OceanMonarch

Smoking area is aft on deck 5 port side. Find out if 6157 is available. Like 6156 it's angled with larger balcony and great location. If not, any port side 2C forward of the mid-ship elevators should not be an issue with smoking.

6155 is available. Should we reserve this one? A little concerned about the view of the lifeboat but will take your advice.

We had 6156 a 2C an obstructed angled balcony.

 

It was Near the lifts and very quiet. Great location. We just loved it.

 

The lifeboat was only up to the floor of the balcony so good views with one divot to the side which didn't obstruct our views

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thanks for the info. As we are on the opposite side I have read that there are smoking locations on Deck 5. Does anyone know if smoking is permitted close to this cabin?

Are there any cabins in the 2C category that are better than others. We realize that this grade has lifeboats and are also above the restaurant (partially obstructed) but we are hoping that some have better locations than others.

Any advice would be appreciated.:)

St Leonards has a good train service so that will be your best bet. Sydney keeps messing about with its bus routes and some no longer go across the bridge and into the city.

 

There will be extra trains on NYE. The Sydney Morning Herald usually publishes a map of all the vantage points for the fireworks. Be prepared for it to be very crowded wherever you go. Many of the parks no longer allow BYO drinks, sometimes including water unfortunately, so you have to buy it from vendors there. If you want a prime viewing position for the fireworks you should aim to get there in the afternoon - take a picnic dinner and snacks. Some people stake out positions in the morning.

 

There is a small supermarket in the St Leonards train station complex, otherwise your best bet for shopping is Chatswood (two train stops away). Crows Nest (which you'd need to walk to) has lots of good restaurants and cafes.

 

BTW I live in a suburb very close to St Leonards and Chatswood. If you have any more questions about the area I'll be happy to answer them.

Have a great cruise! Thank you for the information and I really appreciate your kind offer.

OP - Thanks for the advice. We have located a town home in the St Leonard's area. Is this a reasonable area with regards to public transport and access to the fireworks on NYE? We don't mind walking.

We will be arriving in Sydney on Dec 20th thru Jan 3rd and are looking for accommodation recommendations for 3 adults. Since we are there for 2 weeks an apartment with cooking facilities/washer dryer would be preferable. We have looked on various websites but are unfamiliar with the different areas of Sydney. We would like to be in a central location or close to public transport. Our price limit would be no more than 170 AUD per night.

OP. Thanks for the info.

As stated our fare on the meter was on the T1 tariff 23.70 euros + the applicable supplements. I was just curious if the T4 was mandatory since we requested that the driver use the meter instead.

Can the fare still be metered (airport to the cruise terminal) or do you have to pay the flat rate of 39 euros in 2016 for the black and yellow taxis? We did ask for it to be metered.

We have used taxis for this journey before and paid the metered fare which is only around 22 euros + supplements.

The reason I ask is that when we used the service in July for our recent cruise, the taxi driver insisted we pay 39 euros when the meter stated 23.70 on tariff 1. We only had 2 cases, 2 passengers, so the fare with supplements should have been around 30 euros max.

OP. Just to clarify matters there were 2 laminated signs attached to the outdoor showers at the Seaview pool stating the pool was for adults only. 2 officers and an attendant confirmed this and added that the 2 hot tubs were just for the use of over 18's too. The hot tub signage somewhat contradicts this message as I have previously stated. However, these signs are likely original to the ship and difficult to remove since they mention the safety aspects of using hot tubs.

The rule was pretty much enforced from the 3rd day of our cruise probably because there were many children on this sailing.

Inconsistency on any rule, where ever it may be, is always where companies run into trouble. Make a sensible judgement and then enforce it.:)

It's a real pity that well behaved youngsters can not use both pools, especially if they wish to swim laps. Unfortunately, these well behaved youngsters can not go around with a sign above their head or wear a placard stating they are well behaved or have paid the full adult rate rather than a reduced fare. Under 18's can not use the casino either - do you also say they have paid the adult rate and should be allowed to use it? A strange point to make.

On our cruise, there were several very large groups of European teenagers who monopolized both pool areas until the attendants stepped in. This as you can imagine is a very delicate matter, but they did an outstanding job explaining this to the youngsters who were, for the most part unaccompanied and left to roam around the ship. Parents who make life very difficult for the attendants are not serving their offspring well in the long run. It is just a matter of being considerate to fellow passengers and allowing everyone to enjoy their vacation.

One adult pool is a small concession for those who wish to enjoy a more peaceful area. Thank you HAL.

My first cruise was as a teenager in 1974 on the 26,000 ton ss Ocean Monarch part of the Shaw Savill Line. We sailed from Southampton to the Canary Islands, Madeira, Ceuta and Lisbon. Great memories!:)

We have just returned from a Med cruise on board the Oosterdam and were pleased to note that the attendants at the Seaview pool were very good at making sure this remained an adult only pool for much of the cruise; I will say though that the signage is very confusing for everyone, even if you did read English:confused:.

According to the attendants, the pool and two hot tubs are for the use of those over 18 only. The signage however, did not state this.

On a side note, the Lido pool had the more comfortable loungers, but the Seaview was quieter and it was easier to find a sunbed.

Here is pdf with listed stops. Casino and Place d'Armes (not far from Palace) are may be 15 min apart

 

http://www.lignesdazur.com/ftp/lignes_FR/100%20BD.pdf

Thank you for the timetable. How easy is it to walk to either of these points from the cruise terminal? I want to make sure I am in the right place to catch the bus if I get on at Place d"Armes.

Could anyone advise where exactly is the closest stop (to the cruise port) to board the #100 bus in Monaco that goes towards Nice. :). Or, should you make your way to the station to get on earlier? We hope to do this around 10:00 am.

Have the table numbers stayed the same in the Britannia Restaurant? The last time we sailed (in Dec 2015) they were pretty much in line with this plan submitted by Whitemarsh.:)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=36601903#post36601903

Can anyone confirm for me that the table numbers depicted in the below map of the Britannia Restaurant are correct?

 

I'm particularly interested in the area between the stairs and the tapestry on deck 2. But if you've been at other tables and the numbers on the map are correct, that would be good to know as well, thanks.

 

If anyone on board has knowledge that the Britannia table numbers have remained the same as this plan. This was correct (as far as I could tell) when we sailed in December 2015:)

Thank you for the updated photos. This is our first time on HAL and will be on board July 11th for 12 days.

I noticed there was one photograph of the Retreat entrance. Could you offer any advice on reserving the cabanas? Can you do this ahead of time, or just whilst on board

The cruise is a 12 night Caribbean cruise in November.

August will be our 6th sailing in a sheltered balcony cabin - all of them TA. We choose deck 5 - which has cabins above and below but generally in the location of your cabin on deck 6. We tend to use the public rooms more in this area, library, commodore club, Royal Court Theater and the Canyon Ranch Spa.

If you look at the deck plan - where there are double lines, this is a firewall. There will be a set of fire doors folded into the wall outside this cabin.

Instead of a partition that is about 3/4 high between balconies, this one reaches to the top (on one side). It affords you more privacy when you are on your balcony but you are not able to see the ocean when you are seated.

We are considering this cabin. I've never cruised Cunard before. Can anyone tell me the pro's and con's of this cabin.

Thank you, Rich

Are you sailing on a TA? If so, east or westbound?

Although I have used one of the limos before there was just 2 of us. When I travel in August there will be 4 passengers + luggage. (one suitcase each). Does anyone know if there is room for 4?

Sometimes Cunard offers a bus service to Penn Station from Red Hook. However, there are NYC yellow cabs lined up at the dock to take you to Penn Station.

A word of caution on the Yellow cabs, they are required to drop the meter flag on pulling away from the curb and NOT to charge you a flat fee. If you arrive on a Sunday the fare with a 20% tip should be around $20- $25. On a work day it will be more.(traffic) I have had Yellow cabbies try to do the flat fee route at $50 for the trip and I had to threaten a call to the taxi commission. After much muttering and swearing about cheap New Yorkers, he dropped the meter flag and we were off.

OceanMonarch

Thanks Lakesregion. We may try the yellow cabs when we sail in August. In December, we had to use the limo service (they line up in the next lane over from the yellow cabs) because the line for the yellow cabs was long by the time we gave up waiting for Arecibo. The fixed rate of $40 to Penn Station was good in this instance, as it was a weekday and there was traffic of course.

Hi *****

 

That's a bad experience, and certainly nothing like our experiences with them.

 

We've even had them pick us up in Manhattan without any problems.

 

Must have used them at least 10 times.

Hi BigMac

We have used Arecibo twice - the first time the experience was just so-so which is why we decided to try them again. Unfortunately, this time they really dropped the ball. It was their extremely poor customer service from the dispatcher on duty that day, followed by no response to our e-mails (which incidentally was sent to their website "your opinion matters") that made our decision not to use them again. We understand things happen especially in a busy city like NY but at no time was an apology offered or an explanation given. The dispatcher implied that it was our fault.:(

Hi can we get some advice about people's experience of getting off the boat in NY and getting to Newark Airport.

 

What are the timings involved in getting off QM2, and what is the best way to get to the airport?

 

Any advice would be welcomed, as to find out the answer on Internet is difficult and we don't know how much we should be paying.

 

Thanks to everyone!

 

 

Roberta

We reserved Arecibo car service to take us from Red Hook to Penn Station following our December 2015 TA - but had a very bad experience with them.

We used their online booking form to reserve a car for 8.15 am and had a printed confirmation. By 9:15 am we were still waiting and had no choice but to use one of the car services at the port. They were more expensive of course but got us to our destination.

This is the e-mail that we wrote to Arecibo after we returned home; it was sent twice but we received no response.

Good Morning,

We thought we would give our opinion on a very disappointing service when we docked at the Red Hook Terminal on 12/22/15.

We submitted your online application 10 days in advance for a car to collect us at 8:15.(Mxxxx). We called again when we cleared customs and many other times afterwards.We had a train to meet at Penn Station.

When a driver eventually arrived around 9:00 am he drove straight past us as we waved after the car - this despite giving exact instructions to the dispatcher of our location- passenger pick up area 1. We even ran over to where he was to exit the terminal and shouted and waved to him but he took no notice whatsoever.The security employee (directing the taxis as they entered the gate) was dismayed that your driver did not stop.

Your dispatcher was curt and unsympathetic to our plight. We eventually had to pay the car service at the port because we had no time left for this back and forth with your dispatcher. It was past 9:15 and we had to leave. We eventually caught our train to Virginia by the skin of our teeth thanks to the skill and knowledge of the other car service.

This was a very stressful end to our trip. Since we make this trip quite frequently with Cunard, we would like to know why this occurred.

Sincerely,........"

Based on personal experience we would not recommend this company if you have a flight or train to meet - unless you have several hours to spare. Their customer service was extremely poor in our opinion.

But, please read a broad section of the google and yelp reviews on this company so that you can make an informed decision. We will use the car service at the port ($40 fixed rate to downtown - no matter the traffic) when we travel in August.

We just got off the Oosterdam and we were in cabin 4166. It definitely has a double wide balcony as does 4164. There is a service staircase between the two cabins. 4166 has a shower stall and 4164 has a very small tub with shower. The decks are almost completely covered...maybe a foot or two uncovered. They are also slightly deeper than the balconies on the floors above. It was furnished with two lounge chairs and two other high back chairs with footstools and a small side table. We also had an aft cabin on deck four. They are basically uncovered...maybe a foot or two is covered. The deck is somewhat deeper than 4166 but half as wide. Our friends staying in the aft cabin reported soot on the deck quite often. They were in 4174. They cabin itself is quite a bit deeper than a reqular balcony. I would say 4 to 6 feet deeper. They extra room was on either side of the couch.

Thankyou seattlecruiser. for confirming that 4166 has a wider balcony. Does this cabin experience any noise due to the service staircase or from the deck below?

Off topic but what were the new Cabanas like and would you recommend renting one? Are there any in a quieter location than others?:)