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Live from the 2015 QE World Voyage

Scrapnana

By Scrapnana,
in Cunard Line

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roscoe39 Great Review Rare

roscoe39

Posted
Posted (edited)
The webcam at this moment shows total fog. Hobie, I hope you will continue to post while you are on board.

 

Hi Patti....were you aware of any changes to the WC benefits for 2016? Theres no mention in any of the advertising or brochures of the WC dinner or the other little benefits that used to be the norm apart form the usual cocktail parties.. Even the head office down here denies that the WC dinner exists..Im wondering if we are the start of the new regime and they are being done away with...or am i being paranoid.

 

I could post you some urls to example it....but I'm only joking about something else...lol...

Edited by roscoe39
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Oahucruiser

Oahucruiser

Posted
Posted (edited)

Roscoe - - It will be interesting to see if anyone on this thread posts about gifts, the WC dinner, etc. to see if those things are happening this year on the QE and the QV. Maybe it's too soon for Cunard to list those amenities for 2016. I saw your question on the roll call but have no answer. Just hoping they haven't deleted those special treats!!

 

I got what you meant about those urls!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited by Oahucruiser
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Salacia

Salacia

Posted
Posted (edited)

If the "WC dinner" is the same as the "the World Club Voyage Event", then yes it is being offered on the 2016 World Cruise as are other "exclusive extra benefits". (Don't worry, Roscoe and Oahcruiser, I won't bore you with the URL for reference and additional details :D ) Cheers, -S.

Edited by Salacia
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roscoe39 Great Review Rare

roscoe39

Posted
Posted (edited)
Roscoe - - It will be interesting to see if anyone on this thread posts about gifts, the WC dinner, etc. to see if those things are happening this year on the QE and the QV. Maybe it's too soon for Cunard to list those amenities for 2016. I saw your question on the roll call but have no answer. Just hoping they haven't deleted those special treats!!

 

I got what you meant about those urls!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

hmmmmm I know someone involved in the 2015 World Cruise dinner, so know that it is definately happening, it was just interesting that in other years they are mentioned in the brochures and for the 2016 they arn't. Even the denial of Cunard Aust that the dinner ever existed was forboding...lol...

 

of course...in the old days......(Cue ... violin music ) World cruisers got not only the Dinners, segment presents (and some of them quite substantial) but special event excursions which were reportedly pretty amazing. But I would be pretty annoyed if they did away with any more of the little benefits there would be little advantage in booking the whole trip and not doing it just in segments. It's taken me a long time to work up to the full WC., and I will be out for every freebie and experience it has to offer....bring it on...bring it over and give me a double helping!

 

Anyway, I'm thread drifting, my apologies to those forced to read.:(

 

Roscoe

Edited by roscoe39
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Oahucruiser

Oahucruiser

Posted
Posted
hmmmmm I know someone involved in the 2015 World Cruise dinner, so know that it is definately happening,

 

Do you know WHERE the QE's WC dinner is this year? We have been to them in Dubai twice, Lisbon (the most spectacular one) and your hometown of Auckland at the Convention Center.

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Bell Boy

Bell Boy

Posted
Posted
hmmmmm I know someone involved in the 2015 World Cruise dinner, so know that it is definately happening, it was just interesting that in other years they are mentioned in the brochures and for the 2016 they arn't. Even the denial of Cunard Aust that the dinner ever existed was forboding...lol...

 

of course...in the old days......(Cue ... violin music ) World cruisers got not only the Dinners, segment presents (and some of them quite substantial) but special event excursions which were reportedly pretty amazing. But I would be pretty annoyed if they did away with any more of the little benefits there would be little advantage in booking the whole trip and not doing it just in segments. It's taken me a long time to work up to the full WC., and I will be out for every freebie and experience it has to offer....bring it on...bring it over and give me a double helping!

 

Anyway, I'm thread drifting, my apologies to those forced to read.:(

 

Roscoe

 

Hi Roscoe, Not only the 'full world cruisers' had special dinners and segment gifts but any guest travelling in the Grills 'on a QM2 leg/segment only' of a world cruise also had wonderful 'event excursions' often including a splendid dinner in port. (known as Grill events) but sadly these are now no longer.:(

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roscoe39 Great Review Rare

roscoe39

Posted
Posted
hmmmmm I know someone involved in the 2015 World Cruise dinner, so know that it is definately happening,

 

Do you know WHERE the QE's WC dinner is this year? We have been to them in Dubai twice, Lisbon (the most spectacular one) and your hometown of Auckland at the Convention Center.

 

unfortunately that essential piece of information wasn't offered.... from your experience don't they announce it a month before? I nearly talked my way into the Lisbon one in 2008 at the Bull ring..it looked amazing and was by all accounts a great night. Fingers crossed for us....

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roscoe39 Great Review Rare

roscoe39

Posted
Posted (edited)
Hi Roscoe, Not only the 'full world cruisers' had special dinners and segment gifts but any guest travelling in the Grills 'on a QM2 leg/segment only' of a world cruise also had wonderful 'event excursions' often including a splendid dinner in port. (known as Grill events) but sadly these are now no longer.:(

 

aaaah memories....of course if the QE2 was still here.....(just kidding...im not going there!)

 

ps...thanks for the heads up and pics of the two queens...that is a sight! underway and watching now

Edited by roscoe39
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roscoe39 Great Review Rare

roscoe39

Posted
Posted
Yup, she is on her way to SFO and then in 7 days time she'll be here in Honolulu and I'll be at the port to watch her arrival.

 

and then ..... its US!...scrapnana has solved my issue, your version page 20 of the US brochure isn't on our down under brochure..panic over, which is great cos now I have somewhere to get dressed up for.

 

:D

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Salacia

Salacia

Posted
Posted

partial quote

...Anyway, I'm thread drifting, my apologies to those forced to read.:(

 

Roscoe

 

People are being forced to read this thread? :eek:

 

(Imagine what Monty Python and the Flying Circus could do with that scenario) :D

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Salacia

Salacia

Posted
Posted (edited)
I have a fish if you want to slap someone.:p

BTW, thanks for the pic of the two queens together.:D

 

Hi MicCanberra - thanks for that reference...now I remember the Monty Python fish slapping dance :D

 

<---for those that are not 'URL adverse' :) Edited by Salacia
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alibabacruisers

alibabacruisers

Posted
Posted

Welcome aboard Glenn! See you ant the M&G!

 

Karen, I hope the weather in SFO clears up!

 

Wednesday, 4 Feb

 

While having breakfast this morning, I saw some people who I meet each

morning near the omelet station. They will be disembarking in LA so I chatted a bit and told them it was nice to meet them and hope they had an enjoyable cruise.

 

Came back to the room to watch and rewatch the LA and SFO port presentations on TV. We brought our own backgammon set and went to the Midships Bar area to play. DH was down many games, but redeemed himself after about an hour. Darn it! :( I had avoided the onboard jewellery shop so far, but had my eye on a pretty pair of Tanzanite earrings, so I stopped in to find out what the damage would be...even with the current discount of 25% off, it was still way over my budget. Oh well, will just have to be satisfied admiring from a distance. Next, I decided to try at Bingo again while he went to try his hand at the paddle tennis competition. While waiting for Bingo to start ran into a few CC friends and had a brief chat; it was good to see them. I did not win at Bingo but it was fun.

 

We try to keep our onboard account zeroed, if we can, and so I went to check

the balance, and paid the small amount of cash to get it back to zero. We

still have OBC to use for other purchases though, which is good.

 

It is much colder than it has been, so trying to prepare ourselves for the

adjustment. Sat out on the promenade deck to read for a bit and needed a

towel to cover up. Went by the DR to check the menu for tonight and nothing

seemed to jump out at us so we went to the Lido for a light meal. Got back to

the cabin and read thru thru instructions for immigration again. The DP had

more specific timing for the mandatory meeting in the morning. I was amazed

that they had a time for the "early risers" and of course I am sure it will be

well attended :)) Nothing good on the TV so went to bed to get some sleep.

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alibabacruisers

alibabacruisers

Posted
Posted

Thursday, 5 Feb

Well we woke up even earlier than usual at 5:00am. It seems that on port days the Lido is opened earlier than the stated time in the DP. The DP always says 6:30, but we have noticed that on the port days they seem to open around 6:00. So we ate early and went back for our paperwork for immigration and headed to the line at 6:50 (they were to start at 7:00). At that point the line was about 50 people long and people were passing us to head to the back of the line and said wow they must have been here early. lol. By the time they started letting people in, the line was probably 150-200 people long. It moved pretty quickly for an immigration check and we were back to the cabin at 7:40...not bad. While we were standing in line closer to the DR doors the doors to the promenade deck opened and we all felt just how cold it really was...brr..have to change into long pant and a thicker jacket. The fog is soooo thick outside and I was explaining to my DH that we call that "pea soup". We will gather all of our things that we take ashore, and wait a bit before leaving the ship. Everyone has to be off before they let anyone back on the ship and that should be around 11:00. We will probably get off around 8:30 to start our day.

 

Again, I will be interested to see if they charge us (booked Cunard fare) for

the shuttle. It is $6.00 US one way pp and has 3 stops. They will charge a

max of $12 pp and the rest of the trips would be free of charge. This info

was listed in the DP. Well, we are back onboard now. There were 2 different

shuttles; one fr Cunard that started at 9:30 and only had 2 stops, and the

other was called PASSPORT which was the Long Beach shuttle and it had several stops. BOTH were free. The Passport shuttle included the 2 stops that Cunard had plus more, so I don't know why you'd pick the Cunard shuttle unless it was close to the end of the day.

 

My DH had me laughing so hard I just had to tell on him...lol. I was sitting

here typing a bit of this blog and he was out on the balcony. He came running

in to grab the camera and said, "quick, there is a shark out there". I, at

first, rolled my eyes but then kind of remembered that I had heard of a shark

attack near Long Beach before, so I reeled in my attitude and went outside.

I said where? where? He pointed and I laughed so hard!!! It was 2 birds

close to each other, and with the fog, bad light and his questionable eyesight,

he said well, it looked like a shark! We both laughed and I told him I was

going to tell you all about it and he grinned. LOL

 

We used the Passport shuttle and got off where the driver said Walmart was

because he also let us know that supposedly that was where it all started. I

guess he meant shopping, although there was not the kind of shopping most

would enjoy. We saw lots of people wandering around looking for the shops

and even more in the Walmart stocking up on supplies. After a few hours we

headed back towards where both QE and QM were docked. Along the way, I

had never seen so many homeless people. Long Beach does not seem to be

conducive to tourism, although maybe I did not get to see the right area.

We went to try to see the QM but that was a fiasco! The guy stationed at

what we all thought was the entrance, told us to go up a set of stairs to

the entrance. Well many of us did just that only to be told that was not

the entrance, that we needed to go to the 4th floor. So we all tried that.

Yes, that was the entrance but to the hotel part of QM. There was a sign that

pointed to the audio tour but very little info otherwise. It seems that

because there were many people staying there, coupled with the large amount

of tourists, that they did not have enough people stationed around to direct

people to the appropriate areas. So we left to take pictures of QM on the

outside and on QE. From the people we talked to today, they all pretty much

said the same thing. Maybe I will try it another day in the future.:o

 

Back on board now and after having a quick bite, we went to sit out on the Lido

Deck aft to enjoy a bit of sun. There were quite a few birds, seagulls and

others, that were trying to congregate and scavenge around the deck. Had to

get a few pictures of that because it reminded my of the movie The Birds. We

had a couple of drinks while we enjoyed the sun and it was so nice. Then we

noticed a oil tanker-type ship moving into position along side QE to transfer

fuel I guess and this was at 3pm. I would have thought they would have done

that earlier.

 

Talked to the maitre'd about switching to another table for 2 in a different

location and also one without a table right next to it. He told us that he

could do that on the 2nd SFO night because 900 people were getting off, while

another 900 were getting on. He also said that we would get a new table # card then. So that was one job done that we had been trying to finish since FLL.

 

Since they will be having fireworks tonight around 6pm that means we will be

missing dinner in the DR tonight, so will just grab some cheese and crackers

from the Lido. We can have that and a glass of the champagne that some kind

person gave us at the beginning of the cruise, while we watch the fireworks

from our balcony.

 

Worked on the blog a bit then at 5:30 went up on the aft Lido Deck to join

in the sailaway and watch the night's festivities. We were at the very aft

part of the deck taking pictures of the Long Beach skyline, and we saw a

boat putting on a water fountain show to start things off. It was so cool

watching that boat turning in a circle right and then left, all the while

spouting water like a fountain in several directions. He kept moving..first

in front (at our aft) of QE then moving to be nearer QM and this went on fr

at least 30 minutes. The we saw pilot boats in different positions doing

their jobs, and quite a few helicopters trying to capture all of the upcoming

festivities on camera, I think. This went on for awhile, until we starting

dropping lines and preparing to sailaway. Earlier we were supposed to hear

a prepared speech from some important person (sorry can't remember his name) taking about the history of Cunard, from the early days, through the war years, including the original QM and QE. There was some problem with him giving his speech because it was only now that Captain Clark ended up reading it. It was really something to hear the story while beginning to push back from the dock. Towards the end of the speech, the fireworks display began. What a beautifully timed event! The fireworks lasted for 15 minutes and was perfect! The ships tooted to each other in respect and we sailed away.

 

Now it seemed as if everyone fled to the Lido for dinner, so we headed for

our cabin to call it a night after such a wonderful celebration for Cunard!

Good night all.

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Janix

Janix

Posted
Posted

Friday 6th Feb

 

After leaving Cabo San Lucas we have been slowly pottering northwards at around 12 knots, and the temperature drops a little day by day. The seas have been smooth although as we approach San Francisco, the Captain announced in his midday broadcast that there is a depression lurking somewhere in the Pacific that will mean we will have to be on trampolining watch later today, as the following seas become a little more bouncy.

 

At 1250 today we are currently heading 313 degrees at 11 knots, having passed San Diego earlier this morning, 37 miles offshore and currently abreast San Luis Obispo, with some 185 miles to run to San Francisco. We have grey clouds and a grey sea surface but the sun is currently poking through.

 

Yesterday we visited Los Angeles, and had another US Customs/Immigration inspection held early in the Britannia Upper restaurant , which meant we were in the queue at 7am and it took 50 minutes to obtain another US stamp in the passport. Although Cunard suggest times that everyone should attend this, it appears that many people ignore the suggested times and head for the inspection at whatever time it suits. As happened last year this allows large queues to form. Surely it would make sense to prioritise times of attendance and issue tickets, so that it does not become a general free for all ? Priority was supposed to be for those leaving the ship and those on tour, but there didn’t appear to be any sign of this. Also for some reason those with the loudest voices appeared to be sent to the front ????

 

Following the inspection we were able to breakfast and then assemble in the theatre for our excursion entitled LA Discovery. This was mostly a tour around Central LA viewing some of the more iconic new buildings, a drive past the music centre and then a 25 minute stop at Olvera Street to view the old Fire Station, the market and the Avila Adobe – the oldest Dwelling House in LA.

 

Following this we continued through the centre parts of the city and then headed towards Hollywood to view the Hollywood sign and the Griffith’s Observatory in the Hollywood hills. Of course you cannot go anywhere near the iconic sign so we did actually view from the Dolby Theatre – the new home of the Oscars. We parked just around the corner from Graumann’s Chinese Theatre, close to the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel where we last stayed in 1981. We were allowed 30 minutes to take in the area and saw once again the Star’s footprints and the inlaid stars in the sidewalk of Hollywood Boulevard. We also spotted characters from Disney – mickey and mini, Star Wars Storm Troopers and Darth Vader, several Catwoman, Popeye, Spiderman and supermario. I’m not sure these were real though ?

 

Next we headed to the Farmers Market where we had an hour to browse or just lunch. This area had changed also, there appeared to be more eating establishments than markets now, but we decided to share a ‘Reuben’ sandwich with the obligatory ‘Bud’. This was very palatable and more than filled a corner. All to soon we were back on the coach and heading towards the glitz and glamour of Beverly Hills. Now this area had changed dramatically from our last visit. I seem to recall it was all low-rise then, but how the area has many high rise covering a far greater area and ever building seemingly sporting a ‘name’ of some designer or another. Fortunately from the coach I was not able to read the price tags, if there were any ?

 

We then returned to the ship in the afternoon traffic, which seemed a lot busier than in the morning. As part of the Cunard 175 Celebrations the ship actually berthed adjacent to the original Queen Mary in Long Beach – at the new Carnival Cruise terminal housed in the white dome that used to cover Howard Hughes Spruce Goose Aircraft, which has been removed to an aircraft museum elsewhere in the US.

 

I celebration of this, the Queen Mary Hotel had a sort of open day with free admission, so on our return to the port we immediately hoofed it to the iconic old lady and investigated some of the open areas. We also took a history tour, the only one we could actually take at 1615, and were given a further brief insight into the history of the vessel, and were allowed in a couple of areas not generally open to the public, including the first class ballroom and the chapel. Although only a brief trip lasting an hour it was worth the reduced price of $10 (down from $33). Again all to soon it was 1730 and time to head back to the QE for our all aboard time of 1800 hrs and the planned firework display as we left port, and the sounding of the two ships whistles.

 

As we left QM there appeared to be 100’s of people descending towards it to take part in the sailaway fireworks. At around 1830 QE pushed away from the berth, and we waited. Apparently the Commodore of the QM was due to make a speech, to be broadcast over the ships tannoy, but this didn’t work, so the Entertainment Director Leon de St Croix started to read the speech. However before he had completed it the fireworks started and drowned out the PA system ! However we did have 10 minutes of a great and noisy firework display, before QE gave three last blasts on her whistle and sailed away into the darkness.

 

Next stop San Francisco where we overnight and say goodbye to many friends, and hopefully welcome their replacements ? The weather does sound very similar to last year though, so it is with waterproofs at the ready that we quietly progress up the coast.

 

John

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