stan01

Quest and the other non-expedition ships do still "require" a jacket in the Restaurant (main dining room) on formal nights. Less formal dining locations such as Colonnade, Earth and Ocean, and Sushi In the Club do not "require" a jacket on formal nights. What happens if you show up at Restaurant without a jacket depends entirely on who is working and what they decide to do. They could let you in, they could offer you a jacket, or they could ask you to go elsewhere.

I'd caution anyone about comparing any cruise in 2023 to one done before COVID. Lots of changes in the world, including changes in the cruise industry and I don't think there's any way to go back. Some of it is fewer workers doing the same amount of work (like everywhere else) and some of it is cost cutting.

Have you been on other cruises? A QM2 crossing is a bucket list item with unique attributes, but its also not characteristic of most other cruises these days. Cunard, QM2, and the transatlantic crossing in particular harken back to an earlier day of formality in attire, cuisine, entertainment, dancing, and service. Some cruise lines are better than others at seating single passengers at a hosted table, if desired.

We are embarking out of Southampton in June 2024 in Queens Grill on our first Cunard cruise. The US-based Cunard phone rep explained to me that QG gets separate checkin at the terminal, but not necessarily priority for the embarkation time which is allocated about 21 days before the cruise. If we make arrangements to arrive at 1230 as QG passengers and our allocated embarkation time is 1400 what would happen?

Seabourn's website and app is janky (that's software jargon for $*#*), but it's better than Cunard's site. Call Seabourn or your travel agent if it isn't working. In the case of bed setup (we get the bed split) we don't want to immediately ask our stewardesses to redo their well executed work upon boarding so it is important to us that this be communicated ahead of time. It amazes me that Carnival Corporation can't deliver modern websites and apps.

The photos posted by @pushpit were very nice! It looked to me like some of the portion sizes were huge! Ask for half portions when feasible, or share a plate with your partner. Or reduce sauce or starches. I don't want to give up delicious foods I enjoy, I just want less of it. Many of us have been inculcated from birth to clean our plates because children are starving in other places, but if the food is going to come out of the kitchen at a quantity I can't control (they can't or won't give me a half portion) the only choices left to me are to eat all of it or to leave some on my plate. I've learned to leave some on the plate if they can't reduce the quantity for me in the kitchen.

Thank you for your posts, very enjoyable and factual! I wish there was a similar thread for PG and QG cuisine.

Is this on the Pursuit? That's important as some of the answers to your questions will be different for expedition ships Pursuit and Venture than for the other ships.

Check the schedule here, on weekends for example the ferry service is hourly with first departure from Red Hook towards Wall Street at 0930. https://www.ferry.nyc/routes-and-schedules/route/south-brooklyn/

Well, I think retirees in their 60s and 70s with the health, time, and money to take luxury cruises has always been Seabourn's core demographic. Just now much of that group was born after WW2. So less big band and more "Dancing Queen". American businesses have been planning for the bow wave of baby boomer retirees for decades. 2020s and 2030s decades are "peak boomer" for travel.

On our recent Seabourn cruise we noticed very few "classic" customers (one couple in particular who was doted upon in the Restaurant like no others). The baby boomers have taken over.

Well it's elegant casual, not casual. I often wear a "Panama" / Tommy Bahama type untucked button down shirt with slacks most casual nights on most luxury or premium cruise lines (except Cunard). I'd say this is pretty typical attire especially in a warmer climate like the Caribbean or Med. Some men wear open collar, office style button down shirts (long or short sleeve) and some do wear polo shirts. I rotate my shirts, and since they are typically worn only for 4-6 hours max each night I wear them multiple times (gasp). Occasionally I'll stuff one or two shirts into the $50 laundry bag if there is room. The idea is elegant casual, not weekend casual. Wear what you would wear to a local restaurant where the meal would cost $50+ per person, not what you would wear to Applebees or Outback. The Seabourn mens dress code for elegant casual also says "sweater". There's shades of gray too: a fitted polo looks better on some men than others. A baggy untucked polo is weekend wear. And then some people just don't care 🙂

Well look at it this way you ca turn on your stair counter on your watches and see how many you can get each day, some good exercise to get up topside.

A hanging trolley is great news, that would be wonderful and easy to do! Thank you!

Thank you much, I figured the crew would take care of it and good to hear it does indeed work out.

We are booked on QM2 23 JUN 2024 Southampton-Brooklyn, followed by the 4th of July Brooklyn to Brooklyn cruise. We will be in Queens Grill but this is our first and likely only cruise on Cunard so no other "status". It's basically a bucket list item to do the TA in QG and adding on the 4th of July seemed even more special. Although the full trip can be made as a single booking there wasn't availability of QG suites to do this so we did two bookings that Cunard says are linked. Each segment is a separate booking, and we have to change suites (a few doors down the hall) at the pier in Brooklyn between the segments. We were told by Cunard phone rep that the ship's crew would help move our belongings from the first suite to the second suite, especially since we are in QG. We'd certainly try to make this as easy as possible and would pack most items in suitcases but would rather not pack and wrinkle up our formal wear to move down the hall. Anyone done this before? What else might we expect in this situation? Since we are in Brooklyn I'm guessing we'll have to go through US Customs then reboard. Might staying on the ship be an option? We may not know for sure what will happen until we get on the ship (and the Cunard rep implied this) but hoping this happens often enough that others can help us know what to expect.

Carnival owned ships often use Terminal D, E and F depending upon how many ships are in port, what cruise lines they are from, and what their sizes are. You may not know for sure until you see where the ship actually is. Sometimes the Port Miami Daily Docking report is helpful, but it is not always right, sometimes ships are missing, and any of the data can change: https://wwwx.miamidade.gov/Apps/Seaport/dailydock/Default.aspx

We used it all the time, from checking hours of operation and menus to looking at the event calendar to looking at charges posting to the statement. It's not perfect but once you are familiar with the app it got the job done. We preferred to iMessage over wifi rather than use the embedded message/chat function in Source app, but if we wanted to talk to other passengers it works well and it is easy to find them.

Once you get on board you go to Seabourn Square and ask them to credit back the costs of the shore excursions. It should come back as a refundable credit applied to your card on file within a few days after your cruise is over. Your on board statement in the Source app will show both the refundable credit and any non-refundable on board credit balances. Agree it would be nice if the OBC could be applied when booking before departure but it doesn't work that way.

We had a good experience with FlightEase for US domestic first class fares, and especially liked the ability to select our own flights rather than trying to communicate preferences to an intermediary. We want to make our own choices, and trying to coordinate on the phone or by email with a travel agent or cruiseline call center is tedious. I do understand that others still value this type of service. We booked first class domestic fares about 6 months out in FlightEase which were about 20% less than what the airlines were charging at the time we booked.

I would not assume you'd get an automatic yes to any and all request. Factors that may come into play: Penthouse or higher suite fare, status (# of nights), who the chef is, and what the request is. I would not assume that a first time passenger in a regular balcony suite is going to get the same answer as a passenger with 700 plus nights over the past 30 years including world cruises in Owner's Suite. I would not assume something that happened in 2017 would happen again in 2024. They try their best but they do something say no. We don't make a lot of special requests so its more what we heard from other passengers who do. To be honest often times I side with Seabourn as granting the request would impact other passengers service.

I'm not even sure what this means, is it Big Band and no Taylor Swift allowed?

Yes, but plenty of ways to comply with the dress code on formal night while in the Caribbean. No need to wear a tux/gown and dark business suit or jacket. Sundress and a light colored sport coat with collared shirt for him is fine.

I hope they back off the "for two prepared tableside" theme. Spouse and I often don't want the same thing or in the case of steak want it cooked differently, so several of the featured dishes become unavailable. If ordered for one are they going to say "sure" or "no"? Would be nice if they offered a one person version, even if it is somewhat modified and less theatrically prepared back in the kitchen instead of tableside.

Food is obviously a personal preference, but what we DO NOT prefer is too many specialty restaurants that have to be reserved months in advance at midnight on the opening day of availability when which seems to have become the norm on some cruise lines. Or having seating at specialty restaurants overly tied to status and cabin fare. We'd rather be more spontaneous on our vacations than plan down to the last minute when and where we will eat months in advance. Having most dining choices except TK available without reservations on Seabourn works for us. Again, personal preference and others will disagree I'm sure.