TowandaUK

We too have had our marketing options tweaked by Cunard. After our voyage on QA we needed to contact Cunard regarding a missing refund. Once that was fixed I asked why we had not received the post cruise survey and was told our marketing options were not set up for surveys. We were surprised as we had done a couple of pre cruise surveys. The tweaks were made. Since then we have received a general survey and also a booking survey for a recently booked voyage. Time will tell if we get a post cruise survey next time.

There was a sale of WiFi to coincide with the installation of Starlink WiFi. I am led to believe this is an unusual event.

Sadly not possible.

That’s the same as I got in Sardinia for my bite. It seemed to help.

Yes the donkey sanctuary near Sidmouth. Lovely day out. Ham was fine, photo not the best.

I had a bad bite (not sure if mosquito or another insect) while onshore in Cadiz a couple of years ago. We spent quite a bit of time at the next port searching for anti histamine cream. We always pack anti histamine now.

This is a ploughman’s! (Purchased at a local donkey sanctuary) if I had had this - even half portions of this, I would have been happy.

Having experienced a ploughman’s lunch in the Golden Lion on Queen Anne I would never dream of eating dinner there if it was available. Very small portions - and while we don’t want to eat a lot at lunch time the offerings were tiny. Worse than that the quality was well under par, quite different to food available everywhere else on the ship.

As the WiFi in Southampton can be a bit patchy I take a screenshot of the boarding pass on my phone. I also print it. (Belt and braces). On one occasion the chap checking passes just before boarding was very grateful for the paper version, as the sun was very bright and he was having trouble reading screens. Last time I printed it out I inadvertently printed double sided and the agent said she couldn’t use it and reprinted it to stamp my ok to board.

A vest is also what John McClane wears at the end of Die Hard. Totally different effect to that given by Onslow!

It’s a lot better than nothing! 😉

Ok. You’ve convinced me. Just booked a 7 nighter on QV next April - despite saying we probably wouldn’t cruise next year. Thanks folks.

Check out eBay. My husband got a tux for next to nothing, brand new with tags.

Saw this and thought of you.

We had a post booking survey recently when we booked onboard QA. However we didn’t receive a post cruise survey. We contacted Cunard to ask why we hadn’t received the post cruise one and were told our account wasn’t set up to receive surveys. Weird as we filled in a survey sometime last year before any voyage on Cunard and had the booking survey! Hopefully set up to receive all surveys now.

We have just had our first Cunard cruise on QA having previously sailed with Celebrity. We found that the food was much better on QA than Celebrity Silhouette, although I would qualify that by saying that our last X experience was exactly a year ago when X was experiencing severe cutbacks in choice and quality of food - I understand that many of those cutbacks have now been reversed. Standards of dress is definitely better on QA. While some Cunard regulars may see a downturn in dress standards we thought it much improved on X. The afternoon tea is exactly as you will see on the vlogs and is a treat not to be missed - just turn up in good time. If you plan on ships’ excursions you will find plenty of choice - 89 on our QA voyage. Although ships excursions are never inexpensive we thought they were better value than X. Whilst the entertainment on Cunard was not razzle dazzle (except for bright lights) it was ok. Insight lectures are very good, and the celebrity talks excellent - we had Val McDermid and Will Carling. It sounds from your post that Cunard will be a very good fit, and hope you have a fantastic time.

Queen Anne open dining

We had open dining on Queen Anne to the Canaries. We usually went shortly after opening, and were always given a table for 2. On the first night the maitre’d said we would have to share, but I said we didn’t want that and we were shown to a table for 2 next to 2 other tables for 2 that quickly filled up. Most nights we were seated in a row of 3 and the tables were very close. We were surprised that we actually enjoyed meeting different people each night. There was one night when we asked to be away from others and we were given a solitary table next to the balcony overlooking the level 2 dining room. We never once had a window seat in the 14 nights (we never asked and were not bothered about a window). On one night when service was particularly slow there was a massive queue when we left just before 8pm, but that was the only queue we saw. The main problem as we saw it was that on a couple of occasions the set of 3 tables was served as if it was one big table. We were the first to arrive and the last to arrive was some 20 minutes after us. We were all given menus and served courses at the same time. One couple had an extra course and the rest of us were kept waiting until they had finished and were ready to move to the next course. Inevitably it slowed us down and instead of our usual 45 minute meal it took over 2 hours and we skipped coffee so we could get to the early theatre. Another time I would not be prepared to wait and would raise it with the servers. otherwise we were happy with open dining and would choose to do it again.

I’m with you on long life milk. Have to have black coffee onboard.

When we visited sales on Queen Anne during the Canaries cruise we booked a taster on Queen Mary. I asked about the planetarium and Chris said that it would be refitted. He said that it would be fitted with LED walls and that it would be an all immersive experience that could also host concerts. He didn’t say when this would happen. We booked a two night taster M612, which appears to have a gap in itineraries just before it. It seems possible that this would be a likely dry dock. Hopefully all will be completed during that time and hopefully M612 will go ahead.

Interested that you had a faberge talk and unveiling. On the Canaries voyage we also had a faberge talk and unveiling. Items unveiled were the new Queen Anne pendant and an egg which if I remember rightly had a ship inside. Did they unveil something new or was it the same 2 items?

If you google Cunard wine collections the information is there. Just beware that even if a wine is listed it doesn’t mean they have it onboard.

I think there will be those who are disappointed, especially if they were expecting a royal. I suspect if this was known from the start people would have been well behind it. As it is the lack of information led to unrealistic expectations.

We were in a balcony cabin and heard no noise from the neighbours or corridor. However there were a couple of nights when it was a bit rocky there was some creaking around the balcony door.

We recently visited voyage sales and booked a taster voyage on QM2. I asked about the planetarium. I was told that it was due to have a major refit. He said it was going to be fitted with state of the art LED walls to give a truly immersive experience and that it could also be used for concerts. He gave no time scale.