D&N

We only have 96 polystyrene "holes" in our cellar, which is plenty for us. Most daily drinking is boxes from Languedoc-Roussillon, which is known for it's volumes rather than quality; Red Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon or sometimes blends; Rosé Syrah, Merlot and blends; White Sauvignon, which doubles up as a cooking wine. They are similar to Cunard's $30-$36 wines, we usually pay less than €8 for a 5 litre box. We have bottles marked so we can serve about 600ml between us for a meal. Sunday and special occasions is always a bottle paired to the meal. We don't have any hang-ups about red with fish or white with beef, but usually match traditionally. Most stores have a "Foire au Vins" early spring and late summer. The biggest local store's best one is late August and the catalogue is about 90 pages. I choose mainly what we'll drink over the year but look out for good deals to keep for a few years. Since I've been looking at the First Growth I've also discovered the other classes and realise I have a couple of Château Lynch-Moussas from the fifth at present, and have had other fourths and fifths in past. I mainly go for Bordeaux reds, Burgundy white & red, Beaujolais red, Rhone red (but I do have 1 Châteauneuf white), and Provence rosés. I'll pay more attention to wines from the classifications this year. Château Pontet-Canet is invariably there at about €95. It seems to get best ratings in the "Fifth" at tastings, and when you consider we normally get deals that give about 40% off the list price it would be good value. Montrose from the second was there in 2020 at €75.

Today's strike/protest numbers are down on last Thursday but they plan another on April 6th. It remains to be seen if a downward trend develops. Last week appears to have been a reaction to the forcing through of the legislation by executive powers, the narrow defeat of the main no confidence motion and then the last straw being the President's TV interview, which many of the union folk thought was too confrontational. I got the feeling from reports a few weeks ago that the law might narrowly pass by a normal vote but it appears that so many questions and amendments had been tabled that it could have taken years to debate. On a positive note; half the Paris refuse collectors are expected to return to work tomorrow. The other half were not on strike as they are private sector contractors and probably are not entitled to the same minimum retiral age as their council agency equivalents. Hopefully the areas the strikers cover will get tidied up a bit. And there are supposed to be meetings between Prime Minister and unions between April 3rd and 5th. I get the impression she's not so confrontational so hopefully might smooth things over.

We've had the Krups Vivo since 2006. Tiny, simple (it self primes if you forget to fill reservoir), and makes lovely coffee. It was threatening to develop leaks, hence the tray, and I got the Gaggia to replace it. But it keeps on going; it started smoking about a year ago so I opened it up and found a melted mains cable terminal, which I replaced and put in a new mains cable. Doesn't seem to leak as long as I fill the reservoir without removing it, and it's the least complex to let any visitors use. The Gaggia's a bit more temperamental; I replaced a stupid pressurised basket with one with all over holes and it needs primed if it accidentally runs dry, but it makes great coffee too. We use them alternately to make sure nothing corrodes. And there's an unused Lidl machine in a cupboard as a backup.

I did find a front on photo of the machine in Sir Samuel's, which I suspect is copyright. However I'm confident that this is the machine or at least the latest model of it. I can get one delivered here in France for €10,300. I think I might just make do with my existing pair.

The machine in Sir Samuel's was a traditional commercial pressurised machine as in the first picture. There is a similar one in Carinthia Lounge and I think in Commodore Club. Not sure if there are others. After the first day we decided we preferred the ambiance of The Chart Room for my coffee, and my wife's tea and hot chocolate. The waiters there went to Sir Samuel's to get my Americanos. One less experienced waiter brought me a cup of brown water that was promptly returned. Apparently there is also a push button machine in the back area of The Chart Room bar, and he brought it from there. So if you want proper coffee rather than just something hot and wet, make sure they bring it from the right machine.

I hope Central Scotland is a bit warmer than that in mid April. We might have to re-think the wedding attire. Ski Suits? ⛷️

Other than a mention in the Afternoon Tea overview panel I can't find anything on the UK site. There is a page on the French site with a short description, although I'd have expected the UK site to be more up to date.

Tripadvisor have some pictures from the menu. They seem to be about 3 years old. The latest bar menu shows Illy Americano at $3.70 rather than $3.60. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Cruise_Review-d15691723-Reviews-Cunard_Queen_Mary_2_QM2#photos;aggregationId=101&albumid=62758&filter=7&ff=451271436

It's on page 4 of the most recent wine list: https://www.cunard.com/content/dam/cunard/my-voyage/pdfs/qm/qm_wine_list_aug_2022a.pdf I also found a 2016 copy of daily programs somewhere that someone had posted that gave similar info with the instruction to speak to sommelier. Might take a while to find that again. It's not unique to Cunard; I also found a video of two guys sitting in a garden tasting the 5 wines concerned. I'm thinking it's a good way to establish whether our palates would really appreciate the difference between those and something we might pick up on offer here for €50. Then if one of them came up in the wine fairs at €300 to €500 it might be worth buying. Although if that happened I'd buy a Coravin Timeless as well.

I think they were saying that being on the drinks package they wouldn't be paying Cunard for the extra cans/bottles they would take off the ship. 😀 But in practice it depends where you shop. On our first full day in New York last summer, not having had the chance to stock up on small bottles at Wholefoods, we found ourselves at Battery Park and needing hydration. There was no time to waste as we were heading for the Statue and photos of QM2, who was in port that day. A 500ml bottle of Poland Springs water from one of the food trucks was at least $3. Disgusted at myself for falling into that trap I picked up a case of 24 on way back to hotel!

We've used Jungle Formula MAXIMUM for over 20 years, which contains 50% DEET. But if you open a browser and use Google Search and type in "deet" you'll get these results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEET https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/tfacts185.pdf It is highly toxic. But my wife's reaction to mosquito bites is extremely risky, so it's a matter of weighing up the risks.

We're going to try this with dinner this evening: Unfortunately not the Château Mouton or Château Lafite, but Rothschild's wine for the masses; Mouton Cadet. By combining various discounts and cash back offers we ended up getting 2 at a nett 3€78 each! Initial tasting was good although not exceptional. If we like it with the meal, we'll go back for another 6 tomorrow.

Has anyone tried this, particularly on Queen Mary 2? The current price shown is $350 and an old daily program confirms that 15% is charged on top, and states to ask ones Sommelier. I'm aware of what they are, how I would expect them to taste, and how Cunard serve them using the Coravin Timeless system. I'd be interested to know where they were served? Do you have a choice of when? Would they serve one set of 5 x 50ml glasses and allow 2 people to taste from those? And if anyone knows; If you have drinks package, would this qualify for the 20% discount? If we were to try this, the ideal would be to arrange with our sommelier to come earlier for dinner one evening in BC, have the flight served at our table and treat it as a replacement for our aperitifs. 125ml each with water to clean the palate would be similar to what we normally have in pre dinner drinks.

Apart from our local news site NiceMatin, I review https://www.francetvinfo.fr/ regularly. That is the French equivalent to the UK's BBC. It's in French but most browsers will translate for you. If you can afford to I would suggest giving things a bit more time. Today's headlines are more about demos against a large artificial irrigation reservoir scheme in Deux Sevres in Western France. The local news on pensions demos suggests between 500 and 1,500 demonstrators in Nice today depending on who's numbers you believe. Those are relatively small numbers. Admittedly this area isn't a barometer for the country as it's extremely right wing. The pension thing may eventually fizzle out. They've been trying to address the problem for at least 15 years, and what's now tabled is so watered down they'll probably need to do more in a few years time. BTW. The Bordeaux Town Hall fire wasn't quite as scary as some make out. It was only the facia of the old wooden front door that was set on fire and quickly dealt with by the emergency services. Should never have happened of course but some news sites do like to exaggerate.

I've just spotted a change in the T&Cs for the drinks package. When we used it last year the pdf of T&Cs stated: *Discount does not apply to bottles of wine with a menu price over $150. The current T&Cs don't list that exclusion: https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/my-cunard-tcs There are a couple of phrases that might permit them to refuse to offer something where the 20% discount would be substantial: Cunard reserves the right to introduce exclusions or limitations without prior notice. And: Shipboard management also reserves the right to add additional restrictions........... Unlikely to affect us as there are lots of wines under $80 that we'd be delighted to drink. But it could open up a big saving for some.

It was €2,850 for the 2011 vintage in the Monaco branch of our local hypermarket in July 2021. If it was available in a September wine promotion and I used all the loyalty program discounts I could possibly get about €1,000 off that.

The bog standard Sauternes will do for us. In fact we often have much cheaper Monbazillac instead. I would quite like to try a Pétrus some day but I'm not paying $415 for 75ml!

@NE John As always with SNCF be aware of the risk of strikes. Although the Paris St Lazare-Caen line appears to have a reasonable Guaranteed Minimum Service. Details of that and access to normal timetables and fares are at: https://www.ter.sncf.com/normandie/se-deplacer/info-trafic/greve

We drink lots of tasty Cabernet or Merlot from 5 litre boxes at home with our mainly batch cooked everyday meals. Wine by the glass is certainly available in MDR and I believe in all bars and restaurants. That's my philosophy with making a good wine last two dinners. The wine should survive to a second night but probably deteriorate after that. A decent full bodied red may actually develop different flavours on the second night. After the first decent sized glass we know the difference but won't be too bothered and the steak or whatever we are eating will be gone. The Rioja and the Chablis were too expensive for the package at the time of our crossings. They're possibly the only ones we would have been happy with for our dinners. What we eat for Sunday dinner, special occasions and when we have visitors is similar to meals on QM2, and we always drink decent bottle(s) from our cellar for those.

We had same experience, particularly in MDR, and I'd have no hesitation in drinking what was available at lunch and while dancing in Queens Room/G32. For dinner wines I either need to take some from our cellar and pay corkage or order some like the 3 we had last time. The Ch.Tour Pibran, Pauillac was exceptional! We had no problem getting unopened water. My first encounter with CanO Water was quite interesting. I'd never seen cans of water before. The waiter poured the first servings and resealed the lids. Unfortunately I wasn't given the tutorial on the right. When it came to needing a top-up I lifted the seal end and couldn't quite understand why the hole was so small. I didn't have much time to spend on it as we were just between dances and we don't like to be off the floor for a beat of music. I squashed the can to get the water out and it ended up crushed to oblivion. When the waiter returned and I commented on my difficulty and he saw the condition of the can, he just about ended himself.

I’m rethinking the package. Without it we’d pay every day for; 2 coffees, 1 hot chocolate, 2 bottles San Pellegrino, 2 bottles still water, 2 x $30ish bottles of wine, a $70ish bottle of wine every 2 days, 2 aperitifs and 2 nightcaps. That costs at least $2,500 for 14 nights. With the package we wouldn’t get the $70 wines and we’d have to drink inferior sparkling water. The latter we can cope with as long as it’s well chilled. We can get everything else in the package albeit by the glass rather than in bottles. But the difference is more than enough for us to have our 7 bottles of decent wines throughout the round trip and still be saving money. I have to admit that it was quite convenient not having to monitor the account for anything other than we needed to sign for. The more important thing is whether everything we’d consider drinking by the glass is in stock! I’ll decide before we next travel, although even paying the extra to buy onboard would still be a saving.

It's a fairly recent change but been mentioned in other threads. There was a post about a month ago, not sure if before that. Our experience when it was $69/day and no difference when paying onboard was that there was a member of staff at a table outside Carinthia Lounge to sell packages. Although we were booked as a 14 night round trip crossing, he was only selling the 7 nights Westbound. That meant we had the choice of whether to renew for Eastbound or not. Whereas had we booked on Manage My Booking we required to pay for 14 nights. We didn't know that beforehand but viewed it as a benefit. We had a problem with buying from the man at that table though. He had no terminal, just duplicate forms to complete. Result was that our first coffees and aperitifs were charged before he had registered our purchase in the system and it took a visit to pursers desk then a phone call to get both removed. For the 2nd week we went to the Chart Room bar, where the bar person registered it directly into his terminal and gave us a receipt you might get when putting a drinks order on your card. I would advise arranging at one of the bars if buying on board.

The maximum list price per drink is $13. The 15% gratuity is not charged when you have the drinks package. When we travelled the limit was $12 per drink and the package was $69. We had between 6 and 8 alcoholic drinks each per day. Taking into account Illy coffee, Forte tea, hot chocolate and bottles or cans of water in restaurants and bars we estimate our saving for 2 people was about $500 over 14 nights. For us the big problem is a lack of choice on the list of wines by the glass. Therefore there were 3 meat meals where I wasn't prepared to drink plonk and ordered wines at around $70+15% less the 20% discount from the package. Most of the wines that we would consider drinking on their list under $13 per glass are the sort of wine we pour from boxes to drink daily at home. There are no whites or rosés that we would choose to drink with a gourmet meal and the Rioja Reserva is the only red. At the time we travelled I don't think the Rioja was within the limit. We also found that many of the whites and rosés that we were happy to drink with a lunchtime salad or while dancing through the evening would run out of stock. The main list has a good choice of reds and whites that we would happily order. The choice of Provence Rosé is very poor but we get plenty of them here so happy to do without for a couple of weeks.

I searched for "cunard Britannia breakfast menu" on Google UK. The top answer was: https://www.cunard.com/content/dam/cunard/marketing-assets/pdf/life-on-board/example-menus/britannia-breakfast.pdf It's very similar to what we had in Britannia Club in June 2022: https://www.cunard.com/content/dam/cunard/marketing-assets/pdf/life-on-board/example-menus/britannia-club-breakfast.pdf Cunard seem to have been keeping example menus updated on their website recently so I think this is current. All items appeared to be available each day, subject to not suffering supply issues.

Does he have some rational reason for his stance? I sent our travel agent all our requirements on February 3rd for a Summer 2025 itinerary that is unlikely to appear on websites that have pre-release information before July or August. Her instructions are that I'll confirm the sailings when the dates become known and she should be ready to book as soon as released. I've given her a list of 5 cabin numbers, but I really expect her to get the first on that list. I'm not a fan of management speak, but we live our lives by: Fail to plan - Plan to fail. There are practical reasons; in that it saves me getting all the information in one place nearer the time and I don't know what her own cruising plans are for this year. She's just back from about a fortnight on P&O's Arvia, so she might be catching up on what she missed in the pandemic.