alc13

36 minutes ago, MylesS said:

I'm not sure if this breaks any Cunard tradition, but surely it would make the most sense for Princess Anne to name the ship, and I would assume then become Godmother?

Oh, I hope so.  She is my favorite member of the family.  

40 minutes ago, NE John said:

I heard that all soups are prepared in Kings Court, even for Grills. Nothing to back that up though. 

Interesting.  The soups are usually delicious.

Are meals prepared in the same kitchen for all 3 restaurants (4, if you could BC)? 

We had our first real snowfall yesterday here in Maine.  This morning I saw 3 mourning doves warming themselves on the heated birdbath.  Smart birds!

H426, Northern Lights, Oct 15-27, 2024

10/16 Black and White

10/21 Masquerade

10/24 Roaring Twenties

In our (recent) experience, OBC only showed up once we were onboard.

Happy New Year to you, to, @Lanky Lad!  And to all the group here on the Cunard Board.  

Love it, actually.  Reconciling comfort, convenience, and price - very fun for me.  It might be a kind of armchair travel activity, now that I think about it.

19 hours ago, Zeg said:

Some interesting and informative replies. Thank you. 
 

Still curious to learn what a ‘TA’ s good relationship’ with a cruise line actually means in practice. Are we talking about a preferred service? If so isn’t that discriminatory?  Or maybe some backscratching? Complimentary jollies, freebies? 

 

Perhaps cruise lines answer the phone or respond to emails quicker with TA’s?  Maybe you get a better cabin? I don’t know. 

 

What I do know is (in the U.K.) at least, many TA’s require larger deposits and earlier balance payments than booking direct. And cancellation T&C’s require careful scrutiny too because the booking contract is with the TA, not the cruise line. 

 

Doesn’t the ‘service’, we all receive (or otherwise) come from the cruise line itself? Surely the Agent is merely acting as a go between and in doing so taking a cut, which incidentally is fair enough. 

 

I’d be surprised if any cruise line would jeopardise its reputation by providing a two tier service, but I’ve been surprised before. 
 

I’ve an open mind, just curious. I’d book with a TA every time if I could uncover some real and personal tangible benefits. 

 

 

 

I've puzzled over this, too.  I enjoy making travel arrangements and will probably always rather book flights and hotels myself.  As for cruises, I used to think TAs could offer better OBC, but I don't know if that's true.  Our most recent Cunard booking has a healthy amount of OBC and we booked direct.  On the other hand, we just came off a Seabourn cruise, and there I used a TA because the OBC offering was (or seemed to be) better.  

We haven't encountered a problem yet that would benefit from having a TA to sort it out, but being impatient by nature I expect I might prefer tackling it myself.  All that said, I liked our recent TA experience and will probably call her again the next time we book a cruise.

Good point.

I wouldn't rule out a turtleneck.  It can look smashing.  

This year I finally got around to making @Colin_Cameron's fruitcake recipe again.  Another success!  

Considering the amount of fruit in it I think it qualifies as health food.

Happy Christmas, everyone.

Couple of other responses.  Starlink is amazing.  You wouldn't have any trouble reading emails with the included wifi package.   

Food is such a complicated topic.  For us, the meals we ate in the Restaurant (main dining room) were not very good overall.  Also, since you are considering a lengthy cruise, I will mention that the breakfast offerings in the buffet were the same every day.  

We were on the Ovation last week so I can speak to the wines.  If you are a wine lover, you may be disappointed by the included wines, which averaged under $15/bottle retail.  The list is not readily available so you must simply keep tasting the offered wines until you find one you like.  The premium wine list offers alternatives, but at a cost; I saw a few at $70/bottle and the rest were higher to much higher (the prices were about twice retail, I think).  There are a few wines by the glass available on the TK Grill bar menu but they cost ~$30/glass, as I recall.  So not much available in the $20-40/bottle range.  

On 12/9/2023 at 5:38 AM, Colin_Cameron said:

Life has been a bit of a roller-coaster these last couple of weeks. We had a big trip planned to NZ and Australia for the end of Jan including getting between them on QV as part of her world cruise. Final payment date for everything was the end of November. When dad's health deteriorated two weeks ago, suddenly going away for three months at the start of next year didn't seem like such a good idea. Everything else was changeable or cancellable, even after final payment but we had to make a decision on the cruise. Fast. So on the 27th we moved the booking to a short QA cruise closer to home later in the year (Copenhagen and Oslo).

 

Without getting too morbid about things, we never got around to making any of the other changes and this week we have re-booked the Auckland to Sydney voyage on QV.

 

I may be quiet for another couple of weeks as I'll be quite busy. Those Christmas cakes are not going to finish themselves, amoungst other things. So I'll wish you all a Merry Christmas now, and I'll be back in the New Year.

Sorry to hear about your dad’s declining condition.  I plan to make your Christmas fruitcake recipe this year and will post a photo.  Happy holidays to you, too.

16 hours ago, Underwatr said:

What is really needed is voyage history and WC status. I believe it was available there once upon a time.

I agree

Emotional Keith! - intriguing.  So far I don't think those are airing in the US but I will remember to look for them.  We see a lot of British TV here.  

We'll be going by train.  I'll look into Brighton, thanks.

I have a similar situation.  Instead of going into London, what about places to stop for a night between Southampton and Gatwick?  Any towns along that route that would offer a bit of sightseeing and maybe a nice dinner?

Maybe Winchester?

We watched the GBBO final last night.  I guess (?) it was the right outcome.  They all had ups and downs this season.  

Not wild about the new co-host but Noel Fielding is finally growing on me.  

We've tried the Cunard bus (worked well) and a chauffeured transfer (Twelve Transfers, excellent).

Have a great trip.  We've done that Dec 12 crossing twice and loved it.

15 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

If these are the same bakers it sounds like you're 2 weeks behind, if not you're at least a year behind !

 

Yes! - that's the gang we're watching here.  

Post mortem in a couple of weeks.

This thread reminds me that I had a dream a couple of weeks ago in which I was on board on a formal night and realized I'd failed to pack dressy shoes.  Ack!  In real life I store my dressy shoes next to my long dresses, so less chance of forgetting them. 

Are we seeing the same Bake Off as you?  We have about 3 weeks to go to the final...  

PS  Happy Thanksgiving to all the Americans on this Board!

29 minutes ago, tacticalbanjo said:

I left a snotty note in the dryer door to let the offender know how selfish they had been. 

Good for you!