Megabear2

If we are stealing from other lines we could have Celebrity Edge bathrooms, now they are fabulous. And a big yes for Cunard room service from me, plus in room dining from the MDR restaurant on Celebration nights.

Reading this you do have cover presumably for $500,000 for medical and evacuation which is sufficient for your use in the event of emergency? I assume this policy is accepted by other tour companies you may use worldwide. That being the case it is most likely the best you can do. Realistically all P&O want you to have is enough cover to meet any onboard medical expenses and evacuation. Once you leave the ship you would no longer be their problem and if you have sufficient cover to pay any onboard bill and evacuation actually off the ship you should be amply covered and I'm assuming this is why the agent is saying the £2,000,000 requirement does not apply. There has been some debate on this issue on other threads and it seems to be confirmed any airlift from the ship to land is provided by the coastguard of the country involved for free. Your financial obligations would therefore seem to be for P&O's medical bill and land based transportation, medical care ashore and repatriation. Based on this as long as you are happy your $500,000 cover would meet all these costs you will most likely be fine with your current cover. You do not state where you are sailing to but realistically and medical costs in a European country or the UK will be comfortably met by this sum. Your booking through your US agent presumably has a cruise personaliser, and if there is an emergency insurance contact number required your travel agent should be able to assist with filling it it. Only once have I ever been asked to show my policy and that was not read just nodded through. So long as you have the $500,000 cover and have double checked with your insurer it will pay medical, evacuation and other associated Bill's I doubt you can do much more.

Having seen all three in the flesh I'd say definitely better than HAL to look at, though seriously is any modern cruise ship anything other than a wedge of boxes? Compared with the Prima class or the Virgin ladies the QA and HAL ships look like throwbacks to a different era! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder though and I personally think for a modern off plan ship she could have been far worse. The Cunard hull in dark blue with red and white offers classier exteriors. QA looks the part which is important, as I say the real story will be her interiors which from the odd photos released do look very good. Moving away from tradition though I must confess to absolutely loving the pale blue of the Oasis class RCI ships.

Yes I'm aware of that but she is longer than the HAL ships for the reason they didn't want her to be too boxy like the other Pinnacle class ships. She will carry 3,000 passengers in her "stretched" body. Passenger to crew ratio is still superior to most lines. Apparently the cabins are smaller as there's quite a lot of discussion about the Grills suites. No doubt we shall be hearing a lot on Friday when the first passengers go onboard. Apparently the maiden is extremely busy with Diamond Cunard club members bring told there's too many of them to have their free club lunch.

It was a great to be out there on the water. I thought the boat crew were excellent as well and made it really enjoyable. I'm glad you enjoyed it as well.

She's lovely. Actually looks like a Cunard ship, the jury is out until I see inside her on the 24th but so far I'm pleased. She's actually smaller than Ventura which is a step.in the right direction after Arvia and Iona.

Pretty than a lot of the modern ships though.

Waiting to board the boat to welcome Queen Anne, a bit blustery but a nice view of an old friend.

Yes I have this too and it's only for a walking stick!

Back to bunk beds ...

The gym on Arvia for the health conscious amongst us - I'll need it to work off all this high end food and drink.

The mysterious location would be very apt.

I had to look that one up! Interesting description in a computer game "Celestia is a mysterious location that very few people understand. It is the floating island that can be seen in the sky above Teyvat, and the residence of the gods. It is currently controlled by the Heavenly Principles, although they have been silent since the cataclysm 500 years ago. It is said that only mortals who perform great, heroic feats can ascend to Celestia and achieve godhood, where they will watch over their people from above. All Vision wielders are "allogenes" who have the potential to reach godhood"

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. The form you have to complete is no longer, as far as I am aware, emailed to you and can be found in your cruise personaliser. Since last year it has been a requirement that even walking stick users complete this form. My husband falls into this category and both P&O and Cunard require him to be marked for one to one assistance. If you booked with P&O direct they should have directed you to this and told you it is now a requirement of booking.

I'd suggest an early lunch and a glass of wine would be most appropriate at this time then!

Best of both worlds, why not a retractable dome like the one on Arvia but without the cinema screen which create a lot of the noise issues? If our ship is going to be smaller our dome will be sized down too.

We need to discuss size for this perfect ship. I'd vote for Arcadia sized or slightly bigger to allow access to as many ports as possible and be able to go through the Panama canal comfortably. We need something reasonable size to fit in all the goodies.

MSC beat us to it though, they have a ship called Bellissima.

I see you passed Queen Anne yesterday, any sightings from onboard? Sorry about the rain but it is apparently due to improve soon.

Presumably because you purchased through the US offices of those companies. You would have no need to know but all these companies have separate UK websites and offices within the UK. If I click into the US site of one of these it will direct me to a UK website as the computer recognises where I am based and assumes I need to purchase under UK terms. As an example, when I am in the US visiting friends in Dallas we often plan a future trip but I am unable to book until I get home as I am immediately directed to the UK site of whatever cruise line. Also if I click into the P&O website anywhere in the world other than in the UK I can see cruises but with no pricing and a message to Call to Book. This is because as a UK resident I need to book under UK law and terms. With the other lines mentioned their IT is better refined and so I am just redirected based on my URL extension being the UK. As consumers we just want to buy what we are looking for and very few of us actually look to see where the website we are looking at is based. Incidentally I can for those other lines book a cruise in the US under US law (I know a few who do) but apart from refundable deposits and a few freebies from travel agents there are little to no benefits in doing so because UK consumer law is so strong.

Actually P&O do not offer any insurance. Holiday Extras is a recommendation but they are not stating passengers have to buy from them and actually a very limited number of passengers do buy that policy, preferring to buy elsewhere. Basically the Holiday Extras/P&O link is a business agreement but nothing more than a recommendation. Just so the matter is clear, the terms and conditions about insurance are not exclusive to P&O, all the major cruise lines including Cunard, RCI, Celebrity, MSC, Princess and NCL have the same clause regarding insurance being a requirement to travel. Holiday Extras is an independent business offering exactly what it states: extras that travellers may require such as parking, overnight accommodation, transfers etc and insurance is just another arm of their business model. Freedom has absolutely nothing to do with the requirement for insurance. It is a protection for customer and company alike. It is not just cruise lines that ask for travellers to be insured but is across the whole travel industry. UK travellers have very high level of legal rights built into their holiday packages (with a cruise coming under that heading) and the insurance comes into that. You need to remember that residents of the UK do not have private medical insurance as a general rule as health care is provided free by our Government at the point of need with no ceiling. Unlike US guests we therefore do not have a fall back in the event we are taken ill or have an accident whilst onboard a cruise ship so to offer protection to individuals travel insurance is a mandatory requirement imposed by the cruise line or other travel provider. It is not anything other than a protection for both the passenger and the provider and is designed to offer both peace of mind in the event of a problem. With respect it is a cultural difference to risk not freedom that dictates the requirement. UK travellers are much more risk adverse and as such would prefer to have the peace of mind that in the event of the worst they do not have to worry about possible enormous bills and financial stress or ruin. Incidentally we are heavily charged by insurers for travel to the US due to the very high cost of medical treatment there due to no state provision as would be available in most other countries in the world.

Happy birthday Avril and Grandad John. I hope you're both having a splendid day with lots of jelly and ice cream.

Just got the message re the new timings, looks like she's going to be quite a bit later if we now board at 5.00pm.

Blue Funnel Cruises - sorry autocorrect changed it to Ferries. https://bluefunnel.co.uk/events/queen-anne-arrival/ Also local newspaper produced this information from Cunard. The following vantage points have been recommended to view Queen Anne as she makes her way to her home port: Ryde and Gosport: 12.45pm Lee-on-the-Solent: 1.10pm Cowes: 1.10pm Calshot: 1.20pm Hamble: 1.30pm Royal Victoria Country Park and Weston Shore: 2pm Hythe: 2.15pm Mayflower Park: 2.30pm Mayflower Cruise Terminal: 2.45pm No idea if its correct but as I say a lot of people expecting this or very near.

Blue Funnel Ferries seem to think she's coming in at the earlier time as they're selling tickets at £25 each departing 12.15 from Southampton to join the flotilla and various Isle of Wight sailings all leaving around that time too. Local papers are telling prospective viewers she will be at Mayflower Terminal at 2.45pm as well. Going to be a lot of disappointed people if she's not going to be there.