TheOldBear

3 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Surely room service afternoon tea must come with actual tea, even though it’s not mentioned?

We did the room service afternoon tea once - and you needed to make your own tea using the kettle and teabags already in the room. Perhaps a pot of tea can also be specified.

12 minutes ago, kitkat343 said:

Are there any waterparks or other kids activities you'd recommend near La Harve?  

You may have better luck searching for 'Le Havre' - both on these forums and a regular web search.

Also note that Cruse Critic geography places all French ports in the Med at https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/462-france-ports/ 

Recently [December?] Cunard added a section to their 'voyage personalizer' where you indicated if mobility aids were needed. They wanted to know if you can climb stairs unassisted, or needed help.

Mrs Bear brings a 'rollator' to help deal with long lines & wait times embarking & disembarking - plus a collapsable cane.

The 'roll call' threads for crossings seem to usually be quiet - see https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2960181-july-21-2024-transatlantic-westbound-m422 for your sailing's roll call if you have not already joined it.

Sanity seems to have returned 🙂

Barring another 'Carrington Event' there is zero chance of seeing aurora when the sun is in the sky.

Late September into April or so are better times for aurora - and even then a full moon will wipe out your dark adaptation [camera can see them, but your eyes will have, at best, difficulty picking them out from clouds]

Have you joined the 'roll call' thread for your sailing?

11 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

The way it works is that the “best answer” is decided by the upvotes. So far I don’t see any upvotes so the test is a total failure to this point. I did do several upvotes to test what effect they would have. They moved the upvoted posts to earlier in the thread. As I was just making the upvotes as a test I withdrew the upvotes. They have upvoting on other forums like Reddit but they have a whole different culture there. Not surprising that it has been unpopular here. Starting with cruise critic members have always been resistant to changes. Second it probably takes more involvement than we want. Likes are probably enough involvement in judging posts. 

Voting on posts reorders the thread? That says 'total failure' - reordering the thread will loose any content for the posting in the conversation.

Its seems clear that the 'New Format Test' resulted in a failure.

2 hours ago, david,Mississauga said:

 

We enjoyed the symphony's two concerts a few years ago. It was a scaled-down orchestra of close to 30 musicians. But it was sufficient for the Royal Court Theatre. That was enough to almost fill the stage, leaving room for the volunteer passenger choir.  I hope to enjoy them again some time.

I didn't do a head count - but there was a full orchestra with players in Strings, Woodwinds, Brass & Percussion sections.

The Matinee concert is filled out by adding Cunard musicians from the Royal Court and Queen's room.

Things were a little tight on stage for 'the Last Night of the Proms' when the passenger chorus was added - I'm in the Bass section all the way to the back, stage right.

Cunard offers a 'premium soft drinks' package

Looks like the two sub forums to explore are the Cunard https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/32-cunard-line/ and Cruise Air https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/77-cruise-air/.

And if no one has said 'welcome aboard', I would like to extend a welcome 🙂

I cannot help you with air questions - I'm fairly local to the port so we have been able to avoid flying in favor of QM2 round trips.

You may want to look into third party insurance - not through the cruise line as it often is a better value.

The broker 'InsureMyTrip' has a current Q&A subforum, and the broker 'Trip Insurance Store' is a frequent contributor on this forum.

You will want to visit their web sites for information - then call them and speak with someone at the brokerage to see what is your best fit on insurance.

On 1/8/2024 at 9:12 PM, longbranch said:

Taking a westbound TA from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale in September/October 2024.

Booked a forward, port side balcony cabin.  Would like to sit outside and enjoy a sea breeze but not in direct sun.... so any thoughts from past T/A cruisers what to expect? Thanks!

Your port side cabin will generally face southward, toward the sunnier side of the ship. 

A sea breeze can be assumed - but direct sun on the balcony depends on multiple factors.

58 minutes ago, BklynBoy8 said:

We have never had a Deck 8 Lifeboat Cabin during our stays on board in the past.

 

We prefer other decks we have selected in the past and always seem to prefer repeating.

 

We did once heading to the Library look inside a Deck 8 Cabin and seem that looking towards the Balcony there is a lesser space than a basic Britannia Cabin.

 

Once we had a PG and very much appreciated the space and upgrade deck furniture.

 

We had 8003 back in 2010 [pre 'remastering'] only two doors from the Library [not obstructed].

This was  a day of sailing gift from the upgrade fairy, and it took some time for our luggage to arrive [was waiting in a crew area near our assigned BZ category room on deck 4].

The stateroom interior was identical to other Britannia balconies. Outside the door, the glass fronted balcony was a smidgen shallower than out typical sheltered balcony room. 

10 minutes ago, Ciadan said:

Do you need to have the wifi package to use the My Voyage app?

No - the internet package is only for accessing stuff off the ship.

The 'My Voyage' page is local to the ship [the old buzzword was intranet ]. There are also a few 'cunard.com' and other pages accessible without the internet package.

Back in 2019 we had no inked stamps added to our passports - UK Border folks updated their files electronically on the eastbound crossing, passports were listed as 'not required' for Hamburg, and for LeHavre passports were required, but not presented in the terminal - not even an electronic stamp.

Likely things would be different when disembarking instead of shore excursion day trips.

For some folks, the phosphoric acid found in Coke products [not found in Pepsi] helps with nausea.

As you can see, lots of suggestions but no universal answer. 

Some independent northern lights 'chase' tours will have tripods available by request - this was not the case with Cunard's bus based shore excursions

2 hours ago, CruiserFromMaine said:

The term “posh” comes from “starboard out, port home” from the British point of view. So, heading west, starboard (southern) side and the port side for the return. 

I think that is exactly backward [Port Out, Starboard Home]- sailing  west, in the northern hemisphere, the port side will generally face south (toward the equator ).

We book round trip crossings so it evens out (and we get our eastbound  five hours back on the westbound crossing..

I think you will need to check the policy details and definitions to see if coverage ends when you arrive in port, or when you arrive at your domicile. 

What dates did you specify when you purchased the policy?

32 minutes ago, HighSeas75 said:

 

We disembarked with pup at Cherbourg once. I don't think they are stopping in France anymore. It would be great if they would.

Our westbound crossing starts in LeHavre on 18 October 2024 [following Newport, Boston, eastbound crossing, Hamburg round trip]

I noticed today that on the USA Cunard website the "My Account" login was back - and it allowed login with a password saved from the last time the login was available.

There are 'My Details' and 'My Preferences' options available after login.

My Details has current contact information, the World Club number and an option to updated email & change password [no voyage history or WC status]

My Preferences has three checkboxes for marketing contact preferences [ok to email, ok to snail mail, ok to call] and a question if you routinely use an agent to book

If you want sun, the starboard side of the ship will generally face south [toward the sun] on an eastbound sailing.

We tend to book category 'BU' staterooms [mid ships, between the 'B' and 'C' staircases] on decks 4 or 5.