TouchstoneFeste

The guidance in the U.S. seems to be that you may wear a hat indoors if it is a public space, such as an airport, public transportation, or a hotel, office building, or theater lobby. Even in an elevator, if no lady is present. https://www.gentlemansgazette.com/mens-hat-etiquette-guide/ https://www.levinehat.com/pages/hat-etiquette (etc.) The U.K. guidance - which would rule on a British ship - appears to be different, so forgive those ignorant of British practice. In no case, I agree, would it be appropriate at a black tie event, which is by definition indoors and private. Indeed, there is no specification for "which hat to wear with black tie", only for what you might wear with an evening overcoat to get to the event.

To close the loop: Each time I contacted the Ponant rep, the response was very quick, but not always helpful. I'd misunderstood the most recent response (after I'd sent in the screenshot) - the rep didn't explicitly ask for more information, so I let it ride for a few weeks. I decided to try again, sending a screenshot that included my name, Bonvoy member number, and the phrase "Valid through xx/xx/xx". I think it was that last thing that turned the trick. I got an approval message within 24 hours and it now shows up on my Ponant welcome page. (Bonvoy Gold Elite = Admiral status.) Unfortunately, from the messages here, it appears I won't be able to use it on my currently booked trip, so we'll have to see how it works out in the future.

Sounds plausible for a fast overnight to catch an early morning flight. Thanks for this.

There also seems to be a Bloc? hotel at the South Terminal as well as a Marriott Courtyard (across the tracks). Any thoughts?

FYI: It was time to start planning our air travel to and from our cruise (I'd previously exchanged emails with them and they suggested starting the process now), so I wrote to Ponant's designated provider at USairrequests@ponant.com I got this reply: Thank you for contacting Ponant Cruise Air Department. ***We are evaluating a new service for our AIR program. This will take a few months to be up and running. Once we are ready, we will certainly inform all of you so that you can avail of the new service. Until then, please note that we will not be able to service your requests for NEW air bookings. Thank you for your patience and understanding.*** Best regards, Ponant USA

None of the usual suspects has said it, so I will: Why not both?

Like you, I didn't trust the autopay last year and paid manually ahead of time. This year I let it ride and everything worked smoothly.

Well, two ships departing the next morning with a combined capacity of around 9,000. I realize that doesn't equate to 9,000 actual people spending the night ...

The Red Lion seemed like an excellent idea, so I emailed them for a dinner reservation because there will be 9,000 or so extra people in Southampton that night (and they don't have online reservations that I could find). I got a reply from the Red Lion email address, but from a restaurant called Bayleaf Kitchen. I appears to be adjacent to the Red Lion itself. It gets good reviews and we like Indian Food, but we were looking for pub food. Any thoughts on this?

You might track down your voyage's Roll Call and propose one ...

Also, I think*, none of the automatic (or for EU passengers, "suggested") $14.50/$16.50 hotel fee goes to the bar staff. So, the 15 percent on drinks isn't on top of the hotel fee - it goes to different people. Don't know why they do it this way. * Correct me if I'm wrong, folks.

Unless you're severely limited in time or you have already seen what you want of Athens on other trips, you should plan a few days there before or after the cruise. Like most of the ancient capital cities, there's a huge amount to do and see.

I also got a list from Customer Services before our trip ... but that was one of the ill-fated QM2 May crossings, so I can't report on which of them were waiting on the dock to board.

Was trying to remember where I saw this when I realized I have this handy search thingy on my computer: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast.html Good luck, hope it all works out.

Since we're talking about the "shambles" disembarking at Brooklyn ... is there any provision for the use of Global Entry there? (Prompted by the announcement that US Customs and Border Patrol is releasing a new Global Entry app.)

I'm sure you're aware, but just in case ... There are (at least?) two options to speed up normal passport processing: "expedited" processing, and super-fast delivery. They cost $ of course. I'm not sure if this would work any longer, but many many years ago I decided to travel overseas on relatively short notice but didn't have a passport. I visited the local office of our US Senator and the secretary arranged for it to be delivered in days. (Yes, he got my vote ever after. I sent the secretary a nice gift.)

Not quite sure how they structure the offers. We're in a Q5 on the same crossing as @Pushpit and got the offer to bid on upgrades all the way to Q1.

They were on the QM2 in May 2022, so apparently they're frequent visitors. We enjoyed them too.

Not the place for this discussion, I suppose, but having said that :) It seems like a poorer solution than allowing me to do it myself - or more to the point NOT do it if I just want a taste of each element.

Yes! Why on earth do they do this? We had a restaurant in town, otherwise fine, but they'd do this and also deliver the salad with all the ingredients in neat little piles around the plate. So we'd end up tossing our own salads and then disassembling the main course so we could cut the meat without squirting the potatoes across the plate.

Although this is an appropriate place for this question (and @fourmile.ranch gave the correct answer), I'll mention that there's a roll call for this voyage:

And I should have said more clearly ... there's no additional discount for buying a second plan for a spouse, although I suppose you could buy one plan for two devices and share an account. This would have saved a couple more bucks per day.

Prompted by this discussion, I decided to purchase our internet plans in advance. When I did so, I was first prompted to select which passenger, then it asked "for how many devices". (Afterwards, I was able to repeat the operation for my wife.) Since we'll have just one device each - $20 per day - I didn't look closely at the multi-device prices, but I recall it being something like $38 for two devices; adding more probably saved more, but again, I didn't particularly take note. Others may point out that you can actually use one device as a sort of a hub ...

I believe "ship of size" is the acceptable term, although "zaftig" or "big boned" may be used.

The French* call it "pain perdu" (lost bread) - bread that's still good, but too old to serve as "fresh". So ideally it would be slightly stale French bread. My mom made it with Wonder Bread, of course. Which I think can't actually go stale. *or at least hoity-toity French restaurants