exlondoner

Well, that is exciting. I always wondered if he actually existed. His saintly behaviour over Covid on your last cruise made me wonder if he was real. 🙂🙂

I think they sometimes have maskmaking as an activity.

We got PA from the World Club well into the voyage I think.

Champagne (not pink: in the Cunard hierarchy, that is for Q1s and 2s) was the only thing we got as well.

I think I saw somewhere on board that this is about two and a half hours, rather than nearly four. Presumably this is why it is cheaper. I wonder what they are leaving out?

Have you seen the dolphins?

I think cuddly ships are pretty silly. I’m sure the young would love the bears, though.

And have you acquired the latest? I think you may have Arthur already.

White paint looks a bit rusty. Perhaps they could give it a wash. I think she’ll get you back to Soton. 🙂

The majority of passengers were British (not all of them Brits), but there were many Americans aboard and also a meaningful Japanese contingent. No doubt many from other nations as well.

What you suggest will be fine. Though I doubt very much you look hideous in the skirts.

You’re just doing that to make me jealous. 🙂 Are you going to do a separate thread on aspects of your cruise? How’s the rust?

Yes.

For two weeks? I don’t think we have enough summer clothes in total to fill that much luggage.

It says on the labels that the max weight is 23kg, but they don’t check whether it is over the limit. It doesn’t mention dimensions that I can see. No limit to numbers, though they did get fed up with the number of cases the Duke and Duchess of Windsor took.

Brilliant. Just what QV needs. Hope you are happily settled on board.

On the two Gala nights I was allowed out for, I didn’t see any man in less than a suit, by far the majority in DJs. I didn’t venture into the Lido though.

In fact, for us, it was very straightforward. We decided to walk downstairs as one of the B stairway lifts wasn’t working and the others seemed full of people going up to go down. (?) So we left five minutes before our time, arrived to find a mainly empty Grand Lobby, and started the long, long, walk along the gangway to join the real world. Home and in Waitrose by 10, despite a jam on the M271.

Or at the very least explain that there won’t be any announcements. I thought the landing instructions were unclear, and only learnt about this by asking the Concierge.

I think this must all be down to how the Intercruises people feel on the day. On the previous cruise, they were checking everyone in, until the terminal became over full, though there were a lot of priority check ins and a much shorter queue that side. However, they were being strict about calling people forward for security and embarkation. Our pass was checked twice to make sure we weren’t just pretending to be QG.

And for entirely different reasons, please, please don’t carry mugs of hot drinks from the Lido in crowded lifts. Nasty accident waiting to happen.

Two other points. Passenger information service: I have already ranted about its direness on another thread. Maintenance: I thought the ship was well looked after, and there were lots of people doing routine cosmetic maintenance in different places on the ship, including a few people painting the hull at Liverpool. Don’t know whether we’d hit an iceberg without my noticing.

Some additional points, also from a QG passenger. Covid Obviously, for me, catching Covid was the main thing I shall remember about this cruise. This meant I was confined to my cabin for six of the twelve days. As I suffer quite badly from claustrophobia, I am very grateful we had a large cabin with balcony. Everyone was assiduous and kind. The medical centre rang daily to check how I was, the Purser people quite frequently, and the lovely Concierge, Sandra, rang every day, and sent me crosswords. Above all the butler, Romil, was brilliant, serving us three QG meals a day, and keeping us well supplied with the essentials of wine and tonic water. One thing that did seem slightly odd was that my husband never had Covid and was not confined, but could not eat or drink in the bars or restaurants. I’m not sure of the logic behind this. Internet Fortunately, in view of my confinement, the internet worked pretty well, and I was never cut off from emails or Safari, which was all I needed. Ports and Tendering I think there were too many tender ports, and perhaps seven (reduced to six) ports in twelve days was too many altogether. I was sad to miss Stornaway and Belfast, and really pleased to be released for Liverpool, where I attended a moving service to commemorate the Battle of the Atlantic. Holyhead was a bit a a shambles, but definitely has potential if they can get disembarkation arrangements and shuttling sorted. Food Our food in the restaurant was always hot and always enjoyable. But, some of the menus were strange. Do two out of five vegetarian dishes of the day really reflect the tastes of QG passengers? And there was poor planning. I adore tandoori lamb, but it was on the lunch and dinner menu on the same day. (Incidentally the QG dinner menu of the day is different from Britannia, and not necessarily nicer.) In contrast to V2, we found the portions almost invariably too large. This was even more the case with our lovely meal in La Piazza. Lectures I thought the lecture programme was very strong for such a port intensive cruise. We enjoyed Mr. Flounders’ thoughts on Cunard History. There were also Jan Etherington and Fiona Armstrong, who I gather are well known, though not to me. Also a professor talking about the Battle of the Atlantic. And finally… The staff were absolutely outstanding. Our cabin staff and restaurant stewards were brillliant, not only efficient and helpful, but smiling and kind. It would have been so nice to bring them home with us.

From Sunday’s DP for Roaring Twenties night.

I assume the words ‘of any colour’ apply only to the tie.