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Live from the RCOA - on QM2

Whitemarsh

By Whitemarsh,
in Cunard Line

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Whitemarsh

Whitemarsh

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Where are the best places for sail away? Does anything special happen other than her horn? We will need to have dinner at Kings Court the first night as I want to see the 360 turn and we have friends who live on the Esplanade who with binoculars will be able to see us. And the early sitting of 6.30 will be missed.

 

Deck 8 is where the sail-away party is held. The band Vibz sets up near the pool and they do a pretty good job at the sail-away. You could also watch from the rear of deck 12 (or deck 11 if you're in the Grills).

 

You should book one of the speciality restaurants for Kings Court that night or how about going to Todd English?

 

Hi Jenno - we had breakfast in our room this morning as our tender leaves too early for us to enjoy breakfast in the dining room. They bring the tray in and place a white tablecloth over the table. The lady then went through all the items we'd ordered. I think you will like it.

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jenno10388

jenno10388

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Deck 8 is where the sail-away party is held. The band Vibz sets up near the pool and they do a pretty good job at the sail-away. You could also watch from the rear of deck 12 (or deck 11 if you're in the Grills).

 

You should book one of the speciality restaurants for Kings Court that night or how about going to Todd English?

 

Hi Jenno - we had breakfast in our room this morning as our tender leaves too early for us to enjoy breakfast in the dining room. They bring the tray in and place a white tablecloth over the table. The lady then went through all the items we'd ordered. I think you will like it.

 

Cheers for the info! :)

 

I'm reading your thread daily as of it was a newspaper! Haha very enjoyable!

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Pushka

Pushka

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Great webcam picture today - hope you're enjoying snorkelling - very jealous, wish I was there!!

Ooh, where is it? I can't find one that shows her.:confused:

 

Gah, of course, the Bridge webcam.:o. Weather looks wonderful. Calm seas.

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Westaussie

Westaussie

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Ooh, where is it? I can't find one that shows her.:confused:

 

Gah, of course, the Bridge webcam.:o. Weather looks wonderful. Calm seas.

Sorry - meant bridgecam - see what Peter is doing to us, getting up really early (was still dark here) to read the next episode!

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Pushka

Pushka

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Does anyone know if Cunard re stocks it's shops throughout the world voyage?

 

Cheers

I can't see how they would do that as presumably those kind of supplies come from the UK? I suspect there was a sudden rush and that things might settle down again until closer to the end of the RCOA in Sydney. Or Fremantle, or Adelaide. :o

 

Peter and others in the know, what kinds of things are available, other than the bears of course!:p.

 

It is hot in Adelaide today, and would have been a little uncomfortable if the QM had been here this Saturday.

 

Sorry - meant bridgecam - see what Peter is doing to us, getting up really early (was still dark here) to read the next episode!

 

I was surprised to see you on so early today too!

 

Yes, its Peter's fault and we shall have to have a talk with him about how he is making our wait so much more bearable, and how we are all living vicariously through his blog. :)

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bazzaw

bazzaw

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Does anyone know if Cunard re stocks it's shops throughout the world voyage?

 

Cheers

 

We were on QM2 between Sydney to Auckland as a short leg of her 2011 WC. They were VERY short of QM2 memorabilia then and the only things left were the less popular items. Don't know what it will be like this year - maybe they have learned ??

 

Barry

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Pushka

Pushka

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I would have thought that they would have logistics people that organise shipments of things all around the world for the ship to pick up along the way? Surely they must load on more food etc at certain ports... Especially fruit etc.

 

Steve

 

Food is completely different. They will onload food anywhere. But not Cunard branded materials.

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jenno10388

jenno10388

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Food is completely different. They will onload food anywhere. But not Cunard branded materials.

 

So we are confirming that on a world cruise realistically most Cunard merchandise can sell through by half way through and those boarding after that just need to get over it!?! Very strange.. Would have thought it simple for them to ship stock out for pick up at certain ports based on pre forecasted sales targets and statistics based on previous world cruises. Can you tell I work in retail management!? Haha hence why I find it hard to believe for them to just allow stock levels of their own merchandise (a gimmick that will always sell well) to be near nothing before the world voyage is even over, I would assume there would be consequences for the person incharge of retail if this was to happen. Alot of you may just think 'it's just silly merchandise what's the big deal' but in the retail world this = lost $$$$$$ which especially on Cunard is easy dollars earned because at the end of the day, who doesn't want at least some form of Cunard merchandise when sailing onboard. Very easy profit for the company. Im certain there would be more stock onboard or more will be loaded on.

 

Steve

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Westaussie

Westaussie

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So we are confirming that on a world cruise realistically most Cunard merchandise can sell through by half way through and those boarding after that just need to get over it!?!

Steve

Yes .... I too collect bears from many countries. I have a QV bear and was very disappointed last year when I found that they had sold out of QE bears!! I think there were alot of other items they'd run out of and at that stage (Sydney) were only half way through the world cruise.

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Pushka

Pushka

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. Very easy profit for the company. Im certain there would be more stock onboard or more will be loaded on.

 

Steve

I'm just guessing as to what happens, or doesn't happen. I don't agree that it is easy profit though as the cost of shipping and storage of these items most likely exceeds the price structure that customers would accept. And given the QM comes to Australia not that often, they can hardly pay for storage for when she swings by again.

 

I am sure you will be fine as you board in Fremantle before most people depart in Sydney. Perhaps those missing out will be the ones embarking from Sydney to say, Hong Kong etc.

 

So, are we all here waiting for an update? :). Poor Peter, we will all owe him a round when we get onboard!

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capnpugwash

capnpugwash

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Food is completely different. They will onload food anywhere. But not Cunard branded materials.

 

No they won't. Cunard are quite particular with the sources of their produce and as far as I know they reprovision in Sydney, New York, Southampton and Singapore only.

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jenno10388

jenno10388

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Food is completely different. They will onload food anywhere. But not Cunard branded materials.

 

You made this statement sound fact... Not just gues work so I got abit confused. In regards to easy profit... Yes it is. Transportation and storage is nothing (it would not be stored all year around.. If you have a good logistics team, products could arrive at ports as late as the night before the ship arrives) oh the joys of retail.. Believe you me, retailers are the most money hungry evil companies out there. I stand by this statement. My company woolies, would have you punished for (what you would assume) something very minor, eg not having enough 1.25lt coke to last the weeks sale.. Every cent adds up, and they take it extremely seriously! Using reports, figures, past results and forecasted results on over 80 000 different items as guides to how well you perform your job. This running out business is not acceptable in the retail industry. Yes it happens, but I you have to believe that the big bosses are far more angry than the customers (no matter how much the customer assumes we don't care for them). Sheesh who's running retail for Cunard? They need to speak to the woolies CEO or I'll take their job if they can't manage! :p

 

Perhaps whitemarsh can enquire when he's next in the shops re how often do they restock... Would be interesting to know their idea on the whole thing.

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Pushka

Pushka

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I can't see how they would do that as presumably those kind of supplies come from the UK?

 

Steve, if you read what I said on the post you will see I didn't make any claim that what I said was fact, as per above. Question marks usually denote an opinion or question and not a stated fact. Others who have been on Cunard before did in fact confirm that my thoughts were correct.

Capnpugwash, yes I agree that Cunard would be specific as to where they sourced their food, but was using this as an example to say that sourcing food whilst on route is completely different from loading up on their branded items. A shame they didn't try produce from South Australia though! But they certainly overload on SA wines on their wine list so they do get something from us!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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missfrankiecat

missfrankiecat

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No they won't. Cunard are quite particular with the sources of their produce and as far as I know they reprovision in Sydney, New York, Southampton and Singapore only.

 

I'm not sure that is correct as far as food goes, Cap'n. I have seen them load perishables on in other ports - specifically Cape Town and, while I didn't see it come on, we were certainly consuming Japanese diary products on the WC 2010 long after Japan.

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