Topic: Cunard 2011/12 Calendar Brochure just released (attached)

We had a 13 nighter on Celebrity Constellation from New York to Quebec and back. The scenery was amazing, the colours of the trees provided some wonderful views.

We moored right below the Chateau, which was a wonderful position for exploring Quebec on foot. I hope the photo attachment of the imposing chateau works OK.

Have a wonderful time.

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Hi Millis. I too am very anxious to get on this cruise and in a particular stateroom.Cruise.co, this sites owners also will give you a price for a selection of grades, net of the 5% Cunard past passenger discount and their own 10%. I use two of their reps. If you would like to leave your email by private message to me I will forward my quote to you. For me the highlight will be having breakfast in the Chateau Frontenac while overlooking the QM2"

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Thanks so much for providing this most valuable information ! :D We've been waiting for that for months now...

The cruise of our interest is this one:

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M124A 20 Sep – 14 Oct 24 £2,949 – £30,399
Southampton • Cruising the Atlantic Ocean • New York • Newport, Rhode IslandA • Boston, Massachusetts •
Bar Harbor, MaineA • Halifax, Nova Scotia • Cruising the Atlantic Ocean • Québec, CanadaO • Cruising the Atlantic Ocean • New York • Cruising the Atlantic Ocean • Southampton

Good morning Camilla

The good news is that, thanks to the good services of cruise.co, and in particular their Specialist consultant Tina, I secured my Princess Stateroom on this cruise yesterday, at a more than satisfactory price, and within one hour of the Cunard sale opening. That was some achievement considering the number of travel agents seeking deals for their customers. Well done Tina and cruise.co and a big thank you.

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Good morning Camilla

The good news is that, thanks to the good services of cruise.co, and in particular their Specialist consultant Tina, I secured my Princess Stateroom on this cruise yesterday, at a more than satisfactory price, and within one hour of the Cunard sale opening. That was some achievement considering the number of travel agents seeking deals for their customers. Well done Tina and cruise.co and a big thank you.

Dear Rob,
glad to hear, you've already got everything "in dry cloth" (as we say) :D Congrats !
Must have been quite a "fight" yesterday for the agents all around... :p
We have fixed options with two different travelagents in Germany (a third as well, but no Cabin-no. assigned), only to check now who has the better "conditions" and "goodies" at the end... (on-board credit: 400 USD per cabin (i.e. 200 USD/person) or better the flight & shuttle from Switzerland (Basle) Airport to London and Coach to Southampton) included, which amounts up to EUR 300.-/person (CUNARD-price). Which comes to a better end, of course. Even though reaching the port of call would be cheaper on our own, BUT with the fuzz people had with self-arranged "go to the ship"-trips and losing everything at the end, since it was not offered by the shipping company, it's a matter to consider...
Cruise.co.uk (Tina) also provided a VERY good offer, to be honest 2/3 of our price in Germany, but still, we don't know, how exchange-rantes develop with the EUR & GBP and paying the "huge amount" one month prior to sailing, could turn out to be a real "Wake-up-call" ... Just thinking about the rates in 2008 and how they dropped in 2009 (the EUR was quite strong then, so buying the GBP was "cheaper" at the end). To avoid that, an option would be: pay everyting in advance, but to be honest, we don't have that much "change" left-over, since our upcoming Greenland-cruise needs to be paid off first...

Will let you know for sure, which cabin-no. we will finally chose (depends on the "goodies of the agents"), to make sure, we will meet aboard the QM2 for a coffee / tee or a drink Really looking forward to that :D

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Dear Rob,
glad to hear, you've already got everything "in dry cloth" (as we say) :D Congrats !
Must have been quite a "fight" yesterday for the agents all around... :p
We have fixed options with two different travelagents in Germany (a third as well, but no Cabin-no. assigned), only to check now who has the better "conditions" and "goodies" at the end... (on-board credit: 400 USD per cabin (i.e. 200 USD/person) or better the flight & shuttle from Switzerland (Basle) Airport to London and Coach to Southampton) included, which amounts up to EUR 300.-/person (CUNARD-price). Which comes to a better end, of course. Even though reaching the port of call would be cheaper on our own, BUT with the fuzz people had with self-arranged "go to the ship"-trips and losing everything at the end, since it was not offered by the shipping company, it's a matter to consider...
Cruise.co.uk (Tina) also provided a VERY good offer, to be honest 2/3 of our price in Germany, but still, we don't know, how exchange-rantes develop with the EUR & GBP and paying the "huge amount" one month prior to sailing, could turn out to be a real "Wake-up-call" ... Just thinking about the rates in 2008 and how they dropped in 2009 (the EUR was quite strong then, so buying the GBP was "cheaper" at the end). To avoid that, an option would be: pay everyting in advance, but to be honest, we don't have that much "change" left-over, since our upcoming Greenland-cruise needs to be paid off first...

Will let you know for sure, which cabin-no. we will finally chose (depends on the "goodies of the agents"), to make sure, we will meet aboard the QM2 for a coffee / tee or a drink Really looking forward to that :D

...and a glass of champagne on at least one of the New York sailaways. Richard

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...and a glass of champagne on at least one of the New York sailaways. Richard

Won't believe it, but we made it tonight! :D (happyhappyhappyhappy...)
Cabin 4202 (directly above G32-nightclub... - at least we won't have to oar like on a galley....). More infos in our blog.
Cruise.co.uk made another really great offer, plus onboard credit, but no travel insurance possible through CUNARD UK for no UK-address, no travelpackage from Basle (Switzerland) to Southampton pier included through CUNARD UK, in the German price everything included (upon request) through CUNARD (being on the safe side in case of trouble on the way to the ship) as well as USD 400.- onboard credit per cabin. So below the summary-line not a too bad deal, even though it's quite an amount of money we have to hand-over... but-ey, it's a great thing... 24 nights... a very dear colleague in the German forum replied to our roll call: Congrats, ... 24 nights on the QM2 - Let's see, if BBC TV-news reports on 14.10.2011 that a German couple had to be removed with might and main from the QM2 in southampton.... :D:D
I guess, there will be more people alike... hehehehe....

Well, since we really get the Anniversary-package (already guaranteed by CUNARD), we would have some "spare" champagne (we won't ever drink on our own, and bringing home two bottles as souvenirs for friends by plane, is impossible nowadays) ;) The only thing is: we don't have a balcony for sailaway parties....

Just found out, that you live really near to southampton, could you tell us, which castle that is (attached picture)? We saw it, sailing out of Southampton in 2009.
Looking forward to your reply and sharing now the happiness of THE cruise-ticket-owner !

[QUOTE=Millis Glashaus, Bad Saeckingen/Germany;62362
Well, since we really get the Anniversary-package (already guaranteed by CUNARD), we would have some "spare" champagne (we won't ever drink on our own, and bringing home two bottles as souvenirs for friends by plane, is impossible nowadays) ;) The only thing is: we don't have a balcony for sailaway parties....

Just found out, that you live really near to southampton, could you tell us, which castle that is (attached picture)? We saw it, sailing out of Southampton in 2009.
Looking forward to your reply and sharing now the happiness of THE cruise-ticket-owner ![/QUOTE]

The picture is of Netley Castle situated near the village of Netley Abbey on Southampton Water. It was built around 1542 as part of Henry VIII's chain of coastal fortifications. It was one of the twelve forts built under the direction of Sir William Paulet for the defence of Southampton and Portsmouth.
The castle was manned until 1647. Its military importance declined and it was eventually sold in 1881 and converted into a private house. It was purchased by Middlesex County Council and spent much of the 20th century as a publicly owned convalescent home. The building was in the 1990s sold once more for accommodation and remains private.

Just past Netley Castle, on the same side of the Solent, we have an even greater building of historical interest. The remains of The Royal Victorian Hospital now form the centre piece of a leisure park. The hospital was originally built on the orders of Queen Victoria at the end of the Crimean War. It was at the time the largest military hospital in the world.

The park is now a favourite place for local people, and Grant, to watch cruise ships sailing out of Southampton.

My home is on the seafront further down the coast and directly opposite Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

I'm sure we will manage a few sailaway parties on our balcony and be rest assured, an invite will be sent to Stateroom 4202. We always bring extra champagne as there are always excellent sailways on QM2 and we like to continue in the 'spirit' as they say. Nice talking to you.

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The picture is of Netley Castle situated near the village of Netley Abbey on Southampton Water. It was built around 1542 as part of Henry VIII's chain of coastal fortifications. It was one of the twelve forts built under the direction of Sir William Paulet for the defence of Southampton and Portsmouth.
The castle was manned until 1647. Its military importance declined and it was eventually sold in 1881 and converted into a private house. It was purchased by Middlesex County Council and spent much of the 20th century as a publicly owned convalescent home. The building was in the 1990s sold once more for accommodation and remains private.

Just past Netley Castle, on the same side of the Solent, we have an even greater building of historical interest. The remains of The Royal Victorian Hospital now form the centre piece of a leisure park. The hospital was originally built on the orders of Queen Victoria at the end of the Crimean War. It was at the time the largest military hospital in the world.

The park is now a favourite place for local people, and Grant, to watch cruise ships sailing out of Southampton.

My home is on the seafront further down the coast and directly opposite Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

I'm sure we will manage a few sailaway parties on our balcony and be rest assured, an invite will be sent to Stateroom 4202. We always bring extra champagne as there are always excellent sailways on QM2 and we like to continue in the 'spirit' as they say. Nice talking to you.

Dear Richard,
thank you so much for this very intersting historical information on the beautiful coastside of the Solent. I read it to my husband (Thomas) and his eyes got a very bright shine. We love buildings like that, you know? We checked it also on "google earth" was great to see it from "above"
So you really have a pole position at home for shipspotting, don't you... ;) Great.
Thank you also for your kind offer for the sail-away-parties on your suite's balcony.... Really looking forward to that feeling... Must be very special. Really very kind of you. Thank you. Thomas got again that very special shine in his eyes... :D and he sends you his best regards and both of us are looking very much forward to meeting you in person.
Keep on looking forward to that great time we will all spend on the QM2.

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Dear Richard,
thank you so much for this very intersting historical information on the beautiful coastside of the Solent. I read it to my husband (Thomas) and his eyes got a very bright shine. We love buildings like that, you know? We checked it also on "google earth" was great to see it from "above"
So you really have a pole position at home for shipspotting, don't you... ;) Great.

Good morning Camilla. Here are two pictures I took yesterday evening of QM2 sailing past our balcony. In the first one you can just see, just ahead of QM2's bow, the towers of Osborne House, the home of the late Queen Victoria.

QM2 passing Osborne House


A tight squeeze


You can again see the towers of Osborne House, either side of QM2's funnel.
PS Using the telescope I confirmed that the 'Sailaway Party' was still going strong.

WOW! Thank you so much, Richard. Yes, definitely, you got a pole position at home
Wishing you a brilliant weekend with lots of shipspotting (even though QM2 just left).
We'll be off to a baptism of Thomas' nephew tomorrow at his relatives' place (2,5-3hrs drive by car each way).
Will be back "on air" Sunday.