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cougaraz

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    Live from QM2 - Dec 22, 2018 - Caribbean Celebration

    in Cunard Line

    Posted

    47 minutes ago, elkenyc said:

    Had the Salmon Wellington too and was taken aback by how dry and tasteless it was. Very disappointing dish. But my lovely side salad made up for it 😄 

    That is interesting, mine was succulently moist and bursting with flavor. I am usually not a big fish eater, but it was one of my favorite bites of the cruise. 

     

    Sorry that yours was not as good. 

    • Like 1

    Breakfast in a dining room

    in Princess Cruises

    Posted

    How is this topic still going?!?!

     

    It has been clearly articulated that the lack of MDR breakfast was reported in error by the OP.

     

    Breakfast is offered in the MDR everyday.  Lunch is offered on sea days and not port days, which has been the case for at least the last 15 years.

    • Like 2

    Live from QM2 - Dec 22, 2018 - Caribbean Celebration

    in Cunard Line

    Posted

    4 minutes ago, elkenyc said:

     

    Hm... doesn't really sound like it... thing is thought, we are not walking in her shoes so we should not judge. Maybe the little doggie is really necessary for her well being. And yes, there are people who are exploiting rules all the time. Stuffing extra liquor in their bags.  Bringing it back from their excursions (QM2 seems to be rather lenient from what I've seen). Taking photos and videos despite the request to not doing so. Etc. Etc. 

    Did the little doggie annoy anybody? I doubt it. Are there silly people. I do not. Doubt it. But again, we are not walking in their shoes so why not let them be? 

    xo

     

    The reason to not let them be is that there are people who need service dogs to go about their daily lives.  We have wounded veterans who are only able to live their lives in a meaningful and productive way because of the support they receive from genuine service dogs.  The continued access to facilities and experiences with those dogs is important and should be protected.  Every time a fake service dog causes a problem it jeopardizes access for the real service dogs and the people they support.

     

    The funny thing is that it is very easy to spot the difference between a real service dog and a fake service dog.  Real service dogs aren't pets, they may be wonderful, friendly and cute, but they have a job to do and are treated by their human companions appropriately.  They do not bark inappropriately, they do not have to be removed from the theater because they cannot calm down and they don't "get" to come with their handler on a future cruise because the human thinks it would be cool, fun, interesting or can't bear to be without their furry princess.

     

    Real people, with real problems have their lives immeasurably improved by the assistance of properly trained and employed service animals.  Other people, exploiting the good intentions of people and businesses, lie about the status of their pets and place the access required for real service animals at risk every time they do so.

    • Like 4

    Live from QM2 - Dec 22, 2018 - Caribbean Celebration

    in Cunard Line

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Underwatr said:

    Did anyone else see the "service dog" (ahem) on this year's cruise?

     

    I did not and this disappoints me greatly!  I am a huge advocate for, and benefactor of, service dogs for wounded veterans and fake service dogs are one of my biggest pet peeves.  I would very much have liked the opportunity to observe and comment on a fake service dog.

    Live from QM2 - Dec 22, 2018 - Caribbean Celebration

    in Cunard Line

    Posted

    Tuesday and Wednesday 1-2 January, at sea en route New York

    Unfortunately, dear readers, I am writing this from the lounge at JFK airport, which means that our fabulous cruise has come to an end.  However, there is still plenty of story to tell and I will finish with the tale of our last few days at sea.

    New Year’s Day dawned bright and clear for us and despite our festive activities the evening and early morning before, we were actually feeling quite well.  One note, is that by the time we ventured out of our cabin, the ship was immaculately clean and there was no evidence of the revelry that had occurred.  On a previous Princess cruise, the morning of January 1st had found the ship looking a little bit like a frat house and the crew had to work until midday before everything was ship shape again.  No such embarrassment on Cunard of course.  Our first stop was at the ticket desk for Illuminations to collect a ticket for the afternoon planetarium show.  Unfortunately, our efforts would prove unsuccessful, as despite our tickets, there was no show because of technical malfunction just prior to the show.  A pro tip for those of you married to a spouse or traveling with a family member who requires coffee for the health and safety of those around them, there is a full beverage station on deck two near the ticket desk for the planetarium where appropriate caffeine therapy is available while you wait for your tickets.  It can go a very long way to ensuring domestic tranquility in the morning.

    We had breakfast in the dining room as was our custom whenever possible and then took care of a little business, ordering a couple of portraits for printing, confirming our departure arrangements and playing trivia in the Golden Lion Pub.  We returned to the Golden Lion Pub for our first and only pub lunch of the cruise.  We had no trouble finding a seat and ordering our meals.  I opted for the fish and chips and Melissa had the Chicken Tikka Masala.  The fish and chips was excellent, I got a very nice, large piece of white fish in a crispy and flavorful batter, with some thick cut chips, mushy peas and tartar sauce.  The table had English mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise and malt vinegar available as condiments.  Melissa’s Chicken Tikka Masala was graded as outstanding based on having to stop her from continuing to eat when she got down to the bare plate!  We split and bread and butter pudding for our dessert.  Washed down with a couple of good English ales, it was a very fine meal indeed.  Speaking of New Year’s revelry, we did see a woman enter the pub about 11AM still wearing her sunglasses and she and the bartender had a friendly exchange about how much fun she had the night before. 

    Of course, such arduous exertion required us to take a short afternoon nap to recharge our batteries and ensure that we were in fact ready for the last formal evening of the cruise.  We did stop by the buffet for a quick tea and scone.  The theme for the last night was the Roaring 20s Ball and there were quite a few flapper dresses and more than a handful of gentlemen turned out in the their best throw-back attire.  Generally, everyone was well dressed, but it was notably not as much of a maximum effort as we had seen from the passengers the night before.  I cannot much blame them for that.  Back-to-back formal nights, especially following New Year’s Eve is a bit of a stretch for everyone.  We did manage to find a seat in the Golden Lion for pre-dinner trivia and once again wiped out! 

    Dinner with our new friends was once again a highlight of the evening, with a fine menu to ring in 2019.  Melissa and I both had the lobster bisque which was very flavorful and not so rich as to be overwhelming.  Seeing how 2019’s resolutions had no realistic chance of being implemented prior to our return home, I opted for two starters.  The empanada was a very nice bite and the accompanying sauce was one of the few genuinely spicy offerings on the cruise.  Living in the American southwest, I grew up with spicy flavors in my food and find that I do miss them on a longer cruise as they just apparently don’t have a broad enough appeal to appear regularly on the menu.  I also had the gravalox, which was nice, but not exactly transcendental.  Melissa also enjoyed an empanada.  For my main, I had the fillet and was impressed that I received a very nice cut of fillet that was cooked medium rare as I had ordered it.  While I prefer a nice strip steak or ribeye to fillet, this was a very nice piece of meat and I enjoyed it.  Plus, I didn’t really need a giant hunk of cow on the plate at this point in the meal.  Speaking of giant, Melissa ordered the seafood crepe and was presented with an enormous portion, that resembled a burrito much more than a crepe and was absolutely bursting with a wide variety of seafood wrapped up inside.  Slightly daunted by the massive culinary object on her plate, she disassembled it to get after the delicious filling and enjoy it with the sauce and accompanying rice.  It was the second main Melissa had ordered from deep into the second page of the menu that featured a very large portion.  Perhaps, there was a trend there to be explored, but alas, our cruise was ending and we did not have sufficient time or capacity to conduct a thorough examination.  For dessert, we both chose the chocolate souffle and it was nice conclusion to the meal.  Personally, chocolate souffle with chocolate sauce is not really my favorite combination, I prefer the base flavor of the souffle and the sauce to contrast.  My favorites definitely trend toward tarter fruit based on liquor based sauces, but the souffle fairy hasn’t found her way to my house anytime in the last 15 years, so I cannot really complain about the options with any conviction.  We skipped the show and headed to bed after a cup of coffee and a few petit fours.

    The second day of the year found us sailing under graying skies, but still on a very smooth sea.  The sea temperature remained warm as we crossed the Gulf Stream, but air temperatures began to drop noticeably through the day.  This is as good a place as any to discuss the temperature in our cabin.  We were in a sheltered balcony on deck 5 and generally speaking, we loved our room, so much that we plan to sail in a similar cabin again next year.  However, I would have preferred to be able to make the room a bit cooler, not a lot, maybe 3-5 degrees Fahrenheit would have been perfect.  With the temperature control set to the coldest setting, our room was just tolerably cool under static conditions, but could become quite warm post shower or with the hair dryer running.  A quick opening of the door to our balcony usually cooled the room quickly at night, but there were a few warm moments.  To my mind, the middle half of the temperature settings on the control should represent the sweet spot and the upper and lower quarters should be for when a more dramatic, but temporary temperature adjustment is desired.  However, our control never budged from the coldest possible setting throughout the cruise.  It was really just a minor annoyance, but it did bear mentioning.

    We had breakfast in the dining room and I lamented the dwindling opportunities for me to indulge in black pudding for my breakfast.  I do not know anywhere near my home that has it on offer and I am quite certain that a homemade version isn’t likely in 2019, so I will have to make the most of my opportunities when we cruise and when we travel to the UK.  After breakfast, we picked up our photographs, played some trivia and spent about an hour reading.  I am happy to say that I did finish Foundation and am ready to embark on Tudors when I get home. 

    For lunch, we headed to the Verandah Steakhouse.  The lunch menu offering is similar to, but more limited than the dinner menu.  I started with salt beef brisket hash and, to the surprise of no one, Melissa had the beets and goat cheese. My main was the eight ounce sirloin with onion rings and mashed potatoes, while Melissa opted for the burger also with onion rings and some fries.  I thought the food was very good, but remain a bit underwhelmed with the service.  Over two meals, one dinner and one lunch in the Verandah, I found the service to be overly cool, acceptable in terms of attentiveness and generally forgettable.  My expectation is that given the additional cost, the special nature of the restaurant and the emphasis on quality and ambience that they espouse the service should be remarkably better than in the main dining room.  However, the reality was that the dining room consistently offered better service.  In my short list of complaints about this cruise, this is one of the standouts, the service in the Verandah should be remarkable, memorable and exquisite.  However, our experience was pedestrian, uninspired and just acceptable.  That being said, the dessert was AMAZING! The toffee, peanut butter and fudge brownie sundae was certainly one of the very best offerings for dessert we had during the entire trip.  The combination of the ice cream and the salted caramel was absolutely delicious!

    What happened next was unexpected and wonderful while also being slightly terrible!  We signed up for the cocktail tasting in the Commodore Club.  For those that aren’t familiar, the Commodore Club drink menu features a collection of seven signature cocktails that were created to celebrate some of the outstanding personalities of the Cunard commodores over the decades.  Perhaps I will have time to do a full write up on each of them in the future, if people are interested.  However, for now, I will summarize.  We were treated to a sample size of seven cocktails, prepared in front of us by Anna and her bartender associates, each accompanied by a story.  There were nine passengers in a attendance and two seats left unoccupied, although they had been set.  The entire experience lasted just under an hour and a half.  Our group was quite a jovial conglomeration of five Americans and four Europeans, all in very good spirits.  While the cocktails were not full-sized, I would surmise that we ended up with about 3-4 full drinks worth and then a surprise full-size cocktail at the end, thus completing a rather aggressive round of day-time merry making.  Anna was fantastic with the mixing, entertaining and service and we really did have a great time.  After a thorough examination of the menu, Melissa remains dedicated to the All Consuming Passion as her favorite, while I prefer the Chieftain of the Clan.  We really enjoyed the experience, but perhaps did not need quite so much alcohol in the afternoon before packing, but it was memorable and a great exposure to some first-rate mixology.

    As you might imagine, what followed next was a very substantial nap!  Post-nap, we packed and managed to channel our marital teamwork into the effort, completing the job in just about an hour.  We dressed for dinner and headed to the Golden Lion for our last round of trivia.  Our dinner companions surprised us, but despite our combined efforts, we were unable to deliver a win.  However, our planetarium experiences paid off with a couple of easy correct answers.  Our last meal in the dining room was fitting finish to our cruise.  I started with the beef rolled around boursin and California rolls, while Melissa had the corn chowder and California rolls.  The California rolls were pretty bland to be honest.  For my main, I had the veal and it was a very nice plate of meat, Melissa opted for the Chicken Masala.  Hers was, as expected, very delicious and thoroughly enjoyed.  She opted for the souffle to finalize the dessert enjoyment of the trip and I had a chocolate ganache that was sinfully rich and satisfying.  Some final petit fours and coffee found us saying our farewells to Darwis and Alceo before saying goodbye to our dining companions and new friends.  We are very hopeful that we will be able to dine with them again on the same cruise next year!

    I want to get this posted, so I will stop now and finish with our disembarkation and a full-wrap up when we get home.

    I also have tons of pictures and a couple of cool videos that I will get posted once we get home.

    Thanks for all that have followed along and left such nice compliments!

     

    • Like 2

    Live from QM2 - Dec 22, 2018 - Caribbean Celebration

    in Cunard Line

    Posted

    On ‎1‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 10:17 AM, Georgina1 said:

    Hi again Cougaraz,

     

    If you have time before reaching NY can you comment on your Enclosed Balcony Stateroom, we are in 5215 for the Far East a Voyage.  

     

    Best Wishes,

     

    Georgina1

    Georgina, 

     

    We loved our sheltered balcony.  It gave us the chance to look out, enjoy the views and the fresh air when we liked, but sheltered us from too much hot sun and wind.  It is also VERY private, with no one above being able to see you.  The one downside is that you have to stand to see out, if you sit, you have the fresh air and the wonderful sounds, but not the view.  For us, it was not an issue.  Otherwise, our cabin was fantastic, there was minor hot water hiccup, but otherwise we found it to be a tremendous value and the perfect home base for our adventures.

    Live from QM2 - Dec 22, 2018 - Caribbean Celebration

    in Cunard Line

    Posted

    Continuation of Sunday, 30 December, and 31 December, at Sea, en route to New York

    We rejoin our story in the evening as we headed down to the Golden Lion Pub for Trivia.  We have played a fair amount of trivia on this cruise, but alas not with great success yet.  Still, we enjoy the atmosphere in the Golden Lion as it is usually relaxed, fun, a bit boisterous and the wait staff is generally very friendly and quick with drink service. One of the notable points about this ship is that the beer selection is quite extensive. To my observation, ships have generally been slow to adapt to the wide proliferation of craft beer, but Queen Mary 2 has a wide selection, heavily tilted toward the UK breweries.

    We joined our usual dinner companions and once again had a very festive and frolicking evening around the table.  They have a seemingly endless supply of crazy stories and adventures.  It would also appear that after 10 days with them, they have been almost everywhere!  For the men at the table, there was no hesitation on ordering the sautéed chicken livers.  Our dining partner said they reminded him of food his father used to cook. I enjoyed them tremendously, but am positive that no chicken liver was ever cooked in the house that I grew up in! Melissa opted to start with the pea soup. She has tried a lot of soups onboard and been pretty happy with the quality and variety on offer.  All four of us dining together had the Vietnamese style seafood salad and it was a nice, cool offering.  My main was the pork belly, which was tasty, but not particularly remarkable and Melissa had the golden beet risotto and received the most massive food portion we have seen on the ship.  She ate all she wanted, I had several large bites, it was very good, and it was still a mostly full bowl.  We both chose the bread and butter pudding and our usual coffee with a couple of petit four bites. 

    We opted to skip the show and retired to our room.  After changing into our sleeping clothes, reading for a few minutes and just climbing into bed, Melissa said she thought the air conditioning had just shut off.  Indeed the room was quiet and a dim light had come on over the door to our cabin, which cannot be controlled by a switch.  I poked my head into he hallway and found that while there were lights on, they were more widely spaced than normal.  Between that and the very, eerie quiet, it was quite plain that we had suffered some sort of electrical casualty on board.  A quick look on our balcony showed the ship still making substantial way through the water, but upon checking a few minutes later, I surmised this was just our momentum as we quickly came to be dead in the water.  It is also noteworthy that the exterior lighting of the ship changed, with very bright quartz or xenon style lights illuminating the water line.  About this time, the Captain came on the announcing system stating that there was in fact an electrical problem onboard and asking that those in their cabins remain there and that those in public areas remain seated while the problem was addressed.  Melissa asked what we should do and I rolled over and said, go back to sleep.  I would venture that the power was out about 20ish minutes before coming back on, which restored our electrical power and turned on the TV.  At no time did we feel in danger, unduly disrupted or frightened.  I have spent an entire career on ships and a minor electrical casualty in the night that was quickly resolved caused no anxiety for me.

    Monday, 31 December, at Sea, en route to New York

    New Year’s Eve dawned sunny and gorgeous again.  In fact, since leaving St. Thomas we have enjoyed gorgeous weather, with very calm seas, warm temperatures and abundant sunshine.  We took our breakfast in the dining room as it is such a nice way to start the day.  I find that pastries and breakfast offerings to be very well executed and love having table service to start the day.  I opted again for the full English offering, while Melissa had a ham and cheddar cheese omelet.  After breakfast, we played morning trivia in the Golden Lion and then proceeded to enjoy some of the gorgeous weather on deck with a couple of quick miles around the deck.  We took lunch in the main dining room and honestly, it was a bit uninspired.  I think that perhaps the chef was saving everyone to be ready for the New Year’s Eve feast to come.  I had the chicken and mango starter salad, Melissa had the hot onion and thyme soup, followed by the Fritto Misto for me and a tuna melt for her.  I had a couple scoops of ice cream for dessert and Melissa just had some coffee.  Honestly, if you are in the mood for fish and chips, I recommend the Golden Lion, but that is a story for our next post.

    In the afternoon, we visited the planetarium where they had a unique offering, a live tour of the sky offered by an onboard Cambridge astronomer.   We happen to have an astronomer onboard who has been offering some live star viewings and he graciously offered to run the planetarium system showing the ship’s current position and what the night sky looks like, if you had perfect visibility at our exact location on the night of 31 December 2018.  It was a great show and really nice change of pace from the pre-recorded offerings in Illuminations.

    We took the opportunity to grab a nap and to hydrate in anticipation of the night to come! We dressed in our finest and made our way down the Golden Lion by about 6:30 in anticipation of the count down to the new year in the UK at 8 pm.  When we arrived, we were able to claim two of the last available seats, 90 minutes later, we could hardly move.  On a funny note, on arriving in the pub, Melissa and another lady discovered they were wearing basically the same gown, Melissa’s was floor length and the other woman’s was tea length, but otherwise they were identical.  One had some from Lord and Taylor in New York and one from Bloomingdale’s in San Diego go meet in the middle of the ocean.  They had a good laugh about the odds of such a thing happening.  We settled in for a drink and watched as the crowd in the pub grew and grew and grew and grew.  By a quarter to eight, midnight GMT, the room was absolutely packed, I am not sure many more people could possibly have fit in.  At this point, the entertainment staff started playing music to entertain the crowd and both of us chuckled when Sweet Home Alabama was selected despite it being a UK countdown.

     We kept looking for someone elderly or mobility challenged who might need our seat, but everyone around us seemed able bodied so we stayed in our seats.  Much rejoicing occurred as the new year entered in the UK and then the pub quickly emptied.  We took the chance to find a cooler part of the ship and have a formal portrait taken by one of the ship’s photographers.

    We entered the Britannia Dining Room to find it decorated with balloons and Happy New Year hats, tiaras and noise makers on every table.  There was also a custom menu for last night that featured some of the highlights of the year for Cunard.  Honestly, the offerings last night were tremendous, if I had the ability I would have tried one of everything and been happy to it, but the realities of physics and the human body precluded such an adventure.  Nonetheless, I tucked in with a hot starter of haggis with neeps and tatties, while Melissa had the roasted butternut squash soup.  No surprise that Melissa opted for anything on the menu with the words butternut squash.  Then we both had the salmon and crab cannelloni which was absolutely superb.  My main was the beef Wellington and it was very well executed, the meat was a nice medium rare, the pastry was crisp and it arrived piping hot.  Seeing as the old year was fast fading, I also had our team bring me a lobster tail.  Melissa jumped on the lobster tail train as well as it was a nice piece of seafood served with a really nice little spinach souffle. Dessert for both of us was the Baked Alaska with the usual accompaniment of petit fours and coffee.  I think that the meal was a solid summary of my overall experience in the dining room, particularly at dinner on this trip, the menu was diverse and offered a wide selection, the food was well executed, served hot and delicious and the service excellent.

    Of note, our table did manage to consume a commendable amount of Champagne during the meal, of the rose variety! After dinner, we parted ways with our companions and investigated the Queens Room, but found it to be absolutely packed.  The bubbly was flowing, people were dancing and generally having a great time, but a seat or room to even stand comfortably was not be found.  One note on last night is that everyone went all out on the attire.  Men, women, boys and girls were all dressed to the nines and ready to party.  Retreating to the Golden Lion around 1130, we ran into our dinner mates who just happened to have two seats available.  We joined them and enjoyed a drink and stories until just about five minutes before midnight local time.  Then we made our way out to the main lobby for the final countdown, balloon drop and a complimentary glass of something that someone who has lived their life in total isolation from the civilized world considered to be an appropriate beverage for human consumption, that person was wrong.  If you get what you pay for, then the free “Champagne” last night should have come with five dollars.  I am not exaggerating when I say that it tasted like convenience store wine, mixed with light beer that had been aged in the sun.  Not good!  However, the celebratory mood continued as we made our way up to the Kings Court buffet for the biggest surprise of the cruise.

    They had a real, old-fashioned, no holds barred, Midnight Buffet!  Those of you who have been cruising for more than 20 years will remember when ships used to put on elaborate, even themed, midnight buffets almost every night and this was a throw back to those days.  They had ice sculptures, mountains of seafood, specially prepared breads, a ship made out of cheese, custom cupcakes, an entire section of hand-crafted chocolates and a host of employees who had clearly invested tremendous time and energy into putting on such a show.  It really was fun, festive and exciting.  With all the champagne that had been consumed, people were in a festive mood and very jovial.  Of course, we couldn’t really eat much since our end of the year feast had only proceeded the beginning of the year feast by about two hours.  Still it was a fantastic way to ring in the new year and close out of night.  It is possible that a couple of homemade donuts followed us back to our cabin as insurance against a harsh morning dimmed by a hangover.

     

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