3rdGenCunarder

Good to know agents have access to that information. I have an excellent agent, so I'll look at deck plans and see what she can find out.

I scrolled through the whole list and that 14-day Norway, Iceland, TA is the only one that gets my attention. I wonder when QE's itineraries will be added to the list? The new cruises go on sale in 2 weeks. Also, I see only a reference to "our lowest fare," which is a guarantee cabin. And, of course, it's too early to see anything more specific than that. Does Cunard offer early-booking specials? My existing bookings were made so long ago, I don't remember.

I was in PG in June 2022 and I don't remember Alaska-specific foods on the menu. Food and service were excellent, but nothing was "local." Frontier popup didn't exist then.

Hey, it's after Labor Day, let the Christmas shopping begin!!! Thanks for doing the live-from. I've enjoyed cruising virtually.

Here's a word for how you feel about the cabana price. You can't thoil it. That's what my Yorkshire cousin says about things that are more expensive than she is willing to pay. It isn't that you literally can't afford it. It's that you can't bring yourself to pay that much. And that's definitely how I feel about the cabanas. Another factor that's annoying is that the port calls at HMC have been cut shorter in the last 5 years or so, but the price keeps going up.

When is the cruise?

I agree with other posters, don't worry about it. We all have cranky days. And some threads/posts just get under the skin. If I had a dollar for every cranky post I've started and then deleted, I could afford another cruise!!

I'm a little jaded about the price of Afternoon Tea because I sail Cunard a lot and a very nice afternoon tea is free. Okay, I paid for it in my fare, but it feels like it's free. I do understand that preparing a tea is labor intensive, with multiple kind of sandwiches and sweets, as I've done it. But I find it hard to justify paying the high prices charged by the Empress, Fairmont, Grand Hotel (on Mackinac Island, smallest scones I have EVER seen), etc. They charge what the market will bear. It's a thing to do, a special experience for a special day or a vacation treat. My idea of a travel treat is finding a really good patisserie. Or a bar with local beer.

Ooh, that's tempting! Except for Stavanger, all the Norway ports and fjords would be new for me.

Wow, Hank, $105 for a 2-hour walking tour! I guess it's a bargain on my cruise next summer. The walking tour in Quaqatorq is "only" $99.95. All the tour prices for that cruise (Canada, Greenland, Iceland) are insane. I usually do a mix of ship excursions, non-ship excursions, and just going off on my own. Knowledge of the local language, time in port, distance to what I want to see affect my decision. But money factors into it, too. I've been to Iceland before, and I know what the tours entail and I can't justify the price being charged.

I've done Alaska on QE two of the three years. I'm not going next year, but maybe I'll see you there in 2025. I love that ship, and Alaska is the closest cruise for me. I like HAL's Vistas, too. I will be on QV next month, so I hope I'll feel as at home on her as I do on QE.

I would love to know if anyone has had success with it. There's a whale watch in Iceland that HAL is selling for twice the price the vendor charges for a walk-up. The HAL blurb even says that the boat trip is not exclusive to HAL. Photos and reviews show the name of the company on the boat. So I'm sure it's the same trip. If I decide I want to do the tour, I'll just book with the company directly. But I'd love to know the procedure to prove to HAL it's the same tour.

I look forward to reading your descriptions, especially if you include details like small bus/large bus. HAL does include drive times, but they aren't always accurate. In Costa Rica, what was described as a 45-minute drive to a nature preserve was close to an hour and a half (road conditions, not traffic), so the tour ran late. In Halifax, the drive to Lunenberg took longer than described and the time there was less than described. If I'm concerned about drive time, I sometimes go to googlemaps and check out where the destination is wrt the port.

I haven't been on these lines for a long time, but I think I know what you mean. And the answer is, for the most part, no. No production shows with singers and dancers. Step One is pre-recorded music and backdrops that the dancers sort of interact with, but it isn't what I think of as a "production show." I don't know that I'd say it's crazy. More like pitiful?

They didn't comp you a tea as a thank you? I know they must have paid for the carts, but still...

Are there any reviews? Any pictures posted? What port is this tour for? The link wouldn't open for me.

The Bad Request is annoying. Try Chrome in incognito mode. Someone on here suggested it recently, and it has worked for me.

The new booking confirmation could be to verify the new price of the cruise, and not a whole new booking. When that arrives, OP will know for sure how HAL is adjusting the fare.

If the original fare was $50 per day and the new fare is $75 per day, the OP should get $50 back. I think a refund of 1/14 of the fare is what HAL is probably going to do, and the explanation OP got was wrong. I do think the drop from 13 to 14 days should not affect the OBC. I know the cruise contract allows HAL to make changes as they deem necessary, but a little something to ease the sting would be a nice gesture.

Glad you're on the mend. Bruges is lovely at Christmas.

or the gift shop...

I'm confused. It sounds like you're getting 1/14th of a higher fare. Isn't that a bigger refund? Or are they subtracting 1/14th of your original fare from the new higher fare? (In which case, I would spell shifty a little differently)

But they're serving it wrong. A plowman's should be served with an ale, not tea.

I'm never sure what counts as "mass market," but Cunard does afternoon tea and they do it beautifully. They do offer a champagne tea, held in a separate lounge instead of the Queens Room. I like the idea of and Asian Tea in Tamarind. It is a lovely venuie.

Now that is a lovely Afternoon Tea. Just look at those scones!!!!