Jack E Dawson

MJC, It was just shampoo. Jack

ak1004, We did receive a survey, via e-mail, two days after we disembarked this cruise. It was fairly long and offered many areas to make comments. You may want to check your span/junk mail box. When it came to the WiFi service, I did not mince words. Jack

I do not Luv2Crus40, we only use the hot tobs but I’m sure other will respond. Jack

Good point bluemarble. Jack

Wow Steve, that seem pretty high. I just looked on the Cunard website at eastbound Crossings and randomly picked an Aug. 28th - Sept 4th voyage. The prices were dramatically lower for a single cabin. Jack

aungrl, Please except my apologies, I failed to notice that autocorrect had changed your name form "aungrl", as I had typed, to "angry", which I'm sure is not the case. Jack

angry, The WiFi on our QM2 was unusable for us. We used our CWC credit to partially offset the cost of the week long WiFi plan. As lissie suggested above, we had planned to use WhatApp to communicate with our family and basic internet to post updates on CruiseCritic. After spending a very frustrating first day unable to connect I went down to the Purser's Desk on the second day to cancel the WiFi plan. A very nice guest services agent persuaded me not to cancel. She reloaded the program and was able to get a connection. However, the Purser's Desk seemed to be the only location where I could connect. Finally, on the third day, I went down to the Purser's Desk again and cancelled the plan. I was able to do so with no push back and received a full refund. By coincidence, the passenger next to me at the Purser's Desk was also cancelling their WiFi plan and received a full refund. I think that on our cruise there were a lot of WiFi issues. Jack

What about seating at the bar in Golden Lion, Commodore Club and Chart Room. Is that still prohibited? Thanks Jack

Sabrina66, There was no random or ship wide mandatory testing. I suspect that you are correct that these were close contacts of passengers who had tested positive. The announcements were usually made mid to late morning, 4 bells then the announcement. I know that this is a serious situation but i still found it amusing how when those 4 bells sounded you could hear a pin drop in whichever room you were in. Then the big group sigh of relief if your name wasn't called. By the mid point of the cruise Dee and I figured that even if we did catch covid (we had had our SECOND booster 4 weeks before boarding) we probably wouldn't test positive before reaching NYC so we started to really mingle at breakfast and lunch as well as in the evenings and of course in gossip central, the launderettes. In talking with a fair number of passengers, my best guess is there were very few cases of COVID on board, maybe between 10 - 20 tops. Again, this is just a guess. No one spoke of losing their waiter or steward and all of the performers/speakers were there throughout the voyage. I can tell you that we did not see a single crew member without a mask or wearing their mask improperly either inside our outside on the deck. There were staff with bottles of hand sanitizer everywhere and they were not timid in dispensing it. I would swear those folks were being paid on commission. Jack

When we boarded the QM2 in Southampton two weeks ago the fridge was already empty except for a bottle of Pol Acker and two Champagne glasses. There was a letter on the desk saying that you could have your fridge stocked, and specify with what items if you wanted, for a charge. Jack

No David, a negative test was not required to disembark. I was very surprised when told this on the ship. It is hard to believe that a cruise ship, with known COVID cases onboard, was allowed to pull into New York and disembark 1500 passengers without any testing requirement. I actually checked with the Purser's Desk 3 times confirming this. I was told that the only people requiring testing were those who were immediately flying out on International flights. When we went through Customs the issue wasn't even raised. Jack

navybankerteacher, I believe the Silver Spirits Drinks Package on Viking is around $20/day. I'm not sure that would qualify for being in an alcoholic stupor. Jack

Actually Harpy3, I'm happy to report that is for everyone. This has been a topic here on the Cunard Board many times. We just got off the QM2 a little over a week ago and still true. Some passengers literally bring wine on by the case. It's been that was for years. Jack

Steve, We also live in Chicago (Riverwoods actually) and just got back from a Crossing a week ago yesterday. Just to be clear about the time issue. On an eastbound Crossing the ship's clocks are moved ahead one hour at noon each day. So you loose an hour right in the middle of your day. This happens on 5 of the days. Trying to do lunch, afternoon tea in the Queen's Room and dinner just kind of becomes one big meal. On the west bound Crossings on 5 nights the ship's clocks move back from 2:00AM to 1:00AM giving you an extra hour of sleep. Because of all the entertainment that goes on in the evenings, that extra hour is always very welcomed by us. We are rarely to bed before midnight. This was our 3rd (once in a lifetime) Crossing on the QM2 and we always go over at least a week ahead of time and travel in Europe/UK. There are pro's and con's to both eastbound and westbound crossings and certainly no right or wrong, just personal taste. Jack

We decided not to walk from the Holiday Inn to the ship. It just wasn't how I wanted to start a voyage on the QM2. Our Cab ride was 5.80 pounds. I tipped the driver 3 pounds and he was very appreciative. The weather was actually perfect for walking and yes, we could have done it. We had already jumped so many hurdles getting to that point, we just wanted to get on board. Jack

Couldn't agree more exlondoner. Jack

One other tip. Before each of the gala nights we had champagne in our cabin with the friends we were traveling with. I would order a wine bucket with ice from our cabin steward and extra glasses from Room Service about an hour before our friends would arrive. The cabin steward would always come by and grab the bottle of Champagne so that he could put it in the wine bucket first and then add the ice. He would also bring a few extra pillow chocolates to nibble on. Very nice touch. When we would get back to our room at the evening, everything was all picked up. Jack

Kristal Blade, Your driver should have no problem stopping if you let him know he will be compensated. If you know what you want, may I suggest that you call ahead to the liquor and have your ordered pulled and waiting for you. Then just pop in, pay for it and you are on your way. Jack

Maybe, but it was also drained. Jack

The Pavilion Pool and hot tubs were all open. The outdoor pools were closed but the outdoor hot tubs were open. Yes, the spa is adhering to 2 hour sessions. I think it was $35 per session. About half way through the voyage Dee and I each received a $40 gift certificate for services at Mareel. Dee had her hair washed and blown out. It was $45 plus $10 tip for a net cost of $15. She had this done on the Friday Gala Night day. They did an amazing job hence the generous tip. Dee said everyone at Mareel was very nice. Jack

Yes, you can share a table with anyone in the MDR. We shared a table for 6 and a table for 4 with strangers. This was at breakfast. At dinner you are able to do this at the Anytime seating. Jack

Half the fun is the excitement building up to he trip muggo11. Have a great voyage. Jack

mbfletcher, We were also a group of 2 couples. Our friends, who have never sailed on Cunard before, had a 2:15PM boarding time, we had a 3:15PM boarding time. I was a little surprised at this since we are Gold level and had a better cabin grade. I called Cunard and the agent told me that boarding times are random for everyone except Diamond, Platinum and Grills but she said that we should show up at 2:15 with our friends. However, when we finally arrived Southampton we realized that the luggage for the 4 of us was not going to fit into one cab. When the hotel booked our cab they informed us that we had a noon pick so we went with it. At the terminal it became pretty obvious that the majority of the passengers also showed up between noon and 1:00PM. Our friends dutifully showed up at 2:15PM and boarded in half the time we did. We had breakfast with some folks one morning who showed up at 3:15PM and boarded in under 20 minutes. At no point did anyone in the checkin process care what our checkin time was. Regarding the entertainment, I can't say enough about the wonderful performances of the Cunard singers and dancers. They did 3 completely different shows and just blew us away. They have definitely taken it up a few notches. the other performers in the Royal Court Theater were Suzanne Godfrey - Flutist, Mikhail Shilyaev - Classical Pianist, Phil Melbourne - Comedian, The Revolvers - 60's Rock Music Review. In other venues around the ship were there was a jazz trio, a father daughter duo doing Beatles and Stones music, a father and son duo doing folk and Irish music and Paul Paul Garthwaite with his 22-string guitar, one of our favorites. There were also other performers mentioned above. As to drink prices, London Pride on tap was $3.80, a Cosmo was $11.00 and a Manhattan (Makers Mark) was $12.50. These prices do not include the auto gratuity. Jack

We just got off a Crossing on the QM2 this pass Sunday. When we boarded in Southampton on May 8th our bags were a clinking:)

The drinks package, at $69/person/per day is pretty stiff for us and we drink a lot. Both passengers in the cabin must sign up for it. Don't forget Cunard allows you to bring unlimited wine, spirits, soda and water onboard. Jack