techteach

3 hours ago, Lanky Lad said:

I'm just back from Blackburn Cathedral after listening to The Sixteen on their Choral Pilgrimage. It was amazing. Homepage - The Sixteen

Beautiful Lanky Lad.

The term mediocre is relative to past experience and would be on a scale from let’s say horrible to fabulous. There are experts in cooking who help identify the fabulous for us, The Michelin Guide is just one. There is Yelp to help identify the horrible, as well as others. I’ve eaten in many Michelin starred restaurants because that’s something we do when we travel. I’ve also taken 5 cooking classes at Guy Savoy in Las Vegas so I’ve seen what happens behind the scenes at 9:00am to make the stock that will take 3 days before it is ready to be turned into a silky smooth clear broth or sauce. People scouring the world to find the perfect tomatoes, never frozen meat and seafood. No kitchen on a cruise ship has the resources in time, people, or product to produce that level of cooking. We have only had a couple of misses in QG, but for the most part I would call it very good. I think they do amazing fish, especially Dover Sole. I love cavier and I’m a snob about it. The cavier in QG is hit or miss. I’m sure they’re like all restaurants and get the really big tins. But, I doubt they open a tin, taste it, and refuse to serve it if it isn’t up to a high standard. Michelin starred restaurants have their cavier specially prepared for them. I immediately think of Joel Robuchon restaurants and Thomas Keller in the U.S. who sources his from Tsar Nicoulai in California. QG/PG kitchen has a huge menu to cover and over 100 people to feed 3 times per day.   

Love QG and DH refuses to even discuss traveling anything other than that on Cunard. Our reality is taking care of 3 grandsons while our daughter works. We can’t be flying from Seattle to London every time we want to cruise and being gone more than 10 days is very difficult. So we need to find cruises that go in and out of west coast ports. For now on Cunard that is only QE and with her  we hit the 10 day limit. Looking at the other lines isn’t about dissatisfaction with Cunard, it’s needing additional options. We spent last night looking at some of the lines and for what we get in QG 5 we would pay double on RSS because I don’t want a 322 sqft cabin. DH looked at the inclusive wine list and denounced it as mediocre so we would still be paying hundreds for wine at dinner. Next week on Oceania we’re taking several bottles from our cellar and will just pay corkage. Options are good. Some days I want to play Mozart and other days I want to sing a song from Disney. Looking forward to the day I get to sail on the QV.

We love QM2 QG. We’ve been in QG5 and QG4 and loved the penthouse. But we want to have other options so we’re sailing next week on Oceania, a short 7 day, close to home (2 hour flight) cruise. We have a suite over 750sqft. Making it close to the penthouse on Cunard. Unless there is something special for the entertainment that isn’t a deciding factor for us. Food is critical. I’m looking into Silversea, Regent, and Seabourn for 2025. I am appreciating the information and tone of this discussion @bitob.

@rakkor Thanks for your wonderful blog. I’ve been reading it aloud to DH and plotting out the possibilities for 2025.

I was on Quantum of Seas in August, which dwarfs Symphony. Almost 5,000 people, tons of kids, one of which was mine. It had great venues for a 10 year old. I ate in the MDR every night. The food was FAR better than Celebrity and really not too bad. I can’t compare it to QM2 MDR as I haven’t eaten there. The Kings Court equivalent was a mass of confusion. I won’t do it again unless I have to for grandson.

I really do not like patent leather shoes. They just remind me of high school proms. Light blue jackets, or the burgundy velvet, with ruffled shirt fronts. Those are best left unremembered.

What puzzled me was the picture of the French Toast. It looked like the bread had been cut into a triangle, then covered with the egg, and then seared on each side. I’ve never seen it cooked or served in that way. The other wonder is if it had sat under a heating lamp for a long time because that would dry it out and make it even crispier. In any case do as the grandsons would do: add more butter, syrup, blueberries, whipped cream and powdered sugar.

@Bell Boy I’m going to hold out hope, one my trademarks, that there IS a By-pass line and you don’t have to stand in that horrible long line in the heat. Enjoy Santorini!

@Host Hattie Beautiful pictures!

@bluemarble Was “Jerusalem” a sing along? Thanks so much for taking the time to post this. I have read it to DH in hopes he says, “gee maybe we should book this cruise.”

Thanks @LHT28 I’m looking at the cavier.

Does anyone know if we can order items on the Bon Voyage gift list once we are on-board? If not, do you know the number of days prior to sailing when it must be ordered?

@Tranquility Base You asked if it was usual to go on the outside of Vancouver Island. Yes, most cruise ships go outside. I often watch the weather on my iPad when we cruise Alaska and have noticed the wind is often greater on the inside of Vancouver Island. There is also lots of marine traffic on the inside.

You two have a fabulous time! Don’t drink all that champagne at once. 🙂

I have lost track of which port we’re talking about, but in NY Brooklyn $60.00 is for the bus. A private car booked through Cunard is around $160.00 to JFK. We had to wait for our car in July, and we were told there is a new provider who isn’t as timely in arrival times.

Thank you @bluemarble. I hope you enjoyed it. Rhapsody in Blue has some tough sections for the piano if you have small hands like mine. Two piano pieces back to back. That’s unusual. I assume different people played them.

@moses0 Be sure to be in a good spot on the ship so you can watch the sail in. The houses on the crest are white and it looks like snow from a distance. Really beautiful.

@bluemarble Listening to Elgar Enigma Variations by BBC. Hoping they play it for you. Or perhaps, A Lark Ascending. But then they’d have to have Kleenex at the ready.

@bluemarble I would love to be in your pocket listening with you! If possible, could you post what they play? Silly me, assuming they will have a paper with that information!

We’ll be in a Vista Suite, and have read we can have additional bookings at Toscana and Polo Grill. Who do we ask to make these arrangements? Our butler or the suites concierge?

@FetaCheese Great posting of the Polo Grill. We’ll be on Regatta in 2 weeks and have debated if we should book 1 or 2 nights in the Polo Grill. Based on your report it sounds like we should go for twice.

@bluemarble Where are you? Thanks @Bigmike911.

I have mixed feelings about Santorini. I was on a bus tour to get up the mountain and really enjoyed learning about viticulture on Santorini. Loved the small towns and learning about the community celebrations. Hated standing in line for what seemed forever in the heat to get down on the cable car. I agree with NE John, don’t even think about getting onto a donkey. I think the best part for me was watching the sunset over the caldera.

@3rdGenCunarder I took my brush hairdryer last year on QM2 without a problem.