safarigal

19 hours ago, Colin_Cameron said:

My first thought was that the corridor carpet design pointed forward, but it actually points to the closest staircase/lift.

I must admit I was a bit confused to begin with - and then it all made sense. The blue points to to blue lifts at the front, the rust to the rust lifts midships, and the red to the aft lifts. Actually not a bad idea at all.

However, how is everyone doing with the lift lady informing you that your lift is going up or down? I do miss the deck sixxxxxx on QM2.

Interestingly enough, I was quite excited when we entered our stateroom on Queen Anne, and saw an ice bucket with a bottle in it. Yay, the Pol Acker is there! But no, it was a bottle of Cunard Prosecco instead. 

It was very nice, but lacked that familiar rust taste.

2 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Are you staying in for the Canaries?

Yes, and the British Isles 🙂

7 hours ago, Colin_Cameron said:

I guess. 

 

I assume she stopped being Hull 6274 when she was handed over to Cunard but wondered if she should be Q8 or some other designation until the naming ceremony. It took me long enough to stop referring to QE2 as 'The New Queen'. 😀

 

Q1 Queen Mary

Q2 Queen Elizabeth

Q3 never built

Q4 Queen Elizabeth 2

Q5 Queen Mary 2

Q6 Queen Victoria

Q7 Queen Elizabeth

Q8 Queen Anne

 

Alas I never sailed on Queen Mary, I have only stayed on her in Long Beach. However, I have sailed on the other Queens, and very much look forward to boarding Queen Anne on May 3rd! 

Just now, bananavan said:

Thank you so much for this information Lesley.  
I mentioned to Alan that we are going to be sending our formal wear ahead to San Francisco using a luggage forwarding service and we will do the same for the return if we disembark in NYC. Doing so from Southampton would be insanely expensive. 
We are in QG on the Queen Anne but going back to the US in First Class would cost us more than a sheltered balcony on QM2. AND we would be able to adjust better to the time changes.

 

Queen Mary 2 has become our ferry of choice! Cheaper than BA, and much more fun 🙂

We had no trouble transferring from Queen Victoria to Queen Mary 2 in 2023. It was arranged by the pursers office. We left our bags outside our door on the last night as usual, and they were in our new stateroom soon after we got on board QM2. There was a coach that transferred us between the ships. We were the last people to leave Queen Victoria and when we boarded QM2 we were able to go straight to our stateroom, but that may have just been luck.

1 hour ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Maybe we should go out early to stake out a good spot!

I think we will have to!

I'm excited about the information, and that there will be a dedicated viewing area in the heart of the action on the waterfront, but it will be standing only. For those of us shorter people we may not actually get to see much, but at least we will be able to hear!

I imagine there will be. Our around Africa cruise on the Sojourn has been re routed, and I just got word that the Island Princess has been rerouted, so Cunard can't be too far behind unfortunately.

Looking at the timing of the eclipse in August 2026, it seems like it will be quite late in the day - unlike yesterday's one which was great because the sun was overhead and everyone on the Emerald Princess got a great view. In August the sun will be closer to the horizon, so may not be as easy to see from all around the ship. Never the less we have booked the Queen Victoria cruise. There is a lot to be said for a Med cruise in August eclipse or no eclipse! Like HaveDog WillTravel we had a spectacular view. Our photos are on yesterday's entry for my blog at www.whereissafarigal.com which will give you an idea of the treat in store for you if you see the eclipse from a ship!

On 3/23/2024 at 7:56 PM, tgetz said:

Thank you .I couldn't see to find any world cruise blogs to read. 

My blog from the Queen Victoria 2017 world cruise is at www.whereissafarigal.com. The trip is "Across the World in 80 Days".World cruises are the best. We are currently on a 50 day cruise which is fine, but give me over 90 days any day!

24 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Lol! Talk about thread resurrection... 😄

Ha Ha! I was wondering what/who on earth this Fortuna Luck woman was, so I googled it, and up came this thread! 

Fortuna Luck on Sapphire at the moment is engaging and funny, she has boundless energy. I was also not sure what exactly her role is, but she certainly makes Bingo more fun 🙂

On 3/6/2024 at 7:38 PM, inekee said:

We loved the guest choir on the QE. Highlight of our seadays 

I had a great time singing in the choir a few years ago. I agree, it really is one of the things that makes Cunard special! Although I'm not sure that it was the best song to sing, but we were about to hit the COVID crisis.

3 hours ago, NE John said:

I’ve also enjoyed your blogs too! 

Thanks!

3 minutes ago, Bell Boy said:

Never mind, You'll have the company of me in a couple of months or so on Queen Anne 🍾

......and that is something I am sooooo looking forward too, but I will miss Roscoe!

I so wish I was on board with you and Deirdre and Kim. I am lookinf forward to following along 🙂

2 hours ago, rafinmd said:

Welcome to the Crystal Forum.

 

Roy

Thanks!

1 hour ago, Into the Sunset said:

This is the new and old World Cruise Itinerary 

Untitled spreadsheet.pdf 86.71 kB · 37 downloads

 

Thanks!

I don't have all the ports, but these are the new segments for the Serenity world cruise:

March 27 Fremantle Perth ----------- Aprl 06 Singapore
April 6 Singapore -------------------- April 20 Mahe
April 20 Mahe ------------------------ May 05 Cape Town
May 05 Cape Town ------------------- May 16 Tema (Accra)
May 16 Tema ------------------------- May 27 Las Palmas, Canary Islands
May 27 Las Palmas ------------------- Jun 8 Miami, Florida
 

Thanks for posting this. I always appreciate your port information - very useful 🙂

Queen Mary 2 has just rerouted her world voyage to go back to Southampton via South Africa rather than through the canal. I wish Crystal would make their announcement soon!

Thank you all for your helpful advice.

When we received the bill for our drinks in the bar we noticed that there was a space for gratuities. On other lines the gratuities have been automatically included, but even os, on some there is still the space to add a tip. We do want to show our appreciation, but weren't sure whether this was expected or not 🙂

Do you need to add a tip to the bar and specialty restaurant bills? If so, what would be the usual amount?

Yes, we had this problem trying to book our shore excursions. I ended up calling the UK to give them my credit card number.