Back again

Monday 28^th April 2014

I know I often book cruises at the last minute, but this was my closest call. On Wednesday night I saw that the Canary Islands cruise, leaving the next Monday, had dropped its price by about £500. I was interested. On Thursday morning I phoned and cheekily asked if they were prepared to let me have it without paying single supplement. Two hours later I received a phone call to say that if I were prepared to upgrade to a balcony room, I could have it at a reduced price. I didn’t have to think very hard about that one! The price for my balcony was less than that of the Oceanview room I had been prepared to take. It’s not the best bargain I’ve had, but it’s the second-best.

Getting ready was a bit of a rush, but I managed to fit in a day at Swindon, buying a new evening dress. Priorities are important!

Come Monday morning I left about 11am, dragged my two suitcases along the road to the local train station, caught the local train back into Oxford (to avoid having to carry my suitcases up over the footbridge at my local station) and then a train to Southampton. A taxi took me to the port, avoiding all the roadworks. Check-in was fast but the line for security was the longest I’ve ever seen it. I knew I could not stand in a queue for that long and spoke to a member of staff who sat me down with the disabled passengers and then allowed me to walk through behind a wheelchair. I was onboard by about 2pm.

One of my suitcases beat me to my room! The other came later, while I was having lunch.

I had been warned that with my cheap booking I would be assigned a room and would not be able to change it. I would also be assigned to a dinner seating without having a preference. Furthermore, in ports I would have to pay for any shuttle buses. That seemed fair enough. I found that I had been given an upgraded room, though I would probably have preferred the obstructed view balcony I booked (which was in the centre of the ship, and only obstructed if you stood on the balcony and looked straight down onto the roof of the lifeboat, instead of onto the sea). My room is right at the front on deck 4 (second from the front of the ship) and has a metal balcony. No problem but it means I will have to walk a bit further and don’t have as much view when sitting down. As for dinner, I was put on second seating, which does not suit me. I have put in a request to be changed to first seating, but it won’t worry me to eat at my chosen time in the buffet restaurant if that doesn’t come through. Meals are not my first priority on a ship, as long as I can have my afternoon tea of cakes and scones. (Afterword: I was changed to first seating, and was seated with three dancers and three non-dancers. That worked well as I could sit with the single lady in the ballroom at night.)

The safety drill was held in the Royal Theatre, just underneath my room. Later that afternoon I was worried by strange noises in my room. I eventually worked out that it was the singers and dancers practising straight underneath me for that evening’s show. I’m glad I go to bed late each night so that I won’t be disturbed by them.

Meeting Commodore Rynd

Tuesday 29^th April

My bed was comfortable and I was weary from dancing the night away, as well as sleepy from a few short nights before leaving home. I kept waking up and deciding I was not ready to even look at the time. I finally checked my iPod at 11am and decided I’d better get up if I wanted to make the breakfast buffet before the banana bread was cleared away.

I’ve found quite a few people aboard from previous cruises. It’s always good to see a familiar friendly face, though there’s always the trepidation in case one of the nasty few might have been tempted by a cheap offer. Luckily not, this time.

On the internet there’s a site called Cruise Critic where people can ask questions and post comments about all things cruising. People also meet up on the first sea day of a cruise, which is a chance to get to know new people. Sometimes I go but sometimes I don’t bother. I wanted to this time, in order to put a face to a name I had seen quite often on the site threads. I was glad I went as the organiser, Jim (or CapnPugwash as he calls himself on the internet) had arranged for the fleet commodore to come and visit us. Jim had won the quiz that morning along with the commodore’s wife, and had invited her to come and meet us. It seems she sent her husband instead!

Commodore Rynd is a lovely man. He spent about 15 minutes with us. He told us of the special events of this voyage. When we reach Lisbon, all three Cunard ships will be berthed alongside each other. We will sail out together in the famous line. Later a helicopter will take photos of the three ships in their trademark position, with Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth level with each other while Queen Mary 2 sails between and slightly ahead. Balloons will be released for the photos. Again, we will sail into Southampton together at the end of the voyage. That night there will be fireworks as the ships leave Southampton. As we sail from Lisbon to Southampton, we will be within sight of each other. Ships have to keep a certain distance from each other or there is the danger of the passing ship sucking another ship towards it. It happened when the Titanic left Southampton. The Titanic’s passing caused a moored ship to break its ropes. (Afterword: We only saw one lone balloon at sailaway. I heard later that Cunard had cancelled the balloons for environmental reasons. I think that's a good idea as balloons could give bad indigestion to the fish!)

I’m sorry I didn’t have my camera with me to take a photo of Commodore Rynd, but here are some of the Commodore Club where we met up.

Technologically challenged

Wednesday 30^th April

This was the night of the Black and White Ball. The ballroom was packed. I went down 45 minutes early to get a seat front and centre, and there were already people sitting along the sides waiting for the staff to set up the room after the cocktail parties! I managed to get a good seat.

It is lovely to see how people dress up for this. The Dance Hosts wore white dinner jackets. The other men were in a mixture of black and white dinner jackets. The ladies all wore black and white, either cocktail dresses or long dresses. I’d started the evening in a coloured long dress with a black sequinned jacket, but after the dance session I changed to a black sequinned cocktail dress. I was glad I’d changed. I would have looked out of place.

Dan and Olena, the professional dance couple, put on a performance for these special balls. They had asked me to video them so they could see if they were making any mistakes. This is why I’d made sure to get a seat in a prime position. Time passed and Dan didn’t turn up with their camera. At 10pm I dashed out to get my own, just in case there was a problem, and returned just before Dan turned up with his iPad. IPad? Oops, I’ve only used one of those occasionally. Still, it should have been okay once Dan set it up and showed me. No, I must have touched something wrong and ended up with it taking single shots, and then taking selfies! The writing down the side was in Russian or Ukrainian, so I could not even tell what to press to set it right. In the end I grabbed my own camera and used that.

I had a great evening and got in quite a bit of dancing, despite the number of people there. I think one of the passengers has decided I am his quickstep partner. That suits me. He is tall and moves beautifully around the floor. He must have fantastic spatial awareness as he seems to dance into every available space along the floor. When things are too tight we jive on the spot. I’m getting better and better at following him. Of course, it gets very hot and tiring when I do a few quicksteps in a short space of time with a jive with a Dance Host inbetween!

Sleeping the cruise away until the Masquerade Ball

Thursday 1^st May

I know it was May morning and I should have been up performing arcane rituals like bathing my face in dew, but I was too tired. I set my alarm for 11.15 and I think I would have slept well past that if I hadn’t! It doesn’t help that I’m woken each morning by what sounds like hammering nearby, and then disturbed by other noises in the corridor.

I arrived at the Salsa dance lesson a bit late. That doesn’t worry me as I usually just watch, but for the first time ever there were too many men and I was needed to dance. The Dance Hosts were at another engagement as well. I don’t know where all the single ladies had got to.

I relaxed in the afternoon, reading on the balcony, but by 3pm I had to give in and go back to bed! I slept well for an hour and then dozed for another hour and a half before finally getting up. There was no way I wanted to rush for dinner, so I just took things slowly as I woke up, catching up on my diary and blog. Sometimes you have to follow your body’s needs, not the programme.

Of course I roused in time to go to the Masquerade Ball and to wear my new dress and the mask that I purchased in Venice last year, so delicate and different from everyone else's. Once again I videoed Dan and Olena, this time intentionally on my camera. I think they might have found that my camera gives a better resolution than an iPad.

Changing rooms

Friday 2nd May

I must have been woken around 6.30 as we started reversing into port. There was a terribly loud engine sound that continued until about 8.30. During those 2 hours I heard short bursts of thrusters, and the Captain’s announcement at 8. The noise was continuous and at a pitch that really upset me and was setting off a headache.

I was due to get up at 9.30 in order to go out with Sarah and Andy at 11. By then I was in tears of weariness and wept as I tried to talk to Sarah over breakfast. This is always a bad sign of exhaustion. I ended up going to reception to explain the situation to them. The lovely receptionist, Joy, said the ship was full but she would see what she could do. Meanwhile, I should go out and enjoy Madeira.

On our return from exploring Madeira I returned to Reception to see what was happening about my room. Joy was not there but the man on duty spoke to me. At first he said that the front of the ship is noisy when we reverse in; his room is at the front so he is aware of it. Then he spoke to his manager and told me they had found me a room. I needed to pack up everything except the hanging clothes; housekeeping would do that. He came down to my old room with the new key just as the motors were starting up again to leave the port. ‘It IS noisy!’ he exclaimed. It must have been worse than he had expected.

It did not take me long to throw everything into my suitcases and then unpack them in the next room (partially obscured balcony on deck 5 – 5064) but it took housekeeping quite some time to bring my clothes. I ate dinner in the Lido in my day wear, but managed to get my hanging clothes in time for the Sequence Dancing in the ballroom. 

The new room was technically a downgrade from the one I had been in but I considered it to be better. It was in a better location and had a glass balcony instead of a metal one. From the ship's point of view, the new room is classed as partially obstructed because you can see the top of the lifeboats when you stand on the balcony. Also, the balcony is smaller. I was not worried. I had said that I would be happy with an Oceanview room - anything to get away from the noise.