D&N

What is the champagne that P&O provide? We don't drink the Pol Aker on board. If anything we take it home. We simply don't eat or drink in our cabin. We like going to lounges and restaurants for that. Our cabin is for sleeping, showering and changing in.

I should perhaps point out that Côte de Roses rosé is from the Languedoc region. Cunard's own label wines come from the same area and we find all of them drinkable. Wine purists might claim that is a region better known for the vast quantity it produces rather than the quality. At home, we wouldn't buy a bottle of wine from there. We'd stick with more upscale wines from Burgundy, Bordeaux and Côte de Provence or Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence. But we do buy lots of three and five litre boxes from the region, which we decant and drink on a daily basis. The bottles come out for Sunday dinner and special occasions.

https://www.ter.sncf.com/normandie Is the local regional link for Le Havre to Rouen. If you can't read or figure out the French, your browser may be able to translate for you. https://www.sncf-connect.com/normandie-train-nomad I don't normally use this, but it's the equivalent linked to the current SNCF mobile app. You'd need to muddle around to find info. Again a browser should offer translation.

I'd normally opt for a main and dessert. There's three of each there I'd be happy to pick. I would eat all five of each if I didn't have a choice. I'd not normally think about a salad or soup, but if forced to have three courses, I'd probably choose between the terrine or crab and shrimp.

I've been seeing comments about seats for weeks or possibly months. From the photos and videos I've seen, although some of the seats may have a similar shape, the actual structures are quite different. Some in lounges look much more padded and more reclined than those at tables in eating facilities. There are some large ones that are probably very comfy and supportive but do look a bit like what you might find in a nursing home. My point; there seem to be a wide variety of different seats to suit all tastes. The renders perhaps suggested there was a standard basic seat type throughout the ship.

Think they've got the date wrong. Their YT video of the Spa was posted about six months ago, but I think it was based on a sailing to Norway over eight months ago.

https://www.youtube.com/@BROMOCOInternational/videos Bromoco International. I'd never heard of them until their videos appeared. I think there's six videos and another done as a case study.

Is this the one? If so, we'd probably prefer it as well. Vivino claims it's fractionally less dry, slightly less acidic and has stronger flavour. In France it would sell for about a third of the price of Whispering Angel. We have thousands of rosés to choose from here and there are many Cote de Provence Cru Class wines much cheaper than W.A. I get the impression most W.A. goes for export. I only see it here on overpriced restaurant wine lists.

How recent were the reviews? It's not something we had time to use, but I understood it had a major refurbishment in November. The specialist company that treated the stainless steel central whirlpool section posted several videos.

I've followed the price of Whispering Angel in relation to the package limit since 2018. It's never been within the package limit. When they increased small glass sizes from 150ml to 175ml last year, it ensured several would be over the limit. Having said that, It doesn't bother us much. I sourced a bottle here, it's not common to find it in our local supermarkets and vintners. It was very dry, but didn't really have much flavour. Perhaps it wasn't the best bottle, although it didn't taste off. The Cunard Rosé suits us fine. We drink it for refreshment rather than to pair with good food.

It's a sparkling wine that makes no claim to be champagne. It's a "blanc de blancs". That means it's made from white grapes, most champagnes/sparkling wines include some red grapes with their skins removed. Some blanc de blancs are made exclusively from chardonnay grapes. Pol Acker doesn't claim that, so it must be a blend. It's perfectly drinkable if served very well chilled in chilled glasses or used with another liqueur in a spritz of some sort. It probably tastes awful if someone finds it in their cabin and serves it semi-chilled in room temperature glasses, but you could say the same for most champagne.

We thought they were for photo opportunities.

From a FB post; "roadworks on A34 near Oxford they had forgotten about until they were at a standstill". But I didn't get impression they were delayed that much.

I'm sure they're very good, but they don't look like dancers! 🤣 Then again, couldn't they play on the "band" stand and let folk dance to their music?

The breeding pair from our nearest river appeared this morning with six cygnets. There is a group of folk that keep an eye on them, and in one of the pics you see daddy telling a woman to get the food out of her backpack and throw it to his hungry kids. She obliged a minute or so later. I've included a FB link to someone else's much better close up of mum and babies than I got with my phone from the bridge above. This group usually survive until adults. The pair in the next river along the coast have an issue where their nest is overlooked by seven floor flats, and gulls swoop down and attack the young. Hopefully their support group will prevent that in future following a loss of about half their chicks a few years ago.

I just saw a picture of the Queens Room. I suspect some purists won't like it but I can see some positives. The floor has a curve all the way round from the acute corners either side of the stage. In practice that means it only really has two "lines of dance". We can dance for ages following the main line of dance, turn in the first tight corner, cross in front of stage to another turn, then another lengthy line. If one gets bored part way along you can always throw in an extra turn here and there. The seats near the floor look very practical. Probably wishful thinking, but if the gold bases swivelled that would be ideal! Face the table whilst taking our refreshments and when the music starts simply swivel round and launch ourselves onto the dance floor. The downside so far is that I haven't seen it being used for actual dancing yet. And of course since it's not a transatlantic liner we won't be on it.

Maybe you have the ship to yourselves! 🤣 Not really. I know of three ladies that are on board with you.

I remembered to check the specification of those coffee machines yesterday. It'll easily fit under the bed next time giving us that extra space. Nora detests coffee, and I only drink it from real coffee machines in the lounges.

They vary what they state in their publicity material fairly regularly. In the daily programmes they have a standard section that doesn't change very often. It says: "top and skirt or stylish trousers, or a dress". I've posted screenshots of that in other threads.

On the subject of hanging space in Britannia and Club Balcony cabins; I watched two videos yesterday and got the impression that most of the full height wardrobes had a removable half bar. In fact one of the vloggers commented on it. That would make them quite flexible in that you could use the two halves for suits, shirts, skirts, tops, but remove the lower bar for long dresses. The wardrobe we don't like in BC on QM2 is the one where the rail runs front to back with little rings on it for the hangers. It's much easier to see what's there and pick stuff out with side hangers.

You don't say what your airline luggage allowance is. We only need to fly from Nice to London on an economy flight, and have 2 checked bags, 2 (full cabin size) backpacks, and 2 smaller under seat bags. We share our formal wear around all 4 of the larger bags. And we put anything that couldn't be replaced in the backpacks. If both our checked bags went missing, we'd still manage to have tuxes and gowns available for the 14 nights. I also put the QM2 address at Red Hook inside the checked bags, with the date and time the ship will be docked in case British Airways found them and were able to get them to the ship in time for our second week.

Marine Traffic doesn't offer a photo of that one. It's an unusual livery, quite intimidating, probably intentionally so. I think there was one fore and one aft. The other was a more conventional livery, SP Pathfinder possibly?

Some of those wine prices are slightly cheaper than the Room Service Bar list from Queen Anne. e.g. The three rosé wines. Possibly another increase coming up for the other ships.

Did you ignore her? Or did she have good reason? I love shouting back at her when she does "recalculating route!" and "find somewhere to turn back!"

My first public transport job was seven years as a bus driver, and until we bought our holiday flat here I would drive at least 2,500 miles each year on a mix of sides of the road for our vacations. So I would consider myself an experienced driver To me driving is a chore, which is fine if you're being paid for it, or there is good reason (we're making an 80 mile round trip to Italy tomorrow to buy six months supply of cat food). You should be watching the road so you don't see as much as on buses or trains. And if you take a car to lunch or dinner you can't have wine with your meal. I'm not familiar with public transport in the Cotswolds but most of the UK has fairly decent local bus services and good quality public transport information through Traveline. Travelling on local buses can be quite interesting in itself due to the diverse nature of fellow passengers.