3rdGenCunarder

Thanks for coming back to give an update. It sounds like you got someone good to help you. I like that you were sent the confirmations while you were on the phone. An hour and a quarter is a good trade for getting things sorted out and not being out too much money. And another example of why travel insurance is so important.

I have a knack for getting in the gueue behind that person.

Well, there is the Pinnacle Suite...

I know they've "paid" for their ticket in art purchases, but if someone on a freebie gets something that I PAID for and can't have, that's gotta hurt. The lure of a sure large booking is too great to ignore.

There was a lot of seating available that day, which is why I thought it was odd. Staff with nothing to do could have taken care of those passengers easily. Even if early arrivals had to sit, it was better than standing outside.

They held people outside when I boarded QV in October. The only people allowed to go right in were Grills, Diamond, Platinum. There were plenty of staff at their posts with nothing to do, so I don't know why they held people outside. What's Diamond Plus? The highest level I'm aware of is diamond.

I suspect the organizer is getting a discount price and then marking it up to cover their expenses. So the participants may be paying more, but that doesn't mean HAL is getting all of that money.

I've seen the Crows Nest blocked for an hour or two for a mariner event or a roll call meet & greet, but those are one-time events. And roll call events don't get the entire space. Even the art auctions are a half day once, maybe twice if the cruise is long. On one or two cruises, I've seen a lounge used for a travel agency's group. Again, a few hours one time. Okay, so no big deal. But EVRY DAY is outrageous. And your point about the fares is what makes it so annoying. You paid more than the group did, but you're getting less. I did a Great Lakes cruise last year. There was a Road Scholar group on board, and they had lectures in the lounge on sea days. It was a small ship with only one lounge and the bar area just off the lounge. Hearing the group stories here, I wondered how that was going to work out. American Queen did not close the lounge to other passengers, but instead allowed everyone to attend the lectures. Nobody in the Road Scholar group seemed to mind.

I think part of the problem in Brooklyn is that there isn't a lot of space for the in-transits to wait in the terminal, and itisn't very comfortable. Nobody is allowed back on until everybody has cleared immigration. So if one last person dawdles, the rest are left 'captive.' I've heard Vancouver can be bad, but the one time we were in transit there, we spent the day off the ship, sightseeing, and by the time we returned all the in transits and most of the newly embarking passengers had been processed. If I find myself in the in transit situation again, I'll take a tour or go out sightseeing. Except for the time an idiot took one of my suitcases, I have found luggage collection to be easy in Brookyn. The crazy thing was, the staff that are cranky handling embarkation (especially the gorgon who guards the entrance to the grills/platinum/diamond waiting area) were exceptionally kind and helpful, tracking down where my case went.

Large groups taking over dining times happened fairly often in the Before Time. Not so much since the break, but the groups and charters are starting up again. Mostly, it happens on 1-week cruises because those sell well for the people in the group. It's why I won't book a 7-day or a 14-day that's two 7s back-to-back. I don't trust HAL to not load a large group onto one of the weeks, or even charter it after lots of people have already booked.

I don't know if it's always been at 6-8 weeks (I think it used be later), but at some point HAL has usually closed certain categories when they start placing guarantee bookings. If you're watching availability for some reason, suddenly one category says sold out. Then the next day, there is availability, but less than before the "sold out" break.

This is true. To HAL it's all just inventory. But for those of us who have our own criteria for cabin choice, we're paying to make that choice. If we can be moved around at will, then we've basically got guarantees.

Just to be clear, there are two interpretations of your question. First, are you planning to put out your luggage the last night and collect it on the pier after the ship unloads it? If so, you don't have to get a porter. Just find your luggage and roll it to the Immigration queue. However, sometimes in Brooklyn the Immigration inspectors take people with porters faster so that the porters can go back and collect more passengers. Or are you asking if you can carry your own luggage off the ship yourself? That answer is also yes, but the ship will want you to go off in the first group and the deck you're on doesn't matter. You have to sign up for this.

What a lot of people don't understand about QE2 is that one of the things frequent passengers loved about her was the crew. For a long time, she was the only Cunard ship (not counting "the yachts of Seaborne" and the brief time they had Caronia), so crew stayed with that one ship and became family--amongst themselves AND with the repeat passengers. Being greeted with "welcome home" really meant something. As for decor, ship or hotel, I've seen some that were ugly and some that were beautiful. But even the beautiful ones weren't necessarily decor I'd want at home. But they fit the purpose for which they were designed. And on the subject of design, I do wonder about those chairs--they're everywhere. Different fabrics, but same chair. Comments about whether they'll be comfortable make my think they might be designed more for short-term sitting rather than a leisurely lounge. My mother used to talk about working in NYC in the 1950s and eating at Chock full o'Nuts lunch counter/coffee shops. She said a story went around that the counter stools were specifically designed to become noticeably uncomfortable after 20 minutes so that people would move on and another customer could be served. Perhaps that's what Cunard is up to with those chairs?

I'm never sure what to call those loungers in the pool, either. The thing I dislike in thermal pools is the shower for massaging back and neck. It splashes everywhere, and I don't use it because I find it uncomfortably forceful. I just want restful bubbles.