IB2

There’s never any guarantee with the North Atlantic, but of the four summer/early autumn TAs I have done, I can only remember one day when there was any appreciable movement of the ship, and even then, it’s pretty stable when its high tech stabiliser fins are engaged. Indeed the latter are expensive to run and I am told you notice the movement most when the sea is just not quite rough enough to justify turning them on.

Summer is more expensive, and I think westbound is more popular, because of the New York arrival and the longer days with the clock changes. Westbound is however typically a lot more windy on deck. The outward facing cabins sell out and Cunard then has to shift the interior ones - for a first timer an inside cabin is perfectly acceptable - you’ll be out enjoying the ship all the time, not sitting in the cabin, and the ship is stuffed with attractive places to hang out when you need some quiet time. There are often last minute offers on inside cabins. You can opt for an upgrade, and you never know - I got one on my very first TA, but not since.

Westbound, during the night, such that turning up for early breakfast becomes more and more difficult as the crossing goes on. And the poor dogs are locked up for an extra hour most nights. Eastbound, at lunchtime, such that an hour disappears from the middle of the day and by the end of the week those who booked the early sitting for dinner feel that dinner is coming way too early.

There are some posters to this site who enjoy posting ‘alarmist’ stuff on the flimsiest of evidence. I had booked well in advance third deck single cabins for my two TAs last year, and was most alarmed when someone posted on here that clubbers from the night club staggered down the third deck corridor late at night making a lot of noise so that it was difficult to sleep. On both of my crossings the third floor single cabin corridor was almost completely quiet. I can only assume that this reported disturbance happened just once, and the poster made it sound like a nightly occurrence. When single posters try to put you off a particular cabin because of their own personal experience, it is always important to seek out other views…

Very brave to even consider it. The best of luck….

The issue is that, with the level of debt they are carrying, the company isn’t worth what it once was, and in their position I’d be looking for a chance to raise the number of qualifying shares needed from the current 100.

Yes and yes

I feel like that about my family too, sometimes. 😉

There are some very good videos on YouTube that explain how to pack formal clothes so that they take up the minimum of space and aren’t unduly creases. Especially those that explain the rolling method. In extremis, the laundries on board are, after the usual first day rush, pretty quiet early in a cruise or crossing, and the irons there can rescue you from undue embarrassment if you have made the mistake of sleeping in your formal clothes, or having packed them so that it looks that you have done so…

There’s some misinformation above. The information about the tapeworm treatment needed between 24 and 120 hours before embarkation is correct. If you aren’t disembarking in the EU then you can ignore the EU paperwork you’ve been provided. The advice about rabies only being accepted one year after is incorrect. Both the UK and EU have recognised the three year vaccinations for longer than the US, and if your pets have been given a vaccination now recognised for three years in the US, this will be accepted on board as entry for the UK. Me and my dog have done the crossing four times now and, whilst it’s an experience, it can be a stressful one for both owners and pets - although not as bad as putting the pet into cargo on an aeroplane. There is a very good thread on the cruisemaven website with comments below it that will give you a good idea for what you are letting yourself in for. On the upside, the shared adversity of the pet owners onboard the QM2, whilst the rest of the passengers are eating, drinking and dancing, delivers a camaraderie that you won’t find anywhere else on the ship. And all the other passengers will be VERY interested to hear about your experience of travelling with your pets on board….

Silly really, as the train service from Southampton to London is pretty good and taxis to the station and from Waterloo will cost you a lot less than a road transfer all the way, and be a quicker journey too.

No.

That’s always been there. Take no notice. Spread your bottles between your luggage, and enjoy them during the crossing.

Excellent choice. Unlike the westbound crossings, into the prevailing wind, crossing the Atlantic eastbound in summer can often be surprisingly wind-free, given luck with the weather. Because the ship and the air are moving in the same direction at similar speed. So it may well be a pleasure to be up on deck mid-Atlantic. And you won’t feel compelled to get up at 4 am to see the Isle of Wight in the dark, or to be up on deck at 5-6am when the ship pulls into the magnificent sights of Southampton Water. Enjoy!

It varies considerably through the ship. If you keep your eyes out for the WiFi routers - often on the ceiling - and sit near one of those, you should be fine, most of the time.

Welcome, and you're in for a great time. You don't have to take a DJ, but most people do - however the minority who don't (mostly American, in my subjective impression) is enough that you won't feel the odd one out if you don't. There are a few things you can pre-book, and nearer the time you'll be able to see these on the Cunard portal where you manage your booking. One thing to be aware of is that if you book spa treatments in advance you'll pay full price, whereas later in the crossing they tend to make various offers to encourage people to take up unbooked slots. The beauty of the QM2 is that the ship is large enough that it never feels crowded, and different passengers can carve out entirely different experiences depending on their personality and preferences - especially on a TA when you have seven straight nights at sea unpunctuated by everyone going ashore at port stops. If you want to spend the whole week in a hectic social whirl of activities and dancing, you can, or you could visit the library and find a quiet spot on deck (on better days!) or in your favourite bar and spend the week reading, with a drink at your side. Or fill your day with lectures and the planetarium and the cinema, where you're passively sitting being stimulated, or hang out in the casino and onboard pub enjoying fish & chips and its endless cycle of quiz nights. Or be up on deck gazing out to sea and watching for the occasional dolphin or whale. It really is up to you.

Yes. I had the same problem when travelling in the US this autumn, and needed to print out the booking confirmation (ticket) and luggage tags, which I downloaded as files to my iPad. The first hotel I asked was happy to print them out for me, if I emailed them to reception.

And you can go on Youtube and watch a load of travel tip videos, take all the extra stuff they recommend, and when you open your case in your cabin you'll be able to use all the drawers that Cunard helpfully provides to store your spare bathplug, spare coathanger, long piece of string, collection of clothespegs, travel clothes line, small roll of ducktape, laundry bag, carrier bags, luggage scales, mending kit, earplugs, and the rest.

You'll be fine. If you spend an active day on the ship you won't be in your cabin much if at all during daylight, anyway, and other than the state of the sea (which is interesting, tbf) and the very occasionally bit of marine wildlife, there is nothing to look at. One tip is to leave the TV on at night, set to the bridge camera with the volume muted, so when it gets light in the morning some light starts to appear in the room. For New York many people get up at 4am or thereabouts, to catch the passage under the bridge.

Is it? Perhaps someone should tell long-distance drivers on the Interstates!

The gyroscopic force of so many people circulating in the same direction puts strain on the automatic steering and forces the computer to keep making course corrections as the volume of passengers doing their orbits fluctuates? Whereas if there are even numbers circulating in both directions the ship's course remains nice and stable. I'm sure that must be it...

Some of the above replies seem to be over-egging it, if the question were "how few clothes can I take?". The absolute minimum, you could get away with a single dark suit or dark jacket for the week, and meet the rules. Of course, most (but not all) diners go for tuxedo/dinner jacket for the formal nights; bring one of those and you have those two nights ticked off (in terms of luggage I find having then to bring a pair of black shoes more of a nuisance than the suit, since for the other nights more normal brown shoes work fine). For the remaining nights you just need a decent shirt - you could just bring one and use the laundry, but most travellers will bring a range. And despite the more relaxed rules many diners still wear a jacket to dinner; again one is sufficient. As the OP says, you don't have to add many additional (sensibly chosen) items to be able to mix and match for variety during the week. Whilst I don't knock people who enjoy the dressing up and bring a whole week's worth of different outfits, it isn't necessary and for people with limited baggage or who are making onward journeys and don't want to be carrying a whole wardrobe of clothes around, it really isn't necessary!

Yes, but the alignment of the jet stream means that the remnants of them, after they have travelled across the southern US, are far less likely to affect the mid-Atlantic than in winter

First time, just go with the cheapest. Cunard might even upgrade you, you never know. In August you most likely won’t be aware the ship is moving.

I can only look back to 2019 but the food hasn't got worse since then. The laundromats are still free, and busy, as is the soap although it's now powder-in-a-box with a scoop, rather than the old individual sachets. The lectures seem as good in-the-round and variable in practice as before; the internet connectivity is now much better. Since the pandemic I'd say the staff are less experienced and the service a bit more haphazard, but just as friendly and helpful as before.