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

[Pushka]

It was quite a windy day and the sea was a gorgeous Aqua blue

Beach Art


The view is excellent towards Dubai central


Dame O approved of the Piper-Heidsieck brut.

 

[Pushka]

First was a sweet dish



These guys would not share their Dom which we figured cost more than the afternoon tea.



Then a lovely cheese spinach thingy



Sandwiches



Then cakes. I managed a scone. Dame O just a bit more. Groan.

 

[Pushka]

We were groaning with food but barely touched the cakes. The guys with the Dom were celebrating a birthday and out came - another cake! Because they really needed another one. Needless to say it wasn't eaten.

We groaned our way downstairs to our waiting car.



Oops. Wrong photo.

It was a buggy. I'd asked about getting a lift to Madinat next door and they asked if we were guests. I said no and they said they'd call a taxi. It was a bit of a madhouse so in the end we got the buggy ride with other guests. Dame O and I got the back seats and had to hang on for grim life. We were lucky though as you get into the area reserved for guests so get some fabulous photos.





Did some quick shopping and some nice trinkets. Then back to the Hotel for some chill time. We have a bottle of Moët in the fridge that I refuse to take home tomorrow.

 

[RooFlyer]

Off to the chemist to get some medications. I've got a cough and some kind of thing happening and pseudoephedrine is OTC. I think Dame O is sick of me coughing.

We are so weary that it's after 6pm for free drinks and we haven't even moved. Early night tonight.

Hopefully this will shut me up.

Being a tad hard of hearing and absolutely ratso tonight I think younger Dame could cough all night and I still won't hear her. I feel terrible that she may have picked it up from me as now I am fine!

Have held back a bit waiting to see how the cough thing turned out, before saying:

I had bronchitis about 3 weeks ago and it left me with a cough you would think was terminal. I thought it was terminal; 'paroxysmal' was the expression used. I lost my voice for about 4 days. Doc tested me for whooping cough.

Then a countdown to my current trip to see if I would make it. Doc said he'd give me a medical certificate (for insurance) if I wanted to cancel. With 4 days to go I was cleared of whooping cough and getting much better (and with industrial strength cough medicine prescribed by doc), decided I would go, and just prayed I didn't have a coughing fit on either of the 2 long haul flights.

Whew ... flights no problem (just sitting quietly in my seat helped).

... which is a long way of saying ... I feel for your situation!

 

[drron]

Dames, notwithstanding one of you commenting a couple of pages back on 'inconsistent' safeguards against norovirus on the ship, for those of us who have not been on a cruise, how much of a concern do you perceive it to be?

Do you rate the chances of travellers on larger cruise ships coming down with this as minimal and hence exaggerated by the media, a real threat, or something in between?

Are older folks (say 70 plus) generally more at risk from what you observe as non-medical professionals or do you suspect it doesn't 'discriminate' by age, sex, ethnicity and so on? Do you find good standards of personal hygiene, apart from being commonsense, are the best way to minimise one's chances of being afflicted or if nonovirus is on the ship, will it 'get you' irrespective as to what precautions you take?

I would hazard a guess that most times when there is an outbreak of D&V the organism is unknown but norovirus gets blamed.The exception is if cruising to or from a US port as they are strict on notification and testing for the culprit.I remember on our Silverseas trip up the Amazon there was a minor gastro outbreak and none of the people had any samples collected.That sais silverseas does have a strong hand sanitation program though probably most guests do no bother with any precautions.

Here is the CDC list of outbreaks of gastro-
https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/gilist.htm#2017

Virtually every cruise line is on that.Note even Disney ships where the passengers are younger and whose ships usually get 100% scores when the ship is inspected for sanitation issues.you can check out your ship and how they go here-
https://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionSearch.aspx

Sorry for the hijack dames.back to normal programming.

 

[Pushka]

Have held back a bit waiting to see how the cough thing turned out, before saying:

I had bronchitis about 3 weeks ago and it left me with a cough you would think was terminal. I thought it was terminal; 'paroxysmal' was the expression used. I lost my voice for about 4 days. Doc tested me for whooping cough.

Then a countdown to my current trip to see if I would make it. Doc said he'd give me a medical certificate (for insurance) if I wanted to cancel. With 4 days to go I was cleared of whooping cough and getting much better (and with industrial strength cough medicine prescribed by doc), decided I would go, and just prayed I didn't have a coughing fit on either of the 2 long haul flights.

Whew ... flights no problem (just sitting quietly in my seat helped).

... which is a long way of saying ... I feel for your situation!

That's how this feels like. Uncontrolled coughing bouts. Trouble is if I go to the Docs on Sunday when I get back they will test me for everything from SARS to god knows what. Seems slightly better now but am flying out tonight. Fingers crossed.

 

[love_the_life]

It's been quiet from the adjacent bed for quite a while - hopefully that means sleep with no cough.

 

[Pushka]

It's been quiet from the adjacent bed for quite a while - hopefully that means sleep with no cough.

Indeed. The only noisy thing during the night was SIL who texted at 9am her time (4.30am for me) asking if I was home yet. As I'd posted on Facebook last night I was still in Dubai I have no idea how she thought that was possible unless it was a case of 'beam me up Scotty'. She doesn't travel much. And a phone call at 3am from a real estate company as we'd been looking at office space and clearly 'I will get back when we are ready' doesn't seem to have been clear enough.

The cough. I did and do have a bug but think we have found the answer to the awful hacking part. My hands were turning white frequently while here (raynaulds - Lupus) looking somewhat vampirus with red nails. Dame O will testify to that. Plus I was tending to only cough inside. Should have worked out it was the rather cold airconditioning exacerbating the cough.

 

[love_the_life]

Well that was a surprise! After breakfast in the lounge popped back to the room to collect my camera for a few last photos. Room was being serviced and when I said to chap that I didn't want the remaining gin in the bottle, he said he would pour it down the sink and opened a door to what was the suite's kitchen! Microwave, crockery etc, extra fridge and a separate luggage storage room. Oops. Thought the door was one to an adjoining room.
Dame Y thought it hilarious.

 

[love_the_life]

Turned the air con temperature up last night and she slept like a baby

 

[Pushka]

Just a mild panic today. Originally planned to leave on Friday night and booked the direct Emirates flight to Adelaide. Day was right - Friday - but at 2am meaning it was kind of Thursday night. Paid a whole $10 to change the award flight to Saturday - 2am. Clicked on a link today and the time of Friday 2am showed up. I'd missed the flight?

I have no idea what was happening. But a check of the flight on Emirates, Qantas and MyFlights showed all was in order. I need a strong Vodka.

 

[love_the_life]

A bit breezy and cool lolling by the pool - towels make good blankets!

 

[love_the_life]

Having a bite of lunch by the pool - decided against the Dom as it was $AU3000 for a bottle (and no, I did not add any extra zeros there!)

 

[Pushka]

Swansong drink. Non alcoholic. Alcohol prices are staggering as noticed by Dame O.



The sun came out of the shadow of the building and boom with the heat.

 

[turtlemichael]

What is the Y and O dames' view of the Dubai Conrad? I'm reading lots of current criticism on FT.

 

[Pushka]

What is the Y and O dames' view of the Dubai Conrad? I'm reading lots of current criticism on FT.

It's nice enough and good location. We are in a club and because of a water issue were upgraded to a suite. Pool is lovely. Gets reasonably busy about now.

Staff are good. Dame O got a great rate through Luxury Escapes. $300 a night for club room.

 

[Pushka]

Boo. Dame O has left the building. Her flight is a reasonable 9.30pm. Mine - 2 am. Seriously.

 

[love_the_life]

Boy, you posted so quickly if I was a suspicious type I might think you were glad to see the back if me lol

Remember we do it all again on the AFF cruise next January.

 

[Pushka]

Boy, you posted so quickly if I was a suspicious type I might think you were glad to see the back if me lol

Remember we do it all again on the AFF cruise next January.

Bored. One hour down. 4.5 to go until I leave the hotel. Not that I'm counting or anything.

 

[love_the_life]

And I'm still waiting to check in!