Cruachan

Hate to think of being on a cruise ship with 3000 people too scared to take a bath !!!

That's why most cabins have showers :D:D

J

Chances are they will still make it for you even if not on the revised cocktail menu

Totally agree - on my last cruise I wanted sex on the beach and they were able to organise that no problem at all

:eek:

J

I'll second that; informed contributions, great wit and consistantly a pleasure to read. More please Cruachan/Jimmy :)

Thanks Pepper and Stewart - your kind words are very much appreciated. I'll do my best to be more of a regular in future.

Maybe I can post a few words from my forthcoming cruise.

J

At the start of some transatlantic crossings I've seen the Royal Mail Pennant flying from the mast.

On others it wasn't there.

I've read that a small/token amount of mail is carried each year (which could of course be completely wrong) and assumed, maybe wrongly, that the flag indicated there was indeed, mail on board on that crossing (never seen it flying on a QM2 cruise).

 

Of course this could all be for show as balf suggests.

 

Still I like to see "RMS", if only for nostalgic/tradition reasons, even if it is merely an honorific/courtesy title, as it seems it may be.

 

(Do the other three RMS ships (St Helena, Scillonian III, Segwun), still carry mail? Or is their "RMS" merely a title with no real meaning?)

By chance I listened to a programme on Radio 4 yesterday about the island of St Helena, and it was clear from that programme that all mail for St Helena is still carried the eponymous Royal Mail Ship. However this, I understand, will change very soon when the new airport opens.

J

While a further two containers deliver your breakfasts to the ship? :D

 

Photographic proof:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2354547&page=2 (post 21)

 

(You did say you are on QV shortly didn't you? :D )

Yet more photographic evidence - here is the refrigerated black pudding truck at the QEII Terminal waiting to transfer an emergency resupply of BP to QE2 after a Jimmy Three-Breakfasts cruise in 2007.

And I am indeed on QV shortly - sailing from Soton on 9th June. Then back on QV again on 15th Nov also out of Soton.

J

...camera stuff like that. All of which can be contained in a small shoulder bag...

My camera and computer gear would easily fit in a modestly sized pantechnicon of the Eddie Stobart variety! :eek:

J

Now this is what I call a thread! The lack of erudite exchanges such as these is why I visit only rarely. BTW, where may I obtain one of these 'prolixies'? Heaven forfend I should be behind the trend when I board next month.

MM

It is my understanding that MartiStan Enterprises plc (proprietors Sir Martin, and Lord Stanley (deceased)) do a good line in prolixes marketed through their retail outlet - MartiStan Literacy Ltd (Purveyors of Prolixity to Poetic Gentlefolk), Dept 101, Glacier View, Norwich. Also available on-line at funky.prolix.com

:cool:

J

But is it purple?

MM

Well MM, I am positive that you have previously perceived my propensity to produce prolix purple prose.

J

PS - I'm not half bad at alliteration as well!

Large, red and spewing fumes?

 

Sir Martin

Enough of the "Large" oh insolent dead one! In advance of my next cruise (three weeks time, QV to the Western Med since you didn't ask) I have trimmed down to a slim and sylph like 14 stones! :cool:

J

Probably more old, worn out with lots of people on top.

 

(Sorry Jimmy, couldn't resist)

 

Stewart

Nice one Stewart! :D

J

J, I never accepted the claim that the cat was dead. He's just pining.

 

S

Indeed - he does seem remarkably gobby for a corpse.

:cool:

J

Crikey Cruachan, do you have to be so wordy?

 

(You've been missed.)

 

S

Apologies all round - prolixity is one of my greatest, and best known, character flaws :o)

J

It will be fine, providing you are using pants in the US, not UK, sense, and they are reasonably smart.

Ah yes, the Superman look!

J

Merry Maid, I agree with previous comments about a BEAUTIFUL SPARKLY TOP (purple or otherwise) seems to work - apparently A N Y T H I N G that sparkles is suitable as formal attire. (I don't pretend to understand.)

 

So, did you shave the cat? If so, I hope you saved the fur...makes a lovely collar for a sparkly top :eek::D (in the Monty Python tradition). Cheers -S.

I'm actually quite surprised that The Cat hasn't yet popped up with one of his usual informative and helpful comments. But just for the record - he is, of course, dead and hence quite beyond reach of any shaving implements.

J

A Dress Question. Well it got your attention didn't it? Here we go, my partner who, poor thing, has only travelled Cunard once before, went to town yesterday. As she passed an Haute Couture Emporium, she was wrestled to the ground by 3 burly women, dragged kicking and screaming into said emporium where she was 'PURSUADED' at knife point and with threats against the dog to purchase what she describes as a BEAUTIFUL SPARKLY TOP - in purple, no less.

The question is, dear reader, can she wear this on formal nights with suitable pants/trousers? I, having no dress sense or indeed interest, am unable to advise her. Nature having blessed me with a metabolism which ensures I remain the same size irrespective of the calories I consume. (A deletorious effect on the gin bill though). Consequently I wear the same two outfits year after year. No doubt this question has been asked many times but after trawling through numerous 'Dress' threads I am rapidly losing the will to live and have more interesting things to do on a Thursday morning. e.g Shave the cat!

All sensible suggestions very gratefully received, thank you

MM

Yes

J

We will be sailing for the first time with Cunard on the QM2, crossing from New York to Southampton on the 6th July this year, we will be in the Queen's Grill.

 

I have two questions, firstly although we have never sailed with Cunard before, but many times with Seabourn, I notice on our V P that we are Gold Tier! How can that be and what benefits does that bring? Also it appears that we are able to book alternative dining on our VP. I don't seem able to do this. Should we wait until we board and ask our Butler or do they get booked up before we even sail?

 

We are very much looking forward to the experience, it has long been a wish of my husband to sail on a liner into Spithead, oh that's another question, will we be sailing in the night before or very early the next morning?

Soton VTS gives your arrival time on 13 Jul as 0630hrs and sunrise that day is at 0507 so you should have daylight more or less all the way through the Solent and up Southampton Water.

J

Hi fellow Cunarders. I have a question about staterooms 1049 and 1043 on the Queen Elizabeth. They are category GC, deluxe insides. They are right next to one another, but are separated by what appears to be a hallway or passageway of some sort. Can someone who knows the ship well tell me exactly what that white space is on the deck plan? I'd like to book those two cabins, but if the passageway/hallway separates them by a great distance, I will not. Thank you.

You will almost certainly find that the "white space" on the deck plan contains machinery of some kind or another - possibly an ice machine. Here's a link to a question I answered about two similarly placed cabins on QV a couple of years ago. I think much of that reply probably applies here as well.

http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showpost.php?p=43307494&postcount=45

J

If you are sharing the same room you'll check-in together and board the ship together. :)

 

Edited: Just re reading your post , Are your parents arriving much later than you? not too sure by your comment "Do we 'have to' board together"

 

Unfortunately, you may find the Champagne Bar or the Commodore closed on embarkation morning/early afternoon. The Crew tend not to appear until after the boat drill around 5ish ........however you could always try the Pub.;)

Or drink the Pol Acker in the cabin :cool:

J

Only two breakfasts? We do have one amongst us, a Scottish gentleman, who customarily justifies the sobriquet "three-breakfasts". Perhaps he can persuaded to reveal some of the tricks of his trade?

Oh, there are absolutely no tricks involved. I would merely refer the OP to Luke Chapter 11: Verse 9 "... ask, and it shall be given you..."

Jimmy Three-Breakfasts

Many thanks for the replies, all. If everything runs on schedule on the days then we'll be off on some nice adventures!

I notice nobody has asked the obvious question, so just for the record, where is it you intend to go to from Southampton?

J

So, a bit late to the party but, for the sake of completeness, here are the two late arrivals from the New Year's Eve celebrations in Funchal.

J

AIDAsol

Balmoral

Cruachan, best wishes for 2016. - Salacia

And to you.

J

Lovely photos. Thanks for sharing. Have a good New Year's Eve.

Thanks Ray - have a good one yourself.

J

And here are the final three.

J

Queen Elizabeth

Mein Schiff 4

Marco Polo

OK folks, here are New Year photographs of the entire line-up all photographed in Funchal today. This is part one - part two will be a further three images.

AIDAsol and Balmoral aren't here yet and, as it is now dark, they will just have to be party poopers as far as photography goes.

J

Oceana

Thomson Majesty

Black Watch

AIDAblu

Magellan

Saga Pearl II