acruiseb4

13 hours ago, kmerlin14 said:

I didn't think anyone was actually reading it so I stopped posting. However, I will try to add some more soon. For now, I can talk about packing. It was quite formal. My husband had planned to wear his kilt for formal night. Then after I'd gotten everything dry cleaned and pressed, he changed his mind and just brought his grey suit and another jacket for the non-formal nights. He did say he then felt underdressed. We actually just bought him a tuxedo for our next trip (Queen Mary eastern seaboard) While we were at the shop the salesman talked us into a carry on that will fit all his formal wear. It's a cylinder roll that fits two pairs of shoes inside and then the tuxedo and extra jacket, tuxedo shirts, and pants are rolled around the shoe tube. That way, I will have more room in the suit case for my formal stuff which actually takes up less room. It also has a spot for bow ties and cufflinks etc. He forgot his, so he used twist ties on the first night and now owns a lovely pair of Cunard cufflinks which were rather pricey, so I hope he remembers them next time.

I will attach pics of our table for the twenties ball (image2141) and another one showing what I wore another night. I saved a bit of space by buying a black swishy dancing skirt with gold trim and then pairing it with a white lace top for the black and white ball and a red top for the Cunard ball that wasn't actually on our cruise (image 2086). I bought a pair of sparkly gold sandals to go with the skirt, but then I realized I probably should bring shoes that hadn't been broken in yet so I went with my silver sparkly sandals that have plenty of miles on them. 

My shore excursion "uniform" consisted of waterproof hiking sneakers and my quick dry, water repellent hiking pants that have a bit of give in them. I usually topped this with a quick dry golf shirt and warm sweater or jacket. It is very important to dress for rain and this is where I made my mistake. I'd bought a purple waterproof jacket for the trip, but then my daughter gave me this cute little collapsible water bottle that matched my shoes, hat, and another jacket that I thought was waterproof. It was not.  And yeah--I regretted it. Next time, I'll bring the purple one. (They also have disposable rain jackets on your bed when you get there and they hand them out as you leave the ship for shore excursions.) My shore excursion "uniform" is now my hiking outfit and running errands in the rain outfit, so it gets a lot of use at home too.

I also brought a "packable" down jacket (image 2053) that could be stuffed into a tiny pocket so that it didn't take up much space. It was only water resistant, but it kept us warm near the glacier and was easy to pack in my knapsack in case I wanted it. We brought hat and mitts too. If you have a balcony, the ship does do two complete turns by the glacier, so we were quite happy watching from either inside our cabin through the window or outside on the balcony. We even made a cup of tea while we were watching. (They handed out hot drinks on the viewing deck as well.) the bow on 5 was opened up. We brought bug jackets and hats for the woods, but didn't really need them. 

I'd brought long tunics and dress pants for the non-formal nights, but I might bring a few more dresses next time.

I also made sure I always had a dry outfit to change into once I got back to the cabin from shore excursions. 

Now I will try to upload the pictures. Let me know if you have any other questions. Will try to do some more of the review when I get a chance.

Yes, please keep going, thank you for the information.

I will be following along.

Would love to hear more of your trip, we are considering taking this cruise next July but not sure if the QE will be too formal for us? Any photos of formal night would help as we would be flying from the UK so will have weight restrictions were ballgowns worn? Any other info you can provide would be appreciated really do like the look of the itinerary also time in ports, sorry for all the questions.

Following along we sail 22nd July 14 day back to back and can't wait, thank you loving your review.

From joren

 

 

 

We did the exact same thing as Joern and had no problems at all.

 

Acquarius Sea Tour was fantastic! We would definately go with them again. They also photograph the tour and give you access to the photos to download for free!!!!

Thank you :D

Julie

I did the tour two weeks ago. It was no problem at all. They announced that tender tickets could be picked up from 7,45. I was there 7.15 and one of the first to be in line. We got on the first tender and had plenty of time. Ship time was the same as cayman time. Will recommend Stingray Sailing. Check them out on TripAdvisor. Simply the best

 

 

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Thank you for the info that puts my mind at rest, I will look into Stingray Sailing.

Julie

We had Stingray excursion many years ago and its amazing . We took it from cruise ship because of tender and time of excursion . Ours included Hell and Rum factory .

Thanks for the info, I think we will look at the ship excursions don't want to be stressing about getting off the ship on time.

Moreno, we are on the same cruise.

 

I booked a morning tour through Acquarius Sea Tour. On their web site they say, "Differing time zones can make it very confusing for guests. Simply submit your reservation saying whether you prefer a morning or afternoon tour and we shall come back to you with information."

 

On my reservation confirmation email they state;

"MEETING TIME

8:45AM CAYMAN ISLANDS TIME

!! This may not be the same as your ship time !!

This DOES allow enough time for you to tender from your ship to the meeting point"

 

It is $50 for a 3.5 hour, 3 stop snorkel tour to Stingray City Sandbar, starfish Point Beach and either Coral Gardens or the Reef.

 

They also have great directions about where to go to meet and pay.

Hi, did you do this trip, how was it?

We are hoping to do in July but are worried about not having enough time to get off the tender and get to the meeting point, any info you can give would be great.

Thanks

I think it's 6 pm, we have the 8.30 late seating.

 

 

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Thanks may be too early for us:eek:, will see if we can change.

Julie

I am following along as we have just booked the b2b for July. Can you please tell me what time is early seating for dinner as it just quotes early dinner, thanks and enjoy your day.

Looking forward to your photos and tips. :)

They gave us different options. We chose 5:30 pm, had an early dinner in Fira and went back to the ship around 8:00 pm.

Thanks for the info, we depart at 6pm so will see what options they give us.:)

You can take a boat to Oia from the port. I think we paid 11 euros to get there and at the end they drove us to Fira by bus. Hope this helps. :)

You don't happen to know what time the last bus was back to Fira from Oia?

We hope to do this when we arrive in Santorini

Thanks

Thanks for these same cruise as us on 29th July.

We are on same cruise 29 July. This was really interesting , thanks. Do you also know if it is possible to get to Oia from santorini port without having to take the cable car? Would appreciate any advice

[emoji924]

 

 

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Hi, we are also on this sailing there is a roll call for this sailing come and say hello. :) not long know can't wait.