lannp

I've never seen the account arrive in an envelope. It is usually folded to show the name and cabin number.

Stephen Payne

The late Mr. Maxtone-Graham

Rick Senat ( Warner Bros. Films)

Bill Miller for his in-depth knowledge and funny stories about ships

I received an important notification from Cunard yesterday regarding an upcoming transatlantic. I'm not concerned but it does make you stop and think.

IMPORTANT NOTICES

* Important Information - Ebola Health Screening *

Following the recent news regarding the Ebola virus, we wish to advise you that in collaboration with international health authorities we have

implemented new screening and boarding procedures. Any passenger or crew member who has travelled to or through Liberia, Sierra Leone or

Guinea within 21 days of their cruise departure date will be denied boarding.

This policy also applies to anyone who has had contact with or helped care for, a person suspected of having Ebola within 21 days of their

cruise departure date. We are also screening our bookings for any passengers coming from these countries. We continue to monitor the

situation closely, along with our colleagues in the rest of the travel industry. If you require further information on Ebola, you can visit the Center

for Disease Control and Prevention's website at http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/ Should you have any questions or concerns about these travel

requirements, please contact us on 1 (800) 728-6273.

Thank you for your attention to this notification.

A couple of years ago I ran into the problem that my passport would be short by about 5 days for the 6 month cut-off. The personaliser said my info was incomplete and it wouldn't accept my passport. I assumed it's internal calendar counted it out and kicked it back. I had plenty of time to get a new one but you do have to keep track of these dates.

I was using the internet prior to breakfast in the Golden Lion last year and found the signal good and fairly fast. Now with all the tablets, etc. you don't know how many people throughout the ship are trying to log on so during the day it can be painfully slow. But then I remember in the early days on the QM2 losing the signal for a day or two and having no internet.

Several years ago a lot of us ran into a problem when Yahoo and Hotmail did not like the ship's address and did not allow us access to our accounts from the ship's computers. After that I made of a point of bringing my own which is so much easier with the tablet.

I too prefer an 8-day crossing, since I adore sea days and would hate to see it go back to a 6-day which I did many of before they started the 7-day. If it was 4 days I wouldn't go.

Not true. I am diamond level having sailed with Cunard more than fifty times. I have never worn a tux nor a bow tie on any of my sailings. However, I do abide by Cunard's dress code and wear a dark suit on formal nights.

I've seen Cornus on formal evenings and he "cleans" up quite nicely and to me shows respect to his fellow travelers with a dark suit and tie.

The furniture in King's Court needed replacing years ago, shabby is the politest thing I can say.

Thanks again for taking this & posting it. There are some great videos on the Cunard website of the Southampton, Liverpool and Halifax events.

And it's hard to get any work done when there are so many interesting things to watch:D

I love the outside elevators. This year I must use them frequently in case they do go.

I experienced this a few years ago and if I knew in advance in time to cancel would. Some evenings they took over the one of the rooms so that your choices were limited for evening entertainment. They also set up tables in the lobby, etc. and would congregate there so while passing through the ship you had to navigate through the crowds.

They also would sit down in large groups in the buffet in the daytime and the conversation was so loud sitting there to enjoy a meal was impossible. Tickets to some of the concerts were offered but they were pricey.

If this is just a 5-day cruise you are most likely the only one to board so that might be the mitigating factor about setting up check-in facilities.

Last year we did board passengers in Halifax but that was a NY to Southampton crossing.

She is finally on the move, pity visibility is poor.

What about the Fairfield Inn in Brooklyn, gets good reviews.

I usually stay at the Hampton Inn Times Square North, 851 8th Ave.

Ahh, back in the old days when it read Southampton on the stern.

I also use the saline mist. There are a lot of different brands. I have found that the drugstore brand works fine.

I now carry some with me and use it every day, a few year's ago the ship doctor's told me to do that because I had developed an upper respiratory bug. I don't generally live 24/7 in air conditioning so it is not a problem at home.

Note to WalkAboutTheWorld - please come back after the voyage and tell us how it went and whether you have developed QM2-itis.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2204812

Bon Voyage!!

When they cancelled the QV doing QM2's late spring TAs, I too wondered if they were going to postpone the dry dock. Cunard is making me think you better not plan too far in advance because they might change the schedule on you.

I always stay in balcony cabins on deck 4. Unless the weather is cloudy for part of the day your balcony and ultimately part of the cabin will be very bright.

In a storm on the Atlantic would you want a cabin UP there?:eek:

What a great loss to the history of the maritime. Thank goodness he wrote all those books.

I had the pleasure of hearing his lectures and several lovely chats with JMG and his lovely wife Mary. He was thrilled to hear I owned 5 of his books and when I introduced him to pepperrn in the Ocean Terminal looked stunned when Pepper stated he owned (at that time) 8 of his books. They are keepers you go back to often.

A while ago when I looked at the scheduled lecturers I wondered why JMG wasn't listed. Perhaps health issued prevented travel. His tome on the QM2 is one of my treasures since it is autographed by him.

I took my first QM2 trip September of 2014 by myself. It was a retirement gift to myself. It was on my bucket list of things I wanted to do. My DH is not one for sea days and didn't want to go. I met another single female traveler through the roll call and we got together for meals. She was a QM2 frequent traveler and made sure that I was at her dinner table and when I first entered my cabin there was a note on my pillow from her welcoming me to the QM2.:) She and I still email each other. We are from different countries. I hope one day that we can coordinate so that we can share the ship again on a cruise. Each did our own thing most of the time, but it was nice to have someone on board. She most certainly made it a memorable trip for me.

 

I was a little worried about traveling alone as well, but will tell you that there is so much going on that I don't think you will really feel alone. I met many really nice people on board. Several that ended up at my lunch table remembered me and spoke to me in passing. Had one lady that was there with her husband that it seemed we were on the same schedule in regards to when we ate lunch and ended up at the same table several times. At the end of the trip I was standing in line at the restaurant for breakfast and they came around the corner. She came up to me and asked for a hug. She said she thought I was such a nice person and she so much enjoyed sharing lunch with me. Wow is all I can say. The people aboard to include the crew are very friendly. You will not be alone on your cruise. However, I will tell you I enjoyed being able to do what I wanted to when I wanted to and not have to consider anyone else, worry about a project at work, my family (grown by now) or housework. It was wonderful.

 

When I returned home I realized that although I had fulfilled this wish on my bucket list that it would not be my last TA on QM2. So I am saving my pennies and I plan next time to travel her NY to NY round trip.

 

I hope you have a wonderful trip and enjoy yourself.

Thank you oxfordgal.

A few months ago I started a thread about your first Cunard voyage. There were some wonderful stories. I should warn you WalkabouttheWorld that the QM2 has become very addictive for some of us:D

I was supposed to be on your crossing but had to cancel because of leg and hip problems. I will see the QM2 later in the year.

I have done almost all my trips solo and over the years have met some wonderful people who have become great friends and we have seen each other again on the ship. Not to mention the crew. They are fabulous!

Bon Voyage!

I now choose transatlantics over port intensive trips. I adore sea days especially aboard the QM2. Even if the lectures don't interest me I'm never bored.

Actually the Welland Canal runs between Port Colborne on Lake Erie and St. Catharines on Lake Ontario.

Smaller ships that would do a Lake cruise generally don't have many facilities on board and the entertainment and activities is geared towards adults.