Jim_P

I fully sympathize with your social anxiety - I suffer it pretty badly too. But the QM2 had been something I'd wanted to do since I was a teenager. In 2023 I finally decided to do it and did it on my own, and I loved every minute of it. Since then I have been on again and have two more trips booked for the future. Thats the great thing about cruises - you can be as social as you want. If you want to simply do your own thing and keep to yourself its easy. Its particularly easy on ships like Cunard which arent party boats (other cruise lines have much more focus on group activities). Its easy on a ship like QM2 to just find your own space, or attend activities like talks that dont require social interaction. I'd also recommend the Queen Mary 2 over the other ships in the line as it is a much bigger ship and a lot easier to find your own space. I too am not big on dressing up, but its very easy to stick to Cunard's dress code. People thnk its a lot more than it actually is. While some people love the opportunity to fully go to town, a lot of others just keep it simple. For men, a simple suit jacket, collared shirt and nice pants and dress shoes will get you through the evenings no problem. For women pretty much any nice dress or pant suit or blouse will be fine. So long as you are not wearing jeans, sneakers and a T shirt you'll basically be fine (though they are of course fine during the day). And there's still venues of the ship at night where you can go casual if you want, like the buffet and pub. The Britannia Restaurant is the main dining room on Cunard - and its a stunning venue with great food and service. You absolutely do not need to be in a Grills suite. Also getting back to your social anxiety - the larger Britannia restaurant would be far better than in a smaller, more intimate Grills restaurant with Grills passengers, some of whom can be a little on the snobbish and judgmental side. Grills passengers have a few small areas exclusive to them, but you really wont notice them, 95% of the ship is open to everyone. All the bars, coffee shops, venues etc are open to all.

Noumea is certainly no loss imo, I had been planning on just staying onboard and enjoying a less crowded ship. I just hope they don't change the itinerary to QLD or Tasmania.

Im off to Noumea on the 11th of next month, so the same week as the election. Should be interesting..

Every TA I've used has charged me themselves, not the cruise line. Its only when I've booked directly with Cunard that "carnival corp" shows on my card.

Very strict bio-security laws that have seen a lot of ships not turned away (including Princess and Cunard) for not passing the hull inspection on entry. Ships need to have their hulls cleaned before entering NZ and there's just not the infrastructure there to make that viable. They've tried using diving teams in the open ocean before entering NZ, but thats dependent on ocean conditions and availability.

I think the New Zealand situation has really screwed us in Australia. I know thats the reason Cunard pulled out of the region completely (I was told that by the Captain of the Queen Elizabeth). Its no surprise to me to see other Carnival owned lines also reducing their presence here. Theres also been issues with some of the pacific islands closing themselves to cruise ships. I doubt its anything to do with demand, the Australian cruise industry is one of the fastest growing in the world and all the ships are sailing at capacity. I think its more to do with the lack of cruise itineraries in this part of the world.

I can't help you with the hours, but you are close to the fitness center, not under it. You are kind of under where near the entrance to it would be and the relaxation lounge area of the spa.

It was never full when I was on the QE. From what I saw it was mostly being used as a meeting point for people before going into the buffet. People hardly ever seemed to be using the bar. It's completely devoid of atmosphere. Meanwhile the Corinthia Cafe is always full.

They should ditch the Winter Garden on the QE and QV too. Pointless areas. Turn it into a Corinthia Lounge and turn the existing Corinthia Cafe into a Sir Samuels.

I think they may have found that people spend less money when its so easy to track their spending.. When you have to go into the app to check its more of an "out of sight out of mind" thing. At least it is for me

The temperature in the hydrotherapy pool was 32 degrees (a staff member measured the temperature while I was in it and told me thats what it was and that it was "perfect".).

The recent "summer sale" promo on the Australian website that ended yesterday had 5% deposits.

I agree that the Verandah isn't the most exciting restaurant but I personally like the low key quality of it. Its nice to go to when you want a nice quiet meal away from the hustle and bustle of the MDR and the food is excellent. And I like they they dont go over the top trying to make it feel "special" to justify the charge. I think some of the specialty restaurants on cruise ships try a little too hard..

I just find it odd that much cheaper lines (including the other Carnival lines) have much better movies. You would think that older, but good, movies surely couldn't be too expensive.

I got back from another brilliant cruise on the QM2 last month. But I found myself amused and a bit bewildered at the movies being shown in the theatre, they seemed like such a random and head scratching selection. One night had a 2012 Halle Berry shark movie called Dark Tide - which has a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and I've never heard of it. Another night was the 1960s Ned Kelly movie with Mick Jagger. Given it was the Australian leg of the world voyage perhaps it was chosen for that reason, but of all the Australian movies they could have gone with (including the far better Heath Ledger Ned Kelly movie) they went with a movie mostly only remembered today for what a disaster it was and that it had a seriously miscast Jagger. Another night was an Elvis movie (I cant remember which, only that it was not one of the better ones). I cant remember the rest but they were an equally odd bunch of misfit older (but not classic!) movies. I was also recently on the Elizabeth which had a similar selection of movies. Not a complaint, Im not on the QM2 to watch movies, but I just found it amusing and was curious about how on earth they selected these movies. I would have thought Cunard would have had access to the same kind of movie catalogue that the rest of the Carnival lines have. They dont need to play new release movies like Carnival, but if they're showing older movies it would be nice to watch classic movies instead of a C grade thriller from 2012.

No, it just seems random and it's by email. You don't need to do anything. It's a third party agency that handles it for Cunard, not them directly. As far as I know there's nothing you can do other than just wait and see if you get the email. Probably depends on how fast a cruise is being filled.

I've bid on an upgrade on Cunard three different times. Each time bidding the minimum (plus a token $5 to outbid any other minimum bidders). Two times it was successful and was approved within a week of making the bid. The time it was unsuccessful I wasnt notified until just before the cruise. So going my experiences, if you dont hear back within a week, its probably been unsuccessful and they are waiting until right before the cruise and if theres any unsold rooms you'll get a second chance to be bumped up.

I did it from a Samsung tablet, but you should be able to do it using airplay from an ipad (if not, Im pretty sure there is an Ipad app specifically for mirroring with samsung TVs). You just press the "source" button on the TV remote, and then select "screen mirroring". Then the TV will wait for you to connect a device. On my samsung tablet it was the "smart view" app, on an Apple it would be airplay or a screen mirroring app. Then once they're connected if you start a video on your device it will play through the TV instead.

It was only announced two weeks ago. You must be thinking of the Queen Anne next year.

I posted the link in the other thread, but I'll do it here too: - https://www.cunard.com/en-au/find-a-cruise/M605C/M605C. None of them say sold out. The prices are all still there, you just cant click on them. Other voyages that have sold out always say "sold out" - they don't give a price. To me, this says Cunard hasn't allowed any bookings to start for this voyage - probably to stop people from taking good cabins for five nights and scaring off people who would want it for the world voyage or USA to Sydney. Your best bet might be to contact a travel agent and give them the cruise number and maybe they could get around it. Or it might be a matter of waiting until Cunard makes it available. On a related note, I was just looking at Queen Anne's 2025 Auckland to Sydney trip which has been fully sold out since it came on sale now has some availability - albeit only Princess Grill. https://www.cunard.com/en-au/find-a-cruise/H506C/H506C

Something weird going on with that one. I was keeping an eye on it too, but it disappeared from the listing on Cunards website about a week before the cruises went on sale, so I don't think they are booked. Perhaps Cunard has removed it until they get the numbers for USA to Sydney to avoid good cabins being taken by those on a five nighter? Edit: still comes up when you google it, just can't select anything.https://www.cunard.com/en-au/find-a-cruise/M605C/M605C

Yeah, it's especially good if you're in an interior cabin and like to see everything that's happening or just want some fresh air, I must have ducked out onto that observation deck about half a dozen times a day. I was in 11015, literally a few seconds walk to get out on that deck or onto the glass elevator and straight to the spa, commodore club and library. There's a laundry there too. Closest I could get this time was 13019. Hopefully it's all right. At least it will be quick to get to the rooftop and the pool.

People generally try to avoid being up high and at the front of ships. They're always the last areas to sell out. I love deck 11 forward for quick access to the glass elevator and forward observation deck and I actually enjoy feeling the movement of the ship.

I just noticed I'm in Sydney overnight on my embarkation day.. A bit annoying, paying for an extra day to just sit in port. Had anyone else had this before? I've had it on disembarkation before (actually last month in Sydney) but I've never seen an embarkation day on the day before it sails.

Queen Mary 2 - Sydney to Hong Kong 2026 booked. Kind of weird that I booked at the future sales desk on board the Queen Elizabeth and it seemed as though most of the cabins were booked even though it was the first day the cruise was available (actually the day before, when it was only available to World Club members). I couldn't get a cabin where I wanted even though it's not a particularly popular location (Deck 11 forward).