capnpugwash

Apologies for bringing up an old thread.

 

 

 

Who took away the trays? (laughter and clapping). There must be a sadist on board. Those plates are about 400 degrees! What smells like bacon cooking is actually your fingers burning!

It was worth reviving for that joke :):)

As with most voyages, prices rise and fall for unknown reasons. I suggest that you buy it when you are happy with the price and then don't look at the price again. It's a great trip.

I know that Cunard have relaxed their dress code and wondered if smart Chinos with smart jacket, shirt and tie are acceptable on informal nights?.

 

I can't imagine they would stand out as being unsuitable and don't think they would be classed as jeans.

 

Anyone got any experience of this at all?

Perfectly acceptable.

Cunard tell passengers to leave the boarding tags on when disembarking, I got off in Southampton last Tuesday and one of my bags was missing from the yellow tagged area. Upon enquiry with the baggage lady it was located in the deck 4 section ( I didn't know such a section existed) and she said that the baggage handlers in Southampton preferred the disembarkation tag to be the only one left on the bag as it saves confusion. I'm none the wiser but thought I should share their view. It's a bit right hand left hand I think.

Thank you for your wonderful report. I was on the voyage to NYC and departed on the 9th and spent four nights in the city. This was our first ever time on a transatlantic voyage, our first time on Cunard and our first ever cruise! I found the whole experience superb. The ship looks brand new, with the remastered cabins being extremely comfortable. I enjoyed endless walks around the promenade and endless hours gazing out at the sea. I discovered the Commodore Club the first night and this became a regular feature of our days at sea -our final bill listed this venue numerous times! Also, as a young couple we immensely enjoyed the occasion of dressing for dinner.

 

We were also awoken on the stormy night with crashes and bangs as everything found its way on the floor, I also found myself at the very edge of the bed! I did, however, feel totally safe and was up early for a very quiet breakfast where the every conversation was dominated by the events of the night before. As a first timer I'm keen to know if the events that night are quite rare or is this relatively normal? I was just pleased to enjoy a whole range of different weather types. One other thing is that I would often hear would be rather loud vibrations that would wake me often throughout the voyage (I was on deck 8 midship). Is this a normal occurrence?

 

I'm now looking for my next voyage! I dream of being back on the QM2 and I'll be recommending it to everyone.

Things happen at sea and that was a rogue wave/wind, I haven't experienced exactly that before but someone will have. It isn't regular. Re the vibration, ships vibrate and they are metal which tends to amplify noise, the funnels come up between C and B so that might explain things. Glad you enjoyed it :)

The CWC party was quite crowded and the top sailor had around 1200 days, the presentation was made by the Italian Deputy Captain as Chris Wells had been on the bridge all afternoon because of the very low cloud. Apparently it is bad luck to use the f*g word. Dinner was fine and afterwards we went to the Commodore Club for a brandy and a coffee. Then it was time for bed, we’d been warned of heavy seas and high winds and the crew had been told to secure any breakable items. In the end there was a little fore and aft movement but nothing much in reality. We slept with the door closed though as it was noisy. A lot of the passengers must have thought that it was rough though as this morning the ship is quite empty and the DND cards are in lots of cabin doors.

We won the quiz with just 3 of us participating on our team, we listened to the Dixie Jazz up in the Carinthia Court and in the afternoon the sun came out. Lunch was pizza in Kings Court and it was ok, the base wasn’t very crisp but it wasn’t soggy either. I had a slice of dark chocolate gateau afterwards with a coffee and felt so relaxed, I went for a nap.

Tonight is the final formal night and we had cocktails followed by cocktails at the Senior Officers party followed by a more traditional dinner of beef wellington and baked Alaska. The chefs paraded and received their well earned applause as did the waiters and other restaurant staff. We repaired to the pub for karaoke again but we intended to stay out and go to G32, it was almost 1am and we had both had sufficient fun so we departed to fight another day. I think that the others finished at 4.15 this morning.

Today is packing day and we aren’t inspired to start yet, we came second in the quiz and then wandered around the ship avoiding the bingo in the pub to distribute some folding cash to various crew members who had done good works to us, the remainder will go out tonight.

We had a quiet lunch by the window in the restaurant as the rest of our party are lunching in the Verandah once again. We weren’t keen the first time and certainly didn’t want to repeat the experience. We weren’t able to redeem our vouchers in the alternative dining either so they're in the bin.

We have passed Bishop Rock near the Scilly Isles about 2 hours ago so our transatlantic journey is over, we are in the western approaches of the English Channel and the sea is blue in bright sunshine. We are due at the Ocean Terminal in Southampton tomorrow morning at 6.30 where we disembark. I don’t know where the time has gone but this will be my last update.

I met a CC member in New York at the sailaway and I will leave you with his words said to me last night at the cocktail party, “ I’d like to share a lifeboat with you!” Praise indeed.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the trip. Fin.

I've enjoyed reading your travelogue also. I will also be doing a back to back from New York in October. First time as a solo cruise, but not the first time on the QM2. Any tips on cruising solo?

I have written several "live froms" on this forum in the past as a solo traveller on this ship, you might want to search their archive and look at those, the main tip is to have fun.

Capn, Are you enjoying your back to back crossing? Anyway that pool is my favorite :eek: and when I am aboard QM2 next October 11,2016 to October 25,2016 for another back to back round trip transatlantic crossing, I hope the maintenance people use the right amount of chlorine to keep the pool water clean. Are you doing anymore crossings later this year? Regards,Jerry

Jerry, I'm having a great time thanks, packing tomorrow sadly :( and sadly no more Mary until next year. Enjoy your trip as I know you will.

Thanks. Not much of a swimmer but enjoy spending time by the pool and watching the world go by.

Just as well probably in that small pool, plus it is used a lot by kids so I can't vouch for the composition of the water. :eek::eek::eek::eek:

I have enjoyed reading your posts. Obviously we have sailed on more than a few cruises, but never Cunard. We hope to sail on the QM2 next year so the information has been great. Just wondering about swimming pools on board. Is there one with a roof that can be used when the weather is cool?

Yes, deck 12 B stairs, it's maybe 20 foot by 12

The gentle rocking motion ensured a sound sleep and we didn’t wake until 8.15, losing or gaining an hour each day is tiring whatever anyone tells you and there is no good time to lose the hour whether it is noon or 2am.

We won the quiz again with 19/20 and would have had a perfect score had someone not talked Iris out of one answer that she thought was right, nonetheless we garnered 6 more stamps. It was an old fashioned pen and paper quiz with none of this technology nonsense. I'm sure that some geek in Southampton has decided that this is the best way even though he has never run or played a quiz, probably never been on a ship.

We listened to Vibz for half an hour in the Pavilion Pool area on deck 12 and it was nice and cool as people entered from outside. The ship itself seems much warmer than we remember from before and sometimes it is too warm in the restaurant which was unheard of. The lights there keep flaring high and then dim to normal as well so somewhere in the 50 miles of wiring is a problem.

Afterwards we all had lunch in Britannia, I chose fish chowder and orange roughy and everything was really tasty. Their soups are excellent, probably because they have good stock to use.

It is a foggy afternoon and the foghorn is sounding, it is reminiscent of the film Casablanca to me for some reason which having answered wrongly in a recent quiz, I now know was made in 1942. We had a rest this afternoon and am now showered and ready for cocktails followed by the CWC cocktail party and dinner.

My USAF aviation cadet training (officer candidates) enforces strict adherence to the NORMAL Yanks method of eating!

p.s. We also USE the receptacle portion of our forks and do not just scrape food onto the back of the fork with our knives!

Sorry what is the receptacle part of a fork? The tines?

Exactly! And the OP knew that: "I realise that this is quite normal in the USA but it just struck me as particularly odd today and wondered why he wouldn’t just use a knife and fork in the normal way to eat. He’s obviously been taught this way but I can’t see the logic behind it."

 

What strikes me as funny is why some people acknowledge something as being normal for an individual, but have a problem accepting that their normal isn't being adhered to by everyone else. Are people really troubled about the cultural difference in the way knives and forks are used? If someone was holding a knife and a fork in a threatening manner, no doubt it would get my immediate attention - but otherwise, at the dinner table, I'm more interested in the food, the conversation and of course, the vino :)

 

Salacia

Well, that stirred up a little tornado didn't it!

Referring back to the night when the ship was hit by a wave, did the 5° list have any effect on the level of the water in the pools?

I imagine there was some spillage but it was soon replenished.

The party was jam packed with over 1000 people attending, it only lasts 45 minutes but it was quite hot and uncomfortable. Chris Wells was his usual witty self and his speech was well received.

Dinner was excellent with fillet steak and excellent red wine, a perfect meal in my view. Afterwards we went to the pub for Karaoke and stayed there until nearly 1am, it was great fun and while we didn’t venture onto the stage we sang along with all of the contestants. As expected some were better than others but that’s the charm of that type of entertainment. We all drank way too much but the Espresso Martinis were just too tempting.

We slept well unsurprisingly and woke somewhat jaded at 8.30. We tried breakfast in the Carinthia Lounge and whilst there is quite a selection of foods, there was little that grabbed our attention which meant trekking back and forth to the Kings Court where we probably should have been in the first place.

An American man sat next to us at an adjacent table and was eating a single egg benedict, he cut it up with his knife and fork and then changed hands and used his fork like a shovel to put it in his mouth. I realise that this is quite normal in the USA but it just struck me as particularly odd today and wondered why he wouldn’t just use a knife and fork in the normal way to eat. He’s obviously been taught this way but I can’t see the logic behind it.

We were victorious in the quiz which did bear some resemblance to the movie quiz that we had last week, in our defence there were 2 questions that were different. We scored 18/20.

The clocks advanced at noon once more and we went to the Carinthia Lounge to listen to some music and have a drink. We didn’t fancy lunch up there and Kings Court was busy so we went back to the pub for fish and chips, it was disappointing with cold peas and flabby fish. They may have changed the recipe for the batter during the remastering for some reason, it isn’t a patch on how it used to be.

Then it was time for a nap and to dress for this evening. We met as usual in the Chart Room for cocktails and had a pleasant dinner. We were tired from last night so left just before 11pm and headed to the cabin. The ocean is smooth and there is a bit of wind blowing so we shall keep the balcony door shut tonight.

What is your impression of the Carinthia Lounge? When I was on the first post-refit sailing the reaction seemed mixed. Lively in the day, kind of dead in the evening. One person described it as looking very nice but "the atmosphere sucks" to use his quote. Since it was new it had not yet become part of anybody's onboard routine.

I've only experienced it during the day and I like it. There was a concert there the other evening with a jazz singer and it was packed and everyone had a ball. I would say the reaction is positive overall

One thing that was good was that the food offered wasn’t as rich as that of Todd English so we were able to get to dinner that evening which had proven difficult, if not impossible in the past. We weren’t late to bed as we were in New York the next day.

We sailed into Red Hook in beautiful weather, arriving by 6.30am. we had breakfast in the Britannia which was quite hectic as is usual on a turnaround day and then just after 10.30 we made our way off the ship into the terminal. The staff were welcoming and mostly smiling as we headed to Immigration, I explained to the ladies supervising the lines that we were in transit and she ushered us to the shorter queue, we had a 10 minute wait and then after fingerprints and a photo we were out into the heat of the day which had now built up to 28/82 degrees with a little humidity.

I phoned Arecibo cars and they arrived 5 minutes later with a nice clean limousine. We were going to Chavela’s at 736 Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights, this is a Mexican restaurant and it took us 25 minutes to get there through quite heavy traffic but the journey was worthwhile. I needed to go to a Bank so we wandered around for a while, it’s an interesting area which I felt might have been one to avoid in the past but I felt it was ok during the day. The restaurant was excellent, we had a few margaritas, guacamole with home made crispy tortillas, crab empasadas and pork enchiladas. They are only licensed for tequila, beer and wine. The cab fare was only $15 plus tip each way and I think the whole thing was great. We were back at Red Hook by 2.30 and were able to bypass the thronging masses arriving at our cabin 10 minutes later. The temperature and humidity had increased significantly and it was well over 90/32 degrees so it was lovely to get into the coolness on board.

The sailaway was what it should have been with bright sunshine, warm weather and about a thousand people on the aft deck drinking champagne and dancing to Vibz, we left before they played Red Red Wine to shower and dress for cocktails and dinner.

It had been a long hot day so we were in bed just after 11pm and slept well until 7am.

After breakfast it was time for the quiz, we did well but only came second unfortunately. It was on Musicals and was shown on the TVs again. We put the clocks forward one hour at noon so there were 8 of us for lunch in the Britannia just after the noon announcement. During the morning and over lunch we were surrounded by whale spouts and dolphins chasing fish, it was wonderful! We had a nice lunch and went our separate ways meeting up for cocktails at 7.15 in the Chart Room, it is the first formal evening and we all looked pretty posh. We’ve been reassigned to table 45 as we are now 8 strong, this was the old Deputy Captain’s table but now isn’t hosted. We had a nice meal and then went into the Queens Room to the Black and White ball, the usual posers were there strutting their stuff and looking disparagingly should any mere mortal dare to get in their way. I always look at their faces and it seems that the only people smiling and having fun are the untalented horde who just dance here because they can’t at home. We couldn’t think of any drink that we wanted so we left and went to bed.

The ocean was racing by and the humidity was diminishing, lovely weather to sleep in.

Today is Thursday August 11 and the sun is shining, we won the quiz by 4 clear points and all is well with the world. Their technology broke down so we had an old fashioned oral general knowledge, just up our street!

We didn’t lose an hour today but most of our party completed the UK Immigration on deck 3, it’s not a bad job but the officer has to examine 2600 passports in 3 or 4 days and deal with some quite moronic people among the passengers. I have great sympathy for him.

After lunch, we took coffee in the Carinthia Lounge and commented how great an improvement it has been, it is actually used now by passengers rather than the Canyon Ranch staff trying to sell snake oil.

Tonight is the second formal evening and is the Captain’s cocktail party, we are meeting at 7 for drinks before drinks before dinner.

Perhaps use your Diamond complimentary meal for the Chinese or Indian in Kings Court!

That's probably the best option

Tonight was the final of 4 formals on the westbound leg and I thought that the food choices at dinner were lacklustre. There were no snails, no beef wellington and no baked Alaska; there was surf and turf and other stuff but it seemed to me to be another example of change for the sake of changing. I know that some would call the other stuff old fashioned but I think that it is traditional and even though I don’t eat the baked Alaska I like to see it available because lots of people love it.

Nonetheless we had a great evening and the humidity died away overnight and the last day was perfect, the sunbeds were full and there were a few rather pink looking people walking around.

I must apologise for misleading you all, the carpet in the Britannia and the Commodore Club have been replaced but they used identical carpet when they relaid them. One interesting nugget that I heard was that the Internet packages are to switch from per minute pricing to per megabyte of data used pricing. No-one that I've spoken to knows how it will work in practice but it will start before September apparently.

The final quiz was slightly better/easier and we scored well on Song Introductions, not well enough unfortunately so we remain without a victory to our name.

We all had lunch in the Verandah Restaurant today to use our CWC Vouchers, it was ok but I really wasn’t too keen on the limited selections available. Sorry if I'm sounding like a miserable old foodie but there were only four starters, four main courses and four desserts including cheese, which came plated. There was nothing inherently wrong with the place or the quality of the food served and I suppose that it has to grow into its own identity which it hasn’t had time to do. The staff there seem quite ready to say no to passengers which is unusual on board this ship. I have a voucher for next week and I'm not sure that I want to go there again that soon.

By the early morning it had become very humid and we had to close the door to keep cool, the sea was racing along and there was a fair wind blowing a few white horses. We weren’t up with the larks due to slight overindulgence but were in Britannia just before 9am for a healthy breakfast until the bacon and eggs appeared, I needed sustenance!

The ship was much warmer than usual and finally, just after the quiz, they adjusted the air conditioning and cooling blasts could be felt. I won’t dwell on the quiz but it will suffice to say that it was on classic movies and a working knowledge of directors, writers and release years were required to score more than 10/20. We scraped 12 by blind luck.

It remains humid as we approach the last day of our voyage, I have no real idea just where the last 6 days have gone, but gone they certainly have. We are just pleased that we’re on here for the return trip as well.

Hello again, Capn, as others have said, we have missed your excellent reviews/commentaries.

 

As you are currently on board, perhaps you can address the matter of the updated PG/QG off menu options. I know from your post that you are not in a grilles suite, but perhaps one of your many contacts can enlighten us?

 

Thanks, and do enjoy your time on board.

I spoke to staff in PG and they said Caviar and Lobster are paid dishes in PG but no real changes.

We arrived as arranged in the Commodore Club because the string quartet were playing in the Chart Room, they are good musicians but get carried away when playing and forget that they are there to provide background music to the cocktail hour and not performing in Carnegie Hall. It is often hard to chat over the noise. We had a nice time and were enjoying ourselves so much that we forgot about the 10 minute walk to dinner and so arrived a little late, secretly I think the waiting staff like staggered entrances so they don’t have a massive rush at one time. We had a nice meal and once again were almost the last to leave. I still hadn’t caught up on sleep lost so we went up to bed and by 11.30 were fast asleep listening to the ocean. The next I knew it was 7.45am. Absolutely fabulous, to drop in the name of a fairly tedious film we recently saw.

For the last 4 days I have been suffering with a swollen left eyelid and the swelling has decided to move down into my left cheek, the result is that I look like I've done four rounds with Joe Frasier and come off worse. I bit the bullet and after breakfast I went to the Medical Centre. $100 later the doctor decided that I needed a course of antibiotics, she said that one glass of wine was fine with them and I confirmed that she meant one glass at a time. I’ll have to watch out for Sheldon tonight in the CWC cocktail party as he keeps me well stocked up with G&Ts.

Today’s quiz was on Mythology and we did well with 12/20, the winners scored 18 though and after applauding them they were seen departing clutching a large book of Greek and Roman myths. They probably need the bookmarks and pencils more than we do!

There were dolphins and Orcas playing around the ship today and whilst we didn’t see any of them broaching, their white markings were visible as they breathed. It was a lovely sunny day on board.

After lunch we went to the Terrace Bar to take advantage of the delightful weather, then we went down to the Godiva Bar which used to be Sir Samuel’s and had a cone and a sundae, I might have ordered the sundae! They were both delicious but so very rich that I'm not sure I would have another. Never say never though.

The ice cream induced a nap and although I was convinced that I hadn’t slept, 90 minutes had passed by. We showered and dressed and went for cocktails at 7pm, there was the CWC Cocktail Party at 7.45. the major award went to an English couple who have sailed about 1200 days together, that is just over 3 years. Too much for me but it includes 7 World cruises and they have booked for the next 2 years already.

Dinner was very nice and afterwards we went to the Chart Room for a couple of brandies and to listen to the Jazz trio.

By 11.15 we were ready to bid farewell and head to bed. It is a warm night and we have the door open listening to the waves washing down the side of the ship. My antibiotics are working and my eye seems to be on the mend.

Sorry about the storm but hope you and the Room Service steward are fine. Have you any thought on the Speakers. The headline Insights act on crossing before yours were from the NY times and they were pretty dire in the main. Anybody can read from notes!

They seem to repeats mostly, Untermeier was a Secretary of some department in DC apparently and there's a music historian. None of it overexcites me in truth.

We met for cocktails as usual or perhaps a little earlier and had a quick dinner of just 2 courses. I suppose that we were anticipating long queues to see the show. We arrived at the theatre 30 minutes early and there were 20 people waiting as the doors had yet to be opened. When they finally opened we were able to select prime seats wherever we wished and now I realise why!

Herbie plays the piano and a keyboard, he has 4 others with him on stage. One is the drummer who’s drum set was the size of New Hampshire with more cymbals than you see at a Salvation Army Christmas party; another is the bass guitarist; the third is the regular guitarist and finally the alto saxophonist who also plays two other keyboards. The music could be described as jazz but it would be a stretch, I'd prefer to more accurately describe it as self indulgent drivel. It was interesting that just when I thought the tune was over, they would find a new lease of life and play on for another 5 or 10 minutes. They were on stage for 90 minutes and only played 4 tunes, people were streaming from the theatre within 5 minutes of them starting. It was such a shame as individually they are talented musicians but together they were just playing for themselves, none of his old standards were at all recognisable as they had been tweaked and remixed to death. If you wondered why a legend of his stature would be playing on QM2, I think we now know.

We had intended to go to the Chart Room afterwards to catch the tail end of the Jazz Trio but I was so over jazz that we went instead to the Commodore Club to lament the loss of 90 minutes of each of our lives.

We were in bed shortly after 1am and were loudly awoken at 3.15 as the ship suddenly lurched 5 degrees off vertical and all the bottles and glasses on the desk shelf exploded like a grenade. I had a couple of very fine shards of glass in my leg and I discovered that the floor was littered with similar debris as I stood on it and pushed a chunk into my heel. We were on the southern edge of a major force 12 to 13 storm and had been battered from the starboard side by a gust of wind of about 100mph which caused this damage. Everything on the ship was shaken and one poor steward in the Room Service area had a large metal item fall on his head, he is seriously ill in the Medical Centre and remains unconscious. We tidied up as best we could and I felt very badly about christening the new carpet with my blood. We went back to sleep by about 4am and got up 4 hours later.

The room stewards have all been extra busy today deeply vacuuming all the cabins to remove all traces of the damage.

Breakfast was taken in Kings Court again and then later we attempted the quiz, this one was shown on the TV and featured greatly magnified pictures of some item or part thereof. It was hopeless and we sadly miss the old ones. We had a fish and chip lunch in the Golden Lion and the waves were washing over the windows, it was fantastic. Then it was time to catch up with our lost sleep from last night.

It is now 5.30 and time to get ready for the frolics tonight.

If I see Stanley I will enquire whether any changes have taken place. I always thought it depended upon how busy the chefs were in PG and how demanding the passenger was being :)

There are over 2600 passengers on board from 45 nations, this includes 200 children. The largest contingent is from the USA which is fairly standard on a westbound crossing. The Captain, Christopher Wells was quite amusing during his address at the party and spoke briefly about Brexit and how pleased he and Cunard are that the Americans continue to celebrate the first voyage of Britannia from Liverpool to Halifax and Boston on July 4th.

Dinner was very pleasant again and we were joined by a couple of friends from the crew. We all had too much fun as usual and were the last to leave the restaurant.

Afterwards we headed to the Commodore Club for a nightcap and I was pleased to see that there were still a few souls out and about after 11pm. We were in our cabin by midnight and slept well to the sounds of the ocean. We gained our 3rd hour at 2am.

Today is Thursday August 4th and it is beautiful day. The sea is like rippled oil and the sun is shining brightly. We breakfasted for the first time in the new style Kings Court and were impressed by the layout and the staff, it was excellent and a vast improvement on the original design.

I have been asked for photos of the ship and quite frankly can do no better than share this link to a review and photos compiled by Gazroberts80 and posted by him on this forum. They are excellent pictures and he should have the credit. Please see https://cruisecritique.net/2016/07/19/queen-mary-2-remastered-and-revisited/.

The quiz was a little better and the TV was still used to show a picture but it had little or no bearing on the question and it wasn’t necessary to view it to give the answer. It seems like change for change sake to us. We didn’t win but came close this time at least. Afterwards we played cards where some of us had slightly more success.

Britannia’s lunch menu had so many of our favourite dishes on today that it was hard to choose. Lasagne or Fish Pie or Liver and Bacon; liver won for me followed by a lovely rice pudding. It was so good as was the Viognier that we chose to accompany it. The ocean air is tiring so a little nap followed and then I had to do some work, but not too much and now it is time to clean up ready for cocktails, dinner and Herbie Hancock’s performance in the theatre at 10.30. We’re looking forward to that.