Underwatr

Ahmet: ""Good morning, my American friend. It will be trouble if you go this way. A good Turk always walks to the right. Left is communist. Right is good. You see, you must go the other way. The other way is good." (Movie quote, don't be upset by the c-- word)

Ginger ale is available but only in a can or bottle (so I assume it's not part of the package). Back when your liquor order included a mixer, ginger ale was still an additional charge as I learned when I ordered a Jack & Ginger and paid more than my wife did for her martini.

In my experience there will be more vibration from propulsion systems at the back.

Don't be surprised i the PCR test comes back positive even after you've recovered (and a lateral flow test would be negative). It's the nature of the test.

Cunard Care insurance in the US will pay a Trip Interruption benefit due to "You or Your Traveling Companion being hijacked, Quarantined, required to serve on a jury or subpoenaed during the Trip; having Your Home made Uninhabitable by Natural Disaster" "Quarantine" is defined in the insurance contract as "Your strict isolation imposed by a Government authority or Physician to prevent the spread of disease." So if any of this applies to you (or other readers) make sure to retain a written statement from the ship's medical department directing you to isolate in your stateroom. If you're isolating 6 out of 8 or 9 days you could receive much of your cruise fare back from the insurance.

I'm trying to diet!

I think that The Golden Lion on QV feels more like a pub than the one on QM2 due to the low ceilings and closed-in atmosphere.

There is refundable and non-refundable OBC. The credit provided by Cunard as a booking promotion is nonrefundable but if you , a friend or your TA purchase OBC before the trip I believe that is refundable and you can get it back at the end if any is left over. Conveniently, nonrefundable OBC is consumed before refundable. If a port call is canceled passengers receive a refund of the port taxes applied for that port call as refundable OBC applied to their onboard account. I think you have to have a minimum of $10 remaining in order to get it returned. (This is where I've seen refundable OBC appear on my account statement). You have to request a refund of refundable OBC. It isn't automatic.

There's a few of those in the stateroom corridors as well, near the watertight doors (and presumably where the ship pieces together) - I've always chalked it up to the finest in French naval engineering and construction. 😉

I haven't heard about craters under the carpets in the central corridor since the last refit. Did they manage to figure our the secret to keeping the substructure intact?

On the Cunard survey I took yesterday there was a question on what factors would prevent you from booking a cruise. Two of the options presented were "Fear of getting sick" and "Required measures to prevent the spread of illness." So they're surveying for both ends of the spectrum.

Or one can chose to avoid cruising. We are leaning away from a Caribbean cruise in February and looking into renting a condo in Hawaii instead.

Perhaps, except that I've never seen a US Immigration check when St. Thomas is the final Caribbean QM2 stop, and there's no customs/immigration facility at the Crown Bay cruise port.

Interesting questions. I tried to push traditional dining and formal dress code in my responses.

I got one this morning. I assumed it was related to the cruise that I would have disembarked this morning had we not had to cancel at the last minute. Is it more general than that? If so I'll go and complete it.

Ah, but beware. In the US the cruise contract includes this paragraph: In the event of a conflict between this Passage Contract and the Carrier’s Standard Policy for Cancellations, Refunds & Final Payment, and as described on the Carrier’s website, the description of such policies on the website controls. This has the effect of enabling Cunard to change the terms of the contract by changing the information on the webpage and the passenger has agreed to that.

The current policy is that if you test positive for COVID you are to contact your travel insurer for a refund. According to my travel agent Cunard refunds port fees and taxes in a late cancellation but nothing else. My cruise contract actually says that a travel credit is possible in the case of COVID but it also says that the COVID policy stated on another web page actually takes precedence. That other web page says to use your travel insurance. We had to cancel our November QM2 cruise two days before boarding (medical but not COVID) and Cunard Care replied within 24 hours of me submitting the necessary paperwork that they will be sending checks within two days. In my experience travel insurance pays out for cancellation and trip interruption very quickly; it's the medical expenses that sometimes take longer.

Perhaps in the UK. Not in the US. https://www.wsj.com/articles/low-fall-covid-booster-uptake-11668621674 "Among adults 65 and older, some 27% have gotten an updated booster dose, CDC data show. "

Typically entertainers rotate in the Caribbean (for example in Barbados) but even with just passengers there are typically a few unplanned emergency disembarkations that would technically result in a manifest change. Didn't QM2 have a medical evacuation on the first or second day south out of New York this trip? Would that be enough from the viewpoint of US authorities to count as a manifest change?

I'll be interested in how that will be executed. Previously one could leave the ship (briefly) after embarkation and return but it appears that the new method will preclude anyone from leaving the ship before sailaway. Otherwise a passenger could conceivably evade Immigration inspection.

Longtime CC Cunard forum members may remember a member named Andiamo / Jeanne. She was active here in the past but didn't really make the transition to the new forum. I got word today that she passed away this week. She had made many Christmas voyages on QM2 which is where I met her. I'll miss her.

Cunard dropped the requirement for a pre-embarkation observed test when the ship was en route from Southampton to New York. The testing is an imperfect way to identify and exclude cases of infection from boarding (and I expect that at least some infected passengers could have come aboard in Southampton) but I suppose it could have been a contributor.

In my experience (US) when your TA takes your credit card info it shows as a charge direct to the line. Can't get much more official than that. If you're instead paying your TA and waiting for him/her to eventually pass payment on to the line I'd be looking for a different TA.

Having ridden in the 5BBT, it's not too bad. He just had to stay off the southbound Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE - I-278). When I rode it the northbound was still open.

I recall that some services have moved to an online presence (for example, booking anytime dining slots). This makes me wonder whether there's any Daily Programme capability in the new online services. They can reduce the amount of paper distributed if they back it up with an excellent online information source. If on the other hand they just never re-hired the staff that used to publish the 8-page Programme I'll chalk it up to "efficiencies" and know that we'll never see it again.