IB2

Someone on our table was turned away at last night’s gala night for not being in a dinner jacket or dark suit. So there is still enforcement, but outside the gala nights the requirement is merely for smart attire meaning a proper shirt and no shorts, jeans etc - so standards are already sufficiently relaxed not to hinder anyone travelling without a jacket. On the two gala nights out of seven you just eat at Kings Court, or in your cabin. After the pandemic, being overly fussy about dress codes seems an anachronism, and the new Cunard approach of being fairly relaxed most of the time but still with a handful of ‘dressing up’ nights is probably a decent balance for modern times.

Including me! Somewhere around 75-80% of capacity, which feels about right - there are empty places and whole empty tables at the 1800 dinner sitting, which I don’t remember from before. They’ve replaced some of the larger tables with more for couples and groups of four, no doubt reflecting the changes in behaviour since the pandemic, and so it isn’t as easy to find yourself on a large convivial table with fewer willing to mix like that. I asked for a 8 or 10-seater and find myself one out of five people sitting on a table for six. The kennels however are as full as ever!

I am on board now. If you stand an A4 piece of paper up under bed, you have about another 3cm to spare.

Some random Dalle artworks inspired by the QM2, painted in 55 seconds!

When do they typically hold it and how long does it last?

Sailing uphill, as well, so powerful a ship is she….

The data for the Hamburg legs of a TA won’t tell you much, anyway, as it is never full; so many more people do the SOU-NYC legs.

"to eliminate the need for tipping"....yet so many still do it.

I would expect most people will do a test, but how many would declare a positive result, knowing that it would sabotage an expensive and long-planned trip, is another matter. I guess in some cases it will depend on whether people feel ill, or not?

There’s a lot of duff information up this thread. You don’t need to fiddle about with screenshots or sending photos of account information or applying directly yourself to Cunard; you simply message HL from your account with the details of the cruise/crossing you are going on, and they send the necessary confirmation to Cunard directly. There’s a backlog of a few weeks in their doing this at the moment.