swjumbo

On 12/31/2022 at 3:56 PM, DaKahuna said:

 Do you always encourage people to break the rules?   Where do you draw the line? 

 

Some of us might consider one of your hobbies, shooting, rather distasteful but I prefer not to judge therefore please do not judge my light hearted comment.

Just decant a bottle of your favourite tipple into a water bottle and pack it in your suitcase.

Whats the worst that can happen?  You get it back at the end of the cruise! 
Simples.

Our initial table was too close to people we had absolutely nothing in common with.

Be prepared, first time Queens Grill patrons, that a sweetener, bribe, tip, whatever you want to call it might just make your cruise more palatable!

1 hour ago, seasickphil said:

Some people might construe that to be a bribe rather than a tip.

Well you know what? 
Whatever you call it, it worked and we had a lovely time in the dining room!

We asked regular Cunarders this very question about table selection.

The best advice we got was to get to the dining room early and give the Maître d’ a hefty tip.

Having a specific table might be nice but the people on the next table might not be to your taste!

We hoped so. On our sea day we were lucky enough to be sailing East and had the sun on the balcony all afternoon.

It was perfect bobbing along at 10 kts and sitting on this perfect balcony in our swimsuits was bliss.

I asked for extra tonic and ice. My partner was scared to as she had already been told off for a misdemeanour on the phone. The rant and explanation about how much trouble it was to take tonic to the back of the ship slightly dampened our experience.

Anyhoo…. thread drift!

21 hours ago, exlondoner said:

You order two choices off a list of spirits and wines. These tend to get replaced as you finish them, unless you have an unkind butler. In the fridge are cans of beer, coke, and mixers, which are replenished daily. If what you like isn’t on the list (or in the fridge) it is worth asking.

Or a grumpy butler.

We asked for more tonic and it was as if she was paying for it personally.

Frightened to ask for more!

On a more serious note, we were impressed by the selection and thoroughly enjoyed the gin.

Looking forward to your posts about Solstice.

It will be our first time on her in April.

Thoroughly enjoy your positivity regarding Celebrity.

Also, to you or any readers. South Africa is the most fantastic and beautiful country but it’s sadly changing so go sooner rather than later. The long flights are well worth it.

Bon Voyage!

13 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

The longest we have been onboard was approx six weeks and that was plenty long enough for us.

 

Do bear in mind, if ''outfits'' might be an issue, no one will be giving marks out of ten for attire and unless an outfit is absolutely outstanding, for any reason 😁, no one will remember what was worn anyway so unlike those ladies who have a different outfit every night, I recycle long and mix 'n match separates.

 

My husband's shirts  are sent to be laundered [ I refuse to touch an iron on holiday] and there is the passenger laundry facility for those who want it.

 

Other than that, Gala evenings are no different really from the other nights.

 

Yes the idea and the reality are two completely different things.

You’ve got me thinking and that’s why this CC website is great. 
Doing a world cruise might initially seem amazing but the reality is different. 
It might actually be hard work!

First world problems but hopefully you get my drift.

On 11/29/2022 at 10:17 PM, mrsgoggins said:

Interesting video, but having done a week on Apex just to see for myself, I had come to a similar conclusions.  I have taken 4 cruises on Silhouette and 1 on Apex since the start of 2021 and won't be taking any more on the Edge class ships.  The IVs are just not for me nor their ultra modern approach, shows, piped music etc; although I appreciate the desire of Celebrity to appeal to a (affluent) younger demographic. 

 

I'm doing 2 cruises on Equinox and 1 on Silhouette in 2023 and have other lines booked also.  Once Apex is positioned in Southampton for the summer season 2024, that will be the end of my using them for cruising out of the UK. 

Same predicament here.

Love Solstice class ships. Didn’t like the Retreat on Edge or the ship.

We missed the ‘naughty’ club feel of the Sky Lounge in the evening and hated the bowels of the ship ‘feel’ on Edge whether it was the Martini bar or the club. We have had so many fun evenings in Sky Lounge. 

We’ve just tried Cunard Queens Grill hoping we’d like it but didn’t.

The ship, Queen Victoria, was like a cross channel ferry compared with X ships. Awful smells and just felt grubby.

The butler wasn’t a patch on any X butler and our fellow passengers were a tad more reserved than we’re used to. 
The staff were great.

So; in a nutshell, what to do?

We’ve got two Silhouette cruises booked next year from S’ton but what to do the following year as we don’t want to fly and live only an hour away.

P&O, MSC, Cunard or Celebrity? 

It’ll have to be Celebrity but in a Sunset veranda. We’ll just have to enjoy next year in the knowledge that all good things come to an end.

On 11/28/2022 at 4:36 PM, Solent Richard said:

 

Five Days? I don't see a problem.

 

We once endured 56 days Queens Grill, Southampton to Sydney. Those were the days when the Grills had the added benefit of 'special' events ashore: which inevitably meant food included....

 

 

I must confess though that on two formal evenings we 'transferred' to the Britannia Restaurant in an effort to meet and dine with different passengers.

Did you have to dress every evening?

Am looking to do a long voyage in 2024 but do wonder how we’d cope with so many black tie events. 

QV 4188 has an amazing balcony.

We were lucky as we crossed the channel at slow speed on three nights.

The final night we crossed back to the U.K. at around 20 knots and it certainly vibrates.

Have cruised both Cunard and P&O.

Don’t bother with the latter unless you enjoy vests with beer bellies, tattoos and gold sovereign rings. And that’s just the women!!

There are other cruise lines which offer Norwegian cruises.

The aft QG suites are OK but terribly noisy and the bathrooms need updating.

Also, on our short trip on QV we felt as if we were inconveniencing the butler on the 3 occasions  when we called.

We didn’t get either a link to a survey or a paper one left in our suite.

Don’t Cunard do them?

On 11/14/2022 at 4:24 PM, cruisestitch said:

Saw a rather drunk man last night who was letting everyone know by means of the t shirt he was wearing on which he had scribbled “Celebrity sucks” that he was having a miserable time.  He had put out over $500 to buy a ticket home so he could disembark today from St. Maarten.  Why? Because he was denied entry to the MDR because he was wearing shorts.  
 

he knew before he boarded what the policy was but he somehow thought that an exception would be made for him and when it wasn’t he got obnoxious.

 

no sympathy here.  He was willing to buy a t shirt on which to scribble his message but not to buy a pair of long pants.

 

safe journey home, sir

Great! Very happy that Celebrity stuck to their guns.

Just got off Cunard’s QV and the dress code certainly wasn’t adhered to in Queens Grill which was disappointing.

Can’t wait to return hand hopefully the obnoxious guy will cruise elsewhere!

28 minutes ago, Jonem2001 said:

Just back myself - and I would have to agree there is most unpleasant odour in the area around the Winter Garden. I hope it’s on the list for a repair/solution soon; as it seemed to result in the space being deserted every time I passed through (with decreasing frequency as the voyage progressed). One of the external doors was being kept permanently open, presumably to mitigate the issue… I can’t think of any other reason to do that in November. Brrr.

 

I would also agree the disembarkation was very busy due to luggage processing issues, but the staff seemed to be doing everything they could, and I was off and in the car, with luggage collected, in less than twenty minutes… so I shan’t complain.

 

On the other issues… I don’t recognise your issues around cleanliness, and certainly every public bathroom I used was spotless on every occasion, including the Grills. But I suppose there may be the odd issue from time to time on a busy ship. And I must say that I think I saw more officers in uniform on this cruise than any other with Cunard this year; but perhaps they’re behind other lines on the raw numbers.

 

I will say that the staff on Victoria are the friendliest of the three Cunarders for me this year; although Elizabeth came close in April. And I felt very ‘looked after’ in Queen’s Grill compared to my normal non-Grills experience, although perhaps not to the level you describe with Celebrity. Perhaps a tonal thing? I find Princess staff, for example, very effusive and bubbly - not really so with Cunard, which seems to be a little more subdued and deferential. Both are excellent approaches, but definitely different!

 

I intend to try Celebrity at some point, so I’ve found your comments really interesting - thank you. I hope you’ve dried off and made it home now!

 

 

Thank you for your thank you!

We were delayed in disembarkation last year on Silhouette in Southampton and they just threw staff at it. It was really impressive.

Today we saw a couple of entertainment staff and two hotel staff.

Again, I stress, EVERY staff member, with the exception of the butler, was a credit to Cunard.

150 odd years of training certainly showed and if any of them have the time to read this, thank you too!

On a ‘formal’ night on Celebrity there are more Officers and people with stripes walking around than you could shake a stick at.

On Cunard there were none to be seen which was disappointing. Even on short cruises they really should make the effort.

Went to see Top Hat which was amazing as was another show last night. Lucky enough to get a theatre box which added to the sense of occasion.

We were going to cook ourselves in the hot tub but couldn’t stand the stench. There are disgusting smells everywhere on this ship. Maybe if the Officers did a stroll of the public areas this might be addressed.

So, would I cruise with Cunard again? 
 

Well I’m afraid I wouldn’t rush back. Getting off today was awful. No priority for Grills passengers unlike Celebrity where we were escorted off personally by the Concierge. The queue today was horrendous.

CPC parking is awful especially in the rain having to queue up to get the keys back then find the car.

It’s not Cunard’s fault but there’s a different demographic in the passengers here but that’s also the same with P&O passengers and Carnival, etc. Getting on a tour bus, for example, we said good morning to everyone and got one reply. Grumpy lot!

We went with an open mind wanting to like it, which we did, but the horrible aromas and lack of real cleanliness has put us off. In every loo on Celebrity there appears to be a cleaner. The Grills loo was disgusting. 
 

Also, when we get off a Celebrity ship we are soooo disappointed. Today not so.

I await with hard hat on for the incoming flack from Cunard diehards but we gave it a try. Sorry x

This is a small selection of the amazing food and canapés we had on board.

Afternoon tea was served in Princess Grill. It was the only disappointment we had with food. There are no traditional finger sandwiches served for Grill’s afternoon tea which was very disappointing.
 

The sandwiches on our last day in the buffet were perfect. 

1 hour ago, Bell Boy said:

Swjumbo, I'm confused with you comment re,  security 'priority for Grills'  

What time did you arrive for check-in ?  Grills are aways the first to be called to go through the security scanning system & embarkation, followed by Diamond,  and then the other categories .

 

If you arrived sometime later after 1pm then I'm afraid one is grouped with the other categories for embarkation.   

 

 

We were told that boarding time was 1245. I’m always early but traffic delayed us and arrived at the terminal, after dropping off the car, at 1252.

As you can see I’m pedantic about time!

Gave the baggage chap a small tip which made his day. Our luggage was at the cabin before us. That was impressive!

19 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Are you on deck 4   swjumbo  ? We had a corner deck 4 once, many years ago and once was enough for deck 4 aft. If I remember correctly, the shower curtain was very friendly and the loo was ensuite in the ensuite.   🙂

Yes. I’d much prefer a door to the shower. The bottom of the curtain looks a tad grubby and the water leaks onto the bathroom floor.

We’re delighted with the location. We had the sun all afternoon and there’s a lot less vibration than anticipated.

Midway through our four night trip and the weather has been glorious.

Port parking was strange for us as we normally park the car ourselves. Hopefully it’ll be there on arrival with no extra miles on the clock.

Rather disappointing security as there was no priority for Grills. I’m not elitist but when you pay for something like this you do expect a certain level of priority and made to feel special.

The only special thing was the lady behind us who coughed constantly and shouldn’t have been allowed to board.

We kept our distance.

On boarding we were overwhelmed with the level of service with the staff. The Bell Boys with their crimson uniforms were delightful.

The walk to our suite wasn’t so good. This ship has a lot of nasty smells in communal areas. Fish, cooking and bilgewater.The walk to our corner suite was very unimpressive. The wall panels were tatty, different shades of cream and I’ve seen cross channel ferries in better condition.

The suite is beautiful. The bathroom needs updating and the shower curtain needs replacement. Yuck.

Mini bar and selection is great. Celebrity do not do this which is a pity. The butler is ok but might have other issues because they are a tad on the grumpy side. First world problems but I’m just posting this for your interest.

The food is superb. Queens Grill beats Luminae hands down. We love the staff and the level of service is far superior. It is not stuffy in any way shape or form. Luminae is stuffy and the service is very corporate.

Here you can feel the history, even though it’s now American it still feels great. Every staff member is, without exception, excellent. Completely faultless.

Thats it for now. Off to raid the mini bar.

7 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

That's harsh. If a poster said "I intend to wear such-and-such on formal night and I don't care what anyone thinks" THAT would sound like being above the rules. OP simply asked what actually happens on board. It's a reasonable question, given the variation in dress code from one line to another. For years HAL pretended to have formal nights, but I saw very few tuxes and gowns.  If I had packed for HAL what I typically pack for Cunard, I'd have been overdressed. 

Totally agree and apologise if you think that my comment was directed at the OP. 
It wasn’t.

It’s just that on CC there are lots of similar questions.

Cunard seems to revel in the sense of occasion. We’re about to experience it and will be suitably dressed up to the nines!

If you don’t want to wear black tie and conform then go with another cruise line.

We’re about to go on our first Cunard cruise and are looking forward to dressing up. 
It saddens me that some people think they’re above the rules and even have to ask. 
 

9 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

Radiance Class and Vision Class are roughly the same guest capacity as Millennium Class...

And are they sailing from Southampton?

I think you’ll find other posts on Cruise Critic regarding this but in short, the reply to your question is no it’s nothing like Celebrity.