Se1lad

I’d bring a roll of sellotape with me in my hand luggage, and attach on arrival in the UK

BC = Britannia Club

My last experience of boarding at Southampton was in January on QV - they opened the doors to the terminal at 11.30am and let anyone with priority boarding (QG/PQ/Diamond/Platinum/BC) check in. Everyone else had to wait outside the terminal. Once through check in we were organised into zones based on cabin grade / status. At 12.20 they called QG and we were through security and onboard by 12.30. Some friends I was travelling with were in Britannia - they were let into the terminal about 12.45, and were called forward for boarding at 1.15, onboard by 1.30.

You’ve described it perfectly! 🙂

You can save a lot more than a few pounds - a bottle you buy in a wine merchant for £40-£60 (or less if you bought wisely and stored well for several years) can easily sell for $150+ on board. It is also a great way to get to know your sommelier - especially if you’ve got unusual wines with you and you let them sample a bit!

I did my first OBC claim via StockPerks last week - it took 3 business days to process and the email incorrectly stated I had been awarded $0 OBC! The correct amount had been added however. I submitted another one today at 08.40, and received a mail showing the correct amount of OBC at 09.01.

I live in a house with no central heating which is normally pretty cold, but this was pushing it even for me! I had the thermostat set to maximum and the vents were blowing out cold air. When the maintenance person arrived he confirmed there was an issue with a number of the cabins at the back of ship which is why they were providing portable heaters. As you mentioned, the temperature outside was -8, so the lack of heating made it a bit uncomfortable - you could see your own breath in the room at one point!

Returned from the four night cruise from Southampton to Hamburg and back on the QV in QG, 7th - 11th January. Was in general an enjoyable trip. Embarkation Arrived at the terminal at 11.40 and it looked like that had been letting people in since about 11.30. Anyone with Priority Boarding (QG/PG/Diamond/Platinum/BC) were being allowed in the terminal (regardless of printed boarding time.) Remaining passengers had to wait outside the terminal. At 12.20 they started calling QG passengers to board, and it looked like round the same time they allowed the Britannia passengers to start the check in process. We were boarded and in our cabin before 12.30, so no complaints there. Butler Our Butler was much better than the previous one on this trip last year. Fruit and changes to the minibar were promptly delivered while we were at lunch. We had booked this as 2x back to back trips - last year the butler would not give us an extra bottle of Champagne for the second leg - this time we received it with no issue. Queen's Grill Food ranged from good to excellent. We made several off menu requests - Steak Tartare, Sole Veronique, Banana Foster, Peach Melba and Spaghetti Carbonara. All off the off menu requests were excellent. An issue on the second day where we waited 45 minutes for the breakfast to arrive, and then it arrived in separate components (toast, eggs, kippers) about 5 minutes apart. They were also some problems with the temperature of the ship. On a couple of the days QG was uncomfortably cold at breakfast. Entertainment The lectures were good but there could have been more of them - there were only 5 over the 4 day cruise, plus a Q&A with some of the lecturers. The entertainment team tried a new event which was quite fun - a speed jigsaw competition - everyone was split into teams and given an hour to complete as much as possible of 1,500 piece identical jigsaws. We gave some feedback that if they try this again they should use smaller jigsaws - we only completed about 15% of the jigsaws in the time allotted. Cabin From the second day onwards our cabin was really cold with the vents blowing cold air, even when the heating was set to maximum. Finally late afternoon on the 4th day we were given a portable heater which helped somewhat. I had to ask 3 times before we were given the heater though. I logged a complaint as it meant our cabin was unusable to sit in for much of the trip. I was promised that someone would get back to me before we departed, however this did not happen. I've now raised this as a separate complaint direct with Cunard at Southampton, hopefully they respond in a positive manner. Regardless of the heating problem, it was still a most enjoyable trip, and I’m looking forward to my upcoming trip on Queen Anne in a few months.

Which terminal are you flying from with BA? T5 or T3?

I presume that you’ll only be able to request assisted boarding if you’ve pre notified Cunard via the process indicated in the email? It may help to stop abuse of the assisted boarding process. On one trip I saw a couple jogging round the deck - one of them had boarded in a wheelchair the day before.

You’ll also be paying the service charge on any drinks you purchase

I suppose ‘up to ten dance hosts’ can also mean zero! The story does make it sound like the dance hosts are going to be readily available though!

It should be 64 voyages and then they could call it Commodore 64!

If you go for the discounted offer which covers the entire trip, for every day you hold off signing up, the price comes down proportionately. As you will likely have mobile phone signal for some of the first evening, you can wait until the following morning to sign up and save a bit of money!

It would be interesting to see how popular such a crossing would be!