3rdGenCunarder

Those are incredible photos! Which port was this? I see some snow on the ground. Our sailing time for Tromso and Narvik is 1:30 AM. When I first read the itinerary, I thought it was 1:30 PM and thought we'd have a second morning in port. Cunard calls this departure "early morning" and technically, it is morning. But my concept of time calls that late night and 6AM is early morning.

The tables along the rail are the best two-tops. I was upstairs on Eurodam, at a table for 8, and there were mostly large tables near us. I don't remember seeing any two tops in the middle of those tables, but I can see how it would be busy just being nearby. Even without kids there's more bustle around a large table.

I didn't get a Voyage Log on my Eurodam cruise this winter. Maybe HAL is trying to hide something.

From the downloadable pdf about CO: If a stateroom upgrade is not available at that time, guests will receive an alternative benefit determined by our Ship Inventory team. They keep their options open. I believe someone posted that they got $50 OBC. Someone else got a small reduction in the price of their CO upgrade. If the ship is sold out, it's possible that CO will be sold out, too. They do limit the numbers.

DH was not a purist. he had a red tie and cummerbund set, a beautiful marbled silk tie and waistcoat, and a bright tropical set bought and worn on a dare. And, of course, a black set.

Unless someone who works in HAL's HR department posts here, we won't know for certain how the staffing levels are.

If that will get your day started, you'll be happy with it. DH used to fall asleep in the heated loungers.

I love the thermal suites on the Vistas. The hydropool is pleasantly warm, but not lobster-boil hot. There are loungers and chairs around the pool. The ceramic heated loungers are in a separate room, and there's also steam, and maybe a sauna. I don't use those. I just use the pool and the heated loungers. .

I think the thermal suite opens at 8 AM. It's often quiet in the morning. If I'm in there alone, sometimes I don't even bother to turn on the bubbles. The hydropool is great for physical therapy. I walked off mild sciatica in a ship's thermal pool. Which ship are you on? The two smallest don't have a hydropool, just a jacuzzi.

I don't know that I've seen Broadway Rocks, but I remember a Broadway themed show from many years ago (anyone remember the "Broadway Bound" troupe?). It annoyed me because in a few places, the song chosen was one that had been added to the movie and had NEVER been sung on Broadway. If someone is putting together a musical show, shouldn't he/she/they know something about musicals????

The color themes are pretty easy because they're colors people are likely to have. For the red and gold, some women wear a red dress, not a red-and-gold dress. Close enough for the theme. I found that, in Alaska, the "ice white" (actually, white or blue or silver) was followed more than I had expected. On that cruise, I'd say possibly as many as 30% were dressed for Roaring Twenties. Of course, for men it's easy, they can get away with a tux. But I saw some beautiful '20s dresses on that cruise. I love mine. It's easy to pack and fun to wear. The masquerade theme is meant to be more of a masked ball (think feathered mardi gras mask), not a costume party. As @BigMac1953 said, the people who follow it most are the people who are going to the Queens room to dance or watch the dancing. That said, do people wear costumes if the masquerade night is on Halloween?

My impression was that some hallways to cabinis on K'dam were narrower than on other ships. I saw a man on a scooter having a hard time making one of the turns. It wasn't an excessively large scooter, but it barely got around the corner without hitting a wall.

LC is not the same agency as Billboard, but it's still an outside entity determining the sets. I didn't mind them repeating the sets. I can listen to a good performance more than once. I wonder if the sets have changed with the loss of one of the violins. They never did the movie theme set on my cruise this winter. They did repeat some sets, so it wasn't like they didn't have a spot for it.

If the display lasts long enough (assuming there is one!) I will probably play with settings. Supposedly, the full moon can give opportunities to have near objects (people) lighted instead of silhouetted in front of the aurora.

I don't think I can do one second handheld, even with stabilization. I need to go outside at night and practice! I really don't want to drag along a tripod, but I'm thinking about a monopod.

It's nice that they're having their photographers do some teaching. I don't think I've seen workshops before. It should be something they offer on every cruise, even if it's pretty basic stuff. I'm amazed at how little some people know about their cameras. I did the "whale watch and photo safari" in Juneau, and the camera expert gave some hints during the bus ride to the boat. Then he went to each person to see if they needed help. A lot of people had expensive DSLRs and no idea how to use any of the settings. They had spent a lot of money for a camera they were using like a point-and-shoot that would have cost a lot less. I listened to him, and he was a good teacher. Most people had Canon or Nikon. He got to me and looked at my Leica, and looked at me with his eyebrows raised. I smiled and said, "I'm fine. I've had a camera since I was 8." He teased the two German passengers on the tour that the only German camera wasn't in their hands.

Sets are determined by the agency that places them. On one of my cruises, on sea days they performed solo or in twos, as "recitals," for which they chose the music. Pre-determined sets are better than some of the musical groups I've seen where they confer between sets. "What should we play next?" discussions on stage are unprofessional. Billboard has pre-determined sets, too. The CD on Eurodam did interviews with the various musical groups, and the Billboard duo said they have to learn and play the arrangements as given. And, while they enjoyed playing all of the sets, they really loved the "request nights," when they were off the leash, so to speak.

Yes, the first two times I saw LC on K'dam, there were five musicians. This past winter in Eurodam, I was surprised that they had cut down to four. I agree that chamber music is not best enjoyed in a large space like the World Stage. But LC had some non-classical sets, like movie music and Beatles that would have been good in World Stage, if seating was restricted/encouraged to be near the musicians. But if HAL puts them in World Stage and amplifies them, I'm out. One of the worst musical acts I've heard on a cruise was electric violin. No, no, no, that's just wrong. Whatever it was, it didn't sound like a violin. I've also heard a grand piano amplified to the point of sounding tinny, like a child's toy. I wouldn't have thought it possible to destroy the sound of a good piano if I hadn't heard it for myself.

I have an expensive digital camera, but there are times, especially bright daylight when my phone does better capturing colors--and my phone is not one with a fabulous camera, like the newer iphones. I suspect it's because I forget to adjust settings on the "good" camera when I'm in a hurry. But the camera has a cool function for hand-held night shots. It takes a burst of pictures and "assembles" the best bits. Someone recently told me that even if the lights aren't great, keep taking pictures because the camera will see more than your eyes do. I plan to go out at night and play with the camera settings to see what works best. I will follow your example and have clothes ready if the call comes to see the lights. I'm glad they're using the bridge cam channel. At least the light of the TV won't keep me awake!

Thank you! That helps a lot! I think I'm on the train going up because my calendar on the website says 8:30. My booking confirmation says 9:30, so maybe they moved me to the earlier time. Or the schedule changed. But it makes sense to have the bus go up later, as the train makes photo op stops along the way (according to their website)

Thank you! I'll be traveling around full moon, too. The next cruise is new moon, but the timing of the cruise didn't work for me. I'll be going in November, which is less likely to be as cold and snowy as the reports of the March cruises have been. Daytimie temps in town are above freezing and night lows just barely under it. So even going out of town shouldn't be too bad. When I was riding, we went all winter unless it was bitter, so I have all sorts of warm layers, including silk liners, which are miraculous.

Thanks for the info. How nice to have two full days and evenings. My cruise has an 'overnight' that leaves at 1:30 AM. So it's really one day with a late departure. What was the northern lights bus tour like? Was it a large coach? Were you happy with the amount of time outside? I'll be there in November, and sunset is a bit before 3 PM. None of the tours appeals to me because of the way they combine sites, so I think I'll wander around in the city. I'm thinking about taking the shuttle to the city, then the bus to the cablecar in time to see sunset from up there. And maybe a photo stop at the Arctic Cathedral on the way back if there's a good stop on the return route.

I know, but I still feel guilty. The first time I got a HC room in a hotel, I called the front desk to make sure they didn't need it for someone else.

I have done some research on the Ports of Call boards, but I have a few questions that are about how Cunard handles some things. I'm hoping someone who has done the Northern Lights cruise on a Cunard ship can help. In Tromso, I was hoping that we would dock right in town, but we're at an industrial dock about 2 miles outside the town. I guess QV is too long for the close dock. Was there a shuttle bus into town and what hours did it run? We're there from 9 AM to 1:30 AM. (I just love how Cunard pretends leaving at that hour makes the second day a "port day") If we were docked right in town, I'd consider taking the bus to the cable car to look for northern lights on my own. But with us being so far out, that seems iffy. Similar question about Narvik. We're a little less than a mile out of town, so it seems walkable. I've never been to Narvik. I'm doing the Ofoten train, and the station looks farther from the port that I want to walk. The post I saw on Ports of Call was about a Fred Olsen cruise, and they chartered the whole train. Cunard says we will be on a train with other people, and it's train one way, bus the other way. Has anyone had experience with Cunard's version of the train excursion? I'm concerned that all the window seats will have been taken by the time we get there. Finally, if the lights are spotted while we're at sea, is there an announcement?

I know that a business doesn't want to leave a cabin or hotel room sitting empty, but I always feel guilty when I get a HC room in a hotel, like I'm taking it away from someone who needs it. A friend got reassigned to a HC cabin on a cruise last fall when ships were still holding blocks of cabins for covid quarantine. Her original cabin was in that block, so they found her something else.