BlueRiband

It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years! I filmed her arrival from the Battery at first light. If memory serves QM2 was switched to Manhattan because a Princess ship carrying about 4,000 passengers was due in and thus berthed in Brooklyn. QM2's derriere extends past the Manhattan piers and into the shipping channel - that and Carnival's agreement to use Brooklyn. She berthed in Manhattan before the Brooklyn terminal was built. Maybe the channel is not currently dredged deep enough for her draft?

Ditto. Door decorating is a practice that I abhor. At best it's folk art. At worst it's as tacky as subway graffiti.

I remember Amex's old commercials with Karl Malden. In one he actually told customers to hold on to unused checks for emergency money! While there will be some way to redeem them into the near future, the days were one could walk into a bank with traveler's checks and walk out with cash are coming to an end.

FWIW, I was once told at a Senior Officers party that 8-day crossings adversely affected maintenance. There are some things that just cannot be done when the ship is at sea.

The same would apply to gift cheques. Years ago my employer gave these as incentive awards. (I used them to buy my 26" case!) Amex ones never expire and their site outlines the redemption process. That may be the only way to cash them if one's bank will not accept them for deposits or does not cash them. There were also Visa and Thomas Cook checks out there. I don't know what happened with the later after Cook went bankrupt. Personally, I have not used traveller's checks since 1994. The only place that readily cashed them in Paris was the Amex outpost. And that has long ceased to be an option after Amex closed all of their brick and mortar storefronts. Cunard stopped cashing them years ago and I doubt if there are any cruse lines that still do.

If you are holding on to unused traveler's checks the window to redeem them is rapidly closing. According to a column on another travel site (hence why I cannot link it) some banks and financial institutions have stopped accepting them for deposits - such as Schwab. American Express stopped issuing new ones and it's estimated that $1 billion dollars are lying in sock drawers and safe deposit boxes. It was not too long ago that some posters here were still buying them and cashing them on the ship. Buying traveler's checks at one time was a cherished ritual of vacation planning. But holding on to them for emergency money will be useless if you have no way to turn them into cash.

Your story is a good example on the value of buying travel insurance especially when expensive itineraries are involved. I used to always buy Cunard Care, but it is no longer available to those living in New York (or some provinces of Canada). In its place is the Cunard "At Ease Waiver Program" which provides absolutely no coverage with 72 hours of sailing. After reading that fine print I bought insurance through a third party.

No cruise line, Carnival or anyone else, allows walk-up booking at the terminal. Agents there only check in booked passengers. They cannot sell accomodations. You would have to telephone the cruise line and ask. Cruise lines sailing from the US have to send US Homeland Security a passenger manifest 72hrs before sailing and a final manifest 1hr before sailing.

You indicate that you are in Indiana. Are you flying to Vancouver or Victoria to board the ship? She cannot fly into Canada without a passport. This stings a lot of first time cruisers because they forget that traveling from the continental US to Alaska - via Canada - is International travel. You don't want to make any assumptions. Without proper documentation she would be denied boarding. Then you're stuck with leaving her at the airport or pier or losing your entire cruise fare. Travel insurance does not cover failure to have proper travel documentation because that is considered within the passenger's control.

Getting a scooter through the door is only 5% of the problem. Finding a place to park it once inside is the other 95% of the problem. Some years ago we had a post from a passanger who was in your situation: No HC cabins were available so she booked a standard one and showed up with an undeclared scooter. After assuring the check-in agents that her scooter folded, and she would manage just fine, she was permitted to board. You can probably guess how this went. She wrote a dissertation here about her difficulties in stowing it. And complained about the delays in getting a shower seat that she never told Cunard would be needed until after she had boarded the ship. So after letting her board the ship with an undeclared scooter Cunard gets a negative review about how callus, inattentive, and mean they were toward a passenger with reduced motility. If you are in the US the current scooter policy can be found here:Wheelchairs and motility scooters

And now that the incident has been well publicized, we'll next read of somebody suing Cunard for the emotional trauma supposedly caused by the incident.

Given that the Titanic II project had prolong periods of dormancy I won't believe that it is going to happen until a shipyard contract is signed. No yard is going to do that unless they are confident that they will get paid when the ship is completed. If 2024 passes and there is still no contract, I think this latest revival can be written off as something Palmer decided to do because he got bored with politics.

FWIW, when I was on board QM2 in late November the Voyage Sales desk was available by appointment only.

Two years ago the Belfast Telegraph said that Palmer was having second thoughts on the long term viability of the ship once the initial curiosity had worn off. It might eventually go the the Chinese market. One, Chinese passengers love to gamble. (And when people gamble the house always wins.) Two, there is a huge fascination with Titanic in China such that a theme park was building a floating but docked replica of the ship. It was estimated to be about 25% complete before that project ran out of money.