RK-NC

Agree and in my opinion, decreasing the number of gala evenings is a good business decision for a wider appeal. Enjoy your crossing/Oceania cruise and happy anniversary!

Best wishes to you and others affected by the delay. I hope you can enjoy that beautiful weather once you get the flight changes sorted out. Thank you for sharing.

We sail Cunard for the first time in August so I can't really offer any insight but I just had to say that I completely understand this sentiment.

See post #234 by @Pushpit Also, we contacted the very helpful Cunard CSR that we have been working with and he confirmed that there is no charge of the food offerings in Sir Samuel's lounge.

Again, thank you @Joe33472 for all that you have shared here. It is proving to be a huge help in our planning. Your comments and information about the television channels/internet/IP address situation have been especially helpful today as we have been trying to decide which internet plan to purchase. I don't think it's fair to say sharing an experience or observation is "trivial" or unimportant. It may be helpful to someone else.

We often go to the buffet for snacks to carry back to our stateroom. I recently purchased a small insulated tote just to use for this. If it's declassee, so be it.

I believe you are correct and I'm trying to find it on the Cunard website or MyCunard. On Celebrity, they had the same type of sweets display case and it was complimentary, even if you didn't purchase a beverage (or have a drink package to use) They also did take away. I sure hope Cunard is similar as it was a favorite venue for us.

Yes all cakes and pastries there are extra charge It has been our understanding that coffee beverages at SS are an extra charge but the cake/pastry case is complimentary (similar to the complimentary food in Carinthia)

This seems like a failure at properly training staff. I thoroughly appreciate your honesty @Joe33472. Thank you for taking the time to share everything that you have with honesty.

Is it Jeb Brooks?! He lives near us and I see on instagram that he has been in London in the last week or so. He is the one that put QM2 on our radar screen.

I liked the laundry tip too - thank you @leyland1989 Our voyage in Aug/Sept is 30 nights and I've actually been looking at the calendar and scheduling our laundry days. We're only bringing clothing for 7 days plus formal wear. Glad to hear the dryers work well. We are also early birds and nowhere near octogenarians 😂 We probably won't have Britannia to ourselves though.

This will be our routine as well. We are so excited to walk a proper promenade! Does Sir Samuel's serve any breakfast items? It is so sad when the luggage mat and disembarkation instructions turn up on the bed!! You have posted the most gorgeous sunrise/sunset photos. Thank you for sharing!!

I am beginning to think it is common to have dining issues on embarkation day. We cruised Celebrity in April and avoided the main dining room on the first night because we had heard of problems similar to what you experienced. Enjoy red and gold night!

Hope today is a better day for you both @Joe33472 Thank you for sharing, especially for taking the time to post the menus and daily programs. (like the PDFs) We noticed on the daily program time change at 2am. We had heard that it happens at noon, which seems more disruptive. Hoping you have nice weather today!

Our itinerary included Hubbard and it was magnificent since we had a gorgeous sunny day. We arrived in late morning so maybe take into consideration arrival time between the 2 itineraries? We saw lots of calving and the ship got much closer than we expected. We did a whale watching excursion from ISP/Hoonah - also amazing. Enjoy your anniversary cruise!

Oops, sorry, I guess this was a bad suggestion. When we sailed Azamara, the waiter would pop around to the adjacent coffee cafe for my cappuccino so that's where the idea came from.

Looking forward to following along with your live report @Joe33472 Enjoy that lovely London weather! We are 65 days out from our first QM2 sailing and the reviews/reports are fueling our excitement. Wishing you safe travel to Southampton!

We see $15.75 per person prebooked and $17.50 per person booked onboard.

Not certain about this - hopefully someone with experience can help. I would think that your waiter could retrieve specialty coffee for you from Sir Samuel after lunch or dinner though.

Yes, includes specialty coffee, tea forte and hot chocolates Yes, 15% We have been trying to decide about this package as well and are leaning toward pay-as-you-go as we usually take no more than 2 coffees/day. Here is a menu with prices that may be helpful in your decision (from 2021 so prices may be higher now): https://www.cunard.com/content/dam/cunard/marketing-assets/pdf/life-on-board/example-menus/qm2-carinthia-lounge.pdf

How wonderful! Perhaps that northern route made this more likely? Thank you for sharing. We enjoyed reading your review! Wishing you a speedy recovery ❤️‍🩹

Gorgeous photo!! I am on the edge of my seat waiting for your posts and ever more counting down the days until our sailing in August!!

Looks like Solstice goes to Icy Strait Point/Hoonah and Hubbard Glacier. Both were favorites for us in 2019 along with our 2 days in Vancouver pre-cruise. Enjoy!!

Love these images @bluemarble I was watching the New York Harborcam on Saturday morning and it was indeed a beautiful morning and so exciting to see QM2 sail under the bridge! 67 days and counting for us! Looking forward to hearing more about your crossing @Jack E Dawson

I have enjoyed reading this so much Shannon. Thanks for sharing! You have nailed it on Luminae. Only posh "on paper". I think the E-class ships are best suited for warmer weather cruising. Is this the first year Edge has been in Alaska? Thanks again - it was fun to relive Alaska with your report/review!