QM2 Transatlantic

[tonyd285]

We have just returned from the August 28th sailing from Brooklyn to Southampton, followed by a few days in London.  First off, the embarkation process was utter chaos.  Cunard blamed the fiasco on US Immigration but who knows?  The ship itself was a mixed bag for me, a once in lifetime trip to say I had done it.  The cabin, a sheltered balcony, was pretty much standard cruise ship, on the small side compared to Celebrity or Holland America, and not at all plush.  The food in Brittania Restaurant was sometimes quite good and others seemed to represent a chef trying too hard.  The salads were weird, especially the Waldorf - a few grapes some walnuts a smidgen of greens in some kind of sauce.  The casino used a system I have not seen anywhere else for slots and I never quite figured it out.  On the other hand, the public spaces were very nice, the music was the best I have heard on a ship.  Both the classical musicians and the ship's band were top-notch.  The entertainers were very good.  Better than most in the cruise industry.  The lectures were very interesting.  The Tea, served every afternoon at 3:30PM was a lovely touch.  Only, Viking Ocean seems to do it as well.  Most guests followed the rules for proper attire but there were some who ignored compliance, T shirts, jeans and baseball caps on this ship, especially during lunch, dinner and Tea seemed very inappropriate.  If you are going up to London after the cruise I do recommend National Express coaches, inexpensive, prompt, and good service.  Overall, we did have a pleasant sailing and for a bucket list vacation I would recommend it.

[57eric]

I assume the immigration issue, if that was indeed the case, related to disembarkation of the prior voyage.  If there is another possibility, I would like to know.

[Underwatr]

50 minutes ago, 57eric said:

I assume the immigration issue, if that was indeed the case, related to disembarkation of the prior voyage.  If there is another possibility, I would like to know.

I don't believe foreign nationals pass through immigration on embarkation so you may be correct. I've seen immigration given as the cause for a delayed embarkation before. Of course the bulk of passengers showing up at 11:30 regardless of their designated check-in time can contribute... 🙂

[tonyd285]

We showed up just prior to our designated check-in time.  We weren't on the ship until 3 hours later.  I estimate that the queue, which was endless, numbered perhaps 2,000 people.  There were passengers still leaving the ship well into mid-afternoon.  Whatever went wrong seriously needs to be fixed.  Maybe Cunard should send spies to Viking Ocean or Celebrity and learn how flawless embarkation is done.

[Belle1990]

In July for our TA from NYC we arrived an hour past our scheduled time. We sailed right through. No wait.

[MylesS]

3 hours ago, tonyd285 said:

We showed up just prior to our designated check-in time.  We weren't on the ship until 3 hours later.  I estimate that the queue, which was endless, numbered perhaps 2,000 people.  There were passengers still leaving the ship well into mid-afternoon.  Whatever went wrong seriously needs to be fixed.  Maybe Cunard should send spies to Viking Ocean or Celebrity and learn how flawless embarkation is done.

I'd imagine if passengers were still leaving the ship into mid-afternoon, it must have been an immigration issue. The ship will try to do all they can to get passengers off at least an hour before boarding commences (or so I'd imagine)

I hope you enjoyed London, and I'm glad you enjoyed your trip!

[Jack E Dawson]

7 hours ago, tonyd285 said:

We have just returned from the August 28th sailing from Brooklyn to Southampton,

Thanks for the review tonyd285, appreciate your objectivity.

Wondering how intrusive you found losing an hour in the middle of the day (5)? We have only sailed westerly but are sometimes enticed by the lower pricing of the eastbound TA's.

Thanks

Jack

[Host Hattie]

Thank you for reporting back. Unfortunately most recent reports of embarkation in Brooklyn have been poor.

[tonyd285]

Asked about losing an hour each day for five days, I can only tell you that for the most part we adapted.  Did miss one performance I was looking forward to because I forgot to turn my watch ahead.  Showed up just as the performance ended.  By the time we reached the UK we were pretty well okay for our stay there.  We have also done a couple of transatlantic from Europe to the US (not on Cunard) and found it much easier to adapt.

[Lakesregion]

US immigration seems to have a formula in place to deal with people arriving by ship in all of their ports. The larger the number of passengers, the fewer number of agents sent to process them.

[navybankerteacher]

17 hours ago, Lakesregion said:

US immigration seems to have a formula in place to deal with people arriving by ship in all of their ports. The larger the number of passengers, the fewer number of agents sent to process them.

I think they simply copied the staffing manual used at Heathrow in the morning hours when so many international flights arrive from the US, Asia and Africa.

[PORT ROYAL]

23 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

I think they simply copied the staffing manual used at Heathrow in the morning hours when so many international flights arrive from the US, Asia and Africa.

 The treatment UK passengers receive at JFK, Americans now have the identical at Heathrow.

It’s called reciprocity, something the USA always requires.

 

[BlueRiband]

21 hours ago, Jack E Dawson said:

Thanks for the review tonyd285, appreciate your objectivity.

Wondering how intrusive you found losing an hour in the middle of the day (5)? We have only sailed westerly but are sometimes enticed by the lower pricing of the eastbound TA's.

Thanks

Jack

It really compresses your afternoons.  When the time change was made at Noon there's the captain's operational update then the next thing you know it's 1:15.   If you have activities planned or appointments booked one has to keep that in mind.

[tonyd285]

We did especially enjoy the UK immigration program.  Times were set by deck (ours was deck 6) and three days before arriving at Southampton we cleared immigration on the ship.  The only other instance of that, as i recall, was prior to arrival in Israel, with Israeli immigration preclearing passengers.  Strangely, when we were leaving London we were through check-in, bag drop, and security at Heathrow on Wednesday in less than one-half hour.  I had allotted three hours due to past painful experience.

[GonzoWCS]

Thanks for this review.

 

Cheers

[WestonOne]

3 hours ago, BlueRiband said:

It really compresses your afternoons.  When the time change was made at Noon there's the captain's operational update then the next thing you know it's 1:15.   If you have activities planned or appointments booked one has to keep that in mind.

Is this new? Previous cruises I have been on always changed the clock overnight.

 

What is the approach in the opposite direction? do you get eg two 12:15s a day?

[Host Hattie]

No, the change is overnight sailing Westbound.

[D&N]

On 9/9/2022 at 9:21 PM, Jack E Dawson said:

Wondering how intrusive you found losing an hour in the middle of the day (5)? We have only sailed westerly but are sometimes enticed by the lower pricing of the eastbound TA's.

Our day is filled with breakfast, gym, tea/coffee, lunch then tea/coffee and prepare for evening so no time for lectures etc.

Evenings are aperitifs, dinner, dancing, nightcaps so no time for shows etc.

We just managed to squeeze that in Westbound. Eastbound was a real challenge. It was really difficult to fit in morning tea/coffee and then lunch.

I think we'd prefer to lose the hours sleep during the night Eastbound than have our day shortened, but I suspect the practice may be more to do with crew rest periods than giving passengers enough sleep. After all, we can come home afterwards and catch up on our sleep!

On the one day we tried Queens Room Afternoon Tea we missed lunch to fit it in, but still had to go to Chart Room for real coffee.

[Jack E Dawson]

On 9/10/2022 at 4:16 PM, D&N said:

Our day is filled with breakfast, gym, tea/coffee, lunch then tea/coffee and prepare for evening so no time for lectures etc.

Evenings are aperitifs, dinner, dancing, nightcaps so no time for shows etc.

We just managed to squeeze that in Westbound. Eastbound was a real challenge. It was really difficult to fit in morning tea/coffee and then lunch.

I think we'd prefer to lose the hours sleep during the night Eastbound than have our day shortened, but I suspect the practice may be more to do with crew rest periods than giving passengers enough sleep. After all, we can come home afterwards and catch up on our sleep!

On the one day we tried Queens Room Afternoon Tea we missed lunch to fit it in, but still had to go to Chart Room for real coffee.

I'm impressed with your ability to adapt.

Jack

Edited September 11, 2022 by Jack E Dawson

[ace2542]

On 9/10/2022 at 5:23 PM, PORT ROYAL said:

 The treatment UK passengers receive at JFK, Americans now have the identical at Heathrow.

It’s called reciprocity, something the USA always requires.

 

You should hardly be complaining the UK is lucky to be on the Visa Waiver Program many countries are not including ones in the EU never forget that.

Edited September 12, 2022 by ace2542

[PORT ROYAL]

1 hour ago, ace2542 said:

You should hardly be complaining the UK is lucky to be on the Visa Waiver Program many countries are not including ones in the EU never forget that.

Not a reciprocity complaint, but a statement of fact. Long overdue.

 

Edited September 12, 2022 by PORT ROYAL

[harpy3]

On 9/9/2022 at 5:45 AM, tonyd285 said:

We have just returned from the August 28th sailing from Brooklyn to Southampton, followed by a few days in London.  First off, the embarkation process was utter chaos.  Cunard blamed the fiasco on US Immigration but who knows?  The ship itself was a mixed bag for me, a once in lifetime trip to say I had done it.  The cabin, a sheltered balcony, was pretty much standard cruise ship, on the small side compared to Celebrity or Holland America, and not at all plush.  The food in Brittania Restaurant was sometimes quite good and others seemed to represent a chef trying too hard.  The salads were weird, especially the Waldorf - a few grapes some walnuts a smidgen of greens in some kind of sauce.  The casino used a system I have not seen anywhere else for slots and I never quite figured it out.  On the other hand, the public spaces were very nice, the music was the best I have heard on a ship.  Both the classical musicians and the ship's band were top-notch.  The entertainers were very good.  Better than most in the cruise industry.  The lectures were very interesting.  The Tea, served every afternoon at 3:30PM was a lovely touch.  Only, Viking Ocean seems to do it as well.  Most guests followed the rules for proper attire but there were some who ignored compliance, T shirts, jeans and baseball caps on this ship, especially during lunch, dinner and Tea seemed very inappropriate.  If you are going up to London after the cruise I do recommend National Express coaches, inexpensive, prompt, and good service.  Overall, we did have a pleasant sailing and for a bucket list vacation I would recommend it.

We were on QE in June for Alaska cruise RT out of Vancouver.  Embarkation was a huge mess--worst I've ever been through.  So its not US Immigration--at least not just US.

[3rdGenCunarder]

4 hours ago, harpy3 said:

We were on QE in June for Alaska cruise RT out of Vancouver.  Embarkation was a huge mess--worst I've ever been through.  So its not US Immigration--at least not just US.

 

June 14? Worst embarkation I've ever been through! But that wasn't anyone's immigration service, it was all the people who hadn't done ArriveCAN combined with clueless port staff. Disembarkation in Vancouver was not as bad, but still not done well. Even though there was no immigration to go through, they got behind on the schedule, so people left their cabins at the assigned times only to find things were backed up. So much for trying to keep passengers from congregating...

 

On 9/10/2022 at 1:25 PM, BlueRiband said:

It really compresses your afternoons.  When the time change was made at Noon there's the captain's operational update then the next thing you know it's 1:15.   If you have activities planned or appointments booked one has to keep that in mind.

 

You can't dawdle over lunch. I've had a leisurely lunch, looked at my watch and thought, oh dear, I've missed the first 5 minutes of that talk I want to go to. Then I realized I'd missed it entirely.

[shippmates]

The embarkation and disembarkation in NYC was very slow for my August transatlantic.  The hold up on embarkation was partly caused by the passengers that had to stand there and scan their phones looking for the documents.  It took the person 5 minutes or longer to find the paperwork to board the ship while everyone is standing waiting.  They finally got checked in and it was my turn.  I handed them my computer printouts and I was finished in 5 minutes.  I think the cruise lines should all go back to paper documents.   My crossing was wonderful once I got on the ship.

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, shippmates said:

The embarkation and disembarkation in NYC was very slow for my August transatlantic.  The hold up on embarkation was partly caused by the passengers that had to stand there and scan their phones looking for the documents.  It took the person 5 minutes or longer to find the paperwork to board the ship while everyone is standing waiting.  They finally got checked in and it was my turn.  I handed them my computer printouts and I was finished in 5 minutes.  I think the cruise lines should all go back to paper documents.   My crossing was wonderful once I got on the ship.

 

I'm pretty fast on my phone, but I still take paper. Boarding in Vancouver in June, there were 5 or 6 stops along the way (not including the immigration kiosk or security scan) where it was show this, show that, show the other thing. Some documents were looked at twice. If I had to keep poking at my phone in a situation like that, I'd probably drop it. If I drop paper, it doesn't break!

 

Boarding HAL in FLL, you have to show boarding pass at the door to the terminal. I don't know how many people I've seen digging through folders or purses because they didn't have docs convenient to hand. 

Edited September 15, 2022 by 3rdGenCunarder