About to Become Live on QV

[david63]

We flew out from the UK yesterday arriving in a pleasntly warm, boarding on hot, Barcelona. However today we are sheltering in our hotel room as it is pouring down with rain outside and I can vouch for the fact that Spanish rain is equally as wet as UK rain. Fortunatly we are staying the very comfortable Monument Hotel which is sitated in the area of Barcelona where if you have to ask the price in the shops then you cannot afford to buy anything!

 

We will, all being well, be joining QV tomorrow when the real adventure starts for 21 days - assuming that @carlmm has left the ship in one piece!

 

One interesting piece of fact is that the first Cunard cruise that I was on (Cunard Princess) was exactly 30 years ago this month and also departed from Barcelona - although that was from the old cruise terminal.

[King Amo]

Have a great time David

[rog747]

Have a super time - 21 days plodding around the Med is my idea of bliss...QV does some nice port calls....

Yes Sept heavy rains in the Barcelona/Pyrenees area are well known for bubbling up, and the big Thunderstorms can be lethal. 

I was on QV in Sept 2010 from SOU to Venice and a thunderstorm followed us the whole way.....as soon as we left Cannes then Livorno Rome Messina and Corfu!

Edited September 8 by rog747

[carlmm]

Thank you for the weather update, @david63. Thus I better go out on deck and enjoy the sun in Valencia. Yet there is packing ...

 

Have a great cruise @david63!

 

The Queen Victoria will await you.

[david63]

5 hours ago, carlmm said:

Thank you for the weather update

The forecast for tomorrow in Barcelona id dry with plenty of sun later in the day - morning temperatures are just below 20C

[david63]

Now securly enconced in our QG suite.

 

The journey from the hotel was seamless even though the pre booked taxi arrived about 30 minutes early. We had a 12:15 arrival time and were at the terminal at around 11:45 - no problems with being early. Everything was going well, straight through security, until there was a "jobsworth" girl controlling the priority queue and would not allow anyone in unless they were in the appropriate loyalty tier irrespective of being in QG. Sme firm words were said to a more senior member of the staff and even then she was arguing about who should be allowed in the priority queue despite having a "priority card". Anyway all's well that ends well and we were on board in our suite for 12:15. Lunch at 13:00 all unpacked and away by 15:00.

 

So far all is going well - even the weather.

[exlondoner]

15 minutes ago, david63 said:

Now securly enconced in our QG suite.

 

The journey from the hotel was seamless even though the pre booked taxi arrived about 30 minutes early. We had a 12:15 arrival time and were at the terminal at around 11:45 - no problems with being early. Everything was going well, straight through security, until there was a "jobsworth" girl controlling the priority queue and would not allow anyone in unless they were in the appropriate loyalty tier irrespective of being in QG. Sme firm words were said to a more senior member of the staff and even then she was arguing about who should be allowed in the priority queue despite having a "priority card". Anyway all's well that ends well and we were on board in our suite for 12:15. Lunch at 13:00 all unpacked and away by 15:00.

 

So far all is going well - even the weather.

If you wish to be a jobsworth, at the very least you should know the particulars of the job.

[david63]

I forgot to add that tomorrow night there will be a concert with Julian Lloyd Webber - unfortunately he is not my cup of tea,

[Victoria2]

7 minutes ago, david63 said:

I forgot to add that tomorrow night there will be a concert with Julian Lloyd Webber - unfortunately he is not my cup of tea,

Oh wow, he's certainly mine!

[elmsliebev]

1 hour ago, david63 said:

I forgot to add that tomorrow night there will be a concert with Julian Lloyd Webber - unfortunately he is not my cup of tea,

saw him on QV a few years ago. He didn't play due to problems with his hands, but his wife and a young Chinese musician did and were wonderful. We got a photo later with them all, very charming chap Mr LW. 

[Winifred 22]

9 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

Oh wow, he's certainly mine!

Me too what a treat. 

[DaisyUK]

I remember a cello performance from many years ago which I thought was simply beautiful, but I thought he had some sort of physical problem which prevented him from playing anymore, so it's good to hear that he is still able to perform.

[Victoria2]

2 hours ago, DaisyUK said:

I remember a cello performance from many years ago which I thought was simply beautiful, but I thought he had some sort of physical problem which prevented him from playing anymore, so it's good to hear that he is still able to perform.

He has retired from public performances so it will be interesting to see if he actually plays. It will be lucky passengers if he does give a recital.

[david63]

Jobsworthgate has been resolved = a quick word with the concierge and the matter has been escalated up the ladder and the report back was that some training will be redone. The "excuse" was that there were a lot of new staff on duty on Monday - in my day new staff were always given some traing before starting the job, but obviously times have changed.

 

Well that is the first full day completed on what started as a somewhat windy day with "lumpy" seas - fortunately the weather eased off as the day progressed which made moving around the ship on our first formal night considerably easier. Not sure if there is a problem with dress code adherence but all cabins were delivered a "Dress Code Reminder" this morning - not that it made much, if any, difference to some! One stand out non-conformist was a man in the Grills Lounge this evening wearing a light sports coat, red trousers (OK it was Red and Gold night) and a black shirt without a tie!

 

We also on this cruise have several passengers with impaired eyesight - well I guess that must be the problem as they get into the lift irrespective of which direction it is going and then wonder why it is going up when they want to go down!

Edited September 10 by david63

[Victoria2]

In reply to 'impaired eyesight', if lobby B lifts are the elevators in point, we too are of the 'impaired eyesight' brigade and have been for years now even before the wheelchair.

Lifts with space can be rare animals at certain times of the day and if getting to deck 10/11 means going down to go up, then we do it.

 

Bad luck if it annoys but we will continue to do it whatever the ship and I know we won't be alone doing so.

 

Edited September 11 by Victoria2
edited

[exlondoner]

2 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

In reply to 'impaired eyesight', if lobby B lifts are the elevators in point, we too are of the 'impaired eyesight' brigade and have been for years now even before the wheelchair.

Lifts with space can be rare animals at certain times of the day and if getting to deck 10/11 means going down to go up, then we do it.

 

Bad luck if it annoys but we will continue to do it whatever the ship and I know we won't be alone doing so.

 

Surely doing that just exacerbates the crowding problem?

[tacticalbanjo]

4 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

In reply to 'impaired eyesight', if lobby B lifts are the elevators in point, we too are of the 'impaired eyesight' brigade and have been for years now even before the wheelchair.

Lifts with space can be rare animals at certain times of the day and if getting to deck 10/11 means going down to go up, then we do it.

 

Bad luck if it annoys but we will continue to do it whatever the ship and I know we won't be alone doing so.

I too will happily ride the elevator in the opposite direction to the one I want to go if I'm struggling to get in one particularly if I have pushchair with me or we are going too many flights for the toddler to manage. My husband will tend to walk and meet me at our destination. 

[Victoria2]

2 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Surely doing that just exacerbates the crowding problem?

Possibly but there are times in life when selfish needs override issues for others. Not all passengers are as considerate as you too in exiting a lift to give others the space needed. 🙂

[david63]

5 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

In reply to 'impaired eyesight', if lobby B lifts are the elevators in point, we too are of the 'impaired eyesight' brigade and have been for years now even before the wheelchair.

Lifts with space can be rare animals at certain times of the day and if getting to deck 10/11 means going down to go up, then we do it.

 

Bad luck if it annoys but we will continue to do it whatever the ship and I know we won't be alone doing so.

 

No not just the lobby B lifts - in fact not seen that happening with those lifts.

 

I can appreciate the problems with wheelchairs, buggies etc and I am also well aware of hidden disabilities but the ones I have seen get in the lift, any lift, and as soon as it starts moving ask the question "Is this lift going up? We wanted to go down". I can also see the problems with the lobby B lifts when trying to go up to the Grills area.

[david63]

Something of a disaster day today.

 

Firstly we were supposed to be in Alghero today but as it was a tender port and the weather was changing the Captain said that although there were no problems with getting passengers ashore he was not confident that he would be able to get them all back onboard so we set sail for our next port, Ajaccio, where we should be alongside at around 22:00 this evening.

 

The second disaster was with having nothing much to do today we took advantage of the generous offer that Cunard was making and booked QA for next year!

[david63]

Having overcome "jobsworthgate" we now have "watergate" (no not that one!).

 

Last evening when getting ready for dinner we noticed a very wet patch of carpet near the bathroom door - no idea where it had come from as we had not used the shower since the morning and there was no sign of any water in the bathroom, and most definitely had not spilt anything!

 

A little later when walking in front of the balcony door there was another patch of wet carpet. This I could possibly understand if it had been raining or there had been some balcony cleaning taking place - but neither of these occurred.

 

The problems were reported and today has seen several maintenance men in and out and a blow drier drying the carpet (and my shoes that were soaked whilst out in the rain!).

 

I am not totally convinced that the source of the problem has been found but we are watergate no more

[db51]

Where are you in the ship? We are travelling qg in a couple of weeks and don’t want a wet cabin!

[david63]

22 minutes ago, db51 said:

Where are you in the ship? We are travelling qg in a couple of weeks and don’t want a wet cabin!

Aft deck 8

[db51]

We are aft deck 4! 

[david63]

14 hours ago, db51 said:

We are aft deck 4! 

No chance then as water flows downhill😀