Cunard in Europe in 2010

Thanks, Nick! We aren't doing the full double transit (we earn vacation time differently, so it won't work).. we're going to be joining everyone in England for the European portion and sailing back to NY. Hopefully this will help us cut down on clothing too.

So.. girls.. how do you pack those big formal gowns? Some of the ones that I'm falling in love with have a very large skirt and I'm trying to imagine cramming them in a garment bag with a few other dresses (scary!!).

Hi Jennifer, I work in fashion (for Saks Fifth Avenue) and one of my personal travel secrets is finding gowns that are made with Jersey. You can tie them up in a knot and they'll fall out with just some steam plus they don't take up tons of space

Christina

Hi Christina! I've seen several dresses made out of jersey. I've always wondered if the fabric was too casual (especially for Cunard). Is the material all the same or is the higher end stuff a lot less casual?

The higher end is dressier for sure - I know these photos aren't going to do the dresses justice but, here are some examples:

Kay Unger Gown


Laundry Gown


If you plan on coming to NYC for one the shopping trips, I'll be happy to help you shop to get the most for the $$

Christina

Great to meet you JFultz81. I am planning to go as far and as long as my little sea legs can carry me. How ever many days it is, I am on for it. I just hope there will be a few days in between to spend in Europe visiting. The thrill of the unknown is awesome.

VoyagerOne - here's the itinerary for the Sept. '09 double transit to give you an idea:

1	New York		06:00 PM
2	At Sea
3	At Sea
4	At Sea
5	At Sea
6	At Sea
7	Southampton	06:30 AM	05:00 PM
8	At Sea
9	Lisbon	09:00 AM	05:30 PM
10	Gibraltar	08:00 AM	01:30 PM
11	At Sea
12	Civitavecchia	07:00 AM	07:00 PM
13	Livorno	08:00 AM	06:30 PM
14	Monte Carlo	08:00 AM	06:00 PM
15	Barcelona	08:00 AM	06:00 PM
16	At Sea
17	At Sea
18	At Sea
19	Southampton	06:30 AM	05:00 PM
20	At Sea
21	At Sea
22	At Sea
23	At Sea
24	At Sea
25	New York	06:30 AM

They do essentially the same cruise in May, but they skip Florence We were in Florence last year, but on a Monday, so hardly anything was open. We'd love to go back so we can go see the real David!

If we do get to Florence on our double transit, I'd love to go to Tuscany to some of the vineyards - been to Florence and been to Pisa, so, some country side might be a nice change!

What little bit of the countryside you see on the drive to Florence is incredible! I'm just excited to get to go back to Europe, doesn't matter where we go!!

OH! Wow! That's an awesome itinerary. I thought it was just a R/T transatlantic sailing. Then I heard chatter of a possibility of there being a ship swap as well- a QV / QM2 pairing. Well, if that is the possible itinerary( the one you posted- with a Med. visit thrown in) count me in! That's awesome. I have already been to all of those ports on a HAL cruise (Westerdam) a couple years back, but sailing in the Med on a Queen? Twist me arms matey! Thanks for the update... now let's see what Cunard decides!

Lisbon and Gibraltar would be new for us, but the others we went to last year (except London). I'd love that itinerary, but it would be awesome to see a whole new one come out. I know April seems so far away, but it will be here sooner than we think!

Happy New Year everyone!

Good day all and a Happy New Year tonight!

We may join you all for the transatlantic parts of this rather than the whole voyage since we are already doing a Grand British Isles Double Transit Voyage in October of '09. In between the TA's we might try to fit in a Greek Islands cruise on one of the smaller Greek-based ships, since we enjoyed that part of the itinerary on our MSC cruise.

bluejay2fly wrote:

Good day all and a Happy New Year tonight!

We may join you all for the transatlantic parts of this rather than the whole voyage since we are already doing a Grand British Isles Double Transit Voyage in October of '09. In between the TA's we might try to fit in a Greek Islands cruise on one of the smaller Greek-based ships, since we enjoyed that part of the itinerary on our MSC cruise.

Sounds like a plan to me!

It got awfully quiet in here!! Where are the other double transit winners??

There should be... We're going, I'm not sure if we do the full double transit, we might end up just taking the European segment all depending on when we decide to book this sailing.

Hi Jennifer, I'm Derek, I also plan on joining the gang for the European segment. I might take the Westbound Transatlantic, I have to see how my scheduling looks but, the Europe segment for sure.

Hi Derek! Since you live close to London, you'll definitely have to give us some advice on where to eat, stay, etc. We are planning on spending a few days precruise since the only time we've been to London, all we got to see was Heathrow!

What port(s) is everyone hoping will come up on this sailing?

I'm also hoping to be able to join the group pending dates of course - As far as ports, I'm hoping for a heavy Italy/France/Spain itinerary but, I'm happy going anywhere on QM2. But, if you're looking for specifics, the one port I do hope is included is Naples, I love going down the Amalfi coast, no matter how many times I've been there, I still want to go again and again. It's truly spectacular!

We were there last year and completely agree! We had the best pizza ever in some little restaurant on a side street in Sorrento. I'd absolutely love to go back..mmm, limoncello gelato!

I'd also like to see some more of France, we were in Villefranche last year (but spent most of our time in Eze and Monte Carlo).

Eze is a wonderful little town, I love it!

We loved it as well! This time around I am doubling my spending money and leaving lots of extra room in the suitcase! We saw so many things we wanted to buy but just didn't have the room for it.

Jfultz81 wrote:

It got awfully quiet in here!! Where are the other double transit winners??

This thread has been very quiet, I've been keeping it alive by bumping it every Friday. I'm a day late this week I'm glad to see we're finally starting to discuss this sailing. It's been so long since we've been on Cunard, it feels like 2010 will never get here!!

How has another week slipped by already? I can't believe we are more than half way through the first month of the year!!

Ok dokie then, let's kick some life into this thread! Who's doing the full double transit? Besides us?

If I'm going to save $10,000 + for this cruise, I'm going to need to get another job!! We're going on a cruise May 9th or 10th of this year... haven't decided which one yet though... and we want to go on a cruise next spring or summer too. Then there's the Christmas Cruise in December 2010... maybe I better get TWO more jobs!!!

I know how you feel, Bette! We won the cruise and we're only taking 2/3's of it.. and I've still got a $10k budget (of course this includes the taxes we'll have to pay)! Oh well, it will be sooo worth it!