Cunard Cruisers - How are things where you are ?

[naturelovergirl]

Here in Central Florida the big FEMA sites (where you don’t have to have an appointment- walk ups are encouraged) are still giving second doses of Pfizer and Moderna to people who had their first there

But

For everyone else, the FEMA sites have switched gears and are giving the Johnson & Johnson one-shot vaccine to everyone else.

(The county health departments, private sector pharmacies, and other health entities are giving whatever vaccine they are giving at the moment. Pfizer, Moderna, or J&J.)

(My family and my husband’s family all had Moderna... my husband and I had Pfizer.)

Certainly if the J&J shortage causes an issue for the big FEMA sites they could change their minds on their plans... but as of right now, I’m still hearing of people being able to get into the FEMA mass vaccination site for the one-shot option.

(They did lose a day yesterday with the big windy storms that came through)

Edited April 13, 2021 by naturelovergirl

[naturelovergirl]

News changes by the day or minute... so since the US put a temporary pause on J&J just this morning, our mass vaccination FEMA sites in Florida will most likely have to go back to being Pfizer or Moderna for the time being.

 

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, naturelovergirl said:

News changes by the day or minute... so since the US put a temporary pause on J&J just this morning, our mass vaccination FEMA sites in Florida will most likely have to go back to being Pfizer or Moderna for the time being.

 

I wonder if statisticians will ever come up with the answer.  How many people per million will suffer serious side effects from a shot vs. the number of people per million who will suffer serious effects from COVID if they avoid the shot?   Of course, it is important to follow up - and suspend use of a vaccine if side effects like blood clotting result;  but at the end of the day it is important to recognize that there is no such thing as a sure thing, so accepting the risk of some side effects may ultimately make sense.

[naturelovergirl]

BTW @navybankerteacher

I like your signature at the bottom of your post

"Six US Navy ships, twenty-six cruises"

 

On my mother's side... her father, my grandfather, was in the Navy in the Pacific during WWII

And

My father was in the Navy on Submarines

I think it would have been genetically impossible for me not to love being on boats and ships... hahaha!

 

AND my mom was a teacher

 

So every time I see your name here on cruise critic, it makes me smile we certainly have an affinity for the Navy and for teaching in my family 🙂

[Host Hattie]

Congratulations on your second shot/jab.

Things are opening up here, no pubs yet in Wales just England but we have all our shops open so we were able to buy sofas for our new house yesterday.

I've bought lots of things online but I like to try sofas out.

[navybankerteacher]

23 hours ago, naturelovergirl said:

BTW @navybankerteacher

I like your signature at the bottom of your post

"Six US Navy ships, twenty-six cruises"

 

...

 

So every time I see your name here on cruise critic, it makes me smile we certainly have an affinity for the Navy and for teaching in my family 🙂

My father dropped out of college to fight the Kaiser in 1917 - was a flier on early airborne anti-submarine patrols --- my teaching has been retirement: volunteering ESL and adult literacy programs, SAT prep course instruction and tutoring, and substitute teaching in elementary schools (there is little worse than the treatment middle school and high school kids give subs)  and one-on-one tutoring of high school students.

 

The banking bit was to earn enough to cruise.

[navybankerteacher]

Spring is REALLY here — and as it’s already 70 F (before noon) we are heading to the beach.

[navybankerteacher]

We did make it to the beach - had it to ourselves, a great place to read and doze off.  Tomorrow in the 30’s with rain - snow inland. Eliot was right: April IS the cruelest month.

[Lanky Lad]

Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing.

 

It's 22 days since my first covid jab so in theory I have good protection against the virus. I will be going for a dry on Saturday to give my car a good run, but I will still avoid people as much as possible. 

 

All is going well at work but there is still a lot to learn, it's more like being back at school at the moment.

[alc13]

21 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

My father dropped out of college to fight the Kaiser in 1917 - was a flier on early airborne anti-submarine patrols --- my teaching has been retirement: volunteering ESL and adult literacy programs, SAT prep course instruction and tutoring, and substitute teaching in elementary schools (there is little worse than the treatment middle school and high school kids give subs)  and one-on-one tutoring of high school students.

 

The banking bit was to earn enough to cruise.

Nice resume, NBT.  Your teaching experience reminds me of my childhood arithmetic teacher, retired Rear Admiral C Wade McClusky.  His name will be familiar to anyone familiar with the battle of Midway in WW2.  I was 11, and didn't have a clue.  So I giggle when I remember that distinguished war hero standing in front of a roomful of pre-teen girls waving their hands with answers to his 6th grade arithmetic questions - "Admiral, Admiral..."

 

As an aside, I also found a retirement refuge in ESL tutoring.  So much to learn about our crazy language.

[Bigmike911]

This morning, (Texas time) I found a great new You Tube Web channel called Cruise Cam-Southampton Cruise Ship Live Stream. The camera is located in the Ocean Cruise Terminal and has a view looking over the terminal down the channel. 

 

The only thing missing from the picture is Queen Mary 2. But I did watch a giant container ship slowly cruise up the channel, and it was some indication that life is going on in Southampton and the UK. Another of the snippets that give hope.  

[bluemarble]

2 hours ago, Bigmike911 said:

This morning, (Texas time) I found a great new You Tube Web channel called Cruise Cam-Southampton Cruise Ship Live Stream. The camera is located in the Ocean Cruise Terminal and has a view looking over the terminal down the channel. 

 

The only thing missing from the picture is Queen Mary 2. But I did watch a giant container ship slowly cruise up the channel, and it was some indication that life is going on in Southampton and the UK. Another of the snippets that give hope.  

 

That is a most welcome new "Solent Ships" youtube channel indeed. We've been discussing it a bit on some of the ship "location" threads here. There are four separate live streams on that channel.

 

"Cruise Cam" with a view of the Ocean Terminal

"Port Cam" with a view of the QEII Terminal

"Ferry Cam" with a view of the Red Funnel Ferry Terminal

"Box Cam" with a view of the DPWS Container Terminal

 

All four cameras offer views of ships arriving/departing the City and Mayflower Terminals at some point. During cruise ship departures recently, the "Captain" who runs the channel has also been providing live commentary on separate live streams incorporating views from those cameras.

 

For those interested, here is a link to the home page of the "Solent Ships" youtube channel where you can find all four of the live streams as well as other archived videos.

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAupQASEG4kt6oXHe0Xwd9Q

[Bigmike911]

1 hour ago, bluemarble said:

 

That is a most welcome new "Solent Ships" youtube channel indeed. We've been discussing it a bit on some of the ship "location" threads here. There are four separate live streams on that channel.

 

"Cruise Cam" with a view of the Ocean Terminal

"Port Cam" with a view of the QEII Terminal

"Ferry Cam" with a view of the Red Funnel Ferry Terminal

"Box Cam" with a view of the DPWS Container Terminal

 

All four cameras offer views of ships arriving/departing the City and Mayflower Terminals at some point. During cruise ship departures recently, the "Captain" who runs the channel has also been providing live commentary on separate live streams incorporating views from those cameras.

 

For those interested, here is a link to the home page of the "Solent Ships" youtube channel where you can find all four of the live streams as well as other archived videos.

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAupQASEG4kt6oXHe0Xwd9Q

Wonderful, Thank you very much Blue Marble. 

[Kynance]

Hello everyone - we have been here today - Botallack on the “Tin Coast” in Cornwall, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. My other half & I are down in our beloved Cornwall for a week: we booked last September but I didn’t think for one minute we would actually be able to come after the truly dismal start to 2021. However, “unlock” in England came just in time for us to come down on Friday - and I even got my haircut last Monday as well!! 🥳

 

You can see the famous Crowns engine houses in the photo which doubled for Grambler mine in the first series of the Poldark reboot and a bit further along the coast path, other mining remains were used to depict Ross Poldark’s Wheal Leisure mine. 
 

You can only stay in self-contained holiday accommodation at the moment - hotels in England are due to re-open no earlier than 17 May - so now the kids have gone back to school, it feels quite relaxed and quiet in the places we have visited so far. Indoor attractions and indoor dining remain closed but the shops are open & pubs & cafes can serve outside, so as we mainly come to Cornwall to be out on the coast, it doesn’t feel like we are missing out on anything. 
 

Hope all is well readers of this thread and that you also manage to get away at some point in the not too distant future, especially if you have a holiday at sea booked! 
 

 

[Host Hattie]

We spent the weekend hanging curtains and building furniture so our niece and family could use our holiday home. She was my bridesmaid 20 years ago and today was supposed to be her wedding day.

They postponed to 2022 a few months ago and booked a holiday cottage which was then also cancelled. It was nice to be able to help them out. It wasn't quite the day they had planned but it was a beautiful day in Pembrokeshire.

They are staying until Friday and then we're back down to meet a prospective management company.

Outside dining doesn't open in Wales until next Monday but we've found some good takeaway options there.

[naturelovergirl]

2 hours ago, Kynance said:

 

We visited Botallack back in August of 2019 when we flew to England from the states before our Cunard voyage to Norway!!!

So beautiful!

We spent the first part of our trip in Cornwall... just magical!!!!

[Bigmike911]

I have begun to fill out my next cruise. I had already booked Hamburg to NYC via Southampton for August 19, 2022 and a two day Sou to Ham for earlier in the week.

 

I got to think about less than five days and four nights in Hamburg since all I really wanted to do was to visit the Miniatur Wunderland again, so I thought why not take the five day four night voyage to Rotterdam and Zeebrug instead. Wheeling and dealing with three separate legs, my Crack Travel Arranger and I have managed to get it whittled into two trips and an upgrade too boot. 

 

So now I have 16 days on Queen Mary 2 in late August, 2022, with excursions to Miniatur Wunderland as one of them, and other to see windmills and Deltfhaven in Rotterdam, and an excursion to be named in Zeebrug/Bruges. Any suggestions for that port? Delfthaven is where the Pilgrims ended their Dutch exile to sail to first Southampton and then to the new world. I have a pilgrim ancestor and this will be the second time I have been able to walk in his steps.

 

Along the way I got the free drinks package, free gratuities and a chunk of On-Board-Credit.  I am mighty proud of myself. 

[Camgirl]

13 hours ago, Bigmike911 said:

I have begun to fill out my next cruise. I had already booked Hamburg to NYC via Southampton for August 19, 2022 and a two day Sou to Ham for earlier in the week.

 

I got to think about less than five days and four nights in Hamburg since all I really wanted to do was to visit the Miniatur Wunderland again, so I thought why not take the five day four night voyage to Rotterdam and Zeebrug instead. Wheeling and dealing with three separate legs, my Crack Travel Arranger and I have managed to get it whittled into two trips and an upgrade too boot. 

 

So now I have 16 days on Queen Mary 2 in late August, 2022, with excursions to Miniatur Wunderland as one of them, and other to see windmills and Deltfhaven in Rotterdam, and an excursion to be named in Zeebrug/Bruges. Any suggestions for that port? Delfthaven is where the Pilgrims ended their Dutch exile to sail to first Southampton and then to the new world. I have a pilgrim ancestor and this will be the second time I have been able to walk in his steps.

 

Along the way I got the free drinks package, free gratuities and a chunk of On-Board-Credit.  I am mighty proud of myself. 

That sounds like a great holiday for you. We visited miniatur wunderland when we cruised to Hamburg and loved it. My dad had several train layouts in various scales when I was little and he left my sister and I with a love of trains.

 

We have cruised to Zeebrugge many times. We usually book a private taxi to visit Bruges, which is a lovely place to visit. If you go with the Cunard tour, or use the train to get to Bruges, you end up quite a way out of town and you end up wasting time walking in. A private taxi will drop you in the main square, and will arrange a time to pick you up in the same place. If you are lucky, you can find another couple to share the cost with. The first time we did the trip, we shared with a lovely couple from our cruise - Host Hattie and Mr Host Hattie!!

 

Kaynance, your picture is lovely and makes me long to go to Cornwall as well. Luckily, we don't have too long to wait as we have a cottage booked for a week in June. It can't come soon enough!! Have a wonderful holiday.

[Bigmike911]

53 minutes ago, Camgirl said:

That sounds like a great holiday for you. We visited miniatur wunderland when we cruised to Hamburg and loved it. My dad had several train layouts in various scales when I was little and he left my sister and I with a love of trains.

 

We have cruised to Zeebrugge many times. We usually book a private taxi to visit Bruges, which is a lovely place to visit. If you go with the Cunard tour, or use the train to get to Bruges, you end up quite a way out of town and you end up wasting time walking in. A private taxi will drop you in the main square, and will arrange a time to pick you up in the same place. If you are lucky, you can find another couple to share the cost with. The first time we did the trip, we shared with a lovely couple from our cruise - Host Hattie and Mr Host Hattie!!

 

Kaynance, your picture is lovely and makes me long to go to Cornwall as well. Luckily, we don't have too long to wait as we have a cottage booked for a week in June. It can't come soon enough!! Have a wonderful holiday.

Thank you CamGirl. There is no Cunard excursion listed yet, and the thought of taking a tram and train seems a lot of effort and several opportunities to get lost. The taxi sounds perfect. 

[Lanky Lad]

I took my car for a drive on Sunday called in a Morecambe which has lovely views of the lake district. It was the first long trip since October 2020.  My new job is only just over two miles from home so I will need to have an occasional trip out to charge the battery.  Well that's my excuse anyway.

[Bigmike911]

On 4/20/2021 at 3:51 PM, Lanky Lad said:

I took my car for a drive on Sunday called in a Morecambe which has lovely views of the lake district. It was the first long trip since October 2020.  My new job is only just over two miles from home so I will need to have an occasional trip out to charge the battery.  Well that's my excuse anyway.

Lanky Lad. I am thinking of coming down to Southampton a couple of days before I sail in August 2022. I would like to visit some local sights perhaps Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. I believe you have stayed in a hotel or hotels in Southampton and I seem to recall that you said one would shuttle you over to the Dock to catch the ship. Can you tell me the name of the hotel? Others can also recommend hotels as well. I will be coming down from London on the train, so I will take a taxi to the hotel, and I won't need parking. Thank you very much.

[navybankerteacher]

We stayed at the Premier Inn the night before one of our QM2 TA's.  Modern and clean, reasonably priced and with a decent continental breakfast included.  Nothing special or charming about it;  but, as we had some last minute things to pick up, the fact that it was right next to the massive West Quay Mall was a plus.  On our other Southampton sailings we came down by car on day of sailing from my sister's just north of London, so I have very limited info.

Edited April 21, 2021 by navybankerteacher

[naturelovergirl]

I got a nice healthy dose of Vitamin Sea today at Satellite Beach on the “Space Coast” of Florida.

Beautiful and peaceful.

I am not able to cruise right now, of course... but I can enjoy the nature and majesty of the ocean from the sand.

[navybankerteacher]

2 hours ago, naturelovergirl said:

I got a nice healthy dose of Vitamin Sea today at Satellite Beach on the “Space Coast” of Florida.

Beautiful and peaceful.

I am not able to cruise right now, of course... but I can enjoy the nature and majesty of the ocean from the sand.

Almost (but not quite) as good as our favorite beach.

[Camgirl]

11 hours ago, Bigmike911 said:

Lanky Lad. I am thinking of coming down to Southampton a couple of days before I sail in August 2022. I would like to visit some local sights perhaps Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. I believe you have stayed in a hotel or hotels in Southampton and I seem to recall that you said one would shuttle you over to the Dock to catch the ship. Can you tell me the name of the hotel? Others can also recommend hotels as well. I will be coming down from London on the train, so I will take a taxi to the hotel, and I won't need parking. Thank you very much.

We have stayed at many of the hotels in Southampton pre cruises. Several of them will transport you to the terminal for your cruise, including the Holiday Inns, Novatel, Hilton and the Grand Harbour. We have stayed at all of these and they all have their good and not so good points. All are comfortable and convenient. We always drive down and use CPS parking, so haven't used the transport services.

 

Our current favourite is the Best Western Chilworth Manor, but that is further out of town and I don't think they offer the transfer to the terminal.