canoncruiser

Once you have made sure that there are no existing rail SNAFUs-the 10:35 train from Waterloo is very fast and very comfortable. If you are in the back off the train-1st or 2nd-the carriages stop opposite the exit and the taxi stand is just outside,

There is Open Dining at Main and Late sittings. I chose fixed dining at 8:15. On board here that means I dine in Britania on Deck 3-at that time there is open dining on Deck 2.

I am on QV right now and I switched FROM open dining to fixed. WHY? Because the ship is not full and open dining late sitting was like a wasteland. Often Britannia was sparsely filled - and sometimes tables were sparsely filled. I am now upstairs at the late sitting and it feels like a real ship’s restaurant , folks talking and laughing and filling up the room.

On QV now - the Britannia is thinly populated during 8PM open seating. Some folks have moved upstairs to an assigned table -some have tried that and come back down. We arrive in Sydney on the day after tomorrow - lot’s of folks getting off -don’t know how many getting on. My serious complaint has been with the food- mediocre to poor and very small portions. Not anywhere near what I enjoyed on QM2 last winter.

I am on QV right now-if you’re booking 5023 on QM2, that is a sheltered balcony far forward.

If you are booking on QV or QE , that cabin is far forward  on Deck 5 with a glass balcony.

but...Still not sure that I like it😑

There was a private party-I am Diamond and no large parties a la QM2.

EVERYBODY

It’;s OK but .........

I’m on QV and things are OK if I prop open my cabin door🤔

Alas not so far on QV where we are masking and the is no bar service☹️

SORRYn DRAGONA!!!!!!-she is NOT a dragon!

Just checked with Dragon and I’ll be keeping my cabin from Sydney to Dubai-WHOO HOO😂

I’m on QV and we’re on our way to Aruba. BUT there’s a troubling lack of well trained service staff in Britannia-already hearing complaints-not a lot but some nonetheless.  One table near us waited 45 minutes for their appetizer. In fact there seems to be a shortage of staff overall. My Bedroom Steward is excellent. The ship is well maintained. Also the ship is not full-that may change in SF but maybe not.

Also and importantly, not only has the quality of the food dropped but the portions have gotten much smaller. 

It is wonderful to back at sea for a long cruise-we’ll see.

Queen Victoria is HERE in the Apple-I sail tomorrow-woo hoo😂. I hope the folks touring today have a great visit to NYC -despite the heavy rain. Cunard to ‘far away places with strange sounding names’ - it’s ‘delovely'😊

VERY VERY pleased thanks😂

Well HOORAY-I got my cabin assignment this morning from my TA-won’t have to sleep on deck!!!!😂

Hi all, it’s Saturday andI sail on QV next Friday-no stateroom yet🤨

I sail in just under two weeks on QV to Dubai-I have a guarantee-I have not heard yet about my stateroom -I have a great TA-so I expect to board and sail away😉

I disembarked from QM2 this morning. I do not know how things were reorganized,  but my embarkation in Southampton and disembarkation this morning went very smoothly and efficiently .  No long frustrating lines in the Mayflower Terminal nor on the ship this morning. Hooray to Cunard for this vast improvement. Immigration also went with some speed. I was advised to disembark at 9:30 which I did,  and I was in my car driving home by 10:15.  😂

Hi all, 

I’m on QM2 right now-we arrive in NYC tomorrow. The ship looks great-constant maintenance going on, hot canapés in Commodore club-crew in good humor-lot’s of folks from Blighty on board as the ship goes on to the West Indies, menus much improved. All strikes me as ‘well'☺️

On various old 20’s 30’s films of liners in port, esp. trans-Atlantic liners, they are often streaked with rust. As a boy I visited ships on the West Side of Manhattan and, while they had longer times in port, there were often signs of Atlantic wear and tear.

Well-I have been on QM2 a number of times this year and I’ll be on her again in December; my first crossing was part of the December TA to the West Indies. Since December things have evolved - QV was standing by off Barbados as an accommodation ship for Covid infected crew -who came and went as per their tests. There has been much change since then as the pandemic has eased-subsequent trips on QM2 has seen change for the better-now we can sit at the bar😂 

I suspect many former crew decided they needed a change and did not come back. One sees a number of familiar and friendly staff but there are a lot of newcomers who are training on the job-they’ll work into Cunard or they will leave.

From my experience this past year-things are settling down and smoothing out. 😉

Came home this morning on QM2. Excellent crossing BUT

If you want good IT reception in your room you’ve still got to leave the door open 😡

I used the Mareel salon -  the service was good BUT unlike my several experiences with Canyon Ranch,

there was constant efforts to ‘upsell’ - very annoying 😠

On QM2 just now Sept.17@16:35-sea is smooth and all is well😊