Notes from a cruise to Iceland

[Underwatr]

1 hour ago, roscoe39 said:

that and the lack of pens and pads in the staterooms,

There are nice pens in the bars (ahem... 😈 )

[roscoe39]

3 minutes ago, Underwatr said:

There are nice pens in the bars (ahem... 😈 )

you mean until you got back on board Underwatr lol

[david,Mississauga]

Have a great voyage, Hattie. I look forward to reading about excursions in Iceland. We will be calling there next August on the QM2. From what I have read, most excursions are rather long.

 

As an aside, I see there are a mere three gala nights in a fortnight. On our first cruise on the QE  ( Norway in 2013) there were three formal nights out of seven. The dumbing down continues. (sigh)

[turnip eater]

We are on the cruise following this one, 14 nights to the Baltics. There are four Gala nights.😊

Edited September 8, 2019 by turnip eater

[cruiseluvva]

Hope your back is improving now - as a frequent sufferer I really sympathise.

[Host Hattie]

39 minutes ago, cruiseluvva said:

Hope your back is improving now - as a frequent sufferer I really sympathise.

Much better thank you

 

[Host Hattie]

10 hours ago, roscoe39 said:

hi deck chair....yes I was a bit mortified as well, I have a spy on board keeping an eye on Hattie and it was one of the things that hey noticed - that and the lack of pens and pads in the staterooms, but then they are in the cheap seats...you would expect that. (joke......)

Your spy must be in the really cheap seats, we have a pencil and pad.

[Host Hattie]

A few photographs from our evening in the Commodore Club while we're connected to our Mobile network, I didn't get any photographs of the wonderful display of dolphins off the coast of Wales. They were a magnificent sight leaping out of the water in the reflection of the setting sun.

 

 

[Host Hattie]

DAY 2 Part 2

We dressed for dinner and headed to the Commodore Club where we were treated to a lovely sunset and the biggest display of dolphins I've seen from a ship. 

The room was busy and the lifts were fairly full for the rush to second sitting. The widowed ladies had either moved first sitting or found themselves a different table. Our Sommelier seemed a little put out that Mr HH had poured our wine. If he didn't want that to happen he should have put it out of the way in an ice bucket not left it on table !

Food, service and company all good again. We went to the show, just getting in at the last minute.

We just caught the end of karaoke in the Golden Lion, slightly worryingly the waiter knew my order (it's only Day 2!).

 

[Host Hattie]

DAY 3 At sea
We were slightly better prepared when room service tea and pastries arrived at 8.55 again this morning. Mr HH was having some trouble accessing the internet on his phone so we headed down to Deck 3 above the Queens Room for a better signal and to watch a bit of the Line Dance class. Once the Sunday service was over we managed to get seats in a packed theatre for Michael Howard's lecture on "3 weeks in May", about Winston Churchill in 1940. He spoke for around 30 minutes and then left time for questions. They were of varying degrees of relevance but he handled most of them with a politician's skill, and was only briefly lost for words when asked about contemporary politics.
Mr HH entered the Blackjack tournament and I watched the coast of Scotland. Once he'd qualified we had lunch in the Golden Lion, Portobello Wellington for me and Fish and Chips for him, followed by Apple Pie.
I went to the Forensic Science lecture and got out in time to see Mr HH lose in the last round of the tournament. He went off to a meeting and I watched "Green Book" in the cabin. It was a very grey afternoon.

 

[roscoe39]

10 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

Your spy must be in the really cheap seats, we have a pencil and pad.

Yes sadly the days of pens have disappeared, I suggest the Commodore club for a quick top up of pens to take home. Mystery of the plastic flowers now solved apparently they are plastic plants in the dining room,  phew because those atrium displays and the flower displays around the ship are truly one of life’s little pleasures. Those florists do a great job.

[Underwatr]

In June the tables in Britannia had orchids that we determined to be real after some inspection.

[Host Hattie]

Still real as far as I can tell.

[Lynnewob]

Hope you're having a wonderful time.   I saw a recent weather report on BBC saying the tail end of Dorian may be heading towards Iceland.   Hopefully it's strength will have dissipated by the time it gets there so you don't have any issues.

On another note, is Katarina still one of the Commodore Club waitresses?   She looked after us admirably in the CC previously but she may have moved to QV. 

Can you let me know who the Snr Maitre D' is on this voyage please?  Is it Ico?   If so, will he still be on board on 8 Oct when we join?   Raul switched from QV, so he may be instead of Ico.

A lot of questions I know, but always nice to know beforehand.

Thanks, L x

[Host Hattie]

DAY 3 Part 2

We got ready for first formal night and went to the Golden Lion for Singapore Slings before the Captain's Cocktail party. It was a good place for people and outfit watching. There was the occasional colour but generally the black and white theme was observed. We found seats, the Captain was a little cagey about the weather for the rest of the ship except to say there was going to be lots of it ! Mr Lucas is in the Senior Maitre d'.

We were first to the table, the same 6 for the second night running. All the big guns out tonight, lobster tail, Beef Wellington, Souffle.

We left in time to get a box for the show, we've seen John Evans lots of times but he was still entertaining. We called it a night as we have a stupid o'clock meeting time for our excursion in Stornoway.

[Host Hattie]

DAY 4 Stornoway

It was very grey when my alarm went off at 6.50, we were due in the theatre for 7.45 for an excursion with a 8.30 start time. We were still in the theatre at 8.15 when the Captain announced that he was going to turn the ship to try to set up a safe tendering operation. That didn't seem very positive. We were allowed out and told to return at 9.00. Fortunately tendering was started and we had one of the calmest tender rides I've experienced. We were on the coach to start our Breathtaking Harris excursion at 9.30. 

Unfortunately the weather wasn't being very cooperative, low cloud and light rain didn't help. We had a drive of an hour to Tarbert where we 45 minutes free time then another drive to Horgabost Beach.

We had time for a stroll round Stornoway and lunch before catching the tender back at around 4pm. There was no queue. All aboard time is 5pm.

[Host Hattie]

On 9/8/2019 at 2:20 AM, david,Mississauga said:

I look forward to reading about excursions in Iceland. We will be calling there next August on the QM2. From what I have read, most excursions are rather long.

Is it just the Reykjavik excursions you are interested in? I left the full brochure at home but I can post the information they gave us on the first day. We're not taking a Cunard excursion in Reykjavik.

[Host Hattie]

DAY 4 Part 2

We turned our television to the announcement channel to listen to the Captain's sailaway announcement. Instead we got the news that we were still waiting for 200 passengers on tours so we wouldn't be sailing until 6.15. In the meantime the Third Officer was going to practice 360 turns so he hoped we enjoyed the view. At around 6.30 he told us "a situation" was being dealt with and he was hoping to leave in about 30 minutes and that it will get bumpy later this evening and tomorrow. Five minutes later he told us that the situation was a passenger requiring evacuation and we would be here for another 45 minutes.

[bluemarble]

I see on marinetraffic that QE Tender 14 has returned to the dock. I presume they are taking the medical evacuee ashore now.

 

Edit: QE Tender 14 is back alongside QE now. Shouldn't be too much longer until you are on your way.

Edited September 9, 2019 by bluemarble

[Radar boomer]

Harris is a gorgeous area the beaches look like they are straight from the Caribbean on a sunny day . Did you stop for some fish n chips in town?

[deck chair]

3 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

DAY 4 Part 2

We turned our television to the announcement channel to listen to the Captain's sailaway announcement. Instead we got the news that we were still waiting for 200 passengers on tours so we wouldn't be sailing until 6.15. In the meantime the Third Officer was going to practice 360 turns so he hoped we enjoyed the view. At around 6.30 he told us "a situation" was being dealt with and he was hoping to leave in about 30 minutes and that it will get bumpy later this evening and tomorrow. Five minutes later he told us that the situation was a passenger requiring evacuation and we would be here for another 45 minutes.

Hattie.....thank you for taking the time to post your experiences.  Much appreciated.

Deck Chair

[Host Hattie]

3 hours ago, bluemarble said:

I see on marinetraffic that QE Tender 14 has returned to the dock. I presume they are taking the medical evacuee ashore now.

 

Edit: QE Tender 14 is back alongside QE now. Shouldn't be too much longer until you are on your way.

We seemed to start moving just after 8. There is a note in the Daily Programme that there might be issues with internet access from now on so I'll post when I can.

[sogne]

3 hours ago, bluemarble said:

I see on marinetraffic that QE Tender 14 has returned to the dock. I presume they are taking the medical evacuee ashore now.

 

Edit: QE Tender 14 is back alongside QE now. Shouldn't be too much longer until you are on your way.

 

if you do an AIS search on Marine Traffic for Lifeboat  17 18 based at Stornoway you will see she went to QE's position shortly before QE's departure at about 2015, I assume to do the medevac. QE would have advised Stornoway Coastguard of the medical problem and they would have requested a lifeboat launch as per normal UK procedure ( or helo if more appropriate), something I have been involved in more than once. I suspect HH can confirm.

[bluemarble]

25 minutes ago, sogne said:

 

if you do an AIS search on Marine Traffic for Lifeboat  17 18 based at Stornoway you will see she went to QE's position shortly before QE's departure at about 2015, I assume to do the medevac. QE would have advised Stornoway Coastguard of the medical problem and they would have requested a lifeboat launch as per normal UK procedure ( or helo if more appropriate), something I have been involved in more than once. I suspect HH can confirm.

 

Ah yes, I see that now. Thanks for that clarification. QE Tender 14's role at that same time was apparently something ancillary to that of RNLI Lifeboat 17 18. Always glad to have you here to straighten me out on both navigational and medevac/SAR procedures.

[Host Hattie]

DAY 4 Part 3
Another good dinner, a few empty tables in our section so our waiter Clifford had the time to tell us about the "Always available" options.
The ship was moving around a bit, we didn't really fancy the show so we went to watch the dancing in the Queens Room. It wasn't particularly busy and it was rather cold so we only stayed for one drink, Mr HH took advantage of the special offer on Doombar $5.50.

Thanks for the updates from Marine Traffic, we saw the lifeboat. 
Clocks go back an hour tonight so we didn't bother with the room service hanger, maybe we'll make breakfast in Britannia tomorrow !