richard_london

It could be water quality?  I know she has scrubbers, but I understand to operate in the fjords they need to be closed loop.  But what about other discharges?

When on a previous QM2, whilst docked in Stavanger (the last stop on the cruise, previous ones included Olden, Flamm and Bergen), a rather unpleasant smelling, oily discharge was released from the ship for a considerable period.  It was right under the two shell doors just aft of the rear stabiliser on the port side of the ship. 

Does anyone know the source?  See photos.  It made me heave on first smelling it.  I then went ashore and it was still "fizzing" to the surface, and still smelling awful. I was quite surprised about how blatantly it was being discharged.

Having cruised with Fred. before the pandemic, and having two cruises booked during the initial phase of the pandemic cancelled I've not rebooked and sadly I don't feel I will at any point soon.

I've cruised with P&O and Cunard and Fred. Service on P&O is poor, but I've found Cunard and Fred. comparable, can be slightly better or worse depending on the cruise is just down to luck.  But Fred. have always offered more interesting intineraries than the Carnival brands, who tend to repeat the same cruises each year.  Fred. has much greater diversity and more interesting cruises.  Fred.'s ships also had a greater mix of solo cabins.  Those two things were the differentiators for me.

But it is the fleet that is the problem.  I love the Balmoral but I can't fathom why Fred. bought the two HAL ships, they just didn't sit right with the rest of the fleet.  Being larger than the Bouddica and Black Watch Fred. immediately limited where they could go (Kiel Canal transit for example).  Borealis is already 25 years old (but has just done one year of crusing with Fred.) and sadly it can't compete with Saga and Viking ships which are modern, efficient and better appointed inside.  It feels a dated product when compared to other cruise lines and isn't distinctive enough to stand out anymore.  And trying to step up with larger ships that than Bouddica and Black Watch in a market recovering from the worst of the pandemic and fill them to a high occupancy rate was always going to be a challenge. 

I was trying to think what Fred. stood for in my mind but I couldn't think what they are and what they are positioned as.  I was looking on the Fred. website about the "Olsen Way" https://www.fredolsencruises.com/the-olsen-way but it is all quite meaningless.  With cruise lines desparate to make profits after years of losses due to Covid, the market is ultra competitive and I sadly think Fred. are being crowded out.

I'm mainy a solo traveller and I won't justify the expense of a Fred. cruise for a dated product, despite the nice itineraries.  Solo prices for high-grade cabins are overpriced for what they are, so extra perks aren't going to encourage me to cruise again with Fred.

The Britannia Club on the QV is beautiful.  As it was retrofitted in the 2017 refit it is a different style to the rest of the ship and compared to the QE.  I much prefer the QV's BC over the QE but that is down to personal taste. 

The first two photos (the decor is blacks/golds/mirrors) is the QV, the other two are the QE.

Having got of the QV at the weekend, I spent a bit of time onboard comparing deck plans of the two ships.

For the deck plans it seems she can carry 935 more passengers, but there seems a much higher ratio of Grills and Britannia Club suites/cabins on the QA vs the QV. 

The Britannia Club restaurant is much bigger than on the QV and while on the QV, the Queens and Princess Grill restaurants are the same size, they are both bigger on the QA, but the Princess is noticeable larger than the QG.

There are more ocean view cabins on 1 deck, compared to the QV, so there are some additional Britannia cabins, but it seems much more in the higher grades.  Although the plans aren't strictly to scale, the Britannia restaurants look a similar size on both.

Looking at the top suites, the QV has two Master suites midships, and four Grand suites aft.  On the QV the Master suites occupy the space of approx 4 standard cabins, and the Grand suites the equivalent of 5.

There are now 4 Master suites on the QA, but occupying the space of only 3 standard cabins, and only 2 Grand Suites occupying the equivalent of 5 standard cabins.

To me it seems the best suites are smaller, and there are less of them.

Seems strange to downsize these, but is it possible these suites don't sell on some voyages and it is more profitable to have more Queens and Princess Grill suites at the expense of the top suites?

I think I was on the same cruise (V220)?  We were Queens Grill so got there just before noon.

The first part (immediately inside the Mayflower Terminal) was quick, they checked our passport, vaccination certificate and Boarding Pass and asked for verbal confirmation we had taken a Covid test and completed the health declaration.

We were then directed to the check in but there was another screening step before, and we kind of had to repeat the same steps again, with them scanning the boarding pass.  The final check-in steps was pretty much like the other two, not sure why there are so many steps.  If you didn't do the online check-in they did your photo then.  You don't get your key card, they are in your cabin.

When we came to sit down, we were told embarkation would not be until 1pm.  There was just one girl on the coffee counter serving so it was incredibly slow to get anything so I gave up.  I am not quite sure of the time we got onboard, but going through the X-ray machine was slow.  It was getting quite crowded at that point (we were wearing masks, as were about half-a-dozen others). 

Sounds like it speeded up, but once onboard we were told departure would be delayed as there was a traffic incident (the A34 I think) and a number of guests were stuck and had been on the phone to Cunard, so they decided to delay departure, which I think was the right thing to do.

It wasn't the best check-in experience, but not the worst, and in the age of Covid I think it went okay.

Back from the Queen Victoria's V220 cruise and when we checked in at the Mayflower Terminal we just had to verbally confirm we had taken a test (we had).  They didn't want to see evidence, even though we had it with us.  So the system is easy to abuse, I think.

I am wondering why this change.

Is it because Covid is declining?  (The evidence would suggest otherwise).

Is it because testing facilities are ramping down because there is less demand?

Is it because (cost and potential inconvenience) pre-departure Covid testing was discouraging some passengers?

I suspect the latter, if cruise companies need to fill ships then they will try and remove all barriers and get people to test themselves at home and rely on their honesty pre-boarding.

It's annoying because I had booked a pre-departure Covid test to get the certificate but there is an "admin fee" to cancel.  Typical!

The "fee" is less than the amount I would still have to pay out, and since I still have some NHS test kits I shall do one of those before leaving home and one before I get on the ship to be sure.

I do hope people will be honest and to a test, but it does open the system to abuse.  A dishonest person who tested positive but didn't want to forfeit their cruise could easily lie and just say they caught if from someone else on board.

7 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We hear you.  We can only speculate as to whether SB would improve or decline with a different owner.  It is also possible that Saudi interests would purchase the line and perhaps contract with a cruise line (such as CCL) to handle the day to day operations.  At this time we simply do not know.  

 

I have been reading some of the recent reports (posted here)  and it sounds somewhat alarming.  On the other hand, we have been on 3 SB cruises in the past 10 months (most recently 27 days on the Ovation) and thought much onboard was close to normal SB (we can all debate whether SB cuisine meets luxury standards).  Our only major complaint on the Ovation (March-April) was the lack of communication regarding the onboard COVID situation and abysmal way that SB handled a major itinerary change (substituting Gibraltar and Malaga for Morocco) by refusing to even acknowledge the change (this caused some major problems for folks who had booked private tours in Morocco).  

 

Hank

Azamara have contracted V.Ships (https://vgrouplimited.com/our-brands/v-ships/) to manage their ships.  V.Ships looked after the QE2 in Dubai once she was sold by Cunard and before Dubai converted her to a hotel.  So they are a potential candidate.  I don't know how integrated Seabourn's operations are, but I imagine sales, marketing and crewing for all CCLs brands are centralised so it would be difficult carve out part of that for the sale.  It would make things simpler for the Saudis (if they buy the company) as they have no experience in this field.

And this is 2004 on the Queen Victoria in 2019.  So this is a bit squarer and probably the smallest of the solo cabins but plenty big enough for one.

I quess on the QE they aren't too dissimilar as they were all retrofitted.

59 minutes ago, LifeonMars said:

Stateroom 2016 on QM2 

Thanks for the great photos.  They really are nice cabins on both decks.  Looks like plenty of storage too.

2 hours ago, sandancer said:

We ate in the Verandah last December on the Queen Elizabeth and the food and service were both excellent. We plan on eating in there on our next QE cruise in August. 

Although it was before the pandemic, we ate in the Verandah at the end of April 2019 also on the QE.  The service was very good and the food was excellent.  The menu (if I recall corrrectly) was the same sample menu they have on the website (https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/activity-types/dining/the-verandah, click the dinner one).  We had the beef sampler which was good, as I wasn't sure which to try but the staff were very knowlegable on the different types of steak (I think they showed us the different types on a tray/trolley).

If I tried to get a similar experience on land (I live in London) it would be a lot more expensive.

7 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

 

Thanks for your answer. I can understand the attraction if they're less expensive than double for single use.

 

You say they're a little community - are they clustered together in one part of the ship/s? As a solo traveller that does sound rather nice.

 

Yes, on the QV and QE there is a passage way off from the casino area on 2 deck but you would never know as it is really quiet.  Just nine cabins, but located there you are perfectly located for the theatre, casino, Queens Room etc.

On the QM2 they are mid ships but slightly more on decks two and three.  I count fifteen on the deck plans.  The ones on 3 deck (like in the photos) are wider than they are deep, as they occupy the space of the former photo gallery (I believe it was that) on 3L Deck, if you recall the Art Gallery on the other side of the ship which is very long, the same sized space is shared four six cabins so quite generous.

I've not tried one on 2 deck yet on the QM2, does anyone have any photos yet?

On 5/13/2022 at 3:59 AM, Germancruiser said:

The single cabins on Deck 3 on board QM2 are wonderful- even though they don´t have a balcony- those two big port holes are making up for the lack of said balcony.

I was so surprised at the size when I sailed on the QM2, these are a couple of photos I took.  They really are very nicely furnished and not at all undersized.  I always go ashore or am around the ship so I don't miss a balcony.

On 5/12/2022 at 2:19 AM, LittleFish1976 said:

What do the single cabins have that make them more attractive to the single traveller and justifies their extra cost?

 I always found them to be cheaper, not by a huge amount but enough to warrant booking.

The cabins on the current Queens are in a great location, on the same deck (or decks for the QM2) as the Britannia restuarant, so great to avoid travelling up/down stairs/lifts to get to the main public spaces.

Plus tucked away where they were, they have always been quiet for me. Not on a thoroughfare with passengers coming and going, so no late night noise.

The cabins on the QM2 are especially spacious for a solo cabin, and have lots of fans.  They get booked pretty quickly when the new sailings are pubished so they are in demand.

Also, for other solo travellers, it's nice to be in a little community together on the ship.

So I am all for them.

Just had an email back from Guest Support at Cunard.

"Queen Anne Does not have single cabins I'm afraid."

When other lines are commiting to new builds with single cabins and retrofitting them, these does seem a strange and disappointing decision. 

On 5/4/2022 at 10:35 PM, seacruise9 said:

Hi, 

 

I agree. The Holland America ships on which the Queen Anne is based have ocean view single cabins forward on the lowest passenger deck. Apparently, this will be the only Cunard ship without any single cabins. Some of the other lines (such as Celebrity) have been including a fair number of single cabins on their newest ships. 

 

Chuck

Yes, I saw them on the HAL ships so felt confident there would be more single cabins that on the current Queens.  If there are zero that is very poor.  I was looking at the Celebrity Apex and Beyond class and saw their solo cabins with balconies and they are very impressive.  I have emailed Cunard to query this.  If the answer is negative I think it is a poor decision.

On 5/4/2022 at 5:22 PM, Megabear2 said:

 I don't think there are any!  I've received two flyers in the afternoon post from the solo travel departments of top single specialist UK travel agents. Both state "twin for sole use" and "limited single availability".  If this is correct it's very much a retrograde step by Cunard.

 I agree, very disappointing,

Just having a look for the first time, I can't see any single cabins listed on the Queen Anne web page in any of the categories or on any page of the deck plans.  If that is the case, that is disappointing.

Now that they have announced the initial Queen Anne voyages Cunard have updated her page with the deck plans.  I know there some thought these might not be genuine, but to be sure they can be found here: https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/cruise-ships/queen-anne/0

Since the pandemic and now with war in Ukraine and all the disruption this is all causing around the world it is making booking a ship's maiden voyage a bit of a lottery.  I know it is a first world problem and in the scheme of things, a lot worse thing happen, but it was the case that you could a maiden voyage sailing with confidence it would go ahead.  Now it seems much more uncertain.

Just seen this:

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ship-operations/supply-chain-issues-delay-inaugural-sailing-ambassadors-ambience

The first three cruises have been cancelled due to supply chain problems.  How disappointing for all those booked on board.

There is a post on Facebook showing her out of the drydock with final work going on around her funnel.  Also looks like the uppermost part of the superstructure abvoe the bridge needs to be completed.

https://www.facebook.com/pacificdawnpage/photos/a.160950443956241/5149508461767056/

Any if you look a bit further south AidaMira is currently docked in Pula in Croatia, not that far from the shipyard where the Ambience is.  I wonder how long it will be before she heads to the shipyard?  I'm not sure she is sailing for Aida anymore, so perhaps she is just waiting to be refitted.

I found this video online, she looks nice inside, I think and she has quite a nice profile.

7 hours ago, Coravel said:

They sometimes offer deals on single supplements and they are definitely worth looking out for. Sometimes we go away with my wife's twin sister as her husband is not keen on cruises so we keep an eye open for offers.

Thanks for the advice.  Do you know if when you book a solo deal that you can choose your cabin or is it that you get a guaranteed grade?  I thought it was latter but I tried a test booking and wasn't sure.