Day 6 at Sea

The weather is beginning to warm up although today there are a few clouds in the sky and a strong breeze.  White caps to be seen but they aren’t having any effect on the ship.  Maybe because this ship is new there is no feeling of moving, it’s more like gliding through the water.  Today the sea is a very deep blue sapphire colour.

There was a reported sighting of whales yesterday, we didn’t see them and nor did most people so we’re guessing someone is catching up on the old Moby Dick story and having nightmares....lol

Our first formal evening was last night.  The Captains Welcome party for those of us who boarded in Auckland was most enjoyable.  Plenty of champagne, red and white wine or orange juice was flowing. Also some delicious little nibbles were served. A nice touch was for everyone to be introduced individually to Captain Christopher Wells and have their photograph taken with him before entering the Queens room. He seems a very friendly and approachable Captain, cracking jokes and having a laugh with everyone.

Dinner was lovely as usual. We’ve had a great choice of menu every night including the usual Beef, Pork, Chicken plus Duck and also Pheasant and seafood, and that’s in the Britannia Restaurant. Alex, Ana and Aija are looking after us like royalty. We joke that those in Suites who eat at the Queens Grill are probably thoroughly enjoying their horse meat. J

Roy noticed up at the Lido Restaurant at midnight last night when he went to get a cup of tea on our way home, there were fresh Mussels in their shell available. He just couldn’t eat them at that time of night though. Those with broken zips and popped buttons were up there enjoying the selection.J The Lido is open 24 hours a day.

If you like to dance then Queen Elizabeth is definitely for you.  Everyone dances no matter which band or what type of music is playing. The Queens room, one of the many venues is midship on Deck 2 and we pass it to get from one end of the ship to the other so we always stop, as does everyone else, and have a few dances before and after dinner. Every sea day there are dancing lessons from the two professional dancers on board.  They are teaching new steps and new dances.  They make it all look easy, they don’t have two left feet…lol. They gave us all a demonstration last night in the Queens room, how wonderful it was to see them dance so beautifully.

The entertainment in the Royal Court theatre was a comedian, and Irish guy who has lived in the USA for the past 25 years but he still had a strong Irish accent. He was hilarious, only wish I could remember some of the jokes…. I’m no good at re-telling jokes.

Oh, I must mention how we went in the Trivia this morning…ummmm..… no I won’t….lol.

A little quote that can be seen around the ship: “I am easily satisfied with the very best.”..…Winston Churchill.

 

Day 5 at Sea

What a lovely sleep in we had this morning, woken up by our Tea being delivered to our cabin. Then it was off for a leisurely breakfast up at the Lido Restaurant again.  One day we’ll get up early enough to have breakfast in the main dining room. The hours for breakfast there are 7.30 to 9.00am whereas the Lido is 6.30 to 11.30am for the lazy lot like us.

We decided to join the Trivia this morning in the Golden Lion Pub.  We got there at the last minute so didn’t join a team so it was just ‘Team JillnRoy’.  Much to our amazement we came third equal with 14 out of 20. They must have had the easy questions ready when they saw us coming.

Roy has gone to have a look at the gym this morning.  I hope he is doing more than ‘having a look’; his mission is to attend the gym for a workout on every sea day. I declined to join him as I get enough exercise running up and down the stairs.

Last night’s show by the Royal Cunard singers and dancers was good covering the years from the 1920’s through to the 1970’s including jazz, blues and rock and roll.

Afterward had a little visit to the Casino which is quite small on this ship but has all the facilities of the larger Casinos we’ve seen on other ships, just not so many of them. A great idea is that you can use your room card in the slot machine and take money out of your on board account to play with and then put your winnings back into your account again.  Great if you’re winning.  I’m in front by US$5.00 so far. I’ll let you know when they pay me the jackpot into my on board account…lol.

We are enjoying our dinner in the Britannia Restaurant at 8.30pm. We have a table of six but there is only Roy and I on it as they others were waitlisted for the early sitting at 6.00pm and moved when they checked in at Auckland….. 6.00pm is too early for us.  We’re quite happy actually because we are getting the most excellent service from our two Waiters and the Sommelier. I’m sure if we just sat there with our mouths open they would spoon feed us…..lol.

Oh and I reported in yesterday’s blog that we were on our way to Bora Bora, I was wrong Papeete is our next stop then Bora Bora.

Out on the huge Lido Pool deck at the back of the ship people love to sunbathe in the comfy lounges during the day and I must say some are getting lovely tans.  Many are a darker brown than my toast the other morning. J

I know Queen Elizabeth has a webcam you can view online 24 hours a day but we also have an aft camera looking out over the stern. Both can be viewed via the TV in our cabin. Must say I haven’t seen the stern webcam when looking online but maybe you can see that too if you know where to find it.

More tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4 in Wellington

As we sailed into Wellington we were accompanied by about 20 jet skis. They must have been out on their Saturday morning run and decided to escort us in.  We stood  out on our balcony in our Cunard dressing gowns and slippers taking photos of them as they took photos of us….we were not a pretty sight first thing in the morning…lol.

As always we enjoyed our visit to Wellington.  As the day went on the wind turned to a breeze which was much more pleasant, no complaints because the sun was shining.

Once again the shuttle from the ship into the centre of the city and return was complimentary. A quick stop at the Library for an internet update then off we went for a wander around the shops.  The clothes are very classy here but so are the prices in some of the shops.  I did buy myself a Merino and Possum fur wrap/poncho which is really nice. Yes you read correctly Possum fur, didn’t even know they made things from Possum fur. I know I won’t be feeling the cold this winter… J

The highlight of our day was a visit and tour of Parliament House.  This is something I’ve always wanted to do.  Because it was Saturday we were able to visit just about every room including the Lower Chamber. I was going to sit in John Key’s seat but he had spilt a glass of water and it was still wet…. ;) We learnt more about Parliament on our tour today than I ever remember from school…. Maybe it's because I’m now more interested in the ins and outs of Parliament than I was back then. Very interesting to be taken to the basement of the Parliament buildings and see the amazing job they’ve done to protect the buildings should there be an earthquake.  They’ve inserted 400 large rubber bearings. The aim of this base isolation is to reduce the transfer of earthquake forces from the foundations to the buildings above. Very clever thinking, but an extremely expensive exercise but worth it on a building as important as that, I would think.

The sun is now very hot on our balcony this afternoon.  In fact we’ve found the sun to be much more intense here than it is in Australia.

This mornings' giggle was at the Lido Buffet up on Deck 9. We’ve been going there for Breakfast because we’ve not been up early enough to go to the main dining room, but will try that on our next few days at sea en-route to Bora Bora. Anyway, I noticed there wasn’t any brown toast left so asked the Waiter serving if he could get me some. “Yes Madam, no problem at all” was his cheerful answer and off he went.  About 5 minutes later he appeared with not one but two pieces of toast for me. The trouble was what he had done was toasted white bread so it was very very brown….what could I say….. I think he was new. J

It’s quite handy having self-service Laundries and an ironing board. I think there’s one on every floor and is free of charge. You just have to remember to go and pick it up when it’s finished.  Someone hasn’t and there is a basket full of washing that has been sitting there waiting to be picked up for about two weeks, so we were told by a crew member.

Now that we have a few days at sea coming up I think we’ll get to explore the ship a little more.  I know they have a band on board that we love called Synergy. They were on Voyager of the Seas. They’re playing in the Queens Room tonight so we’ll be there. 

As I am posting this at sea I won't add any photos because the internet is not fast enough to upload them. 

Thank you to all those who have left comments, sorry I can't reply to them easily but I do read every one of them and it's nice to know you're following my blog and enjoying my ramblings... :)

 

Day 3 in Napier

The day greeted us with strong southerly winds and showers.  Not that the ship noticed as it sailed down the coast toward the port of Napier. The temperature when we docked was only 17C, a bit different to the past few days.

Cunard offer complimentary transfers from the ship to the centre of the city and return. Plenty of shuttles we available so it was only a matter of minutes before our Shuttle arrived to make the short journey into the city.

We needed more New Zealand dollars so needed to find a bank to cash some currency.  A tip for those that don’t know this but the ASB Bank do not charge the NZ$5.00 fee to change currency that most other banks seem to do.

Off to the Library to post my Blog online. We were using Starbucks previously but so many are trying to get on the net at the same time it’s not easy or quick to do so.  The Library charge just NZ$2.00 for 30 minutes Wi-Fi use or the use of their PCs.

As we had been to Napier many times before we decided there was nothing else we particularly wanted to see so took the Shuttle back to the ship to have lunch.  Then it was unanimous from all two of us that we first enjoy a nice cold beer at the English Pub on board called the Golden Lion. When we sat down we noticed they had pub food menu available at no charge.  The menu was things like Steak and Kidney Pie, Steak and Ale Pie with Mushrooms and Mushy Peas, Cottage Pie, Fish and Chips and Cumberland Sausages and Chips or a Curry.  Needless to say after a beer we thought while we were comfortable we might as well enjoy lunch there…..and we did. So we have several choices of venue for lunch, the Golden Lion Pub, the Lido Buffet, the Burger bar or in the main Britannia Restaurant.

The crew are all so chatty and we seem to always attract them to our table for a chat. The barman today was Jason from Brazil who has worked for Cunard on this ship only for four contracts which equals just over 2 years. He brings his surfboard with him and when he goes ashore he finds somewhere to surf and wants to surf everywhere the ships docks in the world where possible. He’s excited about this itinerary because there’ll be lots of places for him to surf along the way. A pint of beer at the Golden Lion Pub is only US$5.60 including the gratuity.

We haven’t tried the famous Cunard afternoon tea in the Queens Ballroom yet.  It was on the plan for today but we’ve only just finished lunch and Afternoon Tea begins in just of 30 minutes so will have to make it another day. Afternoon Tea is available in the Ballroom every day at 3.30pm whether at sea or in a port.

The Entertainer last night was a guy from Wellington by the name of Ben Makisi.  He was a Maori with a wonderful voice who specialised in Opera mainly, but also sang a few Show tunes and finished off with ‘Now is the Hour’, a lovely song we haven’t heard for years, pleased we could both still remember the words so sang along with others that did too.

Napier really does know how to welcome ships into their port with such enthusiasm.  Outside on the wharf at the moment is a wonderful Jazz band playing and several vintage cars with their owners dressed in the same era as their car.  Of course because Napier is very Art Deco they love the fact that the Queen Elizabeth is as well.

Once again this is a maiden port of call for Queen Elizabeth into Napier today.

We saw a group of ladies and gentlemen being shown around the ship this morning and they were dressed in clothes of that era and really suited the elegant style of this ship. There are many paintings and photographs of life on board ships in that era around the ship. I’m sure they took a lot of photos for their home albums.

Some onboard look like they’ve been eating their way from Southampton or Los Angeles. I know the food is delicious and there is plenty to choose from but you do really need to have a little self-control otherwise zips won’t zip where they should and buttons can pop off anywhere anytime and I’m sure the Queen Elizabeth would still like some water left in her lovely swimming pools after some have jumped in… ;)

Those of us who joined the ship in Auckland have been invited to the Captain and his Officers Welcome cocktail party on Sunday night. It’s our first Formal night so looking forward to that.

As I type this we are sailing away from Napier and would you believe the sun is now although it is still quite chilly.

Tonight we are going to try the Lido Buffet for dinner. Then we might have a wander around the shops and see what they have to offer.  Can’t believe I haven’t had a look at them yet, nor can Roy for that matter.J

I've added some photos of various places on the ship.  You'll see old photos which are a reminder of the voyages of yesteryear. My photography was not so good trying to take these, sorry.

 

Day 2 on board Queen Elizabeth

Dinner last night was delicious, silver cutlery and Wedgewood dinnerware just added that extra touch. The after dinner show in the Royal Court theatre was a welcome aboard show hosted by the Entertainment Director Amanda Reid. It was a sample of what to expect during the next three weeks.  Looks really good, and speaking to those who have been on board since Southampton or Los Angeles their comments have been that the shows and entertainers have been some of the best they’ve experienced.  There are just over 1900 passengers on board and there are two shows every night for everyone to enjoy.

We stopped by at the Queens Ballroom for a while and enjoyed seeing the ‘Gigolos’’….just kidding….the ‘Gentlemen Dance Hosts’ dancing with women who are travelling without a partner.  We counted six gentlemen and they were all much occupied during the time we were watching. I suggested to Roy he could take that up as a new job, to which he replied “It takes me all my time to keep up with you on the dance floor, let alone several women nonstop, one after the other….hahaha.”

Our bed is very comfortable, in fact it’s the best we’ve ever had. What woke us up was a knock knock on the door when our morning wake up tea was brought to us.  This is complimentary on Cunard 24 hours a day.

We were already docked when we opened the curtains……didn’t feel a thing.  Thank you Captain Chris Wells.

Tauranga turned on perfect weather, blue skies and sunshine all day.  After a leisurely breakfast up in the Lido Buffet we went for a little wander around the shops.  As we walked out the gates of the port there were plenty of tour operators offering great prices for half or full day tours.

Our friends picked us up and took us to their place for a lovely lunch and catch up.  Nothing could beat sitting out on their deck enjoying a nice glass of NZ wine and a lovely lunch looking across the harbour to Mount Maunganui, Queen Elizabeth and the Diamond Princess.  How wonderful to have such a view.

Our visit to Tauranga today is a Maiden port of call for Queen Elizabeth. A plaque was presented to the Captain commemorating her first visit.

Well that was fun. We’ve been standing out on our balcony listening to the Queen Elizabeth and Diamond Princess have a horn blowing competition with our tug doing the Falsetto in between as we sailed away. Lots of waving, whistling and singing out could be heard between ships. The crew of the Diamond Princess had a huge white hand which they were enthusiastically waving to us from up on the Bridge. As we departed there were well in excess of a thousand people lined up along the beach and around ‘The Mount’ waving us farewell. Many small craft joined us together with the Pilot boat until the Pilot disembarked the ship from his rope with much cheering and clapping from the guests on board on a job well done.

After all that excitement of the day, it’s now time to relax…...with glass in hand before we get ready for dinner at 8.30….. cheers!

Garden Lounge

 

 Commodore Lounge

Foyer with Viscount Linday's marquitry

 

 Royal Court Theatre

Britannia Dining Room

Our Balcony

Diamond Princess giving us a hand..

Diamond Princess docked at the Mount

Day 1 on board Queen Elizabeth

Well here we are on board this beautiful ship. The boarding was smooth because there were only 360 people boarding in Auckland.  The shed we had to board through was not exactly pleasant as it is being rebuilt or renovated don’t quite know which as it was pretty derelict inside.

This ship is as advertised, not a cruise ship but a ‘Liner’.  It is beautiful inside, very traditional and absolutely pristine with warm soft tones, no flashing lights or glitter.  Nothing is worn or used looking; in fact it all looks absolutely brand new.

Our cabin is lovely, fine furnishings and a large balcony.  The bathroom is not large but well set out. Shame it doesn’t have a shower door as some ships do, it only has a curtain.

We couldn’t get the lights to work when we first walked into our cabin, thought there was a problem, but no what we had to do is put our room card into a slot by the door which enables all the lights to turn on if required.  I remembered we have had this in hotels previously; don’t know why we didn’t work that out in the first place….duh.

On the table in our cabin was a lovely bottle of French champagne on ice plus two glasses.  A nice welcome from Cunard, because first time cruisers with Cunard.

A tip for those who don’t know, order the Captains Wine Selection in either a choice of 6, 9 or 12 bottles. You can choose from a selection of 14 different wines and you don’t pay the 15% gratuity on top of the price.  If you purchase by the glass with dinner you would have to pay the gratuity for each glass ordered. All in all the saving is around 20% by ordering the Captains Selection.

We’ve had a walk around the whole ship exploring every area and I must say it’s very spacious and well laid out.

We’ve seen only 4 children on board.  The age group on board is varied, I was thinking maybe it would be full of wheelchairs but it’s not, there a people of all ages and nationalities.

As I type this we are sailing passed Rangitoto Island.  We’ve chosen 8.30 for dinner so we’ll go and check out one of the many bars before dinner.

Cheers!

Day 3 Tuesday 19 February 2013

One more sleep!!

Yet another beautiful day in Auckland. 

Discovered a lovely Cafe in Browns Bay called 'Beach' overlooking the beach and Rangitoto.  For those reading this who don't know what Rangitoto is, it's an extinct volcano that is the landmark of Auckland's Waitemata Harbour.

Ship of the day is Queen Victoria.  We're sitting here waiting to see her sail out but as she doesn't depart until 9.00pm we're only going to see her lights. Bon Voyage Bruce.

Guess what tomorrows 'ship of the day is'...... you can ask the audience, phone a friend, or just ask me......lol.

Actually there's two tomorrow as Holland America's Oosterdam is also in port.

We've thoroughly enjoyed our time in Auckland, and for those that have never been here, make sure you put it on your list of  'to do's'. Because we used to live here we didn't do the sightseeing thing but I can assure you there's a lot to see and do.

We've enjoyed some nice chill out time, and can't believe how quickly our time here has gone by.

Rangitoto on a Summers day:

Our itinerary: