D&N

Not sure we'd ever have time to sit down and watch something like this, but can anyone give an opinion? How does QM2's planetarium compare to the London Planetarium in the late 1960's?

Seems ingenious but not my wife's style. Since we can take enough luggage for her to have something different for twelve lunches and fourteen dinners, we'll just stick with twenty-six outfits. 🙂 Ideal if luggage is severely limited.

1 - If you find a small corner on the dance floor, particularly if you are up early and before other dancers and make clear by your movements that you are sticking to that space then all the other dancers should just avoid that corner. There is no problem with that. There is no rule that suggests dancers must dance into every corner, but they are expected to avoid colliding with dancers that are already occupying a space! 2 - We sailed at end of pandemic and there were no dance hosts, but I've seen a few more recently in YT videos. My understanding is that they will dance with folk whose partners don't dance or aren't physically able as well as singles. I suggest you make your situation clear to some of them early in your trip.

It did feel a bit like cheating. I did see some other pics of the port in the reverse lookup, but I knew that if I simply identified the ferry I could probably find the location.

I'd go for Sasebo, Japan. The ferry was easily identified as Namizi, therefore it was one of the ports it serves, Cross referenced against QE's recent calls on Marine Traffic.

We'll maybe use a lift someday and hear these pings.

A simple solution to the wall view offered to those unfortunate enough to be seated facing the walls would be to replace the artworks with larger mirrors. That would give a decent view of what was happening around the room, albeit the other diners would have their cutlery in the wrong hand. 🙂

I'm sure like me, you'd have the best view in the room! 🙂

I'm not sure how many there are. I watched a video yesterday that showed quite a few other 2-Tops away from the wall, and one against the wall just along from those banquettes where the table was at 45° to wall and both seats pointing diagonally towards rest of restaurant.

I've wondered about crossing the road to have a look at Mr Musk's cars, and whether they might offer you a coffee or soft drink. Assuming Mayflower of course.

I'd probably just have a main, a dessert and the Petit Fours from that menu, but if I had a starter it would probably be the Goats Cheese tart, which I would hope would be quite strongly flavoured. I'd take the salmon if it was Pacific. Scottish doesn't taste the same. I'd be disappointed with it. The two veggie mains look fine to me and if that was all there was I'd be happy to eat either, but with the choice of other three.... What I'd probably prefer would be one of the veggie dishes with a piece of Beef Wellington, Duck or Sea Bass plonked on top, and do without the boring potato accompaniments they offer.

I used to walk to pace my wife! But her 30% weight loss has eventually turned into a 30% reduction in her per kilometre time. Now I need to jog about 10.9 km/h and listen for her feet hitting ground behind me to judge whether I can go any quicker. At that sort of speed or more it's much safer to be on a treadmill.

UBER might be simplest. They usually offer a choice of X, Van or Luxe

Cod loin is very distinctive, but I suspect I'd struggle to tell the difference between cod fillet and hake in a blind test. Coley (or it's various other names) seems to have a slightly softer texture. I'd prefer not to ruin the flavour of any of them by covering them in batter or breadcrumbs!

Our last QM2 trip I wore ivory tux on two "smart attire" nights and didn't feel out of place. I'll wear that plus the two black ones over all fourteen nights on our next trips. My wife will wear a mix from mini dresses/skirt to gown, although we've made sure all her gowns are just short enough to dance in 2½" to 3" heels, as she needed to peg one of them up last time and she can't "heel turn" in anything higher. She's likely to be in gowns six nights (three gala, three smart attire). The 20s Gala is earmarked for a calf length fringed dress. I don't know about the other ships but I felt some of our photos were ruined by how casual I looked last time and we're keen to avoid that the next times. Edit; I should have said I really like how you describe the dress code!

Others have done it in past. Generally the roads outside the port do have good sidewalks. It's more difficult to see clearly within the port confines as there is no "street view" for most of it. From memory of Mayflower terminal and the aerial views I think there are side walks, but they might not be as good as the public roads. There are light controlled crossings on the public roads. Ocean Terminal might be easier, and QE2 Terminal probably worse. We're aware we could manage it with backpacks, medium roller cases, and small bags if there was some problem getting a taxi, but unless that problem arises we'll not bother testing the theory.

Useful for some. We manage fine in the dark. And on a ship we don't have young ladies waiting to trip us up. 🐱

You are probably borderline. The 15% is included with the package, so if you do add up what you would spend on pay as you go make sure to include that. If you want the Forté teas, they will cost $4.54 each including 15%, but there is a range of all sorts of teas available in the buffet and other places that I think are all included. There are small bottles of water and we had re-sealable cans as well. Big bottles are not included other than getting 20% discount. And $13.50 is the current limit per drink. The other figures you'll read about here are for the package included in US Grills offers. A thought on the free teas; if you find that there is a full range in the buffet, but not in other lounges, you could grab a bundle of your favourites and carry them around in your pocket/bag to produce if the lounge you are in doesn't have them.

I read on a FB post earlier that the fish and chips were as good as ever and yesterday's Cornish Pasty was very good.

We don't have a problem with once a week. In practice ours last between six and eight days as we change them on a Thursday or Friday depending on what day the washer is going on. We do vary our bed coverings though and use aircon when it's very hot in summer to make sure we don't sweat profusely. On QM2 we had the thermostat down quite low overnight and didn't need to get rid of the quilts. And we don't remember when the sheets were changed so they can't have been noticeably creased. Some folk around here dangle sheets from balconies on summer mornings to air them. There is something in the communal rules about that but provided they don't hang over other peoples windows nobody gets too upset.

Don't know why not? It's listed on the most current Chart Room and Main Bar menus. Chart Room lists; Ginger Ale under FEVER-TREE MIXERS at $3.45 for 200ml. Main Bar lists it under MIXERS as Fever-Tree Premium Ginger Ale at same price and no mention of size. I can't see anything in the package conditions to suggest it wouldn't be included. That price is less than many other drinks that you would expect to be available.

The distance on QM2 could vary considerably depending on how you cross the aft deck, which may be affected by layout of tables, chairs and loungers. Perhaps someone could make it a project to measure each ship's promenade deck using a GPS walking app while they are moored in port.

Is that your verdict after the Christmas cruise? We don't plan to sail in grills, but all the reviews here and on YT that I've read or watched seemed to think the freshening up it got in November was an improvement. The Chart Room is our favourite lounge for drinks, tea and coffee.

I didn't respond as the question was for QG. Are time scales just the same when the butler organises things and it's just ironing?

I'd expected wall hooks on QM2 for outfits you are preparing for that evening, or something just back from laundry that needs aired a bit more. I had to be creative with a wire hanger to make something suitable. We've since bought some magnets. As rakkor suggests they are more secure fixed to a ceiling assuming you can reach that high. They will slide down a smooth metal wall if too heavy a weight is hung from them. We got ours from Amazon, who have lots of them. Look for a specification with as high a weight limit as possible