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The library!

I forgot to mention the library! Oh My Goodness. Usually the library on a ship is tiny little cupboard with a handful of books that other passengers have left behind. The library on this ship was amazing - two floors and simply beautiful with a winding wood staircase. I could have spent the entire cruise in there. One plus to having less things to do meant that I actually sat and read the books I had brought with me. I love reading, but can never find time to do it. I sat on the promenade deck at some point every day and read - it was delightful. I also forgot to mention the promenade deck - yes, a full deck that you can walk all the way around the ship (why so many ships are designed without this nowadays is beyond me). On this deck, there were lovely wooden loungers with padded cushions. I loved it.

One negative I do want to point out that surprised me was the behaviour of some of the other passengers during the production shows. Every show we attended, folks would walk in late and then proceed to walk up and down the aisle looking for their perfect seat, disturbing those of us that arrived early. Worse were the guests who insisted on chatting and commenting to one another throughout the show, and then the ones that would just get up and leave half way through. I work in the arts/entertainment industry and know exactly how much time/effort and hardwork goes into putting things like this on - I found this behaviour to be rude and inconsiderate.

Since I've done Alaska so many times, all the lectures about Alaska were about things I had already attended previously. I did go to the Libby Riddles one as I always enjoy hearing her speak. There were a few art related ones but, in my former life, I was a manager at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, so those felt too much like work. The only other lectures were regarding star gazing. Even if I had attended one every day, this would only have been an hour of time that I had found something to do...Please don't think this is a "complaint" - I am very aware that this is a "me" problem and that the majority of people had more than enough activity. These are the things that I did do: - Listened to Duo Cula everyday (often 3-4 times a day) - Attended a few trivias at the Garden Court - Attended one of the port talks (this was actually only about shopping for jewellry) - Attended Karaoke twice - Attended the disco twice - Wine tasting - Listened to a piano player at Commodore Club - Attended all production shows Maybe the fact that we were in port almost everyday (only two true sea days out of 10 days) meant that there wasn't as much scheduled. I'm posting all of the daily programs over the next few days - someone can let me know if this is "normal" for Cunard or if it is modified for a port intensive Alaska sailing.

Interesting - I have never heard of this before. I'm well versed in the PVSA but have never seen any notices regarding the same applying for Canadian ports. Not that I even got off the ship in Victoria, but I was just curious. Thanks for the info!

Not a great picture but gives you an idea of what folks were wearing!

I've never sailed Cunard before, so not sure how "dressy" this was compared to say a Transatlantic, but it was definitely more formal than any other ship I have ever been on. On the two gala nights, I would say 90% of folks were dressed up - men in everything from tuxedos, kilts, and black tie suits and women in full length gowns or very classy dresses. On the smart attire night, my estimate would be 75% were dressed in what I would consider "going to a land based nice restaurant" attire - most men seemed to wear shirts and jackets and most women seemed to be in nice dresses/pant suits. I saw very few in jeans on the ship, even during the daytime, but the days we were in port late seemed to be when most folks who didn't want to bother getting dressed up went to the pub!

And I'm assuming no Penguin biscuits either?

I’m glad it wasn’t just me! I thought I had gone on with too high expectations but happy to hear that this service (or lack of) isn’t the norm!

They are from all over! The last lunch menu was Britannia for sure!

Oh I just assumed this was a regular thing! The pub was always packed at lunch and dinner - the food was amazing in there! Maybe people liked it for dinner as they didn’t need to dress up?

I will post more pictures and the daily activities through the next couple of days!

Spa As mentioned previously, we had pre-purchased thermal suite passes. This worked out well as, not only did we save a fair amount of money, but we had access for the entire day rather than just 2 hours as we thought. The spa was nice but very small - only 6 heated stone loungers (and they weren't that hot), two steam rooms, a sauna that was out of order (but there was a working one in the change room), and the hydrotherapy pool. I was most looking forward to the pool, but it turned out to be like a warm bath. There were no jets other than the huge firehose type ones that knocked you off your feet, and it was really dark in there. The stone loungers had a great view but needed to be hotter. The steam rooms were nice, as was the sauna in the change room. It should be noted that anyone can use this sauna, as well as the showers in the change room - you didn't need to pay for the spa to do so. Final Thoughts We had a great time on this ship and really enjoyed the elegant, traditional feel of it. I'm not sure I'm quite the typical demographic that Cunard is designed for - I somewhat missed the cheesy, tacky gameshows and I prefer disco to ballroom. As someone that typically sails with kids, I can't say I would rush to take them on this line - they would LOVE the food, but not sure there would be enough to keep them entertained. For a girls/adults trip it was perfect!

That's dinner -fish and chips was only lunch!

Disembarkation The worst day ever is when you get the info telling you that you have to leave! We received the usual Canada customs forms prior to arriving in Victoria. I was also surprised at a blurb from Cunard informing guests that they could not leave the ship in Victoria as embarking in one Canadian port and disembarking in another violated the PVSA. I'm pretty sure that isn't true - this is an American law, no? We were given the option to walk off with our bags, or do the usual route of putting them out the night before. We chose the latter as we had nowhere to be and planned on taking our time. We ended up with a disembarkation time of 10:00am - perfect. We had a leisurely breakfast in the dining room and were pleasantly surprised with the lack of people around the ship - disembarkation morning is usually survival of the fittest and involves hurdling over luggage and pushing through people waiting in the hallways. None of that on this ship. We heard disembarkation groups getting called as we were eating and then it seemed to stop. Around 9:30, we gathered our stuff and headed down to the gangway - we asked what colour they were calling and were told everyone could get off. So off we got. Bags were right where they should be, and I was home by 10:15! Easy peasy.

Service As mentioned previously, drink service was a bone of contention throughout the cruise. I have never had such an issue getting a drink before - and it's not even as if I had the drink package, so Cunard actually lost money with me! For the most part, service on this ship was good - I was actually expecting a little more, given what I had read beforehand. Staff definitely did not fall over themselves or go above and beyond (there were a few exceptions to this) and I did find myself faced with the word "no" several times. I was shocked to witness a waiter tell guests in the Commodore Club that they couldn't eat their food from the buffet in there (glacier day and everyone had staked out tables there), I was shocked to hear a bartender in Cafe Corinthia tell a guest that she could not take her pastries up to her room, and I was shocked to be told by guest services that the crappy wifi we had purchased was "out of their control" (by far the worst wifi we have had on any ship). Now, there were exceptions - two staff from the Bookstore giftshop were wonderful, a waitstaff in the pub became a firm friend, the host at Britannia was fantastic, and waitstaff we had in Lido alternative dining were excellent. Our cabin steward was also great!

Oops I forgot Victoria! We stayed on the ship!

Ports Ports on this ship were the usual Alaska ones - Ketchikan, Skagway, Juneau, Sitka and Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier. We had been to all multiple times so just roamed around. In Alaska we went to our fave places - The Asylum and Jellyfish Donuts, in Skagway we got caught in a torrential downpour, in Juneau we just walked through town, and in Sitka we went to our fave thriftstore. We got closer to the glaciers in Glacier Bay than I have been in many years, so that was pretty cool! I feel guilty being so ambivalent about ports that many experience as a "once in a lifetime" thing - I really am spoiled. Also of note is that we saw whales from the ship several times, many eagles, otters, and a bear off in the distance. Once again, I am spoiled - these sightings are a daily occurrence where I live...