SedNabokos

As others have said, check the deckplans - eg the ones provided by cruisecritic Looks like you've been upgraded from CA class to BC class CA is deck 5 midships balcony, partially obstructed (lifeboat directly underneath you) BC is deck 8 midships balcony. Otherwise identical The ship's motions may be more noticeable (the more you pay the more you sway) but unless you're very susceptible to motion sickness I wouldn't be too worried. If you're leaving on QE in 38 days that means you're going from Sydney to FNQ and back. The seas should be fairly calm (especially on the inside of the Great Barrier Reef) unless there's another Tropical Cyclone offshore somewhere. On deck 8 I'd mostly be concerned about being underneath one of the pools, but being midships you only have the Lido buffet above you. Also you're now on the port (left) side of the ship, not starboard. So you'll get better views of the Australian coast (when nearby) but not the GBR. If you're staying on for the NZ leg then you're more likely to get some heavy seas.

A few years ago, before leaving on a cruise from Australia to PNG and back I was surprised to see on the itinerary that we were departing Kiriwina Island at 5pm and arriving at Kitava Island at 8am the next morning. Since the islands are adjacent (about 20nm from jetty to jetty) I wondered why it was expected take 15 hours, but when I woke up at Kitava and checked my GPS log I discovered we did a big ~140nm loop during the night. Am I right in assuming they wanted to steam all night to produce water? I can see that getting shore water from these islands would have been very difficult, even if the water quality could be trusted.

As exlondoner says, they pipe in water when ashore. I know someone on my recent cruise that had similar issues with his CPAP machine - and although he was first told they used reverse osmosis they finally admitted that they took on more water in Heraklion and added some more chlorine to it. Which is sound advice if you're worried about water not being suitable for drinking, but it won't remove the impurities that affect a CPAP.

That was Salalah, Oman. Oman also had the requirement that everybody wears masks on-board for the day, even if staying on board all day. But the mask requirement was dropped completely at the last minute. I think most people on board got the dreaded "Cunard cough" and as you said it was horrifying to see how few people bothered to cover their mouth. On the plus side I was amazed at how many people washed their hands after using the toilets. It makes a nice change from being horrified (on HAL) at the number of gents that don't bother, so I always make sure to use a paper towel to open the door.

Very. I tried twice to book a cruise direct with Cunard instead of going through a third party, but in both cases their website let me get all the way through to the payment page, followed by a "something went wrong, please phone us during business hours" In both cases it was easier to just go ahead and book the same cruise via a Travel Agent website. Their website makes it much easier to look at cabin availability too.

I agree, the term "whistle" brings to mind a much different sound But of course they are called a whistle because originally the sound was produced by venting steam through a much larger version of the same thing. Just like steam trains.

Follow-up email just came through. I'm glad I waited. Guests ages 2 and above are required to take a viral COVID-19 test prior to embarkation and attest to a negative result. A PCR test may be taken within 48 hours before embarkation or a self-administered Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) may be taken within 24 hours. Guests who opt for the RAT must take a photo with their mobile device showing the results along with their full name, date and time of the test.

Maybe "report" the post, tick the "want to let a moderator know about it" and in the comments ask them to remove the image for your privacy.

I saw that, which is what I meant by it "contradicts their generic advice for Australia." And the New South Wales protocols for the cruise industry state that a self-test is fine, unless the passenger is symptomatic. Which is why I suspect this automated email (which had a whole bunch of other "tips and tricks") hasn't been updated with the latest information and a more up-to-date email will follow closer to the sail date, as happened with Westerdam. If not, I'll go for a PCR test the day before flying to Sydney. Edit: @DinkyDee67 you might want to delete that image and repost it without your booking number. If someone can figure out your name they can use it to mess with your booking. Or link to the generic advice for Australia

I'll wait for a follow-up email. Someone just posted that they're boarding the Westerdam in Sydney in 3 days and just received an email to say a self-test is fine.

Thanks for posting your experience. Am boarding Noordam in Sydney soon and just got an email from HAL stating that we need "medically observed COVID-19 test (PCR or antigen)" which contradicts their generic advice for Australia. Am pleased to hear that a self-administered RAT is OK, and we don't need to go through the hassle and expense to have a GP supervise the test.