Victoria2

I make a point of never presuming as it's rather entitled. One hopes. 🙂

Thank you and I would imagine some do think maybe some are more equal than others [yet again, I was told by an officer 'but you are family...' ] but we are all treated the same when dining although maybe more chatting with staff and staff are aware of our likes and dislikes as we are known etc etc etc but That doesn't explain the lack of staff The 'no' to a window seat would play a part in such disparagement of a restaurant Unprofessional staff Ico's comment/attitude None of which I can understand. Now I don't know where the op was seated but there was a [lovely] very large family party in QG and assuming the shortie was S'ton to H'burg, the staff were getting to grips with this and at times almost juggling their timing to serve the two tables and surrounding ones if they and many other passengers arrived at the same time as they struggled to meet the 'demands' of all. That is not a staffing problem as I have never seen such as large party in QG before. I know our waiter twice went over to help which was fine by us as we could see the problem and being relaxed and on holiday, just drank more wine and luckily, the lovely family were of the same thinking. Go with the flow and don't get knickers in a twist if 'things' take a little longer. So sorry, I don't think we were on the same ship.

Correct but no problem.🙂

At the risk of being shot down as being blinkered and partisan, were we on the same ship?

and the tradition will continue in Sir Samuels. It's an art worth watching.

I ask for and can get my Bamboo favourite main in QG as a special. It remains to be seen if I can do the same for Aji Wa. Fingers crossed.

In desperation, to spend the obc we had left [rather a lot] part of my spends was on a model of the 'new' QV, It's now nose to nose in our sitting room, with the beautiful pre '17refit version. Now I haven't made a point of looking at Mary's backside, but Victoria's 'plastic surgery' did her no favours whatsoever so you are probably right there.😄

Ha, we obviously don't have the same dictionary! 😄

Not sure which QV zany panels but the ones I'm thinking of on deck two are Art Deco. Never been in the lounge on QM2 and I was referring to the general ship ambiance for me and not any particular part of her. Victorian decor to me is fussy. but each to their own as is often said.

Interesting. I call it elegant rather than of the Victorian era. Victorian to me is The Mary. 🙂

OOOPs, sorry...not 😄 You are very welcome to your ship and many have to love her for her to be so popular. I'll stick to Aunt Tabitha's more up to date sitting room and leave the Great Aunts to you and those who love 'The Mary'. 😄

nightfiresYou mentioned me so I'll reply. If you read this board, you’ll find I have been reactive as far as mobility is concerned and have had some 'debates' over the years regarding this, including those who come on here to rant against Cunard when they discover their folding scooter won’t be allowed because they didn’t follow or read Cunard's mobility protocols and book an appropriate cabin, or who ask questions about this. I was the one who started MrsPeel55 on her medical form quest and who always advocates filling the form in, even if you are 'just' in need of that bit of help to embark and disembark and would need some sort of assistance in an emergency. At no time have I been discriminatory to those that need this. If anyone is in need of help, whatever the problem, then they are in need of help and will have filled out the form. Full stop. I don’t think anyone who truly needs help would be power walking or dancing the night away and so I do have an objection to those who 'find the sea air invigorating once onboard' and yes, I have seen how it definitely works for some, and who use the facility as a means to jump any queue. That is not fair and by highlighting this mobility/medical form Cunard are making sure they have those in need of assistance, on their records and also it will help weed out those who do not really need the facility on embark/debarking, so if you felt I was being unfair to you and those who as I said 'just' need help, then you haven’t followed my posts very carefully.

Never having eaten or prepared it myself, luckily, when presented in QG, it is fresh to at least one passenger who ordered it. As to outcry if it's purchased 'outside of the Grills', I hope the purchasers enjoy it.

Yeah, right!!! My love of the ship has been mentioned before! 😁

Good heavens. So that's what a Dover Sole looks like. One is so used to it being taken off the bone in QG, one almost forgets what the fish actually looks like.

Never having tasted the delights of QM2 QG I can not compare the QG experience, but I can the ships and they are both very different. QV is a cruise ship. A very friendly, non stuffy and no faded elegance reminding you of Great Aunt Tabitha's sitting room, cruise ship. Can you tell QM2 doesn't impress me one bit? 😄

M'D is Ico at the moment and not sure when he goes on leave as he was there May/June too, but he will be there in Nov.

They are on QV. Can't remember for the other two ships.

The alternatives booking availability arrived on our personaliser three weeks before sailing.

A tip. If the lifts are busy, go up to go down and down to go up if an empty lift comes your way, and remember, it's ding dong down and ding for up. 🙂

More musings. Menus and food, impeccable. 🙂 Restaurant staff are wonderful and for info., we were asked every day, sometimes twice a day if we'd like anything 'different'.🙂 Great table for two in the restaurant. Very pleasant fellow passengers near to chat to if we wanted conversation. Our butler was new to us but not to QV. She was excellent, really mothered us and was generally fantastic. We knew our assistant butler from a few trips and he was, as usual, great.🙂 When we could be bothered going to the theatre, the entertainment was brilliant and as I have previously said, a full theatre for The Blue Jays with a standing ovation at the end of their set. Mike Doyle was, as usual very entertaining too. Didn't bother with ship's productions. The Gala nights were elegant and well supported with formal attire [and fancy dress too for some on the Masquerade night] for the majority of passengers [not all, I admit]. There were children and teens on the ship. Wonderful to see them thoroughly enjoying the cruise and a credit to all.👍 I am REALLY trying to find a negative here to appear non partisan, but in truth, it's very difficult as I can't but if I was being picky, I'd say the atmosphere around the ship had an added an element of party 'ishness when three hundred passengers disembarked and the same number embarked at Kiel. Interesting as the S'ton/H/burg shortie wasn't shortie'ish at all, if you can understand my garbled point. Disembarkation was great and on deck one. Cunard have finally got it into their heads [heavens above I've mentioned it often enough to the suits] stairwell B lifts are nightmares on disembarkation days for wheelchairs users and why not have 'the pen' on the same deck as the gangway. Well this time, 'the pen' was in Connexions on deck one. Quick up to go down in Lift C to arrive into 'the pen' by the gangway. Sorted. It's only taken years to figure that one out unless it's just on our cruises the added frisson of 'hell, no lift space' was just for our exasperation. Disembarkation looked pretty well sorted. No storming of security or huge queues. Just orderly disembarkation. All in all, another cracking cruise on Queen Victoria. Bring her back to Southampton for Summer '25 please and that is the sentiment of many of the staff too Pretty please? 🙂.

Disabled assistance is tightening up and good job too. Those who required a wheelchair to embark but for whom the sea air worked miracles for their mobility when once onboard for the duration of the cruise and started suffering reduced mobility again when approaching Southampton will find it not quite such an easy ride if the medical/accessibility form hasn't been filled in. Nothing more annoying than overhearing one lady boasting to others 'it's my quick way of disembarking, try it'! Grrrrr! I don't think it would stop anyone in need asking and getting assistance if needed but it will hopefully put off the blaggers. As I have said, there are some changes and most are for the good of those who are truly in need of the assistance. Just be aware, one of them is the assistance programme no longer extends to out of the terminal building pick up at embarkation.

I'm pleased you have QV first. We have two booked on QA next year and putting the actual ship aside for the moment, it will be very interesting to make comparisons with our beloved QV, as far as experience is concerned.

We didn't have any night time sea swell to reckon with in May/June so no creaks but belt and braces, take some ear plugs just in case. The sevens' bedroom layout is absolutely fine, just not for us now. You'll have more storage space to lose things in than the six and even then in the six, I was pootling around trying to remember what I'd stored and where 😄. You'll love it. 🙂 We did and it is definitely on the cards if deck six goes before we can book.

In the interests of being objective when it counts, here's hoping this information might be relevant to someone. I'll drip feed other observations when they come to me. Having the same category cabin booked for two '23 cruises ( we have had to cancel the third due to a family occasion but luckily, only lost the deposit as there was nothing we could transfer it to having already booked '24) I assumed the different deck cabins would be the same, apart from this one being a little narrower in depth and thus having a different bedroom layout. Think again! Having waxed lyrical about the usb ports in the revamped deck seven cabin, I left my usb adapters at home. Not needed on voyage and all that. Big mistake. Wrong. There are no usb ports in the aft deck six cabins. It’s amazing how the same category revamped cabins on a Cunard ship, can have usb ports on one deck and yet the same category cabins don’t on the deck below. Major panic. Luckily, the butler lent us two usb plugs of her own and saved me having a total meltdown or having to go and try and buy a couple. The basic configuration of the cabins is the same on both decks 6 and 7 although the six's are slightly smaller in sq ft [inside] than the sevens which is probably why the sevens are more desirable. Apart from the cabin having less depth [hence less sq feet], the main difference is the fact the bedroom layouts definitely differ. What you see in seemingly all the Q1 photos or plans, are of the deck seven bedrooms but as far as we're concerned, we prefer the six layout because it's more a traditional layout and is easier to get around as it's not cramped by the half bed wall which takes up floor space. Bedroom creaked though in the rough seas but then so did my knees trying to keep my balance so even Stevens's there. Whoever designed the peripheral lighting system in the bedrooms needs a short lesson in the reality of style over substance. The overly large bedside lights took over quite a bit of the surface of the bedside cabinet. Dressing table lamps, again large, were in front of the the plug sockets and made it a bit fiddly to access them. This may be aesthetically pleasing [to some] but not very practical, and I've got small hands. All 21stC problems but still thought I'd point them out. The balconies are the same so no difference there. Would we stay in this cabin again? Yes. Most definitely Q1 first choice, second being deck seven...but I'd bring some ear plugs for rough weather creaks!🙂 Oh and be prepared to walk like a drunken sailor when the ship rocks and rolls. I can confirm it's much more pronounced aft than mid ships.