QM2 to host film premiere

http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/Cunard-to-Host-World-Premiere-of-20th-Century-Fox-s-The-Greatest-Showman-On-Board-The-Greatest-Ocean-Liner-Flagship-Queen-Mary-2-1005709839

 

Sounds fun and hopefully not too disruptive to those sailing on December 8th.

Very interesting. The announcement seems to be rather vague about the date(s) though, just December 2017.

 

It does say "Please visit https://www.cunard.com/campaigns/greatest-showman-sweepstakes/ for more information and rules and regulations." That page seems to imply the premier screening will be an invitation-only event to be held on board QM2 while she is in port in Brooklyn. But even that page doesn't appear to provide a specific date.

 

Since the theatrical release is scheduled for December 25, 2017, it would seem the most likely date for this event would be December 22, 2017 while QM2 is in port prior to the Christmas cruise, but that's just speculation on my part.

 

I'm sure we will learn more as time goes on.

 

Edit: I just noticed you have mentioned the date December 8, 2017 in your post. Did I miss that date mentioned in the announcement?

 

Regards, John

Received the following from Cunard this morning. Can't say that I'm too thrilled about it considering that it apprears that parts of the ship other than the theater may be off limits to paying passengers.

"as our valued guest travelling through New York on 8 December, we wanted you to be the first to know that Cunard and 20th Century Fox have partnered to roll out the red carpet when flagship ocean liner Queen Mary 2 hosts the world premiere of 20th Century Fox’s "The Greatest Showman" on 8 December, 2017."The reatest Showman" is a bold and original musical that celebrates the birth of show business and the sense of wonder we feel when dreams come to life. Inspired by the ambition and imagination of P.T. Barnum, "The Greatest Showman" tells the story of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a mesmerizing spectacle that became a worldwide sensation. "The Greatest Showman" is directed by exciting new filmmaker, Michael Gracey, with songs by Academy Award® winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul ("La La Land") and starring Academy Award® nominee Hugh Jackman. Jackman is joined by Academy Award® nominee Michelle Williams, Zendaya, Zac Efron and Rebecca Ferguson.Due to this special premiere on board, Queen Mary 2’s original departure from Brooklyn Cruise Terminal will be delayed until midnight on 8 December. Due to the event, there may be some restricted areas during the evening, however regular dining options will be open for dinner.There will be exciting opportunities for you to enjoy on board activities during the evening, in association with the premiere event. These are currently being finalised with FOX and we will be sharing details of these with you over the coming days and weeks. The premiere itself is a private event and tickets will not be available to guests travelling on Queen Mary 2. For those of you who would like to capitalise on the extra hours in New York, we have organised a number of special opportunities to further experience New York City prior to departure, if you so choose.:"

Elsewhere a passenger on the Dec 8 eastbound TA reports having been informed that that sailing will be delayed until midnight for the premiere, and that while dinner service will be unaffected other parts of the ship will have limited access (one assumes this to mean Illuminations, possibly the Royal Court Theatre as a reception area as well as areas on Deck 2 and/or Deck 3 forward of the Grand Lobby). There's an entrance with a gangway on Deck 2 port side in the passageway forward of the lobby that I'll be so bold as to predict they'll use.

Thanks for the follow-up posts. December 8 it is then. Underwatr, it looks like you will be missing out on the excitement then (which I suppose may or may not be a good thing depending on your perspective).

 

Regards, John

We are on this crossing; received the email this morning. I have no problem with it unless the Commodore Club is commandeered. THAT would result in 2 very unhappy people.

Assuming our most recent E/B crossing (12 August 2017) was typical, guests will presumably be missing either the Welcome Aboard Show in the Royal Court Theatre (7:45 pm) or a film in Illuminations (6:30 pm and/or 9:00 pm) to accommodate the Premiere. Other shipboard limitations remain to be seen. In addition, unless they are willing to stay up until after midnight, guests will miss the spectacle of sailing out of NYC.

 

It must also be noted that the sweepstakes for tickets to the Premiere is available to all comers, not just those sailing.

 

Request to Host Hattie: As we prefer to lurk, would it be possible for you to post this information on the appropriate roll calls? Thank you.

A further update.

 

Just received the information from Cunard. Among offers for how to enjoy the extended stay in NYC:

 

20% off tickets Radio City Rockettes with discount code QUEEN. Unfortunately, as per the linked website, discount for code QUEEN is only available on/after 10 December 2017. QM2 sails 8 December 2017.

 

Savings on tickets (quantity not defined) for Phantom of the Opera. Unfortunately, saving cannot be determined without creating sign on account with linked website.

On this sailing. Cannot say I am thrilled but leaving NYC at midnight might be fun. I really think they should comp a glass of champagne on departure as a small price for the inconvenience.

 

Any delays in boarding won’t go down well and restricting access to parts of the ship on boarding day for a new comer is disappointing. But overall life is short and have 7 more days on board.

 

 

 

 

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I think my DW might be hoping for a glimpse of the stars, but failing that I might take her up to the 13th deck and hope for a clear night. Personally I would be pleased to see Cunard celebrate the film night in some way with on board Cunarders, perhaps a Greatest Showman cocktail of some sort or a special offer on bubbly might go down well.

I think my DW might be hoping for a glimpse of the stars, but failing that I might take her up to the 13th deck and hope for a clear night. Personally I would be pleased to see Cunard celebrate the film night in some way with on board Cunarders, perhaps a Greatest Showman cocktail of some sort or a special offer on bubbly might go down well.

 

I suppose those with port side cabin assignments might have a chance to catch a glimpse of the stars on the dock below from their cabins if the plan is to have any sort of red carpet ceremony for the stars outside on the dock. I always book a starboard sheltered balcony for an eastbound crossing but in this case a port side balcony might turn out to be fun.

 

Just as an aside, after re-reading the Cunard press release, I now realize the date of the premier really shouldn't have been much of a mystery to me as I was speculating about it in my first reply. While it is true the Cunard announcement only refers to December 2017, it does mention "the Transatlantic Crossing from New York to England following the premiere". That statement nails down the date as December 8 right there. I would have failed miserably as detective Poirot by not picking up on that clue.

 

Regards, John

Edited October 27, 2017 by bluemarble

A further update.

 

20% off tickets Radio City Rockettes with discount code QUEEN. Unfortunately, as per the linked website, discount for code QUEEN is only available on/after 10 December 2017. QM2 sails 8 December 2017.

 

 

My apologies, the QUEEN discount is indeed available on 8 December 2017. I was looking at the wrong month.

Assuming that everything forward of midship on decks 2 & 3 will be off limits, I would hope that Cunard will hold something special in the Queens Room for us mere passengers. Perhaps they could have a (combined QR band and RC band) Big Band dance night since the theater show band probably wouldn't be working the movie premier. It's a safe bet that all of the ship's bars will be packed solid with the theaters unavailable and they can't expect everyone to stay in their cabins.

Cunard is running a contest to win 2 tickets to the premiere. That includes "wo (2) tickets to attend The Greatest Showman pre-screening reception in the Queens Room venue on board Queen Mary 2 vessel while stationed at Brooklyn, New York Cruise Terminal;" in addition to the movie itself.

 

I wonder where they will set up the Red Carpet? I've only disembarked at Red Hook, but I can't envision where they can set up with out disrupt "something"

 

ps: I did sign up for the contest :-)

 

Aloha,

 

John

I hadn't seen that the Queens Room also was going to be used for the movie premier. Maybe they do expect us to stay in our cabins :(.

We are on this crossing and not too thrilled at losing out on much of a day's time on the water, in addition to access to much of the ship. Oh boy, we can stay in town for another day in order to spend additional monies not budgeted for this trip!

 

I think it would be nice if Cunard would give passengers on this crossing an extra discount for a future Cunard trip.

any idea on what is the latest time we can board if departure at midnight.

 

 

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By "board" you don't mean "check in", do you? My impression is that check in is the normal, assigned time. You're then free to leave the ship.

 

 

 

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any idea on what is the latest time we can board if departure at midnight.

 

 

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My TA is contacting Cunard to answer that same question. I'll post when I hear a reply.

Cunard won't talk to me about this. Or our travel agent, it seems. Taken our cash for a Princess Grill, so an expensive trip, but now there's the lure of making a quick buck by renting out the ship. Or at least space on the ship we've paid to use. And they pretend this is somehow exciting for the suckers left with second best. I think they're in breach of contract and should do something significant to make amends. Our boarding time is noon, 12 hours ahead of departure. Who will pay the $100 bill for a return cab trip back to Manhatten? Can't see us booking too quickly again in future - shame as the Atlantic crossings have been fun previously. Cunard's arrogance and cynicism have already spoiled the trip for us.

Wow.

Welcome to Cruise Critic, I am sorry to hear that you are so upset about this but I wouldn't have thought a delayed departure constitutes breach of contract.

I hope you can make the best of it.

Cunard won't talk to me about this. Or our travel agent, it seems. Taken our cash for a Princess Grill, so an expensive trip, but now there's the lure of making a quick buck by renting out the ship. Or at least space on the ship we've paid to use. And they pretend this is somehow exciting for the suckers left with second best. I think they're in breach of contract and should do something significant to make amends. Our boarding time is noon, 12 hours ahead of departure. Who will pay the $100 bill for a return cab trip back to Manhatten? Can't see us booking too quickly again in future - shame as the Atlantic crossings have been fun previously. Cunard's arrogance and cynicism have already spoiled the trip for us.

I don't blame you. The QM2 is built to be a passenger carrying Ocean Liner used for crossings and cruises not to be a floating movie theater being used for Hollywood premiers. Hollywood itself has it problems with its recent scandals that is turning off people from going to the movies. I myself will not go to the movies anymore because of this recent scandal, high movie ticket prices and other reasons which I don't want to reveal what these other reasons are. What publicity does Cunard think that it will get by holding this film premier aboard its Flagship the QM2? Another question I'm asking is who's idea was it to have this film premier aboard the QM2? Cunard or 20th Century Fox? I hope that Cunard did not come up with this idea. I guess that if 20th Century Fox did ask Cunard use of the QM2 I know that Cunard probably said yes for a fee thinking that they could use the income from the movie studio. It is interesting to note that this coming December will be the 20th Anniversary of the release of the movie Titanic and that 20th Century Fox was also involved in the production of that movie. And at that time 20th Century Fox did not call Cunard to stage the film premier of Titanic aboard Cunard's then Flagship and the only Ocean Liner doing transatlantic crossings the QE2. Remember that Cunard and the Titanic's owner the White Star Line did merge in 1934. 20th Century Fox presented the film premier of Titanic at the Tokyo Film Festival. Regards,Jerry

My TA is contacting Cunard to answer that same question. I'll post when I hear a reply.

 

 

 

Thanks.

 

 

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It isn't just the delayed departure that offends, its the fact that some - and I suspect a lot - of public areas will be out of bounds on the first evening.

Arrogance on the part of Cunard - they'll obviously make more in terms of cash and (perceived) prestige, so why bother that they're grabbing something repeat customers have already paid for?

They speak of "valued customers" in their correspondence. The real valued customer is the film company and its large cheque. When that gets waved around, they lose interest in regular passengers. But I bet they'll continue to bombard us with brochures. Well, more fool them.

The fact they won't talk to me, our travel agent or the firm selling the overall package speaks volumes, I think.