Colin_Cameron

Anyone heard who Queen Anne’s Madrina is? Who smashed the bottle at the launch? Don’t recognise her in the video.

1 hour ago, Wjm989 said:

Here we can see the void of the Queen's Room among other features.

The Queen’s Room spiral staircase, the other void from the casino down to the Golden Lion, the forward lifts and stairs, and the spa pool. And at the aft end, what looks like the midships stairs. I was trying to work out from the video where the join would be.

At one time the T&Cs about the one bottle rule contained something along the lines of, “We don’t intend to enforce this as a matter of routine, but reserve the right to do so.” 

29 minutes ago, MWINWI said:

I would be surprised if we were the first with this request. 

I would too. I once met someone that didn’t bring their own wine with them, they kept their own stock onboard!

When you get to your cabin look at the daily programme. Somewhere in it there will be a notice saying that “the maitre d’ will be available from X to Y”. Be prepared for a long queue. It will be the sommelier/wine steward that will actually handle it, and he’ll be around somewhere. There may be somebody at the door asking the nature of your query (to thin out the simple yes/no answers) and they may pass you directly to the sommelier. 

You could wait wait until the first dinner and speak to your wine steward then, but they are very busy on the first night and I wouldn’t recommend it.

Just had a thought. All of the above applies to Britannia and Britannia Club. If you are in either of the Grills I’m fairly sure there’s no notice in the programme, but someone will be available either during lunch (if you’re in time) or at afternoon tea.

Have a great trip.

9 hours ago, MarkBearSF said:

Back in the day, on the QE2, the shirred eggs came with caviar, if I recall correctly.

And on QM2, when it was still on the menu. Now I'm trying to remember if it did when I requested it on QV.

57 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

When you click on the link in your reply #2453 do you see the image?

I do. But that may not prove anything.

19 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

I hope it survives the journey.

Not half as much as I do.😓

Good to hear that those of you who have/had the bug are recovering. I don’t want to jinx things but we’ve so far managed to avoid it.

I’ve got to transport this 70th birthday cake 200 miles this weekend and I’m starting to realise that I should have used a much more substantial board. 😬 Looks like I’ll be driving very carefully.

It's happened to us and it definitely sucks.

But, if it had gone UP by $1000 would you be posting on here asking how to go about paying the extra?

1 hour ago, WestonOne said:

 I am also considering shirred eggs, ...

That’s the one thing I have requested (at breakfast). Not every morning, but maybe a couple of times a cruise. It used to be on the menu, but not for a number of years now.

12 hours ago, wynkys said:

In 2004 I travelled with my mother on QM2's inaugural crossing which left Southampton on what was my 60th birthday. Then in New York we transferred to QE2 for the first tandem crossing back to Southampton.

From the Cunard Cruise Videos thread, including the tandem sailaway from NY. You might even spot yourself.

On 10/9/2020 at 11:43 AM, Colin_Cameron said:

Unfortunately this one has been recovered from VHS so the Quality isn't that great.

 

Queen Mary 2 Maiden Transatlantic Crossing 2004.

 

Just thinking out loud here. Others may be able to say if these are non-starters.

If the FCC's are held separately in your individual accounts, could you (or your sister) request a refund for your sister's FCC (obviously only getting the 100% cash value)? Allowing you to keep the benefit of your half of the FCC for the new booking. Or are they still tied together because they came from the same booking?

Alternatively, what would be the costs involved in booking the new cruise as you and your sister, then doing a name change of the second person to your husband?

3 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

Yes, I know the code changed last year but you mentioned hearsay on Crocs as part of evening wear but before I join the Oh Calamity group and rail against any seriously deteriorating level of dress onboard of an evening, I want to observe for myself.

Here's a few quotes from posts about our last QE cruise. Although pre-covid it was out of Australia, so had the "new" dress code.

On 2/3/2020 at 4:19 AM, Colin_Cameron said:

There has been some speculation on here about what the new dress code will mean in practice. ‘Smart trousers and a collared shirt’ is obviously open to interpretation. It would seen that, for a sizeable minority, ‘smart’ means long and I suppose, technically, polo shirts have a collar. I even saw one flannel shirt worn completely open, thankfully over a vest or T-shirt. But it had a collar, so what’s the problem? I would guess that maybe 25 - 30 % have a different understanding of ‘smart’ or ‘collared’ than I do. It’s also worth noting that three of the four men at our table were wearing jackets although not required, so you could make any argument you like. We’ll see what tonight’s first formal, sorry, Gala Night brings.

On 2/4/2020 at 3:35 AM, Colin_Cameron said:

Tonight was the Captain’s Welcome Party and first Gala (Black & White) Night. I’d estimate that around 60% of the men were in ‘Black Tie’, with another 20% in the also acceptable ‘dark suit’. About 10% were at least wearing a jacket and the less said about the rest the better. There seems to be a lot of checked flannel shirts around. At times it feels like we’ve wandered into a line-dancing convention.

On 2/11/2020 at 8:51 PM, Colin_Cameron said:

It’s the World Club Party tonight and although it’s a ‘Smart Attire’ evening there appears to be fewer men without jackets than there was on the first ‘Gala Night’ and there are certainly more ties in evidence than I’ve seen all voyage. 

On 2/14/2020 at 12:20 AM, Colin_Cameron said:

This is our last formal night and suddenly it’s like we’re on a different ship. It’s just like a Cunard ship should be. I don’t know where the work-shirt, shorts and sandals brigade (seen at the previous Gala Ball) have gone. There’s no sign of them. Not one. Anywhere on the ship! We passed by the pub, and through the Lido (the casual venues) and EVERYBODY is dressed for Gala Night. I’m not sure if the rebels have been confined to their cabins, thrown overboard, or admitted defeat.

12 hours ago, lissie said:

I still don't understand why it makes so much difference for a man to walk in and out of a dining room wearing a jacket, to some  people. Its not like you wear it during diner LOL.  

Now I'm confused. Does the maitre d' hang it up for you? Does the chair wear it?

Who takes off their jacket at dinner?

4 hours ago, BTwurddle said:

I loathe a tie since I don’t see a practical purpose they serve and the always seem fiddly. That said, worn with a vest they aren’t so cumbersome.

Bolo tie?

I have even known a Cunard Cruise Director wear one on formal nights.

13 hours ago, lissie said:

And no Cloudy Bay which is probably the most recognized  NZ brand overseas  

Bin 369

17 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

We won't sail QM2, others are reluctant to sail QE/QV. There has always been  a partisan element to Cunard ships.

Yep. There were those who sailed on Queen Mary but would never think to sail on Queen Elizabeth (or vice versa). Some who sailed on Cunard Princess but wouldn't on Cunard Countess (or vice versa). Sagafjord passengers would have been unlikely to sail on Vistafjord ... etc., etc...

I’m helping a friend move house today and the forecast is for 12 inches of snow but the wind will mean drifts several feet deep. Oh joy!

1 hour ago, AspirationalFlyer said:

Premium Wi-Fi should be free. I appreciate not everyone wants to use it, but it should be available if you need or want it.

What you mean is that those that don't need or want it should still have to pay for it, subsidising those who do?

6 hours ago, david,Mississauga said:

the words spoken by Peter Shanks ... this, Your Majesty, is your ship.

You beat me to it. I had thought it was Micky Arrison that said it, but I think you're right.

12 minutes ago, Bigmike911 said:

It is amazing how we easily disregard how convenient running water is to daily life.

Until you don’t have it! 

I remember going to visit visit an elderly uncle who refused to have running water brought into his house. We got around that by convincing him to have a lean-to built over the outside tap. We had less success with electricity and he died, not that many years ago, still without “the electric”.

Has anyone that had one of this summer's cruises cancelled heard from Fred yet? I'm interested in what the FCC terms are. I've searched the T&Cs and can't find any mention.

Our 1st July Braemar cruise was cancelled and we are waiting to hear from them. This was a replacement for one cancelled last year, from which we got 110% credit. 

Our 9th July Braemar cruise was transferred to Balmoral and today we heard that it is now on the 8th and is a day longer (at no extra cost👍). The port order has been rearranged and an extra one added, so that answers my question a while ago about whether the Balmoral cruises would be direct replacements for the Braemar ones.

We had a 50/50 choice of which cruise to apply the credit to and chose the one that ended up being cancelled. If they are no longer offering 110% credit when they cancel, what happens to that credit we received last year? 

This last couple of years has seen some changes and innovations. We’ve ‘attended’ funerals via Skype, Zoom and FaceTime. Today it was the turn of YouTube Livestream. There’s no longer any statutory limits on numbers, other than the capacity of the venue. But  social distancing is still in place and we knew this was going to be a busy one. We did go along to the cemetery for the burial.

Although cooler than recently, following the warmest New Year on record, it was a glorious sunny day. The daffodils have finally poked their shoots above the soil. A good two months later than last year.

The grass hasn’t really stopped growing this year. Which may be no bad thing as there were a couple of bare patches on the bowling green towards the end of last year. Which reminds me, I must get the mowers serviced.

10 hours ago, July morning said:

We booked a cruise on Monday going from Newcastle on the 20th August and it was cancelled today😣 it was such a nice feeling thinking about going on a cruise as we were hoping by that time things might have calmed down!!

 

It was on Balmoral. The email said Braemar was delayed until March 2023 and Balmoral would be 2 May this year (I think) 

 

Shall be contacting us soon and please don't phone as they are going to try and help people with earlier cancelled cruises first.

One of our Braemar cruises out of Rosyth has been cancelled. The other one the ship is being replaced with Balmoral. So you may have the option of moving to one of Balmoral's new Rosyth sailings. Whether these will be direct replacements of Braemar's sailings or if they've had to make changes to the itineraries of some of them isn't clear yet. Something to think about before Fred contacts you.

2 hours ago, EvaBME said:

 

What would happen if someone was physically unable to fly, and they had to return to NYC?   Sometimes the reason people cruise is because they are unable to fly.  

In that case, deciding that international travel was so essential that it needed to be done in the middle of a global pandemic, was probably not the wisest decision.