Cunard Cruisers - How are things where you are ?

[Lanky Lad]

3 hours ago, LewiLewi said:

We have finally booked a cruise that will actually happen. The American Queen Steamboat Company’s newest boat, the American Countess, from New Orleans to Memphis on the Mississippi River. 8 days the beginning of August. This will be our first cruise in over a year and a half. We will also be celebrating our 60th Wedding Anniversary. So looking forward to this.

 

 

Congratulations on your booking. I hope you have a great time.

[navybankerteacher]

Congratulations on the anniversary — and enjoy the cruise; that itinerary is near the top of my bucket list.

[rakkor]

We (I) decided waiting for November's Caribbean cruise is just to far away so we booked ourselves on the August 20th QE Cruise to the Sun - I'm not sure if any of my suits/DJs or shirts are going to fit after 18 months of jogging pants and close proximity to the biscuit tin.

 

Next task after trying on my stuff, is call Cunard and find out if Veteran's and Shareholder credit are still in force.

[Tonopah]

On 6/27/2021 at 3:27 AM, rakkor said:

We (I) decided waiting for November's Caribbean cruise is just to far away so we booked ourselves on the August 20th QE Cruise to the Sun - I'm not sure if any of my suits/DJs or shirts are going to fit after 18 months of jogging pants and close proximity to the biscuit tin.

 

Next task after trying on my stuff, is call Cunard and find out if Veteran's and Shareholder credit are still in force.

We booked for November 2022 and we (both) received our veterans’ OBC.

[rakkor]

I phoned Cunard today and received it for both of mine as well - I'm pleased about that. I was also informed that Shareholder Credit is still valid so that was good news as well.

[Lanky Lad]

Less than four weeks from now I will be on a ship. Sorry it's a P&O ship this time. It's call Britannia so a good Cunard name.  Thankfully, I will be on QE in September.

 

This weekends job is to decide what I am taking and make sure it fits.

[Essiesmom]

A week from today, God and Elsa willing, I will be in Nassau preparing to board Crystal Serenity on Saturday.  Not sure what our port calls will be, all in the Bahamas.  Harbour Island and Spanish Wells didn’t want us, so we were to overnight in Bimini and have a second sea day.  But now Bimini is out because of too much COVID-19 (! 13 cases…).  The other islands are all tender.  Beach excursions.  We are just in it for the ship and to rub shoulders with the other half.  EM

[Lanky Lad]

I hope you have a great time @Essiesmomwherever you end up. It will be so nice just to be on a ship again.

[Lanky Lad]

I am pleased to report I have cruise clothes that still fit. It is going to seem very odd wearing a tie again. It's over a year since the last time. I will have to practice my bow tie skills.

[Host Hattie]

It's exciting reading about cruising restarting and everyone's plans. Still nothing booked here.

I'm supposed to be going round to a friend's for a get together in her garden but the weather isn't cooperating. I'm waiting to hear if it's been called off.

[LewiLewi]

13 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

A week from today, God and Elsa willing, I will be in Nassau preparing to board Crystal Serenity on Saturday.  Not sure what our port calls will be, all in the Bahamas.  Harbour Island and Spanish Wells didn’t want us, so we were to overnight in Bimini and have a second sea day.  But now Bimini is out because of too much COVID-19 (! 13 cases…).  The other islands are all tender.  Beach excursions.  We are just in it for the ship and to rub shoulders with the other half.  EM

Please report back on your experience on Crystal in the Bahamas. We also thought about Crystal prior to our River cruise plans, but decided to avoid PCR/antigen testing, etc. We love Crystal, you will definitely enjoy the ship.

[naturelovergirl]

It’s a pretty damp 4th Of July weekend here in Central Florida… that is fine with me as we had not planned any special celebrations this weekend anyway besides grilling some hamburgers on our “Big Green Egg”!

 

We have enjoyed watching the news of the two cruise ships sailing from South FL recently- Celebrity Edge and Royal Caribbean’s Freedom Of The Seas.

It is a start, and that is a good thing for us all. We don’t have a cruise booked until 2022, but I am, admittedly, fascinated with the process of the restart.

[Essiesmom]

3 hours ago, LewiLewi said:

Please report back on your experience on Crystal in the Bahamas. We also thought about Crystal prior to our River cruise plans, but decided to avoid PCR/antigen testing, etc. We love Crystal, you will definitely enjoy the ship.

Crystal is requiring full vaccination, so we do not have to be tested to enter Bahamas.  We will have to be tested prior to return to US.  EM

[Host Hattie]

We had a couple of sharp showers but 5 of us managed to get together for a few hours, it was lovely to catch up. Mr HH came to pick me up and we enjoyed watching England progress in the European football competition. 

Happy 4th July !

[Lanky Lad]

Only 3 weeks off my trip on Britannia. Some info from P&O about what to expect. I will share here as I expect Cunard will be much the same.

 

We have to check in online including uploading a photograph before arriving at the terminal.

There is a medical form to complete 3 days before we board

On the day, we have to take a lateral flow test at the Mayflower terminal, then wait for result before heading to the ship which I think will be at the Ocean terminal.

 

[navybankerteacher]

We are enjoying a series of hot weather thunderstorms today - to be followed tomorrow by the remnants of the hurricane which crossed Florida the other day and is now crossing North Carolina and Eastern Virginia.  These storms get to seem like unwelcome visiting acquaintances - whose progress you can track for a week or so.

 

I am starting to think that the next major construction project for the US should be some sort of massive aqueduct - the East and upper Midwest regularly seem to get far more rain than needed while the Southwest and much of the West seems about to become uninhabitable sere wastelands.

 

Family in the West seem appalled by the fact that we have lush green lawns - due to sprinkler systems picking up the slack when three or so rainless days might threaten our emerald green.  The fact is, our lake and pond-fed streams are always pouring fresh water into the Atlantic - so, why not.

[Lanky Lad]

I thought I had better do a test cruise to make sure I have not lost my sea legs before boarding Britannia on the 29th.

 

A half hour trip on the river Dee in Chester on board the Mark Twain.

 

[Kynance]

Hello everyone.

 

We seem to be in a cycle of having pretty grey & miserable weekends at the moment - a pattern which is being repeated this Sunday morning. Apart from the regular chore of laundering our bed linen, I don’t anticipate doing much today beyond watching the Wimbledon men’s singles final & Tour de France highlights this evening.  I shall be giving the big football match a miss - my policy of ignoring the proceedings so far seems to have paid dividends for the home nation! 
 

It’s nice hearing about your plans for future cruises - I look forward to reading reviews of the summer staycation voyages.  We still don’t have any cruise plans but we’ve been offered a complementary extra night on our holiday cottage booking for September - hurrah! We’re also off to a bbq at my aunt’s next weekend, when the weather is predicted to be much better. Hurrah again! Next month we have tickets to open air Shakespeare performed by the brilliant Lord Chamberlain’s Men.  I guess things are looking a tiny bit more normal again.

[Host Hattie]

It's been pretty miserable here today as well, I will be watching the big match later. I'm not a massive football team but I do watch the national team on big occasions. I have a friend who has a ticket and I'm very excited for her.

I'm back to work full time now, our government guidance hasn't changed but our management has decided that our unit's operational performance is suffering. I'm not sure I agree but we'll see what the next few weeks bring.

It was nice to see my office sharer on Friday for the first time since March last year.

[frankp01]

Here's something that folks might find entertaining. I discovered two Cunard commercial travelogues from the 50s on YouTube. One is titled "Getting There is Half the Fun" and the other is on the Caronia world cruise. They're of interest here, of course, because they're Cunard. But they're also interesting flash-backs to the 50s. Here's "Getting There..." (about 35 minutes)

 

 

[bluemarble]

4 hours ago, frankp01 said:

Here's something that folks might find entertaining. I discovered two Cunard commercial travelogues from the 50s on YouTube. One is titled "Getting There is Half the Fun" and the other is on the Caronia world cruise. They're of interest here, of course, because they're Cunard. But they're also interesting flash-backs to the 50s. Here's "Getting There..." (about 35 minutes) ...

 

Those are entertaining and interesting videos from Cunard's past aren't they?

 

I've actually referred to those two videos for some "research" on this forum. One time had to do with the original QE's mural map shown in the "Getting There is Half the Fun" video at around the 21-minute mark. Another time was recently when I checked the itinerary in the "Caronia World Cruise" video for our "Where in the World?" thread.

Edited July 11, 2021 by bluemarble

[frankp01]

 

13 hours ago, bluemarble said:

interesting videos

 

I guess I shouldn't have been, but I was somewhat surprised at how "socially insensitive" some of the world cruise scenes were!

[LewiLewi]

Unfortunately, we have postponed our Mississippi River cruise till Aug. of 2022. We did not have to pay any penalties to do so. The Delta virus is rampant in both Louisiana and Mississippi, two states with the lowest vaccination rates. The COVID cases have increased exponentially with the Delta variant. We are also aware of vaccinated people contracting this variant, so we will wait till next year to sail in this region. Hopefully, things will be back to normal by then. We miss cruising, but better safe than sorry.

[Dancingkatz]

Here in western Ohio it has been raining almost every day for the past week but today the clouds finally  moved on and the sun was out by the time I left work at 5:00 pm, which made for a lovely evening. I've been "treating" my cruise  withdrawal by looking at my photos and souvenirs from our August 2019 QM2 transatlantic crossing (where my Mr. Dancingkatz proposed to me in the lobby outside the Queen's Room on Wednesday night after the gala ball) and looking forward to our next voyage. We ended up rebooking our westbound crossing from this August to August 2022 since we weren't sure when sailing would be allowed to resume. One of the things I'm curious to find out is how Cunard will handle the gala evenings as Mr. Dancingkatz and I are avid ballroom dancers and dancing each evening in the Queen's Room was one of our favorite evening activities on our first crossing. 

 

 

 

[Camgirl]

14 hours ago, Dancingkatz said:

Here in western Ohio it has been raining almost every day for the past week but today the clouds finally  moved on and the sun was out by the time I left work at 5:00 pm, which made for a lovely evening. I've been "treating" my cruise  withdrawal by looking at my photos and souvenirs from our August 2019 QM2 transatlantic crossing (where my Mr. Dancingkatz proposed to me in the lobby outside the Queen's Room on Wednesday night after the gala ball) and looking forward to our next voyage. We ended up rebooking our westbound crossing from this August to August 2022 since we weren't sure when sailing would be allowed to resume. One of the things I'm curious to find out is how Cunard will handle the gala evenings as Mr. Dancingkatz and I are avid ballroom dancers and dancing each evening in the Queen's Room was one of our favorite evening activities on our first crossing. 

 

 

 

Hi Dancingkatz, we are also ballroom dancers, though not very good. We came late to dancing, having sat and watched in the Queens Room during our first cruises, before starting lessons at home.

It was the main thing that put us off booking one of the UK seacation cruises. We were worried there would not be any dancing allowed. We are keeping everything crossed that the ballroom dancing will be as it was before the pandemic. And that we will be able to take to the floor again sometime, hopefully not too far in the future.