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I'm sure none of the esteemed folks on Cunard would be so heedless of their safety to disregard the dozens (42!) of warning signs at Peggy's Cove, but just in case, the warning signs about not walking on the black rocks need to be taken seriously - people die or are seriously injured every year when they assume that the signs are superfluous and the rocks really can't be that dangerous. (NB: They are.)

There are a few hotels that I'm seeing within walking distance of Hampton Court Palace, and it's a great place to visit for a day. It's also less than a 30 minute drive from Heathrow (depending on traffic, of course, but you're not heading into the city, so it shouldn't be too bad.) If you're a needleworker of any stripe, the Royal School of Needlework is housed at HCP, and they have a lovely little shop (just inside the gate heading to the Great Fountain.) They are only open a few days a week, however. I've always used the train to get around London/get to Soton, so I unfortunately don't have any recommendations for car services.

Cunard's Queen Victoria is doing a full Panama Canal transit in Jan/Feb 2024 (FLL-SFO) with stops in Aruba, Puerto Quetzal, Cabo San Lucas, and an overnight in San Francisco at the end. QV *should* be going through the old locks.

For countries where English is the primary language (US, Australia), you should be fine. Check YouTube for travel recommendations for the cities you intend to visit, and depending on the hotel, the concierge/front desk should be able to provide you with some guidance, even in non-primarily-English countries. Especially if the hotel is being booked by your cruise line, they should be used to dealing with questions from new visitors. Seconding the recommendation for taking day tours.

Hopping on to see if anyone has experience in the single cabins beside the casino on deck 2 on QV?

Thirding the train to Soton (Southampton) from London. There are trains running almost every hour, and the cab from the Soton train station to any of the cruise terminals will be likely under 10-15 GBP. Make sure you know which terminal you'll be departing from, as some of them are a significant trek from others. Do keep an eye on rail and Tube strikes, though, as well as works that might interrupt your travel. The train to Soton from London departs from Waterloo, which connects with the Northern, Bakerloo, and Jubilee Tube lines, so if your hotel is near a station on one of those lines, it should be a relatively easy trek.

I start making lists as soon as I've booked, practically - I have a Google Sheets doc for each trip, and as I think of things, I add them to the list, then move/add/remove as I go. The doc also includes important information like booking references, dates, things I need to do prior and when, etc. I booked a Panama Canal transit for Jan 2024 in November (on board booking), and started the planning doc as soon as I got home.

On my first TA, I had breakfast in Brittania, then second breakfast in King's Court, and Elevenses in Carinthia (or vice versa.) I had to cut down this year, but definitely did have at least two breakfasts more than one morning.

The Panama Canal transit is part of the 2024 WC, but close to the beginning. Someday...

Indeed a Tolkien reference - Ents are the tree-folk.

I've done 3 TAs on QM2, and adored them, and one Alaska on HAL, which was just OK. I've booked a Panama Canal transit (16 days!) in early 2024 on QV, and I'm curious about the differences in atmosphere between QM2 and QV. I tend to spend my days aboard going to Insights lectures and reading or knitting in one of the lounges - my usual haunt on QM2 is the Carinthia Lounge, which I know that QV doesn't have. I really appreciate the calm on board QM2 - even when fully booked, she doesn't generally feel crowded (although on the last TA, the Carinthia was packed twice daily for trivia), and you can always find somewhere to sit and relax on your own. For those of you who have sailed both, what are the differences you've noticed between the two?

Not a thing, but I forgot to try on the full outfits for formal nights before packing them, which resulted in rather fewer outfits than I had planned (skirt I took, to wear with different tops, was too long when worn with any of the shoes I had taken.)

At least some of the outdoor pools were drained during that voyage - I remember getting out on the first day that the promenade was open, and noticing empty pools.

I was one of the freezing loonies on Deck 11 (without a coat, no less, because I spent a week in London first, and it was almost 20C when I left Toronto on 5 November.)

The Daily Programme in My Voyage is just the PDF of the printed version. No additional information, sadly.

There were at least two babes-in-arms on board the QM2 TA last week - they were mostly pretty inconspicuous, but there were definitely happy-baby-happy-adult times!

I had a similar issue during disembarkation and airport transfer yesterday morning to EWR. 8.10AM call, which I pre-empted by about 15 minutes, and I'm glad I did, because I ended up spending ~45 minutes standing in line for immigration, with some very unhappy and unpleasant employees wrangling the lines. I think we ended up leaving the parking lot around 10.30AM?

The Deck 4 launderette got the new machines during this voyage as well, and they worked VERY nicely.

There were a large number of people up and about yesterday morning to watch us first go under the bridge, (which was just before 5AM, I think?), and then to see the Statue of Liberty. The decks were quite busy, and I'm sure that there were even more who were watching from their balconies.

Another M236 disembarker here. I also found the new Daily Programme significantly less useful and informative than the old style. I only ate in the Brittania a few times (between seasickness the first few days, and not being enticed by the menu on most of the others), but I also found that service was a step down. On the first night, I had been assigned to a table for 6/8 (I didn't get close enough to count heads), despite having asked for a table for 2. I went back and stood in line for ages to speak to the maitre'd, who assigned me to a new table, which, when I'd been escorted there, had another couple already sitting at it, who had been assigned there just for that night (open diners, presumably), so I was shuffled off to another table for that night. I did appreciate that the Kings Court was still primarily served, rather than being self-serve (at least for the hot items.)

I'm definitely noticing that I'm often the only one masking in most of the places I'm going, but that's not going to stop me.

As far as I can tell, they only providing testing at the port for children. You are responsible for sourcing your own observed test for that voyage (I've got mine booked at a Boots in London for the 12th.)

I fly to London tomorrow evening, arriving at o'gods o'clock Sunday morning, for a week in London prior to boarding QM2 to come back to this side of the pond. It's lovely and sunny in Toronto today, although we've had multiple days of very odd fog, including fog in the mid-afternoon, which almost never happens. Today is work, then running a couple of final errands, and packing. Soon!

I'm in a weird position where I've realised that, while covid isn't over, it's never going to be truly over-over, and I'm not willing to live sequestered as I have the past two years. I'm flying to London in a week and a half, spending a week there, then boarding the QM2 for a westbound transatlantic back to this side of the pond. I will be masking in airports, on the plane, and on public transit, as well as indoors, and hopefully minimizing the number of restaurants I eat in during the week in London, because I *really* don't want to test positive the day before boarding (Cunard is still requiring observed covid tests for some voyages, including the one that I'm taking.) I've gotten my bivalent booster (5th jab), and got my flu shot at the same time (one of my colleagues came back from London last week and said that the flu is absolutely RAGING there right now,) so I'm about as well protected as I can be. So there is definitely some anxiety - what will happen if I test positive (I do have cancellation insurance), am I going to get nasty looks for wearing a mask, am I going to forget anything (so, the usual pre-travel anxiety,) but mostly I'm just excited to get away.

No time better than a cruise to break out the woolies. I'll be taking my knitting with me when I get on board QM2 on 13 November!