Roll Call Jan 29, 2005

[DAVE & MARY PASCHEN]

I'm thinking the "Off-The-Beaten Track Island Safari sounds fun. I'm not sure that Mary is looking forward to doing this, but hope I can convince her to try it.
I'm in my early 50's and Mary is near mid 40's. I own a Rv dealership and Mary is currently a Trust officer for a bank.
I can't wait. Only 16 days and counting, but whose counting.
Sunday 11am sounds good. Now if I just don't forget to tell Mary more than 10 minutes before 11am on Sunday we'll be there .
[color=red]GO BULLS- oh yeah I'm a Chicago sports nut.[/color]

[Smoochiepuddin]

We were disembarking as you were embarking. We had been on 5 Celebrity cruises before last year and had no trouble booking this cruise on board. For first time Cunard cruisers you could not pick a more beautiful ship to go on. Hoping to meet everybody on board on Sunday in the Champagne bar at 11am. We find the Riverside Hotel on Las Olas to be very convenient to restaurants, shops, and the port.

[rickechambers1@aol.com]

Sadly enough, I am not going on your cruise:(. We are taking Celebrity Century on the same day from FLL. I was wondering why the hotels were at such a premium and then found that the QM2 was leaving that day also. I was very excited to find this out as I have really wanted to see that huge ship. We are staying at Pier 66 the night before so hopefully I can walk over and take a look at her before boarding Century. At 34, I've been very lucky...this will be my 10th cruise and 4th with Celebrity. I have been eyeing the QM2 since day one! While I am certainly excited about my cruise, oddly enough, I am kind of excited about seeing yours too! What time is your departure sailing? I read in the Cunard brochure that it was 430PM but then read somewhere else that it was 5PM. Have a GREAT cruise everyone...and be sure to waive at the Century as we pass each other...if you can see it from way up there :).
Rick

[imacruizer]

Rick, so sorry you are not on our cruise. I think our ship is scheduled to depart at 5:00 PM. Hopefully you will get to see the ship in port. With your interest in the QM2 you should definitely give her a try. This is our second cruise and we are hooked. They are offering some good prices on some of the transatlantic cruises this spring and summer. Have a wonderful cruise and hope to meet you on a future cruise on the QM2.

[FROZEN CANNUK]

Hello to all again, and have you been reading the latest reviews on QM2 Caribbean cruise. Read some and they gave glowing reports, so feel much better now after all the negative publicity. In my mind, I can't fathom how you can't enjoy yourself on the QM2 and in the Caribbean to boot, but you know how some people are impossible to please. Now I'm getting excited and raring to go. We finally got out of the -30 deep freeze and today it's above freezing!! Can actually get the frozen pupsicle outside today!!
Hope more passengers find our roll call soon, cause I know we are not the only ones going!!
Jennifer

[imacruizer]

Glad things are warming up for you Jennifer. It is very cold here. The wind chill was 3 degrees this morning which is very cold for us. Yes, I have enjoyed reading the recent reviews. I have read the reviews since the maiden voyage and they have always been mixed. Since several of us on this sailing are going for the second time, that is a good sign. Did you notice the review from the person on the January 8, 2005 cruise? She said there were three formal nights which surprised me. I had thought there would be only two. Of course, our cruise might be different. However, I am just taking two formal outfits and will wear one twice.

Wes, thanks for the websites.

Our roll call is doing pretty well for a Cunard roll call. We are now on page three. Hope everyone is having a good week.

Beth and Jerry

[imacruizer]

Did a search today to find the author listed on the Cunard website as the featured speaker on our cruise. I could not find her. Finally discovered that I think Cunard left off the first letter of her last name. I believe her correct name is Carolina Garcia Aguilera (NOT Guilera!!).

[wrahn2002]

Would those of you who have been on the QM2 before and are serious coffee
drinkers (quality not quantity) please give me an evaluation of the coffee at breakfast and dinner. My experience with coffee on ships has been bad.

Thanks,
Wes

[imacruizer]

Wes, I was hoping someone else would answer your question about the coffee and perhaps they will. We are coffee drinkers but I don't know if you would call us "serious". We had coffee every morning in the Kings Court. It was fine for us. We drink it black and like it fairly strong. We only ate breakfast in the Britannia once and I don't really remember anything about the coffee there. However, it must have been fine our I would remember! I don't drink coffee after lunch, so can't answer your question about the coffee in the evening. I hope you will get additional responses.

[FROZEN CANNUK]

Hey everyone we're out of the deep freeze as it went from -34 to plus 10 yesterday which is around 50 F. ??? what a place. Anyway only 1 week left and still not ready? Yes I did notice the 3 formal nite statement and when HUH!!! I'm wondering if there is anywhere to find out for sure. I'm still trying to find shoes!!!
Jennifer

[atticus]

I emailed Cunard and they said there would be only two formal nights on the 1/29 Caribbean cruise.

Lists are made and the packing will begin this weekend. Can't wait to get away from this frigid weather.

See you all at the CC get-together!

[imacruizer]

Hello Fellow Cruisers! Hope everyone has had a good week. One week from today we will be on our way to Fort Lauderdale. We can't wait! Is everyone packing this weekend? The second group of 7 day Caribbean cruisers on the QM2 will return tomorrow. We hope some of them will post reviews. Atticus, glad to see you on the boards again.

Beth and Jerry

[DAVE & MARY PASCHEN]

We're starting to think about packing. I'm not sure what to put on my packing list, as we have never cruised the Caribbean this early, normally we hit this area early October. Is there much difference in temps or weather? Should we be packing more formal clothing than we did last year on the Crystal Harmony cruise? I'm not sure why my brain is freezing up on deciding what and how much to pack. It may be because of the cold weather and snow here ,or the excitement of the upcoming cruise---Who knows.

[Smoochiepuddin]

I thought that you might want to know that both my husband and I called Cunrad to ask how many formal night there are going to be on our cruise. Both times we were told that there will be three formal night. I thought that might influence your packing decisions.

We were also told that there will be a Pirates Ball. They had that on our cruise last March and it was great fun.

[imacruizer]

Smoochiepuddin, I feel like there is a very good chance that we will have three formal nights. Especially since that is what happened on the first 7 day cruise of this season. Hopefully we can find out what happened on the cruise this week. We am going prepared for three formal nights.

Dave, I have never had the opportunity to cruise on Crystal so I can't really help you with a comparison. Are you concerned about the formal nights or dress during the day?

I will tell you that most people dressed quite formally on our cruise last March. Most of the men had on tux on the formal nights. I have read some recent posts saying that fewer men were wearing tux but Jerry is taking his tux.

Dress during the day was very much like what we had seen on Caribbean cruises on other lines.

Perhaps Smoochiepuddin or Atticus can share what they observed on their QM2 cruises last year.

[imacruizer]

Dave, forgot to answer your question about weather. We have been to the Caribbean in January and it was warm. I would expect the tempertures to be in the 80s during the day and the 60s and 70s at night. Sure sounds good doesn't it!

[foosing]

I just discovered this site and was so glad to see the pleasant, welcoming messages from all the people who will also be on this cruise. My husband ,Steven, and I, Sara, are so looking forward to this trip. First because I love ships of all sorts, and I think having the opportunity to be on this one is such a privilege. Second because they are predicting 2 feet of snow for the Boston area (where we are from) for tomorrow. But I'll be smiling as I slog through it, because I'm in the final countdown to the warm waters and a wonderful ship.

[imacruizer]

Welcome, Steven and Sara. Did you get a lot of snow? With your love of ships have you been on quite a few cruises?

In case you missed this, our group plans to meet at the Veuve Clicquot Champagne Bar at 11 AM on Sunday, January 30. That bar is located on Deck 3 near the Grand Lobby and the shops. It is connected to the Chart Room. It is not a large area, so we should be able to find each other easily.

Beth and Jerry

[DAVE & MARY PASCHEN]

Okay Jennifer Did you send all this bad weather down to us? Of course our definition of bad is probably less than your's. We got 11" of snow last night and are waiting for another 6-8" of Lake effect snow. Being a relatively mew cruiser and never having cruised later than early October, I forgot to take possible bad weather into account in making our travel plans. We are hoping that next Saturday is better than today. We will be getting to O'Hare 6pm on the 28th . Thay doesn't leave much room to wiggle if bad weather is forecasted for Saturday Jan. 29. Oh well worrying won"t help. Next time I'll be smarter. On packing I was more concerned about the correct wear for the days. From morning to mid-afternoon are long shorts and collared sports shirts okay for all areas of the ship? On shore excursions I'm in a bit of a quandry. As you can see spelling isn't my strong point. On the four wheel drive tours of the islands would a long sleeve cotton button shirt be too warm? It would protect from sun and dust . I'll over pack and still have the wrong stuff.

I'm excited , and can't wait. Mary and I will see you Sunday, and a few of you cruisers may be unlucky enough to see us (me ) on Saturday the 29th.

[foosing]

Dear Beth and Jerry

Thanks for the welcome and we will certainly see you on Sunday morning.
To answer your question about cruising, I went on a few when I was younger (well, okay, much younger), but my husband is a novice.
Sara

[imacruizer]

Dave, you will be just fine during the day in shorts and a collared shirt. I, like you, was very concerned about the dress during the day because of some of the posts on the Cunard site. I think the confusion comes from a Caribbean cruise versus a transatlantic crossing. On the crossings, the weather is cool and the dress is more "dressy casual" during the day. In the Caribbean it is warm and much more casual. Many people spend the day by the pool in swimsuits and coverups. Jerry wore shorts everyday and I wore shorts and capri pants during the day. People were very casually dressed for shore excursions. Hope you can shovel out from all that snow by Friday and the the roads and runways will be clear for your trip to Fort Lauderdale.

Steven, you sure picked a great ship for your first cruise! Hope you love it as much as we do.

Beth and Jerry

[DAVE & MARY PASCHEN]

Thanks Beth and Jerry for your reply on the daytime casual clothing.


The snowblower met the challenge as usual. I'm having more and more trouble concentrating on work as the cruise gets nearer. I think for the saftey of my employees I'm going to have to check weather conditions by the minute. When my thoughts go to the cruise for more than 10 minutes in any half hour its then time to close work down. Thanks again.
Dave and Mary

[FROZEN CANNUK]

Welcome Sarah and Steve, glad to see you found us! I'm sorry for sending the lousy weather down to you guys, but I had had it here with the freezing temps. Tomorrow supposed to reach +15 which is incredible almost 60F. Just hope it stays nice til we leave as well.
Ok I'm going with 3 formals is that the expected, but is the pirates Ball just as fancy or do we need something else for that?
Weather wise expect it to be wonderfully warm +80s. Ialways go in late Jan early Feb to Caribbean, as it's the only way I can look forward to birthdays now. Celebrate on the warm ocean and you don't mind getting older!!
I'm a little worried over Air Canada as they had a wildcat strike last Thurs and snarled air traffic for 1 1/2 days and no one went anywhere. The Baggage handlers etc just walked off. How nice!!!
Tomorrow is my first pack and see if it all fits in and then culling starts.
Wish me luck and only 7 more sleeps!!
Jennifer

[imacruizer]

Was just watching the Weather Channel. Some of you have really been hit hard. Dave, I guess you got it yesterday and today. Sara, Boston looked unbelievable with more to come. Hope everyone warms up next week and all the airports are trouble free.

The Pirates Ball was on an "informal" night. Costumes were encouraged and there were bandannas, eye patches, and pirate's hats for sale on the ship. We did not dress up but enjoyed seeing those who did. Our tablemates brought very authentic costumes from home. They do give prizes, so if you love costume parties this is your opportunity.

Most people wore "informal" attire to dinner and changed into their pirate attire after dinner. The Pirate's Ball started at 10:00 PM and was held in the Queen's Room.

[FROZEN CANNUK]

Thanks for the reply re Pirates Ball, don't think I'm going to fit another things into my bags, so no costume for me. We just got our room numbers assigned as we were guarentees and we're on the 12th deck now. Gone from Steerage to top of the boat. I think I'm happy over this, as it's mid deck as well. Anyone have any enlightment to share over this?
Back to packing, have a great weekend, and all you easterners Good Luck with that cold frozen Rain!!!
Jennifer