safarigal

Thanks for posting this. I always appreciate your port information - very useful 🙂

Queen Mary 2 has just rerouted her world voyage to go back to Southampton via South Africa rather than through the canal. I wish Crystal would make their announcement soon!

Thank you all for your helpful advice. When we received the bill for our drinks in the bar we noticed that there was a space for gratuities. On other lines the gratuities have been automatically included, but even os, on some there is still the space to add a tip. We do want to show our appreciation, but weren't sure whether this was expected or not 🙂

Do you need to add a tip to the bar and specialty restaurant bills? If so, what would be the usual amount?

Yes, we had this problem trying to book our shore excursions. I ended up calling the UK to give them my credit card number.

I had heard from a crew member on board that QM2 was going to give the Red Sea a miss, but they hadn't let them know what the alternative plans would be. I can't vouch for the accuracy of this, but time will tell.

Thank you so much - that totally answers my question. Yay!

Do they supply bathrobes (dressing gowns) in the superior suites on Balmoral?

We are in PG for the QA maiden, and our booking shows us as being 48th on the waitlist for the PG dining room which I am hoping is yet another computer glitch.

I was also on the cancelled April 23rd crossing, so I was actually quite annoyed by the survey. All I was trying to do is get home after the world voyage on Mary, so questions about would I have taken an earlier crossing or a later one were quite annoying. I know their algorithm probably didn't identify those of us who couldn't sail back home or go on the return crossing, and we were still able to complete most of the survey, but it is still frustrating.

CunardCare hasn't been available for residents of New York and Quebec for some time. I just received an email today that it is now also not available to residents of British Columbia.

Did you cancel after the second day on the ship?

I was told that our experience was not what the usual experience will be because of the weather conditions. There will be more food and facilities when they can dock rather than tender. It was certainly a lovely day on the beach with ample liquid refreshments and there was food available although we had eaten before we went ashore so we didn't try it, and I am not sure of the quality. I haven't heard what the experience was for the folks in the Ocean Residences.

I don't know if we had limited service because we were taking the tenders to the shore, but it looked like the food truck had paninis and burgers, and there was a separate table set up that seemed to have salads. The entertainment director stressed that we should eat at the Emporium before going ashore as there would be a limited food service.

We had a great day. It was a bit windy but the sun was out, and lying on the beach was great. There was food at the food truck and the bars were open. I really enjoyed it!

Yes, I noticed the broken window last night and wondered what it was all about. It was certainly intact at the start of our cruise, sorry journey 🙂

Yay! It looks like we will be able to go ashore at Ocean Cay today! We are not docking there as the weather is not conducive to this apparently, but at least they are going to launch the tenders so we can go ashore and see what it is all about 🙂

Captain Diego said there are just over 400 guests on board at the moment, just under half capacity.

I think that is very optimistic 🙂

At the Captain's talk this morning he said that there are just over 400 passengers on board, about half full.

Me too! This is always so concerning, I am so hoping things will be OK.

Looks like we are heading back towards the States again due to a medical emergency. No word as yet on how this will impact our itinerary.

Oh no! Thanks for letting us know. I'm so sorry. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us, but the forecast isn't too promising...........

We fly to Miami today. Even if the weather isn’t the best, I’m sure we will have a fantastic time 😀

Fingers crossed that you are able to dock. I’d love to hear what it’s like there 😀