TouchstoneFeste

I don't find "Yanks" insulting, for what it's worth; kind of charming, in my opinion, even when used by people from south of the Mason-Dixon line. And "Americans" excludes a lot of territory to the north and south, and "People from the United States" is a mouthful. My wife, on the other hand, spent her high school years in Canada during the Vietnam war, and she tells me she often heard it in a derogatory context, so it troubles her. And of course back in the mid-20th Century, we heard a lot about "Yanqui go home" from our southern neighbors ... so maybe I'm under-sensitive :)

I've taken care not to use the term since you first mentioned disliking it a few months ago (and seeing that some other British folk out there agree with you). However, please be aware that most of us over here use the term affectionately.

There's another British (I assume) term I'd never run into before. Does "pukka" mean roughly "genuine"? How's it pronounced? Seems very useful.

If you mean noise from passengers waiting for the lift ... The lifts are in dedicated stairwells, so you don't hear passengers waiting; it's not a raucous crowd. We were in 9063 - one of the cabins directly opposite the stairwell - and never heard a peep.

I found the room service coffee to be acceptable. Might have been made from a liquid concentrate? and not as good as what we brew at home, but a step up from instant, in my opinion. Regular ol' American style coffee can also be drawn from the urns in the buffet as early as 5am* if you're willing to venture out before room service arrives. * I didn't try earlier than that.

Actually, if anyone can provide better leads, that would be helpful. "Vintage dance groups" brings up a bewildering variety of folk dancers, Fred Astaire impersonators, etc. "Cruise dance groups" isn't much better. Couldn't find any reference to the group on the April 30, 2023 departure. Is it permitted to post the actual names of the groups? Or is that too close to posting travel agencies?

Oh, dear. No unkindness intended on my part. I enjoy your thoughtful and big-hearted posts.

And the composition is outstanding. The clouds really coopeerated.

In Tolkien. Ents = "tree-like shepherds of the forest". Hence the follow-on hobbit jokes.

But to be fair, it's hard to tell them apart, with the leaves and all ...

I also got the "transatlantic focus" one, which had an interesting component: in the section where it asked about direct transatlantics (with no stops in Canada; Iceland never came up) it asked about preference for an eight day crossing versus a seven day.

Apparently true. When we were departing on May 1, 2022, this was the taxi line. It was the day of the famous Five Borough Bike Tour, so maybe this was unusually bad. The driver of our incoming taxi couldn't figure out how to reach the terminal.

Or the Early Bird Special.

Well spotted. I happened to look two days ago and they weren't updated for my April 30-May 7 TA. Today they have been. I'll post again in December, @bluemarble, but they are exactly what you would expect for an eastbound transatlantic - Red and Gold on the second night, Roaring 20s on the sixth one, otherwise "Smart attire".

Possible but not certain. For a recent overseas trip, I asked my doctor for a "just in case" prescription and he informed me he couldn't - he can prescribe only in the case of an actual COVID case. (This is in the US, a major health care organization.) If your own doctor can't do it, perhaps you can shop around, though.

I agree. The ones I've seen displayed as "grandfather shirts" have had essentially no collar.

They are often known as Henley shirts.

This is a common problem with the US version of the web site; I hadn't noticed anyone complaining that the Australian version had it too, but it's no surprise. In any case, it's a known problem. A phone agent should be familiar with it and can fix it promptly. Can't help with the brochure problem.

Museum of the Home, I think. Looks interesting.

FYI: Just checked my May 2023 crossing and the calendar stills says "dress code will be announced closer to departure" for each day.

In case anyone has received a strange email from Cunard with the subject line was "Missing Immigration Information" and with an attachment "MissingImmigratnNotice-[trip reference number], here's the story: At some point the US version of the web site site didn't have a field for your emergency contact's state (of the Union, that is). (This was found under Personal Details on MyCunard.) This now needs to be filled it, but at the moment the entire Emergency Contact section has disappeared, probably for repairs. Only a phone call will fix it. This leaves a couple questions, probably all unimportant: Is this true for places other than the US? Why is this considered "Immigration" information?