jocap

My relative was seated at a large table on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth,  where there was a nervous young couple who were on their first cruise,  and who were always afraid of getting something wrong.

One night they were invited to the Captain's table, and afterwards they appeared to have grown an inch and were full of confidence about cruising! 🙂

And, of course, they booked their next Cunard cruise whilst they were on board...

The 2 lines where we've been given assigned check-in times (RCI and P&O ) did it according to decks, eg Independence OT Seas, deck 8 check in was at 12.15; Ventura was 13.30 for deck 10, but 15.30 for deck 14.

This might help with planning, if other lines use decks. 

13 hours ago, Dinglebert said:

Watched them all again.  It was a really good series.  Some really nice people like the casino couple and some who appeared dreadful the gambler in particular although he may have been playing for the cameras.

 

I see they are now repeating return to the cruise.

I had no idea they were doing the return... I've found some repeats at 2.30am and booked the rest- thanks for that!

An advert in the paper offered a door to ship cruise to the Caribbean. That meant no worries about transport, as the TA's staff picked us up and took us to the coach for Manchester airport.

The line was Princess, which we'd not heard of... and then we remembered ...

When we lived in Yorkshire, a local mill discovered a way of screen printing on fire-retardant linen. We all used to buy their seconds of fabrics from the mill. 

One day we read that the firm had landed a contract with a US cruise line called Princess, to refurbish all the fabrics on their ships.

When we stepped on board Sea Princess, I recognised many of the curtains and bedspreads...

Over the years the firm added  more of Carnival's fleets to its books.

I still have their blinds, and some curtains, one from the QE2,  each with a slight slip from the screen printing.

12 hours ago, ericfromri said:

thank you good Sir!!!  John Paul Jones is one of my personal heroes because he is  the father of the US Navy where i spent my entire career.

Then you're very welcome to a tot of rum in Whitehaven any time! 🙂

12 hours ago, davecttr said:

There are two versions of that attack. the local one has it not being successful because one of the shore parties forgot to do the destruction stuff because they went in the nearest pub and got drunk, the US navy being dry 😉

True... there wasn't enough fuel to set the fleet alight, so they went to the local pub....

We have statues of J P J spiking the cannons around the harbour...

Also in Whitehaven is the grave of George Washington's grandmother, and her slave Jane is buried with her... she married a local trader.

I haven't read about any problems on the growing number of ships sailing from the UK, in fact everyone I read about on social media and elsewhere are full of praise for the staff and the cleanliness of the ships. The latest ship arriving in Southampton is Anthem OTS, due out later this week.

I think that the small numbers being allowed on board will have helped; the numbers are to be increased shortly.

47 minutes ago, zekekelso said:

I thought July 4 was known as “Rebellious Traitors Day” in England 🙂.  Glad to hear they don’t hold a grudge.  

No- we all have a murky history...

My local town, Whitehaven, gave a pardon to the US Navy for attacking it in 1778, led by former Whitehaven sailor John Paul Jones. HM The Queen came and met with high ranking sailors, and the US Navy had the Freedom of the Town granted to it- I think the only ever recipient!

We have an official - and welcome- visit by the Navy each year.

No grudges.

You'll have a good view of the Isle of Wight as you sail out of Southampton, and perhaps Cap Finistere when you've crossed the Bay of Biscay, then the far off coast of Spain.

Lisbon is best viewed from on top of the ship, where you can watch everyone ducking their heads as you go under the bridge....  😄

I prefer a beach in winter... 🙂

1 hour ago, tring said:

Must look it out on catch up.  We did not see it when on originally, about how long ago was that?

The series was in 1998.

I am wrong about the launch date- the maiden voyage shown was in 1996- they celebrate the New Year of 1997 in Wednesday's show.

11 hours ago, Thejuggler said:

Watched this last night and vaguely remember it first time around.

 

Having done a couple of Celebrity trips it was interesting to see the differences between then and now.  No freedom dining, a Captain's table with invited guests.

 

I understand the ship is now Marella Explorer.  The social host, Amanda Reid, was still doing her thing on QM2 in 2018 in post as the Entertainment Director.

Oh, thank you for this- I wondered what had happened to the ship...

and also Amanda Reid... she said she was a dancer on QE2 for years... so she's returned to Cunard. Very interesting. x

The maiden voyage of Celebrity Galaxy, a massive ship with 2,000 pax in 1998...

And the majority in evening dress- on the first night!  😮

I used to follow someone who worked from a ship like this- they had spoken to the cruise line as they were considering some months on board, and I believe they received a special offer for that. 

They were able to have food/drink when they wanted, of course, and could send their emails when they were in port.... and relax in a pool whenever they needed a break. 

BBC 4, starting this Monday, June 21st at 7.30 pm.

Called simply " The Cruise", it's the series about the Celebrity ship which introduced us to the on board singer, Jane McDonald, an unknown Wakefield lass.

A series of 12 programmes.

Round the British Isles, including both capitals of Ireland, and sailing up the Firths of Clyde and Forth in Scotland. 

We had an unexpected bonus, and decided to fly from the UK to Big Island... my OH could snorkel and I could enjoy two interests- volcanos and the journeys of Captain Cook. 

We enjoyed everything about that holiday, except for the flights- a 9 hour delay in San Fran before our 12 hour flight home to England.

We were surprised that very few people had met anyone from the UK on Big Island, and were interviewed by our hotel manager for some advertising brochures for Europe. They were hoping to get a slot on a BBC travel programme.

We were also complemented on learning to speak English... not the first time that's happened in the USA.

Lenny, the dogs are trained by volunteers, but are working with scientists from universities. 

I watched the first batch being trained before there was any evidence of an aroma, just in case, on local TV. That was over a year ago, before we knew much about the virus, but people were trying anything then.

It's not perfect, but is an extra help. 🙂

On Marinetraffic.com AIS, MSC Virtuosa is still moored in Liverpool at 21.50.

23 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

As kids, we ate Rhubarb raw, right out the garden. Had a small bag of sugar to dip it in.

Mmm, yes... I was born in the "rhubarb triangle" of Yorkshire, and we were allowed to play in the fields where the old stalks were left to seed. We hid under the vast leaves with our poke of sugar... we called it "tuski", though. x

8 hours ago, ilikeanswers said:

Everyone says haggis is horrible but I once bought some from a local butcher who specialised in making traditional Scottish preserved goods and his haggis was absolutely delicious😋. It was one of the best things I had ever eaten. I kept buying it till he closed shop. Maybe I got lucky finding someone who knew what they were doing😂. 

Our butcher bought his in from Arbroath in Scotland, and showed me how to make haggis shepherd's pie... now a great favourite!

23 hours ago, wowzz said:

Had a Morrisons breakfast last week for £5.  Really excellent,  although no discount for not wanting black pudding!

Our US friends are probably really confused by now!

We have a relative who was catering manager in one of the big supermarkets, and she was allowed to take the finest bacon, sausages, black pudding, eggs etc which were coming up to their sell-by dates for the morning rush... She was proud  that she made a better breakfast than the best hotels!

Morrison's fish and chips are the best! 🙂

The only time we visit a McDonalds is if we're sailing from Southampton, so we go for a bacon sandwich ( or "bacon butty" as it's known in the UK). They use back bacon in a fresh roll, and the price is incredibly cheap, compared to the breakfasts provided in the many hotels around the docks.

Porridge, bacon butty and coffee, and we're fit to cruise.

Oh, lots of wet and windy days- including a similar one to you in Lisbon.

The strangest one was in Turkey, one February, when we took a ship's excursion to Ephesus... I'd been before when it was too hot and crowded to be able to see much.

This time there was only the coach load of pax on the site, and we could really enjoy everything... until it snowed.

I remember that there was the inevitable visit to a carpet shop, and we managed to miss part of it and sit on a veranda where there was a blazing brazier, roasting chestnuts.

Very relieved to return to the warmth of the ship. 🙂

3 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

I suggest highly unlikely, but probably best to ask on the NCL Board. I have not heard of NCL installing PCR Labs onboard their ships.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/64-norwegian-cruise-line/

 

Only cruise line with onboard labs and lab techs that I know of is Viking Ocean. 

And Viking Venus, presently sailing with passengers out of the UK... she has a laboratory on board which can deal with 3,000 tests a day.