Thursday, 21 March 2024
Tucson, Arizona

Additional Information About Our 

Upcoming Adventure  

 

With only four more days until departure, we have been very busy getting things together for our six-week absence.  Did you know, for example, that the Post Office will hold mail for a maximum of 30 days? For a longer time away you must have your mail forwarded to a temporary address (friend or relative). 

But I am back with some additional information about our trip, including some minor corrections to the itinerary.  We are taking the shuttle to Phoenix, instead of leaving from Tucson, in order to have a non-stop flight to Miami. I have had so many problems with changing planes in the past year (cancelled flights, lost luggage, etc), that even the inconvenience of the 90-minute drive to Phoenix is better than taking a chance on a non-direct flight from Tucson.

The itinerary in the previous posting mis-states that the flight is in Business Class; we are flying First Class, and have just pre-ordered our meal choices for lunch. The other correction is that we have cancelled the E-Life limo from the Hilton to the cruiseport because the hotel has a shuttle service that will make the trip easier (and less expensive).

The first part of the trip is on Oceania Cruise Lines ms Sirena, refurbished in 2019. She carries 670 guests and 400 staff members. Her gross tonnage is 30,277 and her length is 593.7 feet. This is tiny compared to most of the new mega-ships, some of which carry more than 6,000 passengers! The general rule of cruising is:  the smaller the ship, the larger the cabins. This will be my seventh cruise on Oceania, and my 31st ocean cruise since 2007; Will has previously sailed on four Oceania cruises and 11 ocean cruises.

Sirena includes entirely new suites, staterooms and bathrooms, with the same beautifully re-inspired ambiance as her three sister ships. She features Tuscan Steak, her signature specialty restaurant, which serves Italian favorites, succulent steaks and fresh seafood; and the unique Asian-fusion Red Ginger. Sirena offers two additional unique, open-seating restaurants, the Aquamar Spa, eight lounges and bars, a casino and 333 suites and staterooms.

All Veranda Staterooms offer a number of special amenities:

• Tranquility Bed, an Oceania Cruises exclusive, with 1,000-thread-count linens
• Complimentary soft drinks replenished daily in your refrigerated mini-bar
• Complimentary still & sparkling Vero Water
• Private teak veranda
• Bulgari amenities
• Free room service menu 24 hours a day
• Twice-daily maid service
• Belgian chocolates with turndown service
• Interactive television system with on-demand movies, weather and more
• Wireless Internet access and cellular service
• Writing desk and stationery
• Plush cotton towels
• Thick cotton robes and slippers
• Handheld hair dryer
• Security safe

Additionally, our Category A Concierge Level Veranda Stateroom offers:

• Free laundry service
• Expanded lunch and dinner room service menu from The Grand Dining Room
• Complimentary welcome bottle of Champagne
• Priority online specialty restaurant reservations
• Unlimited access to theAquamar Spa Terrace
• Complimentary Oceania Cruises logo tote bag
• Cashmere lap blankets, perfect for relaxing on the veranda
• Complimentary pressing of garmets upon embarkation 
• Complimentary shoeshine service

This 14-day cruise will take us to four new ports on our way from Miami to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain:  Jost Van Dyke (British West Indies), Dominica, and Barbados in the West Indies; and Porto Grande (Cape Verde Islands), off the west coast of North Africa.

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For the second cruise segment of the trip (after five days in Las Palmas), we will sail on Seabourn Cruise Lines ms Quest, built in 2011 and refurbished in 2018. She carries 450 guests and 335 staff members. Her gross tonnage is 32,348, her length is 650 feet and her width 84 feet. The Quest is slightly larger than Sirena, but carries fewer passengers. I have previously cruised on Seabourn Encore in 2019 on a 19-day cruise from Athens to Dubai. As a solo traveler I can't usually afford Seabourn's prices, but they had a special no-single supplement sale.

Will has previously been to only two of the ports, Ibiza and Barcelona. I have previously visited those ports, as well as Tangier, Gibraltar, and Cartagena. New ports for me will be the four ports in the Canary Islands, Casablanca, and Melilla.

• All ocean-front suites, most with a private veranda
• Complimentary premium spirits and fine wines
• Complimentary caviar throughout the voyage
• All dining venues are complimentary
• Dine where, when, one with whom you wish
• Welcome Champagne
• Complimentary in-suite bar stocked with you choice
• Tipping is neither required, nor expected
• Complimentary signature events
• Complimentary wifi with unlimited minutes  
• Writing desk and stationery
• Plush cotton towels
• Thick cotton robes and slippers
• Handheld hair dryer
• Security safe

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To conclude this long post, the third and final cruise that will bring us back to the US is on Cunard's Queen Mary 2 (hereafter called QM2), from Southampton, UK, to Brooklyn in New York City. Built 2002-2003 and refurbished in 2026, she carries 2,695 passengers and 1,253 staff members. Gross tonnage is 149,215, length 1,132 feet, and width 147.5 feet.

Queen Mary 2's facilities include 15 restaurants and bars, five swimming pools, a casino, a ballroom, a theatre, and the first planetarium at sea.

Although this will be my ninth transatlantic cruise (plus one transpacific), I have sailed on QM2 only once--eastbound in July 2013. Will and I have both sailed on Cunard's Queen Victoria in the Mediterranean in October 2010.

  

Our Britannia sheltered balcony stateroom includes the following amenities:

• Half a bottle of sparkling wine on arrival 
• Fresh fruit on request
• 24-hour room service
• Nightly turndown service with chocolate
• Satellite TV (with multi-language film and music channels)
• Direct-dial telephone
• Refrigerator
• Tea and coffee making facilities
• Hairdryer
• Safe
• Daily shipboard programme
• Bathrobe and slippers
• Penhaligon's toiletries
• 220V British 3-pin and 110V 2-pin sockets