DaisyUK

One thing I forgot to mention is the dress code. It was a treat to see everyone dressed up in the evenings on gala nights, and generally looking so smart and elegant on all evenings. I loved taking the time to get ready and having the occasion to wear formal clothes which doesn't happen too often these days. My husband grumbled a little while packing, but I think even he appreciated the effort everyone went to and enjoyed the ambience created.

7 hours ago, seasickphil said:

Daisy,

I have cruised previously with Regent and in Queens Grills, i don't understand what you mean when you say. We especially liked the a la carte approach to excursions and drinks which we felt gave us much more flexibility than `everything included up to a price point' as offered by Regent. On my next Regent cruise in a few weeks time, in Rome there are 40 excursions available to choose from and i'm sure you know, if you ask Regent for any particular drink (within reason) and if they can source it, then this will be available in the bars aboard the ship. If the included wines at dinner are not to your liking then the wines available to purchase are both extensive and very well priced.

Perhaps I didn't express it very well, but what I meant was that we felt more inclined to buy a really nice bottle of wine on Cunard, because we weren't paying for a drinks package. On Regent, we tend to stick to wines by the glass from the list of  (very acceptable) included wines because we feel like we've paid for the wine package one way or another and so it feels to be a bit much to buy wine in addition to the drinks package. Same thing with excursions. If excursions are included, then we are less likely to go with a car and driver (although we have done this in St Petersburg with Regent) because we have already paid for their (again, very acceptable) included excursions. If we're not paying for drinks and excursions within the fare, then it gives us more flexibility (money) to pay for what we really want. That said, we love Regent and it remains our go-to cruise line. Personally, I would prefer it if drinks and excursions were not included in their prices so that we could pick and choose exactly what we want, but it's not a huge deal, just an observation. For example, let's suppose that the drinks element is $69 per person per day, then we could buy a really nice bottle of wine for $140 which would last us at least a day and probably 2. Apologies for the long-winded answer!! In any event, we like both cruise lines, and will hopefully enjoy many more cruises on both Regent and Cunard.

Thanks for your replies.

Host Hattie - our next trip was to be a transatlantic, Southampton to Fort Lauderdale, but we have just changed our plans and so are doing another 4-day to Bruges (or at least we have booked this cruise as a placeholder and will do it if we don't find something we like better).

Ah - never thought of using the art gallery as  passageway. Will remember that for next time.

Aft suites - definitely would think twice about having one of these in the warm weather. As stated by kohl1957, the music really is a brain-dead, dreadful noise. Other than that they are lovely suites.

As for the curry - it was very good indeed. Without this board  I wouldn't have known that we could order off menu. The chef made the curry, with rice but also a wonderful lentil dahl and made from scratch poppadoms, roti's, mango chutney and raita. It made a refreshing change from the usual menu.

Jonem - I read your comments about Hamburg. What a complete disaster that was! My husband and I walked 14,000 steps in the freezing cold waiting for the coach to collect us and take us back to the ship. Why on earth this excursion was arranged, when everything was closed is absolutely beyond me!!

Having received so much helpful advice on these forums prior to our first QM2 cruise, I thought I’d give some feedback on our recent QM2 4-day cruise.

As background, we are a mature couple in our 60s and 70s, and we have previously cruised many times with Regent and Crystal, and a couple of times with Oceania.

We decided to try a 4-day taster on the QM2 to find out whether Cunard is a fit for us, having never been onboard a large ship so, for what it's worth, here are our thoughts..

Accommodation

We were in a Q1, which was simply huge. Like the rest of the ship, we felt it was generally a bit dated but we were nevertheless very happy with it. We tend to agree with advice we received on these boards about the balcony. On a warm weather cruise, there is little privacy and lots of noise from the pool deck – not least of which was the somewhat irritating musak. For those not worried about this aspect, it was certainly very generous in size with lots of comfortable seating, and part of it is under cover. Would be more than happy to stay in the same suite again.

Restaurant

Food was good to very good. Loved having the same table each evening with the same waitstaff taking care of us. We felt the menu was a little limited in terms of variety and diversity. Having said that, we requested a curry off menu on the final evening, and it was as good a curry as we have ever eaten.

Service

Without doubt, the best service we have received on any cruise ship, ever. Our butler was outstanding; nothing was too much trouble.

Entertainment

We were somewhat disappointed with entertainment/enrichment etc. In our opinion, the shows and lectures were just ‘OK’ and really no better (and in some cases not as good) as the smaller ships we have sailed on, whereas I had expected them to be far superior. 

Ship

We felt the décor was a bit tired, and the layout was very strange to us. I suppose in time one gets used to it, but having to walk through the middle of a restaurant to get from one end of the ship to the other seemed really odd, and must be irritating for the people eating. What we did find fantastic was the stability of the ship. It was so smooth we hardly knew we were moving, and there was no rattling in our room at any time. We were very impressed with this aspect.

Conclusions

We enjoyed our cruise and have another one booked on the QM2, but will continue to sail on Regent also. On balance, we prefer the Regent (new) ships, but can certainly see the appeal of Cunard. We especially liked the a la carte approach to excursions and drinks which we felt gave us much more flexibility than ‘everything included up to a price point’ as offered by Regent.

Phew, thank you for this thread, which has been enormously helpful for me! Think I've done everything on the list now, and looking forward to our first Cunard cruise tomorrow!

I just filled in our PLF for a departure on 11th Feb, and it seems the form has been updated. It now offers the option that 'I am arriving in the UK after 4am GMT on 11th Feb' . 

I hope so too!

Sounds like an interesting neighbour.. I had not heard of her, but google helped me out. What a fascinating life.

I will certainly report back. We are very excited to be trying our first Cunard cruises. Have never been on a ‘big’ ship before so it will be a whole new experience 😊

Many thanks BigMike for your very comprehensive response. All the info given in this thread has helped us to make the decision to stay with the aft suite. I am now somewhat concerned about the smoking area, and have my fingers crossed that this is no longer in use!

Thanks, once again, for the responses. That photo is very telling! Both our cruises are going to be 'cold' so hopefully privacy on the balcony won't be a huge issue, but I certainly take the point.

Yes, I had read a review which mentioned the lack of privacy and noise from the deck. Am hoping this doesn't spoil it for us.

Thank you for responding. I looked at the videos also and thought the same thing, but wondered whether there was anything I had missed. It's a special year for us, so we are treating ourselves - assuming, of course, that the pandemic allows us to go ahead with our travel plans.

Hi, am booked in suite 9080 but have noticed that 10004 has become available (same category). Any opinions as to which might be the best option?

Thank you Host Hattie. Fingers crossed either or both cruises actually sail! 

Thank you all who responded, for your help and advice. I emailed the 'executive@' address, and have received a response which confirms that we will be able to sail on our cruises this month and next which is a huge relief. The issue we had has been dragging on since July last year, when we had to cancel an August cruise (which ended up being canceled anyway) due to Cunard not being able to accept our proofs of vaccination. So, a heartfelt thank you; these boards are such an amazing resource😊

Again, thanks for all the advice and recommendations. I have sent an email to the 'Executive' email mentioned above. It's a complicated situation which I don't think would be easy to explain on Faceache or Twitter so I am hoping that I receive a satisfactory response to my email. Will report back.

That is extraordinarily helpful. Thank you!

Thank you for your advice.. unfortunately, customer services have proved to be hopeless so far and I don't do Facebook (faceache😅). I will try customer services again, but don't have much faith. Am regretting booking these cruises at the moment.

Hi, am wondering whether any of  you experienced Cunard cruisers might be able to help me. I have never sailed with Cunard previously, but have 2 cruises booked, both on the QM2, one in Feb and the other in March this year. I have contacted Customer Services because of a vaccination issue which might potentially prevent my husband and I from boarding and cannot get a reply, despite my original email several months ago and several chasers since. I did receive a phone call a few weeks ago from someone at Cunard who apologised profusely for the delay, asked me for some additional info (which I sent) and said she would get back to me, but so far has not. We are now within 3 weeks of travel for the first cruise, and I am somewhat jittery. Thanks for any help anyone might be able to offer.

Don't know if this is a possibility, but the one addition I would find useful would be to be able to filter the suites available. On Cunard, for example, you can filter QG suites (or any others I imagine). On RSSC, I have to click on the cruise I'm interested in, only to find out that the suite category I am interested in is sold out and it can be a long process just to find a cruise with availability in the suite I want..

Port Royal - Thank you so much. I don't know how I missed this. I did a google search prior to asking the question and although I did find some videos of the suite, they were really old and poor quality. 

Hi, can anyone help me  with any up to date, good quality pics/video/floorplan of suite 9080 (Windsor Suite) on QM2? Or just any useful info? Many thanks..

Slightly off topic, but myself and my husband are having a terrible time trying to get information out of Cunard. We had our first 2 vaccines in the USA and our booster in the UK. Because the first 2 vaccines were administered outside of the UK, they do not show up on the NHS app (there is a well known blip on the NHS app, which the NHS is trying to correct but have not done so yet), although they do show up on our NHS medical records. Despite this, plus having the original vaccination cards showing the date, batch no, vaccine manufacturer etc, we were unable to get a definitive answer from Cunard as to whether this would be acceptable for a recent cruise so we had to cancel it. We have another cruise booked in Feb, and despite several emails to Cunard since October, we still have not heard from them as to whether they will accept our proof of vaccine. Very frustrating. 

No contact tracing on our recent 11-22 cruise.

Ross4356 - I'm sure you will have a wonderful time. There is a great atmosphere on board, John the CD is doing a great job (really enjoyed his show). The food, service and entertainment were all fantastic. The ship is absolutely beautiful.  I can't think of anything that we didn't enjoy. With the ship only half-full, the service is even better than usual. Enjoy!

I will be the first to respond..

We are just back from the 11-22 Sept sailing around the British Isles. We really couldn't fault a thing (and we are picky!) We thought Regent did an amazing job balancing safety and keeping amenities open. We had no problem at all with the mask mandate (wear one when walking around inside, and take it off when eating and drinking pretty much covered it).

In England, the mask mandate is no longer in place, so we felt safer on the cruise than we do in everyday life at the moment, plus everyone was double-vaccinated and tested. Yes, a few people might not have been wearing their masks quite correctly while on the coaches, and this has clearly annoyed some passengers, but as we were on excursions where mask wearing once we were off the coach was at the discretion of the general public themselves, it didn't really bother us too much.

All in all, we had a terrific time and would do it again in a heartbeat.