exlondoner

I would also guess they would avoid a Thursday, just in case there is a general election.

I’m sure they do. They seem to update their website very much in dribs and drabs.

I don’t think any Cunarders are down for May yet, so it may just be that they haven’t got round to it.

I used it for booking one of the pop-up restaurants, when nobody answered the phone.

Was there any particular cutback that was the last straw?

Or, better still, they’ll abandon the thing altogether.

Gosh, grim. What does Mr. Biggles think of the wind?

Yes, I think that is right, though it might be younger in August. I have been on two cruises in the summer, though not in August, and on both the weather was fairly grim. For me Orkney was the highlight and yours doesn’t go there.

I can’t see any grounds for pessimism, looking at the plans, for what they are worth. And I well remember the horror when QV was impending, even more so the first version, which was diverted to become Arcadia. Yet it turned out not to be so bad.

Absolutely, particularly as it is on the right side of Soton for Wales, but, if you’ve flown in, surely staying in Southampton is simpler. And, though almost nobody believes me, it is an interesting place (especially compared with Bournemouth).

One other thing. If booking on line is not hard or lengthy, this must be one of the few bits of Cunard IT that actually works effectively. I have never done it with Cunard, but regularly book railway journeys on line, which always takes ages, and again is something I have to grit my teeth to do. So a minor triumph for Cunard.

I agree that research can be great fun, but not the actual admin.

Try booking a particular cabin on the first day they go on sale. People often complain it takes a while even to get on the Cunard site. I would have thought TAs, providing one trusted them, were much more useful for the time poor among us.

Now that really is something I can’t get my head round: enjoying making travel arrangements. The very thought makes my stomach churn. I think I would rather visit the dentist. But if you do enjoy it, then that greatly lessens the benefits of TAs.

Lovely hotel, but why would you want to stay in the New Forest when you are catching a ship in Southampton?

If you think it is once in a lifetime, you are clearly an optimist. I’m not, which is part of the reason I use a TA. But why do I feel I’m being patronised again?

Moreover the staff at the TA do vaguely know something about Cunard. The staff I speak to at Cunard often don’t. For instance, when I ring Cunard to arrange blankets, not duvets, in our cabin, the invariably polite person at Cunard tends to say it has to be arranged on board, until I point out it doesn’t, because it has been arranged in advance on all previous voyages. Then they miraculously discover they can do it. The TA never does that sort of thing.

Very many during Covid, and because of Covid. Never use email for anything important.

For me, many of the reasons miss the point. It is more a case of how I wish to spend my time. I hate hanging on the phone to wait to sort out hassles, and I’m more than happy to let someone whose job it is do that. Moreover, as it it their job, they may even be more effective.

Most liked hotel seems to be Southampton Harbour Hotel. Don’t know about planes, I’m afraid.

Eg Covid, which you may remember.

Wait till something goes wrong, and you have to spend your time on the phone getting it sorted. If you have a TA, they deal with the tediousness and fight your corner, while you do more interesting things. But there is no need to be patronising to those who do want that service.

I have only once been on a Christmas cruise and enjoyed it very much. BUT, I found I prefer to cruise when there are long light evenings to lounge on the balcony with a drink before dinner, which you don’t get in the winter even in the Canaries. But I loved the decorations and the carol service and Santa coming down the funnel and superb roast goose on Christmas Eve. I think the fireworks in Madeira are for New Year and we were back home by then. Anyway, I loathe fireworks.

Yes, there were a few children on our Christmas cruise, but hardly dozens - perhaps twenty. And as always, mysteriously, on Cunard, very well behaved.

There is a free shuttle in Hamburg. After which it is easy to stroll round the city centre. Rotterdam is nice and full of all sorts of interesting modern architecture. Again, there is a free shuttle. There is a train from near the port to Bruges, which is markedly cheaper than the Cunard transfer. I wouldn’t risk it, but only because I am completely neurotic. Lots of people do. Otherwise there is a better value on your own trip to the very interesting city of Ghent.