Cunard Cruisers - How are things where you are ?

[LewiLewi]

19 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

It looks beautiful, our local track and trace has identified cases in people who travelled on a flight from Zakynthos in Greece so now everyone on the flight has to self isolate 😱

You are so lucky to have a track and trace. Nothing like that exists in Florida. We continue to be in the dark ages down here. Anything goes. People are still not wearing masks in crowded downtown areas. 
Looking to a better future, I just heard that the QM2 will be offering a World Cruise in Jan. 2022 instead of her original plan. I will look into that. Bookings will open Sep. 8 for whole world cruise and segments, if anyone is interested.

[Camgirl]

On 8/30/2020 at 12:53 PM, Host Hattie said:

That's good news LL, enjoy your train trip.

Before we started cruising we did a trip to the Italian Riviera by train. I loved the traveling part of it but not all the organised tour parts, especially as our "tour guide" hadn't done the trip before so wasn't particularly useful.

 

Our trip was organised by me, no tour guides involved. It was the third trip we have done like that. One in summer, two in winter. We stayed at five hotels around the country and did all the classic train trips - glacier express, Bernina express, golden pass, etc. It was great fun and really wasn't difficult to organise. I used the swiss tourist centre to book the hotels and travel passes etc.

 

A trip around France would be lovely. Especially the eastern side, which could include mountains, lakes and wine regions!

 

Naturelovergirl, your trip sounds lovely too. Great pictures. And it sounds like you felt pretty safe too.

 

I have just come back from a day in north Norfolk. So nice to see the sea! 

[Bigmike911]

August is almost done, and we had the hottest day of the year. I got an early start with my gardener and by 10 am I was tuckered out. We are trimming and removing over grown plants as well as those which did not live up to their initial 'promise'.

 

I decided to do my grocery rounds today, thinking a Monday would be light. It was at the super market but not at Trader Joe's the specialty market. I queued for about 10 minutes in the heat. But driving around allowed me to listen to the last hour of the Movie Hall of Fame on Classic FM, and that was pleasant.

 

Last Saturday, I went to my usual family Mexican restaurant. Because I am over seventy, I go early to miss the crowds. The owner says his business is coming back and he had the best week in five years last week. Even though the place is working at 50%. Some friends in Surrey had a pub dinner last weekend, their first dinner out in five months. So slowly we are beginning to get back to "normal".

 

The trends in Texas that saw a jump in new cases in June and July are now showing fewer hospitalizations and deaths, even though total cases are increasing due to continued testing. The Positive rates are now below 10% on the tests. And yet the total cases for my area of Texas is about 150,000 in a population of more than five million or under 3%. And it appears that a vaccine is on the horizon as well. Phew. 

 

I hope friends around the world are doing better too. 

[Kynance]

Hi everyone

 

It was a bank holiday here in England yesterday - we had a largely successful day until our freeview hard disk recorder went on the blink as we were trying to watch Tour de France cycling highlights. My other half is upstairs ordering a replacement now. I don’t know if anyone else follows Le Tour but it’s one of the few things we both enjoy watching.  The commentators are extremely insightful, the scenery is beautiful and we’re always fascinated by how tough the riders are, brushing off crashes and carrying on with all manner of nasty cuts and bruises. 
 

It’s the first day of meteorological autumn in the UK - after Spring, it is my second favourite season. There are already many early signs: horse chestnuts losing their leaves, hazel nuts and acorns lying on the ground, the leaves of acers starting to turn. I also noticed that I have the green shoots of some spring bulbs poking through the compost in one of my pots, which is really odd as they should still be dormant. That said, we still have plenty of colour in the garden with roses, dahlias, sunflowers, cornflowers and verbenas. 
 

Have a good week everyone. 

[bluemarble]

1 hour ago, Kynance said:

Hi everyone

 

It was a bank holiday here in England yesterday - we had a largely successful day until our freeview hard disk recorder went on the blink as we were trying to watch Tour de France cycling highlights. My other half is upstairs ordering a replacement now. I don’t know if anyone else follows Le Tour but it’s one of the few things we both enjoy watching.  The commentators are extremely insightful, the scenery is beautiful and we’re always fascinated by how tough the riders are, brushing off crashes and carrying on with all manner of nasty cuts and bruises. ...

 

Oh, yes, I'm an avid follower of the Tour de France which is somewhat unusual for an American. I must say though, I've been spending more time identifying ports on the "Where in the world?" thread than I have been watching the tour so far this year.

 

I've managed to attend a few stages in person at several of the tours, including both times recently when the Grands Départs were in the UK.

 

I also enjoy very much the commentary we get here in the US by Phil Liggett and Bob Roll as well as the commentary by the late Paul Sherwen. Here are snapshots I got of those three in Annecy, France during the 2009 tour.

 

   

[Kynance]

@bluemarble - I am probably better at spotting Peter Sagan & some of the other riders in the peloton than I have been at identifying the ports on the “Where in the world?” thread! The good news is our new TV box arrived this afternoon and has been set up so watching of Le Tour can resume. 😃

[Host Hattie]

Happy Friday everyone, I've just finished 2 weeks of working from work, it was a shock to the system. We had a meeting this morning with 8 of us, the room was a reasonable size but there were so many different tape marks on the table, floor and walls it was difficult to figure out where we were supposed to sit !

Portugal and some Greek Islands have been added to the Welsh quarantine list so there's a chance people already on holiday will be caught out.

I'm going round to a friend's tomorrow, we're taking our own food and drinks for a socially distanced picnic in her garden.

[Lanky Lad]

I hope you have a good time HH.

[Host Hattie]

Thank you, how's the job hunting going ?

[Bigmike911]

On 8/28/2020 at 12:59 PM, Lanky Lad said:

Sorry to read your news.  I don't fancy a trip on Titanic, but I would like to see it. 

 

I had booked the Dolphin hotel in Southampton for December.  It seems I can't cancel or change the booking so it looks like another road trip. 

 

Hopefully, we will be on QM2 in May, but as this goes on a Monday, we are going to travel down on Saturday and hopefully visit Portsmouth on the Sunday.  I have been a couple of times, but my friend has not so I will take him to see the Royal Navy Dock Yard and the Mary Rose etc.

LL, There are two wonderful You Tube videos on HMS Victory. One is about the repainting according to the original paint colors and the scientific search for the original colors, and the second is a ForcesTV brief story on the bracing that they have done to prevent the vessel from 'sagging' due to the fact that it is not in water. Both will give you an added reason to visit the ship. Enjoy. 

Edited September 5, 2020 by Bigmike911

[Lanky Lad]

On 9/5/2020 at 9:00 AM, Host Hattie said:

Thank you, how's the job hunting going ?

No joy so far, so I will have to keep hunting.

[Lanky Lad]

8 hours ago, Bigmike911 said:

LL, There are two wonderful You Tube videos on HMS Victory. One is about the repainting according to the original paint colors and the scientific search for the original colors, and the second is a ForcesTV brief story on the bracing that they have done to prevent the vessel from 'sagging' due to the fact that it is not in water. Both will give you an added reason to visit the ship. Enjoy. 

Thanks, I will search for those.

[Host Hattie]

5 hours ago, Lanky Lad said:

No joy so far, so I will have to keep hunting.

Fingers crossed, I had a lovely afternoon yesterday, I hadn't seen 4 of the friends since February so we had a lot to catch up on. One is a nurse and another has had Covid-19 & still isn't fully recovered.

The weather was pretty good for September in Wales, hopefully it will stay nice enough for outdoor get-togethers for a bit longer.

[Lanky Lad]

Thanks HH.

 

I had my train ride yesterday, only to Preston and back.  It was nice to get back on a train after so long.

[navybankerteacher]

Another couple of hours today at our local beach - enjoying the second day of the best weather of the year.

 

 Here in southern New England September and October are the best months of the year - the summer leaves us slowly, the sky seems bluer than at other seasons, the swarms of monarch butterflies go by in their clouds as they head for their winter home in Mexico, there is just an occasional light rain (barring, of course, the odd hurricane which heads our way every few years), air conditioning is no longer necessary, and the heating season hasn’t started, so it’s all windows open for great sleeping.

[LewiLewi]

3 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Another couple of hours today at our local beach - enjoying the second day of the best weather of the year.

 

 Here in southern New England September and October are the best months of the year - the summer leaves us slowly, the sky seems bluer than at other seasons, the swarms of monarch butterflies go by in their clouds as they head for their winter home in Mexico, there is just an occasional light rain (barring, of course, the odd hurricane which heads our way every few years), air conditioning is no longer necessary, and the heating season hasn’t started, so it’s all windows open for great sleeping.

Still hot and humid....in the 90"s. Will probably be this way through Oct. We do enjoy our outdoor patio overlooking a lake. Mr. LL has a bumper crop of tomatoes that will be ripe in a few more weeks. His amaryllis continues to flower and the jasmine perfumes our patio. We are hoping that we will not have to deal with any more hurricanes this year.

[navybankerteacher]

2 hours ago, LewiLewi said:

Still hot and humid....in the 90"s. Will probably be this way through Oct. We do enjoy our outdoor patio overlooking a lake. Mr. LL has a bumper crop of tomatoes that will be ripe in a few more weeks. His amaryllis continues to flower and the jasmine perfumes our patio. We are hoping that we will not have to deal with any more hurricanes this year.

Sounds like Florida — we thought of relocating, but prefer CT for most of the year — we can handle the winters here better than we could the summers in FL - and until this year at least usually get away to St. Maarten for a couple of weeks in January and Sanibel on your west coast for three in March.

[Camgirl]

18 hours ago, Lanky Lad said:

Thanks HH.

 

I had my train ride yesterday, only to Preston and back.  It was nice to get back on a train after so long.

How was it? Did you feel safe enough?

[Lanky Lad]

13 minutes ago, Camgirl said:

How was it? Did you feel safe enough?

The train out was quite busy so no really social distancing.  However, I only saw one person not wearing a mask.  Coming back the train was quite quiet so it felt much safer. 

 

I will not be rushing back on a train any time soon, but if I have somewhere to go I would have no problem going by train.

[LewiLewi]

12 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Sounds like Florida — we thought of relocating, but prefer CT for most of the year — we can handle the winters here better than we could the summers in FL - and until this year at least usually get away to St. Maarten for a couple of weeks in January and Sanibel on your west coast for three in March.

We lived in NYC most of our lives, but retired to FL 20 years ago, so it is home now. We used to cruise for 3 months every winter, usually on a Cunard World Cruise. Have done so for the past 3 years, but of course not this coming year. We wonder if cruising will ever be the same again, post COVID, whether we will feel safe at sea. Many of our NYC friends are moving out of the city, some are moving to FL to single home communities like ours. One of our Stamford, Connecticut friends will be buying a home in our community.

It’s a tough decision weather wise; a cold winter in the Northeast, or a hot and humid summer in the Southeast. 

[navybankerteacher]

21 minutes ago, LewiLewi said:

We lived in NYC most of our lives, but retired to FL 20 years ago, so it is home now. We used to cruise for 3 months every winter, usually on a Cunard World Cruise. Have done so for the past 3 years, but of course not this coming year. We wonder if cruising will ever be the same again, post COVID, whether we will feel safe at sea. Many of our NYC friends are moving out of the city, some are moving to FL to single home communities like ours. One of our Stamford, Connecticut friends will be buying a home in our community.

It’s a tough decision weather wise; a cold winter in the Northeast, or a hot and humid summer in the Southeast. 

I expect that cruising will be much the same as in the past - by 2022 or 2023 - with or without an effective, widely distributed vaccine (but certainly sooner with a vaccine). Even the bubonic plague of the 1340’s faded away after a couple of years in every affected area, and that was without a vaccine.

 

I do think that fares will be higher due to health requirements, and possible load decreases; but the real changes will be a splitting of the industry into very distinct segments.  The mass market, fucussing on very large ships and shorter itineraries with fares (and quality of experience) held down - will concentrate on the Bahamas, the Caribbean and both coasts of Central America, and a lot of calls at private islands.

 

  There will be a resurgence of smaller ships (which will be the only ones permitted in the more interesting ports world-wide, which will be protecting themselves from being over-run) - with higher fares but more amenities included in the fares.

Edited September 7, 2020 by navybankerteacher

[LewiLewi]

32 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

I expect that cruising will be much the same as in the past - by 2022 or 2023 - with or without an effective, widely distributed vaccine (but certainly sooner with a vaccine). Even the bubonic plague of the 1340’s faded away after a couple of years in every affected area, and that was without a vaccine.

 

I do think that fares will be higher due to health requirements, and possible load decreases; but the real changes will be a splitting of the industry into very distinct segments.  The mass market, fucussing on very large ships and shorter itineraries with fares (and quality of experience) held down - will concentrate on the Bahamas, the Caribbean and both coasts of Central America, and a lot of calls at private islands.

 

  There will be a resurgence of smaller ships (which will be the only ones permitted in the more interesting ports world-wide, which will be protecting themselves from being over-run) - with higher fares but more amenities included in the fares.

I agree with you. We enjoyed our experiences on Windstar, 250 passenger’s, soon to expand to 350. Not much in the way of entertainment, but wonderful service and food, beautiful, large suites. Cunard offers more in the areas of entertainment without being overly large, also a wonderful experience. I have sampled the mega ships, 5000+ passengers and will never go back to them. The fares have increased significantly on Cunard for the 2022 World Cruise on the QV, possibly because of updated health requirements, etc.

[Host Hattie]

Cases in the UK are going in the wrong direction quite rapidly, it's not clear how much is due to increased testing but more restrictions are coming to a local county. There have been a few cases in schools so whole classes are having to isolate. All signs that our Track and Trace is working and hopefully enough to stop cases spreading to the more vulnerable 🤞.

My office sharer didn't seem very impressed that I was working from home again, starting the day off by biting me. 

[Kynance]

 

2 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

My office sharer didn't seem very impressed that I was working from home again, starting the day off by biting me. 

That must be Biggles then, rather than Mr HH! 
 

Were you disturbing his sleep on your keyboard or was he unhappy that work was taking more of your attention than he was?? 😊

 

 

 

[Host Hattie]

Yes, Mr HH doesn't have a work from home option these days !

I'm not sure what prompted the biting, he just launched himself at my wrist, he's got massive teeth so it's not a pleasant experience. 

Hopefully we'll get on better tomorrow, that's my last day working from home for a while.