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

[love_the_life]

A hard day so far… OD the Older thought a bit of culture was in order so attended an afternoon classical piano concert. Lovely music though a bit lulling at times and I was hard pressed to keep alert (read ‘awake’). Perhaps another lap of the spa is in order. It’s become very foggy or misty – strange to not be able to see the horizon. QM2 is sounding her foghorn quite often as these are busy waters.
Decided to miss the feeding frenzy that is known as King’s Court buffet and with OD Younger had a small snack at Sir Samuels; much the wiser alternative!
A big day coming up tomorrow in Shanghai with a shopping tour organised by the Younger OD, so must count my money in preparation. Some passengers are apparently disembarking, so it remains to be seen if any embark as well. The big turnover is in Hong Kong with close to 1800 disembarking so that will be fun (not).
Internet is too expensive to spend time on the boards but I would think that there is a lively thread on the new QFF changes - somewhat unimpressed on my part with them as most of my travel is self funded and usually with a cheaper fare.

 

[Pushka]

Liking the Pea Souper fog Dame the Older? Unexpected I'm thinking. Liking hearing that horn blast but can imagine what it happening on Bridge. Visibility maybe 100 metres?

 

[Pushka]

Hope The Cap'n can see more than we can.

 

[Pushka]

Still in fog. Routine fog horn blasts. According to daily news temp in Shanghai tomorrow is 25C. But my magazine seems to be the only one saying that as I've been told numerous times it states 16 C. A bit weird.

 

[Anna]

The fog looks atmospheric! I need more clues re Vlad as I haven't spotted him yet. I'm still reeling from the tales of criminal behaviour from pax on board - an assault on a disabled old man, malicious damage to laundry and camera theft so far and I'm completely shocked that people on holiday would behave like that :shock:

 

[love_the_life]

Think the 16 degrees is closer to the mark! And rain forecast so take that anorak. Still foggy this morning.
Anna, if there are over 2 and a half thousand passengers, there are sure to be some "bad eggs" as they say. Despite Cunard's advertising, it is not all class!

 

[Pushka]

There's just one word to describe the announcement from the Captain early this morning. Cr@p.

Shanghai port is closed. This has a huge impact on so many people. IF it opens at 8am then it's another 4 hours until we can berth. Friends on our table were going on a land tour to Beijing and Xian. So many tours booked. Many people disembarking and embarking. Awful. My Visa for Shanghai only cost a lot of money.

It was a major reason to go on this itinerary.

 

[love_the_life]

We will hear more at 8am our time from the captain. The fog does look like it may be lifting and we have been told to travel slowly towards the pilot point in anticipation that conditions will improve and the port will open. The tour staff will be working very hard to try and salvage what they can and put new plans into place.
If we do berth at 12, we will be hard pressed to make our shopping trip rendezvous as it is another one hour on the shuttle into the city
We will have to wait till we hear from the captain again. In the scheme of things our disappointment is minor compared to many others.

 

[Magpie10]

Gosh how disappointing for many, new flight will need to be booked for those disembarking, but out of the Captains control. He may be able to extend the time the ship departs port? We have done this in the past when circumstances were such that many passengers flights were delayed. Not much you can do,about the weather...

 

[amaroo]

Not good but it's the way things can go when travelling. Building "safety net" allowances between connections is the safe way to play.. People relying on port excursions to see the sights - have no such luxury

 

[Pushka]

Ok. Clearance to enter. Won't arrive for another four hours (5 hours late) and our personal shopping tour we'd organised is cancelled but Dame the Older has been to Shanghai and knows the shops.

The channel takes four hours and we must leave by midnight as planned as only 1 cruise ship allowed in the channel at the same time and another ship due here tomorrow. So must be out by 4am. Some rebookings and cancellations required but I'm sure crew is pleased when we get "off the boat" this afternoon.

 

[Pushka]

Poor crew. They'd expected to have a quiet day without us masses. But bars are opening up and the shops are having to open as everyone is just hanging around waiting to go....in 3 hours time. Raining too so no sun lounging happening. All good. People are just glad they're going to get off soon.

 

[Pushka]

Lots of ships pulled from the channel. It's like they've all been pulled from the channel to let us pass through.

Just sorting out the shopping list while we wait. Silk, cashmere coat and specialist chopsticks. I'm also thinking of getting a long black silk cheongsam for Madame Butterfly formal night tomorrow night.

 

[Geegeela]

I'm also thinking of getting a long black silk cheongsam for Madame Butterfly formal night tomorrow night.

I am sure all will turn-out well.

Who knows you may be able to shanghai a Pinkerton!

 

[Pushka]

It's a little damp. 16 million umbrellas.

Photo bombed. DTOlder

 

[Pushka]

Shanghai was amazing at night time although the tops of buildings were in cloud. Amazingly everyone boarded on time (10.30pm) and we cast off at about 11.15pm. There were about five of us on deck, and armed with hot chocolate I watched my last sailaway - although I missed it as I was chatting with another passenger whom I had met and re-met many times. It was so quiet.

I managed to find a black silk dress for Madame Butterfly Ball tonight too.

Two more sea days then arriving in Hong Kong. Its a soft departure - we get to spend the first night in Hong Kong onboard then they kick us off the next morning. Then four nights in Hong Kong.

I'll post photos later as the Internet is rather slow today.

 

[love_the_life]

Internet rather slow as OD Younger puts it is somewhat of an understatement - woeful is the word that comes to mind. I guess every other passenger on the ship has thoughtlessly wanted to log on when I do :mrgreen::mrgreen:

OD Younger was a happy woman after the shopping yesterday - the success of the LBD even though not a cheongsam was the culmination of a very wet day dripping all over the poor shop assistants! When the rain stopped the lights were fantastic with the mist giving an ethereal quality to everything.

It's hard to believe we are nearly at the end - so sad.

 

[Melburnian1]

Pushka, I have not read every page but could you please post some photos of the buffets or a la carte choices that you or others have, including desserts?

 

[Pushka]

A quiet day at sea for the Dames yesterday followed by our last Formal night - Madame Butterfly Ball. Quite a few moths in evidence. And a kimono without the correct belt (sorry, can't think of the name) looks like a dressing gown. Are there rooms here without mirrors?

I'd been able to find a black silk dress suitable for formal night. Not a cheongsam. But a lovely dress anyway.

During the day I attended two excellent exercise classes. Both run by Stacey who is continuing to Southampton. The class consists now of people who are pretty fit and those who'd previously attended thinking they'd get fit on a cruise have pretty much disappeared. Which means the classes are now intensive. Much more so than the ones I do at home. Just what I want. Vlad departs in HK along with a large number of crew and passengers including us. I think about 1600 in all so another large turnaround.

Formal night was a lot of fun and the Officer on our hosted table was one I'd already met before and we'd been on the notorious reef trip (aka Barf boat) excursion. It seemed on the reef trip you were either ill or laughing. He wasn't one of the laughing ones it seems. I was a little merciless. . An enjoyable night with them was had with lots of stories told that just need to stay on the ship.

Dame the Older, I got photo bombed in one of the photos taken tonight. It's now been cropped of course. .

Dame O and I ventured to G32 (Nightclub) afterwards and Vibz the Band actually had a vibe going on. Until the DJ took over. I was somewhat alarmed though that Dame the Older had succumbed to some kind of illness as she looked as though she was about to launch into the can can at any stage. It must have been the food and not the two vodkas with mix, cosmopolitan, and glasses of red and wine at dinner time that could have caused this reaction. I should also add the shots size is almost double the USA one. Do the maths.

There was a slight altercation with the cleaner of which I think she was blissfully unaware. Hopefully she has recovered by this morning. Or maybe it was the maraschino cherries - oh wait, those I ate.

Having seen Dame the O to her stairs I decided to go back to the ballroom as I wasn't that tired and I watched the ballroom dancers for a second as it was very serious business indeed and way above my meagre waltz capability and decided to move back into the nightclub. By now the place was busy and some of the guest entertainment people had arrived. Including the three gorgeous saxophonists mentioned earlier, a soprano and the baritone who had all put on a show. I must say I did enjoy being on the dance floor with them as they all mixed really well with the passengers.

Then the entertainment director arrived and he belted out a few rock songs (he's got a great voice) and the place was a rocking. But then Vibz finished for the night and back came the DJ to help clear out the dance floor again. It's a ritual it seems. So the night was over once more and I arrived back around 1am after another good day.

I'll try post some photos of the buffet later. For the MDR I'll have to rely on memory as it doesn't work taking photos of food at the dinner table so much.

We are a day out from HK and it's still really foggy.

And the Yangtze channel which takes 4 hours to traverse is cleared of all boats when QM2 arrives to berth in Shanghai. She's a big girl indeed.

 

[love_the_life]

'Twas not the can can. 'Twas the flamenco! Actually, it was a pair of shoes that wobbled dreadfully. They had quite thin heels and as any woman that does not wear heels all the time can attest, they can be difficult to manage. I did not have a lot of beverages of the alcoholic type - I think I saw the sommelier filling OD Younger's glass much more frequently than mine!
I did wander back to the cabin and pop into bed though!