3rdGenCunarder

1 minute ago, david,Mississauga said:

 

As do I.  It was particularly enjoyable when Dennis Dawson was the lead deck steward. We have never encountered anyone like him; he was a legend.

OMG, Dennis!!! I have so many memories of Dennis. Then Roger, then Martin. 

In one of his cocktail party talks, Captain Wells talked about QE2 leaving, accepting that it was time, and commenting that we'll always have our memories of her. He was with Cunard a long time, moving up through the ranks and commented that he remembered his kids learning to walk holding Dennis's hand. 

I had to go up to him later and thank him for mentioning Dennis. I said he was quite a character. Captain Wells said, "He was rude to people and they loved him for it!"

42 minutes ago, tacticalbanjo said:

I don't think it is the safety edges. The problem is that the doors start closing way too early like before you've even started getting in early. There are couches in the lift areas now which block the direct route which adds to the problem. I'm in my 30s with no mobility issues and found myself racing to get in a lift many times last week on the Maiden. And when you get there and the doors are starting to close most people will instinctively stick an arm in to hold it because the alternative is to wait another three years for the next lift. Whoever worked out the length of time to hold the doors open must have assumed a clear lift area and non-mobility challenged guests.

Is there a display that shows where each car is? I find that helpful so I know where to stand.

24 minutes ago, Globalfish said:

Road Scholar is probably salivating at an opportunity to offer Great Lakes cruises again and I’m sure they would jump at it.  Without them leaves a terrible void in their domestic cruise offerings.

I don't know how large the group was, as they didn't keep to themselves the way some groups (not RS) on large ships do. Because there was only one lounge, other passengers were invited to attend their lectures, which I thought was nice. 

It would be great if he could get the Lakelorian we had on Navigator. Great speaker, good information. 

I wonder if he could get Road Scholar back again. They booked quite a few Great Lakes cruises.

I wish him luck with this (and I don't mean that sarcastically). I had a great cruise on the Navigator, although I know other cruises last year had problems, including the generator. But if he spruces them up and can match or beat Viking and ACL's prices, he could make it work. I hope he can.

15 hours ago, david63 said:

I have been told that table allocation on any ship is a "black art" known only to a few and if divulged to any passenger would result in said passengers never sailing again😄

That must be the company line to avoid giving details. I had an issue with the buffet on QV last fall, and I wrote a note to the head of F&B. I ended on a positive note, saying that our table in Britannia was fantastic. 10 people from 5 countries, age range at least 30 years, many-time cruisers and first cruisers. On paper, we seemed to have little in common, but we gelled quickly and had a wonderful time together, becoming the rowdy table in the back of the Britannia restaurant, laughing all the time.

I asked how do they know what people to put together. She said "arranging tables is an art."

late Oct (10/30) in Alesund.  

Hurtigruten would be better for summer, to see a variety of small towns. 

7 minutes ago, Judyrem said:

I have been to Fairbanks Alaska in November for ten days to see the Northern lights and we did not see many  at all and the weather was bitterly cold with not much snow..

 

I understand the sunlight  as we did have  not much light in early November.

 

I really love winter weather (for a short time now😉)  and I just wanted the sweet spot of snow and lights and understand if snowing no chance for auroras.

 

I do like having a larger ship and more things to do would be  than the Viking verandah

 

 

I thought about Hurtigruten but it seems to visit very small town on Norway coast

November in Narvik, on the "Arctic Train."

3 hours ago, safarigal said:

The wait staff from the Cabana do circulate from time to time, but the bar is really close so we just pop over there to order the drinks, and then they deliver.

Warmer weather is on the way - so I will be watching out for fruit and ice cream. They did serve afternoon tea on the terrace yesterday so that's a good sign.

 

Ohhh, I have fond memories of tea served on Sun Deck on QE2. 

7 hours ago, Judyrem said:

Thanks MCC retired.

 

I will try but I am not sure if it will work the way I want it to.🤔

 

I want snow and lots of chances to see the Northern lights.

 

Viking has a veranda cabin for  around the same amount of money with an early Jan sailing.

 

 

I did the lights cruise on QV last fall in November. There was snow on the ground at our northernmost ports, Tromso and Narvik. Not a lot, but some. As for the lights, we are in a maximum period, so you have a good chance. We saw them on three nights. 

You mentioned Viking in January. And advantage to November is that days are longer for doing some sightseeing. Sunset is still early. IIRC, it was around 3 PM in Tromso. But not as early as it will be in early January. Also, it isn't too cold. In the north it was around freezing plus or minus a few degrees. And in the south, it was still autumn. We saw some pretty fall colors in one of the southern ports. So a nice mix of experiences. 

8 hours ago, safarigal said:

The Grills deck, as others have said, is lovely. We have been getting bar service from the nearby Cabana Bar, which we love. I haven't seen fruit on sticks or anything like that, and no one has been by to give us ice cream, but we haven't really had any hot days in the past 10 days. There is ice water.

When you say bar service from the Cabana bar, do you mean you have to go there to get a drink? Is there no bar service on the terrace? I don't see a bar on the deck plans, but I would expect bar service. The terrace on QE is nice, with the lounge adjacent. I was in PG not long after the restart and there were no offerings of fruit or ice cream, but I wrote that off to Covid precautions. We did have bar service, however. (Priorities!)

32 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

It took me a while to find the cereals for there were so many counters of fried breakfast, and a nice looking bakery. I just don’t understand why people eat there rather than in the lovely restaurant.

 

i will check on the teas later on.

You had me at "nice-looking bakery!" 

I like the restaurant for its peace and quiet if I'm in PG. But, for me, an advantage of the buffet is portion control. I can have a large serving of fruit instead of a few pieces artistically arranged on a plate. The same is true of salads at lunch. I was in PG the last time I was on QE, and I ate breakfast and dinner there, but almost always ate lunch in the buffet because their salad bar was so good. 

1 hour ago, exlondoner said:

Interesting to find the things they don’t have, presumably because they are still in a warehouse at Southampton. No All-bran, which is quite a common cereal. I thought it might just be QG, and went to look in the Lido this am, but they didn’t have it either. The first night they didn’t have peppermint tea, but subsequently found that, which was good. I know the wines are always a bit random, but they didn’t have a straightforward Aussie Riesling I’ve had a number of times before. On the other hand, Sir Sam’s is probably rife with unicorn steaks.

 

One good thing from my point of view is that you can still get bar soap.

Missing items could be things still in the hold somewhere, so perhaps the cereal will appear at some time. How daring of you to brave the buffet!!! Any observations to share, or was it only a quick look for the All-bran?

Do they still have the Twinings Assam? And, dare I hope, has the Darjeeling returned?

I've done several New England and Canada cruises and always enjoyed them. QM2 is a beautiful ship. I am a fan of the sheltered balconies. On a port-intensive cruise, you will likely be off the ship a lot of the daytime, so whether the balcony is glass or enclosed isn't a big deal, at least not to me. And the sheltered balcony is less expensive. 

7 hours ago, exlondoner said:

You wanted to know about journals. The Cunard themed shop has something called a Cunard memorial notebook, nattily bound in eau de nil leather. Would that suffice? Still can’t get my internet to work.

That sounds like a new version of the journal, although it also sounds like the kind of condolence book that is put out for guests to sign at a memorial service. 

3 hours ago, Pushpit said:

The USA has a different regulatory approach, to put it politely.

You're right. Every company you do online business here wants to remember your password and store your credit card details. Easily declined, but you have to pay attention.

And I just realized that I already got a plusbid upgrade for my cruise more than a month ago. I was in Britannia, bid on PG, and got it rather quickly. But PG was pretty open at that time and I guess they were willing to fill cabins at a discount. I'm surprised that I got an offer to bid up to QG after already successfully bidding up once. I guess plusbid knows nothing of my price history?

7 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Last night was black and white formal night, and everyone I encountered seemed entirely appropriately dressed, nearly all in accordance with the theme. I felt rather a renegade for wearing red shoes.

Good for you!!!! "A little rebellion now and then is a good thing..." (Thomas Jefferson) said that and I quite agree!)

Now I have to pack my red shoes for my next cruise. 

13 hours ago, safarigal said:

I am not sure how accurate this is, but I talked to an officer on board and he said that Queen Anne had requested that 30% of staff came from each ship ie 90% of staff would be from the other Queens. The other Queens didn't agree to this, and so they settled on 20% from each ship.

They have to be careful not to deplete the experienced crew on the other ships just for the new one. We were on Caronia not long after QM2 arrived, and there were too many new waiters. Lots of mistakes, and even basic things like dropping a fork when setting tables and putting it on the table anyway. I saw which table it was, and after he moved on, I took the fork and put it on my finished lunch plate so it would get washed. But who knows how much of the silverware I had just used had been on the floor?????

4 hours ago, Pushpit said:

- Plusgrade - which is a airline tool - does change some of the dynamics here, in that it can upgrade people via an auction process, and I can see it would be easy to get the numbers wrong on a full sailing (as this sailing is). So you upgrade someone into balcony on a fat bid, you initially use another person's bid from balcony to club to create space. Then the club bidding passenger refuses to pay the extra.

The T&C of the bidding offer require that you register a credit card and if your bid is accepted, the card is charged and there's no option to change your mind. But I'm sure there are chain upgrades as you describe. 

My cruise is two weeks away and I have not had an answer from Cunard on my upgrade bid. I don't expect an upgrade, as QG has been showing sold out for a while and there's no way for QG passengers to upgrade to give me a place. I'm surprised my bid is still on the table so late. When I did an upgrade bid on QV last fall, I think the "sorry, no upgrade for you" email came more like 3 weeks out, maybe more. Waiting so long to place passengers probably contributed to the overbooking situation.

10 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

Sorry, what’s wrong with sussing out the ship's facilities when they are only a hop and a skip away from the cabin?

Checking out the laundry is part of my tour of exploration the first day on a ship that is new to me. Lunch, library, and spa before that, but I do like to have an idea of what my chances are of getting a machine when I need one. Sorry to hear there are only three instead of the four on other ships. And if some are out of order, there could be interesting stories...

1 hour ago, exlondoner said:

Gorgeous weather. Cabin very nice, but would be stupendous if it didn’t have the partition in the middle. Beds very comfortable. I am spending the next fortnight looking at a wall in the QG. Navigation of ship quite complicated, as is putting on a life jacket. QG Lounge a dark hell hole, though you can see out of the roof. Commodore Club gorgeous.

Oh no! I had been hoping you wouldn't get one of the wall tables. I had my doubts about the QG lounge, and I'm sorry to hear them confirmed. I love that the lounges on the Vistas face and have access to the terrace. But even so, when I've been in PG, I've been more inclined to got to Commodore Club than the grills lounge. 

2 hours ago, BklynBoy8 said:

We have one.....

So do I.

1 hour ago, rmsEtruria said:

As I understand the “Upgrades on Us” offer, it does not actually involve an—eventual or potential—cabin upgrade. Instead, when you book, you are charged the fare for the next lower cabin category than what you are booking: for example, if you are booking a sheltered balcony midships (BU), you will only pay the rate for a sheltered balcony mid-aft or mid-forward (BV). Since you’ve already booked, you have already received, in effect, your upgrade.

Yes, that's how it has worked for me in the past.

58 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

Excellent review - and very useful (44 days to go now).

About restaurant movement, Stephen Payne is on record (on Youtube somewhere talking to Chris Frame) that QM2 Britannia was deliberately placed at the pivot point - 2/3rds of the way back - to minimise motion. So as well as QA being smaller, only having 2 stablisers, not QM2's 4, the restaurant is also not quite in the right place for least movement being fully aft

 

I assume that the ship was full - 3000 passengers - was it busy (sounds like top decks weren't it seems) but the theatre barely takes 25% of passengers for example

HAL's pinnacles have more movement in the back than their Vistas or Cunard's Vistas in comparable conditions. 

So happy it worked out for you. That is great news!! Relax and have a wonderful time!!!!