exlondoner

Noir. Sounds weird.

The lifts are ridiculous. It is easy enough to miss them, if you are young and fit and they arrive at the opposite side to where you are standing. I have two quite sore arms from fighting them.

Just to say, we are booked on QA next year, and before embarkation had seriously considered moving the booking to another ship, if we could find something not involving flying. I think we will stick with her, however.

Mainly agree with Victoria. The Grills Deck is great and might have its own microclimate. We were on a stroll round the ship. First we looked at the wake on deck 9, and it was rather breezy and not particularly warm, then we went up by the lift to the Grills Terrace and walked into a world of warmth and sunshine. 😀 I think the QG is very nice, but the arrangement is dire. I suspect those banquettes may go at the first refit, possibly ripped out in sheer frustration by the M d’H. The really dire space is the Grills Lounge, but if they removed the roof it would make a nice dining courtyard. Then they would have to find somewhere else for the lounge. In many respects the ship is lovely. We haven’t had very nice weather for the last couple of days, and some indoor spaces seem rather crowded, but that should improve. V2 and I were among hundreds in a full theatre this morning who attended an excellent lecture by Val MacDermid. However, I shall never enter it again for there are only four exits, and I don’t believe it would be possible for people to get out rapidly, if it filled with smoked, say. I realise it must conform to all regs, but, given the decrepitude of many passengers, it seems decidedly dodgy.

Though I have been mocked by some on here for doing so, I usually check my account every day against my paper receipts. So far all is fine.

Twinnings Assam, Green, English Breakfast, and Earl Grey in the buffet. But no Darjeeling that I could see. Also I have detected Fentiman’s Ginger Beer, so far, but no ginger ale.

The only decoration I have seen is an Australian flag by a cabin door. Could the antipodean implications of this be significant?

It took me a while to find the cereals for there were so many counters of fried breakfast, and a nice looking bakery. I just don’t understand why people eat there rather than in the lovely restaurant. i will check on the teas later on.

I know this is like people saying they hated the food and the portions were too small, but it is just as well the bar isn’t popular, because it is quite small. I think it should be turned into a dining terrace and they should find somewhere else for the bar.

Interesting to find the things they don’t have, presumably because they are still in a warehouse at Southampton. No All-bran, which is quite a common cereal. I thought it might just be QG, and went to look in the Lido this am, but they didn’t have it either. The first night they didn’t have peppermint tea, but subsequently found that, which was good. I know the wines are always a bit random, but they didn’t have a straightforward Aussie Riesling I’ve had a number of times before. On the other hand, Sir Sam’s is probably rife with unicorn steaks. One good thing from my point of view is that you can still get bar soap.

I think I’ve seen some somewhere, but I can’t think where. The Reading Room perhaps.

I hardly enter the buffet. Anyway, here it is called the Artisan’s Food Hall, for some inscrutable reason. Goodness knows why: it’s a buffet. I had assumed your interest in the pineapple question is on the same basis as my own, mere spirit of intellectual inquiry. 😀

Um. I don’t know.

Many thanks. Sorry for delay. I’ve just been to dinner.

HH, can you help, I’ve got the wrong poster.