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QE Canaries Cruise


rakkor
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It was a bitterly cold morning when we set off on the short drive from New Milton to the Ocean Terminal to join the Queen Elizabeth for our 12 night Canaries cruise. It was very quiet when we arrived and 20 minutes later we were in the cabin. 4049 is a balcony cabin on deck 4, one of the nice ones with the massive balconies, and even better than of previous one 4030, it has a glass front to it rather than a metal one. The bags took much longer to arrive than we'd experienced previously so I ended up missing out on going to the gym. We made up for that by indulging in Commodore O'clock for the Sail away. Where Jane has had a Cosmopolitan and I've had a pint of Seafarers. It's a bit too hoppy for me, think I'll have a Doombar next.

 

 

It'll soon be time for dinner, we are on a table for 10, on the second sitting. I went to check out the table location before the Muster drill, and elicited a lot of tuts as I walzed past the queue of people waiting to change their dining arrangements and into the 3rd floor dining room. We are now away at sea for 3 days, so don't expect many updates until we arrive in Madeira

 

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Departure day - evening

 

We managed one more drink in the Commodore Club before heading off to get ready for dinner. Jane had a Marguarita and I reverted to the Doombar, a much nicer pint.

 

We were upstairs in the Britannia, and having already recc'ed our table I was able to put our hostess right when she tried to put us on a table for eight. Surprisingly all ten of our dinner companions were there for the first night, we are usually missing a couple through tiredness.

 

Dinner was a very chatty affair, with all the introductions, it looks like it's going to be a good table.

 

I started with pâté and Jane had potted prawns followed by Dover sole, and I had roast loin of pork. Pudding was a chocolate and walnut slice with cheese and biscuits for Jane. All of which was excellent as always.

 

After dinner we gave the show a miss and went to bed, full and exhausted.

 

 

 

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December 12th - On our way

 

I had a good night's sleep, but Jane was complaining that it was a bit bump in the night, I never noticed. I awoke just before my alarm at 06:40, got dressed in my cycling gear and off to the gym to sweat. I'd not expected to use the treadmill, it's too dangerous when the sea is anything except a millpond. I was hoping there would be a Wattbike or similar to train on, but disappointingly there were only Technogym static bikes, which are pretty good, but have no connectivity to my Garmin, so I can't properly record my workout for Strava. It's a shame as it's the first time I've been able to work out against power, 30*mins@200 watts, made me sweat.

 

After the gym it was back to the room for a shower, Jane had breakfast in bed, so I stole a piece of her toast before heading up to the Lido buffet to see the omelet fairy. Once eaten it was time for fencing class, it was nice to see Disco Dave taking the lessons again. He was my first instructor on the Victoria. Suitably knackered it was back to the room to collect Jane and head off to the Port Lecture on Madeira.

 

The first insights lecture followed, Ian Brown on the Kray twins. I enjoyed it, but Jane wasn't fussed. I suppose she's heard it all before, being a proper cockney. After a cup of tea, I was back in the theatre for the second insight lecture. This time it was on the war in the North Atlantic, very good.*

 

Time for lunch, crab salad and a very nice salmon linguini, we had the same as each other, before heading back to the cabin for a rest and for me to start to catch up on some of the TV I'd put on a USB stick in preparation for this cruise.

 

Following on from afternoon tea, it was Commodore O'clock where Jane had had a Dark 'n Stormy and a Doombar for me.

 

After drinks, it was back to the room to get ready for dinner. Dinner was good again, We'd switched places tonight, so I was sitting next to Jason, an American from Connecticut and Jane was next to Judith, a glamorous lady from Northolt. I had smoked duck to start an chicken breast stuffed with goats cheese for my main, delicious! Jane had a chicken consommé and venison for hers, I got extra venison as she was feeling a little green with the motion of the ship, as were a couple of the other guests at our table. Jane's favourite dessert is a chocolate volcano cake, and typically it was served tonight when she wasn't feeling at her best. Jane was obviously near to deaths door as she asked the sommelier to take a half finished bottle of Malbec away. That has never happened before. We'll have that tomorrow!

 

 

 

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December 13th - Still sailing to Madeira

 

It was still a bit bouncy aboard today, so I stuck to the static bike in the gym, rather than risk death on the treadmill. I'd decided to do a more structured workout, so did 30 minutes at an average of 177 watts, covering 14.75 km. I really need to get better, Sa Collebra, on our trip to Majorca in April is going to kill me at this rate. A shower later and a quick look at my watch, I realised it was 08:20 and I'd not had breakfast yet. With fencing classes at 08:45 I really needed to get a wriggle on.

 

Disco Dave was there with all the gear today, so we were going to be getting dressed up in protective gear, facemasks and a foil. Thing are getting more serious. It's hard work with all the gear on and by the time we finished I was very hot. A quick change and a cup of tea and it was time for the first insight lecture of the day. Kim Sharman lecturing on flying in the RN during the cold war. An excellent lecture covering the sea operations of the Sea Vixen, and how he came to fly them.

 

The second insight lecture, was Ian Brown and the real Sweeny. His account of the notorious Flying Squad. Lots of tales about South London villains, Peckham, Dulwich, Catford....... Sounds like most of Jane's family and friends

 

At lunch we meet up with Stanley and Judith from our table so we shared a table for 4 where I shared the knowledge regarding Future Cruise Deposits, it was some thing they hadn't come across. Essentially you pay £50 as a deposit on a cruise and If you book it within 12 months you get double onboard spend, which could mean $600 per person. Jane's feeling a bit better, we got the sommelier to bring last nights malbec to have with lunch, which has sorted out our half bottle dilemma.

 

 

After lunch we headed back to the stateroom to watch a film, Girls Trip, it was pretty good. That finished just in time for Commodore O'Clock. Jane's cocktail of choice tonight is a fresh lime daiquiri, and mine is a Doombar.

 

 

 

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December 13th - Dinner

 

After our drinks in the Commodore Club we headed back to the room to get changed for dinner. Tonight is our first formal night of the cruise, so I was decked out in my DJ and Jane was looking lovely in a long black and white gown. I ended up dithering between wearing my white or black jacket, ending up on wearing the black. It was captains drinks in the Queen's room before dinner, and while we usually don't bother, we popped in for a glass of fizz chatting with Ken, June and Katy from our table.

 

Dinner was very nice, I had two starters, yum! Bryan pointed out that with a table of 10 there tends to be a long gap between the starter and main as people have the salad course, plus there's always seems to be two starters that I fancy. Tonight it was crab and prawn omelette and asparagus hollandaise, both very nice. Main was Turkey dinner, my favourite, and pudding was another lovely rich chocolate dessert.

 

We went to the theatre for the first time, Palladium Nights, it was all going well until about 15 minutes in when there was lots of drama, one of the floor lifts has fallen and there was a huge hole in the stage. The lights went up and the dancers and singers were ushered off stage by blokes in headsets. I used this as an excuse to disappear off to bed leaving Jane to see the show through to the end.

 

https://blog.rakkor.uk

 

 

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At lunch we meet up with Stanley and Judith from our table so we shared a table for 4 where I shared the knowledge regarding Future Cruise Deposits, it was some thing they hadn't come across. Essentially you pay £50 as a deposit on a cruise and If you book it within 12 months you get double onboard spend, which could mean $600 per person.
Not according to the info here: https://ask.cunard.com/help/cunard/before-you-sail/FCD - the OBC depends on the kind of cabin and length of cruise, and is between $100 and $400 per person.
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December 14th - Final sea day before Madeira

 

It was the same routine today, up at 06:45, into the gym to cycle. I did a HIIT workout today to change it up again. A bit more intense today, 30 mins @ 198 watts average

 

After my shower we went to the Britannia for breakfast for the first time. I had a fry-up with Bury black pudding yum! Jane had a cheese omelette. Satisfied, I headed off to my fencing class, it's hard work, especially when you are my size. It's made even harder when you are partnered up with an enthusiastic Asian chap who hadn't done it before, and didn't actually understand what he was supposed to do. The 45 minutes flew by and it was time to head back to the room and meet up with Jane before the first of today's insight lectures. Commander Jeff Tall carried on with his Naval lectures, this time The Royal Navy Submarine Service - "The Pirates". I quite enjoyed it, but there was a lot of snoring all around us. A quick cup of tea followed before the second of today's lectures, Kim Sherman's lecture on the British raid on the Italian fleet in Taranto harbour in WWII.

 

After that it was time for lunch, a very nice beef and red wine tortellini, some laundry and a film, we watched Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk. Very enjoyable. That took us up to Commodore O'Clock where Jane had a Cool as a Cucumber and I had my usual Doombar.

 

We just about had enough time to squeeze in one more drink before the 6pm curfew took hold, Jane opting for a Cosmopolitan, me a Doombar. Some hot canapes arrived at the same time as the drinks, a very nice selection of chicken nuggets and meat samosas. We had finished up 18:15, so it was time to head back to start getting ready for dinner.

 

We were back to informal for dinner, Jane had opined the she fancied a nice bit of lamb, and lo and behold there it was on the menu. So Jane had the lamb and I had the beef bourguignon, lovely. The show was early tonight because they had a big band night in the Queens Room, so after dinner we went straight to bed, which was probably for the best as my throat is starting to play up.

 

 

 

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This cruise is a 12 night cruise and we have USD 1200 between the two of us.

So you would have had $300pp anyway and by using the FCD you got an extra $300pp. The FCD happens to double the OBC in this case, but that's just a coincidence, not a general rule.

Edited by Teddy123
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Then I guess you would have had some of it anyway and the FCD element is just part of the total.

I think you might be right there Teddy. We always have a couple of FCD on account as we know we'll use them for another booking within the year's grace and it's without exception, max $400 each [QG, ten nights plus] added to whatever on-board spend we've been allocated.

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This cruise is a 12 night cruise and we have USD 1200 between the two of us.

 

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You well might have $1200 OBC for your cruise but some might be a credit on actual cruise whoever booked and nothing to do with FCD. The maximum you get for buying a FCD for cruises of 10 nts or more is $400 for Grill accommodation, $300 for balcony and $200 for inside/outside so your $1200 includes a credit for some other reason.

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The maximum you get for buying a FCD for cruises of 10 nts or more is $400 for Grill accommodation, $300 for balcony and $200 for inside/outside so your $1200 includes a credit for some other reason.

 

The poster probably meant that they booked on board, not bought FCD. We booked on board whilst on the Madeira/Canaries trip in October and received $625 OBC each, for next year's 13 nighter around the same time.

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The poster probably meant that they booked on board, not bought FCD. We booked on board whilst on the Madeira/Canaries trip in October and received $625 OBC each, for next year's 13 nighter around the same time.

 

In post #7 stated that if you book a cruise with FCD you can get up to $600pp which is incorrect as the most you can get using a FCD is $400.

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There is a USB slot on the back right of the TV - ours was mounted on the wall, so it was a bit of a faff getting it in as there isn't a lot of room. My advice would be to get a longer stick rather than one of the mini ones I used a 32GB sandisk

 

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Funchal

 

My alarm went off at 06:45 as usual, but I woke up with a very scratchy throat, I reckon I'm coming down with Jane's cold, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. The Cunard beds are probably the comfiest I've slept in, so it wasn't hard to go back to sleep. I'll go to the gym tomorrow 😀. I opened the curtains to see sun on the balcony, which was nice after the 3 gloomy days getting down here.

 

After a lazy breakfast in the Britannia we headed out to the Pursers desk where we'd arranged to meet Judith and Stanley for a stroll around Funchal. The Xmas decorations on deck one are lovely.

 

We got the shuttle to the centre of Funchal, and from there walked through the Christmas market and on to the cable car. 32 euros later and we were sailing upwards towards Monte. Jane wasn't happy, she doesn't like heights, or the possibility of falling to her death from them. The ride though was uneventful, we arrived safely and took a stroll to the toboggan start point. I nearly persuaded Jane to go back down in one of those, but she decided that the cable car was slightly less terrifying. So with a coffee inside us we headed back down. Apparently it less scary going down, so all turned out well.

 

We walked back through the shops to the the shuttle, a mistake, we should have gone along the front as all the shiny stuff proved too much of a distraction for Judith. The Madeirans ?? not sure if thats right, certainly know his to decorate their town, they do like a nativity scene

 

We headed back for lunch in the Lido grill, my lack of will power resulted in a double cheese burger accident, they are very nice! After that Jane and Judith went and grabbed a sun lounger by the pool on deck 9 and I headed back to the room to read. The balcony was bathed in sunshine, so I took my book out there and coupled with Bluetooth earphones and Spotify I lazed in the sun for an hour or so before it was Commodore O'Clock. Jane had a breakfast Martini and I was thirsty so went for the mocktail, Red Apple Fizz.

 

I had my first "OK" meal at dinner tonight. I chose the chicken curry as a main, there was nothing wrong with it, it was OK, but since every meal I have had so far has been very good, I was a bit disappointed. I should have had the pasta! Even worse we had crumblegate, Stanley ordered the strawberry and apple crumble for dessert, which came out cold. So, he enquired whether it should be hour or cold, and it wasn't back to the kitchen to be heated up. When it came back he still wasn't happy, as the texture was all wrong, so he gave up on it. Well, it went all the way up to the Maître D, who was going to take it further.

 

I sat through my first full show, "La Danza" some faux ballet themed dancing, not my cup of tea but Jane liked it. Tomorrow is Santa Cruz de La Palma, with a nice day forecast to be in the mid 20s*

 

https://blog.rakkor.uk

 

 

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December 16th - Santa Cruz de La Palmas

 

We didn't have a good night, although Jane is over the worst of the flu she contracted pre-cruise, she now has a persistent cough and was up all night with it, as was I. We'll have a look in town for a pharmacy and see if they have some cough medicine.

 

We've arrived at La Palma this morning and it's looking very nice out there, this was the view from our balcony at 08:00

 

Breakfast in the Britannia was another fry up, which I'm probably not allowed having skipped the gym again this morning. After breakfast it was time to head out into Santa Cruz, the very pretty town that we docked in. We had not planned any organized trips for La Palma so we took a stroll down the front in the sun to St Catherine's castle before heading up to the maritime museum.*

 

There we found a pharmacy for some cough medicine, and headed back towards the centre on one of the shopping streets. About half way down there was a mariachi type band setting up in the lee of the cathedral. I sat on the church steps in the sun to listen to them for a while.*

 

When we had our fill of them we carried on our walk and came across three tenors who were singing to advertise their lunchtiemes concert. We did one more circuit of the shopping streets before heading back down to the front for a much deserved beer. Then we walked back to the ship for a pub lunch. The fish and chips were good, complimented by a nice bottle of hobgoblin. We headed down to the pursers desk to post some postcards, and get an account balance for the trip so far. We've managed to spend about half of our OBC so far, so we are doing quite well, Jane wants a massage in the spa at some time, so we will probably spend a little of our own money, but I don't expect it to be much.

 

The sun was on our balcony for the afternoon so we got a couple of towels from the sun deck and sat out catching some rays listening to the football on Radio 5. When Commodore O'Clock came around we decided to give it a miss, choosing instead to have a tea in the Lido.*

 

Dinner was back up to it's usual excellent standard tonight. I had soused mackerel for first starter followed by the duck terrine while the rest of the diners were having salad.I'm glad I did because this came with a very nice onion marmalade. This is significant because Jane is always disappointed by the chutney served with the cheese and biscuits, so she asked Adam, our waiter, to save some of this for her for later, she was really pleased with this. I had pork fillet for the main followed by lemon merengue pie, all very nice.

 

The show in the Royal Court Theatre was a 4 piece singing group, The Troubadours, Jane went along to this with Judith and Stanley while I snuck off to bed, I wanted an early night as I was determined to go the gym. I've been a bit out of control with my eating, I put the blame equally on my lack of self discipline and Cunard tempting me with a constant array of delicious food.

 

 

 

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There is a USB slot on the back right of the TV - ours was mounted on the wall, so it was a bit of a faff getting it in as there isn't a lot of room. My advice would be to get a longer stick rather than one of the mini ones I used a 32GB sandisk

 

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Many thanks Jimbo, hopefully we can get it to work next week!

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