exlondoner

No, you are in the Grills, so should expect some priority. And you want to board in time for lunch which usually starts at 1.

UK immigration do their stuff on board, and that is it.

You can’t get as lost on QV, because it is a smaller ship, but I think it is much harder to navigate. Only being able to get along one side of the Queens Lounge throws me.

I don’t know what you’ve got against those great works South Pacific and Guys and Dolls, but the latter has been one of the most popular shows in London this year, and a complete sellout. Quality lasts.

Surely it is on the Vistas where there are lift difficulties getting to the Grills. On QM2 you just hope the D stairway lifts are working.

The use of space is so much better than in the Q4s

I think, other than the immigration shenanigans, the sources of power are much the same at Southampton, except that Carnival are such a major user of the passenger facilities that they may have slightly more influence on the port authorities.

I understood that was any US port of entry, not just Brooklyn.

Why would you get lost? The ship is symmetrical, unlike the Vistas. Therefore, if you keep on going, even if it is the wrong way, you will get where you want - eventually. It does help to be on the right deck, but they are numbered in order, so that is easy enough. The thing I found most difficult was establishing where the front of the ship was, for she is so stable that you get very little sense of her movement. The nuisance is Deck 7 in bad weather, where you spend too long trying to walk through the KC. In good weather, those teak outside decks are lovely.

Perhaps they were happy to wait until the worst of the weather had passed, given how long they’ve got to cross the Atlantic, while the other ships may have had more pressing engagements.

Why? You could be recently bereaved, or very seasick, or coming to realise you no longer like your travelling companion. All of these would make me worse than miserable, even on a Cunard ship. But in fact I said the PG cabins were miserable, by which I suppose I meant gloomy and disappointing, which, to me, they are, unlike the ones on QM2.

The cabins are miserable. Your emotions are obviously your own, though the cabin might affect them, if, for instance, like me, you are claustrophobic.

Indeed, half as big again, but the extra is all length, not width, making the PGs seem long and narrow and gloomy, with no bigger a balcony. Also, because of the rounded bit that sticks out near the bed, it is hard to see the sea while in bed. I like to see the sea whenever possible.

PG cabins on QV are miserable, though you might think the other perks worth it.

That’s a big difference. You’d have thought they might have let her go at 8.30. Is she going to use tugs?

I’ve got one, but I don’t think it will photograph. Formal evening dress $20.

I’d guess the weather, which is pretty dire. The wind will drop overnight, and then be much stronger tomorrow. So they are presumably aiming at the gap.

How are you formatting it? It accepted mine in the UK format, beginning with 0.

Very windy tomorrow and Saturday.

I asked last year. They said they would be happy to do it, but they didn’t have Dulce de Leche on board. They did make caramel for me (and indeed, everyone else) as an alternative. So you might need to ring up and suggest they acquire some before the voyage.

Or indeed vice verse, as in Hemispheres on QE, whence we could see sunbathers revealing all sorts of unexpected and unintentional parts, while we were in choir practice.

I think there will be a dome like on the vistas. But that won’t give a view.

Dulce de Leche ice cream is wondrous, but they don’t often seem do it.

Bring back the Paris-Madrid Sleeper, I say. And, given the resurgence in sleepers they actually may do one day. The TGV services are brilliant for journeys that fit into a (long) day, but otherwise they just benefit hotels.

That would be an interesting idea, if I were a bit younger, and my husband a lot younger. Also, it would have been vastly easier for us when Eurostar left from Waterloo, but, as it is, would almost certainly entail an extra night in London, or, possibly, Paris. Then I loathe Barcelona, where I would have to stay another night, so I don’t think so. All that packing and unpacking. But I would love to cruise to Istanbul up the Bosporus.