DDBINK1

I always love George Gobel's line on the Johnny Carson show years back.."Did you ever feel the world is a room full of tuxedos & you're the one pair of brown shoes?" Watch a few of the pax on formal night & you'll really get the joke!

Yes exactly, I have seen the shoe issue. Brown shoes Black tux :eek:

 

I was just perusing this thread and saw that you mentioned that you had written a book. I love any accounts on cruising-long ones especially. What is the name of your book?

 

No not I, Maggiemou yours is the book I was mentioning. It was great. I am sure it could be found on line with an easy search for others to find. Enjoy it.

Hello DDBRINK, and thank you for reading my book. I certainly had a good time on the world cruises writing it and it has many happy memories for me. I had fun with it. I am no Jackie Collins but I tried. :) Hope we meet on Cunard one day in the future. Happy Cruising ! :)

BTW. with my 40 pairs of shoes and well over 100 dresses on a world cruise I think I was Queen of the fashion police on Cunard. :D

Yes that was my greatest laugh about your adventures. Your Shoes and Wardrobe. My friends at work asked me what I was reading since I read many books and I went on to explain that it was your book on your World Adventures in Cruising. We chuckled about how much packing you must organize to get all the things you have into your luggage.

I tend to be a minimalist when it comes to packing for a trip but I am a guy that likes to dress up for dinner on a voyage. So I have several suits/tuxes and special suit cases for Cruising. But just the bare brown, black pairs of shoes.

Good travels and yes meeting you on a voyage would be great fun. And you would never be banned from my table for dressing well for dinner. :)

I have read accounts of world cruises and that it is always best to make arrangements to change tables after a period of time so that the interactions with the table mates can change and add flavor/change to the long voyage.

 

Hello DDBINK.You will have read my account also about table mates on world cruises in my book. Yes, I agree many world cruiser switch tables after each segment so you get a different set of dining companions.

Not that they start arguing ( although you will have read about my argument and my banning from a table after seven days on board a P&O ship as I was too overdressed for one couple.:D) This was very unusual however and the reason most people change table is to bring in new conversations and meet new people.

We always like to sit with mix Nationalities from different parts of the world and after say six weeks it is nice to have a change of people. Most of the time the table will change anyhow, as most passengers on a world cruise are doing segments.

I alway think it is a mistake to put all world cruisers on the same table. We have had this twice but usually asked to be moved after the first segment as four months with the same people can get tiresome no matter how nice they are. :)

 

 

Yes I liked your book and insights greatly.

I like to go to lunch in the MDR as they generally ask if you will share with another group. That starts up new conversations and hopefully friendships as you encounter many different people from all over the world.

It is complimentary in QG, charged for in PG.

Wait, did something change? My last couple of trips, I was in QG and got the large 1 liter bottles of hooch at no charge but the small travel bottles and mixers / cokes in the fridge / mini bar were charged for on the daily bill.

Yes, I have missed the musing antics of the Fashion Police too.

Maybe someone should start a thread about the current state of fashion on the ships to entice them ??

Hello Maggiemou, from a stranger but I feel I know about you since I really enjoyed your book. :)

I have had excellent experiences with my excursions off both QV and QM2. I used the Excursion desk several times, and I used the drop box to request an excursion after boarding and got a prompt reply in writing in a nice envelope to my cabin door. The staff always go on the excursions with you, as escorts and problem solvers I think, but we never had problems on the excursions. Hope this response helps? :confused:

I am torn between long and short crossings. Let me state, I have not done one yet, but my retirement plans include multiple crossings. So I am thinking it might be ok for a short crossing If I had plans for travel on the other side of the voyage. And if I was just doing a leisure trip, and relaxing, make the voyage last. Right now there are not good choices for short crossings except those dangerous Jet Aero planes. And I have no plans to utilize them ever. I just hope when I do retire, in 20 or so years, there is a liner to utilize. Travel to Europe should be sophisticated. :)

I have read accounts of world cruises and that it is always best to make arrangements to change tables after a period of time so that the interactions with the table mates can change and add flavor/change to the long voyage.

As to listening in on others conversations.... well. I think that the staff can make comments to each other about guests and maybe they were trying to get a newer staff member ready to serve potentially difficult or just different guests. Of course, propriety is that the staff should have made the comments out of ear shot of a guest. The staff aren't robots, yet. They get to make their own judgments of guests (at least in the USA they do). But like I said, perhaps keep them from the guests hearing range.

That is cool. I have stayed on the QM Hotel a couple times. Had a great time on her. The ghost tour was cool and the Observation Bar was the BEST bar I have been in for years. Great fun in the evening.

After reading this thread I realized I may have missed out on meeting this man. But I have ordered and received the book "The Only Way to Cross" and as a bonus it was a signed copy. I plan on reading it nightly before bed to see what I have missed. I am very excited to read this book. :)

I have checked the link and apparently gentlemen may; on formal evenings, wear formal national dress and army uniform. Does anyone know if court uniforms are acceptable, obviously with the four star maximum protocol?

 

Regards John

What are Court Uniforms ?? I see you meant Royal Court. ?????:confused:

No; you are thinking of criminal court not Royal Court/quote]

 

My apologies, you see I have been reading The Daily Mail and it was a natural misunderstanding ;)

 

(yes I have a bizarre sense of humor)

 

The Daily Mail, please explain to a simple guy from Tennessee. (USA)

I definitely need a cruise :D November is a long way ahead and I'm getting withdrawal symptoms at the lack of a break of any sort before then. That's probably why I saw the QM2 scaling the Statue of Liberty :D:D

I can't take a cruise right now. Family health issues. I started watching YouTube vids of the history of liners and others with cruise/voyages on the old liners. It will have to do for now. And of course I have been working on my World Cruise Account. Building quite nicely. I have 10 yrs till I retire but by then there will be enough for several circumnavigations. Something to look forward to.

Or that they really need a holiday.:D

That was my second thought. All in good jest of course. :p

On first reading I had a mental image of the QM2 somehow sailing UP the Statue of Liberty :D

Hmmm, now that could mean you might need a quick trip to the shrink for a tune up?? :eek: :D

Having been on lots of ocean cruises' date=' I am trying the Mississippi Queen. I am wondering about the amenities in the rooms such as shampoos (brand) etc and more importantly bathrobes...do they provide bathrobes in the staterooms? Thank you for any info.[/quote']

 

American Queen I think.

I don't remember bathrobes but there were slippers in the closet to use and keep. The soap/shampoo was not very interesting since I am male. What ever it was served it's purpose.

The best amenity was the load of dust built up in the corners of the room and along the carpet edges. We put it to good use once we got it scraped up. It was a good handful of crud. Not that the room was dirty, it was clean I just think the service people had no tools to deal with the edge dust that had built up on the carpet. :confused:

i suppose enough time has passed, there was a particular passenger and her husband who decided she was "Queen Cunard" and should be addressed as such. She often grabbed the mic and took over presentations until led away by embarrassed officials. There were numerous incidents including her completely removing her clothes in the winter garden one afternoon and changing into a "mumu" (I nearly lost my lunch) and other stories of her and her famous carpet-bag addressing performers on the stage as they were performing. Well known for her outrageous costumes and her penchant for balloons.

 

You had to be there...but she was pretty well known over the ship and was adept at clearing a room......

 

The producer of the documentary, Simon ALix was a particular subject for her attentions because he was filming and owned a camera, and I think she was stalking him at one stage.

 

Just your typical cunarder really.......

I don't think typical Cunarder's are Insane. (unless they stop their meds).

I have been on RCI and Cunard and I seem to be one of THOSE Americans that throws tips at people for very little extra service. I tend to collect the envelopes that arrive at the suite with information, invitations, or other contents especially if the have my name on them and then use those envelopes to address them to staff that I think deserve an extra tip.

On RCI those envelopes for WOW members of the crew were in my cabin neatly arranged on the desk when I arrived on board !! And I use them to give extra to the waiter or cabin steward. I don't think I have ever even talked to a M'D on a RCI ship. I usually give a favorite bar waiter an extra cash amount on a bill near the end of the voyage. Especially if they know what Anisette is and can get if for me as an after dinner drink.

I found the videos interesting. Could have been better if he had done more on the ship and how the passengers interact and form bonds.

Still wondering about the story mentioned earlier about some Queen issue??

And as a quick afterthought, after looking up Vegemite it now appears in advertising on many of the other web pages I look at.

I bet you could dress the way you like if you dress up more than the stated dress code for the evening.

So I have looked up Vegemite on Amazon just to see what this was.

Seems they have FREE shipping and Marmite came up too.

States it comes from Australia. They actually have travel packets available to take with you on trips just in case you have a craving. Comes in various jar sizes also but seems kind of expensive compared to peanut butter or jelly for toast in the morning.

I am not actually going to buy any. Sounds more like an acquired taste. Like taking a daily tablespoon of Cod Liver Oil.

Please explain these items? I have never heard of either.

I have travelled in both the Britannia and Queen's Grill level on Cunard and I just think of the experience as different in both levels. Nothing to rub into a wound if that is the issue here. I like both levels of travel. The food is generally great in both dining areas, Service is similar level except for the Butler but I don't put them to work very much anyway. When I am in the Queen's Grill cabin I like to think I am something but I know I really am just a Southern Tennessee Volunteer with a slightly bigger cabin on a nice vessel going on vacation. I usually don't stick my nose in the air unless there is that smell in the hallway coming from the sewer lines. I say however you travel so long as it is on Cunard you are doing well. ENJOY! :)