Alanxx

Where shall I start with the food? Steaks are full of gristle and barely edible. Everything is under seasoned. Fish was dry and bland. Even the dinner bread offered is hard as a rock and feels like they just pulled it out of a freezer. Even in a mediocre restaurant you get warm bread! Lobster night is not worth the time, as the lobster is frozen and rubbery. I will say the salads tended to be good, but then again its hard to mess up a salad. And yes there is real ice cream which is actually delicious.

I think I will cancel my next cruise and ask to have a holiday with some of the people complaining about the food on Cunard.I would imagine they put on a sumptuous banquet every night ! I spent 45 nights on the QM2 sailing to Sydney earlier this year and probably only had a couple of meals I didn't enjoy....and when I left a lot on my plate my waiter asked if he could get me an alternative.Food is subjective but for anyone to say everything is bad then they are really in the minority.

I always thought the various levels were based on the number of days sailed and not the number of voyages.Is that not correct?

Time Cunard got into line with the other cruise lines and just had formal and non formal nights. 1 formal a week - jacket and tie for men and non formal, casual clothing - shirt and trousers. Would be lot easier to understand then all this Gala, B&W, Smart Attire stuff, not real plain English for some.:halo::loudcry:

Your comment is interesting if "Cunard got into line with other cruise lines" why would anyone pay a premium to cruise with them?.The formality and ambiance is a Cunard USP. If people want less formality there are plenty of other cruise lines.

The Double OBC part of this Sale ends tomorrow May 8th !

It never started in the UK !!!........could be a good question to ask Angus Struthers on Wednesday

I didn't,I was in there drinking at 7.30 and saw the menu.Your vague comment meaning what?

My question was purely asking for facts as you state dinner was free in the pub yet the start of this thread was giving the cost of starters and mains at dinner time.

Just off the QE,pub dinner was free.

What time did you eat your " dinner " ?

I would be interested to hear from people on this board who sail Cunard and do not want to follow the dress code.What are the reasons for paying a higher price with Cunard ? It cannot be such things as service in the restaurant or the theatre shows or the Commodore Club or most of the bars as non of these,IN THEORY,are currently open to people ignoring the dress code, so what is it that justifies a premium price to current or potential Cunarders

According to the code I cannot wear blue denim anywhere in the ship after 6pm but I can wear non ripped jeans in the golden lion,the buffet and certain lounges.......can anyone make sense of that ??

Absolute nonsense. Companies like Carnival and their subsidiary Cunard spend many thousands of dollars doing extensive market research before making a decision like this. You can’t exit risk out of every decision in the business world but Cunard/Carnival are extremely conservative and would not be doing this if that market research indicated they didn’t have a large, eager group of customers to step in.

You are possibly right regarding the research but I think the clue is that you suggest they spend "thousand of DOLLARS".....I would be interested to know if they have done any research in anywhere other than the USA as no UK based Cunard manager has suggested the changes are the result of market research.There is a great deal of comment on this subject from EXISTING customers so why do Carnival/Cunard want to alienate existing known customers and substitute them with "possible" new customers.If the dress code is going to be no different from other ships why would anyone pay a Cunard premium.Do you suppose they have factored into to their research results a reduction in income per passenger ???

Regardless of the current " I will do/wear what I want brigade" The fact is that there is currently a dress code that is being ignored a certain type and usually in certain areas of the world..The new code will also be ignored by the same people who will insist on going a step further.Casual will become jeans and baseball caps.If this is the case Cunard will soon find many people will no longer pay a premium for a product that is no different from others.Then what do they do? We will get the singing waiters and belly flop competitions.My suggestion is to try the new dress code on ONE of the ships,perhaps the Queen Elizabeth and see what actually happens to business.It would give everyone an opportunity to travel in the atmosphere and surroundings that suits them

It doesn't matter what current passengers support. What matters to Cunard is how many future passengers they will be able to attract and it is clear that a more relaxed does code is what will help them accomplish higher sales. So all this bickering is a clear waste of time.

I am sorry but you obviously know nothing about business.If your current customers do not support your philosophy they you will die waiting for your new customers to spend their money

Having spent my whole working like in Marketing I would be very surprised if Cunard would make changes without doing research.Perhaps they could supply some research justification that current passengers support a change in the dress code.It would then be possible for informed discussion to take place.

This too has been our experience on Cunard. I do not believe that the the opinions on this thread necessarily represent the majority of people who cruise with Cunard. We will be taking our first transatlantic cruise next month and I will be watching what people actually wear on formal and informal nights with great interest.

Having been on the QM2 world cruise from Sydney to Southampton this year I can assure you that my information is fact and not opinion.Along with others I did see people walking through the dining room in the evening in shorts and flip flops,a woman at dinner wearing a hoody,another wearing a leather bikers jacket.Numerous men without jackets in the dining room.Some wearing just sweaters or short sleeve shirts in the theatre and the famous man who wore boots,jeans,t shirt,scarf and flat cap and was still allowed in the theatre !!!!!!!

The reason the restaurant is empty is quite simple.The bean counters at Carnival have dramatically increased the price.Not many people in it on our recent QM2 cruise

I resent the implication that "Americans" are the ones who don't know how to dress. If you look at the demographics, the younger generation of ANY area of the world is becoming less formal and more casual. Simply economics. If Cunard is to survive as a company, they MUST adjust their rules to include a wider spectrum of individuals. I believe that this change is just one of many to come that will bring the company into the 21st Century and bring a wider segment of the population of the WORLD over to the cruise industry.

 

I myself have no problem with it. I have a Baltic cruise booked on Cunard for July 2019. I took a Norway Fjord cruise on HAL last year. I wore what made me feel comfortable, and never looked at what anyone else was wearing. I like to dress up, so it was no problem. It never bothered me if someone else in the MDR was not wearing a jacket or a floor length dress. We all pay our fare, and we all should be allowed to have a good time. I would never make a derogatory comment about someone else's dress the likes of those I have seen here. Live and let live, and be prepared for the future, whatever it may bring.

Fantastic!!.....wear what feels comfortable...have a good time....live and let live.........Here comes the shorts,t shirt and baseball cap in the dining rooms !!!!

The market that Cunard are aiming at will soon discover that paying a premium price to be able to dine,drink and go to the theatre in a polo shirt and chinos is not sufficient and they will want more facilities i.e a video games room,dance competitions,circus shows,a large water slide etc. If Cunard provide these then the new clients will find that Cunard ships are no different from other cruises and will either want more facilities or cheaper prices.Eventually the bean counters at Carnival will suggest they could save millions in advertising by putting the cruises all under one brand and calling the ships "Carnival Something" Within 5/8 years Cunard will have changed dramatically and within 10/15 years the brand will have disappeared. R.I.P. Cunard !!

Oh what a storm in a teacup! This is a site for diehard Cunard fans, who will want to resist any change that Cunard tries to make. However what you are unlikely to see is any comment from those people who do not cruise with Cunard because of the dress code. We live in a more casual, unstructured society where people no longer have Sunday best clothing and the cruise lines know this and will have done their research carefully. Okay they lose a few diehard cruisers, but they stand to gain these numbers over and over again from that sector of the marketplace which will not presently cruise with Cunard because of the restrictive dress code. Some you win, some you lose, but you can bet that Cunard are stacking the odds in favour of their balance sheet, where losing some loyal passengers is merely collateral damage.

The loyal customers they are loosing are the older generation who have the time and the money to spend £15,000 on a world cruise.The ones they will gain will be the 3 and 4 day cruisers who spend £4/500 and who want a change from their all inclusive Mediterranean holiday

I am sure that eventually the casual dress code will win due to a change in demographics of the customers.However,in the short term they will loose a lot of money,especially on the world cruises.I was on the Southampton/Sydney section of the world cruise this year and the ignoring of the dress code was obvious in the Australian sectors.I spoke to 4 couples who had decided they would no be doing anymore world cruises with Cunard.I worked out that loosing those four couples would cost Cunard around £125,000 next year.No doubt they will again put up the price of drinks to cover the loss !!!!!

Cunard are saying there is no change -

 

"Hi Kate,

 

No worries with this, the wording is just slightly different on there. They mean the same things (so smart attire is informal, and gala evening is formal).

 

The atmosphere on Cunard is important, and the dress code contributes to this atmosphere. So rest assured there are no plans to change this :)

 

Kind regards,

 

James"

 

I have suggested that they should update the website to match the VP names or revert back to the old names.

Cunard may be saying there is no change but that is not true !!

I sent a complaint to Cunard after our trip this years on QM2 to Australia.We had the obvious problems where many men did not bother to wear jackets at dinner,we saw denim and flip flops in the dining room.One woman thought her leather studded bikers jackets was suitable for dinner but the best we saw was a man in the theatre wearing boots,denim jeans,a scarf,a t shirt and a flat cap !!!!!!

Here is part of the reply I received from Simon Palethorpe(Cunard Senior Vice President)

I've taken on board your comments onthe dress code. We do on occasion have issues of the type you describewith shorter cruises. While short cruises are a good 'taster' ofCunard they sometimes attract people who have spent less time understandingthe Cunard experience and the standards that we try to uphold.

To reduce this we have reviewed theway in which we break up our cruises into segments and have been endeavouringto have fewer short segments and with less inventory allocated to them. In addition we have reviewed the way in which our dress standardsare communicated, both before and during a cruise, and believe that thiswill help significantly when rolled out over the coming months.

It appears the communication of the new standards will " help significantly" by allowing Cunard to say to anyone complaining that smart attire depends where the ship is positioned i.e. if you are travel on Cunard to a country that doesn't like formal wear then hard luck !!!!!

Very sad that the world cruisers could not adapt to the casual attitude of the australian cruisers and actually get to know them. With regards to wearing a jacket, I would doubt many of the cruisers would have had a jacket, let alone wearing it in summer. Short sleeve shirts are the standard dress here and that would include polo tops. I think it is more important to judge them by their behaviour. Cunnard do not advertise their short cruises as "dressed up" and as all the other cruise liners are more relaxed I suspect people were not aware of the expected dress codes.

I disagree entirely with cruise collector and so did four Australians at my breakfast table who embarked at Melbourne for a short cruise and were amazed at some of the dress of their follow Australians.They had especially bought some evening clothes to dress up according to their booking information.The information is available but many just chose to ignore it.

Having paid a great deal of money for our cruise can anyone give me a reasonable argument as to why WE should change and NOT the people who are on the ship for 2or 3 days.If people do not own a jacket why on earth would they go on a cruise where it states "Jackets to be worn" Are they not able to read ????

Just to confirm that my comments apply to the QM2 sailing from Southampton on 10 January.

Here are the good points and bad points of our journey.

GOOD.....the staff were as excellent as ever.Hard working and pleasant even when under pressure.The room steward always had a smile and said hello,as did the other room stewards in our area of the ship.The table waiters and bar staff were happy to chat when they had the time.The food in the Britannia we found of a good standard.As with any journey of 45 days there was some repetition. Some of the entertainment we thought quite good and some poor.As Cunard cannot please all of the people they probably pitched it right.

BAD...... The main problems started when we reached Australia.There were so many comings and goings of passengers,with some only spending two nights on the ship that we,and many others,felt the atmosphere change dramatically.On occasions we felt as if we were on a ferry.It appeared many new passengers had no idea of what to expect on Cunard.The dress code went out the window for many.One night we had two tables of Australians next to us and ONE man wore a jacket.EIGHT didn't.One of the women had a woollen grey zip up hoody and another had a leather bikers jacket.We saw people walking through the dining room wearing shorts and flip flops.In the theatre many wore denim jeans,others shorts sleeved shirts and even a bright red pullover.However,the most interesting was a man who sat three seats away who had on boots,denim jeans,a tee shirt,a scarf and a flat cap.... we thought he had got lost on the way to the engine room !!!?On leaving the theatre my wife asked the Cunard representative on the door why people were allowed in and she replied "I didn't see them" When some staff spoke to us off the record it was apparent that a blind eye was being turned to the dress code once we arrived in Australia.

The other bad points we found centred around the Pursers office and the tour office staff. With the exception of the port presenter I think the other members of staff of these departments had received a personality bypass !

I don't care how people dress but if there are rules then either obey them or choose a different ship where you can do what you want

We will never again use Cunard for a journey to Australia.All that interested them was getting as many Australians as possible to try Cunard and in order to do that they alienated many of the World cruise passengers we spoke to

It depends how big they are - if the blades are over 7cm they are not permitted.

If smaller it doesn't matter, they can be carried either in hand luggage or a suitcase.

 

From the Cunard website -

 

Can I take tweezers and nail scissors on board ?

Thanks for the quick reply Hattie......it means that the $43 I would have spent with the barber on our trip to Sydney can now be spent on a couple of gin and tonics in the Commodore Club !!!

Does my wife put her hairdressing scissors in her hand baggage or in her suitcase.We are boarding in Southampton

Is there a shaver point in the bathroom and if so what type of plug...thanks