3rdGenCunarder

What a lot of people don't understand about QE2 is that one of the things frequent passengers loved about her was the crew. For a long time, she was the only Cunard ship (not counting "the yachts of Seaborne" and the brief time they had Caronia), so crew stayed with that one ship and became family--amongst themselves AND with the repeat passengers. Being greeted with "welcome home" really meant something. As for decor, ship or hotel, I've seen some that were ugly and some that were beautiful. But even the beautiful ones weren't necessarily decor I'd want at home. But they fit the purpose for which they were designed. And on the subject of design, I do wonder about those chairs--they're everywhere. Different fabrics, but same chair. Comments about whether they'll be comfortable make my think they might be designed more for short-term sitting rather than a leisurely lounge. My mother used to talk about working in NYC in the 1950s and eating at Chock full o'Nuts lunch counter/coffee shops. She said a story went around that the counter stools were specifically designed to become noticeably uncomfortable after 20 minutes so that people would move on and another customer could be served. Perhaps that's what Cunard is up to with those chairs?

I'm never sure what to call those loungers in the pool, either. The thing I dislike in thermal pools is the shower for massaging back and neck. It splashes everywhere, and I don't use it because I find it uncomfortably forceful. I just want restful bubbles.

I love the thermal suites on other ships, but not QM2. I found it dreary without any natural light. I like to walk in the water to relax my muscles, and QM2's pool is too deep for that. In fact, the time I tried it, I couldn't even stand in it. I'm 5'2" and I had to tread water.

Tea in the Queens room lasts one hour. Tea is also "served" in the buffet, where they might have food available longer.

Yes, they always have a large arrangement in the atrium on QM2.

The closet usually has two pairs of the larger size, but you can ask for the smaller ones. Last winter, my steward couldn't find any of the smaller size. I can shuffle around the room in the larger ones, but I don't take them home because they're too big to be safe on stairs in my house.

A comment about the "ice white" gala night in Alaska. The first time I did an Alaska cruise on QE, I thought that was stupid. Glaciers are blue, not white. So in defiance (and because I already had the skirt), I wore a long turquoise skirt and bought a white top that had a little bling on it. So, like a glacier, snow on top, blue ice below. And then on board, the description was blue and/or white and/or silver. Plenty of people didn't dress in those colors anyway.

For port day dinners, I generally wear what @Victoria2 described. Dress trousers and some kind of dressy top. I have a lot of lightweight dressy jackets that I've accumulated over the years (there's a great thrift shop near me), so a silky tank top and a jacket works well. Dressier than required, but easy to pack. I love to dress up, and I'm going to shower after being out and about much of the day, anyway. So if I have to change, I change into something that looks worthy of an evening on a Cunard Queen.

I don't pack light, either. Alaska cruises have a reputation for being less dressy, and I did find that on HAL. But the level of dress I saw on my Cunard Alaska cruises was about the same as on other Cunard cruises. I would love to have all sea days formal/gala. If a sea day is not a gala night, I don't wear a long gown, but I dress up more than I do on port days, and even on port days I do a little better than Cunard's idea of "smart casual."

I don't think there were many details, just a mention of it. Interestingly, the only times I've seen service dogs have been on Cunard, not HAL. One was for a diabetic woman. Little thing, a bit overwhelmed by a large cocktail party--band playing, all those feet that might have stepped on it. She might have been better to have it in one of those chest packs, because it couldn't have been paying much attention in that situation. But other times I saw them, the dog was calm. The other one was with a woman who had posted here on a similar thread about 5-6 years ago. I recall some very strong anti-dog sentiment on that thread. I ended up behind her in the queue to change dining reservations. Lovely dog, very quiet, Because of some comments she had made about her travels, I figured it was her, and I was right. She said it's hard work to travel with a dog, in her case, a large lab. The owner has to supply all the food. And they brought along his bed. This was a 10 day cruise IIRC, and a large dog eats a lot in that time. Some people with a child came up and wanted to pet the dog, but she explained he was working. Then she said that he would have some free time that afternoon and said where they would be and that the child could meet him then.

Cunard does have a kennel on Queen Mary 2. I'm not sure about the other Cunard ships. The QM2 kennels are for transatlantics only. I believe it's just cats and dogs. That's all I've seen embarking or disembarking. The service is used mainly by people who are relocating between North America and the UK or Europe. If I had to relocate, I'd want to do that, rather than have a pet in a cage in the hold for such a long flight. The kennels are at the top, and there is an outside area for excercise. Owners may visit their pets, but the pets are not allowed out and about on the ship. And in answer to the question about abandoning ship, Cunard provides dog and cat life jackets.

This is how it should be. Seeing Eye is in Morristown NJ, and when I go there, I often see trainers walking dogs through the town, practicing navigating traffic lights (and traffic around the Green in Morristown takes a lot of navigating!), and learning to deal with distractions. Good for you for working with a training group. Properly trained service dogs are amazing.

It depends on the production company they're using and who owns the show design. If they've gone back to a previous contact, old shows might be used again.

I think you mean Billboard went from 2 pianos to one. Lincoln center never had two. They started out as a quintet. But within a year they were down to one violin, not two, so a quartet. The duos are good, but there isn't the variety of sounds/arrangements with two instead of 4 or 5.

Someone who trains service dogs posted several pages back. I wish he/she would come back and explain what the training entails. Obviously, it's to do whatever the service is. But, in addition, is the dog given basic obedience training? Another poster said that you can't be sure because maybe it's a service dog that wasn't well trained by its owner in basic behavior. I always thought the training for a service dog included basic behavior. Certainly, any service dogs I have met were well behaved. And of course, let's not forget that training a dog is about training the owner as much if not more than training the dog.