Ferry Boat not Queen

[sandjango]

We did visit the reservations office ...Browsed through the English brochure on the racks outside,no prices mentioned.

The many German brochures include a full price list. Strange to say the least.

 

Dave & Lyn

[bill_posters_is_innocent]

That is 55 years ago and 15 years after WW2...

 

So true, how quickly time passes,:rolleyes:.

Dislike of the English was much more widespread all those years ago and I often entered drinking establishments where everyone stopped speaking and looked at me with hostile stares.

However, as soon as I said guten abend and ordered a beer at the bar in all cases they would start talking to me, and in a lot of cases ask me to join them.

I did learn very quickly NOT to join in when they started drinking Shnapps as I stood no chance of keeping up.

I have met rude and arrogant Germans (and other nationalities) on cruise ships but they appear in all walks of life.

One German "lady" on a QM2 TA asked me to move seats in the theatre as she wanted to sit where I was ( I had one of the few seats in that theatre where the view of the stage is not obstructed by Pillars, :o ).

My reply in German was not very polite and she spent the rest of the cruise giving me the "evil eye "whenever our paths crossed.

I must admit I did admire her dress style which seemed to consist of a skirt or knee length shorts with just below the knee woollen socks, open sandals and a chiffon head scarf to complete the ensemble. ( YES, even on formal nights ).:D

[BlueRiband]

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.

 

Canyon Ranch makes it clear that bathing attire is required in the Aquatherapy center - regardless of the traditions of some European beaches and spas. The people who blatantly ignore it are probably the same ones who give their middle finger to smoking restrictions and formal night attire. Given QM2's age demographic (and I fall within it) most of us don't look good with our clothes off and it's a struggle to look presentable with them on.

 

Now that I know all too well what to expect on a QM2 call at Hamburg there is no way I would book it. Maybe the passenger mix would be just as happy not to have somebody like me on board and I'm happy to oblige.

[brigittetom]

 

Now that I know all too well what to expect on a QM2 call at Hamburg there is no way I would book it. Maybe the passenger mix would be just as happy not to have somebody like me on board and I'm happy to oblige.

 

That's a shame because Hamburg is a beautiful port. Oddly, the rude people there are a different nationality entirely.

[pmb1]

...

I don't have a clue what SCNR is.

FYI, Wiki suggests Sorry, Could Not Resist.

[English Voyager]

Having spent many months in southern Germany in the 1960's I found that

most Germans I met did appear to be somewhat standoffish and in a small way anti British. Then I discovered that when I made an effort to speak German their attitude changed and they became very sociable and friendly.

 

Your experience reflects mine in the 1960s with one difference.

 

My impression was that the Germans were reserved because they thought that the British were anti German.

 

When they observed that one was friendly and approachable the barriers then came down.

 

I still remember in 1966 being the only Englishman in a group full of good natured Germans listening to the World Cup Final.

[English Voyager]

That's a shame because Hamburg is a beautiful port.

 

It certainly is a beautiful city.

 

And then of an evening some great music in The Cotton Club ( still only 7-10 Euros entrance.)

[pepperrn]

That is 55 years ago and 15 years after WW2...

Well, you mentioned it once, but I think you got away with it all right.

 

Who said Basil was dead?

Edited August 4, 2014 by pepperrn

[cunardaddict]

 

Who said Basil was dead?

 

Have you never had rat-a-touille as a veg on QM2? There is a lot of Basil in. We have to assume that Basil is used up.

[English Voyager]

Well, you mentioned it once, but I think you got away with it all right.

 

Who said Basil was dead?

 

'Don't mention the War'.

 

Here is Basil alive and high stepping.

 

[brigittetom]

It certainly is a beautiful city.

 

And then of an evening some great music in The Cotton Club ( still only 7-10 Euros entrance.)

 

I've been wanting to go to the Shark Bar. A nice German lady on the ship told me that they have the old seafaring music from "the good old days". That's my idea of a perfect evening in Hamburg. :)

 

Pmb1.....thank you. A few years ago, I could usually figure it out. That's over. :)

[jomf]

Quick question, are there likely to be many German's on a TA that goes from New York to Southampton then onto Hamburg. Or will they just be on the Southampton - Hamburg section?

[pepperrn]

Quick question, are there likely to be many German's on a TA that goes from New York to Southampton then onto Hamburg. Or will they just be on the Southampton - Hamburg section?

Hi jomf,

 

I've done a couple of QM2 crossings that started in Hamburg (I boarded in Southampton). Yes, there was a large number of Germans on board, but they were a minority of passengers.

 

On these two crossings, if memory serves, UK & US citizens made up by far the largest number, many more than all the other nationalities combined. Then Germans. With (in no particular order) citizens of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Japan and others.

Somewhere I've a list of the actual numbers on one crossing. I'll see if I can find it.

The only time I was aware that there were Germans on board was during (noon) announcements, made with a following translation "for our German guests".

Of course, moving around the ship, I heard snatches of conversations in several languages (and accents) not just German.

(On one crossing (that had a mini-cruise to/from Cherbourg during the previous days) the announcements were, of course, translated into French because they were, after UK & US, the largest minority).

 

I'd have no problem with booking another crossing that started/ended in Hamburg. None at all. I hope this helps :) .

Edited August 4, 2014 by pepperrn

[jomf]

Hi jomf,

 

I've done a couple of QM2 crossings that started in Hamburg (I boarded in Southampton). Yes, there was a large number of Germans on board, but they were a minority of passengers.

 

On these two crossings, if memory serves, UK & US citizens made up by far the largest number, many more than all the other nationalities combined. Then Germans. With (in no particular order) citizens of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Japan and others.

Somewhere I've a list of the actual numbers on one crossing. I'll see if I can find it.

The only time I was aware that there were Germans on board was during (noon) announcements, made with a following translation "for our German guests".

Of course, moving around the ship, I heard snatches of conversations in several languages (and accents) not just German.

(On one crossing (that had a mini-cruise to/from Cherbourg during the previous days) the announcements were, of course, translated into French because they were, after UK & US, the largest minority).

 

I'd have no problem with booking another crossing that started/ended in Hamburg. None at all. I hope this helps :) .

 

Thanks, that's a great help. I have no problems with different nationalities onboard ( actually enjoy the diverseity) but having sailed with numerous Spanish passengers who took over every aspect of the cruise, I prefer a broad base of people rather than one particular country.

Thanks.

[Bigmike911]

Addict, would you kindly put some statistics from reputable sources to back up these claims. As a retired police officer, who never fired his service weapon except on the shooting range, I find such statements to be a bit silly. There are, of course, people and societies that are unreasonable fearful of things they do not understand, like guns, nuclear power and terciary recovery methods for oil production.

[Calliope]

Some, if not most US passengers do take cocktails before dinner - wich results in beeing drunk when reaching the table. As we learned here on CC they prefer to bring their own spirits and wine. Now, who's the cheapest?

 

Wikipedia reports that 17 % of Americans are of German descent. This is the largest percentage of all ethnic groups that make up America. And where I live in Greater Cincinnati, the percentage is even higher. Perhaps that is why Cunardaddict perceives Americans to be so cheap and drunk.

 

As for me, I'm 50% French, 50% German and live in Kentucky. I only become inebriated on expensive wines and fine Bourbon, and never in my life have I ever sat down at the table with too much already imbibed. ;)

[cunardaddict]

Wikipedia reports that 17 % of Americans are of German descent. This is the largest percentage of all ethnic groups that make up America. And where I live in Greater Cincinnati, the percentage is even higher. Perhaps that is why Cunardaddict perceives Americans to be so cheap and drunk.

 

I didn't. I wrote about an impression of a part from a total of 150 passengers dining in QG. May it have been 20 to 50 at all, hardly a figure representing a nation. I do also know that a significant amount of Americans don't drink at all.

[Ab Ovo]

I think this has been ongoing with Cunard for some time. Back in the day of only the QE2, she sometimes out of New York did three-day "Party Cruises". Sometimes in summer, sometimes in December. Needless to say, the cruise load was quite different from a routine transatlantic crossing load. I asked of Management why do these shorty trips? The answer was to broaden their base. Figures were given me, forgotten now, but something like surveys by Cunard showed only a single-digit percent of people went on ships, thus a huge untapped market was out there for Cunard. They wanted it. The short trips were considered introductions to QE2.

 

True, my first-ever boarding was a cruise, August 1982, a Canadian Cruise chosen for the convenience of boarding and returning to New York. I felt as if I had come home to my people! I went back on immediately, to the Caribbean. Both loads seemed full of "the right sort." Twelve or twenty-one-day cruises are not for the shopping-bag crowd, who'd walk off a ship with anything not bolted down. Then I did the Christmas "three-day". I learned then the crew hated these short cruises, were always frazzled, and if ever there was a let-down in service, it'd be on these short voyages. That was the first and only time I saw on Cunard a guy dead-drunk flat on the floor at the door of his Three-Deck cabin. In black tie! His wife was more amused than upset.

 

Crossings of course, seemingly had more "liner people" aboard. On a crossing in 2003, maybe 4, I heard people talking about something called the World Wide Web and they spoke of the joys of something called Cruise Critic. Well I got myself one o' them new-fangled computer machines and dang, it was a lot of fun! I read, "lurked," I was told, for about a year. Few things could have been more exciting, reading of the QE2 and the people who used her and loved her. By then the QM2 -- I was on the Maiden Voyage -- was running and there was more to read and talk about. I got an address and a screen name and signed on in 2005 and read on, posting sometimes. After a year or more, familiarity with the forum set in; you'd know the posters whose comments made sense, or at least seemed to, and the posters you wanted to reach through the screen and throttle. A sort of "friendship" was formed with several, exchanges made on threads. You'd enjoy vicariously the comments made by people "you knew" about their trips you were not on. In time a small "winter crowd" aboard favoring QE2 westbounds got friendly, via computer and presence on winter and other voyages. I read CruiseCritic more, often weekly. I remember the first pleasures of the CruiseCritic Roll Calls, the anticipation of a CC "meet & greet," the fun of "cabin crawls," a 01/07/08 evening when transit_jon had the first Winter Crossing Club pins. Good times! It is still like that on Cunard today, with the addition of three more shipsI

 

I suppose cruises attract a cruising crowd, possibly anxious to see several ports and wanting a more informal ship. This causes a lot of the "do I have to" threads about a dress standard. A crossing attracts a more "destination" crowd, going directly to New York or Southampton, and often on these crossings the ship itself is the destination! The crowd does not board loaded up with denim clothing. They know not to whine they cannot wear jeans as they wish when it is the wish of the ship they do not. Here, a pet peeve, even on CruiseCritic the ever-asked "what to wear" threads, many Cunarders will post jeans/denim are ok fabrics. No, they are not. The lowering of standards to a lower denominator usually has not worked well for anything. Ever. Denim is working fabric, not church fabric. Ship dress, as desired by Cunard and the bulk of the load, is Vicar-wear, Club-wear, even business-wear, not stable-wear.

 

I suppose this is preamble to how unattractive are the short-short voyages. This thread about the short cruises out of Hamburg is frightening. Not so much about Germans, for any port-to- port short-cruise out of a country other than England would load up with the local nationals and could change the tone of an English ship. Especially when over 2,000 board. So lesson learned here. In future I'll be careful not to book any voyage where two-day or three-day short runs are tacked on. Especially out of Hamburg!

[Cruachan]

... Not so much about Germans, for any port-to- port short-cruise out of a country other than England would load up with the local nationals and could change the tone of an English ship...

 

English ship?

 

J

[pepperrn]

English ship? J

The last English built Cunard ship (ie not bought from elsewhere like Caronia (III)) entered service in 1939 I think (Mauretania (II)).

 

One nationality the three current Cunard ships (and the line in general) are not, is English.

Edited August 5, 2014 by pepperrn

[Brightwaters]

My, you people are such experts!

 

No matter where the three Queens were built or are flagged or owned, they are not Lithuanian or French, etc., they are English in tone. Look at the damn art. Deal with it. Stop being "too cute." And stop hollaring about the Germans.

[capnpugwash]

My, you people are such experts!

 

No matter where the three Queens were built or are flagged or owned, they are not Lithuanian or French, etc., they are English in tone. Look at the damn art. Deal with it. Stop being "too cute." And stop hollaring about the Germans.

 

QM2 was built in St Nazaire, that makes her French I think.

[cunardaddict]

QM2 was built in St Nazaire, that makes her French I think.

 

And permantly serviced and modified in Hamburg:D

[cunardaddict]

Addict, would you kindly put some statistics from reputable sources to back up these claims. As a retired police officer, who never fired his service weapon except on the shooting range, I find such statements to be a bit silly. There are, of course, people and societies that are unreasonable fearful of things they do not understand, like guns, nuclear power and terciary recovery methods for oil production.

 

Bigmike, this is not the place to discuss this in depth. Be happy that you were so lucky - and probably so professional. Others weren't. I never wrote that every policeman will shoot a tourist. You all have a good reason on your duty to protect yourself. The risk is much lower here and because of this we do not expect the police to take protective action before analysing the situation.

[pepperrn]

And permantly serviced and modified in Hamburg:D

What, she never goes to sea? :D ;) :) Edited August 5, 2014 by pepperrn