3rdGenCunarder

I would like to see that, too, but I doubt it will happen. Cunard has a bid for upgrade process. There's a thread about it on the Cunard board. Not many people have been successful from what I can see. The process is run by an outside company, so you can't call Cunard to find out where you are in the bidding--it isn't like ebay where you get an email saying "you have been outbid." So zero transparency. Cunard doesn't take your money when you bid, but you have to give them a credit card number. If your bid is accepted, they charge your card and give you the new cabin. You can't go back or request a cabin change. Like the HAL standby offer, you get what they give you. I received a bid offer for my recent Queen Victoria cruise. I had a balcony cabin and was invited to bid on Club and Princess Grill (but not Queens Grill). There was a minimum bid for each level. I bid only on Princess Grill, about halfway between the minimum and the going rate on the website. I checked the website from time to time. When I bid, there were only a few PG cabins available, and there was at least one available until about 2 weeks out. I didn't get an upgrade, but I was fine with my balcony.

But by day 8 (you mean 8 days before sailing, yes?), there could be a lot of people in line ahead of you.

I doubt they will let people book excursions or specialty restaurants until they clear the waitlist. HAL says people are notified "approximately 7 days" before sailing, but how much leeway is there in "approximately?"

I liked the Microsoft classes because they taught techniques you might not pick up on your own. I've been to too many computer classes that start with a basic refresher (this is the monitor, this is the keyboard...) that insults people's intelligence. Kind of like an hour to learn how to boil an egg... Handing someone a script and saying "teach this class" is a joke. HAL is doing that with lots of programs. No more "experts." Port lectures are pictures and someone reading a script cold. The lecturer doesn't know anything about the port and can't answer questions that aren't in the script. Even the canal transits feature the ED reading from a script.

I do believe it. DH could walk long distances, but standing still for too long made him feel lightheaded. I have three Cunard cruises booked and I received the email @BklynBoy8 mentioned for each cruise. Apparently, some people who needed mobility assistance on board hadn't let Cunard know in advance and were denied boarding. The issue seems to be limited staff to assist passengers on a one-to-one basis in an emergency. So when you call, make sure they understand that standing at embarkation is the only issue.

It's been a year since I embarked in Brooklyn, but I remember that there was a row of chairs near the entrance to the terminal where people could wait for wheelchair assistance. There was one VERY unhappy couple who had assumed that all they had to do was turn up and ask and a wheelchair would arrive asap. Instead, they had to wait until someone was available to help them. @cruisin4thedeepblue, does your wife expect to need a wheelchair on board, or just to deal with standing in line for embarkation? If it's only for embarkation, you don't need to rent anything, but you should contact Cunard and ask how to arrange help with embarkation.

Nice pictures! There were some people using their flashes on my lights chase, too. The guides asked them to turn off the flash, but they didn't.

That wouldn't bother me, as I'm used to dogs--my family all have multiple dogs as large as Toby. Anyway, I'm sure the cabin is thoroughly cleaned in case the next occupant has allergies. The reference to Bonios brought back memories. My Airedale was quite fond of them.

Is there a gap after QV's world cruise? The spa loungers are in need of new cushions--the old ones are too thin and you can feel every bump in the wicker. A woman at the spa desk said the spa is "getting a refit after the world cruise and everything will be refreshed."

Your tiny dictator is learning how to travel well. You can nap anytime, but don't miss the sights!

I remember the old Westside piers in NYC had conveyor belts (like the ones used to load baggage into planes) and the stevedores just tossed bags onto it. There was always a net underneath, but it never looked terribly sturdy.

It's the same thing in either direction. On land, the port is responsible and on the ship Cunard is responsible. That moment of transition between the two is a sort of "no man's land." When someone took one of my cases on Brooklyn, I asked one of the port staff called the ship to see if everything had been taken off the ship. The ship said it had and that was the end of their help. The port helped me track down my case and got it back to me.

Both Cunard and the port have liability insurance and I suspect the insurance companies are fighting it out over which entity is at fault. For disembarkation, Cunard loads the cages inside the ship. Were they loaded properly? The port removes the cages from the ship. Were they picked up (usually a forklift) and carried properly? The weather was horrible that day, so they might hide behind that ("act of God"). Does anyone know if the full cages went into the water with their contents or did the cages dump their contents?

Glad you got a good resolution. It certainly wasn't easy. I wonder what the outcome was for people who didn't put in the effort you did.

I boarded at Mayflower terminal last week on QV. My time was 1:30. I'm diamond and in Britannia. I got to the terminal around noon. There was a queue along the side of the building. I approached the building from the opposite side, so I didn't see the whole queue. Maybe 100-200 people? I showed my boarding pass. It said diamond, but not priority. The man said ah, diamond, go through. So I went in and got checked in and then sat to wait for boarding to commence. There were plenty of people at the desks, both priority and not. But for whatever reason, they weren't letting in people in what I believe was the non-priority queue. This makes no sense to me, as there were workers ready to help them and plenty of seating for them while they waited to board. Perhaps Cunard are digging in their heels about the nonpriority people arriving at the assigned time? There were 8-10 rows of people sitting in the priority area. They called QG first and PG a few minutes later. Then diamond. The line for security never backed up. I don't know how they managed it for platinum, which seemed to be the largest number of priority passengers. Possibly they were called row by row.

A few things I've been forgetting. Electrical outlets. Not many! The desk has 2 US, 1 UK and one European round pin. That's it. No USB. No outlets by the bed, just light switches. I'm in Britannia. A man I spoke to at tea said his only complaint about the ship was that there was only one USB. So maybe he's in a grills cabin? I went back and looked, and I definitely do not hae a USB. The other electrical problem is that there is a little shelf above the desk. It sticks out over the outlets. The shelf is about 4 inches above the desk. The outlets are centered in that space. The charger for my camera battery is a block that goes directly into the outlet. It's too big to fit. I have to go to the library and plug it in there and sit and read or use the iternet while it charges. If you have any doubts about your electrical needs, bring an extension cord (without surge protector) or a "squid." The ship won't lend you one unless it's for medical reasons. Gloves. I recommend a trip to Poundland when you're in Southampton. I bought these gloves for 3 pounds. They're heavy enough to keep my fingers mostly warm (Up to about 1.5 hours) and the silver tips really do work on a cell phone screen. The ones I've seen in the US are very thin. These are much better.

I agree about HAL. I like to do a Caribbean cruise each winter as a warm getaway. When I eliminate the megas and the small luxury expensive all-inclusives, HAL is pretty much all that's left for me. Having QE based in North America suits me fine! I was afraid we'd get QA.

That's great! How did you manage to get a picture without a bunch of people in front of you? Were you on the 7:30? That doesn't look like where they took us for the 6:30. How did you do in Narvik? I decided not to go out, it was too cold. We didn't get any lights from the ship that night.

Oh, I've had plenty! 😋🍸

Entertainment, as always, is varied. They had to stop the show the first night ""Be Our Guest" because of a "technical issue." Later, I heard that one of the four singers had fallen and injured her ankle. The second production show (One Way or Another) had only one female singer instead of two, and she had to handle all the songs for both. That meant some very fast costume changes. I had heard from a friend that shows are being produced cheaply. Music written for the show (and belonging to Cunard) to avoid royalties. I paid attention, and some of the longer songs in the second show that were danced to are old enough to be public domain. One section of rock & roll used very short snippets of lots of different songs. There is a "fair use" rule where a small amount of published material may be used without royalties. This is generally meant to cover excerpts used in a review of something. But I wonder if Cunard is cutting corners that way? I didn't care for One Way or Another. It had a lot of dancing and seemed rushed. It felt like a cheap replacement for Apassionata. Guest performers have been good. A woman who has been in West End plays (including Mamma Mia! twice). I can't remember her first name. Last name is Tierney. Good strong voice. And brave--she opened with Goldfinger, a song so identified with Shirley Bassey that it's hard to imagine anyone else singing it. She did well with it. We also had Joe Stilgoe, who I gather is well-known in the UK. I didn't know who he is. Jazz pianist. He did a set with the orchestra and another the next night with just the piano. Two very different kinds of performance and both fantastic. The one place HAL has shone in recent years (until lately) was the classical "Lincoln Center Stage." They have ruined me for other classical groups. There's a trio on QV. I've only seen them play in the Commodore Club, and they seem tentative. Perhaps the instruction for musicians there is to just be a background and not give a "real" performance? One of the ladies at my dinner table reports that the dance hosts are excellent. I'm in Britannia, and the food is not inspiring. Nothing is bad, but it's rather bland. It's been a week and still waiting for duck or lamb chops (although there's been leg of lamb twice). There's been more pork than beef, a fair variety of fish. Nothing ethnic or exotic. For that you have to go to the buffet. So far there has been Chinese dinner, Indian dinner, Scandanavian dinner. I go to the buffet for lunch. The salad bar is excellent. it's great on QE, too. Why QM2 can't put together a decent salad bar mystifies me. So I get a big salad and a little something else. Today my something else was lasagna with aubergine and spinach. Other days, I have pizza or a slice of what's being carved. I tried Nordlys, the Lido special restaurant. It was delicious. Reindeer, venison, but no elk. Cod, halibut, duck. The amuse bouche was a grilled sea scallop. I would have loved them for a main course. I had grilled langoustines for a starter, duck breast for a main, and a trio of Norwegian desserts. My only complaint is that the lighting could have been turned down more. They use tables by the windows, so you can ignore the cafeteria area, but softer lighting would have been nice. One more bit of photo advice. See what your camera's presets can do. We had good lights on the sea night between Tromso and Narvik. I was lucky because my balcony faced north at that point. I played with settings a bit. I tried "program" to see what my camera would do. It did beautifully. I geeked out over settings when all I had to do was trust the computer in my camera.

We have been lucky with weather. All port days have been sunny. The cruise starts with two sea days. Going up the Channel into the North Sea, we had rough weather. They drained the Pavillion pool and closed the thermal pool until the sea was calmer late in the day. Pavillion pool is still empty and netted. I think the aft pool is empty, too. The hot tubs at the Pavillion are open during the day. They give off a fair amount of steam. The grill at the pool is open, even on the cold days. I feel sorry for the cook, who has to be bundled up. First port was Alesund. The ship docks downtown, so it's easy to get out and walk around. Look up! Most of Alesund was destroyed by a fire in 1905. When they rebuilt, the style was art nouveau, so the houses have interesting decorations. There are turrets and spires on many of the houses. There's a part that overlooks the city. 481 steps to climb to the top. Several of the tours stop there, and there's a tram ride that goes around town and up there. And a HoHo bus, too. I did the tour that goes to Sunnmore, an open-air museum with buildings collected from around Norway and restored. The guide was good, just enough information and not so much you want to cover your ears. When we got to Sunmore, she said she would lead a tour or we could "go free." I took my camera ad enjoyed wandering on my own. The sun never gets very high this time of year, so for serious photographers, the "golden hour" lasts pretty much all day. There's a sea day between Alesund and Tromso, and some people saw the lights on deck on the night of the sea day.

I know people have had questions about this cruise. I'm on QV now and I'll try to answer any questions. I will do a day-by-day, but it's 10 minutes to cocktail time, so this will be a short entry about things people worry about. CARPETS are in very good condition. I love some the aqua colors in the mail elevator lobby by the atrium. EMBARKATION was easy, but I'm diamond, so it didn't matter what time was on my boarding pass. I had 1:30. But I left my hotel at 11:55 and was at Mayflower in a few minutes. Dropped the luggage and walked toward the entrance. I could see a queue of people along the side of the building. Best guess around 200. I showed my boarding pass and diamond got me waved right through. No waiting to check in. Showed passport, had my picture taken (I guess they didn't like what I gave them) and was sent to wait in the priority area. There were maybe 150 people there already, and I sat down at 12:12. Fast and easy. The odd thing is that the desks for non-priority had staff doing nothing. So why make people wait outside??? After about 15-20 minutes, they called QG. A few minutes later PG. And then diamond. because we were called in stages, there was no backup at security. Fortunately, the people in front of me already had emptied pockets of change, phones, etc, so we all breezed through and onto the ship. I hope someone in the queue outside will chime in with their experience. THE LIGHTS. Yes, we have seen them. Not like you see on the postcards, but they're up there. I did a "lights chase," and got some pretty good pictures. Later, on the ship, we saw them again. If you're doing the "chase," book the latest start you can get. I went out at 6:30. 45-60 minute drive got us to an area that had very little background light. It's fll moon or thereabouts, so we had light to see by. I don't think it affect seeing the lights. Close your eyes for a minute to adjust and then look north (not at the moon) and you might see a glimmer. Your camera will see more than you can, so use it as a "spotter." For cell phones, find your night setting. If you have a "real camera" I recommend a tripod. I shot at 1600 or 3200 (didn't seem to make much difference), 1.6 sec, and around f4. (Ship's kphotog said he was using about the same) The problem is, the lights don't get active until later. So we stood in the cold at 7:30-9:00, and then people started going back to the bus to get warm. We did get some pictures, but the lights were fading and it was COLD. Then around 10:00 it was EVERYONE OFF THE BUS! WE'VE GOT LIGHTS! Better than what we saw earlier. Later, after we got back to the ship, we had lights in Tromso. Not as easy to see/photograph because of the city lights. That's where a camera with manual settings is great. Mine could ignore that and concentrate on the lights. Two more bits of advice if you're doing a "chase" tour. LAYERS. Thermal underwear is essential IMO. Boots. There's snow on the ground already. PRACTICE! If you want to get pictures of the lights, play around with your camera in low-light conditions and see what works. Cellsphones have some kind of night setting. Try it. I did not get great shots with my cell, but it isn't an iphone with a great camera. I tried, but they were meh. I haven't looked at anything on my laptop to really see, and maybe juice up a bit.

I tend to shorten the phrase to just "donkey's," as my English cousin did. Fortunately, my friends are good at getting meaning from context! They do tease me that I come home from a trip to the UK spouting Brit expressions. I don't stay long enough to change my pronunciations, but I do pick up inflection and expressions. Sailing home on QM2, I've often been asked if I'm Canadian. I guess that's a halfway point in speech?

@az85331, this is disappointing, but not surprising given how long the items had been wet. Smart move, not taking the suitcases into the house. Was the insurance you mentioned your travel insurance bought through Cunard, or their liability insurance?

The pinstripe suit and fedora are appropriate for the '20s, but not for evening wear. It's silly for Cunard to use that description.