Cunard Cruisers - How are things where you are ?

[Lanky Lad]

I have had to take the plunge today and pay the final balance for QV in August.  We will see if I get to go or if there is a plan B.

[Ray66]

41 minutes ago, Bigmike911 said:

An article in the local daily announced that Carnival Brand will station three ships at the port of Galveston, Texas for cruises starting the end of July, 2020. They plan to have another five in service in Miami and Cape Canaveral on the same date. The old girl is showing signs of life. We will see how this works out. 

 

Is this the article?

 

Carnival Cruise Line said Monday that it plans to gradually resume cruising in North America in August, nearly five months after it halted operations due to the new coronavirus.

Sailings will begin on Aug. 1 or soon after, with eight ships setting off from Galveston, Texas; Miami; and Port Canaveral, Florida. A majority of customers can easily drive to those ports, the company noted. Those cruises would sail to destinations including the Bahamas and Cozumel, Mexico, according to Carnival's web site.

Carnival said its operations from other North American and Australian markets will be on hold through Aug. 31. It is also canceling planned sailings from Vancouver to Honolulu on Sept. 25 and Honolulu to Brisbane, Australia, on Oct. 6.

 

https://www.whec.com/news/carnival-cruise-lines-plans-to-sail-again-starting-in-august/5719660/?cat=621

[Ray66]

Have you all seen/heard the Tom Roberts poem The Great Ralisation? Makes you think.

 

https://youtu.be/Nw5KQMXDiM4

[Bigmike911]

59 minutes ago, Ray66 said:

 

Is this the article?

 

Carnival Cruise Line said Monday that it plans to gradually resume cruising in North America in August, nearly five months after it halted operations due to the new coronavirus.

Sailings will begin on Aug. 1 or soon after, with eight ships setting off from Galveston, Texas; Miami; and Port Canaveral, Florida. A majority of customers can easily drive to those ports, the company noted. Those cruises would sail to destinations including the Bahamas and Cozumel, Mexico, according to Carnival's web site.

Carnival said its operations from other North American and Australian markets will be on hold through Aug. 31. It is also canceling planned sailings from Vancouver to Honolulu on Sept. 25 and Honolulu to Brisbane, Australia, on Oct. 6.

 

https://www.whec.com/news/carnival-cruise-lines-plans-to-sail-again-starting-in-august/5719660/?cat=621

The story is obviously based on that press release. 

[alc13]

It's a start!  I wonder how quickly those cruises will sell, though.  Does Carnival tend to skew lower in age than other lines? - if so they might do well.  It will be interesting to see how this develops.

[Host Hattie]

@Lanky Lad fingers crossed for you for August. I originally had my eye on a trip on QM2 in late August but I think Mr HH has gone off the idea.

All OK here, lockdown is due to be reviewed this week but I can't see much changing for the moment. I'm not even sure I'd go out even if we could. The official figures show that 1 person has died in our immediate area.

Back to working from work tomorrow.

[Lanky Lad]

2 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

@Lanky Lad fingers crossed for you for August. I originally had my eye on a trip on QM2 in late August but I think Mr HH has gone off the idea.

All OK here, lockdown is due to be reviewed this week but I can't see much changing for the moment. I'm not even sure I'd go out even if we could. The official figures show that 1 person has died in our immediate area.

Back to working from work tomorrow.

Thanks HH.  Time will tell.  I have a hotel booked in Southampton but not booked parking yet.   No idea when I will be going back to work, so it would be nice to be able to go out a bit more.

[Camgirl]

13 hours ago, Lanky Lad said:

Thanks HH.  Time will tell.  I have a hotel booked in Southampton but not booked parking yet.   No idea when I will be going back to work, so it would be nice to be able to go out a bit more.

Lanky Lad, We are in the same position. Short cruise booked for August (the big band cruise). Balance due next week. We have a hotel booked for the night before. I doubt it will sail and I think I will be anxious if it does, though we would probably go. Cunard won't want to risk an outbreak on board so I'm sure they won't sail unless it is safe to do so. However, we will pay the balance. If it is cancelled we will transfer it to a cruise later next year in the hope of a vaccine by then.

[Camgirl]

The hotel we had booked for the cruise we should be on now (should be in olden today ☹) offered to transfer the booking to a later date, which we have done. We are hoping the same will happen with this booking. It is a different hotel this time.

[Host Hattie]

Some good news here, my friend who was in hospital with Covid-19 is now home. Mike Doyle tweeted that his son was home after a much longer stay.

[Camgirl]

That is good news Hattie. It is really good to hear about people making it out of hospital. The death rate is so desperately high. Well done to your friend and to Mike Doyle's son. A massive relief for both families, I'm sure.

[Lanky Lad]

10 hours ago, Camgirl said:

Lanky Lad, We are in the same position. Short cruise booked for August (the big band cruise). Balance due next week. We have a hotel booked for the night before. I doubt it will sail and I think I will be anxious if it does, though we would probably go. Cunard won't want to risk an outbreak on board so I'm sure they won't sail unless it is safe to do so. However, we will pay the balance. If it is cancelled we will transfer it to a cruise later next year in the hope of a vaccine by then.

Hi Camgirl, this is the same cruise we are booked on.  Lets see if it happens. 

[Lanky Lad]

3 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

Some good news here, my friend who was in hospital with Covid-19 is now home. Mike Doyle tweeted that his son was home after a much longer stay.

It's nice to have some good news.   

[Bigmike911]

19 hours ago, Camgirl said:

That is good news Hattie. It is really good to hear about people making it out of hospital. The death rate is so desperately high. Well done to your friend and to Mike Doyle's son. A massive relief for both families, I'm sure.

Good news is always a welcome thing. The Governor of Texas will allow barber shops and beauty salons to open tomorrow, Friday, 8 May. I am trying to get in touch with mine and see how he plans to handle customers. I am hoping that he will take appointments which he has not done in the past. Fingers Crossed. 

[bluemarble]

Here's our latest jigsaw puzzle project and not surprisingly it has a Cunard theme. Just arrived in the mail today. 

 

 

We've been getting some springtime weather here in Iowa, but the forecast low for tomorrow night is 28°F (-2°C), so we apparently aren't done with freezing temperatures just yet.

Edited May 7, 2020 by bluemarble

[Lanky Lad]

That looks like a lovely jigsaw.   We have had unusually warm weather here but between Saturday and Sunday the forecast is for the temperature to drop by about half so will then be unusually cold. 

 

I should have been ant a VE day celebration concert on Saturday, all being well that will now be in September. 

[alc13]

54 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

Here's our latest jigsaw puzzle project and not surprisingly it has a Cunard theme. Just arrived in the mail today. 

 

 

We've been getting some springtime weather here in Iowa, but the forecast low for tomorrow night is 28°F (-2°C), so we apparently aren't done with freezing temperatures just yet.

Jealous!  I want that puzzle, too.

 

We're also expecting low temperatures here over the next few days.  At least it keeps the mosquitoes away. 

 

We have some old apple trees in our yard that needed pruning, so someone came in this week to take care of it.  Now we can see the beautiful gnarly trunks.  Maybe we will get fruit this year.  Oh, and the rhubarb is coming up - yum!

 

[Host Hattie]

It's a lovely start to our VE Day Bank Holiday, Mr HH is gathering the flags from around the house to decorate the outside, our Queen Victoria Red Ensign is the largest.

There are a few social distancing national events suggested but I don't think we'll be having a party in our front garden !

Our First Minister is due to announce any changes to the Welsh lockdown this lunchtime. The newspapers got very excited yesterday about all sorts of outdoor activities now being allowed but that was in response from a comment from the UK Prime Minister. Health and responsibility for lockdown are devolved powers, something lots of people seem to forget.

I'm not in a big hurry to change anything, we don't have any plans until the end of July so we can wait a while.

[Host Hattie]

We're ready

 

[Camgirl]

My display is rather more modest. The flags are all from Cunard trips though. Annoyingly, I have some Union Flag bunting from the last jubilee somewhere, but I'm blowed if I can find it.

Enjoy VE day.

[Kynance]

Hello everyone. Happy VE Day 75! 

 

Our local neighbourhood is looking very festive with all sorts of improvised, homemade or otherwise purchased bunting & decorations. We have a socially distanced, impromptu jazz group playing later and then we’ll be having picnics/afternoon tea/drinks in our respective front gardens. Just before 11am we had the last post followed by the 2 minute silence and then the reveille, played by a talented cornetist. 
 

I made my own bunting from a template on the Gov.UK website, which I am quite proud of as normally I don’t consider myself to be one for arts & crafts. I also have a union flag which I think I’m fairly sure came from a Cunard sail away party! 

 

 

 

[Camgirl]

Wow! I'm impressed by your bunting! You have done a very good job. 

[Host Hattie]

Very impressive @Kynance, love the teddy @Camgirl. Our lockdown continues with some very minor changes, we can go out more than once a day for exercise but it must be local, garden centres can open, councils can make plans to open libraries and recycling centres. All from Monday.

It's clouded over here but it's still a pleasant temperature.

[Kynance]

1 hour ago, Camgirl said:

Wow! I'm impressed by your bunting! You have done a very good job. 

Thank you! 😊

[Kynance]

36 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

Very impressive @Kynance, love the teddy @Camgirl. Our lockdown continues with some very minor changes, we can go out more than once a day for exercise but it must be local, garden centres can open, councils can make plans to open libraries and recycling centres. All from Monday.

It's clouded over here but it's still a pleasant temperature.

Thank you Hattie. 😊. Glad to hear that restrictions in Wales have been eased a little - I know it was the law in Wales that you could only exercise once a day, whereas in England the once a day rule was not enforceable.  I’m really hoping garden centres will be able to reopen here to - really missing my visits at the moment.