Victoria2

Thanks for this seasickphil . Extremely interesting. My slight seafood intolerance is rearing up to 'the itch' just reading this.😄 To be fair though, my interest in other cruise lines is more for the cabins than menus and for a couple or reasons, an all inclusive holiday would be our last resort and expensive which is one of the reasons we stick with Cunard, that and the wonderful staff and service we receive. It's a sort of PAYG system which suits us.🙂 The next couple of years will be the deal breaker as we have to switch from QV to QA so we will see if staff and service remain top notch. Thanks again though for taking the time to write all that for me [and others]. I appreciate it.

As Kensington-cruiser is UK based, one assumes his/her question concerns UK bookings and as US v UK travel T&Cs and pricing can be so wildly different, US info is, as always, interesting but not very pertinent here. For UK info, if booking a one way flight, FF miles is the best option and also utilisation of the miles. Second best is probably a Cunard one way flight. If booking a return, we were told many years ago, Cunard apparently can very occasionally give great deals on Business and First if they 'get a deal with an airline' but in our experience hen's teeth with pigs flying overhead spring to mind. When booking, whilst there's no difference in choice of airline, routing, date and timing of flight if you book through Cunard [as you can dictate everything and have it all on the same booking as the cruise], there's no denying, it's usually more expensive than if you book it yourself. You can self book yourselves a flight a few days before the cruise [very sensible] but you can do that with the Cunard booked flight if you want. What booking your own flight won't do is give peace of mind in this ever changing world, where conflict, strikes and weather can ground flights and re route ships, if travel plans are screwed. LikeCraigrlewis, the peace of mind given that it's not our problem to solve outweighs any discounts we might find if we book flights ourselves.

We decide on our flights eg airline/class of travel/ itinerary and have our TA package them in with the cruise onto one booking. Usually more expensive than booking them as separate items but gives us peace of mind if one part of the holiday throws up an issue.

Wonderful on a couple of fronts. Spending time with your son being the most important of them. A cruise on QV coming a close second. 😄 My husband has had Corneliani suits over the years so I have to agree re Italian tailoring. Have fun. Edit I'm quite envious! QV is [or was before her fly/cruise itineraries] our home from home and we have a bit of experience in QG. Just ask if any question occurs to you. Between us all, we should be able to help. 🙂

I must have missed the QG reference and you are quite right. Dinner can be served in the cabin. We have had a couple of cabin dinners [with friends] and the experience was quite delightful. However, 2025 is still some way off and BVILady's circumstances might improve this year. Time can be a healer so why not wait awhile BVILady before making a decision.

What I should have said to be fair, is highlighted in red.

I am probably one of the most tolerant members on this board with regards to dress code. Tolerant as in it doesn't have to be best bib and tucker for all and as long as folk are doing their best to try and follow guidelines without stretching 'things' too much then good on them. However, your last phrase resonates with me. If anyone chooses to travel on a Cunard ship, then accept the guidelines and try and fit it as best you can even if that means Gala nights in the buffet. What you don't do is book a Cunard cruise and then use a phrase which implies the cruise line is stuck somewhere in the 1950s. It's not. It's a style of cruising, a style which is evolving for sure, which is loved by thousands, hence its popularity. So Caveat Emptor and all that. If booked-don't moan about the guidelines afterwards.

We have been drinking ships' tap water for well over three decades. We have yet to turn green or grow an extra head.

Thanks I've stored the information given here. 🙂

I think staffing has a lot to do with our preferences, that and the fact QE aft cabins haven't had any revamps. It will be very interesting to see which redeployed QV staff we might meet on QA.

I agree. Not a good idea on embarkation day. Tripping over a wheeled cabin bag or having someone bump into you isn't a good start to a holiday! 😕 Plenty of time to admire the wonderful Queen Victoria's architecture once onboard, and she is, absolutely wonderful.

It's the style of the lacing which denotes the Oxford bit. The toe cap is the brogue bit...or not.

and even mine. I only know as we have a family member who is an alumnus. 🙂 and to answer the question, the shoe will be fine for any evening onboard.

To be a bit of a pedant, it does. The term comes from a style evolved by the university students a couple of centuries ago and so is now forever termed 'Oxford'.

They won't be. This is often a usual Cunard action with regards to segments of a World Cruise on initial offering. Ideally, the whole ship would hopefully be booked out to Worldies or longer segmenteers and if that was/is the hope, segments would not go on sale as that would preclude Worldies, if you get my drift. After the initial furore of booking, after a week or two, or even on initial few days booking segments will start to appear for the previously 'sold out' cabins.

The Royal Family isn't depleted [unless you're referring to the two HRHs who are recovering/receiving treatment]. Most sensibly and with, I would have thought, massive approval over here, the family has downsized to what can be termed 'balcony members' eg working royals and their children in the case of The Edinburghs. With reference to naming ships, it's part of what they do and I sincerely hope, one of them rocks up to Liverpool in June, for a bit of a do! 🙂

Camilla is still carrying out her duties so I don't see her leaving Charles for a day's outing. to be an issue. Catherine, PoW is returning to public life after Easter so she's a contender too. The Princess Royal would fit and the Duchess of Edinburgh would also be a contender in my book. Four lovely royals to choose from.

I LOVE the Camilla brand and thoroughly agree with you re space in luggage. I have two, mid length, I pack to wear at night with appropriate white evening trousers. I have one which had some punishment with sun screen and is only fit for swim suit cover up. An expensive accident. 😄 edit I would add though, UK prices are much more expensive than Australian prices.

Your take on Regent is interesting as it's a line, along with Crystal and Silversea we would consider should we fall out of loved with Cunard. At the moment Cunard suits us. Itineraries are repeated but as has been said, the world is shrinking a bit as far as cruise ship [and ones of a certain size] visits are concerned. I suppose we're lucky as we have visited the major part of the world in past decades and now the ship is our destination most of the time. I would be very interested in any review you have written, or might write of Regent.

True, but don't ask/don't get and if the tables have been preassigned, then no amount of asking will, or should I say, should remaining passengers get a table change to a preassigned table. It is interesting though how in the past, an envelope with your table number would have been waiting for you in the cabin, on initial embarkation. Now it's just an envelope with your restaurant assignment, which of course, you already know. Does this give the M'ds 'leeway' to change table assignments? Who knows! We were lucky on QV as the M'ds knew our favourite 2 table positions. All change on QA. It will be interesting to see where we're 'put'! 🙂

Not sure if it's the same in all the restaurants, but in QG, the table numbers can vary due to different configurations. If you have a specific table in mind, it might be safer to describe the position in case you ask for table 2, and table 2 position changes and you end up elsewhere.

Like D&N , we book what we want, when we want and once booked, couldn't care less if anyone pays more, or less than we do. We have our cabin and that's what matter to us. However, it's of interest to see booking trends, eg, do we HAVE to book on release to get the cabin or can we hold back and wait as the cabin might still be available etc. The jury is still on the side of book on release, safer and cheaper. All good fun. 🙂

We tip in pound sterling now as it;s the most convenient for us but if I'm reading you correctly and you want to tip after a drink order, the drinks carry an automatic tip added onto the receipt so we wouldn't tip extra. No idea on the front desk and changing currency into smaller denominations but a 100 x$1 might not be the most popular exchange.

Believe me, I for one don't feel 'left out' NE John. One of our cruises still had one of the cabins in the grade we had booked, left. The price of the cabin rose within a week or two of our booking it [algorithms?] and the 10% reduction would still have been more expensive than our booking made within a minute of the bookings going live. Needless to say, the cabin left went within a short while of the reduction offer. The early bird caught the juicy fat worm in our case. 🙂 and ps I don't believe 'we' suffer in the long run against US bookings.

Ooops!