Cruachan

Anyone ever travelled in one?

Asking for my MIL..not finding great descriptions online and am on hold with Cunard to see what they can tell me.

 

My MIL is quite incapacitated, would travel with her husband and a nurse in adjoining stateroom. I know the shower would be wheel in accessible but they use a hoist at home to get her into bed, I imagine there's no such thing onboard?

 

Any feedback would be great..

I started a thread last year giving a description and photos of a disability adjusted cabin. Hopefully it may help. They certainly don't have the hoists you speak of as an integral item in each cabin, but they may have some on board the ship that can be allocated on request.

The thread is here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1915487

J

Sold in North America as "July 13-21 , as 8 day cruise visiting Norway," these dates July 13-15 July 15-19, and July 19-21 were sold in Germany at ridiculously low prices as 2 day, 4 day and 2 day cruises, and the result was 2,000 ( three different two thousand passengers came on board at three different ports) for "cheap short getaways"

 

Everything on board became slanted to these "shorties" , traditional cruisers were swamped , it was not a good marketing ploy.

 

Since Cunard plan to do these 2/3/4 days cheap cruises in ALL 3 Queens for the next 18 months , any one looking for a traditional Cunard experience should check their dates very carefully and not travel when these "cheapies" are being offered in Germany(which seemed to be the only place they were offered).

 

It is definitely a case of " buyer beware" otherwise you could be very disappointed , North American travel agents should also beware or they may have a number of irate customers .

I was bitterly disappointed a few months back to discover that I could have run one of these three nighters end to end with my last cruise thus giving me visits to Zeebrugge and Cherbourg for some serious ship photography before sailing off to Norway and Iceland where rust buckets were in seriously short supply. Sadly I didn't spot the opportunity until everything had sold out. I will be paying more attention in future.

J

Cordovan (a color/colour, which the name is derived from Cordoba in Spain):

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordovan_%28color%29

 

Loafers (& everything you need to know about their history & about wearing them):):

 

http://wardrobeadvice.com/if-youve-gotta-wear-loafers-follow-these-tips/

 

I seem to recall, from my distant childhood, that "penny loafers" were so called because you could actually slip a penny (American or pre-decimal British) into the front of the shoe; indeed, some penny loafers (at least in children's sizes) were sold with a penny already inserted in each one of the pair:

http://www.ehow.com/about_5056990_history-penny-loafers.html

 

It's been years since I've worn loafers of any kind--they were cool during the early '60s:cool:, but they got a bad rap (if you'll pardon the expression) in my book when Michael Jackson wore black ones with white socks:eek:.

Well, there's another big boost to my lamentably inadequate knowledge of all things sartorial :D

J

...

 

 

But the Scots are a bit backward about these things...

Well, that pair should know - they both went to a Scottish (well, sort of Scottish) University :D:D

J

Do you know who James Taylor is?

 

David.

I knew a guy in the Argylls called Jimmy Taylor. Could that be the same guy?

J

In general the reference is to a pair of slacks (trews) of a light tannish/green colour.

 

In practice it is usually (nut not always) a pair of cotton twill pants styled more smartly than jeans but not as well as dress pants. Often it is used interchangeably with 'Chinos'.

 

 

A pair of dress khakis in worsted or gabardine looks very smart with a navy blazer.

 

I like the look with a nice pair of cordovan loafers.

Good Lord! There's a whole world out there that I never knew existed. What in the name of heavens are "Cordovan loafers"? For that matter, what are loafers?

J (who told you he was sartorially challenged) :D

Army surplus?

 

David.

Well, I was wondering whether, before the next cruise, it might be worth my while digging through the boxes in my garage and unearthing a couple of pairs of my old Army denims.

J

A Navy suit and a pair of khakis are the simple answer. Suit for formal nights and the Suit jacket going undercover as a blazer with the khakis for informal nights.

I've seen the term "khakis" a lot on here - usually from the Left Hand Side of the Atlantic - but I have not got the foggiest clue what clothing item relates to

Can anyone enlighten a sartorial challenged Brit?

J

Ray, I had a survey over the weekend that I completed but the subject was different.

J

She looks quite good in Cunard livery...

Well, that shouldn't really come as a surprise as she is a Vista class ship essentially the same as QE and QV.

J

Tell us how you really feel.;):rolleyes::eek:

Apologies, in the past on this august forum, I have frequently been accused (mostly by the cat) of fence-sitting and general vacillation when it comes to expressing an opinion. I will do my best to improve in the future :cool:

J

WOW! Have you met Elvis? Do you know where he is living now?

He lives in Goole and works on the tills in Aldi.

J

Any one on this board ever met, or heard of, these moguls? I didn't think so. 'Nuff said.

Do you think maybe it's Rupert Murdoch? :cool:

J

Dickinson? Is that that odious oleaginous creep with the orange skin and the hairdo that looks like it escaped from the first season of Lovejoy?

J

Is there anyone driving to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal 12 in Red Hook on Monday, July 28 for the Cunard, Queen Mary 2 transatlantic crossing to Southampton? My wife and I are VIP media covering the event. We live in Manhattan and can take a subway any where and meet you at the stop. That would be much easier for us than all the walking to the B61 bus and to the terminal (3 to 4 miles total). We travel very lightly (1 carry-on and a small personal item each -- no big suitcases). We are extremely interesting and have interviewed and photographed EVERY celebrity, politician, musician, athlete, etc. It could be the most memorable part of your trip -- at least we have been told that before. Celebrity wanted to hire us for this.

Congratulations on a brilliant first post. A wind up for sure, but one of the best I've seen on here in ages.

Presumably there is some obstruction preventing your helicopter from touching down on the ship?

:D:D:D

J

... I always fill up the space behind the TV with the cans from the fridge to leave room for the champagne!

Very pragmatic, Cap'n! :D:D:D

:) And yes, you are also correct cap'n, I will have to dust the TV next time before taking the photo :o :)

 

Thank you :)

Pepper,

I could be totally wrong here, but I think the TVs have changed since that photo was taken. They are now a glitzier, flat screen model and a good bit more modern looking than the previous versions. I really don't take much notice of the TV and never look at it unless it is to view the bow cam, but I think the ones on QV at least have been upgraded. Incidentally, I know there was talk on here a while back about the navigation/info channel not being available any more, but it was certainly available on QV last month.

J

PS - I don't think any of the above matters all that much anyway as I'm certain the new TVs are HDMI enabled. In fact I was quite regretting not bringing an HDMI lead for my netbook.

I always wondered why they'd buzzed orf.

 

Sir Martin

I rest my case :cool:

J

This is so true! We seem to meet similar complainers on all of our trips.

I believe the Australians call them "wringing? Brits"

That would mean they were soaking wet! I think phrase you were searching for is "Whingeing Poms" :D

J

HeHe :) ah, but, they fully believe they are of TI :) . Indeed, none more so than themselves.

 

 

 

:)

Indeed - the PONTI breed appears to thrive on either a vastly enhanced level of self perception, or it's total absence.

I often wonder if part of the problem, at least, isn't related to the fact that we are now so far distanced from the era in which household servants were commonplace that we have totally forgotten how to relate to them.

I think what happens is that people, like the woman described, board the ship with their vision of an Edwardian fantasy world cranked up to full turbo-boost, and instantly start to treat the staff in what they fondly, but falsely, imagine is the way that servants used to be treated. Of course people who did treat their servants like that probably ended up seriously short of servants. :D

J

I remember on a Silversea cruise saying to a fellow British passenger that I enjoyed chatting with the staff.

 

She looked absolutely horrified and replied that they were just there to take her orders.

I've met a few of those on Cunard down the years - they are PONTIs and can be safely ignored.

J

I have come to the conclusion I must have very low standards.:D

Me too! I think I am a perfect fit for the description "sets himself low standards, and consistently fails to achieve them" :cool:

J

I just noticed a new thread on the subject of the casino on QV - unfortunately I am unable to answer the question posed by the poster who started the thread, but I thought it might be of interest to make people aware of a relatively new development concerning the slot machines. I say relatively new because it was not in effect in October last year.

The slot machines can no longer be played by feeding them cash (either coin or banknotes) and nor do they pay out in the old tokens. The new system is that, before playing the machine, you insert your cruise card into a slot and a screen fires up with a dialogue that allows you to purchase the amount you wish to play (minimum purchase is $10). When you are finished and wish to cashout (assuming you have any winnings), you simply press the cashout button and your winnings (or remaining money) are added to your card. You then take your card to the cashier and he/she will pay you in dollars. You won't get coin though - any amount less than $1 will be credited to your cruise account.

So, you can no longer sit losing all your worldly wealth while listening to the crash as an avalanche of tokens pours out of the machine next to you.

J

Asparagus makes your wee smell:D

Aye well, I can certainly put up with a wee smell. It's the great big huge smells that really get to me! :cool:

J

J-

So at long last, you can truly say you had a whale of a time!...

Or you could say it was just a fluke. :cool:

J