bazzaw

Yes - the shuttles at least got us away from the ports - as an example, the Kanazawa railway station (where the shuttle busses took us) is a sight to behold in itself - but the World famous Castle park and adjoining Kenroken gardens are 10Klms on foot after that .

I guess I was more referring to when you are ashore - especially before and after the cruise. But those difficulties can be solved with money. Seems that most Japanese ports are very "industrial" so you have to get well away form the port to see anything. Cunard did provide shuttles to the main railway station in every port we visited - but we still had to walk fair distances to the sights. eg 12 klms in Kanazawa , 10 Klms in Nagasaki and six klms in Akita. We did a shore tour in Busan which was a good but long day and which cost us $500 AUD - these USD cruises are expensive for tours and drinks.

Much depends on where and when. Balconies are commonly too cold or too hot, too wet or too windy 🙂 An outside cabin down low and centre (Deck 1 on QE) is ideal. Also makes your front door just a short walk when everybody else is trying to get home after the show 🙂

Just back a few days ago from Japan - a week in Tokyo plus a 10 day Cunard QE cruise. Had a good time (first time Japan - 5th time QE) - Japan is certainly a challenging hard work destination. It could be less so at some added cost. ABSOLUTELY convinced now that Balcony cabins are a waste of money. If anybody has any specific questions regarding a possible future cruise to Japan please ask. Personally I would probably not do another cruise around Japan for a number of reasons - mostly including port locations, and necessity to do ship tours. We managed to see the Cherry blossoms.

But that apparently is where all the fun is at!

In Australia, tipping is not customary - and any price advertised must include taxes, etc. BUT - other cultures are different - and we all need to understand that the final Cunard price is not what we pay when we book 🙂 So we need to include these gratuities into the the total price we pay. BUT - it does not mean that I then have to additionally tip staff for doing their jobs. I cant really think of anything that a waiter or cabin attendant could do for me to warrant any kind of tip. Nobody has ever tipped me for simply doing my job well - except somebody did once advise me to be nice to my wife!!

Don't forget that you can watch the fabulous movie TANNA on SBS on demand. This ranks as one of my favourite movies of all time. How anybody could produce and direct such a big movie using only native tribal people who mostly had never even see an movie themselves is beyond me !! 🙂 https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/movie/tanna/1751931459619 The Vanuatuan version of Romeo and Juliet.

Yes - I think you are right. Our first 3 Queens they were all together for the Queens Jubilee - but the second one was just a back to back to back 🙂

I wouldn't be bothered with this one for a few reasons - 1. Three nights in Seattle!! Look up the Youtube video called "Seattle is dying" 2. We were really happy with our 5 nights in New York at the end of our Transatlantic on QM2 back in 2018 - but I wouldn't even think about staying in New York City today 3. Have already done the "Crossing" on QM2

We have done the 3Queens cruises twice - 5 years apart . The first was for the celebration of the Queens Silver Jubilee.

We are about to do our 10th Cunard cruise - having sailed with them in Australian, American and European waters. They , like most other cruise lines , serve up what I call "Western hotel food" . There was one Scandinavian cruise where they seemed to serve up a lot of pickled type herrings and raw fish at the breakfast buffet (which I enjoyed) - but for the rest of the time, I would never have been able to guess where we were in the World by the food being served. So now we are about to embark on a QE cruise around Japan and am wondering if there will be any Japanese food?? I am hoping so 😞

Yes - thank you - have done everything I needed to do now. I sympathise with those who dont have at least 10 years of Internet usage plus a Degree in Computing these days. 🙂 How do they get anything done??

Thanks everybody - yes, My Cunard is down !

Just got an email from Cunard that we now can check in online - but "My Cunard" will not let me in - booked a cruise tour in there last week - any Cunarders here who have a cruise booked can see if it is working for them please??

Just got an email saying that I can now check in online - but "My Cunard" will not accept the Booking number, etc. Was inside there only last week when I booked a shore tour.