Ferry Boat not Queen

[Jimsgirl]

I believe we were on the same crossing as Bob.

 

Our experience was quite different - we were completely unaware until the last day or so that there were German language entertainment options at all, although the dual language announcements were obvious. As first time Cunard passengers we found the experience pretty much as we hoped and did not encounter any rudeness or poor behaviour. We may have been sheltered somewhat by being in Britannia Club (set table for all meals) and not using the Kings Court at all.

 

Of course I probably should disclose that we hail from one of the other nations mentioned here as an area of 'cut price' marketing by Cunard.:D

 

I cannot believe anyone on the July13-21 cruise could possibly be unaware of the situation.

 

There was printed notices that there were German events in the Daily events sheet EVERY DAY,the show in the Royal Court one night advertised as a Soul Singer was entirely in German!!!

 

Everywhere on board, no matter where you went, MDR, Kings Court, Sir Samuels, Chart Room, shops, Pub, you were swamped by the German language.

 

Maybe not in Britannia Club for meals , but surely there you must have been aware of the total absence of the English language, you must have walked through the MD area where for

99% of the tables the language was German.

 

One meal the Maitre D' apologized to me because there was not one seat in the dining room where he could place a solo English speaking passenger like myself. I had to sit at a table for two on my own

 

I did one day accept a table with German passengers, NEVER again believe me.

 

Unbelievable treatment of waiter, you would think they had not had a meal in days, each person ordered just about three of each dish, and although when I sat down I greeted them in English, they totally ignored me , no greeting, and several times I heard the word "Englander" and "s******s" so I know they were discussing me.

 

I have been on a number of Cunard cruises ( I am Diamond member), mixing with people of almost every nationality without any disharmony , but not this time, I have never met such behavior, Cunard really did sink to the lowest level on that trip.

 

I will watch carefully any future trips with Cunard, I obtained a list of the proposed 2/3/4/

day trips, and I will never book a cruise that takes in a "short break" or one involving Hamburg.

[cunardaddict]

Oh dear, I eat in the buffets.

 

David.

 

Weren't we talking of 2,000 Germans? Are you one of them?

[balf]

Weren't we talking of 2,000 Germans? Are you one of them?

 

Certainly not.

 

David.

[SeaCBear]

Some of you might find this article/debate interesting.

 

German tourists: 'arrogant, boring and nude' | via @Telegraph http://fw.to/Uq2QXRC

 

I will only add that my family and I spent a wonderful week in Bavaria last summer, and all the Germans we met were helpful, polite and friendly.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[cunardaddict]

Some of you might find this article/debate interesting.

 

German tourists: 'arrogant, boring and nude' | via @Telegraph http://fw.to/Uq2QXRC

 

Today we have some 25,000 guest at the beaches in the resort where I live. There are 50 nude people in a restricted beach area.

 

Every human beeing is born nude. I can't see anything wrong here - but I do not swim nude at the beach.

 

My mother used to say that she could tell English people from others in winter: "They don't have coats."

 

Can we just stop this nonsense now?

[pepperrn]

... Can we just stop this nonsense now?

I assure you, what I personally experienced and witnessed was not "nonsense".

 

I sincerely doubt that others who have posted on this thread, relating experiences from their own cruises in and out of Hamburg, were talking "nonsense" either.

Edited August 3, 2014 by pepperrn

[Jimsgirl]

Some of you might find this article/debate interesting.

 

German tourists: 'arrogant, boring and nude' | via @Telegraph http://fw.to/Uq2QXRC

 

I will only add that my family and I spent a wonderful week in Bavaria last summer, and all the Germans we met were helpful, polite and friendly.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

You made a choice to go to Bavaria . I (and other English speaking passengers) made a choice to go on what was supposed to be a 8 day cruise on a British (English) ship, not a 2 or 3 or 4 day "bash" on a to all intents a German ship

 

You were not "trapped " on a ship with 2,000 people . The fault lies not with the 2,000 but with Cunard who deliberately cut the price very low, to a very specific country, and put no limit on the number of passengers booking .

 

Had Cunard limited the deal to say 10-15% of the total number of passengers on board, this situation (and resulting bad feeling) would not have risen.

 

In USA when Cunard do offer "special promotions", they not only limit the total number of cabins to be sold at that price, they also limit the number within each grade of cabin.

 

Since Cunard are selling these "short trips" for the next 18 months on all three ships it is NOT a question of filling "unsold cabins" but a deliberate selling policy

 

The atmosphere on board will not be Cunard as it is portrayed (and liked by most passengers).

 

No one is going to bring Formal wear for a 2-3 day trip. There will be no formal nights, no mingling of passengers as normal, just a "them v us" atmosphere, especially if Cunard are going to do the evening entertainment in German without even telling other passengers.

[cunardaddict]

I assure you, what I personally experienced and witnessed was not "nonsense".

 

I sincerely doubt that others who have posted on this thread, relating experiences from their own cruises in and out of Hamburg, were talking "nonsense" either.

 

Nobody doubts this. But have they presented themselves completely naked to you?

 

Does it help to discuss tabloid rubbish?

 

I can tell you that it feels always unconfortable to be locked into a huge tin can with a vast mayority of people who talk in a strange language and act in a way telling you that they know of beeing the majority.

 

I have met a group of US tourists complaining heavily on sand beeing everywhere - in a sand desert...

 

People are different and if someone feels not beeing able to handle this I do recommend to stay away from the risk of meeting too many of another nation on the same time. There can't be English speaking people only.

 

If you now think it couldn't be worse try a ship full of russian nouveau riches and enjoy.

 

Anyway I bet you can't tell the difference from meeting Germans or Russians but it is significant.

 

Many US people can be very ignorant if things aren't going as they expect it to be. You don't own the ship, you don't own the world.

 

But again, I apologize for the discomfort of my fellow citizens and confirm that most German passengers on normal cruises and TA will not cause more discomfot than any other passengers.

[Victoria2]

Cunard know what they are doing. They are in the business to run a profitable business and that means sell cabins and get the passengers on-board. If that means to a huge contingent of Brits one cruise, Germans another, Chinese another, they will. All nations can be part of the PITA brigade, especially if in a very large group but Cunardaddict is right. No one 'owns' the ship and if you have come across a particular route which seems to attract a passenger profile you find disagreeable, then bookmark it as avoid at all cost but don't assume one nation has any more 'right' to be on-board in large numbers than any other. If the tickets are sold, they will come.

 

 

As for that snippet of nationality profiling, it was a slightly tongue in cheek reply to a piece in Bild about the 'stereotypical British holidaymaker'. Apparently, the article seemed to be levelled at British tourists in general which, whilst perfectly true of a percentage, was slightly unfair to the whole. It needed a retort, which it got using some of the clichéd views many British people have about German tourists.

 

Tit for tat basically. It isn't a serious piece of journalism and should be treated with the wry humour in which it was written.

[English Voyager]

What was the source of the stated 2000 Germans embarking and disembarking every two days?

 

Did anyone who was subject to rude, or bad, behaviour, actually say anything to the person/people responsible for that behaviour?

If so, what was the response?

 

Did anyone make an official complaint to Cunard either on-board or subsequent to their cruise, and if so what was the response?

 

Is it being suggested that the bulk of the German passengers were behaving in an antisocial manner, or is the major complaint that their presence on-board altered the ambience of the ship?

 

Assuming the ship had a full complement of passengers ,there still would have been about 600 non German Nationals on-board who would have had to be served by staff.

Still a large number with whom one could interact.

 

Perhaps I have been fortunate, but I have never witnessed or experienced, either on land or at sea, the described bad behaviour from Germans 'en masse'.

[Shawnino]

 

Since Cunard are selling these "short trips" for the next 18 months on all three ships it is NOT a question of filling "unsold cabins" but a deliberate selling policy

 

The atmosphere on board will not be Cunard as it is portrayed (and liked by most passengers).

 

No one is going to bring Formal wear for a 2-3 day trip. There will be no formal nights, no mingling of passengers as normal, just a "them v us" atmosphere, especially if Cunard are going to do the evening entertainment in German without even telling other passengers.

 

This. It's extremely deceptive of Cunard to sell one experience and purposely deliver another. Cunard is certainly welcome to fill up their ships with whomever will pay, and if they want to run booze cruises, that's their choice. But to market a sailing that's going to be 3/4-full of the lowest common denominator as a typical voyage to the other 600 souls is incredibly shortsighted and won't help the line long-term.

[Jimsgirl]

What was the source of the stated 2000 Germans embarking and disembarking every two days?

 

Did anyone who was subject to rude, or bad, behaviour, actually say anything to the person/people responsible for that behaviour?

If so, what was the response?

 

Did anyone make an official complaint to Cunard either on-board or subsequent to their cruise, and if so what was the response?

 

Is it being suggested that the bulk of the German passengers were behaving in an antisocial manner, or is the major complaint that their presence on-board altered the ambience of the ship?

 

Assuming the ship had a full complement of passengers ,there still would have been about 600 non German Nationals on-board who would have had to be served by staff.

Still a large number with whom one could interact.

 

Perhaps I have been fortunate, but I have never witnessed or experienced, either on land or at sea, the described bad behaviour from Germans 'en masse'.

 

 

 

 

Figures were official as told by Captain.

 

Yes complaints were made, Staff said they could not "interfere" Maitre D' tried to control the entrances to dining room , posting staff at the entrances, passengers just pushed past them.

 

Do you think throwing a menu across a table because the waiter did not speak German correct behavior? Why should a waiter have to speak German on a non German ship?

 

When it is impossible to find a table where passengers are speaking English in a MDR the size of the one on QM2 (a so called British ship)then the situation is out of hand.

 

July 13-19 was sold by Cunard as an 8 yes an 8 day cruise, no one, agents or passengers in USA/Canada knew about these 2/3/4 day trippers would be on board.

 

In fact only this week Cunard in CA even denied that Cunard sold these short trips , then denied knowing any dates for others "in the pipeline" even as Cunard Future sales staff on board were selling these trips.

 

Just because some posters taking a LAND vacation of their own choice claim they never met any "dreadful" Germans, means nothing, they did not have to contend with 2,000 en masse.

We on the QM2 had no choice. We were "ambushed"

[Victoria2]

This. It's extremely deceptive of Cunard to sell one experience and purposely deliver another. Cunard is certainly welcome to fill up their ships with whomever will pay, and if they want to run booze cruises, that's their choice. But to market a sailing that's going to be 3/4-full of the lowest common denominator as a typical voyage to the other 600 souls is incredibly shortsighted and won't help the line long-term.

 

Do the Cunard brochures differ country to country in the itineraries published? If so, that's a shame.

 

The two day breaks mentioned were on offer as 'Short Breaks' in the Cunard brochures I have and Hamburg definitely marked embarkation/disembarkation of international guests on the 13th-21st July Norwegian Discovery itinerary.

[BlueRiband]

This. It's extremely deceptive of Cunard to sell one experience and purposely deliver another. Cunard is certainly welcome to fill up their ships with whomever will pay, and if they want to run booze cruises, that's their choice. But to market a sailing that's going to be 3/4-full of the lowest common denominator as a typical voyage to the other 600 souls is incredibly shortsighted and won't help the line long-term.

 

In the US we have an expression called "bait and switch" advertising. It usually refers to an item offered at a very good price but once the customer comes into the store there is intense pressure to denigrate the advertised item and switch the customer to buy something else.

 

Cunard's US website describes a 2-day Southampton/Hamburg cruise as.. "A charming 2-night break from Southampton to the lovely German city of Hamburg. An excellent introduction to our flagship and Cunard, as well as an opportunity to relax, unwind and enjoy the impeccable service. You’ll sail on Queen Mary 2 to Hamburg before a flight home –." The reports from several posters here indicate that it's anything but that. Bait, then switch.

 

The crux here is not so much the nationality of the passengers (Germans getting the brunt of this - guilt by association) but the low socioeconomic demographic attracted by cheap fares. These are people who cannot afford to sail at regular prices and once they get on board they are damn well going to make sure they get every euro's worth out of it that they can. I think we would encounter the same situation if Cunard bargain priced the 5-day NY/Canada July 4th cruise. The below-Carnival demographic would see a deal too good to stay home then once on board would make sure they got their money's worth.

 

I find the experiences of other CC members valuable in planning my own (limited) vacation time. For 2015 I had considered round trip TAs which included Oslo and Hamburg in between. I had much hesitation since Cunard ran the "rocker cruise" on an Oslo segment last year. True, I don't own the ship and Cunard can run it's business as it sees fit. But if this is how they are doing to run Hamburg and Oslo destinations it's good to know what is going on so I can choose to avoid them.

[English Voyager]

Figures were official as told by Captain.

 

Yes complaints were made, Staff said they could not "interfere" Maitre D' tried to control the entrances to dining room , posting staff at the entrances, passengers just pushed past them.

 

Do you think throwing a menu across a table because the waiter did not speak German correct behavior? Why should a waiter have to speak German on a non German ship?

 

When it is impossible to find a table where passengers are speaking English in a MDR the size of the one on QM2 (a so called British ship)then the situation is out of hand.

 

July 13-19 was sold by Cunard as an 8 yes an 8 day cruise, no one, agents or passengers in USA/Canada knew about these 2/3/4 day trippers would be on board.

 

In fact only this week Cunard in CA even denied that Cunard sold these short trips , then denied knowing any dates for others "in the pipeline" even as Cunard Future sales staff on board were selling these trips.

 

Just because some posters taking a LAND vacation of their own choice claim they never met any "dreadful" Germans, means nothing, they did not have to contend with 2,000 en masse.

We on the QM2 had no choice. We were "ambushed"

 

Not having sailed on the QM2, I presume that, as on the other Queens, dining in the MDR is on a fixed 2 sitting basis with tables allocated by the Maitre D'.

 

If so, I am puzzled as to why arrangements had not been made for English speaking guests to be seated together.

 

There is no excuse for bad behaviour, and failure of staff to intervene should have been reported so that stronger measures to control the situation could be introduced.

 

Land comparisons can be more than valid.

 

The Hofbrau-Festzeit beer-tent, together with it's garden, at Munich's Oktoberfest has a capacity of just under 10000.

[English Voyager]

 

The crux here is not so much the nationality of the passengers (Germans getting the brunt of this - guilt by association) but the low socioeconomic demographic attracted by cheap fares. These are people who cannot afford to sail at regular prices and once they get on board they are damn well going to make sure they get every euro's worth out of it that they can. I think we would encounter the same situation if Cunard bargain priced the 5-day NY/Canada July 4th cruise. The below-Carnival demographic would see a deal too good to stay home then once on board would make sure they got their money's worth.

 

I would contend that all socioeconomic demographics are attracted by cheap fares.

 

Last December my 10 day cruise on the Queen Elizabeth was £499pp for a Balcony Cabin.

 

The atmosphere, and the behaviour of passengers, on board was excellent.

 

As for a Southampton-Hamburg cruise, Queen Elizabeth's 6-8 January 2015 fares start at £263.

[cunardaddict]

I As for a Southampton-Hamburg cruise, Queen Elizabeth's 6-8 January 2015 fares start at £263.

 

Because I behave myself I get it for free - as a shuttle for QM2 WC:D

[brigittetom]

We have done the 26 day round trip with Norway not being segmented......it was advertised as a 26 day trip....NY to NY. In hamburg it was advertised as a Norway trip with children under 18 sailing for free.

 

In Hamburg the ship filled up with younger German couples and hundreds of stroller babies. The stroller babies screamed when they were happy...screamed when they were upset....and screamed at each other. I personally never understood Cunards logic for that trip. Germans are big eaters (they wiped out the daily fruit allotment by noon) and there wasn't the normal on board spending because people traveling with small children don't usually come for the nightlife. The teens roaming the ship were another matter altogether and they pretty much took over KC in the evenings.

 

Not what we expected on a Cunard ship.....there is a reason why we don't sail Disney. :)

[brigittetom]

But have they presented themselves completely naked to you?

 

Yes....they kept showing up naked in the spa. The spa people put up signs and the nakeds kept taking them down. :)

[cunardaddict]

Yes....they kept showing up naked in the spa. The spa people put up signs and the nakeds kept taking them down. :)

 

Oh, I would assume that they only do this in the sauna and the showers, but not in the pool area. Indeed our friends from eastern Germany have a tradition of beeing very informal in a spa.

 

Btw.: do you wear a burkini when taking a bath? SCNR because I cannot understand the US attitude towards body issues. Just look away when you don't like what you see. A lot of views that I have when I look at US people are not to my liking, but I wouldn't make Cunard responsible.

[cunardaddict]

I would contend that all socioeconomic demographics are attracted by cheap fares.

 

Last December my 10 day cruise on the Queen Elizabeth was £499pp for a Balcony Cabin.

 

The atmosphere, and the behaviour of passengers, on board was excellent.

 

As for a Southampton-Hamburg cruise, Queen Elizabeth's 6-8 January 2015 fares start at £263.

 

So 10 days for 499 is not cheaper than 3 for 263? OK, UK schools are not famous for their maths...

[cunardaddict]

Brigittetom

 

havn't you been a stroller baby and a teenager too?

 

I do not at all accept this comment if you don't include all theese nearly already dead people boarding QM2 in NY, barely able to communicate in whatever possible way.

[Salacia]

Brigittetom

 

havn't you been a stroller baby and a teenager too?

 

I do not at all accept this comment if you don't include all theese nearly already dead people boarding QM2 in NY, barely able to communicate in whatever possible way.

 

 

 

Well, cunardaddict, I confess that when my husband and I boarded the QM2 on most if not all on our voyages out of Red Hook (which not far from our home), we felt like we were nearly dead; exhausted, and in need of rest - much as you described.

 

Nevertheless, we met nice people on board, and managed to communicate. Although we have studied various languages, we are proficient only in English. And that is why when we need a rest, we sail on vessels where English is the lingua franca.

 

So, yes, I am amongst those "nearly already dead people boarding QM2 in NY"...but I keep on ticking , so put that in your pipe and smoke it :D

 

Auf Wiedersehen,,

Salacia

Edited August 4, 2014 by Salacia

[English Voyager]

So 10 days for 499 is not cheaper than 3 for 263? OK, UK schools are not famous for their maths...

 

Why the snide remark?

Especially, since it is in response to a mathematical comparison of your own creation.

 

My post, quoted by you, was in response to one which had expressed the view that a low socioeconomic demographic was attracted by cheap fares.

 

Based upon that premise, one would have expected to see evidence of such a demographic on my 10 day £499pp cruise.

I did not.

 

Based on the same premise, given it's higher per diem rate, one could argue that a higher socioeconomic demographic might be on a 3 day £263 cruise.

[cunardaddict]

Well, Salacia, your reply steers another course.

 

I was referring to the expectations of some passengers versus the unavoidable reality of life.

 

Isn't an ocean liner ment to transport all types of humans? Isn't exactly this the difference to Disney Cruises?

 

How can we expect to meet only recently retired, healthy, wealthy, beautiful and well educated members of society? Are we really so naive to trust the promises of a Cunard brochure?

 

4,000 human beeings on 1,200ft lenght...

Edited August 4, 2014 by cunardaddict