fantasy51

But they did ask about the dress code on Cunard so it is important for them to understand the expectations onboard. And which are pretty much enforced.

You are completely correct Pushka. They asked. They have received answers. Now they are making an informed decision.

Where I have problems in this thread (as does Olliesmum) is with people who are treating it not as a question but as a statement of what they intend to do. Many people are not reading the original post to see it as a request for information but are just reacting and making comments that might apply really well to other posts but don't apply to this thread.

Thank you, Dorothy.

Bananavan, what I have read on Cruise Critic (though never had the opportunity to try out for myself) is that if you have booked the World Cruise, some aspects of it are treated like separate segments. If you reach diamond status at the end of one of the segments, you get the benefits for diamond at the start of that next segment instead of having to wait for your next whole cruise. It has also been written a number of times that you get new internet allowance for each segment of the cruise.

Perhaps some experienced world cruisers could comment on this?

I must agree with fantasy, floorcraft, which involves actually leading and following, is fiendishly difficult and much different from performimg routines like trained seals.

I know this is off topic, but I would be interested to hear from others, especially the Australian dancers.

When I learnt to dance as a teenager in the 60s, our first year was a basic year and we were taught steps with a little idea of how to combine them, e.g. do any combination that gets you to the corner and then perform a natural turn or a spin turn to get you on the new angle. At social dances the man did his best. In our second year we went on and did medal tests with set routines (ballroom was my main area) but I was never conscious of people trying to dance their medal routines at a social night. Perhaps that was because I was single and therefore dancing with a variety of men? Perhaps couples did dance their routines? I don't know. Now I am in the UK and back dancing (just private lessons with a great teacher who understands that I want to learn to follow and throws in any steps in any order). I went to a social dance on Friday and it was obvious that they were all dancing their routines. In fact, my teacher looked surprised when I expressed that and said I could not remember it happening in Australia when I was growing up.

So here's my question. What is the normal practice at social dances in various countries? (Has Australia changed since my days of going to Danse Court in Melbourne?) Do people dance routines or are they encouraged in floorcraft?

Does it make a difference if you breath thru the mouth and not your nose when you are near someone who has on to much perfume? Was wondering if this would help.

Unfortunately the chemicals can also be absorbed through your skin, not just from breathing them in. It would therefore make no difference how you breathe.

Thank you for caring enough to think about possible solutions.

Hi Jdell. It's your cruise so do things your own way. I really appreciate that you are asking the question and not just turning up with the attitude that others will have to just put up with it.

Think about what you want to do on a cruise. You may not have been aware that Cunard severely limits the areas of the ship you can visit if you are not 'suitably' dressed. (I have just cruised on Celebrity where the dress code only applies to the Main Dining Room and you can wear what you like anywhere else. Cunard is different.) If you are happy with all the great activities posted earlier, then forget about formal clothes. If you want great dining, the theatre, ballroom dancing, the better bars, you will need to find some compromise on the clothing.

It really does not have to be as onerous as you might think. You don't need ball gowns. You can manage with black trousers and a couple of sparkly tops. On my first few cruises I only had about 4 different evening outfits, and managed a 19-day cruise with them. The men can get away with one suit each, dressing it slightly differently for the different evenings.

Good luck deciding. I hope you enjoy Cunard.

That is very interesting, as I thought you got a new internet allowance (depending on your status) for each segment? If they treat that as segments, why not the shareholder credit? Ours not to reason why ...

Personally, I wish they would pay the credit per day, but I realise that would be difficult for them. it is so frustrating when the only cruise I like is 12 days long and so I only get the $100 OBC. :D

I also believe that these chemicals build up in your system. I was drying off after a shower one day and noticed a tenderness with my arm pits. Imagine my surprise when I raised my arms and saw both arm pits swollen and covered in a rash. Turns out I had "suddenly" developed an allergy to the underarm deodorant that I had been using for nearly 40 years.

I have been negligent lately. About 30 years ago I had the idea that I should change my shampoo and conditioner from time to time, so that I was not getting the same chemicals pouring down my body all the time. Like you, I have now found a shampoo that suits me and I feel like sticking with it. What if I develop a sensitivity to one of the chemicals in it? Perhaps I should be looking for another shampoo so that I can alternate them. Seeing you found 7 deodorants, I wonder if you should alternate 2 or 3 of them? There are no doubt some slightly different chemicals in each one and you would therefore be giving your body a rest from certain ingredients. Just a thought.

As I understand it, most of the time it is a 'sensitivity' rather than an allergy. If we are constantly bombarded with these chemicals then it's as though a level builds up in our bodies. When it reaches a certain point, we 'explode'.

I have spent years cutting out these chemicals and taking my level down as my body slowly detoxes. This means that I can now tolerate the occasional exposure to chemicals without an overt reaction. However, I know that there is the danger that each exposure brings me closer to the line where I will have a serious attack.

I strongly believe this is the case with everyone (other than those with actual allergies who are in a different situation), whether we show a reaction or not; it is just that some of us are more sensitive than others and reach that exposure line first. We are the canaries in the coal mine who show you what could happen if you don't change your behaviour fast! This overuse of scented products in advertising (and other needless uses) will one day cause a serious problem in society.

My Mom never has a reaction to a natural scent like say a vanilla bean or cinnamon stick. Nothing chemical or toxic there. Same thing with scents from actual flowers. You can bring a big batch of real lilac flowers into her house and she will not have the slightest reaction. Bring in a lilac scented candle and she is in a life and death situation.

I have a problem with some lilies. I could feel myself wilt until I wanted to curl into a foetal ball. I lost all energy. I assume my blood pressure had dropped. I had some testing and supposedly I am also sensitive to things like lavender. I tore out all my lavender bushes just to be on the safe side.

It's not just cheap perfumes that are a problem. Once when I was teaching, my assistant came into the classroom wearing really strong perfume. It was 'Dune', by Dior, which is not a cheap make. I had previously told her that I had a problem with perfume, but each time I moved back while talking to her she'd just say in a sarcastic tone 'Oh, you don't like my perfume!' Anyway, this day I gave her a job that kept her away from me but it was too late. I reached a state of near-collapse. I judged I was not well enough to even drive home, but risked the 2-minute drive to a colleague's house to lie down for a couple of hours before I returned for the afternoon when the headteacher insisted. (I was too ill to fight him.) He thought I should be grateful because the assistant had gone home at lunchtime and changed her clothes and washed herself. That was a waste of effort as perfume can't be washed off. Also, she was not going to be in my room that afternoon. Would you believe that on her next session in my room she wore perfume, albeit a different one and not as strong? It took a new headteacher to finally send a letter home asking people not to wear perfume in my classroom.

Thank you Vic and Dorothy. I was very interested to watch the footwork in the circular waltz part. It is more what I learnt as a teenager, rather than what I have to do now in the UK. It looks so simple compared with worrying about 3rd and 5th positions!

If folks buy good quality... don't need to use much and it is not offensive. I have worn sents all life and always get complements .... never had any one complain even when going to an allergy clinic.

I agree and disagree with this, Pris.

I agree with the fact that no one needs to use much, and perhaps the fact that no one has complained is testament to the fact that you are a considerate perfume wearer and only put on enough for people to smell when they are very close by (which is how it should be).

I disagree that good quality perfume is not a problem. Unfortunately even good quality perfume contains chemicals and can be a problem if obtrusive.

I also agree with the previous poster who pointed out that often people do not complain. At the moment our society is not aware enough of the problem of Multi-Chemical Sensitivity for complaints to be acceptable. Those of us who are sensitive tend to put up with the side effects or just absent ourselves from the situation, rather than complaining.

I'm not sure that I would be able to stop using scented products in the UK, as I almost never see any unscented ones. Things like hand soap, shower gel, laundry powder, deodorant, fabric softener, shampoo and hair conditioner are nearly impossible to find in unscented versions. I wonder what scent-sensitive people in the UK do to cope?

I live in the UK.

I buy A'kin unscented body wash and shampoo.

I use Essential Waitrose sensitive handwash.

I use Surcare products to wash my dishes and clothes.

It is not too difficult to find unscented products if you are motivated. There is generally at least one alternative in good supermarkets. However, I buy the A'kin products online.

One problem, though, is that sometimes a 'perfume masker' is used to cover up scent, and this too is a chemical!

I agree that technically, any dance performed in a sequence could be called sequence dancing, but if you ever visit Australia, please don't call New Vogue sequence dancing - you are likely to be shot at dawn. You have been warned!

Hi Vic and Dorothy. I grew up in Melbourne and learnt what we called 'Old Time' dances. In 1981 I gained my silver sash medal. Shortly after that I changed dance schools and suddenly found it was called 'New Vogue', even though some of the dances were the same. I gained my Gold Star in 1987 before giving up dancing so I could concentrate on further studies.

In 1991 I moved to the UK and did not dance again until a Cunard cruise in November 2012. I was hooked. I tried the Argentine Tango the next year and then a couple of years ago I found a wonderful dance teacher who is teaching me how to follow his lead instead of actually dancing a set routine for medal tests. He has also taught me some sequence dances for cruises (and I found that dancing them correctly is very different from dancing them Cunard style, where so many people seem to have learnt steps and technique through 'Chinese whispers'). However, just for fun I thought I would like to learn an Old Time dance, just to be challenged a little more. He started me on the Gainsborough Glide. I was amazed when he started talking about 3rd position and 5th position. Evidently UK Old Time dancing has even more technique and discipline than did New Vogue in the 1980s and what we Australians used to call Old Time. Even the circular waltz is completely different from anything I have learnt, and I have to be aware of getting my feet into 3rd and 5th position at the appropriate times.

My question, then, is about current New Vogue in Australia. Is it as strict as UK Old Time, or is it more what it used to be when I learnt?

If you are interested, here is a video I found on youtube showing the Gainsborough Glide. It is not perfect but it is the best I can find.

Dancer Bob, like Cassandra I would much rather dance with a man. I spent my teenage years taking the man's part. (If a 2nd year dancer wanted to attend a beginners class they could do so for free if prepared to dance the man's part.) I have done some sequence dances with other ladies occasionally on board ship, and it is better than sitting out, but it is not the same.

As for difficulty level, if you dance the man's part often enough it is relatively easy to work it out for another dance as long as you have a competent female partner. You get into the pattern of translating the steps from female to male.

Hi David. I am glad that you have booked a cruise with Cunard. I think you will enjoy it.

I recently went on my first Celebrity cruise, booked at short notice. I have another Celebrity cruise booked for August (booked back in February). After that I will gladly return to Cunard. I find Cunard to be much more my style. I had read wonderful things about Celebrity before booking, by some posters on the Cunard thread. Since returning I seem to only hear bad things about Celebrity. Strange.

I would say there are advantages to both lines and you have to work out which one suits your own style.

I can't comment on P&O personally, though a friend tried one cruise and said never again, that she would stick to Cunard.

I started a thread comparing Celebrity and Cunard, and you may be interested to read comments on that.

http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2353535

I react to perfume in different ways. I assume it depends on the base used in the perfume.

Sometimes I sneeze - that's okay.

Sometimes I get a headache (not a migraine) - irritating but I know it will go away.

Sometimes I start weeping for no reason at all - embarrassing. (It happened on a plane once when someone opened a jar of Body Shop body butter and started slathering it on. A steward took me to the crew quarters to get away from the smell.)

Sometimes my blood pressure drops so low that it can't even be measured on a BP monitor and I can feel intensely weary for up to 3 days afterwards. That's the real problem. I can get that from scented lilies or from some expensive perfumes.

I never know what scent will cause what reaction, so I try to avoid them all. I have never had a major problem on a cruise ship, luckily. I have been able to walk away or sit next to someone else at dinner. The real problem is when you encounter someone who wears their perfume like armour - to keep everyone at a distance of 3 metres! You just can't avoid it.

This type of multi-chemical sensitivity is becoming more common. To those who think we are whingers, instead think of us as canaries in coal mines. We are the ones whose bodies are reacting at an early stage to something that is really overloading all of us with chemical irritants. Perfume is absorbed through the skin. Increasingly, we are bombarded with perfumes as we shop and as we clean our houses and work and conduct our social lives. These chemicals are entering our bodies. Although each instance is only small, the amount of bombardment is great and growing yearly. These chemicals remain in our bodies and have effects over time. Some of us are more sensitive than others and we succumb first. We are a warning to the rest of you and that warning needs to be heeded.

At one point when I was teaching, I was told that if another staff member continued to wear perfume knowing that I was over-sensitive, it could be seen as assault. (I did not make a big deal of that, as it would not have been a good idea politically in that situation, but I found it interesting.)

I have an Australian newspaper article from 2004 (The Age, Friday, July 9). It talks of fragrance-sensitive employees in the US claiming protection under the Americans With Disabilities Act. It also claimed that in the UK Lady Mar had almost singlehandedly stopped the excessive use of perfumes and colognes in the House of Lords. (I have no corroborating information about these claims.)

I would be happy with people wearing perfume lightly, but not those who can be smelt at 30cm distance.

I will be going on a Celebrity cruise at the end of August. When I booked in February there was a quite limited choice of rooms for the category I had chosen. I looked at the site yesterday and discovered a much larger range, including some rooms that are much better than the one I booked. I can only assume that these new rooms have been released because of cancellations. I am therefore in favour of people only booking a room if they fully intend to travel, not booking several cruises as placeholders. People like me end up being disadvantaged when the best rooms have been booked and later discarded.

I always take my own shampoo and use the provided one for washing my clothes.

I generally take my own body lotion too, but I found we were using so much after a bit of sunbathing that we needed to use the lotion provided. It was super runny, as mentioned earlier, but I enjoyed the fragrance and it worked.

I was in a balcony cabin last time and was disappointed to only have soap. I prefer shower gel.

I agree with you, CruisingChick. I think these cakes are much better than the dessert options. I am generally disappointed with desserts on cruises, though I found Celebrity's desserts to be better than Cunard's. However, Cafe al Bacio has wonderful hot chocolate and lovely lemon tarts. I think often the other cakes look better than they taste.

I have found quite a few American Dance Hosts who have been interested to learn the sequence dancing, and will look for knowledgeable ladies to dance it with them, in order to teach them. Unfortunately I have also heard a couple of regular couples complaining about this and saying that it is stated clearly in the Daily Programme that the sequence dancing is not a teaching session. I found this to be a frustrating attitude. After all, I learnt my first sequence dancing from British hosts who were prepared to lead me in the steps.

Thanks Bell Boy. That's very interesting to hear how things change from voyage to voyage. I've had at least 6 cruises on QV and have not known the QRO to start before 9.15. We've always had recorded music in that 8.30 time slot.

I'm hoping the three children will have a chance to make masks in the Fun Zone.

I don't know what the children do but I know there is not an opportunity for adults to make their own masks. We can make hats for Ascot theme but not masks for masquerade. However, it would be easy to make one before you leave home. You should be able to buy a mask shape from a craft shop. In the past I have covered them with either fabric or multiple layers of tissue paper in a colour that matches my dress. Tissue paper will be stronger if you put a couple of coats of watered-down PVA glue on top. After that I add a net fabric in a deeper colour. Hold it down on the back with duct tape. From there you decorate it as you wish - sequins, flowers, etc.

 

The Queens Room Orchestra (across the fleet) begin their first set at 8.30pm. Prior to this, pre recorded Ballroom/ Latin music is available most evening (often in the daily programme each evening from 7.45 to 8.30pm)

Have things changed? Last time I was on QV (last August), the QRO started at 9.15. At that point we had dancing from 7.45 until 8.30, then 9.15 until midnight.

This will depend on your fare type. Here in the UK, if we book a normal fare we could add a second passenger (subject to the restrictions that others have mentioned). I did that myself some years ago. However, if we book a cheap fare, one on special offer, there are special clauses such as not being able to change the booking (which means we can't add anyone to it) or select our own dining time, etc.

My suggestion would be to book with Cunard direct and ask them the question as you book. They will have relevant information. Preferably ask them to email you with that information so that you have it in writing.