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Is anyone booking for 2018 ?


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We enjoyed our roundtrip crossing so much last month that, on the last day, I popped down to see Yoyo and booked a RT crossing for September 2018. We've got a prime not-too-obstructed cabin and a nice OBC. I expect I'll rebook with my TA when a good promotion presents itself, likely in early 2018. (before the cancel penalty comes into effect)

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My bride and I have booked passage on QM2, New York to Southampton, 7/6/18 - 7/13/18, then transfer to QE for a circumnavigation of the British Isles, 7/13/18 - 7/27/18. This will be a combination "farewell tour" on the advent of her retirement, a very long overdo honeymoon and a celebration of our 38th wedding anniversary. We've never "cruised" before and this will be our first trip outside the continental U.S. In fact, this is the first time that I've ever posted a comment on a computer bulletin board. Until a couple of days ago I had never even logged into a social media site. I stumbled across you folks by accident while looking for cruise reviews. I know that most people would generally read the reviews before they booked passage and that I've got the cart before the horse, but there it is. In any event, noodling around on your site has only searved to confirm our decision to go by sea and generated a sense of excitement for the whole undertaking! It's been a delightful experience reading many of your conversations and I feel as if the passion and enthusiasm that so many of you so obviously have for "cruising" is beginning to rub off. The person who said that the fun starts as soon as you book has captured my feelings exactly. I haven't mastered the mechanics of navigating around this website, so I may never be able to find this string again, but know all that I've truly enjoyed eavesdropping on your conversation! You've been inspiring.

 

Topper123

 

 

 

Incredible post.

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Welcome Topper123!

If you have any questions, there are lots of people to help you.

Also, since you've already discovered the reviews, I'm sure you've checked out the port reviews. As a bit of research will show, there are usually third-party and local options for port activities far better than those offered by Cunard. (To be fair, this is universally true across all lines).

Finding preferable local providers is made easier by these boards, and the Roll-Calls are invaluable for assembling or joining a group. (Many small tours go by minivan).

 

Realize, as cruise (and crossing) newcomers, that Cunard's signature profile is that of an old-school. formal line. If you're the type to embrace dressing up in respect of longstanding traditions, Cunard is the line for you! If you chafe at the thought of putting on a tie and prefer a buffet at any time over a scheduled multi-course formal dinner, you'd be happier elsewhere.

 

That said, at heart, it's a modern megaship experience, directly comparable to HAL, Princess, Celebrity and (I assume) P&O. Although traditional dinner seatings and dress code are more stressed than others, the cabins, ship layout and offerings are similar. (The exception being doing a North Atlantic crossing on the QM2, which was purpose-built for those seas).

 

Other specific strengths of Cunard and the QM2 are

- Lectures. Really high quality experts and fascinating presentations. Far better than other large ship lines.

- Afternoon Tea. Liveried silver service of savory finger sandwiches, tarts and pastries, and scones with clotted cream and strawberry preserves. With live harpist, chamber musicians, or pianist. Luxury in the afternoon!

- Live music. Throughout the ship, there will be live musicians. Including during the production shows (which are mostly recorded on other lines)

- Fresh flowers. The good news, they're beautiful. The bad? They have pollen. Especially lilies - as I discovered last month. Ah-choo!

 

..and excellent service by well-trained staff who remember your preferences and provide welcoming, yet low-key service.

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Hey Topper 123. You and your bride are going to have such fun on your much delayed honeymoon and 'hallo to retirement special holiday'. How can I tell? Your attitude in your post!

 

I am the person who says the fun starts for me as soon as you book. I get so much pleasure in the anticipation, the research about what to do. The time will fly between now and when you set sail from New York on the lovely Queen Mary, watching the shining skyline gradually retreat to the sound of one of the bands playing music. I can hardly believe I booked my 28 night holiday (8th June 18 - 6 July 18) 8 months ago and I can now say:- "12 months today we will be sailing away from Cagliari, Sardinia towards Gibraltar and Southampton. Then we'll have all that pleasure of watching all those people disembark whilst we stay on board Queen Victoria ready to set sail to Norway and Iceland."

 

My sister and I call these moments of anticipation "Holidays in my head". Exceptionally good value.

 

Mark Katzenberger (MarkBear) is right when he says there are better value tours than those offered by the Cruise Lines. If you need more help on that ask. Look out for the companies that a) undertake to ensure you are back at the ship before embarkation time and b) will ensure you are at the next port in the event of some catastrophic miss! You don't want to be one of those passengers that are running for the ship just as it set sails!

 

I have 3 tips.

 

1. HoHos (Hop on Hop Off buses) are generally great for those of us who want to do their own thing. They give you a chance to orientate yourself in a city and to stop off on the way at the places you have planned to visit. That gives you a pretty safe way of getting around but also a lot to freedom when it comes to time.

 

We use them a lot, and save our money for the occasional private tour, or a shared small tour with others I have met through the roll call on this site for the specific holiday you have booked. I may be able to help over the UK part of your holiday.

 

2. Cruise ships have to cater for many tastes. Accept this before you go and you will be better at just switching off from the things that hold little appeal. So I have little interest in the 'talks' about 'looking younger' or 'acupuncture' etc that are really barely disguised sales pitches for spa services. I avoid them and turn my attention to the numerous other enjoyable things n the daily programme...maybe joining the ship's choir, going to a concert, attending a dance class, listening to one of the excellent enrichment lectures, fencing, a drama class, playing deck quoits, croquet, paddle tennis or practising your golf drive...or just chilling with a good book watching the world go by.

 

3. Jump and try things that you never have.

 

Ciao

 

Fionna

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Topper123,

One more thing. This is the type of vacation for which I would definitely recommend insurance. As with excursions, you are likely to find the best coverage for your needs (whatever they are) for the best pricing by going to a third-party provider. (I use http://www.insuremytrip.com to compare rates and plans. There are other sites as well.)

However, for many of them, you must purchase coverage within a week or month of your first payment for some of the coverage, like "cancel at any time." If you have not yet gotten insurance, this is something best done soon after booking. (Excursions and flights can be added later)

 

- Mark

Edited by MarkBearSF
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To MarkBearSF & Nonio,

Thank you so much for your kind words of advice. I must confess that I didn't give much thought to cruising before booking this trip. We had planned to fly over to England and hook up with a coach tour - neither prospect holding much appeal for me. I had heard a bit about QM2's trans Atlantic service and called Cunard for more information. A half hour later I was bemused and baffled to realize that I had actually booked passage. It wasn't until later that I learned about formal attire, white glove service, etc. I'm delighted with the whole idea. At my present station and state of decrepitude the prospect of formal evenings, chamber music and polite society has much more appeal than discotheques and water slides. I think this will be great fun - sort of like the old senior prom without the attendant teenaged angst. It was while I was studying up on what I had so rashly purchased that I stumbled across the QE cruise. It wasn't hard to convince my bride that it might be pleasant to simply unpack once and move the hotel every night, as opposed to lugging our bags onto a bus every morning.

I've not had a chance to think about shore excursions yet. Until you brought it up I wasn't aware that we even had the option to utilize other tours than those proffered by Cunard. Neither was I aware that I could obtain trip insurance from a third party. I've already purchased Cunard Care and at least for this trip I expect that I'll stick with them.

My wife and I have always enjoyed traveling by train when we have the time (I'll give a shout out here for Amtrack's California Zephyr!) We love meeting new people and seeing new vistas. I've got a really good feeling about this trip. Between now and then I've just got to solve the mystery of a formal dinner place setting and study up on behaving myself in polite company. My wife won't have any problems that way- these things seem to come natural to her!

Thanks again for taking the time to share your experience.

Topper123

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One more thing: Britain in July means that it could be very hot - it's 32C - 90F in London today. Or it could be cold - think 50F. It could be windy. It could be dry. It could be very very wet indeed. And all in the course of one trip! It's a bit of a cliche, but we don't have a climate, we just have weather.

 

Oh, and one more thing. ;-). Beware of cruise-itis. It's infectious, and once caught can rarely be cured.

 

Stuart

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One more thing: Britain in July means that it could be very hot - it's 32C - 90F in London today. Or it could be cold - think 50F. It could be windy. It could be dry. It could be very very wet indeed. And all in the course of one trip! It's a bit of a cliche, but we don't have a climate, we just have weather.

 

Stuart

 

A bit like Iceland then :)

We have a saying: If you don't like the weather, wait for ten minutes.

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Topper123, I just love your posts and hope you and your bride have a wonderful time :) We have done some train travel in the US, including the California Zephyr which we loved, and this October we will travel Washington-Boston on the Acela.

 

We are seriously looking at doing the Norwegian Fjords on QM2 in 2018 - not cruised with Cunard before and fancy the proper ballroom as we love to dance. Has anyone done that cruise?

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A bit like Iceland then :)

We have a saying: If you don't like the weather, wait for ten minutes.

 

Hi Brell

 

You say 'a bit like Iceland, then'. Do you live in/ have visited Iceland? One of my two cruises next year (Late June/ July) is to Iceland and would be very happy to have some tips/info.

 

We stop overnight in Reykyavik but also have two ports in the North of Iceland.

 

Ciao

 

Fionna (Nonio)

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Topper123, I just love your posts and hope you and your bride have a wonderful time :) We have done some train travel in the US, including the California Zephyr which we loved, and this October we will travel Washington-Boston on the Acela.

 

We are seriously looking at doing the Norwegian Fjords on QM2 in 2018 - not cruised with Cunard before and fancy the proper ballroom as we love to dance. Has anyone done that cruise?

 

Hi Social Dancer

 

When are you planning to go (month)? Which ports of call?

 

I did a cruise on Queen Victoria to the Norwegian Fjords in 2012. 17 nights. It was wonderful. I remember waking at 4 am on the third day of the cruise (the first port in Norway) and opening the curtains to see daylight and glorious views of the fjords and mountains... going out onto my balcony and saying : "Wow, wow, wow!!". The scenery is gorgeous and the towns,mparticularly in the South charming. Eye candy all the way.

 

The food in port is expensive and fairly ordinary unless you are lucky and the coffee not great. Even then a cup of coffee cost £5. We learnt to eat on board ship as far as poss, altho' the bars/restaurants in the fish market in Bergen had some enjoyable fish offerings. We looked out for Oi Lilly signs for coffee!

 

Our first port was Stavanger (delightful) and we sailed all the way up the coast to Honningsvaag. We went in May and in the South the weather was pleasant, mild and generally sunny. However in Trømso it was sleeting (still had a lovely time seeing the Artic Cathedral and the Polaris museum) and in Honningsvaag it was snowing quite heavily.

 

I pack for sun and also for cold using down jackets/coats as tissue paper for my evening dresses.

 

It is well worth doing a cruise for Norway. I'd do it again. In fact we call into beautiful Art-Deco Alesund next year on our way to Iceland.

 

Nonio

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Hi Brell

 

You say 'a bit like Iceland, then'. Do you live in/ have visited Iceland? One of my two cruises next year (Late June/ July) is to Iceland and would be very happy to have some tips/info.

 

We stop overnight in Reykyavik but also have two ports in the North of Iceland.

 

Ciao

 

Fionna (Nonio)

 

Hi Fionna.

Yes, I live in Iceland, in a town named Húsavík at the northeast coast. Which two ports are stopping at in the north and what are your interests? You can mail me at

brl at brl dot is

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I've booked for September 2018. QM2. I'm a single cruiser and one TA I tried had sold out, I haven't been able to get what I wanted because of the take up. So have had to grab what I could.

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I've booked for September 2018. QM2. I'm a single cruiser and one TA I tried had sold out, I haven't been able to get what I wanted because of the take up. So have had to grab what I could.

 

 

So what cruise have you booked, Conop? Was it lack of single cabins that was the trouble in getting what you wanted? They don't have many, do they?!

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Booking in November 2016 for November 2018!! I honestly can't imagine any scenario when we would book that early. Maybe I'm just a pessimist but so much could go wrong. Earliest we've ever booked is 9 months.

 

Ok, so maybe I'll have to take back the above quote because we booked in February for January 2018 which is 11 months ahead :D Southampton to San Francisco on the Queen Elizabeth and then 3 nights in SF. Can't wait.

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Hi Nono

I've booked QM2 to US and Canada. 16th September 2018. First ta I tried, no single cabins left from their allocation. Second ta had 3 left. I took one from them. I like lower decks, towards midships port side, I've taken the only port side they had, more towards the prow. This is my first experience of a single passenger.

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Ok, so maybe I'll have to take back the above quote because we booked in February for January 2018 which is 11 months ahead :D Southampton to San Francisco on the Queen Elizabeth and then 3 nights in SF. Can't wait.

 

Hahaha, Babs! Now you'll discover the hidden delights of early booking! All that enjoyable anticipation that keeps on giving. I'd love to do that trip. How many nights? Nonio

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Hi Nono

I've booked QM2 to US and Canada. 16th September 2018. First ta I tried, no single cabins left from their allocation. Second ta had 3 left. I took one from them. I like lower decks, towards midships port side, I've taken the only port side they had, more towards the prow. This is my first experience of a single passenger.

 

My sister and her husband did that holiday (but did the round trip from Sourthampton...28 nights) two years ago and absolutely loved it. They especially loved Ottawa.

 

I've sailed to New York a couple of times and that sail into NY early in the morning as the sun is rising and reflecting back in the mirrored skyscrapers is magical. There is something special about sailing past the Statue of Liberty and imagining the harrowing journey for all those immigrants who, on seeing the Statue would know the journey would soon end...land in sight..and that new adventure beginning.

 

I've done a couple of cruises solo and really enjoyed them, altho' one's first solo holiday can seem a bit daunting at first.

 

In fact I made good friends just by chatting in the IT queue to sort out Apple iPad connectivity issues. Sometimes we cruise together and we stay with one another.

 

Another time I palled up with another single girl and we went exploring together occasionally....altho' if I have a good book I'm pretty happy on my own.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Hello there! We have booked for the July 20th 2018 cruise TA NYC to Southampton. My wife and I live in the USA (I'm from the UK originally) and we are sailing with two other couples from the UK. These are great friends that we don't get to see very often as we live so far apart, so are super excited to not only spend time together, but spend it on the QM2!

 

I have been doing lots of research and I really looking forward to the experience. We have booked A1/A2 club cabins but don't know what out actual cabins are.

 

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. We have about a year to go, so my wife and I are going to try and get some dance lessons in (either that or have one of my left feet surgically transplanted!). :D

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Hahaha, Babs! Now you'll discover the hidden delights of early booking! All that enjoyable anticipation that keeps on giving. I'd love to do that trip. How many nights? Nonio

 

29 nights on the ship plus 3 nights in San Francisco. Anticipation has been greatly heightened by the fact that the price has gone up by over £1500 pp !!!!

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We have won flights to NYC (staying 7 nights) sailing back on QM2 10th June. Excited.

 

Wow. Lucky you. I've never won a competition but DD did win 3 nights in a Tel Aviv hotel a few years ago and that was fun.

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