elmsliebev

On 5/4/2024 at 1:43 PM, yorkshirephil said:

I can see both sides too, I am surprised it hasn't happened before now as I can't think of another cruise company we have used that allows a litre of spirits per person. We usually take a couple of litres of rum but I think we will muddle through. A bit like parties when I was a youth, sup the beer and spirits first, move on to the sherry and cheap Spanish wine then attack the cupboard under the sink to see if any cleaning products have alcohol in them.

would that be Don Simon Spanish wine in a carton? We had a carton that went to more parties than we did for several years 🤣

I noticed from a Commodore Club drinks menu that someone has put up on another forum that they also have ISH alcohol free fizz which is a really good AF alternative. I've asked for our free fizz to be replaced with an AF alternative, so we'll see what comes - in Alaska in 2022 on QE we got a very nice AF rose instead. 

On 4/28/2024 at 3:21 PM, Harters said:

My partner would agree with you - particularly enjoying the champagne, almost as an aperitif, which she ordered along with whatever she intended drinking with her main course. On the other hand, I found the zero alcohol Merlot was dismal - very little flavour (in comparison with the alcohol free reds I can easily get at home). I don't think I'd bother with it again and would stick to water. 

have you had the zero alcohol fizz on Oceania? There do seem to be better reds around these days, Zeno is a favourite of mine. Cunard use Natureo wines and their rose is very good. I'm glad to see Oceania have Lyres onboard now as I really like their various AF spirits. 

7 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

Thank you very much for posting, it's good to hear that you enjoyed your crossing. 

How did the food compare to Oceania?

I see they have trademarked "The Best Cuisine at Sea" - a bold claim !

Host Hattie we are on QA in June, then Oceania's Regatta in October. I'm looking forward to seeing if it lives up to it's promise!!

13 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Do you mean me? I’d never be invited on a freebie as my live blogs are too honest and ‘warts and all’, whereas the video bloggers are over the top positive, so as to ensure that the freebies and upgrades keep on coming 😂.
 

We are on Queen Anne in 3 weeks time for the Round Britain (and naming ceremony) cruise, but as I’m not known on the Cunard pages I’m going to give myself a break. I’ve only just recovered from my daily blog on all 65 days of our Grand Tour on Aurora and the pressure I felt to keep it going when views went well over 200,000 😂 

but but but .... I know you from the P&O pages! Have a wonderful time, we are on her in June. If you do get chance to write something after the event I'll read it with interest, though not 200k times. 

3 minutes ago, MylesS said:

There are some additional extra charge items on the menu, though some come from restaurants (burger from Goldon Lion, steak from Sir Samuel’s, etc) so I think the charge there is suitable.

 

I’m actually a fan of this change. On our summer voyage last year, there were times where I wanted to eat restaurant food but not have to dress up (sometimes for me over 7 weeks, I just wanted a “chill” evening) — and this was one of the reasons I looked into maybe doing a longer trip in the Grills for the in suite dining. 
 

While i’m aware we won’t get the same level of service due to not having a butler, it will still be nice for me to have restaurant food in the cabin. 

thanks Myles. So some items are chargeable but some are still included? I know what you mean about chilling - we were confined to cabin with Covid on our 4 week QE trip in 2022 and it was actually quite nice to just eat on the balcony (they kindly moved us for the duration of our isolation from an inside cabin) without getting dressed up. Have a fabulous time, can't wait till June when we go to the Fjords. 

14 hours ago, Colin_Cameron said:

In the Commodore Club  for our first martinis.  First thing we noticed is no seats at the bar. Must be about double the seating capacity of the Vistas but with the same number of staff. The room is also completely flat so has a different feeling.

 

Edit: Just been advised by @Solent Richard that there's no canapés. And won't be any !!!

that's a shame. Sitting at the bar is one of my favourite Commodore Club activities! Love the canapes too. I noticed on QE in 2022 that they weren't there every night but were there on formal nghts.

Did someone say room service is chargeable now or have I made that up? A jug of hot chocolate delivered last thing was one of my favourite things! 

really looking forward to reading about the maiden voyage. We are on in June for the Fjords. Have a wonderful time everyone. A few years ago we left Southampton on QV along with QM2 and QE and the fireworks were outstanding. 

On 4/23/2024 at 3:54 AM, pinotlover said:

We did a private tour. Our guide knew exactly where we’d be. No issues, wonderful day, great tour, great lunch of fresh oysters 5 ways which is a local specialty.

could you share the company you used please? I'm a big fan of oysters any way! 

On 4/23/2024 at 9:37 PM, durberville said:

*sighs. Thanks for the honest review but man o man am I bummed. Have booked our first Oceania cruise on the Regatta for October (25 days). Sounds like it will be a floating nursing home with poor food. I convinced my husband to try this line since we’ve become disillusioned with Celebrity. Full of regret now. 😟

we're also on Regatta in October, I'm looking forward to it still. We were on Cunard's QE in 2022, read some dreadful reviews before we went, and we had a fabulous time. We'll keep the party going! 

we have cruised up the Seine to Rouen and docked overnight there with CMV. There's certainly plenty to see in Rouen and also in Honfleur. If you're into military history it's worth taking a trip around the D Day beaches. My great uncle is buried in Bayeux British Military Cemetary and Bayeux itself is a lovely town. Arromanches is another fascinating town. 

I wouldn't try and do Paris on your own in such a short time frame unless it's a must-see. We're lucky of course as we can go over whenever I need my Paris fix! 

On 4/14/2024 at 9:33 PM, 3rdGenCunarder said:

A comment about the "ice white" gala night in Alaska. The first time I did an Alaska cruise on QE, I thought that was stupid. Glaciers are blue, not white. So in defiance (and because I already had the skirt), I wore a long turquoise skirt and bought a white top that had a little bling on it. So, like a glacier, snow on top, blue ice below. And then on board, the description was blue and/or white and/or silver. Plenty of people didn't dress in those colors anyway. 

I wore a white dress with an ice blue/turquiose pattern on it.

9 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

It might be my fault. I fear I said I had inferred it from something I had read, which I can’t now remember. If it was me, the inference was wrong, and I grovelingly apologise for raising everyone’s hopes.😢

I don't think it was you 😀 I'm sure I saw it on Cunard's own website. Maybe I had a dream ....

16 hours ago, Gomac said:

I thought we were previously informed that Tramonto would be ‘Included in the cruise fare’

I thought that too, sure I read it somewhere. 

19 hours ago, NE John said:

I was still studying middle school Latin in 1977, tough whether in the AM or PM!!

I dropped Latin in 1975. It was that or Domestic Science 😄

23 hours ago, Solent Richard said:

Thanks for the 'Heads-up' @TowandaUK , I have to confess I'm not one for stalking 'My Cunard' on a daily basis: far more important life events to navigate.

 

Still, I was interested to see both the menu, booking  availability and pricing, and in particular the dozen huîtres at $25.00. That should certainly give the old 'libido' a timely boost....

 

 

******

 

Job done.....

 

 

😂😂

 

I was pleased to see oysters too. Many years ago when cycling on the Ile de Re me and a pal managed to wrongly order 3 dozen oysters rather than 1 dozen. The guy selling them was so impressed that we ate them all he gave us an oyster knife each 🤣. We'll definitely be booking Sir Sam's in June.

5 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

I prefer holding an actual book to reading on an iPad or Kindle but having been onboard a ship when Noro protocols closed the library, I know having nothing to read would actually ruin my holiday these days so I have a loaded Kindle and borrow digital books from our district library, downloaded onto my iPad.

I have all that, plus a couple of actual books plus the library onboard. Plus a further "emergency book" just in case of a zombie apocalypse or simialr. My husband laughs at me, but I don't care! 

On 4/6/2024 at 2:21 PM, Hlitner said:

By the way, while we are the subject of currency conversion we should mention that the O Vista does sell Euros onboard.  There current price is $1.16 + 5% or about $1.22.  This is almost identical to the ridiculous DCC rate I quoted above means folks are paying about 12% more than if they simply used a European bank ATM.  Speaking of ATMs, keep in mind that they are not all the same.  Folks are well advised to stick to major bank ATMs.  There are also other privately owned ATMs (such as Travelex) which may also charge ridiculous prices.  While paying more for one's money is not a big issue for folks who do not use a lot of cash, an extra 10 - 15% can really add-up for frequent travelers and those of us who do a lot of independent traveling.

 

Hank

We're in the UK and when we were in Malaga, Spain last year we had to try 3 different ATMs before we found one that didnt charge a fee for withdrawing money. It never used to be such a problem but it seems to be more common now. 

On 3/23/2024 at 5:29 PM, sandancer said:

Unfortunately not John. Our cabin attendant told us that she was not allowed to give us either unless we were in a suite. I can live without a face cloth and I bought some body lotion at our first port. 

that's a shame We were on Azura in October and our steward brought body lotion and faceloths (and changed the facecloths daily). He had been working for P&O for 20+ years and was excellent. 

As far as the OP asked - I felt the menus in the MDR had definitely deteriorated on our Azura cruise in October. I'm a true omnivore but there wasn't the same amount of choice, and as for the cheese .... The veggie cottage pie was delicious though. 

I recently came across our menus from Oriana several years ago and the range of food offered was definitely more then. 

The ship was excellent and the staff very good. I wouldn't say it had gone "down market" but it didn't feel special any more. We have a Cunard cruise and an Oceania one booked this year but then we'll go land-based next year. Unless we spot a real bargain of course 🤣

On 3/24/2024 at 7:22 AM, Selbourne said:

It’s the Indian & Philippine sections that I’d go to!

me too! We were on another line just before Covid (a line no longer with us) and one lunchtime a chef from south Indian was making dosas to order with sambal. Absolutely delicious. I had more than one ...

1 hour ago, BklynBoy8 said:

 

Sauce is meatless and also called Marinara (tomato only) Sauce...

and marinara to me (UK) is a pasta sauce with seafood! 

Just been having the "how much drink can we take on board" conversation with relatives we're travelling on QA with soon. We've decided on a couple of bottles of champane for on their balcony and they'll take some rum as well. Already got the premium alcohol free drinks package but I'm disappointed ginger ale might no longer be on it. I do hope the Sicilian lemon is still available. 

On 3/19/2024 at 3:14 PM, Harters said:

V - we used to do that with our NatWest account at the time, paying additional premium for existing conditions. That is until they declined to continue to insure me because of my conditions. We moved to Staysure and then AllClear. Premium was £1400 until we had to add the States and Caribbean for six days , then it doubled. Renewal is just about due and they are offering a 20% discount and we'll able to reduce it further as we won'tneed the States and a couple of medical issues are now resolved. But it'll still be an eye-wateringly big outlay. 

eek! That's huge. 

Fortunately I've just found out that the possible health condition (cardiac) has now been ruled out and I've been signed off, so I'm hoping there won't be too much of a jump - we're with Nationwide and haven't had to pay so far for certain health conditions. 

On 1/26/2024 at 11:47 PM, JYDCruise said:

AND BACON?!?!?  Be still, my beating heart! Well, that saying could become literal with enough ice cream . . .

best answer! I will be trying it though. 

On 3/20/2024 at 2:15 PM, Hlitner said:

A few weeks ago I promised to try and post a live blog, from the Vista.  We are starting a few days prior to embarkation to talk about pre-cruise prep.  We are O virgins, as this will be our first time on any O ship.  As to a background, suffice it to say we have only 50 years of extensive cruise experience with many different cruise lines (budget to luxury) and vessels.  Whether we stick with this blog will depend on the onboard Internet connection and whether we get too lazy.  We will post the facts, and our impressions, and welcome comments, criticism, etc.

 

We made our O reservation with a trusted high volume cruise agency, who did "enhance" our booking with pre-paid gratuities and a generous On Board Credit (OBC).  Learning about how to deal with the O process comes mostly from CC.  Our suite is a low category B category verandah on deck 8.  At the 45 day mark, we went online to O's web site and made our dining reservations.  Since our cruise is 3 segments (35 days) we were allowed to book 3 reservations in each of Vistas four alternative restaurants.  Half our reservations are 2-tops and other half are shared.  At the time we booked, it was not possible to get all 2-tops at our desired times, and DW and I really enjoy sharing tables as a way to meet and socialize with others.  When we booked the reservations (all done online) we immediately received an e-mail confirmation (for each reservations) from O (and they also show in later e-mailed documents from O).  Because we have heard here on CC about some "issues" with dining reservations, we are taking printed copies of all the confirmations.   We have had no problems with our reservations, never needed to call O, and as typical of our own procedures, most of the work is done online with a few clicks of the mouse.  O has already made several changes in our itinerary (which includes 24 ports) the most unfortunate being the elimination of Turkey (substituting some Greek ports).  We have been to nearly all the ports (many times for most ports).

 

Our reservation is with the new Simply More program.  This meant we needed to book at least enough excursions to use our SM shore excursion credit ($1200 per person).  DW and I are generally independent travelers and seldom book cruise line excursions (we prefer doing our own thing).  We booked enough O excursions (mostly done more than 9 months in advance) to use all of our SM credit.  We do not come close to qualifying for the 25% discount and have no desire to add extra excursions to meet the required minimum.  In fact, it will be interesting to see if we even go on all the excursions we have booked since we truly dislike the large group tours.

 

Since our cruise is 35 days (with varying climate) and we plan on spending 11 more days on a driving trip in Europe (Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, and Italy) packing is tricky.  DW and I have just started our normal pre-cruise procedure of "laying out" our clothes (and other stuff) in a separate area.  This gives us a few days to appraise the pile of "stuff" and make adjustments.  Because we are doing post cruise independent travel we will limit ourselves to two large suitcases (each will weigh close to 50 pounds) and 2 heavy carry-on backpacks.  DW and I love using backpacks (as compared to typical carry-on bags) because we can wear them on our back..leaving both our hands free to handle the other bags.  Luggage logistics is always an important part of our independent travel because we assume that nobody is going to help us with our luggage.

 

We are looking forward to this trip, enjoying the "Finest Cuisine at Sea," meeting some of our fellow cruisers, and having lots of lazy sea days.  Our segments have pretty active CC Roll Calls, but we have no plans to sign-up or attend any of the onboard CC Roll Call events.  Those get togethers are just not our norm and we prefer meeting folks elsewhere on ship.

 

Hank

 

 

Look forward to reading about your experiences, have a great time. 

On 3/21/2024 at 10:29 AM, Harters said:

As mentioned elsewhere, the "information pack", luggage tags, etc, received by Hank have not been available to British customers for some while. We didnt get them for our Nautica cruise last summer, nor had them for this cruise. However, on another thread, fellow Britons have mentioned they have received them for April cruises so it looks like O stopped sending them but has restarted. 

 

I wonder if feedback from British travel agents has suggested to O that as, seemingly, we are generally charged more for our cruises than North Americans we should get at least the same level of customer service. 

Interesting We don't go until October, but I'll be looking out for my information pack! Have a wonderful time.