QM2 for the Norwegian Fjords June 2018. As non UK passport holders (even though we live in Ireland less than an hour's drive from Northern Ireland) we have paid a whopping €350 each extra by having to book through their international section :o:o I strongly queried this, but although the answer I got was very polite, I was basically told that's it :rolleyes: We are going anyway, but that leaves a bad taste.

We just returned on Saturday from a 7-night cruise from Venice on Rhapsody and it was the best cruise we have been on. Yes, two formal nights, some men wore tuxes but I would say the majority wore good suits, shirts and ties. The ladies wore long, short, mid-length but all very smart. Have a great time!

This was so interesting, thank you. We travel from Venice on September 16th but the only place we are going to where you went is Kotor. So I was really interested in your review of it.

With regard to the water taxi, can you get one without booking? We will be arriving from Dublin, with our friends arriving from Toronto supposedly within 20 minutes. We have planned to travel on the Alilaguna Blue Line to Zattere near our hotel, then Zattere connects straight to the cruise terminal the next day. But if it was going to cost less than €50 per couple for a water taxi, it could be worth thinking about.

Topper123, I just love your posts and hope you and your bride have a wonderful time :) We have done some train travel in the US, including the California Zephyr which we loved, and this October we will travel Washington-Boston on the Acela.

We are seriously looking at doing the Norwegian Fjords on QM2 in 2018 - not cruised with Cunard before and fancy the proper ballroom as we love to dance. Has anyone done that cruise?

Really interesting thread with lots of good tips! Been on two cruises and had no problems, but going from Southampton to Med in July, so the Bay of Biscay could be tricky. Will be packing some ginger!

One small minus - our cabin was a connecting one, although we were not travelling with anyone else. Due to this, sound insulation was reduced and there was a couple with a very small (five months max) baby in the next cabin. The first night on board, baby woke at 2am and cried for 30 minutes :eek: We were so afraid this would be a nightly event, but thankfully it wasn't although she used to have a cry most afternoons about 5pm when we might be trying to have a rest ourselves. We could near the couple talking, knew where they were from by their accents, and will make very sure that any cabin we book in the future is not a connecting one.

We went on only our second cruise at the end of September, the deal was a guaranteed cabin where we had the cabin allocated to us rather than choose it ourselves. When booking an interior cabin, I was told for €250 we could be guaranteed a Promenade cabin, but decided to take our chances. However, we DID get a PR and were delighted with it (plus saved €250 ;)). Because of the bay window it was slightly bigger with plenty of nice sitting space with the window seat and the little couch. No problems with noise as apart from the Promenade Cafe and the pub, everything else on the Promenade closes by 11pm. We had a great view of the parades if we didn't fancy being down in the middle of them.

I had been worried about the claustrophobic effect of an interior cabin (confirmed for me when we looked into one while on the ship), but the PR gives the illusion of a window, and already we are looking at booking one next year. I would recommend it to anyone.

Sorry posted twice!