capnpugwash

Wasted an hour this morning to get my passport stamped by UK immigration. Only one officer working. There must be a better way.

I had a pub lunch in the golden lion. Then miraculously the sun came out. I rushed out to the aft deck and sat out for 45 mins before the miracle ended and we are back to clouds and fog.

 

I am invited to a hosted table tonight...first time ever. Not sure why, but it's a very nice offer. I'm looking forward to it.

 

Food last night was great. The two previous nights I found the main courses in mdr to be Luke warm. Last night it was nice and hot.

 

We had a woman join our table who had some trouble finding a good table. It started with her sitting at a table for 10 by herself. I think she had a good time at our table...it's a good group.

 

All for now.

 

Rob

 

 

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Try going in the afternoon when there is no queue, it is a better way.

So, just to summarise, there are currently at least 2 assistance dogs on the QV, there are no reports of them causing any problems, the OP was just curious about the idea.

Similar dogs have been seen around on Cunard ships now and again without any apparent problems.

 

Is that about it ?

Yes, succinctly put if you ignore those dogs that have travelled and may still travel when they are merely over indulged pets, which is apparently what you wish to do.

Maybe she should not sail as she experienced a miracle of healing the moment she left the ship and no longer needed the dog.:rolleyes:

 

Even legitimate service animals can't be taken ashore unless the ship has a veterinary permit. I think Cunard only has permits for the US, UK, and Germany. So a blind passenger would have to stay on board with their guide dog if the ship docked in any other country.

It would be a great shame if he was prevented from sightseeing, wouldn't it.

I've seen 4 or 5 and I think 3 of them were legitimate, the others were just lapdogs.

Your meet and greet sounds nice. However, when I organized MY meet and greet, every ship officer came. All passengers attending were given full refunds of their fares. The captain also let each and every attending guest drive the ship (albeit only in a circle less we hit something whilst driving). Every passenger attending bragged on me continuously for about three hours following the event, and I was offered a job by Cunard to organize everything for them in the future. I did, however, turn this down as I had many other very important things to do.;);):D:D

DWhit, I'm delighted that you were so well supported, how is the tuxedo by the way?

It is none of your business what the condition or disability is. This passenger does not need to disclose their personal medical condition(s) and disabilities to you or any other passenger.

 

People with disabilities and service animals have a right to privacy. While some disabilities that may require the aid of a service animal are easy to see, others may be invisible. This does not mean though that they don't exist. Nor does it mean that the person with the disability needs to defend and support his or her justification for the service animal just to appease the questions of others.

 

As for your request for enlightenment, the ADA does not require that service animals wear prescriptive clothing and badges that identify the animal as a service animal. While the ADA requires that a service animal be under it's handler's control at all times, this does not mean that the animal must be on a leash or harness. Voice commands are suitable also.

On one of our cruises a couple traveling with a service dog was the centre of attention nearly everywhere they went. We found it quite inappropriate that total strangers would ask us whether we had seen the dog on board and then provide us with a quick analysis of the gentleman's disability and need for the dog. I no more needed to know this information than I need to know why someone is in a wheelchair or why someone was traveling with a human companion. I can only imagine the stress involved for this couple of having to constantly deflect and respond to inappropriate questions from total strangers.

Well that's us told. Just to let you know that the ADA doesn't have teeth all over the known world but is restricted merely to the USA and its possessions. There are a lot of other countries that it doesn't apply to. :) I take it that you know this particular dog and the person it is travelling with, otherwise why would you blindly assume that the person has a disability rather being needy and neurotic. Is it because you haven't met anyone who is willing to lie in order to travel with a little handbag dog? I have, so I perhaps have a different view and I don't think that it is intrusive to discuss the presence of a dog on board when it is travelling in passenger accommodation.

Maybe that is the problem - getting the anchovies off! I don't like them so always ask for a plain Caesar.

Isn't that called a salad??:):)

For many years whilst dining in any of the Cunard restaurants I have regularly asked for a Caesar Salad which has not been on the menu in preference to the other starters on the menu.

 

You can imagine my surprise whilst in the Queen's Grill on QV to be told by the waiter that Caesar Salad was not on the menu therefore he would have to obtain the permission of the Head Waiter. The Head Waiter then came over and asked whether I wanted a Caesar Salad and I replied 'yes'. It duly came.

 

The guy on the next table overhearing my conversation chortled, saying he did not have my problem with a Caesar Salad when he ordered caviar which was not on the menu!

 

I have now asked for three Ceasar Salads over the last few days and have had to go through the same procedure each time. I have moved to a different section of the Queen's Grill where a different waiter and Head Waiter are involved and the same procedure applies.

 

What price a Caesar Salad these days!

There's clearly something fishy going on!

All I want to know is that if we bring on board our allowed bottles of 1 wine and 1 champagne which we would like to consume in the privacy of our own stateroom or balcony, would we have a glass to drink it from?

 

We do not intend to take our bottle into a public place or restaurant. We would buy a bottle of wine for dinner in the normal way.

.

We are not doing anything subversive or against Cunard policy

Yes

Our May 10th TA seems to be in need of a Meet & Greet and I was wondering how do we set one up? There seem to be a number of newbies to Cunard, and since my husband and I have sailed on QM2 before I thought I'd (gulp) volunteer. Any suggestions from Cunarders would be much appreciated...

Meet at 2.30 on the first sea day in the Commodore Club and tell people on the roll call that you suggest doing that. Simples!

I rather thought that this thread was discussing the policy rather than people's subversive attempts to get round it by 'smuggling'.

 

It is the latter which is more likely to change an approach in policy.

 

If people increasingly seek to avoid buying consumables on board, then service and standards will surely be impacted. Ultimately, margins have to be made somewhere to keep the shareholders happy and to allow reinvestment.

There is no smuggling involved because they currently have a grown up attitude, if it continues to be discussed I fear the outcome, gettit!!

A few years ago Cunard had a policy which meant that one was able to purchase OBC at $2 for £1 regardless of the actual rate of exchange, this clearly was quite an advantage. Rather than keeping silent on this perk several members of this board kept on and on shouting about it in spite of being given advice to not discuss the subject ad nauseam. The result which even the most obtuse person should have foreseen was that Cunard realised their error and changed their stance quickly. This endless discussion of whether or not wine can be taken on board seems to be heading in exactly the same direction which I consider to be a great pity and simply avoidable.

Extra bit of info as an aside...

 

On a previous voyage, the sommelier has 'baby-sat' half drunk bottles of wine for us til the following evening.

This is standard practice.

Emotional support dogs, really!! What a ludicrous development that the Political Correctness movement has spawned. It isn't as if they are proper dogs anyway just rats with good PR. :)

Can someone confirm for me if this tour is free or $150? I would love to do it when I'm on board in June, but only if it's free.

There seems to be some confusion, the galley tour is free whereas the "behind the scenes tour" is not. The galley tour is a 30 minute tour of the galley area along with 500 of your closest friends but the "behind the scenes" is restricted to 16 passengers in total and takes about 4 hours.

We have a TA from NY to Southampton, and family will meet us there. Is there a designated meeting point when we dock? Best time to meet up?

No, just meet outside the terminal. I suggest about 10am.

Our round trip was west-bound, Independance Day cruise, east-bound. This why I asked how you booked. I agree that no sensible person would book 2 tas and waste the flights.

You can get the trip excluding flights even from the UK and as has been mentioned the price is sometimes lower.

Is Boston on your August itinerary? If so I have a good tip re Cunard excursions.

It's Southampton - Halifax - NYC - Southampton.

Yes you should.

I have been looking at a cruise to the Med on Queen Elizabeth departing in October 2016.

This cruise is not yet open for booking but on the Cunard website there is an option to register an interest.

Is there any advantage to doing this or is it best to just wait till bookings are open. ?

None that I know of, if you have a Future Cruise Credit to use there is the consideration of OBC but you'll get that anyway.

A similar operation in industry would rightly not be permitted. It's an accident waiting to happen and this one will not be the last.

 

Of course a smaller ship would dock easily in the ports that the big ships can't.

 

David.

In some ports there is no option other than to tender regardless of the ship size.

Hello, can someone please tell me if I will be able to buy a day pass to the Royal Spa to use the pool, sauna and the thermal suite? What is the price? Thank you.

I think it's around $35-40

Hi does anybody know what games are in the QM2 casino.

 

Theres a group of us sailing in Jan and are all keen gamblers. Particularyl for Punto Banco / baccarat?

You won't see those there, blackjack and roulette are the basics with the odd poker tables and machines.

About 9.30 to 10am

Oh.ok.Thank you.New Years eve in New York then,what a shame.....;););)

I did the January crossing this year and my blog is here, you might be interested to look at it.

http://www.cruisemeet.co.uk/forums/topic/24-qm2-eastbound-january-2015/