Britni.Pepper

Never assume that these people know what they are doing and are competent. They get trained, they know that when they "press the button" they need to go through the procedures - all the procedures - and they get paid for a day's work. A good day for them is when they do everything by the book. A passenger may safely be regarded as up to no good - because some indeed are - and if you let the ones with tight connections through unmolested, then that's the way anyone trying to smuggle something through will do it. There are a thousand tales of excessive zeal on the part of TSA or equivalent. I remember reading a story of some teenager who dropped their phone into the plane toilet and had security divert the plane away from the terminal on landing, police question every passenger, and when they identified the culprit - who had made themselves known to the cabin crew immediately - gave him a long lecture and released him into the icy glares of the other passengers waiting for a shuttle bus to take them to the terminal.

Looking further into the cruise, I find that Cunard has something similar in a few months' time: a 7-night cruise from Southhampton to New York. All sea days, Queen Mary 2, a parade of writers several of whom are rightly famed. Lynda La Plante, Val McDermid, Kate Mosse, Antony Beevor. Authors, editors, agents, dramatists, comedians etc. If the Australian version attracts a similar spread of talent it will be well worthwhile. I wonder if I can claim it as a tax deduction for professional development. Britni

Thank you, John. Just browsing through the site gives a lot of information, often contradictory. I see reports from two different passengers on the same cruise with vastly different experiences, for example! All told, lots of super information and resources. I’m very interested to see what the final programme looks like. I think that this will be a great bargain. Often a writer's festival weekend in some soulless convention hotel can run to hundreds, even thousands, of dollars. This cruise will be a festival with an ocean view and the chance of being drowned, to quote Dr Johnson. Famous authors are always great to hear and I’ve done my share of fangirling to stars like Alexander McCall Smith and Daniel Silva but sometimes the nuts and bolts of writing and publishing are what really matters. Pretty much every reader I’ve ever met is full of stories of their own, just looking for ways of telling them. As for Melbourne, art galleries (both official and street art), fairy penguins, The World's Happiest Tram Driver, great food and drink. The laneway Bistros in the central city are extraordinary. I wrote a story about the world's best coffee recently. In my own travels, very few places compare for coffee with Melbourne. Britni

I'm new to Cruise Critic, so be gentle with me. I have just this moment discovered the Australian Literature Festival at Sea taking place aboard a short cruise on the Queen Elizabeth out of Sydney in December 2024. I'll be there. And what do I wear after four years of working from home?