Victoria2

I saw a Sendak Wild Thing, with a red hat, initially rather than a ship! I definitely prefer the teddies.

Thank you I think it's great Cunard is adding flexibility on quite a couple of issues. Let's hope the modifications encourage newbies to the line. The typo made me smile by the way as we definitely avoided crushing on QV last month! 😀

I get periodic questionnaires asking my opinion on various Cunard issues but haven't had a recent cruise survey for a few years now. Could be because we didn't cruise for three years but we too haven't had one from our August cruise either. Not too bothered really.

I'm not a member of any ruling class but am/was classed as fairly competent a rower. Indoor ergs only these days.

Is fixed late dining an addition in Britannia? I thought it had always been there. The excellent Britannia upgrade as far as I can see is the addition of the 'anytime' dining when offered. We fix dine to a certain extent in QG, as we try and make the table between 7.45pm and 8pm depending on pre dinner drinks etc.

We're talking upgrades/improvements, not down grades. 😄

If an upgrade of the cheese trolley [I have had both cheeses mentioned] is all it takes to 'upgrade the experience', then I'll go with that! 😄

Thank you. I hadn't seen that. As I don't like the position of the Club cabins on the Vistas [no idea re QM2], I can't say the elevated experience would persuade me to book Club now I would have my choice of Britannia dining unless the added premium paid was relatively insignificant.. Hopefully, this enhanced experience will have no knock on effect for the PG and QG experiences.

I don't class that as 'free' because that obc could be used against other products bought on the ship. If grats. were included, that would free up the obc to be used elsewhere.

Although the much welcomed Britannia dining change, [which, by the way, was a point of discussion between myself and a senior member of the wait staff, pre Covid who said 'never say never' with a smile and so in my opinion, right or wrong, has been in the pipeline for a while], doesn't immediately affect me, I will watch with interest to see what ripples, if any, it might send 'up' the dining chain. I think Cunard will now be offering the best dining scenario in Britannia; two set dining times and an open dining time. I can't comment on the 'to Club or not' or even 'to PG or Club' as that won't affect us but any possible [and I haven't read anything so far to suggest this is proposed] knock on changes to Club, and then possibly PG and finally to QG, will. I haven't travelled in PG but my immediate view would be that it gives access to decks eleven and twelve which are lovely areas on the Vistas and which to my mind, would be the selling point on its own. Add the dining scenario into the mix and I would see no reason to add to that. As a UK [important as the UK and US bookings seem to give different booking advantages] based Q Grill'er, if 'perks' were upgraded in PG, I can't immediately see other than included gratuities*, what could be added as a knock on sweetner to add to the next grade bearing in mind the presumed necessity to ensure any perks which already exist for Diamond passengers won't be eroded, the internet allowance being the only Diamond perk which has any real significance for us. I certainly wouldn't want anything remotely All Inclusive to be paraded as a QG perk as we organise our own trips and don't want any 'free' drinks package to add to our existing 'free' cabin set up so this might seem very selfish, but I hope, these excellent Britannia dining changes will have no effect whatsoever on 'The Grills'.

That's the beauty of a cruise and in this case, Cunard. Get off or stay onboard, win/win either way. Enjoy

Very, at times! 😟

I have no idea about lists, but our agent was offered, on our behalf, an upgrade from a Q5 to a Q3 around ten years ago as we'd forgotten to tick the no upgrade. We never went back aft apart from a Q1, booked as a trial next year. We were offered, for a most reasonable supplement, an upgrade 3 to a 2, again, a few years ago.. Unfortunately, we took it. As we now value the space, that is our go to booking so beware of upgrades, they can prove expensive in the long run! 🙂

Golly. A problem sorting out our disembarkation day wake up call and now no teddies. Standards are definitely slipping. 😮

I'm quite happy with invisible officers. Quite content asking for items OK with something cold i.e. a glass of nondescript fizzy drink in lieu of any reception as we would avoid any semblance of a 'crowd' at the moment and was thoroughly delighted to be sailing on Queen Victoria but then I'm not interested in hosted tables or small ships either I suppose I'm just a dyed in the wool, Cunard stick in the mud Good job we're all different. 🙂

I agree Officers mingle with passengers but are leaving themselves open to passenger illness or Officers restricting interactions with passengers and staying as free as possible from passenger illness No contest as far as I'm concerned. I'll take the proffered glass of something bubbly at the Gala dinner and let the powers that be carry on driving the boat! 🙂

If the wi fi is the same on all three Queens, then my experience a few weeks ago on QV is that it can be contrary due to various reasons [one day we were without it for a good portion of the day], but the basic package worked for us most of the time. It was certainly worth purchasing one package for the pair of us to use, not at the same time, on our two devices.

Roscoe's 'adventures', land and sea, along with safarigal's blogs [again, any time any place] are probably the best blogs going and I love reading them both. To be thoroughly recommended.

When we cruised the Med, Pre Covid so tax matters might have changed since then, the Spanish Tax was only relevant in Spanish waters which is why we used to pre-buy wine, when applicable, for dinner in order to circumvent that particular add on.

I did over hear a conversation why the UK has no FCC available to purchase at the moment but as it's hearsay, I have no idea if it's true or not. Seemed plausible and it also indicated this isn't a permanent arrangement but it's no big deal. With judicious planning, and risk, obviously, if you're pretty sure you'll be booking in the future, for a very small deposit, you get the perks offered for an onboard booking and at the moment, that booking can be transferred once, to a cruise of equal or greater value, with no penalty as long as time elements are observed. A bit like purchasing FCCs but with the small deposit as an outlay rather than whatever the cost is now. As I said, a bit of planning with future itineraries is required but the outcome is the same if the planning fits and VIP, the one time no penalty transfer can be undertaken.

As I said in my sort of live from QV thread, 'she' being the Grill's Concierge Bear in mind 'Basically, one account can be accessed by two devices but not at the same time. She also said if I didn’t need the internet on embarkation day, the price went down by the daily $15 rate if I signed up the first sea day as opposed to embarkation.Suited me. $15 is $15 after all! Almost a third of a bottle of wine. Have to save the pennies where possible. She set the account up for me on my iPad, ready to purchase the following day. This I did. No problem... One thing to mention, as with the old system, you have to log in each time you access your account. Yes it’s 24/7 access but you’ll get logged out after a time of inactivity so don’t think the internet isn’t working

QM2 is probably the best ship to ride out a storm but having been at sea between Halifax and Newfoundland, and caught the tail end of Felix in '95, I can tell you it is no fun being in a ship sailing in the swells a Hurricane/extra Tropical storm can cause. QM2 or not, that kind of 'thrill' ride isn't for me.

Have a wonderful holiday on our home from home.

I followed that too thanks to the helpful Grill's concierge tip when I couldn't sign up for the basic plane which, I have to say did not allow me to stream any music. I tried a few times and never managed it.

Thank you. I noticed that too.