Mareblu

36 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

I also have Scottish heritage and my wife had Welsh. I have a little plot of Scottish land at Glencoe.

That's incredible...my ancestry is all around Glencoe:  Loch Tulla, Glenorchy, Dalmally, Glen Etive (Skyfall).    I have traced my Scottish ancestry to the 1400s, as there is a direct Clan Chief line, and they were documented.  It's such a hauntingly beautiful part of the world.  We're returning in just a few months, May in fact.

38 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

Next pic.

 

Hmmmm…somewhere near a Backpackers?.   No idea.  Over to the experts on here.

34 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

My apologies. I forgot I had answered this one.

 

I recognised this from when we visited the wall on our first tour of UK in 1997. I remember thinking "Is this all of it?". I learned that most of the wall was used, over the centuries, as a ready-made stone block quarry.

 

Will go find another pic.

Yes, true, but there’s still a lot intact.  Fortunately, people are more aware these days of preserving the treasures we’ve inherited.  My ancestry is mostly Scottish, so when we visited and explored the wall, I had great delight in telling Mario, “this is where we prevailed”.  He replied , “so what’s new”?😂

It certainly is.  Well done!  Your turn.

Although admittedly an added expense, have you thought about staying overnight in Trieste and collecting your car the next morning?  I only suggest this as you mention your Avis reservation is still current.  There would be a variety of hotels, b&bs, pensioni, etc. near either the port or Avis depot, I would think.

Daly Waters….”Tim’s Junkyard”?

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

We have also been to most of the ports (many times) but we were looking for our normal spring transatlantic cruise and the Vista deal was good and gave us an opportunity to finally try O.  Because we do know most of the ports, having a big shore excursion credit was a challenge.  We chose mostly excursions that involved non-typical things, especially when it some kind of culinary or wine tasting as part of the tour.  Like you, we always view ports as a potential adventure and like to have fun, whether on a rare tour (for us) or just doing our own thing. 

 

Our biggest challenge for the cruise will be trying to get from the port in Trieste to the Trieste Airport where we pick up our rental car (for a 11 days of our own driving adventure).  Debarking on May 1 might create some difficulties.  We had originally booked a car for pick-up near the train station, but it turns out that all the city rental car agencies are closed for the holiday (no surprise) forcing us to rent at the airport.  Argh!  But that is just one of those challenges that comes with independent travel, and it will all work out :).

 

Hank

It will cost about €80 in a taxi, perhaps more on a public holiday, but there is a train station at Ronchi (which is what locals call Trieste  Airport).  DH was born just north of Udine, so we know that entire area very well.  This will be the only time we won’t be spending time in Friuli, as we are leaving from Marco Polo Aurport the next day to fly to Edinburgh, then collect a hire car at Edinburgh Airport.  We have 3 weeks in the UK, then board Cunard’s new Queen Anne for her naming voyage around the British Isles.  Where will your driving adventure take you?

3 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We had not signed up for any of the Roll Calls (we tend to keep a low profile on cruises) but who knows....everything about "O" will be a new experience for this ole guy.  Looking forward to having lots of fun.

That’s fine, and perfectly understandable.  Wishing you a wonderful voyage.  It’s a marvellous itinerary, and even though we’ve been to many of the ports before, each day and each visit is another adventure.  

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We will leave the devil of "Sales" to folks who even pay attention to such promotional dribble.  When we book a cruise (which we do many times a year) we simply look at the offer that is before us (comparing 3 different favorite high volume excellent cruise agencies), make a decision, and book!  We could care less if there is a Sale of the Century, Sale of the Day, etc.  Since we cruise many different lines we look at pricing using the simple technique of cost per person/day adjusting for various amenities (such as drink packages).   Since we cruise with so many different lines, we find the word "Sale" meaningless,  We get tons of snail and e-mail with sale info and that all goes in the trash!  

 

When it came to dealing with "O" for this first booking, we took some queues from Flatbush Flyer (who has been around the O world for some time) in using the proper type of cruise agency and looking for a deal that included pre-paid gratuities.  

 

Just so you are satisfied we are talking about 35 days on the Vista at the end of March.  We do not even try to compare our bookings to another person's as this would drive me nutz and be meaningless.  What matters if what we are paying, do we consider it good value, and how does it compare to other cruise line options (that we might consider around the same time frame).

 

I will also note that one of our big objections to O (which has kept us away from this cruise line) is not only the "R" ships (we first cruised them when they were owned by Renaissance) but O's horrendous deals for international business class air fares.   Many other lines offer some amazing First/Biz class fares that can save thousands of dollars over booking air direct with airlines (we do not like dealing with so-called air consolidators).  Since we now live in a world where a couple can easily spend over $10,000 on a couple of Business Class tickets, air always enters into our equation.

 

Hank

Well said, Hank.  I agree with all your points.  You will obviously be aboard our Grand Mediterranean Tour on Vista in April.  There is a Roll Call I’m organising, and from memory, without consulting the excellent spreadsheets prepared by Gerry who is sadly no longer joining us, you are included.  Looking forward to meeting you aboard…

If you’re referring to QA’s British Isles Festive Cruise, which we are very much looking forward to, I did notice a few days ago that there was at that stage some PG accommodation available.  It’s a wonderful itinerary, with the highlight now being the official naming ceremony in Liverpool on 3 June.  I should expect the spots to be filled very soon, if not already.

Our Queens Grill reservation in My Cunard for our upcoming Queen Anne voyage describes our dining as Main Dining.  So did our QG on Queen Elizabeth.  It’s a standard description, obviously.

6 hours ago, arxcards said:

Awesome, welcome, nice pics, glad you had a good time.

Don't be so hard on yourself.  Wear your covid as a cruising badge of courage. I know dozens of people who's first dose of covid was on or immediately after a cruise, including ourselves.

 

Washing hands with soap & water trumps hand sanitiser.

I agree with all your comments.  Count us, too, as Covid cruisers.  One and only bout 🤞🤞🤞for both of us:  Oceania Sirena, September 2022.  Still one of our best ever adventures.  

That looks absolutely delicious.  Be very careful, Lyle, or you'll be on cooking duties when you arrive😉

I did👏😂

Meant to add:  Oyster Bay is a fine drop.  We love the NZ whites.

Oh, yummmmm!   Do you both like mussels?

1 minute ago, LittleFish1976 said:

Thank you Linda! Yes my post eneded up being pointless and I did try to delete it when I realised how unsuccessful the media links were but of course my tech abilities didn't even extend to deleting the post!!

🤣

You're not an island.  Sometimes my kids call me "Minda" when it comes to IT😂

1 hour ago, LittleFish1976 said:

This is a Q3 on QE which has a lovely layout in my opinion.

 

The bathroom is in two sections with the bath and shower (and basin?) in one part and the lav and basin in the other, and they have a door between them. Here are some photos and a video of the cabin taken 12 months ago. 

 

edit: video won't work for some reason.

 

 

 

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Can't open the links, unfortunately, but they would be identical to the photos I posted above, which are of the same QE Q3 penthouse.

1 minute ago, MMDown Under said:

I am interested in Queen Mary versus Queen Elizabeth because the former is an ocean liner.  Has anyone been on both?  How did the ride through rough seas compare?
 

QM, being a liner, is built for the rough seas of the Atlantic crossing.  Haven’t had the pleasure of sailing on QM, but QE certainly fared well on the waters of the Tasman and Bass Strait.  She wasn’t really tested during our sailing though.

That’s interesting.  We are looking forward to comparing QA’s Q3 to that of QE when we embark QA in May.  In images, it is totally different with an open-sided partition separating the bedroom area from the living area.  TVs are mounted on either side of the partition.

5 minutes ago, david,Mississauga said:

The balcony in PG on the QE is ridiculously small for a superior accommodation. The last time we booked PG we chose a stateroom that had a view from the balcony forward as well as to the side. I knew there would be curvature of the balcony but it was smaller than I expected. It was difficult getting the door open so we had to leave the chairs a certain way. We once had a Britannia cabin with a balcony twice that size.  Also, I don't care for the open closet. On the QM2 there is a huge walk-in closet with a door so your guests don't see your clothes.

 

We had QG for the first time on the QE (last June) and were very fond of the Q4 layout. As described by others, the two-part bathroom was very convenient. We also liked the partial divider between the sleeping and sitting halves of the suite. A heavy curtain can be pulled to fill the gap. "Mrs. David" likes to take a one-hour nap on many afternoons.  She could rest on the bed with the curtain pulled and I could have access to the loo, the in-suite bar and the balcony  without disturbing her.  

 

On a posting a while back someone referred to the layout of the Q4s as insane. I was not the only one who replied that we think they are brilliant.

The Q3 layout is identical, it would seem from your description.  Guests would not see your clothes, as that area is tucked well behind the bedroom area, completely out of sight even if the heavy curtain remained fixed back against the wall.  Any guest using the toilet/basin area would enter and leave through the foyer door.

in the second image below, the hanging and dressing area is behind and to the left of the timber panel on the left of the image.  The balcony was not vast, but a very comfortable size.

10 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

OK. I was holding back in case there was someone who had been there wanted to answer.

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky?

Exactly.  Comrade Lenin's statue in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.  We visited on a Viking cruise from Vancouver to Hong Kong.  Well done, and your turn...

That can happen at sea.  I remember a similar story when we were in The Haven on NCL.  Ankle deep in water, not a pleasant sensation.  The dressing room is not separated from the bedroom by a barrier of any description, just a separate area, with a long return built-in dressing table with drawers under on both sides, with lights and mirror working really well.  Backing on that area is the open hanging space, closed built-in closet containing safe, shelving, drawers and more hanging space.  There was also a bank of good, deep drawers beside the open hanging space.  It all really worked.

Okay, I know two clever people have identified the statue.  Who will name the subject, and the place, so we can keep moving?