Thaxted

I empathize. Which state did you claim as your own? I chose Maryland, but next time I'll look for something more exotic. American Samoa sounds about right.

I've certainly never seen English sparkling wine in shops in our neck of the woods, but you can find a bottle or two in some places in New York; e.g., Astor Wines. Some online retailers offer a larger selection at more reasonable prices.

Since you mentioned your less than stellar service in Britannia, I thought I should add we too noticed that service in the dining room was not as good as it has been in the past, especially at dinner. We had asked for a table for two for this year's July 6 crossing, but were seated at a table for four. The maitre d' quickly found another table for us, but our waiter seemed distinctly unhappy to see us. He never smiled and even the simplest requests, like coffee at the end of the meal, were met with a sour face, grumbles, and an occasional complaint. By a stroke of bad fortune, when we sailed home on August 11, we had the same waiter with the same attitude! Fortunately, his assistant was more pleasant and obliging. To be fair, the dining room seemed a bit short of staff, and anytime dining may have made it more difficult for waiters to keep track of their tables.

I agree. We were delighted by how many young people and families were on our August 11 crossing to New York. As far as we could see, they were well behaved, appropriately dressed, and having a wonderful time.

By all means, toast the crossing. Then cheer as the ship passes under the Verrazano Bridge. It's an unforgettable moment.

Our Cunarder arrived yesterday. We like the way the Jag Sihara illustrations on cover recall the travel art of years gone by.

Just to supplement Port Royal's video link, if you look here, you'll find a photo of stateroom 5033 set up for three people. https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/stateroom-details.php?ship=Queen-Mary&cabin=5033. As you can see, it will be a tight squeeze for the four of you.

I'm very sensitive to motion, but I've never been seasick on any of our 14 crossings. Even on the crossing when we had two days of rough seas and one night of very rough seas, I suffered nothing more than a slight headache. Of course, the Atlantic can get even more boisterous, so I bring some meclizine (Bonine) with me just in case.

We've had atrium view cabins a few times. They're perfectly acceptable, and some people prefer them. But like majordomo and TheOldBear, we didn't think that they were any better than a standard inside. The view is singularly uninspiring and, in our opinion at least, not worth the added expense. My advice would be to book an ordinary inside cabin or, as we now do, bite the bullet and get a cabin with a view of the sea.

There are Mah Jong sets on QM2. I believe that they are American, but I'm not sure. The sets come with English instructions.

I'd recommend sticking with the upgrade as well, if only to see if you like the atrium view cabin. Many folks do. Much to our surprise, we discovered that we preferred no view to peering out at the atrium and the cabins across from us (whose shades were discreetly closed, I'm happy to report). When we were on Deck 6 there was some thumping from above that we could have done without, but it wasn't a serious problem. These days we always book a balcony cabin. We find gazing at the ocean much more relaxing than looking at the atrium, although the view does come at a price. But however you travel on QM2, you'll have a wonderful time.

We're Diamond as well. After the COVID hiatus, we made two crossings on QM2 last summer. We thought that the food in Britannia was as good as ever. Service at dinner was a bit hit and miss. Our wine steward, who may have been a new hire, seemed unprepared and overworked. The laundromats were complementary and soap was included. We're not great fans of the Cunard production shows to begin with, and we were less impressed last summer than we usually are. We thought that most of the lectures were not as good as they have been, although this too is a matter of taste. Internet was spotty and slow. The so-called premium plan didn't deliver premium service. We could never connect with the internet in our stateroom for more than two or three minutes. But all this said, we were very happy to be onboard again and we had a wonderful time.

I got the survey and I too spoke up for dressing up and timed dining. But I've done so on every survey I've filled out, thus far to no effect.

This past summer, we were able to make arrangements onboard to ship our luggage from Red Hook to our home in Washington, DC. But unlike previous years when, as Roy wrote, the purser took care of this, we had to contact Luggage Forward ourselves. And because the wifi on QM2 was slow and unreliable, it was only with the librarian's help that we were able to jump through the hoops necessary to get everything settled. The ship will almost certainly not weigh your bags. In our case a rough estimate was all that was required.

I think you meant to say that it was the Philadelphia Athletics who moved to Kansas City before settling in Oakland.