david,Mississauga

We have done three 10-day Alaska cruises on the QE. There are only two gala nights. On one cruise - we were in PG that time - there were three women at a nearby table who wore a different formal dress every night. By no means was this seen on many other women on the non-gala nights. But even in the Britannia Restaurant, people do dress more elegantly than on some other cruise lines, but no-one should worry about it. My wife and I always take a total of two mid-size cases and one carry-on shoulder bag for all our Cunard voyages, no matter which restaurant "class" we have booked. In addition to casual clothes, we get my tuxedo and my wife's two long dresses and one cocktail dress in the two cases. Travelling light can be done.

For those of us in Canada, Cunard quotes fares in Canadian $ but just recently the wording has been changed to: "fares shown are in $ $" whatever that means. If the fares shown to us in Canada are in Canadian $ as usual, there are indeed some great prices. But if they are in US $ a 35% surcharge is not such a big deal. On one of the later Alaska cruises there are three fare levels available. The maximum fare which includes all the Grills perks is the same as it was when it clearly showed that fares are in Canadian $, so maybe the cheaper fares are also in Canadian currency. We are anxious to book something - and our dates are flexible - but I have to wait for one more medical appointment for the purposes of our travel insurance.

There have been many comparisons between Seabourn and Cunard's QG. Friends have recently had their first cruise on Seabourn. They loved it. They told me they had a small suite. Seabourn's website gives the measurements of the ocean view suites as 295 sq. ft. and the Veranda suites are between 246 and 302 sq. ft. not including the balcony From the photos they are similar to PG on Cunard's Vistas. Cunard's smallest QG suites are about 500 sq. ft. which I believe includes the balcony. These differences should be considered when making comparisons.

I noticed the same as WantedonVoyage did. Our first crossing was in 1973, just after the first renovation so I can't comment on the original. A lot of what we saw on our first crossing was the same for many years, but there were changes each time. We dined in the Britannia (later Mauretania) Restaurant three times between 1973 and 1988. Each time it was completely different. On our first experience with the Columbia Restaurant I got the impression it had no specific décor that I could describe. The food and service, however, were great. It lived up to the words "first class" on our tickets. Many years later, as the Caronia Restaurant, I liked it much better as it was more traditional. A lot of QE2 fans would disagree with me, but I liked the interiors of the ship far more on our last voyage in 2008 than on our first. The last cabin we had was almost identical to the first one we had 35 years earlier. The only difference was the shower curtain had been replaced by a glass door. (It can be done!) It had been a Tourist Class (Britannia) cabin originally but over the years it was promoted to Caronia class.

We found the same disadvantage with the QE2 promenade. On most of our crossings the stairs to the next deck were closed due to wind a good deal of the time. It was possible to go inside near the Queens Grill on the starboard side and go forward a bit and back out on the port side. Although I have no interest in the QA, to be fair the promenade deck, however narrow, does go all the way around with no need to climb a flight of stairs.

On principle I prefer to use rail services whenever possible. One thing I can't understand about the Skytrain service to the airport is why there is no specific place for luggage. On airport trains we have used many times, such as London and Toronto, there is ample place to conveniently store your luggage. We have managed the Skytrain several times, but unless we are travelling fairly lightly - such as for a one-way train trip, not a cruise - it isn't convenient. If we were younger and if my wife's mobility was better, we could put the bags under the seats as suggested. My good lady can handle train travel, but can't help with luggage. There are large spaces for bicycles, mostly empty. On one trip our friend put one bag in the empty spot and was told by another passenger that he could be fined for doing so. He said he would take the risk as there was nowhere else for it. Getting a taxi at the pier can be difficult, but certainly not always. Some times there has been no or very little wait and other times the queue was enormous. One time we rolled our bags to the hotel where we stayed before the cruise and asked the staff to get us a taxi. There can be a wait, but there was no standing for a long period of time. If we have a lot of OBC we can use the ship's coach transfer - and even if we have to pay we now do so for convenience. This can be expensive, but this year Cunard is charging Can.$102 per couple. Last year it was $120.

My experience is the same as "pushpit": prices do drop, sometimes quite significantly. We usually book long in advance and have never booked the Sailing Soon Savings rates that appear after final payment due date. Of course, fares can go up a lot just as often. The fares on the Alaska cruises seem to drop significantly, and frequently even before the payment due dates. For medical reasons we have not yet booked an Alaska cruise for this summer, but hope to be able to do so in a fortnight. Most of the cruises are now within the payment due period so the fares are Sailing Soon. But on the four cruises we are planning to choose from, the regular fares - including the perks usually associated with the Grills - had already dropped in price. Of course, there are no perks on the sailing soon savings. Perhaps Alaska is an unusual situation in that there is ample accommodation available in all categories on almost every Cunard voyage. We noticed that for our Alaska cruise last year Cunard was almost giving away the lower category cabins a month before the date and even the Grills were a lot cheaper than what we paid a year in advance. It is not just Cunard. Almost every day I get an e-mail from Holland America offering low rates on Alaska cruises. Princess sends us an e-mail about once a week, even though we have never cruised with them. Possibly there are too many ships going to Alaska from Vancouver. Maybe Cunard is moving the home-port to Seattle for this reason.

It depends on whether two or more consecutive voyages are being sold as one voyage as well as individual voyages. One of my favourite trips is to take one or two segments of the annual Southampton-NY-Québec-NY-Southampton four week trip. Each segment is available separately or as two or all four. (I'm not sure if three of these segments are sold as one trip.) The first time we went from Québec to Southampton it was cheaper to book the two segments separately. For our next booking on this routing - in the opposite direction - it was cheaper to book the two segments as one 14-day voyage.

On two of our Vancouver to Vancouver Alaska cruises on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth, passengers were permitted to disembark in Victoria the day before arrival in Vancouver. I watched as they were quickly processed by the border officials who may not have been aware of the Act. But on last year's cruise Cunard finally realised this was in contravention of the law and it was prohibited. The daily programme quoted the relevant legislation. Some passengers did it anyway, by simply going ashore with most others and not returning. The purser's office had said passengers whose final destination was Victoria could take their luggage ashore but had to return to the ship. I have no idea what happened to them or the line.

Indeed, the Hudson Valley is attractive. I well-remember my first ever visit to New York, enjoying breakfast in the New York Central dining car whilst going down the Hudson valley on an overnight train from Toronto. The comments that inspired me to comment referred to commuting and I doubt the views from a commuter train would impress as much as what we enjoyed on the Flam to Myrdal trip.

Although I have never commuted into NYC I have travelled in and out by train several times over the past 50 years. The scenery on the Flamsbana line was far more spectacular. 😊 I note that individual bookings can now be made on the Flamsbana. When we took the Norway cruise on the QE several years ago only group bookings could be made in advance except through Cunard. We booked the excursion with Cunard and were glad we did. When the ship docked there was a mad rush to the ticket office by dozens of people. Many of them were disappointed. There was a second ship in port and a large land-based tour.

I suppose there is no chance Cunard will ever present Wagner's Ring Cycle.

As I have previously mentioned my displeasure with Cunard for moving the QE Alaska cruises to Seattle as of next year, I will only add there is a considerable fare difference between this year's cruises from Vancouver and next year's. I made a comparison between two 10-day cruises from similar dates and ports of call and I compared what I will call the full fares not the discounted fares. I compared Britannia Balcony and Queens Grill fares (in Canadian $) and was surprised that QG next year was about 30% higher. Britannia Balcony for one cruise was 60% higher. This is just one more reason why we are seriously thinking of postponing our QM2 booked for the autumn and taking yet another Alaska cruise.

Perhaps it varies by ship. Last year we saw Top Hat on the QE. It ran a little over an hour. The longest play we saw was Romeo and Juliet, performed by members of RADA on the QM2.

All the plays I have seen on Cunard ships have been shortened to between an hour to an hour and 20 minutes maximum.