alc13

I've been wondering about this. Could the flowers have been gifts from whoever booked their travel? Did newly arriving non-Japanese passengers receive flowers? If the flowers were from Cunard, my guess is the additional cost was rolled into the fares.

Diss -respecting. I'm also curious to hear @godfreyb's estimate of the proportion of Japanese passengers. We were on the same cruise, I think.

Perfect! - including the tie.

I didn't judge it at the time, but I think half or maybe the majority were from Japan. Others were from Australia/New Zealand, USA, and elsewhere.

We did a circumnavigation cruise last spring on QE. We didn't notice any difference in music, enrichment lectures (although these skewed towards gossipy entertainment and were less interesting than usual to me), or food (other than say, miso soup in the buffet) compared to the other Cunard cruises we've taken. If we were treated differently from the Japanese guests, we weren't aware of it. We tried shore excursions in a couple of ports and found them to be okay and possibly better than DIY; although the ports themselves were frankly not hugely interesting on our particular itinerary. There was little in the way of Japanese culture or cuisine offered on board, including the enrichment lectures, sadly. I'm sure you will all enjoy your cruises, even so. It's a fascinating, beautiful country.

I didn't notice you are also from Maine! Well, we must find a way to agree. I can go along with needing to consider specific examples - I suppose some scenarios could end up being more expensive.

If you mean don't count on medical treatments being cheaper outside the US, that's actually quite likely, if not a near certainty.

A gesture of goodwill would have been to coordinate all of the claims with the Port Authority instead of leaving you to fend for yourselves with no information or guidance. Much more value in that than reimbursing you an additional $250 per bag. And even that response took them a month to formulate. We won't stop sailing with Cunard; we like it too much, and so far it's better than most other lines. But I'm disappointed.

I have to say, I'm shocked that Cunard won't take financial responsibility for this. It's not even all that much money compared to whatever their annual expenses are; assuming, that is, that pitching luggage into the water is an uncommon occurrence. I wonder if this is standard practice in the cruise industry.

I'm so sorry, D&N.

But it's good advice. It's also worth remembering that the fault in this case was with the Port Authority. Cunard only fails for its abysmal customer relations.

I had to google that building. Did you enjoy the exhibits?

Besides what @Pushpit recommends, rest/sleep and plenty of fluids will help. Hope you are better soon. I'm enjoying your blog.

Thanks for the update, and good luck with recovering at least some of your belongings.

I wholeheartedly agree with that!

We humans do love fried foods.

Yes we can!

The difference may be that a grilled cheese sandwich is pan-fried in melted butter. If you spread soft butter on both sides of a sandwich before putting it under the grill it would probably come out the same.

Maybe Cunard doesn't have a rep in NYC but the customer relations part of this seems inadequate. I understand bitob's frustration. I suppose from the corporate perspective a handful of suitcases doesn't matter much, but if it happened to me, I'd want more and better communication.

Oh, dear. You in the UK are missing out on a very delicious sandwich!

That is a pathetic example of a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. For one thing, it looks like it never saw a grill, griddle, or frying pan. I think they used toasted bread. For shame, Cunard!

What a miserable situation. Very sorry those of you who have lost luggage aren’t receiving more prompt and helpful attention.

Photos from Brooklyn show extreme flooding. Wow. Very sorry for all those affected, including anyone trying to get to QM2 to board, or having to go homewithout their luggage!

Totally agree that flours differ. All ingredients probably have regional differences. It's why it's often so hard to recreate dishes from abroad at home. Oh, wait, what was the point of this thread?