Tonopah

Sunset this evening 4 November 2022, sailing from Bergen, Norway.

Bergen this morning.

12:30 AM and we are moving. Happy to be on board and heading out.

Lady at check-in told me they are anticipating some late check-ins due to the weather.

Pouring rain, high winds, and very dark on the way to the port. We don’t mind. It’s a lovely day.

We ended up going to the Faraday Museum at The Royal Institute. Fascinating if you like science-y things. Mister took a picture of me waiting for a (nonexistent) lecture in a modern hall. 24 hours to boarding.

London is beautiful this morning. Sunny with blue skies. Our prearranged COVID tests were negative. PHEW. Cunard changed the requirements after we scheduled the tests but we decided to go ahead to be on the safe side. Now we have the whole day to wander and play.

Today we skipped our prearranged (and paid for) Harry Potter Studios tour. We just couldn’t wake up and decided it was best to just have a lie in. We went to the Imperial War Museum. We’ve been once before but only looked at the WWI exhibit, so we wandered through everything today. Very interesting War Games (video games depicting war) exhibit, and a moving and tragic Holocaust exhibit. The Central Line was shut down so we had to walk about 1/2 hour back to our hotel. It was lovely, overcast and cool. Tomorrow we get our (negative!) tests administered early and the have the rest of the day free.

We had a lovely dinner in a pub down a side street behind Marble Arch tube station. Excellent drinks and food. Not an American accent (except ours) to be heard. Not inexpensive, but real food, and it is London after all. Immigration at LHR was a breeze. We didn’t even see a human. Just presented our passports to a fancy machine. It opened the magic gate and voíla. Honestly, except for the transfer glitch the travel was excellent. The transfer glitch was more annoying than anything. We know our way around London and can get ourselves from here to there, but we paid for a service, expected a service, etc. Now we are ensconced in our lovely hotel room full of good food and alcohol, and trying to stay awake until an appropriate bedtime. Thanks for thinking of me.

Cunard UK says there is nothing they can do for us about the airport transfer. We have to contact Cunard US. Not the way we wanted to spend our first day in London. OK, hosthattie There’s no reason to keep this thread alive so please lock it. Thanks We did get a letter delivered to the hotel while we were on hold with Cunard saying we would be picked up on Tuesday. We shall see Thanks for everyone’s help.

Our TA is in California. Called, texted, emailed. She is a Cunard Rep.

Please does someone have a good number for Cunard Uk? They told us the concierge would have our Southampton info but he does not. The phone number we are calling does not answer. This has been a nightmare. We are seasoned travelers but this is a nightmare. ETA: someone finally answered the phone. Hope we get some answers. So frustrated.

Also no one is answering our calls. We will pursue it when we are in our hotel. Sadly we are now concerned about all of our arrangements including our transfer to Southampton.

That is exactly what we are doing. Thank you.

It is a hotel transfer. We verified with Cunard the day before we left. They would meet us at International Arrivals.

So we verified our Cunard Xfer the day before yesterday. We’re here now. No Cunard. No signs for us. The phone #s aren’t working. Not sure why. Any suggestions? Phone#s? Anything? Hubby is LIVID and I’m not doing well with the drama

5

MisterTonopah plays the guitar. He plays jazz. He also plays trumpet. Maybe he could start passenger jam sessions!

So we’ve never really had problems with the website, probably because our T. Agent takes care of things. Today we were looking at the Calendar for our Norway trip that starts next Tuesday and… every excursion is messed up. We have excursions on sea days. We have Stavenger excursions on days when we are not in Stavenger. We have a Tromso night tour that shows up on the date of our Tromso departure. I am a little bit panicked but Mister just says, “Cunard booked them, Cunard will fix them”. It’s just weird and doesn’t show Cunard in a very good light.

I am not. I already feel like a little kid waiting for Santa. If I start tracking her she will NEVER arrive. These last few days are so loooooooong.

We’ll be joining you in Southampton. 7 days and counting.

All the hand made items we’re taking with us to Norway next week: Pullovers, hats, a headband, gloves, mittens, cowls, boot cuffs. Nothing fancy, just warm

After Friday I will have limited internet access. I’ll be cheering for the Phillies. They were fun to watch in the playoffs. Sadly, my superpower seems to be to doom any team I cheer for. Think they’ll show the games on the QM2?

We checked in for the TA portion of our voyage today so all the paperwork except the health declarations are done. We are packing and will leave for London on Friday. The house is clean and we also pressure washed the patio and cleaned the cushion covers. I’ve been making Thanksgiving staples and freezing them. Yesterday I made pecan pie, today I made stuffing and there will be pumpkin pie soon. The pie shell is cooling from its parbake. Sweet potato casserole is next. The turkey breast is thawing and it will be the last thing made and frozen. MisterTonopah wants to smoke it on the grill. Mister’s birthday is also just before Thanksgiving so there is very little time for any prep that week. Also, who wants to do anything after a long, luxurious trip with others doing all the work? It is 75°F 24°C here in Big Swampy. Just lovely.

Trust me. The workers are not driving the decision.