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Queenvee

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  • Posts

    237
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About Me

  • Location
    Fairfield County, CT
  • Interests
    Ballroom dancing, trivial pursuit, beaches
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Cunard, Crystal & HAL
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Now, I'm focused on Scandinavia. But love the South Pacific too; trans-atlantics are great.

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Queenvee's Achievements

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Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. Just chiming in since I disembark the QE on March 28th at the Tokyo International Cruise Terminal, not Yokohama. So confirming that yes, the OP's voyage leaves from the Tokyo terminal. Note that there is a Hilton hotel within less than 10 minutes walk from the Tokyo International Cruise Terminal. You can google the location of the terminal and see all that's nearby, including transportation options.
  2. Since it appears that Cunard has cancelled all NZ cruises/ports for 2025 (as discussed in the other CC thread), I suspect that IF they resume NZ cruising, bookings would be open to everyone at the same time so you would not receive first chance to book.
  3. Glad to see that the change to a solo pianist has actually happened! Lots of seats around the piano, which are always popular.
  4. I sail on HAL and Cunard and like both. In general, these are some similarities: fellow passengers are generally well traveled and enjoy the arts; the lines' focus on their maritime history; understated yet elegant decor; and wide promenade decks (on the smaller HAL ships). Differences: more international mix of passengers on Cunard; in general, passengers dress better on Cunard both during the day and evenings (on HAL, there's a lot of more casual "outdoor" style clothing worn during the days, and sometimes at night); on Cunard's non-Formal/Gala evenings, a sizeable percentage of women are dressed up - not in long gowns but what I would call cocktail dresses and many men wear a sports jacket/blazer, often with an open-necked shirt (no tie). Daytime attire for a north Atlantic TA is usually slacks for women (sometimes nice jeans) and a tailored top - not a sweatshirt or flannel shirt. If you're walking the decks, you wear warmer clothes! When reading in a lounge, attending a lecture or playing trivia, slacks and a nice top (when I say nice, I mean a bit fashionable, decent condition (no rips or pilling) and something that shows a bit of effort has been taken.). I often wear a sweater with a scarf, along w black pants. When I walk on the decks, I wear EMS wind-resistant pants and a fleece jacket. Formal evenings I wear long gowns and dressy/cocktail dresses each night. But, that's me. It sounds like you enjoy dressing up so I say go for it! On Cunard, you won't be overdressed. (Whereas on HAL, I was often one of about only 10 women in total wearing a long gown.)
  5. Great info - thanks everyone! I'm a solo traveler so will only have the $135 credit to work with but I like the idea of planning carefully to use my 24 hour period over 2 days (e.g. 3:00 to 3:00 the next day). Six days should work for me. I like disconnecting as much as possible, and will use WIFI in ports too.
  6. @Victoria2 and @NE John I have a similar question and would appreciate your thoughts! I am on the 18 day QE voyage, Sydney to Tokyo, March 10-18, 2024. I am Diamond level so will get the $135 internet credit. I don't know what the daily rate is, but I'm sure the $135 won't cover all 18 days! So, just to confirm, I can work w/Purser's Desk to set up daily access (good for 24 hours) whenever I want to connect? Now that Starlink is so great, I'm thinking about connecting every 2-3 days. Thanks for any insights!
  7. I'm glad to hear about the return to the one singer; as many other posters have stated, the duos were often not so great and that area became raucous. I missed the daily Lincoln Center on Stage performances on my August 23 NS voyage. Guess you win some, you lose some...
  8. Looks like a conference room in a mid-grade convention hotel. Colors are bland and certainly doesn't read "glamour" or "anticipation". I had already decided that QA is not for me, since I've sailed on her sister HAL ships and experienced the lack of a decent promenade deck and other issues for me.
  9. @Down-Unders Did I see that you're on the March 10, 2024 Sydney to Tokyo voyage? Me too! You may want to look at the Roll Call for that cruise since it's pretty active; some people are arranging non-ship tours, etc. (If you haven't used Roll Calls before, go back to the CC Board main page, select Roll Call/Cunard then pick Queen Elizabeth and March; the specific threads will appear. Note that the roll call is for the full 28 day cruise, but plenty of the people posting are only on for the first leg.
  10. I was on QE circumnavigation of Japan in 2019 and at that time, shuttle buses were provided but you may want to check w/Cunard to see if that's still the case.
  11. If you didn't want to say anything yourself, you could have asked the waiter or manager to talk to her. I've done that in the past.
  12. I don't remember seeing a Gideon's bible in the staterooms.
  13. FYI...On the November 19, 2023 QM2 crossing, the ship was full and there was one dance host couple - man and woman. A dismal reduction from a few years ago when there were at least 4 male hosts on crossings.
  14. Interesting topic and one that I've grappled with in the past! I've chosen to rent cars previously, but last month I spent a few days in Brighton prior to embarking on QM2 TA. It was easy to take a train from Gatwick to Brighton but my plan of taking a train from Brighton to Southampton was squashed by train works (apparently Sundays are the days when train service is often disrupted). What would have been a quick and inexpensive train ride turned into a two hour, £180 cab ride from Brighton Central Station to Southampton's Mayflower terminal. Searching train options showed 4+ hour journeys, involving 2 or 3 changes often including a "replacement coach service"; coach options were worse and required going to London's Victoria Station. I called a few car services (versus taxi) and they all quoted fares in the £170 range. So, a taxi it was. Lesson learned about weekend travel! I'll be on the QM2 again next November and am planning on spending a few days in the South Downs/Eastbourne area. Instead of a Sunday to Sunday crossing, mine is Wednesday to Wednesday so I think it'll be easier to take a train to Southampton (unless I decide to rent a car; good to know the rental return place is near the pier).
  15. @bluemarble Thanks for posting the schedule. I didn't realize that other lines will be using the Brooklyn terminal quite heavily. I wondered why many of the TAs now start on week days, versus the Sunday to Sunday schedule that Cunard has been following for a number of years. (Of course, I remember back in the day when the crossing took 5 days so that was a whole different thing!). My annual November crossing now leaves Southampton on Wednesday, Nov 13 and arrives in Brooklyn the following Wednesday. I can imagine the headache it must have been for Cunard to re-work their entire schedule, particularly for itineraries that had ports. Someone mentioned that using the Manhattan terminal is more expensive for Cunard than Brooklyn - anyone know if that's the reason they use Brooklyn? I always assumed it was because the Manhattan terminal was smaller than Brooklyn.
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