Can't keep a good Dame down. Encore trip on the QM2.

[Melburnian1]

Dames, is the timber floored area above permanently reserved for dancing, fencing or other activities or depending on the time of day is it sometimes at least partly covered with tables for dining or snacking?

And simply out of interest does Cunard routinely have a Catholic Priest on board to say Mass and administer other sacraments?

By the way, your photos are amazingly clear.

 

[love_the_life]

I have never seen tables on the timber floor in the Queens Room but it's used through the day for lots of different activities - stretch classes, line dancing, dance lessons, coughtail parties etc and in the evening ballroom dancing. It's funny but the disco is just next door.
Dame Y us loving the camera and has great pics.

 

[Pushka]

Re the camera. It's a baby version of my super zoom and it's fabulous. Fits in a small pouch. Brought it out last night and our table mate got super excited as his was the same but slightly larger. Leica lens. I don't use a tripod but the shake control works a treat. The photos look super clear and way better than the iPhone which I thought was pretty good anyway.

We had a great dinner last night. Lots of laughs. Very nice.

Bugger. Have to queue up to get our passport this morning then pack.

 

[VPS]

And simply out of interest does Cunard routinely have a Catholic Priest on board to say Mass and administer other sacraments?
.

I'm pretty sure all cruise lines have Catholic Priests - we have a family friend who is a priest and that's how he spends his holidays every year. The cabin and meals are all included and he's entitled to cheap airfares. He normally does whatever people want him to do (within the realms of being a priest!!)

 

[Pushka]

There is a Catholic priest onboard and the captain can always hold non denominational services and weddings. There is a wedding chapel on many ships. There is also a rabbi onboard. Unfortunately he suffered sea sickness (sea was very calm) during the middle of his service and he had to abandon it, quickly. I don't think he's been seen since.

Security is very strict and obvious today. Security crew walking up and down deck 7 with high powered binoculars. External lights were switched off at night last night so it was a dark ship at sea. Security lighting switched on all the stairways this morning. Seas dead flat.

 

[JessicaTam]

Re the camera. It's a baby version of my super zoom and it's fabulous. Fits in a small pouch. Brought it out last night and our table mate got super excited as his was the same but slightly larger. Leica lens. I don't use a tripod but the shake control works a treat. The photos look super clear and way better than the iPhone which I thought was pretty good anyway.

We had a great dinner last night. Lots of laughs. Very nice.

Bugger. Have to queue up to get our passport this morning then pack.

Do you not keep your passports whilst on board?

 

[tgh]

Most (all?) ships hold the passport.
Guests can also go ashore sans passport without any entry requirements.
Not sure what happens if one misses the boat tho….

 

[Pushka]

Do you not keep your passports whilst on board?

No. They are taken when boarding.
Kinda weird during port stops.

Dinner last night.

My foie gras but I wanted some toast.


Dame O had escargot.


My duck a l'orange.
Meh.


Dame O had beef Wellington


My delicious desert.

 

[Pushka]

We are on 2 alerts.
Piracy. I wonder why? 27 miles and this gap


and currently being monitored by an Australian Naval ship and in a while an Army helicopter.

The second alert. Noro.

 

[GarrettM]

Re the camera. It's a baby version of my super zoom and it's fabulous. Fits in a small pouch. Brought it out last night and our table mate got super excited as his was the same but slightly larger. Leica lens. I don't use a tripod but the shake control works a treat. The photos look super clear and way better than the iPhone which I thought was pretty good anyway.

We had a great dinner last night. Lots of laughs. Very nice.

Bugger. Have to queue up to get our passport this morning then pack.

Your camera review inspired me MrsP.

Will be useful for the wife's business as well. Pleasing to get rid of cables.

 

[sinophile888]

Most (all?) ships hold the passport.
Guests can also go ashore sans passport without any entry requirements.
Not sure what happens if one misses the boat tho….

I was on the Sun Princess in 2009 when 4 passengers missed the sailing at Port Klang. Their car came careering around the corner with lights flashing and horn blaring. The ship had only moved about a metre from the wharf but had already waited well past the sailing time. The next port was Penang, so still in Malaysia. The passengers caught a taxi overnight to Penang and reboarded the ship. We worried what would have happened to them if they had missed the sailing at Penang as the next port was coughet. In a twist of fate the next day in Penang, one of the ships' tenders couldn't be hoisted back into place so the ship left port 6 hours late after the captain finally decided to leave the tender behind in the local yacht club.

I found out recently that if an incident like this one in Port Klang happens in the last port of a country then the ship hands over the passengers' passports to the ship's agent so the passengers can leave the country and hopefully reboard the ship.

This is one of the reasons that the ship holds the passengers' passports.

 

[Pushka]

The Royal Navy patrolled for submarines and missiles.

I'll just post lot of pix.






Internet too slow. BBL.

 

[Pushka]

 

[GarrettM]

View attachment 95819

View attachment 95820

View attachment 95821

Drool. I would kill to hitch a ride in one of those.
I'd probably have too.

 

[VPS]

I did a Celebrity Alaska cruise a couple of years ago and kept my passport

 

[Pushka]

In Dubai. And internet. And work emails

Will catch up on stuff later today as we are about to hit the pool and go up Khalifa.

 

[Pushka]

Sorry. Dups again. I've posted them all now.

 

[Kolo]

I've done four Holland America cruises and one Cunard cruise and never had my passport taken. However it was taken on a 24 hour journey from Paris to Venice on the Orient Express!

 

[Pushka]

I've done four Holland America cruises and one Cunard cruise and never had my passport taken. However it was taken on a 24 hour journey from Paris to Venice on the Orient Express!

I've done three Cunard, a Princess and two Celebrity and have had it taken three times.

 

[Magpie10]

Have had my passport taken on 3 Oceania, 1 HAL , 1 Cunard. Passport was returned for various countries and then collected again, got a bit fed up, queuing to hand in passport and queuing again to collect same passport on both HAL and Cunard. Immigration and Customs vary obviously by country to country...will be sailing Cunard in June so will wait and see if once passport ring a ring rosy is played.