O Mary, you've changed

[neeuqdrazil]

19 hours ago, Underwatr said:

I recall that some services have moved to an online presence (for example, booking anytime dining slots). This makes me wonder whether there's any Daily Programme capability in the new online services.

They can reduce the amount of paper distributed if they back it up with an excellent online information source. If on the other hand they just never re-hired the staff that used to publish the 8-page Programme I'll chalk it up to "efficiencies" and know that we'll never see it again.

 

The Daily Programme in My Voyage is just the PDF of the printed version. No additional information, sadly. 

[BklynBoy8]

On this last sailing in September, we liked the new vers. of the DP since it did give information to refer to.

 

The older vers. was ok in the past but very crowded. This one we knew the title, time and location and we took it from there.

[bluemarble]

One observation I'll add from the current QM2 cruise regards ice cream.

 

Thankfully they still offer a good variety of delicious ice creams for dessert in Britannia. And thankfully the self-serve soft-serve ice cream machines are still available in Kings Court. However, those self-serve machines are only dispensing vanilla. Gone are the chocolate and vanilla/chocolate twist flavors we enjoyed on past cruises.

 

Also, Sir Samuels is no longer serving any Godiva ice cream treats on QM2. We were always good for a couple visits there for their decadent Godiva ice cream sundaes.

 

Real first-world problems, of course! 🤣

Edited November 23, 2022 by bluemarble

[exlondoner]

Has the dessert menu had Dulce de Leche ice cream? I asked for it in the summer in the QG, and they said they couldn’t, as there was no Dulce de Leche on board. Very disappointing, as it’s my absolute favourite.

[bluemarble]

2 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Has the dessert menu had Dulce de Leche ice cream? I asked for it in the summer in the QG, and they said they couldn’t, as there was no Dulce de Leche on board. Very disappointing, as it’s my absolute favourite.

 

I haven't noticed Dulce de Leche yet in Britannia. So far there's been the usual good variety of three different flavors of regular ice cream on the menu each eveving.

[Host Hattie]

I didn't order it but it was on the menu for lunch one day on Queen Victoria in September/October.

[exlondoner]

9 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

I didn't order it but it was on the menu for lunch one day on Queen Victoria in September/October.

I shall live in hope for next year. 😀

[bluemarble]

On 11/23/2022 at 3:47 PM, exlondoner said:

Has the dessert menu had Dulce de Leche ice cream? I asked for it in the summer in the QG, and they said they couldn’t, as there was no Dulce de Leche on board. Very disappointing, as it’s my absolute favourite.

 

Not quite what you had in mind but I couldn't resist posting these photos of an item on offer at tea time today in the Carinthia Lounge on QM2. 🙂

 

[Host Hattie]

You lost me at popcorn 😂

[RD64]

No words…. I will take a dozen please.

[techteach]

No, just no. Someone in the kitchen is out of control.

[exlondoner]

I too am appalled. And when you think the D de L could have been used to make ice cream, it makes you want to weep. 😀

[buchanan101]

On 11/21/2022 at 4:16 PM, s.s.France said:

I was on a QG westbound TA recently and I attributed most changes to covid measures, I actually prefer the pump botttles for soap.  I missed the reception party, but I am sure it will be back, as maybe the departure lounge will eventually. But we just stayed in the cabin after breakfeast and deboarded at the assigned time. Food and service in QG was as good as it always was. Ship needs a thorough refit, but thats another story. Had a great crossing.

First trip Recently on a westbound too (about a month ago) in QG. Pump bottles = less waste. Way too many bits of paper printed though. Service and food excellent in QG. Ship might need a refit but looked fine to me. Get rid of the baths and have a decent shower…

[exlondoner]

10 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

First trip Recently on a westbound too (about a month ago) in QG. Pump bottles = less waste. Way too many bits of paper printed though. Service and food excellent in QG. Ship might need a refit but looked fine to me. Get rid of the baths and have a decent shower…

No, no, no. One of the reasons, I book QG is so I can lounge in the bath. But I agree it is totally pathetic not to have a separate shower. The Vistas do.

[GonzoWCS]

On 11/22/2022 at 2:19 PM, canoncruiser said:

Well-I have been on QM2 a number of times this year and I’ll be on her again in December; my first crossing was part of the December TA to the West Indies. Since December things have evolved - QV was standing by off Barbados as an accommodation ship for Covid infected crew -who came and went as per their tests. There has been much change since then as the pandemic has eased-subsequent trips on QM2 has seen change for the better-now we can sit at the bar😂 

I suspect many former crew decided they needed a change and did not come back. One sees a number of familiar and friendly staff but there are a lot of newcomers who are training on the job-they’ll work into Cunard or they will leave.

From my experience this past year-things are settling down and smoothing out. 😉

Great observations.  Would it also be fair to say that there is a distinct learning curve to get crew trained up to the levels they were pre-C19?  Noticed that on most of the lines we sailed this year, the crew was working hard, but they are still in states of training whilst working in real time.  

 

Cheers

[Jacqueline]

On QM2 now. My cabin (QG) is great. Pleased with the butler. I am fine with the big reusable bottles in the bath . Less wasteful. Also am fine with the daily program.

so far the biggest disappointment for me is the dining in the queens Grill. The service was only fair ( had to flag people down). I loved my Princess Grill experience in 2016. 
i did bring my concerns to the attention of the maître d. And things seem much better. In the other hand the menus aren’t great nor is the food at the same standard as previously. I will circle back at the end of the cruise. Hopefully I will have more happy news to report.

Fortunately the cruise has been wonderful and have met some nice people.

Edited November 26, 2022 by Jacqueline

[Victoria2]

4 minutes ago, Jacqueline said:

On QM2 now. My cabin (QG) is great. Pleased with the butler. I am fine with the big reusable bottles in the bath . Less wasteful. Also am fine with the daily program.

so far the biggest disappointment for me is the dining in the queens Grill. The service was only fair ( had to flag people down). I loved my Princess Grill experience in 2016. 
i did bring my concerns to the attention of the maître d. And things seem much better. In the other hand the menus aren’t great nor is the food at the same standard as previously. I will circle back at the end of the cruise. Hopefully I will have more happy news to report.

Fortunately the cruise has been wonderful and have met some nice people.

Give QV a try next time.

 

Food - great

Staff -great

Experience - superb, as usual.

 

🙂

[ClipperinSFO]

31 minutes ago, Jacqueline said:

On QM2 now. My cabin (QG) is great. Pleased with the butler. I am fine with the big reusable bottles in the bath . Less wasteful. Also am fine with the daily program.

so far the biggest disappointment for me is the dining in the queens Grill. The service was only fair ( had to flag people down). I loved my Princess Grill experience in 2016. 
i did bring my concerns to the attention of the maître d. And things seem much better. In the other hand the menus aren’t great nor is the food at the same standard as previously. I will circle back at the end of the cruise. Hopefully I will have more happy news to report.

Fortunately the cruise has been wonderful and have met some nice people.

Is Osman onboard now as the QG maître d’?  I have always found him very responsive to any concerns or needs. 

[bazzaw]

Unless they close off the Forward Observation Deck - or fill the Queens Room with poker/slot machines - I can handle any other changes. 

[BklynBoy8]

8 hours ago, Jacqueline said:

On QM2 now. My cabin (QG) is great. Pleased with the butler. I am fine with the big reusable bottles in the bath . Less wasteful. Also am fine with the daily program.

so far the biggest disappointment for me is the dining in the queens Grill. The service was only fair ( had to flag people down). I loved my Princess Grill experience in 2016. 
i did bring my concerns to the attention of the maître d. And things seem much better. In the other hand the menus aren’t great nor is the food at the same standard as previously. I will circle back at the end of the cruise. Hopefully I will have more happy news to report.

Fortunately the cruise has been wonderful and have met some nice people.

 

Wish you continued Success with your sailing. Knew u would love the experience.

 

Any other needs you can go to the Concerige helped us

[Jacqueline]

I did speak to Osman and it seems to have helped!  

[Covepointcruiser]

Osman is very attentive on the current sailing.   He asks if he can do anything special at our table at each lunch.   Five out of six days he has prepared appetizers and entrees for us.   Tonight we are trying Peking duck.    One of our table mates says the steak tartare is the best he has ever had.   The food is almost faultless on this crossing, much better than before COVID.

[Tonopah]

On our sailings in November (Norway and Northern Lights and subsequent TA) things had changed. The dress code was minimally relaxed. We actually preferred it. That is not to say it wasn’t dressy. It was. But it wasn’t front-row-at-the-Academy-Awards dressy. It was more like celebration dinner at a nice restaurant dressy.

 

Before we went I had read some comments about the live music in the Queen’s Room. Maybe the band changed out before our holiday, but the band we had was great with dance music. One of the brass players recognized us as dancers when we were on the elevator together. He said we, “danced to every genre we play”. Just shows that they were making an effort to play various types of dance music. A surprise for us was that ballroom dancing got usurped by other things several times. Twice the party band Changez (they were amazing by the way) played. There was a comedian once and a headline show by “New Amen Corner”. Still got to dance to Changez and New Amen Corner, and the comedian was funny so no complaints, just a bit of a surprise.

 

Everywhere we went we saw the crew hard at work maintaining the ship. We didn’t see the rust or wear that others noticed, but then again, we didn’t look too closely. 

 

So the BIG CHANGES - slightly less formal dress, and fewer nights to dance in the Queen’s Room. *gasp*