Day 9 – 12th March 2014

En route to Japan

Trouble banking at sea… Frozen accounts at sea.

Every travellers nightmare… Not being able to access your funds anywhere in the world.

Even though we took the precautions of letting the bank know our destinations, the system which is very good at protecting our funds for fraudulent reasons got this one wrong. I must say though, i’d rather it be this way than not be any use at all. It certainly gives peace of mind knowing that if your cards are stolen or swiped at least they wont get far…

Earlier that day we had transferred some funds whilst sailing in the Philippine sea and consequently our accounts were frozen. We received a text telling us so.

After about 20 minutes on Skype to the bank we managed to clear the matter and all is good again. The internet is certainly not the best and the connection at times is very slow, which made for a frustrating call, but we are managing.

Today we slept in and enjoyed the slight rocking of the ship. We have 45 knot winds and a swell of up to 4 meters. The ship is rolling but not bad. Apparently there have been over 100 sea sick patients, that is what I was told anyway.

Room service on Queen Elizabeth

We missed out on breakfast but ordered room service to see how that was. The ship was holding a drill exercise which they must complete every seven days and it just happened to be at sea today. This involves a simulation of a fire and all personnel must react as if it is a real situation so most of the ships services stop for 45 minutes as they run the exercise.

Naturally our room service order was in the middle of this and we had to wait for it to finish before the chefs could return to their work stations.

In between waiting for our room service I did some washing in the launderette. On each level is a launderette with three washers and three dryers plus an ironing board. I managed to time it just right as it gets very busy and often a place for arguments between washers!! Even though it’s a holiday for most, people still seem to get so upset over petty things. The wash took about 30 mins followed by another 30 for the dryer.

The room service meals were ok, but nothing to shout about. But at least we had tried it. I’d choose something different next time. By the way, all room service is included, and no delivery fee either which is great. You can call 24 hours for a meal.

After lunch we headed down to the Cafe Carinthia for coffee and strawberry tarts in the afternoon.

Next I then organise our future cruise deposits that are valid for two years. The benefit of a future cruise deposit is that you get a whopping $300 OBC (on board credit) per person. This is a great offer and costs only $75 each which comes off the cruise price that you end up booking as a deposit anyway, so really no money lost!!! Happy days.

Moni battles with the Internet to get some work done and I take a stroll around inside as the open decks are closed due to strong winds.

Images from QE

Dinner in the Britannia this evening followed by drinks in the midship bar @ 20% discount, gotta like that. You can see all of my cutlery lined up for my many courses, and Mr Dene has caught the food photo bug only his camera is way bigger than mine.

Images from Britannia dinner

A short stroll then off to bed.