Queen Mary 2, 29th May round trip crossing.

[D&N]

16 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

 

Im sorry to sound po-faced, but I cannot for the life of me see what is funny about the possible embarrassment and distress of a fellow passenger who had done you no harm. Imagine how she must have felt.

Had they actually been dancing I would have danced close to them and discretely alerted them to it.

I think there was one other couple on floor dancing Tango, the others including her were sort of throwing themselves around. I strongly suspect she knew and couldn't care less.

Likewise the couple falling was result of them carrying on and tripping over each others feet.

But you may have a valid point.

[exlondoner]

As a woman, I strongly suspect she knew too, but was trying to carry it off. Sorry, possibly not the best choice of phrase, but you know what I mean. 😀

[D&N]

Just catching up now.

Weather been good for a while now. Ocean often looks stunning in sun. There's a lot of stunning on this ship of course.

There's not been much in way of unpredictable movement for a few days so dancing has not been affected. The couple that fell last night were carrying on and not paying attention to what they were doing.

Although windy it gets quite hot outside in direct sun.

[D&N]

And these were today's after lunch photos.

We're nearly packed for Fast Track disembarkation, flights checked in and lady at Pursers desk printed our boarding cards.

After 14 nights away we are really looking forward to getting back to our cats.

[Host Hattie]

Enjoy your last evening on board and safe journey home tomorrow.

I hope the cats aren't sulking too much !

[D&N]

1 hour ago, Host Hattie said:

Enjoy your last evening on board and safe journey home tomorrow.

I hope the cats aren't sulking too much !

The niece who is currently living with them gave them some 'Hazel Ham' this morning. So they might not want us back!

Hazel will only eat the soft fat edge of certain types of thin sliced boiled ham. As a treat of course, they do eat catfood.

[D&N]

These are probably the last pictures to be posted from onboard.

The dress is an old faithful that fits beautifully now but also looked good with another 30+ kilos under it. And it can be thrown in a bag and come out perfect.

[carlmm]

Thank you for sharing thoughts, insights and pictures!

[elmsliebev]

On 6/11/2022 at 1:51 AM, D&N said:

Oh what a night!

We've seen things tonight we certainly didn't expect to see in the Queens Room!

Started off at 9 pm with combined bands and Brian Moore's first number. To illustrate to Brian Moore what I was talking about last night we foxtroted around sticking closely to perimeter. Soon became obvious we were on another solo. A bit in I led Nora over to centre and did a bit of ballroom jive. We're not jive specialists. Then some jive walks back to edge and finished the number in foxtrot. The rest of set wasn't too bad. We managed a reasonable number of dances without non dancers getting in road. There was one point where someone snapping veterans walked right across floor in front of us and not while he was taking photos.

Moved on to Exxile in G32 and danced their set.

Back to QR to catch end of a foxtrot. Half way round floor the number finishes and the couple a few metres ahead fall on top of each other. Rushed to help but they didn't hit anything and thankfully appeared unharmed.

Next number is a tango. We stay up for that and various others get up. Some of them do tango and others various weird things. I noticed something odd about a lady ahead of us so started dancing Nora in a series of on the spot reverse turns. The lady's lace topped hold-up stocking had lost it's grip and was hovering just above her ankle. A couple in the audience had spotted this too and caught our eye. We had to restart several times before end of dance due to our uncontrollable mirth!

Good Night.

The hold-up stocking thing happened to me many years ago at work. I was walking up a long corridor when I felt it slipping. I swiftly stepped out of it, whisked it up and carried on. I found it extremely funny!

I've thoroughly enjoyed your blogs and seeing Nora's fabulous dresses. Safe travls. 

[ronpes]

Thank you very much for sharing your wonderful crossing experience and beautiful photos with us. 

It was very much appreciated.

Have a safe trip home. 

 

[D&N]

As I commented in a reply to the QM2 position thread we even had a great trip home, getting here 3 hours earlier than planned.

We've been unwinding for well over 7 hours now.

We couldn't really call 14 days on Queen Mary 2 a holiday. For us it was an intense high tempo experience. Absolutely brilliant of course but I don't think I'd want to do it too often. We normally live a fairly laid back life.

I'll reflect on the last 14 days and figure out what might be useful or amusing to others and post on those topics.

I have a video to look at as well that will require editing and perhaps needs a particular soundtrack added. That might be quite a bit of work. 🤣

[SybilUnrest]

Well, @D&N- your very evident (and contagious) delight in dressing to the hilt and enjoying yourselves thoroughly has been a real inspiration as I pack for my own first crossing later this summer- thank you! 

[bluemarble]

16 hours ago, D&N said:

As I commented in a reply to the QM2 position thread we even had a great trip home, getting here 3 hours earlier than planned.

We've been unwinding for well over 7 hours now.

We couldn't really call 14 days on Queen Mary 2 a holiday. For us it was an intense high tempo experience. Absolutely brilliant of course but I don't think I'd want to do it too often. We normally live a fairly laid back life.

I'll reflect on the last 14 days and figure out what might be useful or amusing to others and post on those topics.

I have a video to look at as well that will require editing and perhaps needs a particular soundtrack added. That might be quite a bit of work. 🤣

 

If I was emulating Sherlock Holmes on the QM2 position thread, don't forget your work emulating James Bond to photograph all 51 pages of the wine list. I'm certain many on this forum are looking forward to seeing that turned into a pdf document as you suggested. If you have time to complete that project, may I suggest posting it as a new QM2 wine list topic? That way @Host Hattie could turn it into a sticky at the top of this forum.

[D&N]

3 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 

If I was emulating Sherlock Holmes on the QM2 position thread, don't forget your work emulating James Bond to photograph all 51 pages of the wine list. I'm certain many on this forum are looking forward to seeing that turned into a pdf document as you suggested. If you have time to complete that project, may I suggest posting it as a new QM2 wine list topic? That way @Host Hattie could turn it into a sticky at the top of this forum.

Will do. I've a list of tasks to complete. I have most of the 2nd weeks menus to scan etc. Good thing I'm effectively retired!

[D&N]

In two weeks on Queen Mary 2, Nora made herself a cup of tea in the cabin once. Otherwise all beverages other than water were taken in lounges around the ship or our restaurant. Therefore we had no opportunity on board to taste the Pol Acker.  Mysteriously over the 14 nights the initial bottle seemed to reproduce and we ended up bringing 3 home.

We used it tonight in one of our versions of Aperol Spritz and it was absolutely fine.

I also tried a little of it cold but in a room temperature glass, and it wasn't that bad. We can buy sparkling here from a little more than 1 euro per bottle. I can assure you it tastes better on it's own than that!

[frankp01]

36 minutes ago, D&N said:

We used it tonight in one of our versions of Aperol Spritz

That's a great idea. I'll pack some Aperol for our trip in two weeks! I think I'd prefer Aperol Spritzes to the Mimosas I thought I'd make on board.

[D&N]

3 minutes ago, frankp01 said:

That's a great idea. I'll pack some Aperol for our trip in two weeks! I think I'd prefer Aperol Spritzes to the Mimosas I thought I'd make on board.

Even better of course if like us you can get hold of generic 'base for Spritz' at a fraction of the price of Aperol!

And an afterthought, the restaurants can probably furnish you with oranges to put in the fridge and 'borrow' a knife to slice them.

Edited June 13, 2022 by D&N

[Jack E Dawson]

50 minutes ago, D&N said:

 

 

Ahhh, my beloved Pol Acker. I am so jealous D&N.

If only we could get here in the States I'd buy it by the case. 

I had one left over bottle from our recent crossing and thought about putting it in my checked bag for the flight home. However I was afraid the cork might pop out in the reduced air pressure of the planes baggage compare, so we drank it the last night while packing.  I'll have to research the physics of that before or next Cunard cruise. 

Thanks

Jack

Jack

[D&N]

Just now, Jack E Dawson said:

Ahhh, my beloved Pol Acker. I am so jealous D&N.

If only we could get here in the States I'd buy it by the case. 

I had one left over bottle from our recent crossing and thought about putting it in my checked bag for the flight home. However I was afraid the cork might pop out in the reduced air pressure of the planes baggage compare, so we drank it the last night while packing.  I'll have to research the physics of that before or next Cunard cruise. 

Thanks

Jack

Jack

It survived about an hour and a half on BA344 on 12 June. Flightradar24 shows 37,000 feet for over 30 minutes.

[ExArkie]

18 hours ago, Jack E Dawson said:

Ahhh, my beloved Pol Acker. I am so jealous D&N.

If only we could get here in the States I'd buy it by the case. 

I had one left over bottle from our recent crossing and thought about putting it in my checked bag for the flight home. However I was afraid the cork might pop out in the reduced air pressure of the planes baggage compare, so we drank it the last night while packing.  I'll have to research the physics of that before or next Cunard cruise. 

Thanks

Jack

Jack

A few years ago, I had reason to research temperature and pressure conditions in airplane cargo holds for a client who had to ship a product sensitive to both. The following was accurate at that time; I have no indication that it has changed since (i.e., my client has not called back in a panic...yet). Cargo holds in commercial passenger jets are pressurized generally to about 75 kilopascals (kPa), give or take a few. Normal atmospheric pressure is around 100 kPa, so this would be equivalent to atmospheric pressure at an elevation of around 2,500 meters or roughly at the top of Mt. St. Helens.

 

Separate from that project, I have also been told that the cork/cage assembly on sparkling wine bottles are designed to contain internal pressure of 500 to 800 kPa, depending on a few factors (e.g., sweetness/dryness, etc.). A reduction of 25% below atmospheric should not be enough to cause the cork to pop out, or to lose its seal.

 

Of course, having said that, there will indubitably be dozens of examples where sparkling wine bottle have popped open in checked luggage. There certainly can be a difference between my theory and your experience...I can say that I have brought sparkling wine back in checked luggage several times without incident.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jack E Dawson]

Thanks D&N and ExArkie. Next trip I will gove it a try. 

 

Jack

[D&N]

 

@Host Hattie

Sorry to trouble you. Have you any advice on posting a video?

If I upload an mp4 file I get audio only.

My understanding is the GIF format does not support audio. And any attempts I have made to convert MP4 to GIF have resulted in silent videos.

Is there a way of posting a video with sound?

 

 

 

[Host Hattie]

@ExArkie that's brilliant, every day is a school day on this board !

[D&N]

35 minutes ago, D&N said:

 

@Host Hattie

Sorry to trouble you. Have you any advice on posting a video?

If I upload an mp4 file I get audio only.

My understanding is the GIF format does not support audio. And any attempts I have made to convert MP4 to GIF have resulted in silent videos.

Is there a way of posting a video with sound?

 

 

 

@Host Hattie

I think I've got it by linking to Vimeo. Not sure I want it on Vimeo but will try it out.

 

[D&N]

@Tonopah

 

I think this is best we can do. Wasn't possible to do anything during meal service as it would have been dangerous with waiters delivering food trays etc.

It might have been more difficult to get Nora to agree to this earlier in the evening as well!

'Final' relates to the final edit.