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The Twelve Days of Cruising – live from QV November 2013

fantasy51

By fantasy51,
in Cunard Line

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fantasy51

fantasy51

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(Sing along with me.)

On the first day of cruising dear Cunard gave to me ...

... an upgraded ba-alcony.

 

Here I am, back on the QV after only 24 days away from the ship. I couldn’t resist the special offer of no single supplement. It’s been a year since I last saw such an offer here in the UK and I have regretted not being able to take advantage of the last one. It feels like being home.

 

I booked the cruise two weeks ago, booking an obstructed view balcony (the only grade they were offering) and within a few days was given a room allocation with an upgrade. I am on deck 4, just near the back lifts, with an unobstructed balcony. Thank you Cunard.

 

Getting here on a Sunday required a bit more planning than usual. I had chosen not to drive from the Oxford area, which was fortunate as the A34 was closed due to resurfacing, and the diversion would have added on an extra 70 miles! Going by train meant avoiding engineering works on the track. Most trains from Oxford involved changing to a bus between Reading and Basingstoke. My suitcase is too heavy to lug around for no good reason. Fortunately I found one train leaving at 10:15 (oh no, early morning!) that took two and a half hours to Southampton as it went the scenic route to avoid the roadworks – Havant, Fareham, Hamble - through lovely woodland and by rivers and bays. All went well.

 

(For those who do not recognise the song on which I am basing my report, go to

. Now let’s see how well I can keep up the numbering system and the format for 12 days!)
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Cruise Liner Fan

Cruise Liner Fan

Posted
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(Sing along with me.)

On the first day of cruising dear Cunard gave to me ...

... an upgraded ba-alcony.

 

Here I am, back on the QV after only 24 days away from the ship. I couldn’t resist the special offer of no single supplement. It’s been a year since I last saw such an offer here in the UK and I have regretted not being able to take advantage of the last one. It feels like being home.

 

I booked the cruise two weeks ago, booking an obstructed view balcony (the only grade they were offering) and within a few days was given a room allocation with an upgrade. I am on deck 4, just near the back lifts, with an unobstructed balcony. Thank you Cunard.

 

Getting here on a Sunday required a bit more planning than usual. I had chosen not to drive from the Oxford area, which was fortunate as the A34 was closed due to resurfacing, and the diversion would have added on an extra 70 miles! Going by train meant avoiding engineering works on the track. Most trains from Oxford involved changing to a bus between Reading and Basingstoke. My suitcase is too heavy to lug around for no good reason. Fortunately I found one train leaving at 10:15 (oh no, early morning!) that took two and a half hours to Southampton as it went the scenic route to avoid the roadworks – Havant, Fareham, Hamble - through lovely woodland and by rivers and bays. All went well.

 

(For those who do not recognise the song on which I am basing my report, go to

. Now let’s see how well I can keep up the numbering system and the format for 12 days!)

I can help up to the third day anyway. On the third day of cruising Cunard gave to me 3 Cunard Queens, 2 Red & Black Funnels, And A Upgraded Balcony. The 3 Cunard Queens of course is a reference to the Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth. Regards,Jerry

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Oahucruiser

Oahucruiser

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Have a great time. Tell me how you like the deck 4 balcony. I hear they are bigger. I have one on my QV World Voyage starting in Jan.

 

Don

 

We had a balcony cabin on deck 5 on the last QV's world cruise and we looked directly down on our friends' deck 4 balcony and it was definitely bigger than ours. Enjoy the extra space and have a fabulous voyage.

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fantasy51

fantasy51

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On the second day of cruising dear Cunard gave to me ...

... two social meets

and an upgraded ba-alcony.

 

Just for the sake of this numbering system I dragged myself out of bed early enough to attend the singles gathering at 11am. I have never seen so many people there, even on the first day (which is when most people turn up, for the free champagne), and the Hosts had to keep dragging in more chairs. The initial circle became section after section. I think the last-minute offer of no single supplement has attracted a lot of people.

 

In the afternoon we had our Cruise Critic meeting. About 11 people turned up, with apologies from a few others who had other meetings to attend at the same time. (Bingo is SO important!) There may have been others who turned up to the Port side of the Commodore Club, which is what had been advertised and confirmed by Cunard. Such a pity they put us on the Starboard side! However, the meeting organiser has promised another one, with a Cunard official to speak, and advertisement in the Daily Programme.

 

The ship is nowhere near full, which made it surprising to see a packed dance floor for the daily dance class.

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fantasy51

fantasy51

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Hi Dcoy. The first thing I noticed was the larger balcony! So far the weather has not been conducive to using it, but it will happen.

 

Hi Jerry and Bob. Thanks for your suggestions. Now you’ll have to wait and see which of them I use!

 

Hi Whitemarsh. That’s definitely an advantage to living in the UK and being able to get last-minute cruises I think Cunard was desperate to fill the ship and brought inside cabins down to £500 and balconies to £600. I learnt about this deal on one of the Cunard threads, so thank you to the person who posted it!

 

To the rest of you: thank you for all your good wishes.

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fantasy51

fantasy51

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On the third day of cruising dear Cunard gave to me ...

... three plumbing jobs

two social meets

and an upgraded balcony.

 

Imagine getting up in the middle of the night (well, 8am but it was the middle of the night for me) to go to the toilet and walking into a pool of water!

 

Today’s count of three started on Day 1 with my first shower. By the end of it I found myself 2-3 cms deep in water. It took about five minutes for the water to disappear. By the next morning I discovered that my toilet was full of water. It seemed to be slowly dripping from the cistern into the pan. I reported both of these faults to my room steward. He no doubt reported them to his supervisor, who informed maintenance (or did it also go through Head of Housekeeping first?) who appointed a workman. Luckily I returned to my room just as he’d supposedly fixed the toilet and was able to tell him about the shower – which hadn’t made it through to his job sheet. All fixed? It appeared so until this morning! I suspect the workman had only checked the outlet pipe, not the inlet one. During the night the toilet must have filled up again and the movement of the ship sent the water sloshing into my bathroom. At least it was clean water!

 

Housekeeping turned up quickly with an industrial vacuum to suck up the water, and disinfectant for the floor, while a maintenance man removed the panel on the corridor side and worked on pipes and valves. It was a relief to wash my feet (and then go back to bed for another couple of hours of sleep).

 

(Three jobs: shower, toilet outlet pipe, toilet inlet pipe)

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fantasy51

fantasy51

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On the fourth day of cruising dear Cunard gave to me ...

... four breakfast fruit

three plumbing jobs

two social meets

and an upgraded ba-alcony

 

I do so enjoy the fruit I eat for breakfast at sea: watermelon and pineapple, rounded off with banana bread and washed down with cranberry juice.

 

Today we visited Lisbon. There was no shuttle bus to the city centre. That was a change from my previous trips. There were also no instructions on how to get to an interesting area. I set off walking ever upward through tiny alleyways until I gave up and decided to ride the number 28 tram instead. I rode it to the terminus then had to get off for five minutes, buy another ticket and get back on to go back towards the port! After half an hour I could see the ship down through an alley and asked the driver if I should get off there. He gestured in a half rectangle, which made me think he would come back to the port. I asked that and he did not deny it. However, 15 minutes later we reached the other terminus where he changed places with a woman driver. When I asked her what was happening the surly driver revealed that he could speak English and said ‘I never told you we were going to the port’! They suggested I walk for 10 minutes to catch a bus (which I later found would have taken me right opposite the port, as long as I’d found its bus stop and taken it in the right direction). I checked by asking a bus driver and he said I should take the number 15 tram. (Back at the port later, there were no tram tracks on that road so I don’t know where I would have ended up if I had followed that advice.) A woman at a bus stop kept telling me ‘Metro’. However, an American tourist walked me to the nearest corner and told me to walk to the end of the street and turn left and I’d see the ship. Simples!

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fantasy51

fantasy51

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On the fifth day of cruising dear Cunard gave to me ...

... five luscious cakes

four breakfast fruit

three plumbing jobs

two social meets

and an upgraded ba-alcony

 

Yes, I really did it. I got one piece of layer cake at lunch time and I have another four cakes from afternoon tea sitting here waiting for me to eat them. I am getting fat all for the sake of a song!

 

On another note, the Pudding Police are on this cruise. On the first sea day a gentleman came up to Vi, the friend with whom I am travelling and said: ‘I have been watching you. This is the second time you have taken a double dessert. On the third time you will be put off the ship. The Pudding Police are on board.’ Later that day we caught up with him at the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet! He has not managed to catch Vi with a double dessert again. She told him that she looks all around the Lido, to make sure he’s not watching, before serving herself.

 

I recall some discussion about toast earlier this year. The only problem is that I can’t remember what type of toast was considered unacceptable. I CAN report that at 11:30 this morning the toast was so hard that it snapped at the slightest pressure.

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Scrapnana "Live from...." Rare

Scrapnana

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You are a true inspiration, fantasy51. Last cruise you braved the combatants in the laundrette and this time you are risking your girlish figure. There seems to be no limit to the sacrifices you will make for us, your loyal readers. Bravo!;)

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fantasy51

fantasy51

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On the sixth day of cruising dear Cunard gave to me ...

... six dancing men

fiiiive luscious ... cakes

four breakfast fruit

three plumbing jobs

two social meets

and an upgraded ba-alcony

 

Those who have read my previous live thread will know that I am a keen ballroom dancer. You may know that Cunard provides Gentleman Dance Hosts to dance with all the single ladies. As expected, there are four Hosts on this cruise, two from the UK and two from the USA. They are all very nice and friendly. They take care of us well and even invite groups of us to join them for lunch. It is obvious how much they all enjoy dancing. In addition I have found two passengers on this cruise who regularly come up and ask me to dance. In fact, I am getting to dance so much that sometimes I am exhausted by 11pm and have to leave the ballroom then instead of staying until midnight! Two nights ago I was too weary to even go to the ballroom. I slept for 12 hours instead.

 

To continue the dancing theme, Dan and Olena are still on board as the professional dance couple. I have heard many experienced cruisers say that they are the best dance teachers at sea. From my experience, I can say that they are excellent!

 

Today we are in Agadir. I went out with 2 female friends. I was offered 5,000 camels for one of the women, as the man in the shop said he likes bigger women. I’m pretty sure a man in a spice shop offered me ****** (or perhaps a herbal equivalent). Do I look like a person who needs it? We travelled by taxi and laughed our way around. I discovered later that my two friends were feeling a bit scared because the taxi driver was taking us so far, and not to the places we’d asked for (supposedly €2 to go to the nearby shops). I wasn’t scared as I’d been told it was a safe place. I just kept repeating where we wanted to go, said we did not want to pay a lot of money for the taxi, and then when he finally dropped us back at the shuttle bus, refused to pay the amount he asked for.

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Moonraker7

Moonraker7

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Hello. Who is your Captain and Entertainment/cruise Director?. We will be on QV 11Dec, would be nice to know if they on the same voyage... Thanks for the updates... Enjoy the rest of your voyage....

 

Captain Inga is great but this is her last one til January and then she's off in May to Captain QE and Jo (female) is the entertainment director and I believe she's on til jan 2nd and she's off to QE to at sometime. Think this is Jamie's last cruise too before Xmas. I was on QV last week. Had a brill time, and was totally spoilt by what seemed like everyone!!

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Moonraker7

Moonraker7

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what a pity - I had heard alot of positive things about her....

 

She is totally a wonderful lady. I was lucky to be invited to dine with her and had a great evening and got a hug at the end :-) her q&a session was funny and the cocktail party was great too!!

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Moonraker7

Moonraker7

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Looks like she will be the captain for the entire QV World Voyage. This is a change from an earlier schedule of senior officers I saw. The schedule use to show Philpott.

 

Don

 

If I remember, she said she was joining around 26 Jan in South America :-)

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