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Live from the Queen Victoria--Princess Elites sail Cunard QV to the Baltic

PunkiC

By PunkiC,
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PunkiC

PunkiC

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PunckiC, I'm a bit concerned that after five days a sea, you feel you are still suffering from jet lag. I've read reports that a mild symptom of sea sickness mimics jet lag. I hope you feel better soon. Best wishes, -S.

 

They say you can recover from one to two times zone changes per day. We have been through 10 time zones which means it will take 5 to 10 days to recover each way. It's not that bad, I just need naps now and then.

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Slow Foxtrot

Slow Foxtrot

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"if we are going to take more Cunard cruises we need to learn Quickstep which appears to be a very simple dance" !!!

 

 

Hey Punki,

 

'A simple dance?' Not sure what they are doing on the Queen Vic floor but a good Quickstep is far from simple. It should be light, energetic, speedy, and well controlled. As you know, not many dance-schools in America teach it - probably for those very reasons!

 

I agree that some passengers may enjoy being taught just a few of the more popular Sequence Dances although, as you say, they are not part of the American dancing scene. In the UK, especially with older people, they are more popular than the ballrooom and latin dances. This is because they do not require the discipline of proper ballroom dancing. However, there are several thousand Sequence Dances so nobody knows them all. But just a dozen or so are played nationwide so that's all you need.

 

Carry on dancin'

 

Foxy

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Dorset Cruiser

Dorset Cruiser

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Live from the Queen Victoria--Princess Elites sail Cunard QV to the Baltic

 

Day Five: At sea once again

 

We had to turn our clocks ahead last night and by the time I awakened, room service had been delivered and DH had already left for the gym. I was somewhat disappointed but obviously my body wanted a little more sleep. I expect that I will probably be totally recovered from this bout of jet lag just about in time to create another by flying back to Seattle. I guarantee that I won’t miss out on my direct first-class flight back home this time, even if I have to spend the night before at Heathrow.

 

The first thing I noticed this morning was that instead of heading due east, we were heading southwest. People who plan their hand laundry on ships pay close attention to the sun. My first thought was that perhaps we had gone to war with Russia and they were shuttling us back to Southampton. My friend’s mother was in France at the outbreak of WWII and was required to jump on a ship and head back to New York immediately. I was so curious that I called the folks at the Purser’s Desk who had no idea which direction we were headed. They were very helpful, however, and called the Bridge and then reported back that we were just sailing around because the distance between Stockholm and Tallinn was so short that they had to waste some time. It’s a pity that they couldn’t have allowed us to overnight in Stockholm but that would have incurred more berthing fees and they could be quite substantial for a ship this size.

 

I had no sooner hung up the phone, when DH ran into our room wearing his gym clothes and grabbed an Armani sports jacket out of the closet. He returned a bit later and told me that he had loaned his Armani jacket to Lord Archer. Of course I initially thought DH was making fun of me because of my comments on Lord Archer’s dress, or even worse that Lord Archer had read my blog and was having a go at me. As it turned out Lord Archer had spilled oil on his jacket and needed one to wear to his talk this morning. Since he and DH work out together, he asked DH if he had a jacket he could borrow for his presentation. I must say that Lord Archer looked much snazzier on stage today than he had in his previous presentation, despite the fact that the sleeves of the jacket were a bit too long on him the cut of the jacket was elegant. I think he needs to start wearing Armani. DH and I certainly had a marvelous laugh over that one.

 

Lord Archer’s presentation this morning was all about British politics which are not particularly interesting to us, but he did tell some very hilarious political stories and he has excellent comedic delivery. Following the presentation we went to the book signing to retrieve the jacket and have the two books that I had brought from home for the trip signed by the author.

 

I have no compunction about posting my opinions of public figures if I don’t know or like them, but once you have given them the coat off your back (or in this case your husband’s back), there is a tiny bud of friendship there that prohibits talking about them behind their back. Therefore, I asked Lord Archer if his sense of humor extended to include the ability to laugh at himself. When he assured me that it did, I told him the whole story and asked if he would mind if I posted the rest of the story on this blog, to which he agreed. It was all quite a grand, funny coincidence and very amusing.

 

We ate lunch in the main dining room and it was quite good. I had mushroom soup, salad with an excellent cucumber dressing, and a bit of potato frittata which we call Spanish tortilla. It was quite thin, only about ¾”, whereas my potato frittatas, which I learned to cook from a Spanish exchange student, are about 2” thick. These were, however, quite tasty if a bit dry. I believe that had they made the frittatas thicker, they would be more delicious and moist. So far all of the salad dressings on the QV have been excellent, for those of you who enjoy salad.

 

Just as a test, we also went up to the Lido and had a bite of pizza. We learned that the Cunard pizza is much better than HAL pizza, but nowhere near as good as Princess pizza for which I am very grateful—I don’t need the temptation. Princess Pizza is legendary and totally irresistible to me.

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering about and chatting with folks around the ship, as well as taking a bit of a nap before we dressed for dinner. Tonight was a formal night and the theme was Victoriana and included a show called Victoriana and a Victoriana Ball. The menu included “surf and turf” the turf being lobster which was ordered by everyone at our table except me. I don’t typically eat meat and it didn’t occur to me to order just the lobster separately, which I probably should have done. I ordered something vegetarian which had a sauce which was way too strong and, IMHO, unpleasant. Oh well, next time.

 

When we first boarded, we were all provided a free bottle of champagne. We had agreed with our table mates that we would bring the bottles to dinner to share with the table, two at a time. Last night two couples brought their champagne and tonight we will do the same. I don’t know what we will do on the night we end up with only one bottle. ;) We have also decided that on a sea day, our table will form a Trivia Team. We are all getting on very well and I think I will be able to handle the rest of the cruise with the same dinner mates. We were very lucky this time around.

 

We went immediately to the ballroom after dinner and danced to the recorded music before the live music began. There are really quite a few good dancers on this cruise and the ballroom is truly lovely—DH loves it. If we are going to take more Cunard cruises, which we plan to do, we need to learn Quick Step, which appears to be a very simple dance, and get on YouTube and learn some of the more popular sequence dances. I did suggest to Sally Sagoe, the Entertainment Director, this morning that perhaps in the future they could teach a few sequence dances on sea days as we Americans would love to learn them and I am sure that the are also folks from the UK who would enjoy learning them as well. We danced until the band decided to take a break and then decided to call it night.

 

Tomorrow, Tallinn.

 

P.S. Alanxx, first off we highly recommend taking the Hop On, Hop Off around Stockholm. It comes right to the ship and delivers you right back at the ship. It is the best way to see the most of the city. Be sure and add in the water tour as that is the best part. If you leave quite early and go around once, you can go back and visit the places that most appeal to you. We have booked two full-day tours in St. Petersburg and I am beginning to wonder if that is a bit ambitious. I will let you know. Please feel free to ask any questions that you would like.

 

Was the 'turf' really lobster? Should that read 'steak'. Loving your review. Cunard is the only major cruiseline that really has not appealled to us. We are not that happy with the concept of two class cruising although as all the major cruise lines now seem to offer parts of the ship up to high loyalty level or suite passengers, perhaps in future we may give Cunard a try.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

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Pennbank

Pennbank

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Posted (edited)
Was the 'turf' really lobster? Should that read 'steak'. Loving your review. Cunard is the only major cruiseline that really has not appealled to us. We are not that happy with the concept of two class cruising although as all the major cruise lines now seem to offer parts of the ship up to high loyalty level or suite passengers, perhaps in future we may give Cunard a try.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

In my opinion Cunard is not that segmented compared to say NCL. On Cunard you have the Grills dining area, Britannia Club Dining (on QE and QM2) and The small Grills Bar area which are the only areas you are not allowed in unless travelling in that particular class of stateroom. The area is even smaller on QM2 compared to QV and QE.

Edited by Pennbank
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LadyL1 "Live from...." Rare

LadyL1

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From your post today..........

 

"When we first boarded, we were all provided a free bottle of champagne. We had agreed with our table mates that we would bring the bottles to dinner to share with the table, two at a time. Last night two couples brought their champagne and tonight we will do the same. I don’t know what we will do on the night we end up with only one bottle."

 

Considering you travel first class, have Armani clothes, and generally drop hints of "higher things" I amazed you call the Pol Aker left in your room, champagne and drink it with dinner!!:eek:

 

Perhaps you have persuaded your steward to change the Pol Aker for the real thing.

 

Anyway, glad you are enjoying the Queen Victoria and Cunard in general. I don't think I will be in a rush to travel with Princess after a recent "fly on the wall" TV programme on one of their ships recently shown in the UK, even for a better pizza.

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PunkiC

PunkiC

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Live from the Queen Victoria--Princess Elites sail Cunard QV to the Baltic

 

Day Six: Tallinn Estonia

 

I had meant to wash my hair this morning before we left for Tallinn, but when I combed it out it looked decent enough so I just let it be. My hair is longish and curly and a pain to care for. After I wash it, it just a ball of frizz until I have time to curl it and straighten it out a bit so washing it takes some planning. Once I have curled it, I can go several days without having to fool with it, but it is a chore to curl it after it is washed and dried. I keep threatening to chop it all off, but I love it all fancy when we dress up, so I suffer through.

 

Once we were dressed we went up to the Lido and ate breakfast with a new friend I had met several days ago. While we were sitting there Bruce Parker, the featured entertainer/singer for the first part of the cruise, came by and chatted for about 45 minutes. He is a very interesting young man and has a magnificent voice. It is odd though that in real life he is very sophisticated and articulate, whereas in his act he gets a little ghetto as he is singing soul songs from the ‘50s and ‘60s, which were originally sung by ghetto folks. We also have a daughter who is a singe/ song writer and he was full of good business advice for her. She, however, is a pure performance artists and cringes at the mention of “business”. She has managed to make a living with her art (she has never had what I would call a real job) and did get a song on the New York Times top ten songs of the year in 2013. This fascinating conversation delayed our departure into Tallinn, but it was a lovely way to spend our time.

 

Getting into Tallinn is easy peasy. Cunard supplies a shuttle for 4.5 Euros which runs every ten minutes or so and takes you right to the borders of the Old Town. There is no need to take a tour of any kind. The morning had been gorgeous as we were dressing and eating, but at the last minute we decided to throw light jackets and umbrellas into our day bag. I am so glad we did. No sooner had we arrived in Old Town when we were hit with a torrential downpour—I haven’t seen rain like this in a decade and I come from Seattle. The water came down in buckets and flooded the streets almost instantly. We first took shelter under a restaurant canopy but the rain was bouncing so hard off the streets that we were still getting wet, so we put up our umbrellas and dashed about 4 feet into a shopping center to wait it out. Once the rain stopped we wandered into the delightful city of Tallinn with its ancient wall and guard towers.

 

After wandering around a bit, we decided to sit down, have a glass of wine, with some free wifi, review the map and plot the rest of our day. As we sat there under the canopy, there was a crack of thunder so we immediately moved to the most center table. Once again the rain came down in torrents and we invited those folks on the outer edges of the canopy to squeeze into our table. It was so impressive that I took a video and posted it on Facebook. I will try to post it here when I get back to the world of fast/free internet. I love the sound of the rain pounding on the canopy. When that episode of rain subsided, we wandered down into the center of the city. It is just delightful with its old buildings and townspeople dressed in medieval costumes. What a treat. Any of you who will be visiting Tallinn will love it.

 

They also have reasonably priced wine so we were able to replenish our stock with some Chilean Merlot, which we typically love. We were not able to find a store where I could buy more wetting solution for my contacts, but if push comes to shove, I am sure I can get it at the ship’s store for a few hundred dollars. ;)

 

When the sky became a bit threatening once again, we decided to head back to the ship to avoid getting caught in the rain in a long line for a bus that was too full to stop. This was a wise choice, as once we got back on the ship and were having lunch, the skies once again broke open and blessed us with another downpour. The truly evil part of me prompted us to go down to the promenade, lean over the rail and observe those poor souls running down the dock as soaked as drowned rats.

 

While in Tallinn, I bought this most intriguing top which I know I am going to love. When I got back to the ship, I realized that it was simply a scarf with one long edge sewn together about 2/3rds of its length, leaving a whole at the folded edge for the scarf to go over your head. It is pure genius and can be worn in so many different ways. Learning this trick was well worth the 20 Euros I paid for the scarf as it opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

 

After our late lunch which consisted for me of a QV cheese pizza (really not too bad) and a salad with that magnificent cucumber dressing, I went back to our room for a nap before dinner. When DH tried to wake me up for dinner, my body just wasn’t going to cooperate so he went off on his own and I continued my luxurious nap in my pillow nest. We always get four extra pillows when we board so I can create my nest.

 

After dinner DH went to the magic show with some friends and I continued to sleep. We he returned from the show, which he said was excellent, another friend dropped by our cabin to coordinate our plans meet up for our St. Petersburg tours in the morning. We are all quite excited.

 

Responses:

 

To Lady49Monet: I lay and or hang the laundry out on the balcony chairs or hang shirts on the wooden ship hangers on the balcony wall. The wooden hangers weigh enough that they stay pretty stable even at sea. Today some of our laundry got a bit of a second washing while we were in Tallinn but most of it was dry by the time DH finished dinner. I am so enjoying DH always sends his tux shirts out to the laundry as soon as he wears them. I hope they don’t lose or destroy one as the ship stores do not include 16 ½ 36 shirts and he only brought two of his own.

 

Yes, Foxy, quickstep can be quite complicated, especially at the competition level, but the basic steps are really very simple. While there are quite a few competent social dancers on this cruise, there are only a couple who do much beyond the most basic steps in any dance. OBTW, did you know that we met GCurry down in Galveston last winter? We visited the Galveston Opera House and he and a friend sang a duet from Phantom of the Opera, accompanied by another Cruise Critic member. He has a very nice voice.

 

Oh, Dorset Cruiser, of course you are correct. The lobster was the surf portion. We folks who are almost vegetarians get so confused about those sorts of things. I am only vaguely aware that there is such a thing as the Queens Grill or a Princess Grill and they in no way interfere with our enjoyment of our cruise in our lowly steerage balcony. I suspect that the vast majority of the people in the world would happily trade places with us and be sailing in a balcony into St. Petersburg. ;) I know for sure that I would be very jealous of me if I weren’t me.

 

My DH and Lord Archer work out together every morning and my DH is truly a darling man. It would never occur to him not to respond in a positive manner to a request from a gym buddy, which is really all Lord Archer is to him. We are not English and are totally unconcerned with the local politics. Actually we do our best not to be too concerned with American politics as long as the stock market doing well.

 

LadyL1, we don’t much care for champagne or sparkling wine of any type, even the really expensive stuff. We did once have some excellent peach champagne at a Michelin 3-Star restaurant in the Alsace region in France. I was amazed that I liked it because generally speaking champagne is just not our thing. I am basically a peasant at heart and am perfectly content with (actually prefer) basic red wine.

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cunardaddict

cunardaddict

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Thank you for your daily update. I really felt with you seeing all the rain on the Tallin webcam.

 

But what exactly is Peach Champagne? To my understanding (and by french law) champagne is made of grapes from the champagne region and nothing else.

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Salacia

Salacia

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partial quote

Live from the Queen Victoria--Princess Elites sail Cunard QV to the Baltic

 

Day Six: Tallinn Estonia

 

 

...Once we were dressed we went up to the Lido and ate breakfast with a new friend I had met several days ago. While we were sitting there Bruce Parker, the featured entertainer/singer for the first part of the cruise, came by and chatted for about 45 minutes. He is a very interesting young man and has a magnificent voice. It is odd though that in real life he is very sophisticated and articulate, whereas in his act he gets a little ghetto as he is singing soul songs from the ‘50s and ‘60s, which were originally sung by ghetto folks... .

 

That is a shocking comment. As to whether it can be attributed to racism or ignorance, I don't know. But either way, it is offensive.

Edited by Salacia
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Victoria2 Great Review Rare

Victoria2

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Another great read. Thanks PunkiC. Keep them coming.

 

Interesting to read about the Tallinn shuttle charge. There were no shuttle charges for any passenger on the cruises we've taken so far this year.

 

How do Cunard go about charging? Do you have to 'buy a ticket/swipe your key card and it's charged to your stateroom and is it chargeable for all passengers or just those on the saver type fares?

 

A bit late, but enjoy St Petersburg. Fabulous place. Hope you're wearing comfortable shoes.

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Ray66

Ray66

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Interesting to read about the Tallinn shuttle charge. There were no shuttle charges for any passenger on the cruises we've taken so far this year.

 

How do Cunard go about charging? Do you have to 'buy a ticket/swipe your key card and it's charged to your stateroom and is it chargeable for all passengers or just those on the saver type fares?

 

 

When we went to the Baltic three years ago in Tallinn there was no charge for the shuttle bus but in Helsinki there was a woman on the quayside with a bag to collect money and you just bought a ticket off her.

 

Cunard now say that if you don't pay full fare for your cruise (The Cunard Fare in the UK), you may be charged for shuttle buses in some ports.

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fantasy51

fantasy51

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When I went to the Baltic with Princess some years ago, we were moored close enough that we could walk to the old town. I think it was about a 10-minute walk. However, in the type of rain described, the charge would certainly be worth it!

 

I have been on two cruises this year and have not had to pay for any shuttle buses. I gather that in some ports the buses are free, paid for by the city who want our business and therefore take us in gratis. I believe there are other ports where the ships have to arrange and pay for buses themselves, and that's when they are at liberty to charge those of us who get cheap fares. I think it must be a statistical nightmare. On one of the rare times when I took a ship's excursion, I came back and saw a long queue at the purser's desk. I could only assume they were buying or collecting shuttle tickets.

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zider

zider

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Only those that have booked the Saver Fare pay for use of Shuttle busses for those that have booked the Cunard Fare they are they are part of the Fare & no charge is made, Your card is scanned on entering the bus & those that pay have the charge entered onto their onboard account, I believe that the Saver Fares & Flash rates Fares are treated as non Cunard Fares.

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