QA Canaries 10 May Comments

[safarigal]

There were clearly disembarking passengers still on board at 11:00. I had taken the shuttle into town to do some shopping, and got back to the ship just after 11. At that time there were still crowds of people trying to leave the ship and collect their luggage, as well as folks in the queue to drop their bags and check in.

 

I looked at this and couldn't see a clear path for me to get back to the ship. Luckily I must have been looking stunned as a kind gentleman saw me and escorted me back to the ship through the crew entrance. Phew! 

[exlondoner]

9 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Oh it did move on the return BoB if 'you' are in a wheelchair. If you have legs, sea or not with which to steady yourself, not an issue.

Yes, it did, I agree. But I didn’t mind that and it was only really evident when I got out of bed. I can see legs are a great help here. 😀

[Winifred 22]

59 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

It usually takes several days. And, when on board, the ship hardly moved at all.

Known as mal de debarquement and quite common. Hope you feel better soon.

 

[david63]

1 hour ago, exlondoner said:

the floor was moving about. Does anyone else get this?

I can get that without going anywhere near a ship, but the empty wine bottles may have something to do with it😂

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, david63 said:

I can get that without going anywhere near a ship, but the empty wine bottles may have something to do with it😂

Ah, indeed, but that is a different thing. 😀 

[Victoria2]

32 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Ah, indeed, but that is a different thing. 😀 

Same results tho'!😁

 

I have Labyrinthitis occasionally. I call it 'The Whirly Pits'.

 

Same experience there too but without any of the pluses!🥴

[exlondoner]

5 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Same results tho'!😁

 

I have Labyrinthitis occasionally. I call it 'The Whirly Pits'.

 

Same experience there too but without any of the pluses!🥴

Yes, I’ve had that once or twice too, once onboard QE2, when I thought it was seasickness, as there was a raging gale on. But, as I still had occasional problems weeks later, every time I turned my head one way, I think we must absolve the North Atlantic. I can’t drive, but Labyrinthitis must make it very difficult. 

[Victoria2]

10 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Yes, I’ve had that once or twice too, once onboard QE2, when I thought it was seasickness, as there was a raging gale on. But, as I still had occasional problems weeks later, every time I turned my head one way, I think we must absolve the North Atlantic. I can’t drive, but Labyrinthitis must make it very difficult. 

Not too easy when you thought you'd recovered enough to go for a walk with some sticks in a bag on your back and 'you' fall over when retrieving your golf ball when you eventually manage to hole it.

 

'Drunk' at 10am on the golf course! Not a good look at the Golf Club!  ☺️

[exlondoner]

10 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Not too easy when you thought you'd recovered enough to go for a walk with some sticks in a bag on your back and 'you' fall over when retrieving your golf ball when you eventually manage to hole it.

 

'Drunk' at 10am on the golf course! Not a good look at the Golf Club!  ☺️

I suspect there may be or have been such enterprises where it was compulsory. 😀

[david,Mississauga]

3 hours ago, Pushpit said:

That is motion sickness, in that the inner ear is not adjusting to the changed circumstances. I used to get it for a few hours after a Crossing on QE2 since she was nothing like as stable as QM2, and the old embarkation process meant one was on the streets of Manhattan very quickly after arrival. The inner ear adjusts more slowly if you have (e.g.) a minor infection or you are a bit run down, since the immune system will be taking up the body's resources.

 

I have had the same experience on several crossings on the QE2 but never on the QM2.

 

It is worse after a long train trip. At least once a year I take VIA Rail's Canadian between Toronto and Vancouver. The four-day trip can never be smooth and it will take a day or two to get used to the floor and bed not bouncing and shaking.

[Host Hattie]

Hope you're feeling better soon 

[exlondoner]

As the floor is now stable, I thought I would write some comments.

 

Good points.

 

1. The ship is pretty gorgeous internally. I adore most of the public spaces: the Commodore Club, the Grand Lobby and the rooms off it, the Pavilion, the Chart Room and Café Carinthia, the Library, the Cigar Room (peeped in at a nonsmoking time), and above all the heavenly main dining room, which looks like a great marquée of gold and glass. I even liked the QG restaurant though not the banquettes.

 

2. There is lots of lovely outdoor lounging space, to the extent that the lack of a proper prom deck matters much less. On Deck 14, the area ahead of the Skybar gives the most wonderful views, and is pretty well sheltered. In fact, they have done a pretty good job of providing sheltered outdoor spaces. But this ship is made for warm weather cruises, which ours was not.

 

3. The Q4 cabin was much nicer than expected, though would have been nicer still without the partition. The bathroom was smart, with a nice long bath, the bed was as always, supremely comfortable, and the balcony was a few inches deeper than on the Vistas. This meant I didn’t stub my toe on bits of furniture once!

 

4. The food was good, though sometimes the menu planning was weird. Why offer duck pâté and duck rilettes (which anyway were more or less identical) for lunch and dinner on the same day? Why have two chocolate deserts out of four some days? Nonetheless the food was very good, and almost invariably delivered hot, if it was meant to be.

 

5. The service was sometimes slow, but was warm, well-intentioned, and helpful. The service at dinner speeded up in the course of our voyage, so it looks as if they were sorting things out. Our cabin was well cared for.

 

6. Although I only attended one lecture by the estimable Val McDermid, the enrichment programme looked wide, varied, and interesting. There were alas no classical concerts.

 

 

Less good points

 

1. Navigating the ship could be a problem. The ship is very long, so getting from our cabin, quite near the back, to the Commodore Club was quite a major expedition. The fact that there is no through route on Deck 10, or Deck 11, unless you are in the Grills or disobey the signs, is very irksome.

 

2. The Grills Lounge is a hell hole, with no real view, and proper daylight for only a limited area. As a result, I spent a lot more time in the mornings in the Commodore Club.

 

3. The Library, though a lovely room, does not (yet?) have enough books, and the librarian was pretty overwhelmed.

 

4. As has been said elsewhere, disembarkation was a shambles, made better, not worse, by the unwillingness of those in charge to break bad news. We were delayed 35 minutes, I imagine it was much worse for those behind us. Describing this as a slight delay is just fatuous. Explaining what exactly was going wrong might have been sensible too.

 

5. The lifts had carnivorous doors. After a few days, this was solved to a great extent, by the vast majority of passengers sticking their arm through the gap to prevent slow boarders being crushed. Although they were sometimes very crowded, after the first couple of days, I spent more time in lifts on my own than in ones with other people.

 

We nearly cancelled this cruise the day before it started, and I am very glad we didn’t. I am also glad we have two more cruises, both to the Med., booked on this beautiful ship.

[Victoria2]

Excellent overview exlondoner and I must add to the library comment, you and I being avid users.

The librarians WERE totally overwhelmed and had returned books stacked up feet high ready to be signed out and returned to the shelves, which were depleted but I think that's primarily down to the fact passengers were allowed five books each instead of the usual two.

Daft.

 

 

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Excellent overview exlondoner and I must add to the library comment, you and I being avid users.

The librarians WERE totally overwhelmed and had returned books stacked up feet high ready to be signed out and returned to the shelves, which were depleted but I think that's primarily down to the fact passengers were allowed five books each instead of the usual two.

Daft.

 

 

I hadn’t actually realised it was five books each. As you say that is too much. No wonder the shelves looked depleted. I do often read more than one book at a time, but really two will do. Five is unnecessary.

[exlondoner]

One other point, as I know it matters a lot to some. I thought the dress code was pretty thoroughly observed. On Gala Nights, most people seemed to relish dressing up, and the only person I noticed without a tie was a celebrity speaker. But it may have been less formal in other areas. On non-formal nights, at least in the QG, there were a lot of jackets, probably because it wasn’t terribly warm, and even a few ties. My husband occasionally wore one, largely so he could remind himself how to tie it.

[esrs]

2 hours ago, exlondoner said:

 

 

3. The Q4 cabin was much nicer than expected, though would have been nicer still without the partition. The bathroom was smart, with a nice long bath, the bed was as always, supremely comfortable, and the balcony was a few inches deeper than on the Vistas. This meant I didn’t stub my toe on bits of furniture once!

 

 

How was the Q4 wardrobe space? And were you assigned a banquette being in Q4? We're in a Q4 next month. Thanks!

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, esrs said:

How was the Q4 wardrobe space? And were you assigned a banquette being in Q4? We're in a Q4 next month. Thanks!

We found the wardrobe space more than adequate, but neither of us have very many clothes, nor the need to wear a different garment every night. The laundry was $54 for 15 items, less 20% discount for WC discount. I think on a long cruise drawer space would not be more problematic.

 

We did not have a banquette, but a table next door with chairs but with the same view. The service station was behind the one with the sea view, which meant a lot of clattering.

[esrs]

12 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

We found the wardrobe space more than adequate, but neither of us have very many clothes, nor the need to wear a different garment every night. The laundry was $54 for 15 items, less 20% discount for WC discount. I think on a long cruise drawer space would not be more problematic.

 

We did not have a banquette, but a table next door with chairs but with the same view. The service station was behind the one with the sea view, which meant a lot of clattering.

We are cautiously optimistic! Thanks so much. 

[exlondoner]

1 hour ago, esrs said:

We are cautiously optimistic! Thanks so much. 

I think she is a lovely ship, and can only say again that I’m so glad we didn’t cancel, even though we were very close to it, and the weather was disappointing.

[DaisyUK]

Thank you so much to all who contributed to this thread; great to hear these first hand reviews and opinions about QA. Other things being equal (eg itinerary, departure port) I wonder whether QA would be first choice over the other Cunard ships and what the general consensus is with regard to the value of the specialty dining restaurants, especially for QG passengers who are already paying a supplement for an upgraded dining experience which would be 'wasted' on those evenings when choosing to eat in the specialties.

[Victoria2]

14 minutes ago, DaisyUK said:

Thank you so much to all who contributed to this thread; great to hear these first hand reviews and opinions about QA. Other things being equal (eg itinerary, departure port) I wonder whether QA would be first choice over the other Cunard ships and what the general consensus is with regard to the value of the specialty dining restaurants, especially for QG passengers who are already paying a supplement for an upgraded dining experience which would be 'wasted' on those evenings when choosing to eat in the specialties.

If the Vistas were sailing from Southampton, or indeed from any port we decided to sail from, not a chance we'd choose QA over them.

 

Would we dine in a speciality over QG? Only if we had a freebie and/or wanted to dine with friends who weren't seated with us in the restaurant or in the same restaurant.

 

But, would we jump ship and try Regent, Silversea, Saga or other 5* cruise line over QG on QA?

No.

 

Edit

I must edit here and say the position of the top suites on QA is interesting. We love the aft ones on QV but not if we were sailing predictably bumpy waters. The stability of mid ships is very appealing when the seas WILL be lumpy.

Predicting lumpy seas of course, is a separate issue! 😀

Edited May 27 by Victoria2

[exlondoner]

2 hours ago, DaisyUK said:

Thank you so much to all who contributed to this thread; great to hear these first hand reviews and opinions about QA. Other things being equal (eg itinerary, departure port) I wonder whether QA would be first choice over the other Cunard ships and what the general consensus is with regard to the value of the specialty dining restaurants, especially for QG passengers who are already paying a supplement for an upgraded dining experience which would be 'wasted' on those evenings when choosing to eat in the specialties.

I’m largely with V2. I don’t ever fly. If all four ships were sailing from Southampton on itineraries that were equally agreeable, I would choose QE, then QV, simply because they aren’t so long and the Grills facilities are better. On a cold weather cruise to Iceland and Norway, I might be more tempted by QM2,  because who wants a Grills Courtyard in that weather, and the ship is so stable.

 

But I am very happy we have two Med cruises booked on QA, and love many things about the ship, just not the Grills facilities. The Courtyard will be particularly missed on Med. cruises

 

I might use a speciality restaurant if I got a freebie, which we didn’t on the last cruise, as I’ve always enjoyed the pop ups on the other ships, but I wouldn’t pay for one of them. Some nights the QG menu is quite boring, so I might choose one of those.

[DaisyUK]

Thanks for the input Victoria2 and exlondoner. We like the 3 other Queens but have not yet been on QA. We, too, prefer to sail from Southampton but don't rule out flying. 

[GeorgianGal100]

39 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Some nights the QG menu is quite boring, so I might choose one of those.

I thought you could order off menu in the QG restaurant or is it frowned upon if you do it too often?

[exlondoner]

6 minutes ago, GeorgianGal100 said:

I thought you could order off menu in the QG restaurant or is it frowned upon if you do it too often?

Yes, you can, and no, they don’t mind.