Live from the Queen Victoria--Princess Elites sail Cunard QV to the Baltic

[PunkiC]

Live from the Queen Victoria--Princess Elites sail Cunard QV to the Baltic

 

Second Sea Day:

 

We awakened this morning to gray skies and much calmer winds—the apparent gale force was down to 46 knots. I don’t even want to know what it was yesterday. :D Happily, my tummy is all settled down so I can save my stash of sugared ginger for another day. I forgot to mention yesterday that quite a few people from the Meet & Greet took ginger back to their cabins and a several of them reported later that it helped them a great deal.

 

DH came back from the gym and told me that Lord Jeffrey Archer had been right behind him during his stretch and abs classes. That was interesting as we have been listening to all of his audio books this spring and summer and were looking forward to his presentation this morning. When we went to breakfast, however, we sat with some people who were definitely not fans. Apparently there are lots of folks in the UK who don’t have anything nice to say about him. He seems to be able to generate both ardent fans and decriers in equal numbers and I suspect that that only increases the sales of his books. We left for the theater right after breakfast to get decent seats to listen to his presentation.

 

Lord Archer is a very interesting speaker, but I was surprised that he was so poorly dressed. DH would never be allowed out in public looking like that. His speak style is that of a gentleman addressing parliament which may well be where he learned his speaking style. We recognized one of his true life stories from his book and that is exactly what he confirmed—write about what you know. He will be giving two more presentations throughout the cruise and it will be most interesting to hear where he takes them.

 

After the Archer presentation we scooted off to have lunch with our new Cruise Critic friends in The Golden Lion. It was a pleasant lunch venue and we enjoyed our first visit. I had a salmon salad which was excellent and DH had fish and chips which he felt were way too greasy and would only eat after scraping off all of the breading. He did exactly the same thing when he had them at a pub in Windsor. I don’t really think he much likes English fish and ships.  I do miss the specialty pizza restaurants on Princess where I do so enjoy having lunch, but am sure I am better off eating salads.

 

Following lunch I went down and checked our ship’s account. I don’t think I had previously mentioned that when we first boarded I checked it and found that it was short about $400 OBC. This time they had added in all of the OBC we were due and it looks like we have just enough money left after paying our gratuities for a bottle of wine at dinner every evening. That works for me. I was surprised to see that they charge gratuities for the entire cruise on the first day. They don’t do that on Princess but I think I like it better this way as it makes it easier to see exactly how much OBC we have left.

 

While DH was taking his afternoon nap and I was writing, we went under the bridge between Korsoer and Nyborg so I had to wake him up to take pictures of the bridge and the windmills on the water. It is so interesting to travel and see the different ways that folks do things in different parts of the world.

 

Dinner was very enjoyable with a full contingent of 10 guests at our table. I am thinking that it might not be so bad to share our table with the same guests every night for the entire cruise as they are all quite nice people and we are all fairly similar in age and life circumstance, except for the two widowed ladies but then there seem to be quite few single women and they appear to be fairly evenly spread out among the larger tables. I wonder how they decide who to sit with whom. I guess I should have asked during our meet and greet meeting.

 

The evening entertainer was a singer from Los Angeles named Bruce Parker who sang old soul and Motown songs with the ship’s orchestra. Mr. Parker had a truly wonderful voice and I enjoyed his songs, but found his “act” a bit off. When he was interviewed on the Rise “N” Shine show he appeared much more cultured, well-educated and charming that he did during his show where he played at having a quite different personality. Maybe both personalities are his real personalities, but I like the one he presented during the interview much better than the one he presented during the show. It is, I understand very difficult to maintain freshness doing the same show time after time, but he definitely needed more spontaneity in his act. Hopefully he will rework it to better showcase his terrific voice.

 

We then visited our friends’ cabin to pick up a bottle of wine they had carried on board for us because we had run out of room in our hand luggage, and also pickup up the beautifully address envelopes that she had prepared to send our Thank You notes to the staff who had participated in our Cruise Critic Meet & Greet. My theory is that if more passengers invite officers to join in the Meet & Greets and make special effort to express their appreciation to those who do, more will participate in the future. When we get home I will start working on organizing a Meet & Greet for our November cruise on the Queen Elizabeth and I will very much miss the talent of my friend in preparing envelopes for invitations and thank you notes. I guess I will have to print all of the envelopes and invitations on my computer before I leave home and then draft DH into actually writing individual thank you notes on the ship. My hand writing is pretty awful.

 

I noticed that several of you commented on the fact that we fly first-class, but still book balcony cabins. We like to take lots and lots of trips and be as comfortable as possible all along the way. When we first started cruising we booked suites and then discovered that as long as we have a balcony, we are perfectly comfortable in any cabin on a ship. Since we would rather take four or five cruises a year in a balcony cabin than one cruise a year in a fancy suite or a grill cabin, we select balconies. We aren’t wealthy, but we know how to work the travel systems and get excellent deals. During our working years we not only accumulated millions of miles and hotel points, but also attained lifetime status on the airlines and at our favorite hotel chains. Praise God for that as we would not be comfortable flying coach anywhere that took more than a couple of hours. Usually we are fine flying business class, as long as we get a bed on the plane, but sometimes it costs no more in terms of miles to fly international first than international business.

 

Thank you so much for your input that we can order breakfast room service early than 7:00 a.m. That will make DH very happy as he really likes to have a cup of coffee before he heads out for the gym. Heck, I might even get up tomorrow and go with him.

 

lucky white heather, once we recover from our jet lag, we will most likely follow the same schedule. Right now we are still a little sleep deprived.

[PunkiC]

Live from the Queen Victoria--Princess Elites sail Cunard QV to the Baltic

 

Third Sea Day:

 

We have quite calm seas today but rather unstable weather. It has been going from rain one minute and sun the next—there was even had some lightning and thunder storms.

 

Thanks for the heads up on early room service. We wrote down 6:30 a.m. and they came at 6:30 a.m., imagine that? There is always so much to learn when sailing on a new cruise line.

 

As soon as DH returned from the gym, we got hooked watching “Whitehouse Down” on TV in our stateroom. And, of course, once we started watching, we couldn’t stop, so we didn’t even go up to breakfast in the Lido until 10:00 a.m. When we finished eating we went down to the cruise sales office to learn more about the Cunard Future Cruise Credit program. It operates just about the same as the Princess program except that the deposit is $300 per person rather than $100 per person as it is on Princess, with respective matching Onboard Credit per person for balcony bookings. I had also meant to talk with her about the Cunard Loyalty Program, but we were having such a pleasant conversation that I forgot. We are enjoying sailing on Cunard and I can see that now we are retired and have a lot more time to travel, we will probably be booking a lot more trips on the Queens despite the extended travel that getting to the ships involves. Our goal is to visit 100 countries while we are still in good enough shape to travel, and Cunard offers some very interesting cruises to parts of the world that we have not heretofore visited.

 

The Voyage Sales Specialist, Dragana Prodanovic, was very nice. She told us that some Grill passengers prefer to eat in the Britannia Dining Room, and I am not surprised as it is a much grander space and the food is certainly good. When we were on Queen Mary our Muster Station was in the Queens Grill Restaurant and I thought it was a very ordinary venue compared to the Britannia. Of course, if you are a real foodie, which I am not, or wanting to feel like you are associating with “a better class” of people, which I do not, then you might prefer the Grill.

 

In truth and in fact, I suspect that the only thing that being a Grill passenger says about a person is that they decided to book a Grill and nothing else. I know that one of the classiest couples I have ever met on a cruise always books an inside cabin because they like to nap in total darkness in during the day. That wouldn’t work for us because we so very much love, love, love our balcony but everyone needs something different to make them feel really happy. Different strokes.

 

This must be my day for movies. After lunch we watched “Noah” in the theater. It was quite good but I can see how some religious folks who believe in a very strict interpretation of the bible could be offended by the liberties that were taken with the story. I remember that when it was first released, there was quite a lot of protest in the States. Honestly, I must say that the Transformer Monsters helping build and protect the ark was a bit of a stretch for me and I am very liberal, but what the hey—it’s a movie. It was most certainly a very ambitious project from the standpoint of production.

 

I must still be suffering from jet lag as I grew very weary again during the movie and came back and took another nap before dinner. Poor DH had to try at least twice to get me up to get dressed. Tonight was another formal night and we had another very pleasant time with our dinner mates, although I didn’t eat much. Eating out, whether it is on a cruise ship or at restaurants on land is always a bit of a challenge for me. I don’t eat meat unless I have cooked it myself, and even then very rarely. I think that is probably a good thing, as I never have gained weight on a cruise, but have to fight tooth and nail not to gain weight at home where I do all of the cooking and have access to anything I want to eat.

 

On our way back from dinner we stopped and watched the Sequence Dancing. We don’t have Sequence Dancing in the States, at least not that I know of, and it is very fun to watch. It appears that a lot of men who are not particularly strong leads enjoy it because they can just follow their patterns and not have to do too much planning or execution of their moves. It is also good for the ladies as they know exactly what they are supposed to do, even if they don’t have a strong lead. I think that on my cruise review I will suggest that they add in some Sequence Dance classes. I love any type of program that gets more people involved in ballroom dance and increases their level of confidence.

 

By the time the Sequence Dancing had finished, I was feeling a very strong attraction to my bed so I called it a night and went to sleep. DH, my Mr. Energizer Bunny, was still raring to go so he went to the flautist’s show, which he said was excellent, and then went down and danced with some of our table mates, and some of the other single ladies, giving the dance hosts a bit of a break. Women always love dancing with DH because he is not only very handsome and dashing, but also an excellent lead. I am so very blessed.

 

Tomorrow is Stockholm. We love sea days, but are really looking forward to seeing a new place.

[cwn]

Thanks for doing the live thread. I am enjoying your view of the "Cunard Experience". We have not sailed with Cunard in many years.

 

Our travel styles sound every similar as we are happy as long as we have a balcony, but also won't do a flight longer than 3 to 4 hour in economy, thank heavens for f-flyer points!

[Underwatr]

As long as we're discussing morning room service secrets, you can make reasonable requests for breakfast items that aren't on the pre-printed door hanger. DW likes smoked salmon (lox) for breakfast so we typically write in a request for salmon, capers & onions along with checking the boxes for a toasted bagel & cream cheese. It's never been a problem.

[cunardaddict]

Glad to hear that you passed my home region in safety and comfort. I will look after QV when she comes to our neighouring port on your way back to the west.

 

You may have read that QV has technical issues with one of her pods and 2 cruises in January 2015 had to be cancelled by Cunard.

 

The ship is safe even with one pod and just in case our rescue forces are well trained and ready to help.:D

Edited August 14, 2014 by cunardaddict

[Victoria2]

Live from the Queen Victoria--Princess Elites sail Cunard QV to the Baltic

 

Third Sea Day:

 

The Voyage Sales Specialist, Dragana Prodanovic, was very nice. She told us that some Grill passengers prefer to eat in the Britannia Dining Room, and I am not surprised as it is a much grander space and the food is certainly good. When we were on Queen Mary our Muster Station was in the Queens Grill Restaurant and I thought it was a very ordinary venue compared to the Britannia. Of course, if you are a real foodie, which I am not, or wanting to feel like you are associating with “a better class” of people, which I do not, then you might prefer the Grill.

 

In truth and in fact, I suspect that the only thing that being a Grill passenger says about a person is that they decided to book a Grill and nothing else. I know that one of the classiest couples I have ever met on a cruise always books an inside cabin because they like to nap in total darkness in during the day. That wouldn’t work for us because we so very much love, love, love our balcony but everyone needs something different to make them feel really happy. Different strokes.

 

Great account, thanks and glad you're enjoying Victoria. Looking forward to the rest of it.

If you get a chance, go and have a look at the QG restaurant on Victoria, and compare it with the same on QM. Quite a different ambiance. Another reason why I prefer the smaller sisters

 

We are one of the culprits who only book QG. We're not foodies and we're not bothered if our companions are Princes or Paupers, Toffs or 'Rowers' [tongue in cheek term from another thread]. We like a large cabin so the only option is QG.

 

The extras which come with the cabin are of course, very welcome. :)

Edited August 14, 2014 by Victoria2

[capnpugwash]

There is no comparison between the QG Restaurant on QM2 and those on QE or QV. They are so vastly superior, their positioning is much better and they are far more private. Are you elite on Princess then? :)

[cunardaddict]

There is no comparison between the QG Restaurant on QM2 and those on QE or QV. They are so vastly superior, their positioning is much better and they are far more private.

 

So true. The Grills concept of QM2 is not up to date and needs definitely a noticeable improvement. That does not only aim at the carpets and curtains.

[Cats2010]

 

i was, therefore, forced to put a hex on lady gaga and, as a result of the hex, she became too ill to perform that night. It serves her right. ;) this is a warning not to mess with my first-class flights.

 

:d Thanks for the laughter! :D

[loma linda ca a & j]

love your writing & humor !!

 

just read susan branch, A Fine Romance Falling in Love with

the English Countryside - she & her husband sailed in 2012

east & west on the Queen Mary with 6 week car tour in between

 

we would like to do the same thing in spring 2016 or 2017 -

perhaps a princess TA, another Brit isles cruise, land tour to wales

and more of london before a QM2 return

 

what i am confused about & hoping you and others can explain

is the difference in "classes" and choices for dining dependent on cabin choice -

we love to cruise & also travel about before and after so we must choose &

do NOT mind inside cabins

 

on princess, everyone is equal regardless of inside vs suites and can eat

at the same traditional dining rooms - understand & can accept this

is different on cunard but just want to know where we can eat :confused:

continue to enjoy your travels & thank you for whatever you can tell us !!!;)

Edited August 14, 2014 by loma linda ca a & j

[Underwatr]

Rather than think of it in terms of "classes" think of it in terms of "cabins" vs. "suites." Further there are two levels of suites - big suites and huge. Cabins eat in the big dining room (or have specialty dining options) and the two grades of suites eat in smaller dining rooms with progressively higher levels of service. I think this dining/service perk for suite guests is rather common among cruise lines whether Princess employs it or not.

Edited August 14, 2014 by Underwatr

[loma linda ca a & j]

Rather than think of it in terms of "classes" think of it in terms of "cabins" vs. "suites." Further there are two levels of suites - big suites and huge. Cabins eat in the big dining room (or have specialty dining options) and the two grades of suites eat in smaller dining rooms with progressively higher levels of service. I think this dining/service perk for suite guests is rather common among cruise lines whether Princess employs it or not.

 

thanks for your explanation ! from also inquiring on another thread,

someone just explained it all so i am relieved to know that we would

be considered britannia which many others are also so we would not

be alone in the dining area with only a few dining rooms not available

to us which is perfectly acceptable to us !!:D

Edited August 14, 2014 by loma linda ca a & j

[maria1963]

I am so enjoying reading your blog. We are relative newcomers to cruising , only one previous experience on Princess which for us meant flying transatlantic the opposite way to you. Hated it, the flying bit that is. Coach or economy to us is so uncomfortable. American Airlines staff however more than compensated . We loved Princess and so enjoyed our balcony room particularly arriving into the lovely carribean islands we visited. We have chosen Cunard this time because we couldn't face transatlantic again and the itinerary suits us. The QV looks amazing. So your reviews are fascinating. Keep em coming

[PunkiC]

Live from the Queen Victoria--Princess Elites sail Cunard QV to the Baltic

 

Day Four: Stockholm

 

I woke up at about 4:00 a.m., just as we were entering the glorious archipelago that leads to Stockholm. The sun cast the sky a beautiful blood red as it rose out of the sea. DH put on a robe and his slippers to run up to the Lido to see if I he could get a decent shot. I sure hope so. The islands that we are passing are very much like those at home, only there are no towering mountains behind them. Also, the waters appear to be far better protected than they are in Washington State.

 

I forgot to mention that when I first entered our bathroom in out cabin I thought it was even smaller than the Princess bathrooms, but then I realized that nothing could be smaller than a Princess bathroom. It’s actually identical in size but it lacks the tiered storage shelves that they have on Princess, dramatically reducing the storage space for all of my unguents and potions, and the older I get, the more I seem to need. I do however appreciate the little Plexiglas container filled with cotton balls and Q-tips. We use them both so this is a very nice touch, as is the marble counter top.

 

Since I was up so early anyway, I decided to join DH in the gym for the stretch class. I am so proud of myself. It was a very small class, maybe 9 people, and Lord Jeffrey Archer was one of them—good for him. I had thought to be a brash American and start an in-depth conversation which he couldn’t avoid, but then decided that since it was so early, I would take pity on the poor man and let him work out in peace. He is a very interesting character who generates rather dramatic responses. About a third of the people on the ship love him, another third despises him, and another third has never heard of him. I get the distinct feeling that the latter third is the only one that bothers him in the least. ;)

 

After dressing and eating breakfast in the Lido with a very nice English couple, we jumped on the Hop On, Hop Off bus to explore Stockholm. When we have never visited a city before, we find that a Hop On, Hop Off is the best way to see as much as possible. This particular Hop On, Hop Off included a water tour as well as a land tour. We first did about half of the city by bus, and then took the complete water tour which was by far our favorite part of the day as Stockholm is such a beautiful water city. As we were disembarking the tour boat, a Seaborne ship was docking at the pier. While we enjoyed a glass of wine and FREE internet in a harbor bar called Loch & Quay, we had a good opportunity to examine the ship, Seaborne Legend, and decided it really wasn’t for us. There are no balconies, but instead just doors that open to the sea, or in this case shore—I believe they are called French Balconies. It is also difficult to imagine that a ship that size has a ballroom as grand as that on the Queen Victoria. I really need a place to sit in the open air, and watch the sea go by, not to mention a place to dry my hand laundry.

 

After we had used up enough of the FREE internet in the bar to determine that we were up-to-date on all things both personal and global, we wandered around the Old Town on Gamla Stan, until it was time to head back to the ship. We had to wait about 25 minutes for a Hop On, Hop Off bus as the traffic in the city was so horrendous and then decided we had better not risk missing the ship with another Hop Off so we just took the rest of the land tour and went back to the ship. That was a wise choice as the traffic just kept getting worse and the bus became so crowded that it could no longer stop to pick up additional passengers.

 

We found many places that we would like to come back and visit in depth like the Vasa Museum, Skansen, the Royal Palace, and the Nordiska Museum. We need to come back for another week or so here to really do Stockholm justice. Perhaps we should win the lottery before we do that as Stockholm is a very expensive city and buying wine by the bottle here is almost impossible. All alcohol, even beer and wine, is controlled by the government and state stores are few and far between. We only recently deregulated the sale of hard liquor in Washington State, but have always been able to buy beer and wine in the grocery store. The Swedish rules seems very strange, but I have heard that Sweden has the highest rate of alcoholism in the world so perhaps they are trying to control that, or on the other hand, maybe they have caused that by making alcohol seem so precious.

 

When we returned to the ship we went back up to the Lido for a bite to eat as we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. We were very disappointed to learn that they stopped serving pizza at 4:00 p.m. I have yet to taste Cunard Pizza and may hate it, but would at least like to try it. On Princess the Lido Pizza bar operates from 11:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. and they make some of the very best New York Slice pizza that I have ever had. I have to seriously ration myself or I would get really, really fat on Princess Cruises. Moreover, Princess has a lovely little restaurant called Alfredo’s where they make custom individual pizzas on many of their ships. We frequently have our lunch in Alfredo’s. Yum, yum, yum.

 

We had barely finished our very late lunch when it was time for early dinner. Needless to say, after my salad in the Lido, I wasn’t particularly hungry so I ordered soup, salad, and another appetizer for my main course. For some reason our waiter decided to triple the size of the appetizer without asking but I could still only manage a couple of bites of the serving I had requested. Following dinner we walked around the promenade, took some pictures as we passed through the archipelago, and then danced a bit in the Queen’s Room until it was time to go to the 8:30 show. By the time the show—a variety show--concluded we were both exhausted, which is not surprising since we had both been on the go since 4:30 a.m.

 

I forgot to mention that both the lady and gentleman with whom we had breakfast were Veterans and they had never before heard that they were eligible for Military On Board Credit. I know from personal experience how painful it is to learn in the middle of a voyage that you missed out on a $500 OBC, but at least no they know and can go for it in the future.

 

Tomorrow is another sea day when we can rest up.

[Salacia]

Live from the Queen Victoria--Princess Elites sail Cunard QV to the Baltic

 

Second Sea Day:

 

...Lord Archer is a very interesting speaker, but I was surprised that he was so poorly dressed. DH would never be allowed out in public looking like that....QUOTE]

 

Live from the Queen Victoria--Princess Elites sail Cunard QV to the Baltic

 

Day Four: Stockholm

 

I woke up at about 4:00 a.m.... DH put on a robe and his slippers to run up to the Lido to see if I he could get a decent shot...

 

:eek::confused:

 

If a robe and slippers is acceptable in a public space (the Lido), what was Mr. Archer wearing that made him "so poorly dressed" by comparison?

 

Sounds like a fun cruise. Thanks for your posts:)

Edited August 15, 2014 by Salacia

[PunkiC]

I misspoke when I said he went to the Lido. He went to some upper deck outside where there were only two other people taking picture-not of him. It was not yet 5:00 a.m.

 

When the sun is rising, one can't take time to dress. ;) I did make him remove his baseball cap before he left the cabin. That really looked silly with his robe and slippers. He was actually wearing Lufthansa first-class pajamas under his robe and no one would have known that they weren't regular street clothes unless they had a pair.

[cunardaddict]

Live from the Queen Victoria--Princess Elites sail Cunard QV to the Baltic

 

Second Sea Day:

 

...Lord Archer is a very interesting speaker, but I was surprised that he was so poorly dressed. DH would never be allowed out in public looking like that....QUOTE]

 

 

 

:eek::confused:

 

If a robe and slippers is acceptable in a public space (the Lido), what was Mr. Archer wearing that made him "so poorly dressed" by comparison?

 

Sounds like a fun cruise. Thanks for your posts:)

 

At that early hours you'll be suprised of the dresses to meet...

 

I do get up very early for spectacular views and go up to the sun deck in ordr not to disturb my wife. But I dress properly befoe leaving the room.

[Alanxx]

Great reviews........we are on the identical cruise with the QV in two weeks.We would be interested to hear any tips either on board or with the excursions.We are considering a two day tour of St Petersburg but wonder if it will be too intensive and should choose a more relaxing Highlights of St Petersburg tour.We will look out for your comments next week

[Mostonian]

Why wearing a dressing gown or bathrobe in a public area should offend anyone is beyond me. Of course I wouldn't expect anyone to dine in one, but to just pop out of your cabin to take a quick photo, get an early cup of tea/coffee, go for a swim or use the spa would seem quite sensible to me. After all, when cruising in a warm climate, passengers wander round the ship wearing a lot less and no one bats an eye.

[maitai999]

"When we went to breakfast, however, we sat with some people who were definitely not fans. Apparently there are lots of folks in the UK who don’t have anything nice to say about him".

 

 

hummm ..... disgraced Jeffrey Archer convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice possibly a good enough reason why us Brits don't have anything nice to say. I am really surprised Cunard have him onboard as a guest speaker, glad I got off last week. At least in the unfortunate case of norovirus making an appearance, you know what to use if loo paper runs out

Edited August 15, 2014 by maitai999

[DB605]

Nice write up and glad to hear there were pyjamas under the robe as you can get a fair draft up the baltics:eek:

 

Perhaps Mr Archer still has a fondness of his prison attire from that 4 year sentence. Interesting that this would also render him an unfit person for entry into the United States as far as I am aware.

 

You'd think Cunard would have wanted to play it safe after the Rolf Harris business.

[PunkiC]

Live from the Queen Victoria--Princess Elites sail Cunard QV to the Baltic

 

Day Five: At sea once again

 

We had to turn our clocks ahead last night and by the time I awakened, room service had been delivered and DH had already left for the gym. I was somewhat disappointed but obviously my body wanted a little more sleep. I expect that I will probably be totally recovered from this bout of jet lag just about in time to create another by flying back to Seattle. I guarantee that I won’t miss out on my direct first-class flight back home this time, even if I have to spend the night before at Heathrow.

 

The first thing I noticed this morning was that instead of heading due east, we were heading southwest. People who plan their hand laundry on ships pay close attention to the sun. My first thought was that perhaps we had gone to war with Russia and they were shuttling us back to Southampton. My friend’s mother was in France at the outbreak of WWII and was required to jump on a ship and head back to New York immediately. I was so curious that I called the folks at the Purser’s Desk who had no idea which direction we were headed. They were very helpful, however, and called the Bridge and then reported back that we were just sailing around because the distance between Stockholm and Tallinn was so short that they had to waste some time. It’s a pity that they couldn’t have allowed us to overnight in Stockholm but that would have incurred more berthing fees and they could be quite substantial for a ship this size.

 

I had no sooner hung up the phone, when DH ran into our room wearing his gym clothes and grabbed an Armani sports jacket out of the closet. He returned a bit later and told me that he had loaned his Armani jacket to Lord Archer. Of course I initially thought DH was making fun of me because of my comments on Lord Archer’s dress, or even worse that Lord Archer had read my blog and was having a go at me. As it turned out Lord Archer had spilled oil on his jacket and needed one to wear to his talk this morning. Since he and DH work out together, he asked DH if he had a jacket he could borrow for his presentation. I must say that Lord Archer looked much snazzier on stage today than he had in his previous presentation, despite the fact that the sleeves of the jacket were a bit too long on him the cut of the jacket was elegant. I think he needs to start wearing Armani. DH and I certainly had a marvelous laugh over that one.

 

Lord Archer’s presentation this morning was all about British politics which are not particularly interesting to us, but he did tell some very hilarious political stories and he has excellent comedic delivery. Following the presentation we went to the book signing to retrieve the jacket and have the two books that I had brought from home for the trip signed by the author.

 

I have no compunction about posting my opinions of public figures if I don’t know or like them, but once you have given them the coat off your back (or in this case your husband’s back), there is a tiny bud of friendship there that prohibits talking about them behind their back. Therefore, I asked Lord Archer if his sense of humor extended to include the ability to laugh at himself. When he assured me that it did, I told him the whole story and asked if he would mind if I posted the rest of the story on this blog, to which he agreed. It was all quite a grand, funny coincidence and very amusing.

 

We ate lunch in the main dining room and it was quite good. I had mushroom soup, salad with an excellent cucumber dressing, and a bit of potato frittata which we call Spanish tortilla. It was quite thin, only about ¾”, whereas my potato frittatas, which I learned to cook from a Spanish exchange student, are about 2” thick. These were, however, quite tasty if a bit dry. I believe that had they made the frittatas thicker, they would be more delicious and moist. So far all of the salad dressings on the QV have been excellent, for those of you who enjoy salad.

 

Just as a test, we also went up to the Lido and had a bite of pizza. We learned that the Cunard pizza is much better than HAL pizza, but nowhere near as good as Princess pizza for which I am very grateful—I don’t need the temptation. Princess Pizza is legendary and totally irresistible to me.

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering about and chatting with folks around the ship, as well as taking a bit of a nap before we dressed for dinner. Tonight was a formal night and the theme was Victoriana and included a show called Victoriana and a Victoriana Ball. The menu included “surf and turf” the turf being lobster which was ordered by everyone at our table except me. I don’t typically eat meat and it didn’t occur to me to order just the lobster separately, which I probably should have done. I ordered something vegetarian which had a sauce which was way too strong and, IMHO, unpleasant. Oh well, next time.

 

When we first boarded, we were all provided a free bottle of champagne. We had agreed with our table mates that we would bring the bottles to dinner to share with the table, two at a time. Last night two couples brought their champagne and tonight we will do the same. I don’t know what we will do on the night we end up with only one bottle. ;) We have also decided that on a sea day, our table will form a Trivia Team. We are all getting on very well and I think I will be able to handle the rest of the cruise with the same dinner mates. We were very lucky this time around.

 

We went immediately to the ballroom after dinner and danced to the recorded music before the live music began. There are really quite a few good dancers on this cruise and the ballroom is truly lovely—DH loves it. If we are going to take more Cunard cruises, which we plan to do, we need to learn Quick Step, which appears to be a very simple dance, and get on YouTube and learn some of the more popular sequence dances. I did suggest to Sally Sagoe, the Entertainment Director, this morning that perhaps in the future they could teach a few sequence dances on sea days as we Americans would love to learn them and I am sure that the are also folks from the UK who would enjoy learning them as well. We danced until the band decided to take a break and then decided to call it night.

 

Tomorrow, Tallinn.

 

P.S. Alanxx, first off we highly recommend taking the Hop On, Hop Off around Stockholm. It comes right to the ship and delivers you right back at the ship. It is the best way to see the most of the city. Be sure and add in the water tour as that is the best part. If you leave quite early and go around once, you can go back and visit the places that most appeal to you. We have booked two full-day tours in St. Petersburg and I am beginning to wonder if that is a bit ambitious. I will let you know. Please feel free to ask any questions that you would like.

Edited August 16, 2014 by PunkiC

[Salacia]

PunckiC, I'm a bit concerned that after five days a sea, you feel you are still suffering from jet lag. I've read reports that a mild symptom of sea sickness mimics jet lag. I hope you feel better soon. Best wishes, -S.

[Underwatr]

Many feel that QM2 pizza is not the epitome of Cunard pizza. You'll need to try again aboard Queen Victoria. :)

 

Good to see that you're getting along well with your tablemates. We've considered that to be among the high points of our Cunard trips (Princess not so much, but that's for another thread).

Edited August 16, 2014 by Underwatr

[Lady49Monet]

I am enjoying reading your blogs they are so entertaining. The everyday life on board ship is eloquently portrayed not least your hand washing lol Do you peg them out on your balcony? What do you mean by sequence dancing? The DH and I fully intend to take the dance lessons next time we are on board ship in the hope that we can do a turn round the ballroom. We very rarely eat pizza but I intend to sample the next time on board the QE.