TouchstoneFeste

11 hours ago, Joe33472 said:

 

That's cool.  I knew that there was coffee in Grills Lounge, but figured it wasn't specialty coffee.  I found a pic of Sir Samuels online and the coffee machine looks like this on the left. 

 

I don't know what that type of machine is called, but I like the espresso that comes out of these types of machines a lot.   I'm not sure of the date of this picture, so they may have already installed something like this:

 

Starbuck and a lot of other retail coffee shops us the later or industrial versions of same, and it's okay in a pinch, but prefer the old school method.  

 

 

The first picture appears to be an old school espresso machine as you will find in good coffee shops everywhere - you put freshly ground coffee into the little receptable and force pressurized water through it. The second one, based on the cups appearing next to it, looks like it might be one of those  self-serve machines that uses coffee "syrups" (or sometimes non-freshly ground coffee) to make a variety of coffee drinks to order. I haven't seen any in coffee shops in the US, but you may be right about Starbucks. I have seen them in roadside "truck stops" in Italy. (They don't seem to have made much progress in US truck stops, which typically serve percolated coffee in urns.) As you say, the coffee from the second machine is sometimes acceptable, but not as good as the results from the real espresso machine.

A year ago, Sir Samuel's was still using a real espresso machine.

1 hour ago, Victoria2 said:

 

All the links given make interesting reading and I'm sure, a high percentage of it is fact but I can't see where specific emotive Cunard points I questioned eg slave labour wages/boosting profits, are addressed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, no. I wasn't addressing that issue at all. Just support for my own argument.

It would be really lovely if crews were paid properly. Also if there were no wars, and all children were given free kittens. That's not the world we live in, however. Like the staff in a US restaurant, cruise ship crews are dependent on tips for a significant percentage of their income. You won't change that by removing the auto-gratuities from your bill. Perhaps you could change it by declining to book passage with those lines that have auto-gratuities and informing management of that fact.

In the US, people seem finally to be catching on to the fact that if you can't afford to tip the restaurant staff, you can't afford to patronize that restaurant. The same should apply to cruise ships. To do otherwise seems ... well, I won't say it.

For @Victoria2    :)

https://lifewellcruised.com/cruise-tipping-guidelines/

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/cruise-ship-tipping/

https://cruisemaven.com/cruise-ship-gratuities/

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense

Note that the last of these references is Royal Caribbean's statement on the issue.

I've made my case, and will now bow out of the discussion.

Aren't the auto-gratuities also shared among the laundry folk, garbage luggers, and others who aren't customer-facing?

1 hour ago, ExArkie said:

Probably would be double only if both directions are international and require Customs clearance. Our shipped bag from Michigan to Southampton was about twice the cost of the same bag shipped from Brooklyn back home.

You're right, our "round trip" was less than double. Cleveland to Brooklyn Cruise Terminal was $124 for a large bag. I think the original posters would be doing a Southampton to Southampton cruise, though, since they're doing Spain before and Italy after.

Wow.

Hey, @sundaypeople5, you could, you know, hire me to drag your bags around ...

34 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Assuming that's one way, to ship to and from the ship would be double? I call that an expense I could do without if judicious packing negates the need to ship a case.

Yep, one way. Still worth it for us.

1 hour ago, Victoria2 said:

Shipping a case will be expensive.

"Expensive" is in the eye of the beholder, though. It cost us $275 to ship a large case from Southampton to Ohio last year. That's not nothing, but it's not more than a couple nights at nice restaurants. For us, it was definitely worth it - we weren't lugging around clothing we couldn't use ashore, and we had the clothes we really wanted onboard. Not to diminish your advice or that of others on the forum - if you can pack lighter and do laundry onboard, do so; but shipping is an alternative.

5 hours ago, DrTee said:

We’ve settled on the NU Hotel in Brooklyn.  

We've looked at that a few times, so I'd be interested in your comments after your visit.

8 minutes ago, TheOldBear said:

- Renting for malware on board

 - Purchasing for malware in Southampton

Certainly paying for malware would be worse that picking up the free kind! :)

Seriously (allowing for autocorrect issues) your options make sense as well.

10 hours ago, NE John said:

So…My only concern is lugging an extra garment bag around the land portion to hold our TA attire. Any ideas about transporting the extra luggage? Has anyone used the Cunard luggage service?

We used the service (outbound and return) last spring and will use it again for an upcoming voyage. When you click through the Cunard White Star service, it will take you to a special Cunard page at Luggage Forward. I booked our luggage shipment directly with LF. I don't think there was a penalty in price or service options for doing so, but (at the time, at least) Cunard specified that only clothing items could be shipped; Luggage Forward will actually ship anything that's TSA/airline compliant. This might have contributed to the only problem we encountered with the service (see below).

We had to specify what bags we would ship at the time of booking ("large red suitcase", etc.). You mention a garment bag (and LF will ship sports equipment and bicycles, so this wouldn't be a problem), but I'd recommended a normal suitcase, since your piece may be sitting at a depot for a while.

You'll want to contact Luggage Forward (either way) about 3-4 weeks in advance. For standard 5-business-day service (one week of real time) we booked a morning pickup 7 days before embarkation; we left the bags in a secure outdoor location and they disappeared when we weren't looking :) You can also arrange a drop-off at a LF location, I believe.

The standard insurance appeared to be pretty good, but we opted to boost it (for a modest cost) to cover some expensive items.

They notified us of pickups and deliveries, and the online tracking system indicated that the bags in both directions were delivered well ahead of schedule.

Our one problem: LF specified that ONLY their tag be applied, not the Cunard tags. Well, both of our bags arrived on board just fine, but one was delivered to the wrong room ("Hello, neighbor") and the other arrived only after we sicced our room steward on it. I suspect this was due to the bags not having the standard Cunard tags on them, so this is something I'll wrangle with LF about, next time.

Since you'll be travelling before your transatlantic, you'll need to arrange the timing carefully, and you may want to take measures to ensure the bags waiting in Southampton are actually moved onto the ship. Luggage tracking tags?

3 hours ago, paulco said:

The front desk at The Jane called me a cab, no problem, a quick scenic ride to Red Hook.

For sure, you can get a cab ... you just won't spot one drifting by very often.

17 hours ago, skleeb said:

What are the advantages to these 3? Do you know if they are near Penn Station(which I would need) or how far miles and timewise from the dock? Do they give a group discount if a lot of passengers will be using the hotel? Is it better to get your own transportation? Thanks.

I don't think people have responded directly to one of your questions, so here goes.

The hotels Cunard uses all look like at least a 10 minute walk from Penn Station, but you'd need to get through the theater district and Times Square, so the timing would depend heavily on what day and time you're arriving. (For what it's worth, given their locations a cab ride probably wouldn't be significantly quicker.) On the other hand, you would certainly not be the only person dragging a few suitcases through Times Square, regardless of the day or time. Overall, they're not a particularly desirable location unless you plan activities in midtown.

8 hours ago, paulco said:

I love/stay at the Jane. It’s right on the Hudson west village.   It housed survivors of the Titanic crew!!

The Jane is a fun, quirky hotel, but be aware that the area is not well served by taxis.

On 2/3/2023 at 9:01 PM, skleeb said:

What time did you get off of the ship? I need to get back to the train station and get back home, so I want to know which train I need. How long is the ferry ride? Then how long is it to get to Grand Central?

You should also think through how much luggage you'll be wrangling. The subways are not particularly friendly for luggage. Personally, I'd be inclined to just bite the bullet and take a cab.

I see that the Coronation of King Charles will take place on May 6 with celebrations over the weekend and a special Bank Holiday.

Should be interesting for those of us arriving (that would be me and my wife) or departing Southampton that weekend. Glad we already have a hotel booked in London.

17 hours ago, buchanan101 said:

I don’t think “Brits” is anything more than a very slightly lazy Americanisation. I mean we British sometimes (less so it seems) call Americans “Yanks” which may well be slightly insulting to them? 

I don't find "Yanks" insulting, for what it's worth; kind of charming, in my opinion, even when used by people from south of the Mason-Dixon line. And "Americans" excludes a lot of territory to the north and south, and "People from the United States" is a mouthful.

My wife, on the other hand, spent her high school years in Canada during the Vietnam war, and she tells me she often heard it in a derogatory context, so it troubles her. And of course back in the mid-20th Century, we heard a lot about "Yanqui go home" from our southern neighbors ... so maybe I'm under-sensitive :)

21 hours ago, exlondoner said:

I and many others find it a little offensive and rather dismissive. Had you understood my post, you would have realised that I was not suggesting that, rather implying that those who live in NI may get rather bored or even a little vexed by being perpetually overlooked.

I've taken care not to use the term since you first mentioned disliking it a few months ago (and seeing that some other British folk out there agree with you). However, please be aware that most of us over here use the term affectionately.

On 1/4/2023 at 2:54 AM, Victoria2 said:

Is this a pukka news site as I haven't seen any comments so far passengers were made aware of the dry docking schedule when embarking?

 

There's another British (I assume) term I'd never run into before. Does "pukka" mean roughly "genuine"? How's it pronounced? Seems very useful.

21 hours ago, Anne001 said:

Thank you BigMac, I was thinking more of the users than the lifts themselves! I’m a light sleeper.

If you mean noise from passengers waiting for the lift ...

The lifts are in dedicated stairwells, so you don't hear passengers waiting; it's not a raucous crowd. We were in 9063 - one of the cabins directly opposite the stairwell - and never heard a peep.

On 12/31/2022 at 11:16 AM, LB_NJ said:

Room service coffee, in fact full room service breakfast, was free last time I cruised.

 

I have been using an instant coffee at home that I like a lot, there are a number of decent instant coffees in the market these days. Almost as good as brewed coffee. Better than what they are likely to provide in the stateroom.

 

I found the room service coffee to be acceptable. Might have been made from a liquid concentrate? and not as good as what we brew at home, but a step up from instant, in my opinion.

Regular ol' American style coffee can also be drawn from the urns in the buffet as early as 5am* if you're willing to venture out before room service arrives.

* I didn't try earlier than that.

18 hours ago, babs135 said:

Just do a search for vintage dance groups

To confirm dates for this particular group will be April 30th, May 26th and July 14th

Actually, if anyone can provide better leads, that would be helpful. "Vintage dance groups" brings up a bewildering variety of folk dancers, Fred Astaire impersonators, etc. "Cruise dance groups" isn't much better. Couldn't find any reference to the group on the April 30, 2023 departure. Is it permitted to post the actual names of the groups? Or is that too close to posting travel agencies?

38 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Really? I can't do cryptic. Add gold and it might be a Gala Ball colour scheme but then if the orcas are badly dressed, they wouldn't be following a suggested theme but then if they were back in the sea, they wouldn't be following any dress code.

 

Then again, it might be a Tolkien reference but the inference there is unkind so it wouldn't be that.

 

Would it?

 

Oh well.  😕

Oh, dear. No unkindness intended on my part. I enjoy your thoughtful and big-hearted posts.

1 hour ago, buchanan101 said:

The lighting is great, and a total accident...just would have been nice to have had more resolution in the picture...

 

It's no good as a PC desktop image so I will just have to stick with my skiing one...

And the composition is outstanding. The clouds really coopeerated.

1 hour ago, Victoria2 said:

Que?

In Tolkien. Ents = "tree-like shepherds of the forest". Hence the follow-on hobbit jokes.

13 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

I recognised quite a few of the Ents staff too.

But to be fair, it's hard to tell them apart, with the leaves and all ...