Queen Mary2 just back-any questions?

Hello all:

I have just returned from a few days in London following my crossing from New York to Southampton. I am too tired to write a review yet, but if someone has any questions, I would be glad to try to answer them. I brought home the daily programs for each day.

Anne: I am so sorry that we never met, who knew that our meeting would be the muster drill?? I hope you enjoyed your crossing.

Nancy

HI ALL

Sorry Nancy we did not meet for a chat, went down after muster

but knowone there.

The QM2 is a great ship better than i expected. That was my third

crossing of the atlantic, but the first smooth crossing can't wait to

sail again next year.

MICHAEL.:D

Am crossing on Oct 31st. Have a few questions: are the meals for Britannia posted in advance so that one can choose when to eat in the alternate dining restaurants depending on what they serve? If you don't like what you had to eat at one place, can you try at another for the same meal - do they keep track of where, when you eat? How much are minimum bets at the casino? What type of day programs were offered? Were there dance classes? Have so many questions, but that's it for now. Thanks in advance.

The dinner menus for all restaraunts are displayed each day on the Stateroom TV's.

On our recent 12 day cruise there were four dance lesson sessions on the days when the ship was at sea. If you like ballroom dancing make it a priority to locate the Queens room which is hidden away behind the Brittania Restaraunt. There are dance sessions twice on most evenings and also occasional afternoon tea dances.

If you stay up late enough at night, the menus are sometimes posted the night before on the TV. But again, you'll have to stay up pretty late to see them. :) (1 or 2 am) Hey, you're on a cruise. You won't be going to bed too early, right? :)

As for day programs, they had your garden variety of team and individual trivia contests, bingo, various speakers, sports and exercise classes, bridge and other card game playing, walking tour of the ship, computer classes. Don't worry, there will be plenty to do. Of course, the best activity is pulling up a deck chair to the rail and enjoying the passing of the sea. :)

Nancy, once your rested and ready to go would like to hear your review. We are booked for next year Eastbound.

Thank you.

Jonmar:

i think all of your questions have been answered except this one. The minimum bets in the casino were $5. I thought the casino was very slow on our crossing-but the dealers were very friendly

Nancy

I am glad the casino is slow. If I play sssllllloooooowwwww blackjack with a pleasant dealer, then I hang onto my money for a bit longer. ;)

Bill

Welcome Home nancyrg!

In the pre-cruise documents, it is stated that the Assistant Restaurant Manager participates in receiving part of the gratuity automatically added to one's shipboard account. What role does this person serve? Other cruise lines have Head Waiters or Table Captains. Does this person fulfill that function?

Thanks for the information!

The assistant restaurant manager was like the table captain. Ours was terrific. We have some food restrictions, and he brought us the following day's menus each evening to dinner so we could make sure that there would be something for us to eat at each meal in the dining room. He even went so far as to bring us the menus to Todd English the night that we ate there (which was terrific )

Nancy

Nancy and Michael- I'm really sorry we did not get together -We went into the library- either Thursday or Friday- and I saw Nancy's name -we signed just below hers on the CC book! Michael- were you the GOOD looking guy that walked thru the champagne bar several times? We DID go down about 5:45 and waited in the seating area against the wall. The only other people there was a table for 4 drinking champagne. We waited until about 6.

We had a marvelous cruise experience and a glorious 8 days in London. Saw "Les Miserables" and it was WONDERFUL. Hope you ALL had GOOD experiences as well.......all I can say now is "Next time!!"

Anne

We are taking the same trip in August 2005...Can you tell us about the hotel in London and anything else would be appreciated

Golds:

we stayed at the Crown Plaze St. James in London. It is a cunard package hotel (but we booked it ourselves and saved a lot of money). It had a great location. It was a clean, comfortable hotel-nothing great. We found a lot of people from the QM2 at the hotel.

Are you touring? We hired a tour guide on the internet & he was FANTASTIC!! He picked us up in Southampton, took us touring & then to London. The next day we had an all day tour with him. He was the highlight of the trip! If you want his info let me know. He tailored the day to what we wanted & was super knowledgable!

As soon as work slows down, I will post a review of my trip. You are going to have a great time! If you have any specific questions, let me know.

nancy

Golds; We stayed at "THe Strand Palace" directly across from the Savoy [ WE had stayed at the Savoy a few years ago for 3 nights and it is a BEAUTIFUL old {rebuilt 1860} elite hotel. It was -with a Cunard Package -about $400 a night as I recall- and WONDERFUL. This time we stayed for a full week -and really wanted to stay in the Covent Garden area [again] because we were within walking distance of SO many things -and the Strand Palace was MUCH much cheaper.

WE ran into two things to comment on. One was the sound of sirens -police and fire - on the Strand late at night and into the morning- interrupting our sleep OFTEN.......The other comment was we REALLY really enjoyed the employees at the Palace hotel- who were helpful and friendly -MUCH more so than the Savoy -which was pretty stuffy. We had a breakfast included in our plan and got -briefly -acquainted with the hostess -Kira -who gave us a hug on our last day [ a FIRST for me like that- She was a dear!] The cost of the Strand Palace for 7 days was HALF of what the Savoy [at $600+ NOW] would have cost.......for 4 days.

BOTH experiences are basically "good" but if you book the Strand Palace- ask for a room NOT on the "Strand" Street -which is a main drag on the edge of the West end/Theater District.

Anne

Nancy, thank you for your reply. We would love to have your driver's internet info so we can contact him.

We will be staying at the St. James as part of the package, however we are on our own tour wise. We just signed up for the cruise, hotel and flight back.

We plan on using London as our base and touring the other parts of GB each day and then back to London for dinner.

Any tips aboiut the crossing would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again,

The Golds

ANSalberg, Thanks for the info, we are staying at the Crown Plaza in London. We have had tea at the Savoy but never stayed there. We have stayed at the Conrad in Chelsea, long way from all the action of London but delightful.