Day 2, 2025 Dec. 18: At Sea.

We had indeed a bumpy night, with the ship being “attacked” with swell from 2 sides, creating a sort of swaying movement (the official name is yawning) that no stabelizer can correct. But in the course of the morning the wind started to subside and went down to about 35 knots and the North West swell eased off somewhat.

Our course is the red line and you can see that we started in the purple. That is 55 knots of wind.  The light green is about 20 knots. (Courtesy of the British Royal Meterlology Service. at Bracknell)

After breakfast again served by our butler, the ever efficient Ludmilla, we went out to to tell the concierge that the DVD player still had not been fixed. She was convinced that it was, as “the electrician” had been to visit. Obviously she had not absorbed anything of what I told her yesterday. So her phone came out again and  she was going to phone the Butler again. I stopped her and reminded her of what happened yesterday. Then we went back to the cabin to find Ludmilla , who had a solution. From somewhere she had conjured up a “new” DVD player but now with a 110 volt lead that fitted safely in the wall socket. Problem solved and kudo’s to Ludmilla. I will write her a commendation via the “White Star service” recommendation card system.

So what is the morale of this story: if you get flustrated with how long it takes sometimes to get something in the cabin repaired…… this might be why?  This is not just Cunard, it is similar for all companies. Our DVD player repair request went via Ludmilla who speaks -Columbian- English -, to the concierge who speaks -Bosnian- English, to the Front office who speaks -Philippino- English, involved a (Croation ???) Electrician, not even to think about houseleeping and front desk supervisors who might speak other forms of English again.  So they were all beeping each other and delegating from one department to another. Luckily my (retired) stripes still account for something and that kept the pressure up.I think that Ludmilla was able to “surf” on that momentum to find, and was given, an another player. The main thing is that for coming cruises, the DVD player works, if future guests would like to use it. I have done my good deed for the cruise.

Then we went to the library to see how the books were doing. Cunard maintains a very nice section of maritime books and I wanted to see if there was a new one that I did not know about. But no, all 75 were already in my collection. In time honored Cunard tradition all the seats in the library were taken up and mostly occupied by guests who were having their morning nap. There are also 6 internet stations there, who were mainly in use by younger guests (not asleep), with one gentleman working on 4 devices at the same time. (mobile phone, tablet, laptop and the library desk top) That will cost him a fair bit as the internet is not cheap with Cunard. ( $ 28,-  a day if bought by the day for emaiI, facebook and whats app , and $ 22,–if bought for the cruise for one device  = $ 264 for 12 days)   There are also packages for 4 devices and a premium package that includes streaming, voice calling and text but these are much more expensive. Depending on your repeater status you get some money off. We as platinum people received a discount of $ 80,–  The internet is on average very good, except at prime times (09.00 – 10.00 hrs and 15.00 to 17.00 hrs.) when the whole ship checks their email. Thus they still have to do something with the bandwith on board. Maybe they are doing that now as they were installing a new pod outside our cabin door today.

A new thing – fresh from the press – lesley got from her Travel ageant- is that on some cruises Cunard is offering what Holland America has been doing for a while,  a  “Have it All” package, whereby certain things, like the drinks package and the gratutities are included. Both are very expensive with Cunard and thus most guests pay them out of their onboard credit. Or with the gratuities, take them off (long lines at the pursers desk on the first day). So by following in the footsteps of HAL, Cunard will save the guests a lot of aggrevation  and discontent.

The shops sell duty free liquor and the prices are very good. Almost compatible with the English ferries going to the Continent. So we got 2 bottles of Bombay Bramble Gin which is a favourite of Lesley and very hard to get ashore in the UK.  We can pick it up on the day before the cruise ends. What happened to the days when the Duty Free was delivered to the cabins…………………

In the ship dance class was going on again, arts and crafts, shops were open, today they were plugging selected christmas gifts, and the rest of the public rooms were heaving. Everybody had to get out of the cabins for the cabin stewards to service and thus everybody was sitting all over the ship.

At noon time, the captain informed us that with keeping up the speed to 18-20 knots (15 knots required for the next morning) he would be able to arrive late evening in Lisbon to give us all a quiet night. And not having too much swell at the entrance, so he could get in. With the caveat that when he made the turn into estuary of the Tagus river, we all had to sit down as the ship might make some un-expected moves. The ship had to turn through the wind, which might cause the ship to list and then would get the swell on the stern  when sailing into the estuary entrance. That swell angle can  make the ship yawn (“lurch” in land lubber language) He would come back 15 minutes before he was going to make the manuver so we all could be ready.

The grill area by day time.

We like to have lunch in the Queens Grill and the service is very good; but afterwards I have to make an expedition to the Lido restaurant  for a soft ice cream. Most British company’s have soft ice, self serve machines, where you can fill your bowl or cornet to your hearts content, without the “expert interference” of a cook.  It is not good for weight control but Cunard does have the best soft ice on the seven seas. (When compared to Celebrity, Saga, P&O and Azamara) My own beloved company HAL does not even come close as they have frozen yoghert and the machines are quite often not adjusted properly.  Their saving grace is that they have a lot more condiments and sides, than Cunard, a lot of variations you can use to “top up” your ice cream to a real lunch time delight.

Part of the Commodore Club by day time. It is designed to give an Gentleman’s —- ships captains— club feeling with dark woods and ships models at the entrance.

For pre dinner drinks we like to go to the Commodore Club on Deck 10 forward. Last night and this evening it was not overly busy, no doubt courtesy of the moving ship. This is my favourite crowsnest as it is stylish and the service is efficient. Here Cunard has made an improvement. Since the 1990’s (and maybe even before) nibbles (peanuts and crips) were always “on request”. Now they come standard with the drinks; saves us having to remember to ask for it and saves the steward an extra journey to get the bowls when we forgot.

The Commodore Club by night. The grey hair and spectacles gentleman, seen above the railing is one of the two Resident Piano players who play during cocktail hours and also later on in the evening. This gentleman ran a sort of small quiz while playing. Tonight all his tunes had “flower” titles, or another common denominator. After 4 songs the question then was, what linked all four songs played.

While happily enjoying dinner in the Queens Grill, the Captain did come on the tannoy shortly after 20.00 hrs. with the urgent request to remain seated.  Now in Captains language, an “urgent” request is different than an “order”, so I knew it was not going to be that bad. And indeed, we only made one roll of about 3 degrees and had a few “bumps in the stern” and then we were inside. By 20.45 we sailed passed Belem Tower and picked up the pilot at 21.00 hrs.. Then sailed to the berth at Alcantara, swung around and were docked by 22.00 hrs. Giving all the guests and crew (and especially those guests and crew who had their cabins near the bow) a quiet and peaceful night.  Some crew experienced floodings on the lower decks, broken pipes, no doubt due to the movement of the ship, but it was all clean water. But that is life on a cruise ship that is 20 years old, the pipework becomes challenging.

We decided not to go to the show, a Flamenco show, but called it a day. Tomorrow we are not planning to go ashore but to have a good look at the inside of the ship. The weather in Lisbon should be nice, especially later in the day. A bit of rain in the morning, followed by sun shine in the afternoon and temperatures around 14 – 16oC / 57 – 61oF.