D&N

Noted.

I respect that. If I was smitten with such a problem, I would be looking for a medical or psychiatric solution for me, or I would suffer. I would never consider living without at least one cat.

I've always been intrigued by that. These days 18 of "us" would comfortably fit within the weight limit if there was enough floor space for that many people. I imagine you would be more up close and personal with strangers than you might want to be. For a long time our average weight would not have permitted that number!

The hotel did charge a fee, which one hopes was intended to pay for enhanced cleaning. Personally my sympathies lie with cats that are allergic to humans. I don't think I've ever met anyone I actually liked who claimed to have such an allergy.

I'd prefer animals in cabins (especially cats) to folk who can't breathe in jackets! 🤣🤣 Carmel & Hazel spent a night in an Ibis Hotel at Rheims during their 1,239 mile drive to get here from Scotland. They allocated an accessible room with hard floors and we took a brush and dustpan along to clean up any cat litter that got scattered. They could perhaps supply oxygen for those that can't breathe in jackets.

@techteach In direct sun yes, but it felt surprisingly fresh yesterday. Even managed to pace Nora to a faster morning 10km than previous Sunday, which was slightly cooler. Wearing trousers rather than shorts or three quarter lengths didn't feel at all cumbersome, and it saved stickiness of sun block. We ate outdoors in a shaded street.

Went for a nice lunch yesterday to a village just inland from our town. We often get the bus there and ramble cross country by a variety of routes back to the coast. It was a small restaurant owned by a youngish chef who apparently prepares his dishes with a nod to Basque cuisine. We don't know anything about Basque cuisine but it was all beautifully presented and very tasty. I did plan to wear a tie but it didn't look right with the light grey linen trousers and it was too late to change. Well at least one of us looked good. And we got the bus back too. Those heels wouldn't have handled rambling well.

For someone that is sailing on Cunard because they have a choice of sailings on different lines from a particular port, then if they so desire they can sail with someone else. If you are sailing on Cunard because you want to sail on QM2, it doesn't really matter. There aren't two of them. Obviously it's best if everything goes entirely to plan but if not we just need to make the best of it. We're not the least bit interested in the port calls, we wouldn't get off unless immigration forced us to.

Think I Had it three times. First time I was very disappointed. It seemed dry due to a lack of Hollandaise. Next time when I questioned the lack of Hollandaise I was advised to ask for it as a jug on the side. That was fine. So if you like EB with lashings of Hollandaise ask for a jug on the side.

I would start by forgetting about Kings Court. We don't do fast food. Deck 11 has access to all lift shafts/staircases. Stick to staircases it helps get rid of those extra calories you ate, and imagine the lift broke down and you missed 15 mins of your time on QM2! Take staircase D at aft of ship to Queens Room and G32 and dance the night away. Is there any other reason for being on a ship? Commodore Club is ok, but when it's dark you don't have the view over the bow. We much prefer Chart Room, and even in daylight being on deck 3 you are much closer to those wonderful waves.

I think we're nearly there. It's six days since Ursel's arrival and three since her first distant introduction to Carmel. When Carmel jumped up to find Ursel sleeping on 'her' blanket early this evening she made a few noises to show her displeasure, but her Mum persuaded her to curl up at the other end of the blanket. Another day or two and they'll probably be snuggling up. The photo is deceiving, there is a much bigger size difference. Carmel being tightly curled up makes her look smaller and Urcel is sprawled out a bit more.

It would probably have accepted 0044. Staysure Expat has a Spanish number that needs to start 0034.

France has some wonderful cheeses including our favourite Comté. We've tried all sorts of cheeses on cheeseburgers, but nothing beats cheddar, which thankfully we can buy sliced in our local hypermarket. However their Charolais patties are much sweeter and juicier than the Aberdeen Angus ones we used to buy in Scotland. The Canard here is excellent as well. 🤣

On a P&O ship, which I believe was using the same water based process, my wife splashed some sauce on a heavy lined silk Amanda Wakeley gown. The gown was cleaned and came back in perfect condition. The same gown was cleaned at a local chemical based dry cleaner before we left Scotland. When she eventually tried it on here the structured bodice was completely out of shape and even after she had lost most of her excess weight it still wouldn't sit properly and we had to dispose of it. I mentioned on a past thread that I bought a wool/polyester ivory tux on ebay. It was new but a bit dusty from being in a stockroom for years. I took it on QM2 dirty knowing their cleaning would be much cheaper than a French dry cleaner and probably much safer for the garment. I left it with a note for the cabin stewardess on the first night and it was returned, still a bit damp in the pockets, the following evening. I didn't plan to wear it until night four so it had lots of time to air. A photo of the silk gown. Warning; this was taken during our semi-fat period.

I can't imagine many elite dance couples accepting such conditions. Although we didn't get round to attending their classes on our round trip crossing we did meet Alex & Liuba briefly, and watched some of their displays. A normally more mature dance host who has signed up specifically to dance with singles knows they may be in a position of it being difficult to refuse to dance with any passenger who requests their services. At the risk of (happily) being accused of being sexist, if we were a youngish pro dance couple, I would be concerned that my female partner had little choice but to dance with men that she didn't particularly want to be in close hold with. We used to regularly attend events in the Glasgow area in groups of up to 14, where over the evening we would dance with all our friends. Usually those of the opposite sex (although there was one time..., but that's another story). It was social dancing where you did basic stuff and chatted to your partner as you moved round the floor. But they were all friends, most of whom we keep in contact with. Nora was always the youngest of the group, and while a couple of the gents were jokingly flirtatious she knew they were harmless. It's a quite different thing to be contractually obliged to dance with someone who's ballroom hold is not quite as it should be or isn't aware that they suffer from halitosis.

@Wonky @exlondoner RENFE are starting a Barcelona-Lyon service today, and Madrid-Marseille from July 28. Along with whatever SNCF already offer, it opens up future possibilities to leave London at a more sociable time, with an overnight at some other point en-route, arriving in Barcelona on morning of embarkation. Perhaps still a bit risky? One option on a Paris-Barcelona search was an overnight in Perpignan, 1h19 from Barcelona.

Just over 5 months.

Introducing Ursel, who has been with us since Saturday afternoon. She's still a bit frightened by all the town noises. She was raised at over 1000 metres altitude in countryside. She is exploring extensively when not catching up on her beauty sleep. She's trying desperately to get Carmel to like her. The relationship is progressing but I think it may take another couple of days yet. We have no travel plans. The case is surplus to our needs and awaits being moved to the cave.

Good point, but what a waste of a crossing! 🤣 edit: But if that's the case there are other threads discussing "Luggage Forward"? They might be able to get someone at home to have a case collected to be delivered to ship at Southampton.

Thank you for reminding me. That's another thing I used internet for. Downloading daily paper to phone on PressReader. I need to remember for internet threads.

I don't recall the former but my parents, dad was a Methodist minister, listened to Round the Horne each week. There was an occasional groan from them, I obviously didn't get the jokes or I'd probably remember some. They must have considered it amusing or wouldn't have listened.

Last time I wore; black, blue, silver, and red & gold teddy bears. Next time I might be trying to match my wife's outfit each night. We'll decide once we see them on.

Not sure what you mean by early summer? Technically summer starts on June 21st. You don't specify where you are going in Europe or where you plan to eat in the evenings. We went to dinner at a beach side restaurant at Théoule-sur-Mer on June 17th. I wore a dark lightweight wool suit, and my wife a skirt and top. Leaving home at 5.30pm for the almost 2 hour trip I carried the jacket and wore it for the slightly shorter trip home. With the addition of a tie for me our outfits would have been fine for any evening on QM2. We're going to a small Chef-Patron restaurant locally next Sunday for lunch and my wife will be wearing the dress she wore to Black & White night when we were on QM2. The forecast is strong sunshine 31C feeling like 40C. I'll probably wear linen trousers and open neck shirt. Yes you can dress down to eat out in Europe but it's not compulsory. Faced with your situation we would pack our lightest formal wear, selecting items that could be worn on the land trip as well. I might consider taking cheap tee-shirts with me for day wear, picking up more on the trip at budget outlets like Primark or C&A and putting the dirty ones I'd finished with in the hotel room bin. Sneakers can be worn for onboard day wear and the land trip. Consider buying a pair of gents black dance shoes. You don't need to dance in them but all the floors on QM2 are usually dry. Dance shoes have a soft pliable sole and are very light, and could be worn every night on board. Effectively I would ask myself the reverse question. What's the minimum I can get away with for the land trip? We ended up doing a round trip last year but originally planned (scuppered by covid) to sail west, have a week in NY and then sail east. Our plan was our gym sneakers for onboard would be daywear in NY and we'd have a few tee-shirts and light chinos and jeggings that might not get worn on QM2. And just because I like to brighten things up, here we are after the meal at Théoule. The background isn't in great focus (it's not supposed to be), but I think you can see that the other diners weren't really dressed down either.

I'm surprised how much availability there is on that. If I really wanted to be on a sailing and have full choice of cabins I would be booking on release date. In Britannia Balcony, which seems to have the OBC you quote, I'd want deck 8 forward, and I only see 3 cabins available in that section. I prefer forward to aft, and to be as high up as possible. The midships cabins have a supplement that I would rather spend on wine. You'll probably get other opinions but I wouldn't take the risk unless you're happy to have a reduced choice.

I've thought that may be the key for a while. I asked for a breakdown of what we had and was told it wasn't available. You would think for accounting purposes it must be kept somewhere. But as long as nobody gets more than 15 drinks within price and measure limits per day it's not likely to be questioned. Many staff note or memorise card details. There's probably scope to be creative with unused entitlements.