QM2 Automatic Upgrade List

[Londoner51]

Advice needed, please.  We’re booked on the QM2 on 23 June for 21 nights - Southampton to New York, up to Halifax and back to New York (7 nights), then back to Southampton.  We’ve never done a TA before, so we’ve booked a mid-ship sheltered balcony on deck 5 - nice and low if we have heavy seas.  We’ve opted out of the automatic upgrade list.   I’m guessing that if we got an automatic upgrade to a glass fronted balcony we’d be front or aft on deck 11 (the ones on deck 8, with obstructed views, being lower grades than what we’ve booked).  So, the question is - should we go on the automatic upgrade list, or stay put?  Advice based on your experiences will be greatly appreciated.

[bluemarble]

I have one experience to report with a complimentary upgrade we received from a midship sheltered balcony on a QM2 crossing. It happens to have been very similar to what you have imagined. We were upgraded from a midship sheltered balcony on deck 4 (4098) to an aft glass fronted balcony on deck 11 (11129).

[Londoner51]

22 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

I have one experience to report with a complimentary upgrade we received from a midship sheltered balcony on a QM2 crossing. It happens to have been very similar to what you have imagined. We were upgraded from a midship sheltered balcony on deck 4 (4098) to an aft glass fronted balcony on deck 11 (11129).

 

Thank you for your comment.  What was it like at the front of deck 11?  I’m imagining it could be quite windy and have quite a bit of movement in rough seas.

[bluemarble]

4 minutes ago, Londoner51 said:

 

Thank you for your comment.  What was it like at the front of deck 11?  I’m imagining it could be quite windy and have quite a bit of movement in rough seas.

 

We were aft on deck 11 (not forward) in cabin 11129. Here is a photo I posted a few years ago showing the view looking forward from our balcony.

 

 

Overall, we did enjoy that location. Being close to the C lifts was handy and did not cause any noise issues for us. That location was also close to the little-used staircase up to deck 12 which we used often.

 

The weather was good during our crossing, so motion from being higher up was not an issue for us, although I can see how that could be an issue in rougher seas.

 

Our crossing was in November, so truth be told we got very little use out of our glass fronted balcony on deck 11, both because of the wind and the temperature. I have no doubt we would have used our sheltered balcony on deck 4 more during that November crossing. That would probably be less of an issue for your June-July voyage.

[Ray66]

1 hour ago, Londoner51 said:

Advice needed, please.  We’re booked on the QM2 on 23 June for 21 nights - Southampton to New York, up to Halifax and back to New York (7 nights), then back to Southampton.  We’ve never done a TA before, so we’ve booked a mid-ship sheltered balcony on deck 5 - nice and low if we have heavy seas.  We’ve opted out of the automatic upgrade list.   I’m guessing that if we got an automatic upgrade to a glass fronted balcony we’d be front or aft on deck 11 (the ones on deck 8, with obstructed views, being lower grades than what we’ve booked).  So, the question is - should we go on the automatic upgrade list, or stay put?  Advice based on your experiences will be greatly appreciated.

If I were you, I would stay put.  We like the sheltered balconies on deck 5.  The 21 nights is showing sold out now anyway.

Edited March 23, 2019 by Ray66
typo

[MarkBearSF]

We've also received that upgrade (Deck 5 to 11). We appreciated it. It was a bit brighter. However, we're not great judges. (1) We're not susceptible [yet] to seasickness and actually love more motion. (2) Our upgrade was during a short jaunt to Halifax in summer so we weren't in middle of the North Atlantic. However there wasn't noticeably more motion than we had encountered on Deck 5.

 

In general, when seas are really rough, it's bumpiest far forward and high up - like in the Commodore Club, but midships, much less so, even higher up. And she is a VERY stable ship. We've now done six crossings on the QM2 and one on the QE2. The most motion was, not surprisingly, on the QE2, but of the QM2 crossings, only one had significant motion, and perhaps 2-3 others had some noticeable motion over a day or two - but really only as rough as often encountered on a normal Caribbean cruise (and on our last, we went through a tropical storm - with minimal motion on that day).

The good news is that you've got a great cabin in either case. Deck 5 sheltered balcony cabins are our favorite choice (if we can't get the few cabins around 8050 with the small rescue craft outside) - Convenient, quiet, perfect.

Edited March 23, 2019 by MarkBearSF

[BlueRiband]

OP, If you are open to an upgrade you could be assigned anywhere on the deck plan that is technically a "better" grade than your deck 5 sheltered balcony: Even if you don't consider it an upgrade.  There was an example where somebody here booked a deck 11 forward balcony and got "upgraded" to a deck 8 just after the lifeboats.  He wasn't at all happy but the deck 8 was midship and therefore a higher grade than deck 11 forward. 

 

If midship and low is important to you then ask Cunard or your TA to mark your booking "do not upgrade". 

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, Ray66 said:

If I were you, I would stay put.  We like the sheltered balconies on deck 5.  The 21 nights is showing sold out now anyway.

 

I agree. I love the sheltered balconies for a crossing. You can still go out on your balcony when it's too windy to be on the more open balcony.

[Londoner51]

4 hours ago, Ray66 said:

If I were you, I would stay put.  We like the sheltered balconies on deck 5.  The 21 nights is showing sold out now anyway.

 

Thank you.

[Londoner51]

2 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I agree. I love the sheltered balconies for a crossing. You can still go out on your balcony when it's too windy to be on the more open balcony.

 

Thank you.  Having read all the very useful comments I think we’ll stay put.

[Londoner51]

2 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I agree. I love the sheltered balconies for a crossing. You can still go out on your balcony when it's too windy to be on the more open balcony.

 

Thank you, that’s something we hadn’t considered.

[Underwatr]

In my experience upgrades aren't common with Cunard anyway. Maybe they happen, but not to us in 11 cruises. 

[BklynBoy8]

The only Upgrade we experienced with Cunard was on the QE2 Caribbean Cruise.

 

From a Outside (No Balcony) Cabin to Queen Grill on the Boat Deck.

 

We were surprised to find out while checking in at the Manhattan Pier Deck.

 

Yes, we were surprised and extremely happy. This was after about 5 sailings.

 

This will be our 19th Cunard sailing coming up and nothing since then. 

[Londoner51]

What an amazing upgrade BklynBoy8!  We’ve only been on Cunard four times, our June cruise will be our fifth, but we’ve been upgraded twice.  The last time was from a balcony to Princess Grill.  I now live in hope of amazing upgrades all the time!  However, for this cruise, from all the comments I’ve received, we’ve decided to stay put on deck 5.

[BklynBoy8]

14 hours ago, Londoner51 said:

What an amazing upgrade BklynBoy8!  We’ve only been on Cunard four times, our June cruise will be our fifth, but we’ve been upgraded twice.  The last time was from a balcony to Princess Grill.  I now live in hope of amazing upgrades all the time!  However, for this cruise, from all the comments I’ve received, we’ve decided to stay put on deck 5.

Hi Christine,

We had a friend that also had a shelter last year on 5 and thought it was different. They normally cruise on Disney Line.

It took them to awhile to get use to the enclosed portion and not getting that amount of sun inside the cabin itself.

 

Our first sailing on the QM2 was on Deck 11 (Cabin 11147) and we like it but learned there was a overhang towards the rear on the ship.

 

If you ever accept our invitation to return to the USA via TA and want to book a Deck 11 cabin, remember that from Elevator Bank A to B (Front half of the ship) the balcony is open to the Sun all day. Elevator Bank B to Deck D (Back half) has a overhang from Deck 12 from above. We learned that when we booked a cabin in the forward portion of the ship.

 

We too are on the Upgrade List but know Cunard is a hard line to get upgrades that often. But always hoping the Upgrade Fairy will pay a visit.

Edited March 25, 2019 by BklynBoy8

[Londoner51]

34 minutes ago, BklynBoy8 said:

Hi Christine,

We had a friend that also had a shelter last year on 5 and thought it was different. They normally cruise on Disney Line.

It took them to awhile to get use to the enclosed portion and not getting that amount of sun inside the cabin itself.

 

Our first sailing on the QM2 was on Deck 11 (Cabin 11147) and we like it but learned there was a overhang towards the rear on the ship.

 

If you ever accept our invitation to return to the USA via TA and want to book a Deck 11 cabin, remember that from Elevator Bank A to B (Front half of the ship) the balcony is open to the Sun all day. Elevator Bank B to Deck D (Back half) has a overhang from Deck 12 from above. We learned that when we booked a cabin in the forward portion of the ship.

 

We too are on the Upgrade List but know Cunard is a hard line to get upgrades that often. But always hoping the Upgrade Fairy will pay a visit.

 

That’s really good information about deck 11, this is where this forum is so useful - we usually reckon it’s better to be towards the back rather than the front but obviously not on the QM2.

 

It will be odd to not have much sun in our cabin, but hopefully we’ll be able to make good use of our outdoor space and get away from the air conditioning as often as possible.

[Underwatr]

Yeah, definitely go forward on Deck 11. The deck plans do a good job of showing where 12 bumps out (where the Pavilion Pool starts). Basically, you'd do best not to book aft of 11056 Port side or 11079 on the starboard side - see below:

 

 

The on board booking office has been good at pointing out the overhang, but we generally like to be forward of the B lifts no matter what deck we're on so we probably lucked out the first time we'd booked on 11 by ourselves. 

[Londoner51]

1 hour ago, Underwatr said:

Yeah, definitely go forward on Deck 11. The deck plans do a good job of showing where 12 bumps out (where the Pavilion Pool starts). Basically, you'd do best not to book aft of 11056 Port side or 11079 on the starboard side - see below:

 

 

The on board booking office has been good at pointing out the overhang, but we generally like to be forward of the B lifts no matter what deck we're on so we probably lucked out the first time we'd booked on 11 by ourselves. 

 

I hadn’t noticed that when I was looking for where to book.  There are so many things to look out for.  We’ve learned to always aim to get a cabin on a deck which just has cabins above and below ever since we made the mistake on one ship of booking below the pool deck where they had deck parties into the early hours most nights.

[Underwatr]

Here's a crop of a photo that I found that shows the overhang pretty well.  Looks like this was taken from the bridge wing on Deck 11.

 

 

[BklynBoy8]

4 hours ago, Londoner51 said:

 

I hadn’t noticed that when I was looking for where to book.  There are so many things to look out for.  We’ve learned to always aim to get a cabin on a deck which just has cabins above and below ever since we made the mistake on one ship of booking below the pool deck where they had deck parties into the early hours most nights.

Hi Christine,

Being on Deck 12 Club Britannia Mid Ship we know that we may experience the setup of the Sun Deck for Morning Sunning but we were around that same area in the past and it didn't bother us with the above chair movement. We were even leaving for breakfast around that time and spent most of the time around the ship the rest of the day.

 

I know once being on the HAL we had fellow passengers that happened to have cabins unfortunately under the Lido/Buffet area and before breakfast, lunch and dinner time hearing the food trucks moving around on top of them. So I know well your concern.

 

BTW..glad you weren't visited by the Congo Line heading down your hallway and  passing your cabin from the Deck Party....lol...

[old fool]

Stay put -- Deck 5 mid ship is great --- in rough weather you will be VERY glad you did.

[Londoner51]

1 hour ago, old fool said:

Stay put -- Deck 5 mid ship is great --- in rough weather you will be VERY glad you did.

 

👍👍 We chose the cabin carefully in the first place for the reason you state, but then thought a glass fronted balcony might be nicer.  We’re staying put, we’re within a couple of decks up and down of all the main activities so we shouldn’t need to use the lifts too much.

[BklynBoy8]

6 hours ago, Londoner51 said:

 We’re staying put, we’re within a couple of decks up and down of all the main activities so we shouldn’t need to use the lifts too much.

Hi Christine,

True the location is close to all the activities and even a good way to keep slim walking the staircases up and down. You'll enjoy the lovely maritime pictures along the way on the walls.

 

Yes we like the glass balconies not having to look thru the metal bars out to the sea...