2 Old Dames on the best Dame in the World - Queen Mary 2

[love_the_life]

Aren't you napping?

 

[Pushka]

It's just too beautiful to nap Older Dame. I don't want to miss a thing. Oh wait, there's a great song about that.

I'm getting a better Optus signal up here (five dots) than I get at home. Go figure.

 

[QF WP]

So where is the photo of Vlad. Anna and Princess Fiona will be disappointed...

 

[Pushka]

http://mobile.news.com.au/travel/tr...ow-about-cruises/story-e6frfqfr-1226859493687

This article talks about the Chief Engineer. I can tick that one off. We are on the hosted table of the Chief Engineer.

The harpist Hannah is excellent. And I've met her too. She was on the reef boat yesterday and probably didn't enjoy the experience so much.

The photo. It's actually hard to take a photo of Vlad without being in his face to do it and probably I shouldn't capture his face anyway. I'll try a long shot.

Optus and Telstra have gone now and I think we are finally out of Australia.

 

[love_the_life]

Some one asked about the kennel master. From what I can gather animals are only allowed to travel on the trans-Atlantic crossings. Obviously to do with quarantine restrictions.
Apparently though the demand in huge for kennel space - there are wait lists in case of cancellations.
We have to fill in a customs declaration for KK and drop it into the Purser's Office. Mainly it wants to know if you are bringing in mega currency. Not this little black duck as they say! Speaking of duck, I had it last night for dinner and it was delicious! Some dishes are very English. The other night I had roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, followed by spotted dick and custard. Now that is traditional. Haute cuisine it is not but the standard has been excellent overall so far (fingers crossed as I do not do poor food well).

 

[Pushka]

Lobster tonight Dame Older. . Not that I'm excited as I don't eat it.

But I've done so much exercise today I can enjoy the food and not feel bad.

 

[markis10]

Some one asked about the kennel master. From what I can gather animals are only allowed to travel on the trans-Atlantic crossings. Obviously to do with quarantine restrictions.

I wonder what the dogs on the foredeck with the harbour bridge background were doing with the crew in the no news article? I agree quarantine would be a big stick to Cunard saying no and the Cunard info agrees with your trans-Atlantic crossing info.

 

[love_the_life]

I wonder what the dogs on the foredeck with the harbour bridge background were doing with the crew in the no news article? I agree quarantine would be a big stick to aid saying no and the Cunard info agrees with your trans-Atlantic crossing info.

No idea about where they came from. I have walked past the kennels a few times and cannot hear any woofing.

On route to KK this morning. The ship has picked up a bit of speed from yesterday when we were picking our way through the Torres Strait. According to the information on the navigation channel we are 9 31S 137 36E. The clocks went back an hour last night so we have gained an hour. That's OK for some but it means I woke up at 5am!
The formal dinner last night was very pleasant. A nice French red and a Spanish white to accompany the food. Interesting conversation from the officer hosting our table. The show was the ship's entertainment group. I thought it was so-so. The theme was supposedly romance!
A lazy morning coming up. I might even brave the buffet for breakfast. Sometimes you need to gird the loins to venture there. Then maybe the pool and a good book (on the iPad of course - no hard copies now).

 

[Anna]

If Vlad doesn't want to show his face a rear view would also be fine

 

[Pushka]

If Vlad doesn't want to show his face a rear view would also be fine

That I can arrange.

Friday 21st March.

At least I think so. With 5 sea days in a row you begin to lose track of day and date.

It's warm and what I call benign weather. Just a little breeze on deck to cool things down. Very smooth seas. Barely a swell. The ship is moving steadily but hardly a brisk pace. No sight of land at all.

Last night's formal evening was Captains coughtail Party and then formal dinner. The Captain does not shake hands with anyone which is related to infection control. Clearly he must by carrying some nasty disease because we are all perfectly healthy. (That's a joke Joyce).

We are introduced to the most senior officers onboard and of the ten, two are women. Then a rundown of Nationalities of passengers. Several countries represented by one or two passengers, many from the USA, UK, and over 2,000 Aussies. For a ship travelling a world cruise having already completed a large Australian sector, that's impressive, or maybe not so much depending on your take of Aussies.

Then on to formal dinner where once again we have an Officer to host our table. He is one of the Officers introduced earlier. All of our table are Aussies and a delightful group of people we are. There's two people from Canberra, two from WA, two from Tassie, two from NSW, (maybe Qld?) and me from SA.

One of the couples said that word is getting around about our table being hosted. I think they might actually be the ones spreading the word . Green was the response.

And I've heard of many people who want to move tables because people just aren't enjoying their new found dinner buddies and I think 23 nights dining with people who don't socialise must be very difficult. No such issues on our table as we are having a great time.

We have excellent conversations and our Host last night comes from Sweden and lives in the Lakes District of England. I'm pleased to say I've been on the QM2 longer than he has, ( this Voyage) as he only embarked in Melbourne. He was able to give us an insight as to how life as a family man worked for him being away a few months at a time. He has two small children and guess where they spend their holidays - onboard QM2 or another Cunard ship.

He and a very small crew of 12 were responsible for getting the original QE2 to Dubai when sold to the Middle East a few years ago. That's an interesting story in itself. And at the moment no one seems to have a plan for her.

We were having such a great time talking and laughing we realised we were one of the few tables still left in the dining room. Breakfast tables were being prepared. But the Officer seemed in no rush to end the night so it was with reluctance from us, and great relief from the waiting staff, that we finally said farewell and made our way to the evening entertainment which commenced at 10.45pm. We just made it.

We gained another hour last night.

 

[Pushka]

Our venerable Cap'n.

 

[love_the_life]

It's all go here at the Pavilian pool - the roof is closed so no breeze but no sunburn either! There seems to be a hoopla competition going on. Lots of people, mainly chaps, tossing plastic rings at some target or other and much oohing and aahing! The destination lecture on KK was not overly riveting. The fellow next to me nodded off. Perhaps he'd had a hard night. Will pop in the pool in a minute.

 

[Pushka]

Today is watch sale day. I know it sounds weird but there are some very good watch deals on ships but you do need to know what are bargains and which are not.

Cosmetics are also excellent value. With duty free liquor your purchases are held until the night before you disembark or at the end of each sector. Sydney (each time) marked the end of two sectors, and Hong Kong is the end of the next sector. As I've crossed two sectors now (first trip in 2012 and a few days ago in Sydney) it means I'm theoretically a Gold Cunard World Cruiser. Maybe I should get a T shirt made in Shanghai with that emblazoned on it?

Dame the Older has suggestions for a more bogan expression.

 

[Pushka]

The Behind the Scenes Tour.

Older Dame and I have just completed an almost four hour behind the scenes tour.

Fascinating seeing how this big ship works.

Of course we commenced by signing the indemnity form.

Our first stop was meeting the Officer in charge of landing and Anchor. So many anchors and stabilising ropes required.

Then off to the Ships Hospital. They can treat up to 10 people and have an ICU. Their aim is to stabilise and maintain, treat lacerations and closed fractures and dislocations. Surprisingly, providing oxygen is the most expensive and difficult treatment to provide. They rarely do helicopter transfers as this is the most dangerous option as it has significant risk of explosion. So most transfers take place when the ship is close enough to arrange another boat to transfer. Surgeries such as Appendicitis are not conducted but the patient is treated with high grade antibiotics and pain relief until transfers can be made.

Then off to luggage and Kennel Master. Yes, we met the Kennel Master. He's been with Cunard for 35 years. They have to move upwards of 8000 cases in four hours on Transatlantics.

Then off to the Rubbish and Recycling areas. They try to minimise their carbon footprint by recycling as much as possible; incinerating combustibles and treating black and brown water so it's almost clear and then it's discharged.

Up to the Engineering section where all electrical controls are managed. We see our host from the evening before in his working environment.

Up to the safety area where we see a crew member all rigged up to fight a fire.

After that, the kitchens. Fascinating to see the freezers and Fridges and food prep area. Most food arrives in containers from Southampton, even if it's meat originally come from Australia.

Then a delicious afternoon tea which was really needed by then.

Then off to Royal Court where we were taken to the behind the stage performance area. Such tiny spaces they must work in.

Last, up to the Bridge. The Second Officer in Charge took us through all the systems. Just wonderful views across the bow and aft. Finally the Captain arrived and he was quite entertaining. And a photo with the Captain was taken.

During the trip we were given a Chef's hat, a Cunard Branded Apron, lots of information sheets, and in addition to the photo we will get later, a really nicely packaged commemorative pin in a Cunard box.

A great tour which was very well orchestrated and simply fascinating. We were forbidden from taking photos for security reasons and were accompanied by two security personnel at all times.

 

[zig]

Sounds like it was a very interesting tour offering a lot of insights into operations Pushka. Interested to know if there was there a charge for this tour, or was it complimentary?

 

[Pushka]

Sounds like it was a very interesting tour offering a lot of insights into operations Pushka. Interested to know if there was there a charge for this tour, or was it complimentary?

Definitely a charge tour. But for us worth every $$. The queue to get tickets was out the door well before opening time and many missed out. And they don't advertise it.

 

[Pushka]

This portrait of Samuel Cunard is impressive



As it's made of these:

 

[QF WP]

Hope neither of you need the skills of the hospital whilst aboard - if you do, I hope it's only for a case of sunburn and you get some aloe gel.

That's an impressive photo .

 

[Pushka]

The library onboard is totally old world. It's the largest at sea.



From here, you can see the "Captains Cufflinks." There are four. They are spare propeller blades.

 

[Pushka]

Hope neither of you need the skills of the hospital whilst aboard - if you do, I hope it's only for a case of sunburn and you get some aloe gel.

That's an impressive photo .

There are four steel drawers that we definitely don't want to lie in QF WP. Thankfully they were not "turned on" when he pulled open the drawer. But I did wonder how quickly they chilled when needed, which they are, quite often.