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V2 on QV in QG 21st-31st August

Victoria2

By Victoria2,
in Cunard Line

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Victoria2 Great Review Rare

Victoria2

Posted
Posted







 I am breaking a habit of a lifetime and posting about our holidays before we get back purely, because I got so much help from others,  I thought I might be able to help too and so if anyone has any questions about any aspect of Queen Victoria, I will try and find an answer before disembarking and take any photographs of lists and menus if required.

I’m making comments mainly as an objective view of Queen Victoria with a few personal aspects thrown in. I said I’d tell it how it is and I hope I’m doing so.
This is a short trip which we haven’t transferred as we need a holiday. My husband has been ill and tires very easily so it’s very much more a cabin based holiday than normal and I have no intention of writing a blog as such because my daily activities are mine and will be of no interest to others. 

We are aboard Queen Victoria on her 21st August, ten night cruise. I started writing a few things down and forgive any tense changes as they were written down in random fashion so it’s all a bit slightly ad hoc in bits and bobs because I was going to collate and post them when I got home but as said, decided to post now so it’s  a bit higgeldy piggeldy. 

Embarkation was delayed until around one pm and by the time the ship was released, the embarkation lounge was full.
We all sat there, politely and waited. We were amongst the first to board and got taken down to deck 2 to register at the new style non muster and then went up to our cabin which was booked back in the midst of time. I wondered if we’d ever board Victoria again! I have to admit to a tear in my eye as we boarded. Our cruise cards were in our cabin fan, waiting for us.


Our butler came immediately to introduce himself and I think we’re going to ‘get on’. Wine and gin were ordered and unlike previous cruises, where the bottles were delivered, soon as, this time we were informed they would be delivered at turndown. No problem.

Dinner was late for us as our bags were fairly late arriving and unpacking took a bit of time before showers etc.
Slight panic with the plugs. Unlike some cabins we’ve been in (Q3s,) the UK sockets in our cabin haven’t been inverted and as my universal multi function USB adapter is under the plug when I use the uk plug I looked around for any Heath Robinson adaptions I could make.
Brain got in gear and the US plug bit ( you can tell I’m terribly technical or should that be technically terrible) fits with the ports atop, so all was well.

Most accessory items which were in our QG cabin in the past, have to asked for e.g. soap bars, shower cap, shampoo , laundry bags, nail file, foot file for starters.

New mantra? Just ask and if availableyou will receive but there have definitely been some cutbacks, if you can call an asked for foot file, to find they’re no longer provided, a cutback. Heavens, standards are slipping! Tee hee.
 
Restaurant staff, fabulous. Absolutely fabulous. We know our Head Waiter really well and just as important, he knows us and our little likes,  but our wait staff are new to us. QG news, Sandro has, or is, relocating to QE and the new QV maitre d is Raul. New to us but not QE ‘ers. Our loss of Sandro is QE's gain, but, QE's loss of Raul is most definitely, QV's gain.

Raul is marvellous. Absolutely marvellous. He is most definitely, a people person. He 'Works the Room' magnificently and is so engaging and easy to talk to. Asks if everyone ( as far as I can tell) is happy with the menus and can he do anything for us/ ask if we’d like anything prepared etc etc. Definitely eleven out of ten as far as we’re concerned.

Add the Headwaiters who can’t do enough for us, wait staff who are brilliant, engagingly sweet and happy to chat but with a professional attitude and there’s only one descriptive word worth posting for the staff in QG. Excellent.

In fact, I cannot praise all the staff highly enough. Yes I know we are well known to staff and have had many come up to greet us both on deck 11 and other staff as we go through the ship, but I don’t think we are in any way special. Victoria is known for her happy staff and that doesn’t seem to have diminished. 

A window table for two was requested by our agent and that’s what we got, in the area of the dining room we normally sit in. We were pleased as our table didn’t have another table by its side so we weren’t on top of any one else.
There are still two large tables, the one in the middle and one by the kitchen but table configuration changes with the requirements on each cruise so that might not be the same on the next cruise. The rest as far as we could see were two tops. 

There were a couple of people at lunch time who were not happy with their table position but it seemed Raul was not for turning at the first lunch time. He deftly fielded the unhappy at that time. Not sure if he managed to satisfy those who were not happy. 
Headed down to the library for our four books straight after lunch and so pleased to see that operating.

Mask wearing.
All the staff are masked up, all the time. Passengers? I can count on one, possibly two hands so far who wear masks in public areas. 
We do.
Talking of passengers, I over heard a conversation in the embarkation lounge, there are 1724 ( bit specific!)  passengers onboard. QG seems full.

Internet.

The Grills concierge was so helpful. Lovely girl. So approachable and patient. She explained in words of two syllables to this technologically challenged ignoramus, the new system.
Basically, one account can be accessed by two devices but not at the same time. She also said if I didn’t need the internet on embarkation day, the price went down  by the daily $15 rate if I signed up the first sea day as opposed to embarkation.
Suited me. $15 is $15 after all! Almost a third of a bottle of wine.  Have to save the pennies where possible. She set the account up for me on my iPad, ready to purchase the following day. This I did. No problem.

Breakfast time. I got on the internet easily. Problem? What problem!

How naïve of me. I gave up when trying to access it later on. Couldn’t even be bothered trying stairwell B stairs!
It’s fickle beyond belief.
Every negative thing said about internet access is correct, but only at times. First day in Copenhagen, it was absolutely dire. Second day, great. Today, no problem so far at all. Most times, fantastic reception in the cabin and around the ship. Weird. One thing to mention, as with the old system, you have to log in each time you access your account.
 
 Yes it’s 24/7 access but you’ll get logged out after a time of inactivity so don’t think  the internet isn’t working, although of course as this is Cunard's spiffing new system, it might well not be working, you might have been logged out.

Husband is a happy bunny as Sky News and Sports are on the television, which we have on ( deep joy and Sports is banned) at breakfast time, and when he’s resting.

Jackets at dinner
I’m happy to report that as far as I can tell, gentlemen with jackets on their backs as opposed to dining chairs, of an evening at dinner in QG is 100% so far although admittedly, I can’t see all the main area of the restaurant 

Hope that’s of interest.
 
Sent from my iPad Sent from my iPad
 
 
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Victoria2 Great Review Rare

Victoria2

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Posted
51 minutes ago, Petulia said:

Great to hear you are back on board, it’s been more than a while! 
 

Hope the rest of the cruise goes very well for you. 

Thank you. Two years and fifty weeks to be precise. 🙂

 

We’re not out and about as much at the moment, but the fact we’re here at all makes it incredibly enjoyable and we know how lucky we are to be able to enjoy Queen Victoria.

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sogne

sogne

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, Victoria2 said:







 I am breaking a habit of a lifetime and posting about our holidays before we get back purely, because I got so much help from others,  I thought I might be able to help too and so if anyone has any questions about any aspect of Queen Victoria, I will try and find an answer before disembarking and take any photographs of lists and menus if required.

I’m making comments mainly as an objective view of Queen Victoria with a few personal aspects thrown in. I said I’d tell it how it is and I hope I’m doing so.
This is a short trip which we haven’t transferred as we need a holiday. My husband has been ill and tires very easily so it’s very much more a cabin based holiday than normal and I have no intention of writing a blog as such because my daily activities are mine and will be of no interest to others. 

We are aboard Queen Victoria on her 21st August, ten night cruise. I started writing a few things down and forgive any tense changes as they were written down in random fashion so it’s all a bit slightly ad hoc in bits and bobs because I was going to collate and post them when I got home but as said, decided to post now so it’s  a bit higgeldy piggeldy. 

Embarkation was delayed until around one pm and by the time the ship was released, the embarkation lounge was full.
We all sat there, politely and waited. We were amongst the first to board and got taken down to deck 2 to register at the new style non muster and then went up to our cabin which was booked back in the midst of time. I wondered if we’d ever board Victoria again! I have to admit to a tear in my eye as we boarded. Our cruise cards were in our cabin fan, waiting for us.


Our butler came immediately to introduce himself and I think we’re going to ‘get on’. Wine and gin were ordered and unlike previous cruises, where the bottles were delivered, soon as, this time we were informed they would be delivered at turndown. No problem.

Dinner was late for us as our bags were fairly late arriving and unpacking took a bit of time before showers etc.
Slight panic with the plugs. Unlike some cabins we’ve been in (Q3s,) the UK sockets in our cabin haven’t been inverted and as my universal multi function USB adapter is under the plug when I use the uk plug I looked around for any Heath Robinson adaptions I could make.
Brain got in gear and the US plug bit ( you can tell I’m terribly technical or should that be technically terrible) fits with the ports atop, so all was well.

Most accessory items which were in our QG cabin in the past, have to asked for e.g. soap bars, shower cap, shampoo , laundry bags, nail file, foot file for starters.

New mantra? Just ask and if availableyou will receive but there have definitely been some cutbacks, if you can call an asked for foot file, to find they’re no longer provided, a cutback. Heavens, standards are slipping! Tee hee.
 
Restaurant staff, fabulous. Absolutely fabulous. We know our Head Waiter really well and just as important, he knows us and our little likes,  but our wait staff are new to us. QG news, Sandro has, or is, relocating to QE and the new QV maitre d is Raul. New to us but not QE ‘ers. Our loss of Sandro is QE's gain, but, QE's loss of Raul is most definitely, QV's gain.

Raul is marvellous. Absolutely marvellous. He is most definitely, a people person. He 'Works the Room' magnificently and is so engaging and easy to talk to. Asks if everyone ( as far as I can tell) is happy with the menus and can he do anything for us/ ask if we’d like anything prepared etc etc. Definitely eleven out of ten as far as we’re concerned.

Add the Headwaiters who can’t do enough for us, wait staff who are brilliant, engagingly sweet and happy to chat but with a professional attitude and there’s only one descriptive word worth posting for the staff in QG. Excellent.

In fact, I cannot praise all the staff highly enough. Yes I know we are well known to staff and have had many come up to greet us both on deck 11 and other staff as we go through the ship, but I don’t think we are in any way special. Victoria is known for her happy staff and that doesn’t seem to have diminished. 

A window table for two was requested by our agent and that’s what we got, in the area of the dining room we normally sit in. We were pleased as our table didn’t have another table by its side so we weren’t on top of any one else.
There are still two large tables, the one in the middle and one by the kitchen but table configuration changes with the requirements on each cruise so that might not be the same on the next cruise. The rest as far as we could see were two tops. 

There were a couple of people at lunch time who were not happy with their table position but it seemed Raul was not for turning at the first lunch time. He deftly fielded the unhappy at that time. Not sure if he managed to satisfy those who were not happy. 
Headed down to the library for our four books straight after lunch and so pleased to see that operating.

Mask wearing.
All the staff are masked up, all the time. Passengers? I can count on one, possibly two hands so far who wear masks in public areas. 
We do.
Talking of passengers, I over heard a conversation in the embarkation lounge, there are 1724 ( bit specific!)  passengers onboard. QG seems full.

Internet.

The Grills concierge was so helpful. Lovely girl. So approachable and patient. She explained in words of two syllables to this technologically challenged ignoramus, the new system.
Basically, one account can be accessed by two devices but not at the same time. She also said if I didn’t need the internet on embarkation day, the price went down  by the daily $15 rate if I signed up the first sea day as opposed to embarkation.
Suited me. $15 is $15 after all! Almost a third of a bottle of wine.  Have to save the pennies where possible. She set the account up for me on my iPad, ready to purchase the following day. This I did. No problem.

Breakfast time. I got on the internet easily. Problem? What problem!

How naïve of me. I gave up when trying to access it later on. Couldn’t even be bothered trying stairwell B stairs!
It’s fickle beyond belief.
Every negative thing said about internet access is correct, but only at times. First day in Copenhagen, it was absolutely dire. Second day, great. Today, no problem so far at all. Most times, fantastic reception in the cabin and around the ship. Weird. One thing to mention, as with the old system, you have to log in each time you access your account.
 
 Yes it’s 24/7 access but you’ll get logged out after a time of inactivity so don’t think  the internet isn’t working, although of course as this is Cunard's spiffing new system, it might well not be working, you might have been logged out.

Husband is a happy bunny as Sky News and Sports are on the television, which we have on ( deep joy and Sports is banned) at breakfast time, and when he’s resting.

Jackets at dinner
I’m happy to report that as far as I can tell, gentlemen with jackets on their backs as opposed to dining chairs, of an evening at dinner in QG is 100% so far although admittedly, I can’t see all the main area of the restaurant 

Hope that’s of interest.
 
Sent from my iPad Sent from my iPad
 
 
  • .
     

Internet.

Husband is a happy bunny as Sky News and Sports are on the television, which we have on ( deep joy and Sports is banned) at breakfast time, and when he’s resting.
 
is TV working in port we had no TV in Hamburg. Bergen, and Stavanger on Mary 
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exlondoner

exlondoner

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Posted
1 hour ago, Victoria2 said:

Yes, it’s working.

We're in Gothenburg and having a rest in the cabin having just got back. 
 

Sadly, Sky Sports is on at the moment, but all the news channels are receiving a signal.

 

Cricket? 😀

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Victoria2 Great Review Rare

Victoria2

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9 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

Have a great cruise.

 

 

I'm glad the foot files are available if you ask, I find them the most ergonomic you can get hold of. When I'm  windsurfing  every day for 4 months bare-footed they are much needed.

I mustn’t have been clear.

 I asked for a foot file, but not available so sorry ( hence standards slipping quip).

May I suggest taking a Ped Egg along with you.

 

Up early to watch the sail in, to Oslo. Very moody breaking dawn with the mists nestling amongst the pines, and the smell of those pines, wonderful.

 

Philistine that I am, I take my own instant coffee ( a Cap Colombia blend) with me and a couple of mugs of hot coffee and wrapped in the gorgeous fluffy robe ( new style) I sat out on the balcony for a good hour around 5.30 am.

 

We are so lucky to be here.

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Victoria2

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Excellent music around last night, well excellent if you consider the act ( sounds of the 60s being their forte)  in the theatre to be enthusiastic rather than totally vocally accurate. They were well received by quite a full theatre so maybe I’m being a bit too judgemental. The music was very good but the singing left a little to be desired at times and a lot by the secondary singer.


No dancing in the Ballroom as far as we could tell ( final pass by around 10.50 pm) as a superb Irish duo held the room. There were even tables and chairs set up on the dance floor.

Talking of ball room dancing, it was fascinating to watch from deck three viewpoints the other night.

The floor was busy and the styles so different.

As a novice in these things, I would say the best couple on the floor were 'compact' with their dancing as opposed to the flamboyant who flung their arms around and were most definitely not, compact.

 

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exlondoner

exlondoner

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5 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

Sadly, football seems to  be a bit predominant or maybe that’s just my bias as I dislike the game.

 

What a shame. Cricket was excellent yesterday. Cricket and Cunard: hard to find a better combination.

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Victoria2

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A beautiful day in Oslo.

 I must have managed a few thousand steps walking around. I spent a good hour people watching by the main marina and chatting to a lovely couple, in perfect English on their part.

 

The weather has been extraordinarily kind to us on this trip just adding to our delight in being here.

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Stu UK

Stu UK

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Posted (edited)

Glad the live TV channels are fixed. That was the only downside of our recent QV QG cruise. We managed to get bars of soap but failed on slippers. Real first world issues. The restaurant was not disappointing at all. Only request they could not deliver was escargot as none onboard for 2 consecutive cruises. 

Edited by Stu UK
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exlondoner

exlondoner

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15 minutes ago, Stu UK said:

Glad the live TV channels are fixed. That was the only downside of our recent QV QG cruise. We managed to get bars of soap but failed on slippers. Real first world issues. The restaurant was not disappointing at all. Only request they could not deliver was escargot as none onboard for 2 consecutive cruises. 

 

How odd. Our slippers were in our gown pockets awaiting us. Perhaps QM2 had snaffled the entire slipper supply. 😀

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Victoria2 Great Review Rare

Victoria2

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20 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

 

How odd. Our slippers were in our gown pockets awaiting us. Perhaps QM2 had snaffled the entire slipper supply. 😀

As we’re ours, although I’m a bare foot person ( and have the broken toes to show for it 🙂).

One thing I do love, is the fleecy sort of fabric of the very cosy bathrobe. 
 

Sea is a bit lumpy today and I’m on 'balancing duty' for my husband so that robe is a wonderful vegging piece of kit.

 

Internet access in the cabin, great, TV signal a tad iffy at times but nothing to write home about.

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Victoria2

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Bit of a music day for me once  we get going.

 

Lecture on 3 great Scandinavian Composers after lunch; the Irish duo Cula after dinner and ( classical) guitarist Andrew Scott to fit in before dinner.

We didn’t get to Michael Howard’s lecture so that will be a repeat on the television.

 

 

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