What can we expect on Burn's Night, Gala Evening?

[Mr and Mrs A]

I've just noticed that on Queen Elizabeth our Jan 25th Gala theme has changed from Masquerade to Burn's Night (hooray!)

What does Burn's Night in MDR on QE usually look like?  Piping in the haggis?  Poetry while we eat? Do many passengers engage with the theme?

 

 

 

 

 

[bluemarble]

The Burns Night gala evening theme used to be a regular fixture on the Cunard world cruises prior to the shutdown. The last ones I'm seeing scheduled were during QM2's and QV's 2020 world cruises. The last one I'm seeing scheduled on QE was during her repositioning cruise from Southampton to Australia in January 2019.

 

This recent change to the theme schedule on QE represents a revival of the Burns Night theme, but so far only for QE this year as far as I know. I've never been on a Cunard voyage that featured the Burns Night theme, so I'm sorry I can't help with what that theme has entailed in the past on Cunard. I think we'll need input from some world voyage guests from years gone by to fill us in on how much of the traditional Burns Night activities went on in the main dining rooms those evenings.

[Mareblu]

We enjoyed a wonderful Burns Night a year ago (2023) on QE in the Queen’s Room during a 3-week Australian/New Zealand cruise.  The haggis was piped in and addressed, followed by some Burns readings by various officers (with mesmerising Scottish accents).  After, traditional Scottish music and progressive dancing.  A superb experience, not to be missed if you’re aboard.

[bluemarble]

12 minutes ago, Mareblu said:

We enjoyed a wonderful Burns Night a year ago (2023) on QE in the Queen’s Room during a 3-week Australian/New Zealand cruise.  The haggis was piped in and addressed, followed by some Burns readings by various officers (with mesmerising Scottish accents).  After, traditional Scottish music and progressive dancing.  A superb experience, not to be missed if you’re aboard.

 

Thank you for that. Very good. So they held a Burns Night in the Queens Room independent of the dress code and theme schedule last year. I have January 25, 2023 listed as a Smart Attire evening on QE with a Roaring Twenties gala the next evening.

 

Sounds like they will be attempting to coordinate the Burns Night celebration on QE this year then by tying it together with the gala evening theme. I can't imagine there will be much structure to the events in the main dining rooms especially with the introduction of Open Dining in Britannia now. That most likely will be left to the Queens Room again. But I suppose there will be tartan decor and some traditional Burns Night choices on the menu.

[Mareblu]

I always keep a travel diary, so have opened it to refresh my memory.  Burns Night was indeed held on 25 January (hilariously, we were visiting Burnie, Tasmania that day, and I remember remarking to my husband that we would be commemorating Burns in Burnie).  We enjoyed a Black and White gala evening on 21 January, after a Roaring Twenties on 18 January.  As the cruise was technically a b-2-b (Sydney-New Zealand-Sydney, then Sydney-Tasmania-Sydney), there were only two gala evenings on the shorter second leg, but more on the first.  Burns Night did not coincide with a gala evening, but it would be a good idea to combine the two.  Red and Gold would be perfect, and kilts and tartans could abound.  My diary tells me we dined on roast pheasant on Burns Night, and I recall (although didn't record) that mini-haggis tarts were offered as appetisers in Queens Grill.  We would repeat that cruise experience in a heartbeat;  it was marvellous.  Sadly, that will no longer be possible, as you know, as Cunard will shortly be discontinuing its Australian waters cruising.  We are very much looking forward to our Queen Anne "British Isles" cruise in May.  We have our fingers crossed there will be no delay in her readiness.

[Mareblu]

I don't have 26 January listed in my travel diary as a gala evening, and if it was, it's the only gala I haven't noted.  It is in fact Australia Day, and I recall, and have recorded, spending a marvellous hour or two in the Golden Lion listening to and singing along with The Newfoundland Duo as they entertained us with superb renditions of traditional Australian songs and bush ballads.  It may well have been a gala evening, of course.  I only recall the Australiana theme.

[Jim_Iain]

13 hours ago, Mareblu said:

We enjoyed a wonderful Burns Night a year ago (2023) on QE in the Queen’s Room during a 3-week Australian/New Zealand cruise.  The haggis was piped in and addressed, followed by some Burns readings by various officers (with mesmerising Scottish accents).  After, traditional Scottish music and progressive dancing.  A superb experience, not to be missed if you’re aboard.

My husband who is a Scot was interesting to find out if they served something like Chicken Stuffed with Haggis or other Haggis dish.  

[Mareblu]

5 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

My husband who is a Scot was interesting to find out if they served something like Chicken Stuffed with Haggis or other Haggis dish.  

Such offerings may well have been on the menu, which does differ in the various restaurants throughout Queen Elizabeth.  I have only recorded our choice of roast pheasant in Queens Grill, but I recall sampling haggis offered I vaguely remember as appetisers in some form, and I think it may have been entree tarts or something similar.  Haggis definitely featured.  Sorry I can't be more specific.

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, Mareblu said:

Such offerings may well have been on the menu, which does differ in the various restaurants throughout Queen Elizabeth.  I have only recorded our choice of roast pheasant in Queens Grill, but I recall sampling haggis offered I vaguely remember as appetisers in some form, and I think it may have been entree tarts or something similar.  Haggis definitely featured.  Sorry I can't be more specific.

Ahh good to hear.   Iain is from Ayrshire. Burns' backyard.  We often go hiking in Burns National Heritage Park when home an often go to the Burns Center for afternoon tea.   A burns dinner is always a treat but often things like Haggis Stuffed Chicken is often served on New Years or Christmas dinner when we go out to eat.   

 

Being an American - a little goes a long way.

[Mareblu]

My ancestors rest peacefully in the Highlands (Dalmally, and by Loch Tulla, and in Perthshire).  We have visited many times, and are returning in May.  Such beauty.  I weep whenever we leave.

[frankp01]

On 1/15/2024 at 6:21 PM, bluemarble said:

The last ones I'm seeing scheduled were during QM2's and QV's 2020 world cruises

We had one on Queen Victoria last year.

We had Scottish tartan pocket squares for our nod to the theme. There was the presentation of the haggis, and some Burns readings. It was held on one of the outer aft decks.

Edited January 19 by frankp01

[bluemarble]

47 minutes ago, frankp01 said:

We had one on Queen Victoria last year.

We had Scottish tartan pocket squares for our nod to the theme. There was the presentation of the haggis, and some Burns readings. It was held on one of the outer aft decks.

 

Thanks for that. Was that separate from the dress code/theme schedule which I show as Smart Attire (without a theme) for January 25, 2023 on QV? Or did they switch that to a Gala Evening with a Burns Night theme?

[frankp01]

3 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

I show as Smart Attire (without a theme) for January 25, 2023 on QV

Looking at my calendar, it was Jan 25th. And it looks like there were two gala nights that week, so it was "just" a smart attire evening. 

[bluemarble]

I hear the gala evening with the Burns Night theme has been canceled this evening. Because of QE's revised itinerary to avoid Tropical Cyclone Kirrily, January 25th is now a port day in Melbourne. They are going to have a gala evening tomorrow January 26th instead, their sea day between Melbourne and Adelaide. Haven't heard yet what theme if any they're going to have for the rescheduled gala evening of January 26th.