minz56

Definitely available as I have booked one!

Prices seem to be all over the place - my KC single was 50% less than the cheapest outside double with the 75% single supplement.

I was in Bali last week and noticed quite an array of alcohol on my way out of the airport, but I had already purchased mine in Melbourne.

Check the duty free limits before buying.

Cheers,

Sue

The "Duty Free Shop" on arrival at Bali is rather odd in that it is AFTER customs and immigration. I have passed through it many times (you have no choice) but have never checked the prices. However given that you are in Bali at this point I doubt that duty free prices would apply ... but I don't know. I will pay more attention next time!

I would still buy in Singapore.

When Go Big/Better/Best was being rolled out there was discussion about how much a solo traveler would have to pay to upgrade from the Go Big level. The conclusion was that a solo would pay $15 p/night to upgrade to Better, and $45 p/night to upgrade to Best.

However the Celebrity site continues to quote $30 and $90 p/night respectively.

I am wondering if there is anyone out there who has concrete evidence of what the correct upgrade cost is, ie a solo traveler who has done this recently.

Cunard made such a hullabaloo about the new single cabins on QM2 saying that they were responding to the demands of solo travellers. Well, yes, but what solo travellers actually want is a single fare that is significantly less than the 175% they would have to pay for a regular cabin.

Having said this I recently booked an October 2016 crossing in a KC cabin at a fare that was significantly less than anything else. The current fares on this cruise if booked in New Zealand are:

KC Outside single NZ$1923

IF Inside Double at single rate NZ$2859

EF Outside Double at single rate NZ$3754

DC Balcony at single rate NZ$3681

I am not sure these fares are available worldwide - another quirk of Cunard pricing. But I'd like to see more of this sort of pricing for the KC and KB cabins.

I agree with Jollyjoyce ... in that you may find that you get the champagne confiscated when you transit Singapore if you buy it in London.

I too would recommend buying it in Singapore. There is now an online store where you can buy duty free goods for collection at Changi Airport - iShopChangi. The link for this is:

http://www.ishopchangi.com/

They have a reasonable selection of champagnes. You buy in advance and then collect at Changi Airport. I have personally not used this service, but I imagine like all things Singaporean it will be efficient!

....Lets punish them by using our beverage packages to get all the free water we can carry. 2 people x 6 bottles per hour x 24 hours per day x 14 days = 4,032 bottles !!!!!!!!!

I think they would run out of water if evryone did that!!!!

Then they could replace the Art Auctions with Water Auctions. Much more popular :D

I think I may know what is happening here as over the period the OP is talking about I was pricing for a Europe cruise in October 2016.

When I started looking I could see the prices that included the perks (2 in the case of a Europe cruise). However if I opted not to take the perks then the price was discounted - the amount of the discount varied by cabin type, but the discounts were in the range the OP is talking about (ie $300-$500 per cabin).

Initially I was checking on a TA site, but found that X were offering the same fares on their site provided you elected not to take the Go Big/Better perks. So these lower fares appear to be standard X fares and are not group fares.

So if the OP booked one of these lower no perks fares then of course you can't subsequently get them.

I am wondering if X are trying to address the needs of people who want a lower fare with no perks.

The renderings for the new Kings Court look great - without people. Add the mass of humanity and it could still be a zoo, but I sincerely hope not as this is a much needed revamp.

It's always fun to plan!

I am not familiar with sourcing the best airfares from the USA so I will leave that for others to comment on.

With regards to choosing a Britannia Balcony cabin post refit you will need to bear in mind that not all Britannia Balcony cabins are being refurbished during the 2016 refit. Check the following link to find out which cabins will be redone during the refit:

https://ask.cunard.com/help/cunard/latest_news/QM2_refurbished_16

Important information if you want a refurbished cabin.

I'd definitely consider a round trip, but only if it meant not missing out on things while in Europe.

Watching the website pull cruises based on a port you're researching, or shore excursions for a cruise you've booked -- I suspect this is a massive Oracle-based monster that is a bear to update every time they add a new batch of cruise dates. [This is based on being involved when my university replaced its legacy COBOL IT system -- it still worked but all the COBOL programmers were retiring! -- with Oracle. When I retired, five years into the transition, they were still having problems with course registration every semester.] So I sympathize with the magnitude of the issues -- but I still get frustrated as a user. :)

If they design the database correctly it should really be very easy to extract the information you describe. At any point in time they probably have little more than 250 cruises open for sale, which makes for a tiny database. OK there is the ancillary information on ports, shore excursions etc but they should not really complicate matters.

Now the booking engine ... that is probably an entirely different matter.

I see no reason why Cunard could not have 2 or 3 five day crossings a year, priced appropriately, to appeal to those who yearn for this. If they proved not to be popular then of course they would be dropped...

Nice ... Bali, my second home :cool:

Does anyone actually know whether Softroom Architects are the chosen designers for the cabins? Perhaps they were just tendering along with others?

If they are, then I would expect there to be quite a few changes from the renderings we have seen.

The KC and KB cabins were also available on the Cunard Australia/NZ website and I had to do exactly as Bluemarble has said to see them and get the price.

In my case for the 11 Oct 2016 crossing there was quite a big difference between these cabins and booking a regular cabin with a 75% surcharge. However looking at other cruises there was very little difference, so it does seem to vary.

As yet none of the online TA's I use are geared up to price the KC and KB cabins, but this should come.

Now we just have to wait to see what the actual cabins are like ... and the rest of the refit :)

Same as before. As you are in an Owners suite you will have unlimited free access to Prime C and Aqualina, plus MDR, pool grill and buffet.

... and there will be tapas offered in Looking Glass.

For a small ship AZ has a great range of dining options ... even without the Asian restaurant.

Hi Everyone,

 

For your convenience, I've posted the same exact question, in a poll for Cruise Critic members. Please stop by, and place your vote : http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2257844 .

Host Andy - that link appears to be invalid.

For the record, I am also a NO to included shore excursions

Here are two pics of a QE (New single cabin) Placed where the casino used to be. On The deck plans of QE and QV there is one smaller outside narrower cabin and one inside.

These cabins look lovely - particularly with the large window. Hopefully the new single cabins on QM2 will be as appealing :)

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

I decided to book the KC cabin with the 2 windows as I agree this gives better light. However I doubt that the real cabins once constructed will be as "square" as the cabin plan indicates - I am expecting a longer, narrower cabin.

I only had to pay a 50% deposit so no big deal if things change over the next year.

To be fair most of the material that has been "leaked" up to now has been of staterooms and their bathrooms, which is why what we are seeing is not exactly new.

We have seen much less of the changes to the public areas, so it will be good to see those when they are released.

Personally I am interested to know how the Internet will be upgraded as I will need to use it while on board.

It's a shot in the dark right now since these cabins have not yet been built and it will be months before we get any reviews on them. You might want to go with those having more light but there won't be much on an EB TA as the solo cabins are all on the port side of the ship.

 

Personally, I wouldn't book them unless it saved me a substantial amount of money vs. solo supplement in a "regular" stateroom. Cost versus space and location is something you have to decide.

Good point regarding the EB crossing and the fact that the single cabins are on port side. However, the reality is that I would probably have to book an inside if these new cabins were not available at a good rate. So some light is better than none. The saving is reasonably substantial - over US$600 between the KC cabin and the cheapest "regular" inside cabin.

Correction to my original post: the KC and KB cabins are 178 sq ft not 178 sq m!!

I am looking to book one of the new single cabins on a TA crossing in October next year, as the price here in NZ is excellent at the moment.

I am trying to decide whether the KB cabin on Deck 2 next to the Empire Casino (deck plan on left) or the KC cabin on Deck 3 where Images used to be (deck plan on right) is the better option.

I know this is pure speculation at the moment as no one has actually seen either of these cabin grades. On the Cunard website is states that both of these cabin grades are 178 sq m, but I wonder if this is accurate. I also wonder whether the KC deck plan is to scale as the area in Images is quite limited and I would have expected a longer narrower cabin.

I like the fact that there appears to be a chaise longue in the KB cabin, though the two windows in the KC cabin will give a lot of light.

Just wondering if anyone else has been looking at these cabin grades and whether they have any thoughts.

Somehow I missed when all this work will be done...

Jancruz1

13-27 January 2016 for Journey, and 2-15 April 2016 for Quest.

I like to see the menu at the pool grill lat night or Prime C on long cruises.. always nice to eat Asian spicy food.

Yes, I agree about having Asian food available at one or other of the venues on some evenings. Hopefully it will happen.

2018 is at least 18 to 24 months away. Summer/Fall of 2017 haven't been released yet.

Not true - there are cruises available until the end of 2017.

I seem to recall reading somewhere that 2018 itineraries would be released before the end of this year, but no exact date was given.

There is a rumour on the Roll Call for my cruise (coming from someone who has recently been on Quest) that they are not going to go ahead with Kibo. You will notice that it does not form part of the video.

Personally, I am treating this rumour with caution until the full details are known, but it does seem to indicate that the largely negative feedback has been heard by HO.