MelbTone

23 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

Well I didn't know that so thanks for that👍. Personally I enjoy the kneading process it is quite therapeutic for me but then I don't make bread that often, perhaps if I did I would prefer the help  a machine 😂 Can it be set to slow rise or is everything preset? 

Mine's a Panasonic: standard wholemeal loaf is five hours, rapid three hours, or, as OzKiwi says, you can set the timer so that the loaf will be finished in (say) ten hours. Mine (I've kept count, sad I know) has just passed 600 loaves. Big big plus compared with lots of 'time saving' appliances is that it's as good as self cleaning.

Just back from my 2021 cruise. It was meant to be QM2 from Fremantle to Sydney, but instead a two hour Australia Day cruise on the Lady Cutler (ex Sydney Ferry, now a Melbourne party boat) from Melbourne Docklands down river to the bay and back. 

Just my 2c, but as a solo I didn't really enjoy my speciality dining experience on the Queen Elizabeth. The food and service were, of course, faultless. There were though long gaps between courses, presumably because the food was being cooked to order, and if I'd had a dining companion these would have been welcome opportunities for conversation. As a solo, though, I felt somewhat self conscious, but would have felt equally uncomfortable reading a book at an upmarket restaurant table. But YMMV and if on a future cruise I found another solo who was up for sharing a table I'd do it.

I'm a single 60s male traveller and have been upgraded Britannia -> PG on two of my three Cunard cruises. I was really surprised the first time (QM2) since it obviously wasn't a reward for loyalty, but after meeting my dinner companions I think the reason was a desire by Cunard to achieve a better M-F balance - I was paired with a very pleasant lady who, to our mutual surprise, came from the same London suburb as me.

Melbourne 2022-23 cruise calendar is here https://www.vicports.vic.gov.au/cruise-shipping/Pages/cruise-ship-schedule-3.aspx with QM2 visiting on 14 March 2023 and 12 March 2024

I love pork pies: pre heart attack I probably ate 100+ a year. Now they're a Christmas special.

My dad, a UK civil servant, was posted to Mexico City, 1957-59. We sailed to USA on the Media from Liverpool, 27 April 1957, then a long train journey from NYC. At the end of his service, April 1959, the UK govt flew dad home so as to have him back at work asap, leaving my mum unaccompanied with two small children to make the long train journey back (no family-friendly policies then!), then to Southampton on the Queen Mary. Unfortunately I was too young to remember anything of either voyage ....

However, in 2010 I finally achieved a long-held ambition to stay on the Queen Mary at Long Beach. When booking, I put 'returning passenger' in the special requests box and was upgraded!

It's a long long flight, so give yourself time to get over the jet lag.

Play close attention to the Australian customs form declarations. In particular whilst there's usually no problem with factory packaged foodstuffs, you must declare them on the form. Fresh food, e.g. fruit, is a big no! Enjoy Australia!

If you've got time in Brisbane, the maritime museum is worth a visit https://maritimemuseum.com.au/ 

as is Lone Pine Sanctuary https://koala.net/visitor-info

My cruising 2020, Jan: Queen Elizabeth: Melbourne, Adelaide - skipped Kangaroo Island because of bushfires - Hobart, Melbourne. Little did we know then what was about to happen. 

2021: zilch: was to be QM2 Fremantle-Melbourne.

I don't want to wish my life away, but in my later 60s I'm conscious of time passing. I volunteer in several capacities and as a generalisation it seems that most men are still going well at 70 but by 75 have definitely aged, in most cases giving up more physical work. Of course there are exceptions.

On my last cruise, my fellow diners included a delightful 92 year old. One of others asked, somewhat tactlessly, where at this age she didn't need a travelling companion. She looked at them sharply and said that when she got old she'd consider it!

On 11/28/2020 at 6:50 AM, ExArkie said:

Interesting to note that, according to the database I searched, "King James" was the registered trademark of a non-alcoholic fruit drink up to December of last year, when it was apparently abandoned. There is no evidence that LeBron James ever applied for trademark protection for that term, so if he was using that term for himself, he would have been in violation of trademark protection prior to December 2019.

Trademarks (in UK anyway) apply to a particular class of product and there are dozens of classes: you register a TM for the class your product or service operates in. So the Beatles had Apple as their trademark record label, while the eponymous computer firm had it for their products. If no one else has it, I could set up as Apple Cruises. 

3 hours ago, getting older slowly said:

I think it was 2015... that we had 4 cruise ships in Melbourne for the Cup...

 

and Pacific Dawn went up the yarra and dock at Victoria Dock and got under the westgate about about 2m.

 

A bit different this year.......

 

Don

Just so

http://Pacific Dawn Melbourne 2015 on Flickr

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

Crikey a bit into the future, but Cunard has to plan ahead.

Follow my link above and there's also a skeleton 2023-24 !

The current Melbourne 2022-3 cruise ship schedule is on the PoM website at https://www.vicports.vic.gov.au/cruise-shipping/Pages/cruise-ship-schedule-3.aspx

Of course it's only provisional and a lot may change before then (as we know all too well!) but I was interested to see that it shows the Queen Elizabeth making 16 visits (15 round trip cruises) to Melbourne between Dec 20th 2022 and March 11th 2023. 9: 2-5 nights, 4: 6-8 nights; 1 each 14 (Dec 22-Jan 5) and 15 Jan 15-30) nights. At a guess the two longer cruises will go to NZ but otherwise it looks like someone has decided it's safest to stay within Australian waters?

6 hours ago, K_e_short said:

He loves architecture. He loves the history of Cunard. He was devasted that we had to cancel our trip to California because the only reason we got the idea to go to California was because of the Queen Mary at Long Beach.

If he's into the history of Cunard, you could lose him for many hours looking at all the beautiful pictures of Cunard ships throughout the QM2. I think Cunard are missing a trick not selling prints of same. And visiting the original Queen Mary at Long Beach is a great experience, even better if you stay on board as I did in 2012. 

Just received, not unexpected:

After very careful consideration we do not feel it would be sensible to start sailing again this year. We are therefore extending our pause in operations through to 25 March 2021 for Queen Elizabeth, 18 April 2021 for Queen Mary 2 and 16 May 2021 for Queen Victoria. This means that your voyage has unfortunately been cancelled and we are very sorry for the disappointment this may cause.

5 hours ago, Blazza said:

You must wear a mask as soon as you step outside your home, except if you are exercising (running, cycling, brisk walking or walking in the hills).

Similar rule here in Melbourne (Aus), A$200 fine for non compliance. Lots of other restrictions too: most retailers except supermarkets closed, cafes can only do takeaway, no visitors allowed at home, we're allowed out for one hour's exercise and/or shopping between 0500 and 2000 within 5km of home, curfew in place overnight, virtually no interstate travel. The numbers are coming down, though not as fast as we'd like. I'm resigned to next February's cruise being cancelled, just a question of when.

10 minutes ago, Camgirl said:

I don't mind the heat so much, it is the humidity I find so difficult.

Yes, before I emigrated to Melbourne (Aus), I'd been here lots of times on holiday but always spring or autumn. Coming from London I wasn't worried about winter, but having experienced London 30C heatwaves that were unbearable my number one concern was surviving summer. No need to worry: hot here generally means low humidity so anything up to 35C is generally OK by me. Winter? It may not get cold in degree terms, but it lasts a lot longer than I was expecting, not helped by living in a high-rise with floor to ceiling single glazed windows. A cold week here is probably helping sustain our current virus second wave - I'm not expecting to be on QM2 come February.

Went to Aldi yesterday and for the first time ever bought a pack of salmon wellingtons (a meat pie if you stretch the definition) and very good it was too. Just a pity that they're importing them from Poland.

10 hours ago, mcloaked said:

There have occasionally been posts which suggest that there should be less ballroom dancing on cruises, and on Cunard in particular. One recent thread included the same suggestion. However that is a preference that some people will request and argue for but let's have a look at some facts about cruises, activities and dancing.

I'm a solo traveller and not into dancing (60 years ago we did country dancing at school and I was one of those who had a ribbon tied round my left leg as I could never remember which was left and right) but I do get a lot of pleasure from watching those who take to the floor (especially the gentleman hosts doing their stuff) and listening to the music.

I've cruised with Cunard three times (1 x QM2; 2 x QE) and have had a great time - twice I've been upgraded to PG, most probably because they wanted a single man to fill out a table! For dining I've been on larger tables and have had some wonderful dining companions, people I would never have come across otherwise. On my last QE cruise I joined the solo travellers group and our crew host Cordelia did a brilliant job. Hopefully next year's QM2 cruise will happen, though week by week I get less optimistic.

15 minutes ago, Docker123 said:

There was some reporting of how clubs in NSW could skirt the regulations to get many more people into their venues.

 

This included opening more table service areas, even where they were not regular dining rooms. Reception rooms, large meeting rooms etc.  Some ideas of creating “smaller” rooms by putting in dividers into large spaces to meet the max per room allowed. 

Might be OK in NSW but the Victorian regulations won't allow this:   Each dining area must be separated by permanent structures or be a discrete area of the premises that is sufficiently separated from any other area of the premises. Walls separating areas should be either reach from floor to ceiling, or be at least 2.1 metres high for the space to be considered sufficiently separate. Temporary structures should not be installed to create separate areas

.https://www.business.vic.gov.au/disputes-disasters-and-succession-planning/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-business-support#hospitality

I'm not a dress-up person but really wanted to cruise on QM2. The reality is that some people do really go to town: tuxedos for men who wives have spent months (and $$$ probably) deciding what to wear. But nobody has to do this and lots don't: smart dress (suit for men: mine's a $99 Target special) such as you'd wear to a wedding or executive job interview is all that's required. And unless you're really unlucky you won't find any snobbery ; on the contrary, on my Cunard cruises I've been seated with a wonderful assortment of people I'd never have met otherwise.

TL;DR: Relax. Enjoy.

I've got bookings for 2021 and 2022, made pre-virus, and I hope to do both. They're both Australia-only. My best guess is that Cunard won't be running its QM2 world tour so we won't see her here (so 2021 ???) but they'll hopefully bring QE here, quarantine the crew off shore for two weeks, then run cruises to Australian and NZ ports only.

I wouldn't have the time, patience or ability to do this, but I am more than a little tempted to buy a ready-made display model, something like this Queen Mary 2 . Anyone bought this or similar. I have also looked at ones from non-Australian suppliers, but just have that nagging doubt about damage in transit, though no doubt they know how to pack them.