Selbourne

I have a feeling that hospitality lounges were dispensed with during Covid and haven’t returned, or at least the complimentary drinks and snacks have gone?

That was exactly our experience when boarding Aurora in January. I believe that around 40% of the passengers had ‘priority’ boarding and, as a result, total chaos ensued, both with CPS and the terminal staff. It was the worst boarding experience we have ever had. By contrast we boarded Iona immediately with no delay whatsoever but, of course, the vast majority of passengers on the mega ships aren’t eligible for priority boarding, so if you do qualify it actually counts for something.

We haven’t bid for an upgrade on our upcoming Queen Anne cruise as we are keen to try Britannia Club, and the minimum upgrade costs were way too much. Can I ask those who have bid whether or not the upgrade cost is a big saving over the usual price differential? I’m not as familiar with Cunard pricing as I am sister brand P&O, but in the case of P&O I have yet to see any bargains through the upgrade programme. The price differential in almost every example I have seen has meant that the passenger ends up paying pretty much the same as if they’d booked the higher grade cabin in the first place.

The unfortunate problem experienced by @Lainey123 is sadly cropping up fairly regularly now, either on this forum or elsewhere. It is almost always down to the same issue. The ‘Onboard Needs Questionnaire’ has not been completed. The moral of this story is that you must complete and submit an ‘On Board Needs’ questionnaire for each and every cruise if you have any mobility issues or needs. Booking an accessible cabin is not enough. Mentioning disabilities or mobility aids when you book, or subsequently, is not enough. If you don’t complete the ‘On Board Needs’ questionnaire and you turn up with something like a mobility scooter there is a very high chance that you will be denied boarding. I don’t wish to appear insensitive, but as someone who has filled in more of these ‘On Board Needs Questionnaires’ than I care to remember, I frankly struggle to see how people can miss this requirement. The number of prompts and reminders are bordering on over the top.

I’m not saying it doesn’t ever happen, but I’m only going by what I’ve witnessed. We spend several weeks a year at Cowes where we watch the cruise ships depart each evening. Of the hundreds of cruise ships we’ve watched leave over many years, I’d say I could count on the fingers of one hand the number that have gone that way, hence my comment that it’s rare. Of course, I shall now be proved wrong 😂

It’s very rare for ships to use the short cut past Yarmouth, and on the rare occasion that I’ve known it happen they have been small ships, certainly nothing as large as Queen Anne. Even if it were possible, I would also think that, from a PR perspective, Cunard would want the ship to be passing the Isle of Wight coast between Seaview, Ryde (opposite Portsmouth) and Cowes, as this opportunity for the ship to be viewed from land by large numbers of people would be completely lost coming via the Yarmouth route.

I’m surprised at that. I bet that the waiters weren’t happy, as I suspect that compliance was low and a lot of people wouldn’t have used the MDR, on the last night when the waiters might have been expecting some tips!

They will almost certainly change the Black Tie night to 22nd. As you say, they are almost always on sea days and never on the final night. From my experience, there are often errors in the pre-cruise information regarding Black Tie nights and they are often different once on board.

Thankfully the remaining 2 cruise bookings that we have (both with Cunard) are covered under the old policy (£150 per person per missed port), but do you know what the price per 2 week cruise is now and how much the missed port compensation is?

A few things to keep in mind. Ryde to Soton is a longer route than from Cowes. Cruise ships take a longer route from Cowes to Calshot, as they have to take a wider route around Bramble Bank to keep in deeper water, necessitating two low speed turns. Cruise ships travel slower along Southampton Water than the Red Funnel car ferries, presumably due to the larger wake they generate, which would be problematic for all the small craft that use this waterway. There will no doubt be a flotilla of small vessels shadowing Queen Anne on her inbound transit, so a slower transit than normal will be necessary for safety. Finally, the arrival into Southampton is a big PR exercise where Cunard will want as may people as possible to get a good look at their new ship, so they won’t want to be rushing!

Interesting. Nationwide didn’t even require the missed port letters, let alone the invoice, as they’d already had a claim from another passenger. Took the claim in complete trust. Very impressive.

That’s interesting. Thank you. I guess that would mean that the ship would still be quite close to the quayside, so those of us remaining on board might (hopefully) be able to see and hear something ‘live’ from from the ship (albeit the back of the performers) rather than just on screen? If you recall, when we were on the Coronation cruise, QM2 was berthed with the starboard side against the quayside. When the ropes were let loose, the ship reversed back some way to the Cunard building, where she sounded her horns before progressing forward again. Could be a similar process with the ship holding in that position for the ceremony? I know that we have been told that it will all be explained once we are on board, but I don’t think that being stuck ashore in a standing only area for hours would be comfortable for us.

We are thinking of staying on board as well. My wife is disabled and whilst there is a dedicated viewing area for wheelchair users, the time that you have to be ashore is too long, especially as it’s standing only (for me) and we’d both need to use toilets at least once during that time! Does anyone know the reason why the ship is moving off the berth and whether we would be able to see anything from the ship other than on the TVs? I wonder if the stage will be open or have a backdrop (which would screen it from the ship)? We were on the QM2 Coronation voyage and when we were in Liverpool there was a music and fireworks display which we were able to watch in comfort from our starboard side balcony. We are starboard on QA as well so was hoping we could do the same, but this may be optimistic?

I suspect it’s just an error. There is no way to change it via the Cruise Personaliser I’m afraid. If you booked via a TA, a 2 minute call to them will sort it. If you booked direct I’m afraid you’ll have to phone them and endure the wait. I don’t think there’s an email address for this, but others may be able to help. I’d be surprised if P&O dispense with Club dining on Aurora, especially as a lot of us who have used Freedom from the start have been switching back to Club due to the problems that seem to have crept in to Freedom dining. I certainly didn’t hear any rumours when we were on her recently.

So would I, but I can’t see it happening. The adult only ships are mostly filled with retirees on presumably very good pensions. Sadly, that market is diminishing as the vast majority of those entering the world of retirement going forward won’t have anywhere near the same level of pension income, and those that do will have different expectations and want a more upmarket experience than P&O offers. Plus, of course, there’s the economies of scale issue that massively favours the big ships. The market direction that P&O is going in is the polar opposite of upmarket small ships. Having spent 65 nights on Aurora recently she’s looking and feeling a little unloved, which probably tells us all we need to know about the direction of travel.

I don’t think that I phrased my post very well. I was meaning that the insurers never suggested, when I specifically asked, that I needn’t worry about a medical evacuation at sea on the basis that whoever provides it (coast guard, air ambulance etc) would always do so free of charge. They said that they would cover the cost, which lead me to assume that there was one. I’m sure I’ve read somewhere that people, or insurers, have had to pay tens of thousands of pounds for such things but, thankfully, I’ve never had to find out! There have been a few on cruises that we’ve been on though, as well as unplanned port calls to drop off sick passengers.

That’s coincidental, because we’ve only been on Azura once and didn’t like her. We couldn’t put our finger on why, as we’d enjoyed Ventura the year before! We’d like to give her another go, but she only seems to do fly cruises now, which aren’t an option for us.

I think that there’s a reasonable chance that Ventura could become adult only when Aurora or Arcadia (or both) are sold in the future. I don’t think that Ventura would cut the mustard with the market that P&O is now targeting. Other adult only ships (Saga etc) are very expensive, so P&O may still see an opportunity in that arena, albeit at the (comparatively) budget end.

In a way it’s cosmetic, as there’s no way that I’d take the word of someone posting on a forum (even an esteemed forum such as this 😉) as gospel, and I wouldn’t dream of going on a cruise without comprehensive travel insurance, to cover all eventualities. I know that you are the same. However, whenever I’ve changed travel insurers I’ve always specifically asked about medical evacuation from a ship whilst at sea (in the knowledge that the cost would be devastating) and they confirmed it would be covered, never suggesting that it would be free of charge.

Interesting, although I wouldn’t like to test that theory!

As others have said, the dress code is smart casual.

It’s the ‘air fare’ off the ship that would worry me the most! 🚁💰💰💰💰💰

Personally, I wouldn’t entertain setting foot on a cruise ship without adequate insurance, whether it was a requirement or not. If one of you was taken seriously ill on board and needed a medical evacuation or transfer to a hospital overseas, you could very easily be looking at many tens of thousands of dollars.

The very fact that you care about this tells me that you will be fine. It’s a lot more relaxed than it used to be. When we first started cruising, on formal nights the overwhelming majority of gents wore proper dinner suits with the remainder wearing tuxedos. Very few just wore a lounge suit. Now the latter seems to be far more common than a proper dinner suit. When we were on Iona we went to the 710 Club on a formal night and it struck me that I was the only chap in there wearing a dinner suit. Also, it’s worth keeping in mind that some people can wear the official dress code but very badly and still look very scruffy. Whilst younger generations tend to ‘dress up’ differently from how us older ones do, IMHO they can look far smarter and tend to make far more effort.

@gmac00 Both are fine. Don’t worry. Just enjoy your cruise!