Victoria2

I would say my non formal evening wear is more formal than many. I dress as I would to a black tie cocktail party for drinks and nibbles which although more formal than just going out for dinner, would not imply black tie formal dinner attire. If that helps.

When we have had disputed payments, Amex or the CC company has put immediate blocks on the payment in order for it to be sorted out. At no time was the ball put in our court.

So back round we go to, get a decent agent. They do the phoning around for you. There have been so many complaints about some cruise agents/ agencies/ big companies, it should be getting easier to cherry pick a good agent.

I book; my CC occasionally pays; I get all the booking stuff by email and I get occasional snail mail promotionals such as the Q.A box thingy. and any Cunarder bumf. My husband gets all the regular promotional emails. I have tried to change it but to no avail. He sees the snail mail and he forewords any promotional emails as I do for bookings. We share our correspondence and I cannot be bothered to get het up about it any more.🙂

An example, yes but as beautiful as those photos are, they are personal to the couple involved. Apart from the fact I wear long dresses and not short on Formal nights when I ring the change from evening trousers, I have never dressed onboard in the same style as Nora, the lovely lady in the photos.

My husband will also be among the jacket fraternity on non formal evenings although any accompanying tie will depend on the shirt of the evening.

The dress advisory code will b throughout the ship and you can wear a long dress, a short/shorter 'party type' dress, evening trousers and top. My only comment would be try and make it fit an upmarket evening function where the majority of the chaps will be in black tie. I have a couple of long black dresses, but | also like wearing evening trousers, with beautiful tops or long line evening jacket over a black camisole. Hope that helps.

For some reason, I still have the excursion booklet from our '19 world cruise segments. The only port of interest to you will be Colombo. Unfortunately, my skills don't extend to posting any photos so if interested, I could email to Host Hattie a photo of the relevant excursions which were available in '19 which gives duration and the costs and she would be able to post them here for you. It will give you an idea.

I wouldn't bother with Cunard at the moment. They are not insurance advisors and realistically, they will most likely give three options. Insure, transfer or forfeit deposit. I think your Stroke Association advice is excellent and I would make it my first port of call when asking advice. Then, I would explore any companies mentioned, there or on here and make a dummy booking assuming the stroke is three months on, which it would be come time to insure then pay the balance.

I found out I don't particularly like lemon curd or anything lemony in a trifle. Give me Hartley's strawberry jelly as a main ingredient any day! 🙂

I am so sorry to hear of your wife's health issue. If you won't mind me saying, a salutary lesson to the rest of us, insure when you book as you never know what's around the corner. To your predicament. I would start exploring insurance now. It doesn't mean you have to buy any at the moment but if you find your wife is uninsurable, that solves that bit of the equation. You might find the cost is too high, especially as the US is involved and that too will also sort that out. If you can insure and you get the go-ahead to travel when you come to buy the insurance, great. You'll have a wonderful time and as long as you bear in mind Cunard staff will not be available for any 'caring' duties, you'll find them helpful and sympathetic. So saying, we had a waiter on one t4ip who insisted on cutting up the food for a fellow table mate instead of leaving it to her husband, Kind just wasn't a good enough word for that man. The crew will assist embarkation and disembarkation on port visits [carrying wheelchairs of required, with passenger in it, obviously] but tender ports might be a problem. There will be an 'assistance' meeting early on to decide if a passenger will be 'tender ready'. If you can travel, your wife might need some aids and whilst Cunard will provide things like shower stools etc [ask early on] their wheelchairs are for emergency use. May I suggest you visit the 'Mobility at Sea' website. They have a multitude of aids available for rent. They will make sure anything rented is in your cabin ready for when you board and will collect it at the end of the cruise. Southampton has a great disabled assistance programme and as long as you register for it, they will wheel on and off board. There will be more advice here so just ask. If you decide, or it's decided for you, to cancel, get in touch with Cunard. We had to cancel a world cruise a few years ago as we found out [after booking of course] my husband could not have a Yellow Fever jab. In those days it was cancel and lose deposit or transfer deposit to a cruise of the same, or higher value. There was NO way we could transfer to a cruise of higher value as it was a Q3 World Cruise booking. Cunard were brilliant. They let us split the deposit to utilise on a couple of cruises. Their only stipulation was the cruises had to be booked at the same time. Now of course, their booking regs. at the moment are very fluid. How long they will remain so, is anyone's guess. I would say your first port of call is to investigate if you can get insured and I would start your preliminary research asap. Nothing needs to be bought and Cunard do not need to be involved at this stage. We have a rolling annual travel insurance with our bank so can't help you there but many CC members will be able to advise on which companies are great with health issues. Good luck and my fingers are crossed for you. Any more questions, just ask. There's a pool of great advice on this board to tap into. 🙂

Sadly, although I could climb up any number of stairs [given oxygen half way up!] I have to use a lift to come down. Thanks for your input over the last two weeks. I can't believe how quickly it's gone.

Ours could be pared down for two or even one but then ours was a cheat's version. You never know, the ingenuity of the galley could be tested and found not wanting! Then of course, there's a cheat's version too. Very acceptable, especially if the original was never experienced! Always worth asking. 🙂

We'll be taking our masks with us, especially for tight areas such as lifts. I will follow 'caution is 1st'.

Not asked for Wagyu so that's interesting. I might try and see. We have had off menu dishes prepared for one when it should be a shared dish and meals for the table to share so a small trifle might be in their remit. Don't ask, don't get. 🙂

Looks super. Ours was a cheats version too. Dead easy but then most of ours was 'pre-prepared'! M&S Gastropub custard, yum yum. 🙂

A great phrase BklynBoy8 ' caution is 1st'

I have refreshed any essentials with a sell by date which are always in a suit case ready to go with the other must takes. This thread was a good reminder.

I have yet to have a request turned down. The request might not turn out exactly as you’ve experienced elsewhere [Blackened Tuna turned out more seared than I would have liked so I now ask for it to be 'just shown the pan, each side'] but the chef will, in our experience, give it a go as long as he/she has some knowledge of the dish. If not, the Head Waiter might ask for some guidance. Steaks are a regular so no problem there. The Jubilee pudding was in my opinion, a complicated recipe designed for a televised competition and not for the average UK street party contribution. I have heard it quoted as 'an arse-ache to make' [and if that gets through, apologies for the language but I am only quoting] but if adapted to shop bought ingredients, it was easy to make, I'm sure it didn't taste the same as the made from scratch, following the recipe trifle as shown on TV, but it was most acceptable. However, as most UK households will have a preferred family recipe for trifle handed down through the generations, which is usually made on high days and holidays, in our case, the family recipe will triumph over a lemony trifle, any day.

Only one phrase will do for your blogs, which I always follow, and that's 'a superb read'.

It really is so easy. When you're used to the environment [Cunard in this case], and the climate to be encountered, you know what kind of clothes are needed and if the clothes are put back in the wardrobes clean and ready for action, packing the day before is a cinch. I have [had in reality] lists, but as we used to travel so much prior to Covid, the essentials are ingrained in my mind. It remains to be seen if I forget anything from the supposedly ingrained lists!🙂

OK. I'll bite. 😁 Why?

@D&N Kudos for your wife in the weight loss stakes. She must be very proud of herself, as you obviously are, of her. 🙂 I seriously am at the opposite end of the packing stakes for both land and sea holidays. I never plan. I look at my clothes, pick out the ones I want to take and they get packed. I take a few pairs of evening trousers in both black and white, and tops which can be mixed and matched. Add a couple of long dresses and sorted for the evening, On a longer cruise, say a month or more, I just take more of the same but max. three long evening dresses. I'm not keen on dresses and don't have any day ones. My formal wear often consist of black, beautiful tops and trousers and I wear them in preference to dresses. I used to take what I would term ball dresses but ditched those years ago when I saw they were too much for formal evenings onboard and anyway, they were a pain to pack! As long as we all feel good in our choices, it doesn't matter if things were minutely planned weeks prior, or grabbed out of the wardrobe and thrown in a suitcase the day before.

and here's me thinking that's what my teeny tiny evening shoulder bag is for. If I don't have my bag with me, you'll have to guess where my cruise card is! 😄

I have a few Camilla silk tops and Kaftans and they are last to be packed. I use specialist dry cleaners at home and so one thing I never do, is send them to the ship's laundry. I found years ago, the trick is to have a busy pattern as the creases don't show as much especially if I hang them in the shower for a steam, but then I have to be careful to avoid drips as watermarks show on plain colours. I use tissue paper when packing silk which really helps keep the creases down and at the end of the day, if there are some left, fine. We won't be the only ones sporting creases.☺️