TouchstoneFeste

While I would agree overall that Venice should be seen on foot, that vaporetto trip down the Grand Canal is pretty spectacular ...

Unless I've missed something, the Verandah bar area is literally the only access to the outside deck that doesn't require you to go up or down a deck. Am I right?

You might want to check how many big ships will be in port that day to judge the competition, so to speak. Over on the British Isles/Western Europe forum, this topic is covered extensively, and one piece of advice I've seen repeatedly is to book the taxi through the hotel the night before, perhaps as you check in. All that said, taxis are plentiful, and the rides are short.

Personally I was disappointed in the quality of the ceilidh we experienced in Cunard 4th class 🙂 We did the behind the scenes tour last December. We passed through the crew quarters area, but weren't allowed into any actual cabins. While passing along the Burma Road we were allowed to peek into the crew cafeteria, which seemed large and cheerful. We were told the food catered to the taste of the mostly Asian crew (so I agree with the suggestion that a "crew menu" night might be very good.)

To be fair, the ploughman was only 4' 4"

I'll respectfully disagree. :)

I agree with you in spirit - I often wear "smart" grey or black jeans with a sport coat to the theater or concerts in the U.S. - but they really do violate the letter of the law. I don't wear them in the evenings on Cunard in spite of the fact that I think I look much better in them than I do in dress trousers. I disagree with you @D&N I think the message is clear. I think the "request" is just a polite way of saying "Don't do this". And even I - a dedicated jeans guy - don't think jeans are trousers. If Cunard didn't think it mattered, they would just leave the term off the description of acceptable wear. They'd just say "we request you wear collared shirt", period.

It gets more complicated. In my part of the U.S. the generic term for "carbonated soft drink" is "pop". (I had to backtrack and replace it with "soda" in my post above.) I'm told, although I haven't experienced it myself, that "coke" does that job in the southeast (so you have to describe what kind of coke you want). "Soda" seems to be the preferred term in the northeast, so I cause confusion when I order an unflavored carbonated water in NYC.

That's odd. I can't remember the last time I was in a restaurant where a soda wasn't refilled for free so I don't know why they'd bother putting it in a smaller glass. I'll try asking for no ice next time and see what happens. I'm speaking of fountain drinks (perhaps known as draught in the UK?) of course.

The demographic mix could well have changed somewhat between the first few (overloaded with Cunard old-timers who wanted to be first) and later voyages.

The last time I was at the Met in New York, I specifically looked around to see how people were dressed. Full house, and only about 10 other men were wearing a tie. (Is that the experience at the ROH? Or do people tend to dress more formally overall?)

Of course, that's sort of the definition of "appetizer" ...

Can't comment on the kayak option. Regarding the walls, though: Although a good guide can always enhance your visit, you probably don't *need* one for walking the walls - guide books or online research should suffice. It's a great walk with excellent vistas and numerous points of interest, but not very complicated. The GOT tour will probably take you back up to the walls, by the way. Several points were used as shooting locations.

Well, to be fair, in this case he IS in charge. :)

I'm sure our misplaced bag was an anomaly. (It was delivered, ultimately. By our neighbor.) Nonetheless, I'd be inclined to include a Cunard tag if at all possible.

I'd avoid relying solely on Luggage Forward's tags (which as I recall do have your sailing, sailing date, and cabin number on them, but in tiny letters). On our first use of LF I misread the instructions and intentionally left off the Cunard tags. One bag was delivered to a different cabin. So try to employ one of the methods recommended above.

No wonder she's still a virgin.

I just love watching you work, man :)

In the interest of science: My wife's is a different 10 digit number. The first 8 digits are the same, the last two are "...89" and "...96"

Mine is 10 digits with no letters. I'm in the U.S. We booked our first Cunard voyage in 2020.

Ours left London around sunrise, so it turned out to be a "Pretty early in the morning" tour; still, it was breathtaking to be alone in the inner ring. The facilities were open and the regular tour buses were just starting to arrive as we left.

Must have been windy to get that seaweed blown across their faces.

Sorry exlondoner, out of my scope of knowledge. It was the folks who check your passports and make you look into a camera before saying "welcome home". Jack "Customs" always felt like the right word to me, too, especially when returning home to the U.S. The vast majority of people arriving (anywhere other than our southern border) haven't any intention of changing their nation of residency. (That's how my brain works, anyway.) Plus of course that "immigration" has become a seriously loaded word.

When I repeated the original poster's question, I didn't mean to suggest this isn't a worthy topic as well. Just wanted to make sure it didn't get lost.

But the original question wasn't "How could we possibly find each other on this huge ship?" It was "How can we send a 'Come here right now!' message?"