On our way to the Arctic on QE!

[LadyL1]

1 hour ago, rakkor said:

 

No one jumped on us, as soon as I started the sniffles, Jane dragged me back to the stateroom to get tested, as we had brought some LFT kits along, once it came back positive we did the right thing and called 911

Rakkor

I have a feeling that some are not as honest as you!

We are just sitting in the atrium area of deck 2 listening to the pianist, but going back to the room now, as can hear people coughing!

[Camgirl]

We have become hyper aware of every cough and sneeze around us. However, this is a cruise when we have all been running outside to the freezing night air as soon as the northern lights call goes up. Often inadequately dressed for the outside. I suspect there are more than a few normal coughs and colds going around as well as the few covid cases.

[BouncingWheel]

1 hour ago, Camgirl said:

We have become hyper aware of every cough and sneeze around us. However, this is a cruise when we have all been running outside to the freezing night air as soon as the northern lights call goes up. Often inadequately dressed for the outside. I suspect there are more than a few normal coughs and colds going around as well as the few covid cases.

The other thing is that passengers, crew and tours have been struggling with temperatures and clothing on this cruise. General areas too cold or then too hot etc… but the favourite is tours. We are told to layer up as it -5 odd with temperatures and windchill etc so all pile on buses with thermals etc to find them at 26c to then disembark into freezing temperatures. There are only so many layers you can take off and on in buses. If we could all do proper changing it would help body temperature control but that is not practical and the sight of thermal underwear everywhere would cause panic (though be very funny). 
I have read loads of threads on here about what you should & shouldn’t wear for evening dining but some of the lightweight clothing worn on deck in artic conditions are truly a mystery to me but that is probably because I am a southern softie. 

[LadyL1]

In answer to an earlier question, the master is Captain Stephen Howarth.

This morning the sea has attitude: the wind speed at 10. 15 was 40 knots. The QE is meandering southwards in the North Sea at 11 knots: it is very misty, possibly raining but do not want to open the door to find out.

The only lecture today is on the “Winchcombe Meteorite”🥱. How one could make 45 minutes interesting on this subject beats me! We had some snippets on the local news, in 2021, when this fell, but just cannot muster any enthusiasm to go to the theatre for this. Without doubt this has to be the the worst voyage I have  ever been on, when referring to the Insights programme, and I am not the only one with these thoughts. Considering this is another sea day, with foul weather, definitely not fit for being out on the decks, there is going to be a lot of bored folk. Perhaps they will all be fighting for a seat at the jigsaw puzzle table🤔. Yes, there are bridge classes, bingo and quizzes, but Cunard has got the entertainment seriously lacking this time!

There has not been any further announcements on the COVID situation, but it appears that more of the medical grade masks that are provided in the cabins are being worn, rather than the fashion variety.

Tonight is themed as “Roaring Twenties” which will probably be the highlight of the day. I always enjoy people watching in the evening (it can give me something to write about) but not sure I want to sit around the public areas, which is a great pity. In the Royal Court tonight “The Revolvers” are performing sounds from the sixties, which will probably be a big attraction after a quiet day.

So to finish on a high note, and that has to be the crew; ever helpful and always so pleasant.

[rakkor]

Jane wanted the balcony door opening to let some fresh air in, we  must be on the lee side as it opened OK, even with my hip problems, there was a fair whistling in through the cabin door though.

 

I think Jane is getting stir crazy as she's doing aerobics

 

 

The Winchcombe Meteorite talk is good one, we saw it in August on QE

Edited March 27, 2022 by rakkor

[LadyL1]

About 11.00am we thought we would go to the Commodore Club to look at the sea state. Plenty of people there, but one elderly gentlemen was sitting at the front, coughing, sneezing and constantly blowing his nose. I am sure he should not have been there, but did not see the staff approach him, (although they could have made an alert, who knows?), so we hastily departed.

Let’s face it, people are aware what to expect if they test positive, so it gives one little inclination to be honest, if they can get away with it!

This is all such a shame, as for the staff this is their home for many months, and they deserve to be kept as safe as possible. Inoculations are great, but there are always a few who will catch this horrible virus and become far more seriously ill than others. 

It is still a wild and gloomy day in the North Sea. Not a lot to do, as the Captain announced at noon that more activities cancelled. At least we have some very good books and intermittent internet connectivity.
 

 

 

[david,Mississauga]

If this has been mentioned before I apologise for missing it: Is the usual string trio and harpist on board?

[rakkor]

I have seen the string trio play, I've not seen the harpist

[exlondoner]

55 minutes ago, LadyL1 said:

About 11.00am we thought we would go to the Commodore Club to look at the sea state. Plenty of people there, but one elderly gentlemen was sitting at the front, coughing, sneezing and constantly blowing his nose. I am sure he should not have been there, but did not see the staff approach him, (although they could have made an alert, who knows?), so we hastily departed.

Let’s face it, people are aware what to expect if they test positive, so it gives one little inclination to be honest, if they can get away with it!

This is all such a shame, as for the staff this is their home for many months, and they deserve to be kept as safe as possible. Inoculations are great, but there are always a few who will catch this horrible virus and become far more seriously ill than others. 

It is still a wild and gloomy day in the North Sea. Not a lot to do, as the Captain announced at noon that more activities cancelled. At least we have some very good books and intermittent internet connectivity.
 

 

 

 

I wonder if the reason for the exiguous lecture  programme - something Cunard usually excels at - is that one or two people cancelled before they boarded, for Covid or other reasons.

[LadyL1]

Late yesterday afternoon we went to the Yacht Club for a Q&A with Dr Stephen Musgrave. An extremely intellectual  man with many  specialist subjects. Apparently this was his first time lecturing on a cruise ship, but sure he will grow in stature now he has been indoctrinated! Thirty or so people attended, and he answered on all his topics, Norwegian resistance, RNLI, genealogy re his own life and his expertise in web-building data/science! All were in attendance were appreciative of his knowledge and time flew by.
The sea was giving the ship some movement, and the little white bags were bing needed by a few, as we made our way back to prepare for the evening.
It was quite refreshing that the “Roaring 20’s Evening” gave a lift to the ship as it had seemed very subdued during the day. Most of the passengers had taken the theme to heart and there were actually queues at the photographic points. After a wonderful dinner I had a quick wander  along deck 2, and was saddened to see someone looking more like a lumberjack amongst the bling and sparkle!  A few others were totally dressed down, but it seemed a good time was being had.
This morning the QE had already docked when looked out the window. A berth had been given in the cargo port and no shuttles. This area now has a passenger walkway erected to the town’s pavements, and the distance was clearly too much for many: about a mile to the coloured buildings along the Bryggen. Again some were totally underdressed for the cold: a north westerly was blowing. I feel sure some found it difficult to find the quickest way back to the ship.
We left Bergen on time, early this afternoon, and braved the high winds on the top decks for the spectacular sail away scenery on our way to the North Sea, and being homeward bound.

[Host Hattie]

Thanks for your all your reports, I hope you are enjoying your last day and evening on board.

[rakkor]

We've been drinking the quizzers prize wine, which is making our last lockdown day a wee bit more bearable, I seem to be enjoying it more than Jane which must relate to my position on the infection calendar, day 5 rather than day 2.

[LadyL1]

After dinner last night we listened to the string trio in the atrium, which was delightful. Watching some of the dinner attire parade through, is a true eye-opener to what Cunard see as passable.

Unbelievably after yesterday, this morning the sea is like glass, but is is a very murky day.

After a pleasant breakfast in the room we headed down to deck 3 for some much needed fresh air. For the first time on this trip we saw wildlife, a huge pod of dolphins! To be honest we saw many birds around the Norwegian islands, but “twitching” and knowing the species is not a strong point, the aquatic variety is easier to name.

We watched the lecture of Dr Stephen Musgrave from home comfort on TV, on Semaphore to Satellite Communication”whilst packing.

The obvious highlight of this cruise was seeing the Northern Lights. One can tell in very cold climates, that these ships are not feeling quite as warm as one would like, especially on port days if deck 1 is open to the elements for gangway purpose. The temperature in the public rooms is certainly affected. Also, if this had been a voyage with a full complement of pax, with eight sea days and no chance of spending hours on the open decks walking, swimming, games etc I think it would have felt very crowded. With that in mind, we feel that we were fortunate getting another bucket list destination, marked off on this trip.

We boarded knowing the health risks, COVID being rife in the UK and the need for mask wearing, so accept how things have changed slightly, and can be thankful we have avoided any illness. It seems COVID in some form or other is going to be with us for some time with so much of the world unvaccinated.

As already said, the lack of more lecturers has been a disappointment for many. 

Our suite has been well serviced and we have been blessed with very attentive restaurant staff, as you would expect. The Grills concierge, Cynthia,  has always been efficient, helpful and charming. This was is our 3rd post COVID cruise, and this time both PG & QG have been notably less full. Perhaps the cold itinerary did not appeal.

On a very serious note, it must be hard for the bean counters, with ships not sailing at full capacity, to recover the losses of the past few years, or even have a very profitable voyage. All companies need profits to invest in the future! We have the Queen Anne announced, but I would personally love to see a smaller ship on the horizon.

Tonight, The Revolvers are performing again in the theatre, and have heard very good reports of their previous show. Since the outbreak, we have passed on visiting the theatre. I am afraid there are some who feel they can evade the mask monitors by pulling down their masks once the light dim.

So all in all, we have enjoyed this cruise, with a few reservations. Looking forward we have a booking on QV, later this year and one for 2023, both in the Grills. There has been another thread running on the value of this, but we all have different priorities, and the cruise lines out there cover a variety premium suites with alternative perks. In the end, it what suits the individual!

The sun tried to give us a few minutes break from the cloud this afternoon, but far too cool for a swim.

Thank you for reading this, and hope you have some lovely holidays cruising with Cunard.

[rakkor]

43 minutes ago, LadyL1 said:

As already said, the lack of more lecturers has been a disappointment for many. 

Our suite has been well serviced and we have been blessed with very attentive restaurant staff, as you would expect. The Grills concierge, Cynthia,  has always been efficient, helpful and charming.

 

I echo your sentiments regarding the lecturers made worse by the fact that John Mclean was one of the lecturers on our August cruise, with only one of his talks being new for me, the first one on Aurora. 

I'd also like to echo your praise of Cynthia, she has been invaluable during quarantine dealing with all our requests quietly and efficiently unlike the purser's office who have been woeful, with requests going unfulfilled repeatedly. I'm about to ring for the third time to find out about a $5.00 charge on my bill, having yet again not received the promised call back. She even managed to sort a nice hot latte delivered to us from Cafe Carinthia

Edited March 29, 2022 by rakkor

[Host Hattie]

Welcome back everyone and thanks for all your reports.

[rakkor]

Nice to see we've brought the good weather back with us

[mcloaked]

We also just got back from QE this morning - though I had not seen this thread while we were on board, and sorry to hear that rakkor and other familiar names in this forum, were included in the group of people who were unlucky to have to isolate after testing positive.  We were of course aware that some had been required to isolate on board, but for us the main differences that we noticed after the captain's announcement of cancellation of dance classes due to an 'increase' in the number of people testing positive, and the quite quick change to the 'sound' in the dining room, and in the Commodore Club late evenings.  The first few days the Commodore Club had constant coughing among those passengers who were there around 11pm to midnight when we were there - most of our evenings until that time we were in the Queen's Room, as ballroom and Latin dancing is our primary activity every evening on board, between dinner and late evening.  Similarly the sound of coughing was significantly reduced with a few tables dotted around in the Britannia dining room, noticeably empty where previous evenings (first sitting) they have been occupied - having an unoccupied table for once night is not uncommon if people decided to have dinner in the Verandah instead but not for many days in a row. Nevertheless it seemed that around 95% of passengers were not affected by the increase in cases on board, and life seemed to largely continue as it was at the start of the voyage.   I must admit that we were pleasantly surprised by the lovely songs performed by the young duo in the Commodore Club on the one evening when the regular pianist had her day off.   A late evening drink to wind down after dancing for several hours, was fabulous listening to familiar songs by the Carpenters, and songs like "Come Away with Me", as well as the classic guitar piece, Apache, originally such a hit in the 60s by the Shadows! It was also a shame that cloud and snow prevented a lot of people from seeing the Aurora on the official Northern Lights excursions, though on two evenings when at sea the captain's announcement that the aurora was visible from the deck, led to a lot of passengers, us included, rushing away to shed dinner jackets and ball gowns, and donning sweatshirts and down filled shell jackets, and head up to deck 9 and 10, and treading carefully so as not to slip on the snow and ice to get to the port side and peer into the night sky.  The aurora was varying from minute to minute though, so mostly those who stayed long enough to get icy fingers were rewarded with a reasonable view of the green glow and at times actually see the brightness level changing over a period of minutes with waving curtains of light. It was certainly possible for most people to enjoy the voyage with little impact from the fact that some were having to isolate for quite a few days. We did miss the singer in the Queen's Room when he had to isolate, but it was great when he came back out of isolation a couple of evenings before the end of the voyage to being some life back to the Queen's Room orchestra dance music. Presumably the female vocalist was isolating till the end of the cruise as we heard nothing more after they both stopped being present.

[Host Hattie]

Thanks for the report

[mcloaked]

Just to add a picture - this is one we took late evening on one of the sea days when the aurora was visible from the deck towards midnight:

[BouncingWheel]

We too managed to complete a few of our bucket list items - northern lights (not the most spectacular sightings and we could make them out with the naked eye but via camera was better). Other trips could be unsuccessful so we counted our 2 sightings as a good win.

 

View of the Fjords - we hoped that the Tromso -Narvik routes would be via Fjords but we went the long sea route round. However, the scenery on the Artic train of Fjords etc.. was beautiful.

 

Husky sledding was another bucket item list for us but due to lack of snow it was cancelled. However we still did a mini visit (everything but the sledding part) at a reduced fee and saw about 200 huskies plus this chap and 5 of its siblings.

[mcloaked]

I did read that there has been a gigantic outburst from the sun in the past day or so, leading to significant disturbance of the upper polar atmosphere, so there may well be an extremely bright aurora visible much further south than usual in the next few days - if anyone is in a dark location even down to possibly mid 50s degrees latitude (or on a northern cruise) then the view may be truly spectacular if the sky is clear - it would be nice/interesting to hear if anyone sees a really bright aurora in the coming days, and more so than the view we had from QE a week ago!

[mcloaked]

Here is another picture when QE was up in the Arctic - not too many were promenading that day!

[mcloaked]

In Alesund quite a lot of passengers and crew made the 418 step climb up the 'hill' from where the views were spectacular - such as this one - and there was a lovely cafe up there too if anyone needed a hot drink:

[exlondoner]

Just the weather viruses love.