D&N

I wasn't aware of a website called People of Walmart; but many years ago a friend used to regularly share People of Walmart photos by email. I haven't seen such things in recent times. They were supposed to be amusing but typically quite gross. Whoever took the photos was presumably a customer or employee so there was never any suggestion that these photos were representative of most customers, and I never saw any unusual outfits that appeared to be worn by staff. I'm sure the reference wasn't intended to insult all Walmart users. I suspect if you hung around Harrods with a camera you would probably get some photos of folk in bizarre outfits.

Have you tried online? Many French online pharmacies do mail order and some will send abroad. I've no idea what import restrictions the US might have of course!

Have you tried ballroom or latin dance shoes. They often come in patent. Werner Kern and Freed are just two of the makes I can see online. There are shops in London might have some in stock. They usually have soft suede soles, which would be fine as long as you don't go out on wet decks, and they are usually quite supple and comfortable.

Doesn't that make perfect sense? One would hope that totally unnecessary excursions in and out of the canal at the same end would be cancelled before anything else. They are only going in for tourism purposes and wasting a huge amount of water so that a few thousand folk can take pictures. Taking people or other perishable cargoes across the isthmus would hopefully get priority.

I've been very busy sifting through the catalogue for our local shop's wine event, which starts tomorrow. https://www.geantcasino.fr/bons-plans-du-moment/catalogues/ I've checked reviews, profiles and ratings for a range that interest me and have a list compiled to guide me. I hope to pick up the basics tomorrow and leave the expensive stuff until Friday evening when they will give me a voucher for 15% of what I spend on wines that are not on reduced offers.

Who said "after"? That sort of event is a bit different from a Cunard dining room. The act starts playing mostly subdued numbers early in the meal and couples get up and dance between courses, or if they particularly want to dance to a tune they like they will abandon the food and hit the dance floor. Making the most of good dance music can be much more important than letting your food go cold! I'd expect to take up to 3 hours over the meal with lots of dancing in between. Towards the end of food service the musicians take a short break then return for rest of night. The floor would be full for that session whereas earlier you get a bit more space. Waiters need to understand that it's dangerous for them to encroach on the dance floor! During the meal those whose hands are free will applaud the musicians and other dancers. They understand that isn't practical if you are using cutlery.

The Verandah menus do not appeal to us. However we would love to dine in restaurants that advertise a Dinner Dance and provide live musician(s) that play strict tempo music suitable for dancing. We sometimes came across such events in Scotland, usually in hotels that had restaurants serving decent food with space for a dance floor. We'd typically spend 5 or 6 hours over a meal and drinks in that sort of venue, from aperitifs to nightcaps. If I could find that every night both ways on an Atlantic Crossing it would be my idea of heaven. Those that don't like music or dancing with their meal could easily stay away as it would be clear what to expect.

I made a post in another thread earlier today, which needs to be taken in context. We lived most of our lives in and around Glasgow and experienced winter temperatures as low as -19C. We have chosen to live the remainder of our lives in a warmer climate. I have a video of the only sleet we have encountered here, on morning of February 26th 2018. We are equipped to stay comfortable on the growing number of days per year that the temperature exceeds 30C. I don't have any inclination to visit somewhere colder between autumn and late spring if it can be avoided. But many folk are happy to brave sub zero temperatures to observe Wonders of the World first hand and shouldn't be put off by my aversion to cold. 2 weeks of dressing to the nines, dancing, eating and drinking on QM2 is about the only activity that has tempted me away from our daily routine, which I liken to being on an everlasting holiday.

It depends. At that time of year, in those parts of the world, it would be far too cold for us! We'd never be outdoors. 😉

Thank you. This is the first I've got round to looking at the forums today. I'd probably prefer the June trip. But if our imported cat sitters are of working age, May might have the advantage of allowing them to use two bank holidays and reduce the days annual leave. I should also look at what sailings normally have special events that we would rather avoid, unless they involve participative ballroom or latin dancing. And we'd try to avoid the vintage folk as well, who I think have sailed in May previously.

Can any hints be given regarding where one could look to find future Southampton and New York departures? I imagine SummmerinKefalonia is doing a fair bit of work to format these lists! Only being interested in QM2 Transatlantic returns from Southampton; if I could access info for the two ports I could make an educated guess at likely crossing dates.

It comes to us! 🙂

In that case; the sooner we get Southampton->New York->Southampton itineraries from late May to mid June 2025 the better. Doesn't matter if they call at Le Havre or other ports in the process. We can then start to plan the import of relatives for cat sitting duties!

The site I'm referring to, does not show any trips to the Med in April 2025. There are even a couple of cruises where they have failed to change 2008 to 2025!

There is a site showing a TA Westbound June 2nd 2025 to June 8th 2025 M821 then Eastbound June 8th 2025 to June 14th 2025 M822. However it also shows an Eastbound April 28th 2025 to May 4th 2025 M815. But Cunard's own site shows a Westbound April 27th to May 4th 2025 M509, therefore not possible for the 3rd party site's M815 to operate. M8xx would suggest they have copied itineraries from 2018 or 2008. I'd suggest it's a ploy to get customers to pre-register with them.

Be careful with that. There is a big US site, using various names, that has had summer 2025 itineraries for a while. Close analysis shows they resemble those from several years ago and some of them from earlier this year are nothing like what actually operated. Seems a very odd marketing ploy to me.

I'm not sure Starlink is in use. The equipment has certainly been installed but I'm not aware of anyone having posted that a Speedtest result has shown Starlink as a source. At least one test from the recent Med cruise referenced the old provider.

Unless there are any folk with veterinary qualifications and currently practicing in the profession contributing on these boards; I suggest that you discuss this with your own vet. You probably won't permit your puppy to make any significant input to the decision, but the decision certainly shouldn't be made on the opinions of strangers!

Our 6.8" phones match or better the resolution of our laptop and PC monitors and my wife's tablet. I only have my 32" monitor set to 1080p. We had no need for anything else. Spreadsheets, Photo editing etc were all easily done on the phones. If we did want to see anything on a bigger screen we could mirror the screen to cabin TV or display photos/videos there from a USB key.

Being Scottish, I've never been tempted that badly. I always find another way to save that $0.99!

When you've sat across the desk from an employee who has not bothered to attend their work for 50% of their scheduled working days in the past month, and they tell you the reason was that their grand parent died for the fifth time this year, you begin to realise that it's unwise to take everyone's statements at face value.

Thank you. I still had time to edit. It's a term I absolutely detest. Relatives sometimes address Nora with it, and I usually react with a loud cluck-cluck.

I found the review in question when exlondoner started the topic. I got to mention of the "buffet" and thought, nothing to interest me here.

France has a reputation for having great train links. The reality can be somewhat different. The rail lines don't go near St Tropez. Scheduled buses from Toulon are likely to take nearly 3 hours each way. By car it's about 1h40m provided the roads aren't saturated. October would probably be ok, unlike now at the height of the holiday season.

Others have already mentioned travel risks in Italy. We were in Sorrento at almost the same time last year with friends. We planned a day trip to Capri, although we hadn't booked in advance. However while queuing for tickets we were told that we could travel to Capri but as the weather was expected to deteriorate in afternoon we would not be able to get back that day. I wouldn't like to risk that sort of excursion knowing I had a ship to catch.