Bigmike911

Your weight considerations should be based on your air portion of the trip. If your doing a round trip by sea, what ever you can lift and store should be your guide. I might suggest Cunard's White Star Luggage service if you have heavy or bulky bags or lots of them. They can get them to and from the ship for a price. You might want to check with your TA or Cunard for more information.

You should be fine with a 1 pm flight. I have done it a number of times and my rule has been anytime after 1pm. from either LaGuardia or JFK. I might suggest that you may want to take a taxi to JFK if you have any concerns. However, usually, Cunard knows t your flight times and will book you one a bus to meet that schedule. A taxi eliminates any bus delay. Bon voyage

Another alternative, if you already have a Tux, shirts and kit. is to have Cunard White Star luggage service pick up your extra bag in Florida about two weeks before you sail and have it delivered to the ship in Hamburg. I use them all the time for both international and domestic travel. If you can pack light, the cost is less than buying a new TUX, if you already have one. The problem with buying one at M&S is you will likely have to have it tailored, pant length, sleeve length, etc and that takes time and money. I recommend you call White Star at 888 491 0774 for a price quote.

On QM2, while traveling with a friend in an adjoining cabin, the butler kindly opened the divider on the balcony. Late one evening, I heard a terrible banging sound, and woke to find it was the divider swinging back and forth in the wind. So you will want to put a chair or table in the way to keep it open.

In 2015 I will make my 14th and 15th trips on Cunard. 10 have been Trans Atlantics. I have also cruised on other lines and at the end of the voyage, I always say get me back to Cunard. Some of the things I would like to see are the following, some of which might be pie in the sky.

A sister ship to Queen Mary 2 (perhaps Queen Ann) An ocean liner. Alternating with QM2 on Trans-Atlantics most of the time. I have missed the ability to go east bound, and then return shortly there after with a west bound. Now it seems you are stuck for a week or ten days on either side before you can return. Seven day crossings are terrific.

I actually like the opportunity to break the travel with a few days in the UK or Europe or the US, so ships on a schedule where One would have a few days a shore would be lovely. Maybe one departing on Saturday, and the other on Wednesday doing seven day turns.

I like the formality of Cunard, I like dressing for dinner and formal nights. I love the White Star Service, The Grills, etc.

I think moving a few of the Vista Class ships to Cunard and infusing them with White Star service would be terrific. These could do the non T/A cruises in North America and Europe, and timed with the T/As could offer great opportunities. More Cunard White Star ships would be terrific.

Don't reduce the service, but price it where you don't have to do heavy discounting, which benefits neither the line nor its booked passengers and tends to make everyone unhappy.

More single rooms and suites. Or price them so that singles in higher categories are not twice as expensive.

Well thats my wish list. I hope the Management of Cunard/Carnival will do the right thing.

I am already looking beyond my 15th voyage.

Cheers Mike.

Belle, Your probably right. Maybe its my looking at too many the old Underground and Steam Railway pictures. Its certainly First and "other". No offense meant. Cheers Mike

My personal experience with Cunard, and the purser's department in particular, is that they some time "create" government regulations to make their lives easier. Having said that, it is perhaps easier to have a printed copy, than to try to deal with these folks.

Cunard does have a service to store bags in Southampton, and it is very reasonable. Ask the pursers office for details. As for travel to London, I recommend the train. From the pier have the taxi driver take you to Southampton Central station (specify the London side, so that you don't have to haul bags up and over the tracks.) Trains go about every 30 minutes and the travel time to London Waterloo is about 1:25. The trains have first and third class service, difference is the width of the seat. There is usually a refreshment trolly for drinks and light snacks. And there are rest rooms on the trains. You can buy the tix earlier on line and collect them from a machine or get them from a ticket agent when you get to the station http://www.nationalrail.co.uk for schedules and fares, but they don't book to far in the future. Fare is about GBP 36 for third. There are other services car hire, bus but my personal preference is the train as its fast and easy and it gets you to Central London with taxi service to your hotel or where ever you want to go.

Its also a good idea to check out your table assignment at lunch, and ask for any required changes before dinner.

Looks like two of us posted at the same time. Apologies for the dupication. Sorry to say, there are no boxes in the Royal Court Theatre on QM2, only QE and QV. If your traveling on QV or QE in Grills accomodation, the Grills concierge located in the Queens Grill Lounge can make a reservation for a box on one of the days reservations are taken. A reserved box is an extra cost, but worth it as you will be served good champage and dessert finger foods in a area near the box and taken to your box where another bottle of champage awaits. Other wise on QE and QV the boxes are first come first served. It would be nice if this were availabel on QM2 but as there are no boxes, well perhaps in a future retrofit.

I found this information today on the Cunard site. "Woodbury Common Shopping Outlet

Take a trip to Woodbury Common for the ultimate in retail therapy.

HIDE

Woodbury Common Shopping Outlet

Located around 1 - 1½ hours drive from New York in Central Valley is Woodbury Common, one of the most popular premium outlets with named brands offering savings of up to 25% - 65%. It is said to be one of the world’s largest collection of designer outlets.

Upon arrival, you’ll have around 3½ - 4 hours to ‘shop till you drop’. Stroll through the charming Colonial American village setting and visit more than 220 outlet stores which include names such as Diesel, Giorgio Armani, Gap, Miss Sixty, Nike Factory Store, Polo Ralph Lauren Factory Store, Versace, Adidas, and many more. "

To find the listings, go to the excursions tab on the Cunard site, click on the "destinations" underlined word in the text, which will take you to regions click on Transatlantic USA Canada, then in the ports we visit, click New York and it lists 14 possibilities among them Woodbury Common.

Now having said that, perhaps they will not offer the excursion on the day you will be in NYC. Have you looked in the voyage personalizer?

I hope this helps. Mike

I suggest you check the Cunard excursions. They have a number for NYC, and I noticed one that goes to Woodbury Commons, which is actually outside the city. It is a "premium outlet mall" which has a number of stores from big name merchants who sell over stock items, end of season items ( and watch out for this) good made especially for these stores. They have excellent prices, take credit cards, and the ship will not sail until your motor coach returns (unlike self organized tours). check Cunard Excursions NYC and Woodbury common.

Lynn, your sounding better already. Your too young, too pretty and too much fun to give up. I hope you will find someone to sail with and join us again soon. The September 20, 2015 westbound from Southampton would be a good one. Were on board. See you there!

Mike

Lynn, I hope you got to the ship at the proper pier. I rather like sailing out of the Manhattan cruise terminal as you get to pass half the length of Manhattan and on the port side you have a terrific view of the city. Write when you get back. Mike

I just added my most recent clock, so now after several tries, I am an "expert" Go to the countdown clock tab and create the clock. Copy the computerese (url) from the countdown page, then go to your computer profile (CP) and then to the signature tab. When it opens you will see your clocks on the upper right, and below them the computereses from them. Go to the bottom of that list, tab one line below the lowest entry (to make room and keep them separate, then paste the information you copied on the countdown tab. Once pasted, go to the bottom of the screen and click the save button and you are done. You may have to use the scroll down function to find the button.

Addict, would you kindly put some statistics from reputable sources to back up these claims. As a retired police officer, who never fired his service weapon except on the shooting range, I find such statements to be a bit silly. There are, of course, people and societies that are unreasonable fearful of things they do not understand, like guns, nuclear power and terciary recovery methods for oil production.

You will have to buy internet minutes either by the minute or in packages, there is no free internet. They are expensive and the speed is very slow. There in an internet center in the "Conexxions" area with wired p.cs. These might be best for you if your only going to send emails.

If you have a wireless equipped p.c. you can use it in your room or suite, but as previously mentioned, there may be times, when many people are trying to use the service where you might not be able to connect. Early AM or late PM seem to be the best times.

The protocol to log on and sign off is less than user friendly, and failure to logoff and end the session, will cause you to waste minutes which you have paid for at a pretty steep price. So pay close attention to the process.

And yes you can use the service in mid-Atlantic, Pacific as the connection is via satellite.

Good luck and enjoy your voyage.

Cheers Mike

Which is a better location based on noise, movement, soot. A753, A751, or D733?

Thanks

I just completed a 7 day western Caribbean cruise in A750 on the port side of the Aloha deck. I found it very comfortable. Part of the balcony (off the bedroom) is fully covered, so no debris from above. The balance has partial cover.

The cruise was very smooth, so there was little sense of motion or noise, with the exception of arrival back in Houston, when the whole place shuddered from about 5 am forward as the ship was moved to the pier. This was the only engine noise/vibration we had.

I would not hesitate taking the suite again, were I to decide to do a Princess cruise again.

In general, I found the service from room service to be good, except for cold scrambled eggs the final morning. The room steward was less than good. The mini bar selection was a joke and no wine opener was provided until I complained, and it was impossible to get Johnny Walker Black for the room.

The suite was a B+ in appearance, with the exception of the general absence of power plugs, particularly in the bath room.

I hope this helps.

The Caribbean Princess has departed Bayport headed to Cozumel as of about 3p.m. Local Time. Do any folk on board have an updated itinerary? With four days Cozumel is easily doable, but can they go any where else and still return by Saturday?

I am sure this is good news for those still on board, and to those of us planning to join the ship in the next cruise and the one following.

Cheers Mike

Two weeks from boarding and this is a very slim thread. I will wake it up a couple of more times before we sail and see if any friends are joining.

Mike

Guys, thanks for the help, and unfortunately not very good news. I appreciate the time you all took to respond.

By the way Gunnar, the reason Blue is expensive, is that it, like most of the Johnnys is a blend of single malts, the youngest of which must be at least 25 years old. It is not further aged in the bottle, so you can imagine the ages of the single malts in the blend and thus the cost.

I guess its back to Cunard in the future for me.

Cheers Mike.

I prefer JWB as my tipple of choice. I would like to buy a bottle from the Caribbean Princess to consume in my suite. So far, having talked to Princess twice I cannot get a clear answer.

The last one I got was that you can order JWRed from their gift list and have it delivered to the suite, but they also told me they don't carry Black aboard. This seems a bit silly as it is a very popular top shelf scotch.

Can anyone tell me definitively if Johnny Walker Black Label Scotch is available to be purchased by the bottle and delivered to one's suite?

Thanks, in advance, for your help.

Cheers Mike.

20 days and counting down. So far not many have signed on to this Roll Call, so I will wake it up one more time and see what happens.

Any friends going on this cruise who wish to make themselves known can post a reply

Cheers to all Mike.

We sail four weeks from tomorrow, Saturday 9th March. I will wake this thread up and move it closer to the front to see if others care to add to it. Thanks Mike

With 45 days out and the search function not working, I am going to wake this thread up to see if there are any recent additions to our group. Please make your selves known.

Cheers Mike