DT_PB_all_at_sea

Some do. There are ships that cater superbly for this.

Carnival Cruise Line - RCL - NCL.........

Hi fellow cruisers, I will be sailing Cunard from Southampton to NY in 2019. Could someone please tell me where Cunard docks. I have read Brooklyn and also Manhattan. Thanks for any info.

 

Sandra

I asked Cunard on Twitter which NY Cruise Terminals do their ships dock in? - they advise:

CC members. I asked my travel agent to check what was happening at Cunard - she kindly did and received a very speedy response.

This is what Cunard has said:

Sorry, I can’t agree with your statement. Last year wetravelled to Spain staying in an Adults Only, All Inclusive 4* luxury hotel.Cost covered flights, accommodation all meals and all drinks (alcoholic ornon-alcoholic). Room facilities were better than stateroom, sports facilitiesand quality entertainment was provided. The holiday cost was not similar, itwas half what we have paid for a similar length cruise. So it is quite wrong to say that theseholidays are not available.

I’m also interested to know which Cunard cruise you havebeen on which includes free alcoholic drinks in the fare? On board creditperhaps, but that is something different.

Hi Margana, we have to agree to disagree.

• NB.: During our stays in Queens Grill staterooms Cunard include a fully stocked in suite drinks bar; with your choice of spirits + champagne/wine - and is refilled as necessary during the voyage. Also as you say the often very generous OBC is a benefit too.
  

Glad you liked your last cheap Adults Only 4 star 'All Inclusive' package holiday in Spain but with respect I think I am not tempted but will stick, for now, with Cunard in The Grills.

I agree and from a practical point of view, the ships are pretty cold, I wouldn't expect to see many swim suit wearing passengers in the public areas.

Hi Hattie - perhaps that's the solution to the current and dramatic 'Dress Code(gate)' - get Cunard to turn down the air conditioning temperature EVEN LOWER in the evening - THEY EVERYONE WILL HAVE TO WEAR A JACKET AND NO SHORTS:evilsmile:!! Just a suggestion ;)

Sorry, but when was the last time you were on a “European” beach? It is a very common sight to see men walking around the promenades in Spain without tops and women in skimpy bikinis, usually displaying obscene amounts of excess flab!

I don’t care which cruise ship/Liner I’m on, I don’t want to see anyone in public areas other than the pool decks without tee shirts or cover ups.

I also think that some of the comments on this thread are hilarious! [emoji23]

 

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We have grown tired of the dumbing down of cruising, even on what used to be premium lines like Celebrity. On our next to last Celebrity Cruise, there was no enforcement of the evening dress code in the MDR. When two guys showed up in shorts and T-shirts on evening chic night and were allowed in, and then arm-wrestled at the table with the waiter and supervisor watching, we decided a change was necessary. We are fed up with chair hogs, feral children, an MDR atmosphere that is closer to a Texas Roadhouse than a cruise ship, and over-amplified music in the Constellation Lounge where we used to be able to meet other PAX over a drink without shouting to be heard.

 

We now have a cruise on the QM2 and one on Viking Ocean booked.

 

What can we expect on Cunard? Will it be a more genteel style of cruising?

We used to sail with Silversea (when they had only 2 ships) then discovered Cunard, 19 cruises later we are still with Cunard. We still love Cunard, for many reasons. At the moment we see no reason to change that - but you may want to look at the Cunard thread Dress Code Designations. We love the formal/smart aspect of evenings on board a Cunard ship, as do many others. The dust has not yet settled on this recent concern, indeed we are holding off making a judgement until we complete our June 2018 TA double crossing.

We are also looking at booking either a Viking River Cruise or Viking Ocean cruises - if we want to try casual smart we wanted to try a smaller quality line assuming they are consistent in ensuring the dress code is followed.

Hello all. Question on the spa on QM2. Does being in Princess Grills give you complimentary access to any spa facilities? Thanks.

 

 

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Hello, sorry to say no. If you are likely to visit the spa a few times during the cruise then it may be worth considering a Spa Pass - maybe try it once then purchase it if you like the spa. On QM2 we do.

Tonopah..I'm with you. I ride a Harley and camp out about 1/3 of the time on long rides. I restore cars and can never quite get the grease out from under my fingernails. I do believe in following stated dress codes for venues and expect the rules to be enforced.

 

We are doing a Hamburg to NYC crossing in August, mostly as a fun way to get home after several weeks on land in Europe. We were looking forward to the more refined atmosphere that we thought existed on Cunard and planned to ship a bag of cruise clothes to ship so that we would be appropriately dressed for the cruise.

 

Now, it sounds like if I squeeze a blazer into my land tour bag, I should be ready to cruise. If I wanted the mass market, county fair, atmosphere, I would have booked one of those lines.

 

It will still be a fun way to get across the Atlantic.

Bon Voyage - you will have a wonderful time. Please make my day and tell me you are travelling with the 'Harley'! Have a great voyage, David

I’ve been lurking on this thread. Mister and I are booked for our first crossing on the Queen Mary 2 in August. We are members of “the great unwashed”. We ride motorcycles. We have chickens and raise vegetables. We each worked and retired from two jobs. This will be “the trip of a lifetime”. I have never “dressed”. I’ve worn formals maybe three times in my life (my own wedding was not one of those times.) I am one of those stressing over the dress codes. I finally bought a couple of what for me are VERY formal outfits last week. I spent a considerable amount of money on them. Will I take them back? No. For us, the “new” dress code will be the only one we’ve ever known. We are looking forward to the gala nights. I’ve never seen my husband of 30 years in a tux (although we both have worn formal military dress complete with cummerbund and black tie). If others choose to wear jeans, well, that’s their decision. We’re going to dress. Someone will probably look at me and say I’m underdressed; others may look at me and know immediately that I bought my clothing from a {gasp} department store. I will not look like Audrey Hepburn (my body has more in common with Bilbo Baggins than Eliza Doolittle). I’m going to enjoy myself either way. Those of you who would dress to the nines? I will love to see you in all your finery. And those who wear jeans in the theater? Well, even though it isn’t what I was prepared for, maybe they, like us, scrimped and saved for a once-every-thirty-years experience.

Hi - you and your Mr sound like excellent people - I would love to have a drink with you any time on a Cunard and I am sure you both look as well turned out as the best of them. Bon Voyage and you enjoy your smart and elegant cruise - David

I don't see the comparison between the QM2 and a beach resort. I would only sail the QM2 on a crossing which I view as a means of transportation, not a destination where I will be checking on everyone else's wardrobe. If Cunard decides to open a nudist restaurant where not only formal, but all clothes are optional, I could care less. Until another line starts doing frequent crossings throughout the year I will continue to cross on the QM2 as opposed to spending the same amount of money on a ten hour flight.

Winsurfboy - its called 'STYLE' - Google it!

Having just been on the Q.V. South America Adventure, the dress code was not enforced in the theatre. People were entering wearing jumpers, shirts no jackets and all manor of casual dress. There was though a pre recorded message played 15 minutes before the performance stating the dress code applied in the theatre, but no one took any notice.

 

 

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And no doubt not a single Cunard staff member or Officer did a thing about it.

They're probably giving themselves the Bank Holiday weekend off.

As Hattie says: be fair "don't shoot the piano player" the customer facing staff are not responsible for this mess.

Its the ineffective senior executives that caused this situation by not being totally transparent about proposed the change in advance BEFORE MAKING THE CHANGE.

The front end staff taking our calls, emails and the brunt of our frustration deserve a breather.

As this thread continues it sort of astounds me how detached from reality some of this is. Cunard operates the same size ships that carnival, HAL, Costa, and Celebrity so. They are by definition a mass market cruise line and have been since they cut loose the Sea Goddesses and Caronia. They have good marketing- they present an upscale image. But you’re not boutique when you’re carrying 2-3000 passengers. If anything the QE2 had her own style but the QM2 on have sort of been cartoonish versions of older ships- that sort of Hollywood glamor that someone once said “never was but always will be”. If I want to luxuriate in Art Deco splendor and dress up every night I’ll do it in the authentic confines of The Savoy. Cunard ships are extremely pleasant and I prefer their decor to most others but it has more in common authenticity wise with Disneyland than it does the Queen Mary in Long Beach.

 

Now after that rant I’ll say that I like Cunard very much- I’ve been sailing them for 40 years and have seen them evolve from a struggling holdover of another time to a well run corporate outfit. I’ll continue to sail them from time to time regardless if jackets are required in the theater or not. But let’s call a spade a spade if we’re going to have a spirited argument about what they represent as a brand and how that effects our dress.

Bad example - The London 'Savoy' is not longer an authentic Art Deco classic hotel since Fairmont got there hands on it. They sold of most of the old Savoy fittings, gutted its deco public rooms and bedrooms, sold of the original art and put in imitation Deco fittings and cheap Poster Art pictures = it may be successful but - it is about as Disney as your could get.

I have no idea.

It's disappointing that the staff need to do any enforcing, the dress codes are clearly printed in the Daily Programme and signs posted at the entrance to rooms but people still stroll in apparently completely oblivious to the fact that they are wearing a shirt when every other man in the room has a jacket on.

Totally agree Hattie - if they can read they know. This is the 'age of entitlement' - in other words "I am entitled to do as I want regardless" - hence, IMO the need for the Cunard staff to tell those not towing the line "there is a dress code Sir/Madam please...........thank you"

Will all other areas, where dress code applies, be strictly enforced by Cunard?

Highly doubtable IMO it is currently not enforced AT ALL.

We were on QE last summer, it must have been about 5.45pm, and we sauntered into the Commodore Club and looked at the cocktail menu. "Over the top" was cocktail of the day. We sat down and placed our order. It was amazing, gin, brandy and lots of smoke, served elaborately in a glass teapot. We sat down to enjoy. The waiter came over and whispered to my guest, "Excuse me sir, after 6pm, gentlemen are required to wear a jacket and trousers". He did this very discreetly. My guest returned to our stateroom, quickly changed with appropriate attire and returned to enjoy probably the best ever cocktail.

OMG he is totally unique and should be promoted to Hotel Manager on one of their ships = IMMEDIATELY. Did you get his name as I will try to get him roster'd to our future sailings. Heck I will even pay his salary!! :D

The problem with that is that the standard (non-Grills) is not 'luxury' travel.

 

It is certainly not unpleasant, but it definitely doesn't deliver an equivalent service to a real luxury hotel.

I disagree with your statement

- show me a 4 or 5 star luxury hotel that charges a similar average daily room/cabin rate Cunard charge

- AND includes all unlimited meals and & alcoholic drinks, complimentary room service, full entertainment, guest social gatherings, enrichment programmes, complimentary sports facilities, complimentary laundries = THEY DONT EXHIST AT ANY £

As a fellow Scot, let my try to put your mind at rest. The HAL brand, much maligned on this thread, 'dumbed down' to the same Gala and Smart Attire evening dress code and has had that for a couple of years now. We are not long returned from an 18 night Westerdam cruise to Hawaii from San Diego. The ship had mainly Americans and Canadians, many Australians and Japanese, and only 22 Brits....4 of whom were Scots.

 

Anyway, to my point...we found the evening dress to be probably about 80% compliant, although the average age was certainly well into 60's so that generation do tend to dress more formally. We are early 60's and enjoyed that ambience. My gut feeling is that Cunard dress will not change in the short term, certainly not by August. Go with a positive attitude, as we Scots tend to do, and you will have an amazing cruise.

It is the 20% who don't comply we are concerned about!!!

I've spent some time thinking long and hard about what has prompted this "terminology change" from Cunard and I think I have an answer.

 

Below is a link to Carnival's 2017 Strategic Report and IFRS Financial Statements. The Strategic report makes for interesting reading.

 

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9Njg5NDgyfENoaWxkSUQ9Mzk5OTEyfFR5cGU9MQ==&t=1

 

 

I quote from Section 1:B:II:b: Positive Demand Trends:

From a demographic perspective, two age groups, the Baby Boomers and the Millennial generations, have in recent years experienced trends that positively affect demand for cruising. The Baby Boomer generation likes to pursue an active lifestyle and has the desire and the means to travel and enjoys multi-generational cruising. The Millennial generation has now surpassed the size of the Baby Boomer generation and represents the fastest growing demographic segment of the vacation industry. This group expresses a strong desire to travel and share new experiences, a mindset that should continue to foster growth for the industry. A recent study by the American Society of Travel Agents (“ASTA”) indicates that the Millennial generation has as positive a view of cruising as the Baby Boomer generation.

 

So let's think about what Baby Boomers and Millennials would respond to in terms of terminology. I have no doubt Carnival has spent a LOT of money to do just that in order to make Cunard an aspirational brand for the higher-income earning bracket within those key groups.

 

Would "Formal" and "Informal" work? I don't think so, and I suggest Carnival's research has found the same.

"Smart Attire" and "Gala" is probably more likely to be terminology that the newer cruisers might respond to positively. I'm sure focus groups have identified just that.

 

So...will we see baseball caps or dress denim in the Britannia dining rooms? Highly unlikely. It's in Carnival's interests to keep the Cunard brand exactly where it is: luxury travel, but not "ultra luxury". That moniker has been adopted by the Seabourn brand if I read this document correctly.

 

In my humble opinion, I don't think Carnival would be well served to turn Cunard into a more diluted version of their current offering to appeal to a wider base. I think what they are trying to do is make the brand a touch more accessible to the affluent Baby Boomer & Millennial by using terminology they will respond to rather than terminology that might have been found relatable by generations prior to these groups.

 

ps.

In all this should I, as a Gen X-er, be a little miffed that we don't even rate a mention? To quote a clever twitter contributor "Whenever I see Millennials and Baby Boomers arguing it seems they forget there's a generation between that despises them both!"

Hello - a well put together point. As a contented 'late Gen X/Sloane Ranger' I am more than happy not to be mentioned by anyone at Carnival Corp.......unless they are the people who upgrade cabins but given the comments I have made on CC I don't think that is ever likely again!! LOL

The loyal customers they are loosing are the older generation who have the time and the money to spend £15,000 on a world cruise.The ones they will gain will be the 3 and 4 day cruisers who spend £4/500 and who want a change from their all inclusive Mediterranean holiday

Hi - we are booked on the QV World Cruise next year - I wish we had only spent £15k - your point is spot on; I wonder how much profit they will make out of the 3/4 day taster cruises, bringing their own booze on board and avoiding spending much on board because of the bar rates and 15% service charge.

Sadly, I think you're right. It seems like a waste of time to change the names of the categories when the descriptions are not changing. I believe there's more to come. "Stealth change" is a good term.

 

So they have expanded the range of places where passengers can go without following the dress code. I have little expectation that the remaining formal locations will be respected. There is an arrogance in many (NOT ALL) of the people who won't dress up on formal nights--the "I don't wanna, you can't make me" people. I used to see it on HAL before they caved. And I've seen it a few times on QM2.

 

I saw a couple in cargo shorts and t-shirts in the hallway outside the Chart Room on QM2 around 7:30 on a formal night. I was waiting for friends, and I watched as this couple looking uncertainly into the Chart Room. They would have to have been incredibly stupid not to see that nobody was dressed the way they were. I said "If you're looking for somewhere casual to go, the Winter Garden is available for people who don't want to dress for formal night, and you can have dinner at the buffet." The man said that they'd already eaten in the dining room and then changed to be more comfortable. I pointed out that Cunard passengers remain dressed up all evening, and repeated that the Winter Garden was the designated bar for people who didn't dress up. He asked me about going to the show and I said they weren't supposed to go dressed like that. We went to the show and sat in the balcony. When I looked around the room, admiring all the finery, I noticed that couple downstairs, sitting right in the front row.

 

If Cunard wants to give the don't-dress-up passengers more places to go to in the evening, then they need to show some regard for those of us who do appreciate the ambiance of formal nights, and enforce the dress code in the designated formal locations.

 

But I'm not betting on it.

The onboard meet and greet staff and the maître d's/bar managers do absolutely nothing to enforce any kind of dress code. They seem to be told to turn a blind eye or simply cant be bothered. It can only now get worse.

I cancelled my December 2018 back to back transatlantic cruise. No need to spend 14 days on the seas among a sea of jeans and other less than inspiring attire both day and night. I can obtain that atmosphere here at home for the price of a cup of coffee and a muffin.

Sorry to hear that - we would consider cancelling next years full World Cruise on QV if the un refundable deposit was not so high. But should the two cruises we have booked and paid later this summer are adversely affected we may still consider a WC cancellation.

Have a long term trusted friend in the USA, who is a Carnival Exec. We talked, and at this point in time it looks as if Q919H may be our last Cunard cruise.

Hi - very reluctantly we may follow suit - we have x2 cruises booked this year 2018 and a full world Cruise on QV along with Alaska in 2019 and so far looks like they will be our last cruises with Cunard or any other Carnival Corp line for that matter.

I disagree that Cunard are losing customers because of the dress codes. Indeed they seem to be more booked up than I have ever seen before. Also there are far fewer reduced fares around which would indicate fewer spaces needing filling. I don't really think they could claim people are not booking because of the dress code. Also, I know a lot of people who don't go on CC who love and book Cunard because of the formal dress codes. One has already mentioned looking elsewhere if the codes change further. Cunard needs to be very careful not to lose its USP and all its very loyal customers. I really hope things don't relax further.

Hi - I agree with you. Cunard has a pretty unique USP - classic ships with a formal dress code - hence the ability to charge more for the average stateroom and more for the on-board services such as drinks with a higher % service charge (15%). Dramatically downgrade that USP and you no longer have the ability to charge a premium on cabins and on-board drinks/etc.