The news from Queen Victoria

[fantasy51]

From reading the dancing threads, I have a feeling that may vary from cruise to cruise. ;)

 

Very true! I guess I'm speaking about the quality of our own Hosts, and the group I choose to mix with, who only complain about the complainers and the complaints. ;)

[brigittetom]

Well, you obviously chose the right companions. :).

 

I'm really enjoying your reporting.....it's nice of you to take the time. ENJOY.

[James.34]

Hi James. I am still missing Paul Ritchie! The new vocalist, Claudine, is a lovely woman and very friendly. She has a deep voice so it's hilarious when she asks us to sing along with her. I don't know if I should be singing down in my boots or try it falsetto in a higher octave. The band is good but they don't keep to strict tempo. Because Paul is a dancer, he knows what is needed and he sings accordingly. This band is more of an entertainment than an aid to dancing. I'm sure that the many people sitting around enjoy this. The dancers adapt. Enjoyment is in your attitude.

 

Thanks for the information. I will miss Paul too. He was excellent. You are absolutely right...about enjoying it. We will certainly still enjoy. I hope you haven't hurt yourself on your fall. That will be us in a couple of weeks no doubt. Keep dancing. :)

[Whitemarsh]

Thank you for your reports Fantasy. They are very amusing and enjoyable :)

 

I agree 100% with your statement "Enjoyment is in your attitude".

 

By the way, how are the queues at the Purser's desk? Have they managed to remove all the unwanted auto-tips yet or are there still passengers desirous of removing them? ;)

[fantasy51]

By the way, how are the queues at the Purser's desk? Have they managed to remove all the unwanted auto-tips yet or are there still passengers desirous of removing them? ;)

 

I don't pass the Purser's desk very often, but there are very few people there so all the auto-tips must have been removed.

 

I was encouraged by some dancers to go there today to see if there's anyone on board who can put a new heel tip on my right dancing shoe. To my surprise I was told that the Carpenter could probably do it for me, but I would need to hand the shoes over and might not get them back for 2 days as he has a lot of jobs. I will wait until Monday and look for a shoe repair place in Odessa. I can't do without my shoes and my dancing.

 

The next update will include my visit to the Laundry (almost a War!) and a fencing lesson.

[seasidegal]

I don't pass the Purser's desk very often, but there are very few people there so all the auto-tips must have been removed.

 

I was encouraged by some dancers to go there today to see if there's anyone on board who can put a new heel tip on my right dancing shoe. To my surprise I was told that the Carpenter could probably do it for me, but I would need to hand the shoes over and might not get them back for 2 days as he has a lot of jobs. I will wait until Monday and look for a shoe repair place in Odessa. I can't do without my shoes and my dancing.

 

The next update will include my visit to the Laundry (almost a War!) and a fencing lesson.

 

Diane:

 

So sorry about your shoe. :( Amazing what services they can offer on board...a Carpenter who fixes shoes. So many reasons to :) while on board.

 

:D Yippee .....another Laundry Story!!! Can't wait!;)

 

You deserve an A+ for your reporting skills. :)

 

Thank you,

seasidegal

[fantasy51]

Diane:

 

So sorry about your shoe. :( Amazing what services they can offer on board...a Carpenter who fixes shoes. So many reasons to :) while on board.

 

 

Thank you for your kind words Seaside Gal.

 

As for the shoe, I have obviously been dancing poorly as the left heel is almost as good as new but the right heel is worn right down. Last night in the waltz my partner kept telling me 'heel', 'heel' - and it was always the left foot. Meanwhile, I hope my worn right heel is not scratching the ballroom floor. I figure it can't do as much damage as the piano does when they pull it onto the floor.

[fantasy51]

Diane is back, reporting live from Queen Victoria on her voyage to Turkey and the Black Sea.

 

On Saturday a Laundry War was narrowly averted, due to the mild temper of one passenger who did not respond when verbally attacked. It all started well. I took my laundry to Deck 5 laundromat to find 4 smiling, happy people. I stood in a queue for the washing machine. In walked Woman in Red to find a queue there so she left. Five minutes later she kindly returned to inform me that there were empty machines on Deck 6. I went there. Not being proficient with the machines, I was slightly slow, so Abrupt Lady kindly turned the dial for me to the best setting. I went off to breakfast and returned later to find the machine still going. Woman in Red arrived about the same time. Abrupt Lady turned to her and said, ‘You don’t remember me, do you?’ She then went on to recount a supposed slight that had occurred on the first day, spoken by the husband of the Woman in Red. (I later met the husband and he had a different account of the incident and his comment. I suspect it was a case of mishearing and of interpreting it in the light of other comments the Aprupt Lady has received – she has a debilitating illness.) The Woman in Red was superb and quietly said that her husband would not have used such language and left it at that. Apart from that, I had a lovely time! We chatted and laughed and helped each other. I am now an expert on how to use the machines, due to the advice of everyone else, even though I don’t think I actually got to turn a single knob myself.

 

Your Reporter’s dancing paid off when she attended her first fencing lesson. Fencing lessons are usually at 9am (is there such a time on the ship? I haven’t found it yet) but we had sailed from Istanbul at midday so the lesson was scheduled for 2pm. I was told my footwork was excellent. What a pity that I didn’t stop while I was ahead. I had to actually USE the foil in the second bout and things deteriorated fast. I obviously cannot multitask.

 

In Odessa your Reporter managed to get her dancing shoes fixed, despite only meeting one couple who spoke English. This was accomplished with the aid of someone in a shoe shop writing a few words of Ukrainian on a slip of paper (which must have read 'Shoe repair shop' and not 'Direct this b...y tourist on a wild goose chase' as she feared), lots of gestures, a diagram of a ship and a clock to say when I was leaving, etc. Mission accomplished. Lots of fun.

[fantasy51]

Duplicate post - slow wifi doing funny things.

[fantasy51]

Duplicate post

[Dancer Bob]

I just timed myself ironing a bunch of shirts, averaged 2 1/2 minutes each. So lack of an engineering degree isn't the problem.

Otherwise, we seem to be in total agreement. You may remember the movie "Out To Sea", with the Cruise Director hiding behind the potted palm? As you have observed, there are many ladies armed with pen and paper, if not speadsheets, keeping track.

The last time I was on QV, I had a room next to the laundry. I was so looking forward to endless entertainment, it wasn't nearly as exciting as recounted here.

[fantasy51]

Diane is back, reporting on her time aboard the Queen Victoria for the cruise to the Black Sea and Turkey.

 

Free wifi has been very patchy in various ports, with McDonalds cutting out completely and the port of Piraeus having slow to non-existent wifi, and the rain precluding the hunt for a better connection in the city. Even the ship's satellite connection would not allow me to access any pages on Cruise Critic.

 

Heard on the ship from a first-time cruiser: I booked a cabin on Port side so that when we dock I would always be on the side of the port and have a good view.

 

The breaking news is that your reporter took part in Strictly Cunard but was outmanoeuvred by the dancer who treated it as a political contest rather than a dancing competition. I took part as a thank you to a fantastic Dance Host, when he asked if I would like to compete with him. (The winner asked the same Dance Host; the other four contestants were couples already.) I was very happy with my dancing and exceeded my partner's expectations, so all was good. We danced a very fast and happy Viennese Waltz.

[fantasy51]

If you want to see the non-winning entry in Strictly Cunard, here it is.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yjrbaoyaq9wx6b3/Viennese%20Waltz.mp4

[Whitemarsh]

If you want to see the non-winning entry in Strictly Cunard, here it is.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yjrbaoyaq9wx6b3/Viennese%20Waltz.mp4

 

Bravo Diane! I thought you were very good; I can't see why you wouldn't have won.

 

Who were the judges?

[fantasy51]

Bravo Diane! I thought you were very good; I can't see why you wouldn't have won.

 

Who were the judges?

 

Thank you Whitemarsh!

 

First, I accidentally deleted the Viennese Waltz from dropbox and now that I've returned it, there's a new link. Sorry about that. It is now

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7121750/Viennese%20Waltz.mp4

 

The first judge was a comedian, the second was Sally Sagoe (Entertainment Director - who knows stage dancing but not ballroom) and the third was a singer. This means that they struggle to mark the first few people because they don't know what the standard should be. They also don't know how to differentiate one discipline from another - and we had Slow Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz, Jive, Argentine Tango, another Slow Foxtrot, and Cha Cha. The first one scored 8 from each of them. I scored 9, 9 and 8. The marks went steadily up as the judges knew they had to reach some 10s eventually, so that the second-last scored all 10s and the last couple scored the same as I did. This means that I was joint second last. However, in the audience was a woman who is a professional dance adjudicator and she told me afterwards that she scored all of us professionally and I came joint top with the lady who got all 10s. That feels good.

 

This contest was marred for me by the fact that the winner had fixed things, oh so politely and reasonably and graciously, so that she was among the last, knowing that they receive higher marks. She had arranged for her two rivals to be on first - a lady doing the same dance as her and me, with the same Host as partner. (She also said something to the first lady, that I believe was designed to make her feel unsure of herself and put her off her dancing. Nasty.)

 

The judges only give comments and marks as a guide. The audience then votes. Voting slips are put out at each table. While the professionals dance, these are supposedly counted. Fiasco! The compere announced that the results were almost in and two people realised that slips had not been collected from the tables all around them. They rushed up with the slips but they could see that these were not included. They saw the previously sorted slips being taken out, for counting as they thought, but then a minute later the winner was announced with no communication between the counter and the announcer. They were both furious. One kept telling me: 'The fix was in!'

 

I have no idea if I would have won in a fair fight. As soon as Martin suggested we do the Viennese Waltz I knew that it could decrease our chances because non-dancers do not know how technical and demanding it is. A slow foxtrot looks more classy. However, I knew that I was less likely to make mistakes in that than in the tango or Waltz. I accepted his choice and I don't regret it because I have this lovely video to watch.

 

If you're interested in seeing a tango, on a day of relatively high seas (you might notice the extra steps we put in for balance as the floor disappeared under us), I am currently uploading it to dropbox and can paste it when it completes. We did not dance many tangos, so would have had to put in a lot of practice to bring this up to standard. It's about 80% Martin and only 20% Diane at the moment. ;)

[Dancer Bob]

I agree, quite well done. I normally use the word "farce" for Strictly Cunard but if you feel "fiasco" is better I won't argue.

May I use your video as an example if anyone asks me what the QV/QE dance floors are like?

[fantasy51]

I agree, quite well done. I normally use the word "farce" for Strictly Cunard but if you feel "fiasco" is better I won't argue.

May I use your video as an example if anyone asks me what the QV/QE dance floors are like?

 

Yes Bob, you are welcome to do that.

 

I have just heard back from one of the Dance Hosts who was on a cruise with me in April. I am sitting chuckling. It's definitely a farce. His reaction is that of course it's fixed. On his last cruise some loyal customers of Cunard danced last. The lady fell on her butt during the dance and they still got perfect 10s and won it. He didn't mind as they were a lovely couple.

 

I wonder how many of the winners know that it's fixed? :eek:

[fantasy51]

Here's the tango I mentioned, if you are interested.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nhqwnv80mr0fz2n/Tango%20with%20Martin.MTS

[Dancer Bob]

Shows off the dance floor very well. The tempo also seems quite good (the playback was quite jerky with this connection). Did you feel the band leader was mostly playing the music you wanted to hear? Quickstep is not one of my favourites and I'm happy to defer to tangoll in VW; I prefer a mix including both ballroom and latin.

[fantasy51]

Some nights we felt that there were too many cha chas. We generally only had one Viennese Waltz per night, though occasionally we had one recorded and one live. (At times I felt that the band really prolonged the music for the VW to see how many couples they could drive off the floor. We would often start with three and end with just one couple. Martin and I would not let the band beat us!) There were not many quicksteps. In general I felt I got in a good mix of dances, though sambas were rare. (I don't samba so I didn't mind.) Of course, as I relied on the Dance Hosts I sat out more dances than I participated in, and sometimes I didn't notice what was happening on the dance floor because we were talking. Sorry about that.

 

I'm sorry about the jerky connection. I wonder why that happened. The original is okay. I could try posting it to dropbox again, but then I would have to post a new link. Tell me what you'd prefer.

[fantasy51]

The woman passenger who caused the electrical problem aboard Queen Victoria, I wonder if she is as stupid as the woman in this youtube video who caused an electrical problem

:D Regards,Jerry

 

Hi Jerry. I'm rereading this thread now that I'm at home. I enjoyed the youtube video.

 

Just to reassure you, the piece of electrical equipment was an everyday item, recommended by many on this forum as needed on a cruise. I've used it before with no problems. My suspicion is that it became damaged in my suitcase, either on my way home from a previous cruise or on my way to this one. Perhaps things were handled a little too roughly. It seems to have developed a rattle inside it.

 

Anyway, here's a photo of it to reassure you that it was legal equipment (or would have been if not damaged).

[imacruizer]

Diane,

Thanks so much for posting from the Queen Victoria. I'm so glad you had a good voyage. I really enjoyed your reports from the ship. Your dancing videos are lovely!! Thanks for sharing them. I wish you many more wonderful voyages with lots of dancing.

[Salacia]

Yes Bob, you are welcome to do that.

 

I have just heard back from one of the Dance Hosts who was on a cruise with me in April. I am sitting chuckling. It's definitely a farce. His reaction is that of course it's fixed. On his last cruise some loyal customers of Cunard danced last. The lady fell on her butt during the dance and they still got perfect 10s and won it. He didn't mind as they were a lovely couple.

 

I wonder how many of the winners know that it's fixed? :eek:

 

How sad for those who had the impression that they won fair and square.

 

fantasy51, now that you feel it is a farce, you must also be disappointed. Will you not participate again?

[fantasy51]

fantasy51, now that you feel it is a farce, you must also be disappointed. Will you not participate again?

 

Salacia, I made many friends around the ship because of my dancing. People would speak to me in lifts and corridors, saying they had seen me in the ballroom and they commented on my dancing with Martin. They were hurt and upset for me that I didn't win. I had so many people coming up to me on the last night saying 'I voted for you' and telling me what they'd seen with the votes, etc. The kindness and concern was amazing. I'd be laughing and smiling with friends and along would come another distraught person, hurt on my behalf. It all helped strengthen me! I couldn't put other people through that again. I would have to broadcast it far and wide that I was dancing for the fun of it but they were not to build up their hopes for me.

 

I am also aware that I am unlikely to ever again have such a superb partner. Until my cruise last November, I hadn't danced for about 25 years. On my last 2 cruises I had to learn what social dancing was all about, as I had only ever danced routines, with a teacher, to get all my medals. Then along came Martin who taught me something new in every dance and worked hard to improve my dancing. I would say he is the best teacher I have ever had - and to get that for free night after night on the ballroom floor ... I don't think I'll ever have such an experience again. I only went in Strictly as a thank you to him, because he thought it would be fun.

[ToadOfToadHall]

Interesting comments about a "fix".

 

I few years ago on the QV there was a Children In Need auction and that appeared to be fixed. For example, I bid the highest on one lot and yet someone else won it. There were several people afterwards who commented that they appeared to know who was going to win certain lots before the auction started.

 

I can't be certain it was fixed, it may just have been staggering incompetence of course.