Skipper Tim

Alex71,

 

Thank you for your reply. On Saturday, I was holding on the phone for 45 minutes, could not wait any more. I will try it again tomorrow. Was you fare not full price brochure price ?

 

Wish me good luck.

 

ylc

Nobody actually pays the 'brochure price'. The term is used in the cruise industry disingenuously always alongside today's special offer price. In practice therefore, the vouchers can only be used with the early-booking ('pronto') rates if available. Some itineraries will be sold from the first day with some other promotion that prevent the use of these vouchers.

It really is questionable as to what the brochure price is when you cannot get hold of a printed brochure. Does the MSC web site constitute a brochure? Are the regular prices shown on the web site the brochure prices? Or are we to accept that what we are told is the 'brochure price' is the brochure price even when it is never available to book and another, lower, one consistently is?

It would be better to scrap this ridiculous 10 Euro/Dollar voucher scheme which once ends up annoying prospective repeat guests and replace with a more regular advance booking system with benefits that won't disappear when you try to claim them.

I understand that bookings made in North America can usually be cancelled without loss of deposit. I have not heard of this elsewhere in the World and certainly the choice in Europe is lose the deposit & rebook to take advantage of a better deal or stick with the existing booking. Here, there is no question of renegotiating after the fact. In the U.S., because of the no loss of deposit, I have heard of multiple cases where the client obtains better booking conditions just by threatening to cancel.

If you are talking about the $10.00 coupon. I know there are a lot of restrictions & it does expire in 18 months but well worth the gamble for 10 bucks !

We were in the yacht club last February. I was beyond thrilled with it.

When we returned, I booked for this March.

That was considered 'early booking' so it qualified.

Here are the discounts

$150. inside

$200. balcony/ocean view

$300. suite

$400. Yacht Club

After I booked with an internet agent, I called MSC & gave them my voucher number.

The next thing I know the agency called me and said they got an email from MSC adding $400. OBC. They asked me about the voucher. After I explained it to them, they were shocked & said they never heard of such a thing :O)

 

I imagine you would get even more if you paid with euros because on the voucher, there is the dollar sign/euro sign. I am sure euros are worth more than the dollar.

When we go in March, I am going to by another voucher & immediately book another cruise one year out.

You receive the currency of the sailing, not that of the voucher. This makes less difference as you might imagine as the Euro prices on board can be just the same numerically as the US$ prices - they just change the symbol.

So yes, well-worth the gamble but scan the voucher for future reference and/or emailing MSC or a travel agent.

From the shore-side operation, it is hard to imagine how MSC manage to fill their ships. Thankfully the onboard experience is a world apart.

I am glad this thread keeps rolling on....

I agree completely with what you are saying. I said that if a person is "continually being particularly offensive" repeatedly after politely being told,(which I omitted) then its time to report them to the Officer in charge of the particular department. I have never done that on over 30 cruises, but I have seen it done, and it worked very well, the person wasn't too happy being told, but did comply.

Ah yes, but where does fault lie: with the person causing offence or with the person taking offence? Or a little of both?

Other culture's queuing habits are particularly likely to annoy many Brits. However, what is often interpreted as "pushing in" conversely can interpreted by the 'offender' and the 'offended' not showing sufficient interest in the object or service being queued for. These are differences in cultural behaviours and should be interpreted as such.

Then there is the old offence to the British associated primarily with Germans at hotels across the Med of reserving sun beds before they are needed. I read with some amusement that many German holidaymakers find Russians rude because they take their sun beds to their rooms overnight to ensure they have them the following day.

One should feel comfortable with one's own well-mannerred behaviour but the height of good manners is making others feel comfortable, even when they behave differently.

Interesting, the British and the Brazilian have then more in common then just our capital 'B' :D Except for the silence part - Brazilians don't do silence, ever. But we're giving them ideas, next there will be a thread about rude latin americans and rude British....

Yes, I think the 'silence' aspect is our big mistake.

It is not even silence. We are silent at the time of 'the offence' (e.g. someone pushing in) then whinge about it in private for the rest of our lives.

The Brazilian way is probably far more mentally healthy.

The British will take any form of punishment without comment - then write books and make films about it later :).

Well, I'm Brazilian and I hate queues, hihihih :D

The British don't enjoy queuing. They do it out of a sense of morality and suffer in silence. To us, not queuing is not just rude, it is a sin :).

Hi all,

 

Which side of the ship, if it's limited to one, are Musica public smoking areas? When choosing a balcony cabin I would hope to minimize the chance of wafting to my balcony.

 

Thanks!

On the MSC ships I have experienced, smoking has been on the port side of the pool deck. The chance of smoke drifting vertically up over the screen and then down and into a balcony is minimal to non-existant. Flatulence is a far greater greater local concern.

As I mentioned previously, I agree that the treatment of your personal possessions prior to the assigned time to vacate your cabin was totally unacceptable. I hope you will send a note to Cunard and let them know what happened - that way, perhaps, it won't happen again.

Note duly sent. I do not expect it to make any difference unless what happened is totally against company policy. Then it may be looked into.

More interesting than ROME?!!?????!!???? :eek:

Yes! Rome is very touristy and western. In fact, not near Tunis so out of range for a day's trip, there is even a Roman copy of the Colleseum in Tunisia in a better state of preservation. Just as Turkey has all the best Ancient Greek sites, Tunisia has the best Roman sites. The Bardo museum houses the finest mosaics and smaller finds from them. Tunis is far less touristy and has an amazing cultural vibe. A wander in the medina will take you to a different world. Don't underestimate Tunis.

Twith regard to having to dress to please others this is one reason that we are not likely to travel with Cunard again.

One always has to dress to please others.

I had to confess on the QM2 at dinner that I only wear suits on holiday. Having said that, holidays are very important to me and I have around 20 suits :).

My good friend at university approached the careers service there at the time with his one requirement - any job that required him to wear a suit with no compromises - dress-down Fridays etc.. Studying physics, he ended up as a patent solicitor, always able to wear a suit.

I am readying my suits for my next holiday. I know I will be the only one in the hotel, at least initially, wearing a suit.

When everyone dresses up, it raises the ambience and increases mutual respect.

Everyone looks better dressed up.

"the day before Boxing Day" should have read "the day before Christmas Eve". I call it dyslexia, others may call it differently.

Here I will have to disagree with my fellow cruise-goers.

Tunis is an interesting, modern capital. The Bardo museum has some of the best Roman remains anywhere in the World. The souk/bazar is authentic and exciting.

If you have time, take the train into Tunis and explore.

If you only have a couple of hours then just wander around the cruise terminal.

Either way, Tunis is one of the most interesting ports of call on MSC's current itineraries. Read up before. It is infinitely more interesting than Malaga, Rome or Valetta. Do it!

I returned from a Transatlantic to New York aboard Queen Mary 2 the day before Boxing Day. You can read the blow-by-blow account in my blog over on the Cunard forum (linked to in my signature below) but I thought I would share a few thoughts here in comparison to MSC.

From the outset, I would say that Cunard's QM2 is unique. The ship is unlike any other and remains a one-off, not in any class. Her ocean-liner credentials stem from her long bows, reinforced hull, power to 'cruise' at 30 knots (35 mph), extra stabilisers, etc. in order to be capable of maintaining a scheduled trans-oceanic timetable regardless of weather, all year round. The only way to make such a vessel commercially viable was to make her huge for the economies of scale and she was, for a time, the largest passenger ship ever built. She remains the only significant ocean liner built since the QE2 of 1969 that she has replaced.

So much for the ship. The guest experience of the QM2 is one of nostalgia for Cunard of a hundred years ago - afternoon tea, paintings of Cunard liners of old, constant references to the heritage of very tenuous connections to the current owners (Carnival) - combined with a modern cruise ship and the penny-pinching of a modern American cruise line. In my blog, I pointed out the deterioration in service and standards since my only previous Cunard sailing, on the QE2 nine years earlier. Here, I can compare with MSC.

Cunard has a 'British' theme targeted primarily at the North American market. Most Brits won't notice it, as I didn't originally on the QE2, because everything aboard seems so American - U.S. Dollars as onboard currency, iced water with every meal, abundance of steak, the usual fake-friendly, slightly intrusive service, ridiculously high bar prices with options for extra 'gratuities' on every chit above the automatic 15%, lectures geared towards a U.S. audience, fried eggs that have to be ordered "over easy" to have them cooked, etc. etc.. It was a revelation to me after the QE2 that Cunard was intending to be at all British.

MSC on the other hand, appear to me to be over-the-top Italian. More Italian than Italy. I wonder how Italians regard MSC?

There is however a huge difference between an American line pretending to be British for the American market to an Italian line being a little OTT in its Italian-ness for Italians, and the rest of the World.

On Cunard, the language is English. The one compromise is that the Captain's daily announcement was repeated in German then French by other staff. Otherwise, all signs, menus and other information is in English only.

Lunch and dinner have just three courses! After MSC's 7, this was quite a shock. Taken as a whole, there were a tiny fraction of menu choices on Cunard compared to MSC. I would give the edge to MSC in terms of food quality.

Open sitting breakfast and lunch works a little better for the anti-social on Cunard. On the QE2, open sitting was just that - we walked into the restaurant through any entrance and sat where we liked. All tables were set and the waiters came running with menus and place napkins on our laps. On the QM2, the system was to queue at the main entrance and be allocated a table by the maitre d' according to preference. There are plenty of 2 and 4 tables so this was not an issue.

I have had varied experiences of MSC open-sitting but all have involved a degree of cajoling and kettling to encourage guests to sit at large tables with the people who arrive around the same time, all seated together in one section of the MDR until it is full and they open the next. I am especially anti-social in the mornings and just want a quiet table to myself/ourselves and not the templated 3rd degree questioning from strangers - "How many cruises have you done?" etc.. This experience was the worst on the Armonia when smaller tables were not even set for open-sitting meals and we were told that we could not have a table to ourselves. We left the first morning and never had an MDR breakfast on that cruise. On the QM2, we were able to have them almost every morning.

The final advantages I will give to Cunard are a little more space everywhere, especially noticeable in the buffet, their excellent libraries and 'enrichment' lectures. On the QM2 there were four concurrent series of lectures taking place on quite diverse subjects and delivered by truly accomplished and engaging speakers. Due to the multi-lingual core of the MSC onboard experience, these latter two would be difficult to match.

Where MSC excels is in the manner of service. It felt terribly hard-sell on the QM2 in comparison. Cunard staff were forever approaching and opening leads to a sale, whether bar staff, sommeliers, restaurant managers, tour staff, bingo sales, spa, art, every possible type of selling and up-selling opportunity was explored. This was a source of constant irritation. Not as bad as Royal Caribbean but still bad and most unwelcome. MSC staff remain professionally discreet and dignified in comparison.

I would also give the prize to MSC for their decor. I expected the QM2 to be beautiful. She was but in the way that an old wooden-panelled department store is compared to a modern one. The QM2 wooden panelling is actually laminate and the same is used throughout the ship with very little break. The decor on the MSC ships I have experienced is stunning, imaginative and tasteful. MSC has a far greater artistic flair on display.

So to the title. One would not want to recreate the worse aspects of Cunard but one can have the best of MSC and some of the best of a Cunard QM2 cruise by doing the following.

1) Choose a Fantasia class ship (Fantasia, Splendida, Divina, Preziosa). They are the same size as the QM2 to within a few percent in every dimension and have a commensurate range of facilities.

2) Avoid peak holiday times. The maximum capacity of the Fantasia class is almost 50% higher than the QM2, swelled by free children and all those pop-down bunks.

3) Choose a repositioning cruise. There is nothing like a Transatlantic to recreate the sensation of being on a ... Transatlantic!

4) Take your own library. The QM2 has 10,000 books in hers. You may not need so many but take more than you need on your tablet or e-reader to remove the need from visiting the library.

5) Take some learning material. Choose one topic or skill you would like to learn or brush up on - in place of Cunard's enrichment programme.

6) Give the maitre d' a hard time. Get what you want from your dining experiences by not taking "no" for an answer on table selection. Incidentally, one tenet of Cunard's White Star Service is that they are never allowed to use the word "no". I had great fun with this :). Report anyone on MSC for using the 'N' word.

7) Go for Allegrissimo. This includes so much more that would cost a fortune on Cunard - drinks and decent coffee for a start.

8) Seek out classical music and take your own pizza (from the buffet) in place of afternoon tea.

9) Always over-dress. MSC dress-code is less formal and less strictly enforced (Cunard requires anyone not complying to either remain in the buffet or their cabins and should not be seen elsewhere, "out of respect to fellow guests"). Be rebellious, dress formally on informal nights!

10) Order 7 courses at dinner and take two hours over them. Cunard will never compete in this regard.

Looking forward to my next MSC repo,

There is water and ice available virtually 24 hours in the buffet area

Mmm, I think ice may only be available on the Divina.

It is curious that on my recent trip aboard the Queen Mary 2, despite being English, despite this being a 'British' themed ship and despite this being December, we got a bucket of ice everyday in our fridge!

I would have rather crashed into an iceberg than had ice in our fridge.

I am looking forward to a 'European' cruise with MSC. The Divina has to be crossed off.

Hi Skipper Tom.

Tim!

In my opinion, it is totally unacceptable for that to happen. I am very surprised at such actions. Twelve voyages on QM2, and we never experienced such a thing...if we had, I would have been not in the least amused.

 

I vacate my cabin at the assigned time, leaving the cabin pretty much as I found it. Cleaning crew should not enter the cabin without permission until the assigned time - a fairly simple rule which works for all concerned. Unless of course, crew members and cabin stewards have suffered such cutbacks that they need to resort to unacceptable measures in order to get their job done.

 

At any rate, I've read more than a few accounts of cabins being "cleaned" before the previous occupant vacated the cabin. Getting the bum's rush is unacceptable.

 

Harumph.

 

Salacia

There has to be a rule which we can all abide by. With hotels, it is usually 12pm. We were told 8:30 a.m. and were happy to comply. We would have been happy to vacate hours earlier if requested. To have our personal possessions interfered with before Cunard's instructed departure time was way too much.

To think of the amazing service I have had for a fraction of Cunard's price in Turkish, five-star, all-inclusive hotels,they must be mad.

Hi Captain Tim

If you come across a lovely lady called Dizzy in her wheelchair and her devoted mum Bette say hello from Darren and Louise. It was they who got us to cruise a few years ago. Great reading your blog as we are coming back on her next November. Happy cruising. Daz and Lou.

Since your post I looked our for a lady in wheelchair and possible mother but did not see them. I made my mother memorise your names too, just in case I forgot them. Sorry, I tried!

 

It might be an interesting exercise to take the fare you paid on QE2 and run it through an inflation adjusted calculator. I don't know what price you paid but in Economics 101 you get what you pay for and you have to pay for what you get.

 

Yes.

The figures. For the January, 2006 QE2 crossing we paid £365 each on an inside-guarantee, two-sharing basis with flight back JFK direct to Manchester. This time we paid £599 each for two sharing a balcony cabin with flight back from Newark to London (Manchester was £150 pp extra despite being nearer). Both times we booked around 3 weeks before the sailing after significant discounting without any previous intention of travelling. My mother is long-since retired and I can work via the internet wherever I am.

I would say, after years of near zero inflation, the fare, in real terms, is a quite a bit higher. You can do the exact calculations.

I find that one is very fortunate indeed ever to receive what one pays for. It is very easy to pay far more.

My mother and I are home and recovered from the journey yesterday and the day before. This is a post with final thoughts.

Overall we both felt that Cunard has slipped significantly in quality since our QE2 Transatlantic 9 years ago. We enjoyed the crossing very much and Cunard still leads in certain areas. I will elaborate in no particular order.

Perhaps the biggest change is in cabin service. On the QE2, our cabin steward introduced himself and his assistant, both wearing smart white jackets as soon as we arrived. They had a little steward's station nearby and could always be found there or in the corridor during the day. They dealt with room service orders, queries and quibbles etc. and no sooner had we vacated the cabin and they would pop in, change a towel if it had been used, empty the bin, straighten the bed etc.. every time time we left. Our cabins were always serviced, discretely, while we had breakfast, and turned down over dinner, no matter what time we ate. They have been replaced with nothing more than a hotel chambermaid service and often ours on the QM2 did not visit until lunchtime. The cabin stewards were front line staff and our one-stop-shop for most things, a little like butlers for the cheaper cabins. When I think of 'White Star Service' it is the cabins stewards I think of. This, sadly, has completely gone.

Service is the Britannia Restaurant was often very slow. On more than one occasion we abandoned the last course because we couldn't bear to wait any longer. Also, there are only three courses now, while before there were four or five. The food was often tepid, the tea always weak, the toast always cold, and a multitude of other details we couldn't fail to notice. I remarked early on in this blog how sparse I found the menus. The restaurant staff were usually rushed with little or no time to speak. We have such vivid memories of our QE2 waiter because he made us all laugh with his stories and quick wit. He also never wrote anything down (in front of us at least) and never made a mistake with our orders. Neither can be said of our experience aboard the QM2. The new service levels appear to be simply due to staff cutbacks to breaking point.

Food quality has also taken a dive with cheaper cuts of meat, fewer 'expensive' dishes (no lobster, oysters, fillet mignon, etc.), more vegetarian options (sometimes 3 out of 4 choices were vegetarian) and simpler presentation. I mentioned the sliver plate cutlery had gone, along with the cut glass and china. The drop in quality was palpable and we both had to reset our expectations pretty much from the first day aboard.

I have already mentioned the drastic increase in real terms in drinks prices to the point of choking off the vast majority from ordering drinks at all. This is the opposite to our experience of the QE2 where prices were so reasonable that almost everyone drank before, during and after dinner. Now there are empty spaces and pushy waiters where once were found merry, socialising people.

There is a much greater push for sales now too. Even afternoon tea is an up-selling opportunity (with champagne in the Winter Garden). One can pay extra for practically anything already included in the cruise fare and are constantly reminded about this. There is a huge loss of dignity when a cruise line behaves like this. The constant sales push was irritating towards the end. Had I been on the QM2 any longer I think I would have had an adverse reaction to it.

What remained excellent are the few Cunard brand-associated aspects: the library, the 'enrichment' lectures, and just a little more guest space pp everywhere than mass cruise lines.

The fake 'Britishness' and allusions to a heritage that the current owners have a very tenuous connection to are, at best, amusing. It is like a Disney take on Cunard of a hundred years ago. I almost expected Dick van Dyke, with his authentic Cockney accent, to make the captain's daily broadcasts.

The ship is beautiful and, as one poster predicted, won me over. Such rock-steady passage, especially mid ships, is impressive. I mentioned before that we met people on the first morning, after a delayed, mid-night start, who did not know that we had departed. Similarly, a couple of hours after docking in Brooklyn, we met a couple who didn't know we had arrived. Only a true ocean-liner could have pull this trick off!

My mother is different. She has judged all her other cruise experiences by the standard set by her first on the QE2 and they have been inferior. Her QM2 experience was disappointing and she says she is "cured", meaning she does not intend stepping aboard another liner or cruise ship again. Once she held out for Cunard at the right price but she waited too long.

I remain open minded. Cunard has clearly moved into line with the most of the practices of the mass cruise lines I have experienced - MSC and Royal Caribbean. They retain their 'British' theme quirkiness, the (rapidly becoming obsolete) library and their excellent lectures. In most other aspects, unless sailing 'Grill Class', they offer little more than a mass cruise line. If I see the right price I would be tempted to sail Cunard again. However at typically three times the fare per night as an MSC Transatlantic, poorer service and food and much higher drinks prices this looks very unlikely any time soon.

I hope I have been fair and candid in all my posts. Tell me if I haven't!

For now, on the Cunard forum, I bid farewell and extend my best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.

Thanks for following!

We are at Newark in the United Club lounge.

We passed under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge 30 minutes ahead of advertised around 4:15. We were on deck to witness others taking photos of the Statue of Liberty.

Our last full day was spent savouring the last delights - two excellent lectures on the workers who built the early skyscrapers of New York and 'Military intelligence in the middle East - Lawrence of Arabia to the SAS', lunch in the Britannia and a jacuzzi.

Yes folks, the jacuzzis are now heated. I cannot retract what I wrote simply because it was true at the time. Perhaps someone over at Cunard is actually following this thread?

We slummed it in the buffet last night as we only had 'comfort wear' remaining unpacked for the ordeal of a journey back to Slaithwaite. We met Chung and Marie after dinner and for breakfast this morning. Then we parted until the next adventure.

Our instructions were to leave our staterooms by 8:30 and assemble in the theatre at least five minutes ahead of an expected 8:45 disembarkation. This was exactly two hours ahead of Chung and Marie presumably because we had a tour/transfer to join. It was therefore something of an unwelcome shock upon our return from breakfast at 8 a.m. to find our cabin reset, prepared and made up for the next guests and with all our belongings removed from various storage locations and put in a pile on the sofa. The cabin was still ours. We may have wanted showers. My mother and I both had systems in place to vacate which were suddenly thrown in the air. Where is my X? Did I pack it? This is yours not mine, etc. etc. etc.. This crossed a threshold of unacceptability. It was a bitter parting pill.

We were over 30 minutes delayed disembarking despite the early arrival into Brooklyn. Here is the view eventually in the queue for immigration.

We had a great bus tour around parts of Manhatten. Both the driver, 'Mr Charlie', and the guide, Antony, were true unflappable pros. They needed to be to cope with (a) crazy pre-Christmas Manhatten traffic and (b) a coach load of ex-QM2 brits who thought they were just being transferred to 'the airport'. Antony was an endless source of fascinating details and the humour to more than match. It was brave of them to set us loose and expect us all to find him in his baker-boy cap standing at some pre-arranged point on the pavement an hour later not once but twice!

In dealing with the final business of the day, I will just mention that Newark airpot security is the most lapse and relaxed I have encountered anywhere in the World post 9-11. I am astonished. This is New York. It is because of the events in New York that, Worldwide, we are removing our shoes and belts, measuring our liquids to the ml, fully charging the batteries of our devices, having body scans and generally being subject to all sorts of undignified security measures not practiced ... in New York!!! The U.S.either ought to step up its game to match minimal international standards or let the rest of the World have more pragmatic and intelligent forms of airport security. Still, it meant that we passed through security in a tiny fraction of the usual time. If only Manchester airport security was like this my many people I know would be prepared to fly again.

Final thoughts and comparisons to come. I am running out of time in Newark and a red wine beckons ....

Happy Winter Solstice from the QM2!

Yesterday we started full of good intentions to participate in a record number of daily activities. We fell at the first - the 'glimpse of the ship's galley'.

We understood the meeting instructions were to gather in the lower level of the Britannia MDR for 10:30 a.m.. As we arrived it was clear the queue ran from the far side of the restaurant - the port side doors into the galley - the full length and out of the main central entrance doors of the Britannia. The queue was already moving. We altered course to to join it. As we neared, we could see the queue ran right down the central passage to the Grand Lobby and beyond. It had no end. It seemed like half the ship had turned out for a 'glimpse of the galley'. I double checked that this was indeed one continuous queue. They could not all possibly fit in the galley! We watched for a few minutes. The queue was moving quite briskly but still had no end. I looked to the starboard side galley doors to see if people were coming out, then up a deck to the upper level to see if they were emerging there. Neither was the case and they were still piling in at a pace. All we could deduce is that meat would be on the menu for some time and we gave it a miss.

Next stop was duty free shop. We thought, depending upon what time we could collect our purchases, we have a little drink in our cabin on the last evening. We went to ask. "You can take it with you now", was the unexpected reply (two days before disembarking). A couple of Virgin Marys were fetched from the bar before lunch and we duly fortified them in our cabin. Then we had the great idea of using the attractive 100ml shower gel bottles to take a little excess Vodka to the airport. I rinsed and soaked mine thoroughly. My mother, used hers up and was remarkably fast rinsing it out. I said so. She put it to her nose. "It smells a little soapy" she said. I told her, "It doesn't matter about the smell, it is when suds appear in your tomato juice people will get suspicious".

At noon, we were 883 miles from the pilot station at New York. The weather was improving but cooling all the time.

Apart from afternoon tea and dinner, there is little else to report about yesterday.

Here are a few photos from the rather wet decks this morning plus one from our balcony. Given the weather, this really has been the first opportunity to explore the outer decks.

We are due to pass under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, New York in the early hours of tomorrow. I'll be wrapping up this 'live blog' from Newark Airport with the rest of today, disembarkation and my final thoughts.

Thanks for joining me so far. Almost there!

Good evening from the Commodore Club, one of my favourite spaces on the QM2, a little after the Cunard World Club (repeat guests) party. More on this soon.... In the meantime, here is Henk Brandwijk's magnificent 1:100 scale model of the QM2 behind the bar of the Commodore Club. Apparently the innards contain over a mile of fibre-optic cables for lighting.

The Captain's noon announcement informed us that we were 1441 miles from the pilot station of New York and had sailed 1798 miles since leaving Southampton, the wind had dropped to force 5 though was expected to pick up again later and, ominously, we are expected to pass 140 miles North of "the final resting place of RMS Titanic" at around 1:30 a.m tomorrow.

Some of our party are suffering from the onset of Ocean Voyage Confusion (OCV). We were convinced it was the World Club cocktail party last night after dinner, expecting something of a repeat of the cocktail party the evening before but with hopefully fewer people and a more free-flowing alcohol policy. When we got to the Queens Room, there were very few people indeed, no one to check our invitation, dim lighting inside and most significantly, no waiting staff or drinks. I double-checked the invitation: venue (correct), time (correct), day - oops!

This freed us to go straight to the 'Winter Garden' forward of the buffet on deck 7 to listen to the only trad jazz in the entire entertainment programme so far. It was described as "Dixieland (traditional jazz) music". It was a poor description. With every member relying upon printed music, it was a fixed 45 minute set played in page order. The set comprised mostly numbers which crossed over into modern jazz with just a couple of nods to pre-40s jazz. It was better than no attempt at all but I am sure, given the demographics of those onboard, had they just asked for volunteers from the guests, we would have had a far more authentic trad jazz performance. If you like trad jazz, be warned.

We returned to our cabins early via the buffet where collected some Wensleydale with cranberries to help console ourselves. At least we had the cocktail party still in hand.

The Daily Programme was waiting for us upon our return. It once again instructed us to put our watches back by one hour before retiring. We obliged.

So, this morning we noticed the 50% off sale of '2014 Transatlantic Crossing' merchandise was oddly in full flight 10 minutes before the published opening time (I bought a T-shirt reduced to $10). Worse, the 10 a.m. lecture on modern aviation from a pilot's point of view, which I had been hugely interested in, was replaced without notice with the one originally scheduled for 11 a.m., the altogether very different 'Prisoners of the Whitehouse'.

It is an easy mistake to make. The instructions in the Daily Programme were intended to be followed the following day, not the evening it is received. We actually had breakfast at 7:30, not 6:30, we passed the shops at 9:45 and I arrived at the lecture shortly before 11. OCV - days and hours get confused.

My mother and I take daily turns in choosing the meal venues and times. Our choices are converging simply because of the knock-on effects of our allocation to first dinner sitting. First sitting tends to bring the whole day forward by a couple of hours. Hence we have early breakfast, early lunch, a light afternoon tea for the occasion, dinner in the MDR and an early night. "If I had my life again", I would always choose second sitting on Cunard.

The choice is not so easy of the notoriously late and long sittings of MSC where second sitting can easily go on to midnight. Even then, the staff are more relaxed on the second sitting and this gives it the edge. On Cunard it is a very straightforward choice. Cunard should perhaps make both sittings later until the numbers preferring each are balanced. As is 2nd sitting is oversubscribed and then there is a sizeable minority displaced into 1st who are in many ways segregated from our natural entertainment constituency by the needs of our body clocks.

So after an early lunch in the buffet - we went variously for the carvery, chicken korma and sushi - we caught the end of the excellent set in the Pavillion (covered pool area) on deck 12 by resident Caribbean-style band, 'Vibz'. They remind me very much of the pool bands Royal Caribbean employ during the day in style but with some exceptional musical talent. My faith in live music was restored. I will seek 'Vibz' out in my remaining time aboard.

Afternoon Tea with Chung, Marie and Mother today.

So to tonight. After dinner if was the 'delayed' Cunard World Club party. There were around twice as many guests in attendance as there were two nights earlier when half of everyone aboard (the first sitting) was invited. It was standing room only and barely that in places at the same venue. Explain?

I was confirmed right in my previous choice of strategic placement on the aisle from entrance to the source of drinks. We met far more experienced Cunard guests who enjoyed an extra glass at such events who were positioned in the same aisle. Soon they were putting me to shame by sending from different directions waiters to replace our glasses while I was still wondering how to return the empties. I admitted defeat, rolled over, accepted their superiority at my own game and their good company.

Until tomorrow!

P.S. My posts are having to be prepared offline then sent when the internet is quiet in the early hours of the following day. I will hopefully catch up with comments in the United Lounge at Newark on Monday afternoon, before our flight back to the UK.

Re. jacuzzis (generically whirlpools), I have always made at least daily use of them on every ship since the QE2, niine years ago and in any hotel that has them. Those on the QM2 are by far the coolest I have encountered. They are swimming pool temperature which is inadequate if you are not swimming. You are more likely to die of slow hypothermia than of any subsequent disease. I don't know whether it is penny-pinching or incompetance but cool jacuzzis were not expected and are a personal disapointment to me.

We all have our own criteria when judging a line or a ship and this is one of mine.

(Edit: post delayed due to poor satellite link)

Good afternoon from a rather bouncy Commodore's Club, all the way forward on deck 9. It is our third sea day and the midday announcement informed us that we are crossing the mid-Atlantic Ridge, a range of mountains stretching some 10,000 miles, appropriately enough, down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, some peaks of which form the islands of the Azores. We are making 22.8 knots and have 1988 miles to go to the pilot station at New York. The winds were force 9 again during the night but should settle back to a more modest force 6 later but with reducing visibility. All outside deck areas except aft of deck 8 are closed.

Yesterday, we had lunch in the Kings Court buffet partly just to try it and partly because Chung spotted the sushi there the day before and is partial to it.

I tried the Cunard pizza that I have read complaints about on CC. I have no complaints whatsoever but do understand their origin. I would say that the pizza on QM2 is the authentic Italian style with a thin crispy base and very simple toppings. This is a different universe from the travesties that pass as pizza in the UK & US which have thick, soft bases and all monstrosities of unimaginable toppings. I fell in love with Italian pizza while living in Turin and Milan 25 years. Re-discovering Italian pizza aboard the MSC Musica a couple of year ago was an unexpected delight. Now, if only I could afford the delights of Barolo aboard the QM2 - it was around £1 ($1.50) a bottle in the supermarkets of Turin around the same time.

The buffet was exceptionally busy at our agreed meeting time of 12:30pm. We were forced into a less than ideal position opposite a galley door which, when open, as it was every few seconds, emitted the deafening noises of mass crockery, cutlery and glassware clattering, clanging and crashing. I was glad not to be working on the other side of that door.

The food was good but not special. The real benefits of the buffet of course are the huge choice - too much to list but there is literally something for everyone - and the ability to control precise quantities and timings. The buffet must be ideally suited to fussy-eating control freaks who don't like to dress to eat. I eat practically anything. I will usually go for the most unrecognisable thing on the menu. I care more for ambience and service than anything else. Ambience was somewhat lacking but no worse than the buffet on any other ship I have experienced at peak time.

After a little walk discovering the scenic, outside elevators that connect decks 7 through to 11, the very pleasant commodore club on deck 9 with wrap-around seating overlooking the bows, and the observation window onto the bridge (deck 12 -photography forbidden but I didn't see the sign until afterwards), it was siesta time.

The captain's cocktail party for first sitting was a ridiculously early 5:15pm. There was simply no time (or stomach room) for afternoon tea at 3:30. We took the art gallery route, starboard side, to the Queen's Room to avoid the inevitable photo-with-the-captain on port side.

Captain Kevin Oprey finally appeared in the Queen's room just as first sitting should have commenced. Photo business must have been good. He explained our late departure from Southampton again, commented on the previous night's rough weather joking that some guests actually liked rough weather and it was "White Star policy to deliver", made a perfunctory introduction of the senior team all but two of whom were present ("seasick" and "also seasick") and that was it, off to dinner.

My mother and I had our own agenda. Success for us was a few glasses of bubbly on the house to oil the dinnertime conversation. We placed ourselves strategically on the starboard aisle leading from G32 which had to be trodden by the waiters bringing trays of drinks and returning empties. Unlike all previous 'captain's cocktails' I can remember, there were no circulating waiters with replacement glasses. They lined up where guests were entering the Queens Room and only moved to replenish their trays.

At some pre-determined point, well before the Captain had entered the room and the proceedings had started, all waiters bar one on each route simultaneously returned the remaining full glasses to the backroom, studiously avoiding eye contact with any guests lest a further drink had to be given, like an crew of pre-programmed Cybermen rowers, each starring vacuously into the back of the head of their colleague in front. Then the staff were switched to glass collecting duties. Further drinks were delivered only by 'special order'. It is a very tightly run ship in this regard! Sometimes I long for days of free-flowing sparkling wine in Royal Caribbean's fake art auctions - bids were faked, the art was merely reproduced.

Thankfully, our new dining companions, absent the night before, joined us and we had a most agreeable dinner. I opted for the light set menu without but substituted cheese instead of the low-sugar dessert to help finish another bottle of no. 140 on the wine menu.

We finished the night listening to the sting quartet in the Chart Room, deck 3, although, due to a lack of seating, we were sat in the adjacent champagne bar.

The buffet during my early morning coffee today was home to a growing collection of regular deck-walkers who had been made refugees from the weather - high winds and rain had closed the decks again. I can see the sea is also decidedly lumpy through the fog and there were a few startling breakers on the windows of the Britannia restaurant on deck 2 during breakfast. As I write this, all the way forward on deck 9, the pitching makes it feel a little being on a roller coaster, though the stabilisers are doing an excellent job of reducing the rolling to an constant lateral judder.

We are anti-social at breakfast so asked for "a quiet table for two" for breakfast in the Britannia. I can highly recommend table 121. It is one of the nearest 2-tables to the windows, on the far side of the area used for breakfast set against a wall, rather than another 2-table. Still we noticed a nearby couple sitting right up to the window at a rectangular table set for 8. On MSC this would have been immediately filled with the people arriving next, regardless of how empty the restaurant is. They remained alone as other tables were also sparely filled. I was observing the goings-on when my mother stopped me.

"You should eat bread", (in my case toast), "with your left hand".

"Why have you waited 47 years to tell me that?"

"I have only just seen you do it".

A buffet lunch (tender but fatty roast lamb and mint sauce with veg) at 11:30 as they opened allowed us to avoid the crowds, attend an excellent lecture on the rise of Islam in the seventh century (with much current resonance) and leave sufficient pause for afternoon tea.

[Edit] I will catch up as internet allows.

Skipper's Log Supplemental

Last night when we returned from dinner we had yet another Cunard envelope waiting in the letter holder outside the cabin door. This one contained our luggage tags and instructions for disembarkation - a little premature we thought as we had only physically left port in the wee hours of that day - but also a pleasant surprise. The transfer we knew was included as part of the Cunard package with return flight to the UK includes a tour of highlights of Manhattan and free time for lunch and shopping before being taken on to Newark airport. Why Cunard's marketing failed to mention this valuable addition before booking I cannot imagine. We had been prepared to abandon the included airport transfer just to spend a few hours in Manhattan.

Then there is the sorry incident of the trivia quiz in the Golden Lion 'pub'. After dinner last night, stuffed and exhausted, we thought we would just sample the atmosphere there. The was a singer/piano player and all was agreeable. He finished and suddenly, an elderly lady, who we subsequently learned was 80, with red hair and a very sparkly dress asked if you could join our table. She promptly picked up a quiz answer sheet named us the "Whizz Kids" and that was it, we were in the quiz.

We did our best between us but when it was obvious things were not going at all well she sighed, "it was already a bad day before I sat here". Before handing over the sheet to be marked to two people not taking part but whom she thought looked sympathetic, she crossed out "Whizz Kids" and renamed us 'The Tossers". We scored 4 out of 20, lower than the starting gambit of the quizmaster, "who scored 5 or more?". Shamed, stuffed and exhausted, we had an early night.

It was a wild and windy night with the rain managing to penetrate our in-hull balcony opening the six feet horizontally and reach high up on the glass windows. Our cabin, low down on deck 4 and fairly midships was rolling and creaking all night. I imagine it would have been less comfortable in most other parts of the ship.

The outer decks were closed until mid-morning (to me) which I took as a sign that conditions were calming.

At this point, having being very disappointed earlier with the low power and tepidness of the two jacuzzis in 'The Pavilion' under the retractable glass cover, I ventured outside to 'The Terrace' aft on deck 8. I stripped to my swim shorts in a shelter port-side corner then I tried to appear as brave as possible, conscious that Princess Grill guests were probably observing the only person mad enough to be outside, and certainly the only one near-naked, from their restaurant there as they had breakfast, I crossed the deck to the nearest accessible jacuzzi which is on the starboard side and was totally exposed to the gale still blowing. I got straight in and pressed the button. This jacuzzi jets had more power but absolutely no air and the water was even cooler.

A lone couple appeared from touring the lower deck, snug and thoroughly insulated in their winter coats, came over. "Is it warm?". "No", I replied,"but I can't get out now". "Shall I call the Captain?", she joked. I eventually managed without the crew's assistance. This is about as close as I get to extreme sports.

We have just had the midday announcement while I was fetching a couple of Virgin Marys. The force 8 conditions overnight are abating to force 6 but we are diverting South at 21 knots to avoid a further weather system and fog. Roughly west of Cap Finistere, we will resume a great circle route.

That's it. Lunchtime!