TheOldBear

I was thinking of bringing some new knobs [ones without sharp edges]

Our upcoming cruise has two Southampton visits - one after the eastbound transatlantic, and the other between Hamburg and LeHavre.

I'm expecting the first Southampton visit to be painless [clearance and passport stamp onboard] - I'm hoping the rest of the port visits are smoother than our 2017 LeHavre visit [there was _one_ official examining and stamping passports for tours, embarking and disembarking passengers.]

We've always chosen late seating for dinner - late seems to fit our 'vacation schedule' better. With 19 nights on our next cruise, we probably will try the Kings Court pop up dining at least once.

We will be bringing on a fair amount of wine, and paying corkage for a few bottles. I do not feel that any of the current drink packages [soft drink, coffee or mixed drinks] are a good value for our level of consumption. I've noticed that the Captain's Collection wine is now up to $50 / bottle - it looks like bring+corkage will be a better value for us.

11 minutes ago, fizzy1 said:

Is there a set regular time in the evening for the themed gala nights to start and finish?

The theme for the night is most visible in the Queens room. following each Britannia seating.

I've been following a few stories about this over the past few months.

I would consider the TWA Hotel New York's jet age counterpart to the Queen Mary in Long Beach.

Also, with the recent US Supreme Court [South Dakota vs Wayfair ] decision, sales tax is being charged on more and more online transactions. 😞

Who knows, perhaps one day, the 'duty free' purchases abroad ship may one again be a better buy.

I see Stephen Payne is listed for the Southampton to Hamburg segment - I should bring my Haynes workshop manual & get it autographed 😉

I've been putting off migrating from Aperture to some currently maintained system. I'm looking more for a 'digital asset manager' than a 'raw converter' or image editor. 

I'll need to spend some time with multiple systems before I settle on _something_. [Capture One; DigiKam; Mylio; ON1; Raw Power; Darktable....] 

I really want an 'Aperture 4' - but will need to settle for something much less polished.

I'm looking for a reasonable subset of AP3 image management including

• nested keywords
• ratings
• smart albums
• geo location
• nondestructive editing
• external editor 'round trip' [for the rare cases where I do pixel level editing - the modified image should be linked to the unchanged master]

I would like software in active development - but I would like to avoid 'subscription' pricing.

21 minutes ago, ebs0303 said:

So doing a websearch, Im not sure there are a ton of group tours to the Normandy beaches, most seem to be private tours typically costing $700 pp or more. Does anyone know of other sites for group tours?

One that is frequently mentioned is Overlord tours. They offer tours from private car to seat on bus pricing.

Note, due to an oddity of Cruise Critic geography, the official location for France is inside the Mediterranean section. You may want to search there as well. 

5 hours ago, bondgirl007 said:

Does anyone know what time Priority Check in would be in Brooklyn?  Thank you!

Priority starts after security, inside the terminal. 

Customs in in the terminal after arriving.

Self/unassisted checkout folks go first, possibly mixed with Cunard sourced airport transfers.

After that disembarkation goes deck by deck, from the top down.

We were in the last group, waiting in the Queens Room with the deck 4 & 5 folks

When we got to the baggage hall, we snagged a porter and cart - the combo is useful at Brooklyn for going through Customs [since we are local, we _always_ overpack, so a cart is useful] 

If you are shipping luggage home, the packing station for that is after Customs

59 minutes ago, Underwatr said:

 

I'm still looking for the finalized route (more so I have a means of measuring my progress than of a vague fear of getting lost 🙂 ) but the route I linked to in my OP uses surface streets in Brooklyn rather than the BQE. There's a suggestion that it runs down to the Tesla dealer at the corner of Imlay & Van Brunt near the cruise terminal (which could create a mess since that's on the route from the northbound BQE to the terminal) but since the route doubles back on Van Brunt to Union Street I'm thinking it could be a mapping error by whoever laid the route out in the mapping site.

 

There are more serious issues with the route as mapped near the VNB, but the routing through Brooklyn doesn't suggest a simple mapping program error.

 

This will probably be my only time on this ride. Other rides mail out bibs and bike numbers rather than making the participants travel to the ride location a day or two early. 

 

 

There is a pdf map of the route on the "routes and services" page : https://www.bike.nyc/events/td-five-boro-bike-tour/route-services/ 

I don't know if this sets a record for 'off topic', but it certainly is in the running for the winner 😉

Back in September 2017 we had a 2pm scheduled time, and allowed for driving delays heading to Brooklyn. As a result, we got to the terminal at about 11:30.

What we *should* have done was to drop off our luggage, and get lunch outside the gate. Instead, we waited in the terminal lobby until 1PM when security started admitting passengers to screening. Inside the terminal, the Grills and other priority passengers were directed past the vast hordes to one or two checkin stations on the far left.

Sometimes arriving early gets you on board early, other times there are delays before the first passenger is even admitted to the terminal. With a 3:45 check in time, I would plan on dropping off baggage about 1 - and seeing what the wait looks like [is the security line backed up out the door?] before deciding check in vs lunch.

8 hours ago, Underwatr said:

A heads up for passengers planning to be in NYC on May 5, whether embarking or visiting as part of a B2B:

 

The annual "Five Boros Tour" bicycle event will be held on that day. The bike route touches all five New York boroughs, and streets will be closed to accommodate this route. Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn will be particularly affected.

 

I'm having a bit of trouble finding specific street closure information for 2019 (based on previous years I'd expect it around April 30 or May 1) but a preliminary map of the route is here:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/29770567. Other than the Staten Island-bound lanes on the lower level of the Verrazzano Bridge (the upper level will be open in both directions) I don't see much that will affect traffic flow in or out of Red Hook, but travel on surface streets will probably be slowed.

 

 

I'm riding in the event this year and it just recently occurred to me that QM2 will be in town as well.

 

As I learn more about closures I'll update this thread.

 

It's been a quite few years since I did the 5BBT [Mostly in the lead marshal group, just behind the motorcycle police] but I do recall the route uses the BQE instead of any surface street in Brooklyn. This may have an impact on folks driving from the east [Long Island Expressway] or the North [Throgs Neck & Whitestone bridges]

The BQE closure ends about 2PM - Stragglers are diverted over the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan.

If you enjoyed the ride, you may want to consider volunteering as a Marshal - there used to be a one week before 'pre ride' with the same road closures and escorts. Mostly this was a training ride for the police escorts, but also allows the folks with non riding positions on the day of the event to ride the route.

This was mentioned on a QM2 'behind the scenes' tour. During the transatlantic season, Cunard does the vast majority of its re-provisioning in Southampton. Only minor amounts of consumables [principally dairy] are replenished in Brooklyn.

I would assume for Med based ships, a major influence on port selection are the ship's chandlers available at each port - not just the attractions for the passengers.

I think you will have a lounge area set up in the terminal for continuing passengers while the ship is “zeroed out”, and may re board as soon as that is completed.

if you choose to leave the terminal, I think your ships card will let you walk past any passengers waiting to board when you return.

I would check with any 'special needs' contact for each cruise line. [and also search for 'kosher' in each cruise line's forum here on CC]

20 minutes ago, pierces said:

Good - Small - Cheap

 

Pick any two. 🙂

 

A sad truth. Good luck in your search.

 

Dave

For cameras, you can always add 'small' to the list of things that are mutually exclusive. 

If pocketable [small] is not an absolute requirement, I would still recommend taking a look at the Panasonic FZ cameras. Just checked Amazon, and the FZ1000 mark 1 is still available for under $500.

Its smaller sensor cousin the FZ-300 is available for under 400 [longer zoom range; smaller overall size; splash/weatherproof, constant f/2.8 aperture ]. 

My wife says - "It is impossible to be overdressed. If you have gowns, bring them"

I think the black pants/sparkly top [sequins, beaded, glitter] is targeted at folks who are luggage limited [air travel luggage allowance] or need to carry or stash luggage during a land portion of their vacation. For them packing small is essential.

We take the opposite approach, with no tolls, bridges or tunnels between out house and the Brooklyn terminal, we take lots of stuff [tux, gowns, dress shoes, dance shoes...]. Even Britannia rooms have lots of storage space.

We booked this year's transatlantic round trip [September 15th] as soon as Cunard bookings opened, back in November 2017. I also purchased the trip insurance policy the next day.

I would agree about the RX10iv being the current ‘best’ in its category - but that comes at a high price. The Panasonic FZ1000 is a credible alternative, with recent prices of about $500 or so for the first generation.

Small and tiny sensor cameras can provide a ludicrous zoom range. The current example in this category is the Nikon P1000. Over on DPreview there is a recent write up showing both capabilities and limitations.

Also looking forward to it [don't forget to join the M292B roll call]

Captain Philpott as a guest Conductor on our 2017 crossing

7 hours ago, neeuqdrazil said:

I'm thinking about booking on the Anthony Inglis & NSO crossing for 2020 (looks like there are still cabins available) - has anyone done this crossing? Would you recommend it? 

We were on the NSO crossing in 2017, and have booked again for this year [the eastbound leg of the M929B round trip]. My wife is the singer in the family, and she ended up on the risers toward the left side.

Apparently the Westbound leg is scheduled to be space/astronomy themed, with the Royal Astronomical Society

The Winchester excursion was nice - but short [we were back onboard in time for lunch]

For this year, we have two Southampton visits [plus Hamburg & LeHavre] so we are thinking about doing a longer excursion one of those days. Possibly the Windsor Castle excursion. I don't expect to see all the available excursions until near or slightly after our final payment date [early June].

It is likely that the turnaround day excursions are only planned once they know how many folks will be doing the round trip.

48 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

When we started cruising in the mid-70s, a behind the scenes tour was pretty routine (for those that cared) and never involved any cost.  On Sea Days it was relatively common to have tours of the galley and even the bridge.  On the old Sitmar Cruise Lines (later purchased by Princess Cruises) they used to even have one of their mid-night buffets in the galley...where passengers would stream through the galley (around mid-night_ where the huge buffet was arrayed all over the various galley areas.

Then cruise lines changed their attitude (9/11 sure had an impact), tightened security, and tours became much more limited.  Many of the lines we have cruised (15 to date) had (and some still have) behind the scenes tours as a perk for their frequent cruisers.  And then a few lines (such as Princess) realized there was "gold" in tours and started charging money for behind the scenes tours.

 

One interesting tidbit is that on the Queen Mary 2, there is a viewing gallery located behind (and above) the bridge.  When it is open, passengers can stream through the area (it is kept dark so as not to distract the bridge staff) and look down upon the bridge and staff.   The gallery was separated from the bridge by thick glass.  Not sure if this gallery is still used but it was an interesting idea.

 

On one HAL vessel, DW and I were given a private tour by an officer friend.  The highlight was walking by the morgue and learning that the florist department's space (kept refrigerated because of the orchids) was also used for the overflow in case the morgue was full to capacity :).  I am thinking that these days, with so many folks being hypersensitive about any humor, nothing like this would ever be said,  On HAL they do not have adult comedy shows...because it is likely that some of the "adults" would quickly find something objectionable.

 

Hank 

It's still there - there is a sign prohibiting photography. [added since my first QM2 cruise in 2008] probably due to most cameras and phones firing a flash in automatic mode, possibly distracting the watchstanders.