TouchstoneFeste

Yes, down a very short side corridor. (That entrance was actually closed last week due to a leak, but they were fixing that and drying out the area at the end of the week.)

Mike Reiss (Simpsons writer/producer on the just-concluded eastbound transatlantic) suggested it was designed by M.C. Escher.

I was able to get the status match despite our (first, and so far only) cruise being booked through Smithsonian's website, so that shouldn't be an issue. Great question, though! With a second cruise now booked, my impression is that Smithsonian immediately hands off the booking to Ponant. We even receive updates on things like Smithsonian experts from our Ponant contact even though it appears the actual info would be originating with Smithsonian.

Asking me to pay attention to the world is frequently a lost cause! Please stop by if you see me. I'm hard to miss. I wear a kilt in the evenings.

Oops. You're both quite right. Made the same mistake as (whoever) made last week. No upcharge for the actual menu item, just for the recommended wine.

Here are the appetiser and entree/dessert pages for tonight. Hope these come through ... having trouble finding an angle that isn't all shadow from my phoneo ne.

No doubt, but I know I saw it last year on the eastbound. Alas. :)

A full house in the Theatre no less. Mr. Cleese is clearly showing his age ... but only physically. His mind is as sharp as ever.

In the Queen's Grill we have more upcharge Michel intRouxsions into the menu, but there are still multiple "regular" offerings. I think the other time this happened was the first gala night; on the other nights he hasn't made an appearance. Will that be the pattern?

Today's featured Insights presentation is John Cleese. That's something completely different, since there has been no hint of his presence before the daily programme came out last night. How did we miss him? He's like 6'6" or something.

fingers crossed for a restock :)

Actually, I think it's reckoned by the night, so really those last 3 hours on disembarkation are a freebie!

We don't doubt that you've seen this commentary online. Nor do we doubt that there are some snobbish jerks aboard any cruise or crossing, but they're a tiny minority. We've run into SO many lovely people on board, and apparently the snobbish jerks have avoided us :)

They went by so fast I couldn't tell.

I had a quiet day yesterday. The most exciting thing was a lecture about Little Red Riding Hood. More energizing than you might think. The temperature has been quite clement, in the 50s (F), but the winds are pretty high - 7/8 on the Beaufort scale. There seemed to be some wheelchair racing on the promenade.

I can't say, but I would if I were them. This is apparently a pretty hot item! :)

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the World Club reception yesterday afternoon. Really quite nice. We didn't know a soul! (Our third voyage, so our first invitation to the event.) A lovely couple from Alaska saw us standing alone and came over and said "We don't know anyone. Can we talk to you?" Captain Hashmi announced that he had recently taken his first actual vacation on a Cunard ship this past year! Her even displayed his room key card. With a red stripe.

It referenced you specifically :) but the moment has passed.

I thiink you've seen the display here before. It's in the main lobby. Here's a fuzzy photo, actually from December 2023.

What I haven't seen is the massive gingerbread Christmas village in the deck 2 hallway.

Lovely weather, so far ... people actually on the promenade deck in shorts today. However, the temperature has begun to drop, and we can expect some weather, we hear. Speakers have been great. Mike Reiss (longtime Simpsons write/producer) has been hilarious. Charlie Barclay (ex-VP of the Royal Astronomical Society) invited us to Deck 13 tonight around 10pm (the entire audience, not just my wife and I). I haven't made it, but people have been loving the true crime lecturer and the vampires-in-literature speaker was well received.

Yep, Queen Mary 2 on a transatlantic. I asked one of the clerks and he said they were for sure out of stock - he even remembered the hat specficially - well, it's a very nice one :) @JT1101, you can check next week, I guess, just in case they restock in Southampton.

Oh nos! Just checked the shop, and these don't seem to be there. A different white one, with QM2 a-sail, off center. If that would be an acceptable substitute, let me know.

Okay, I'll start it off, but I don't intend to spend my time doing exactly what I do at home (crouched over a computer), so I hope other Voyageurs join in. Embarkation was smooth for our noon arrival, although the actual boarding was delayed slightly. The Brooklyn Cruise Terminal has been reconfigured since we last passed through 2-1/2 years ago. The smallish lobby area is gone, so the entire space is a giant warehouse with efficient lanes leading you in and to your destinations. Security is still the first thing you encounter, but there seem to be many more x-ray stations than before. Just past security people were sorted into priority and non-priority lanes. (In our previous visit, just as the pandemic started settling into a routine and on the day of a five-borough bike race that shut down large sections of the city: NYC excursions had been cancelled due to the race, so the initial lobby was crowded with turnaround passengers as well as arriving ones, processing was delayed, it was a fiasco. The new arrangement allows for much greater flexitility.)

Damn! I was going to save mine for the Masquerade gala!