Ab Ovo

Is the price difference worth it?  Yes.

Of course it's a personal thIng, but I feel entry-level $$$ for Princess Grill, especially on QV and QE, is good value; "bang for the buck."

By way of Magdalene, the 1428 one, not the 1458 one, I "learned my way …. take scone, pull'twist apart/break in half, giving me a top and bottom … I take bottom first, apply jam, top with cream, bite …. small bite, possibly three per half. Then, do same with top. NEVER make it a "sandwich"! My "Cornish" method works for me! While I know many Devonians, some quite worth their salt, I just cannot see splattering jam over clotted cream, dirtying plates and fingers. Tea goes into cup first. Then milk. For that, I'll fight to the death! Pinky up, out, hidden? Depends upon the company. And the roof overhead. In The Queens Room I'd go full stop, just because so many do, so join the fun! In the Queen's room, so in awe of The Presence, one could only sit like a lump, no matter it is said she likes cream first, then jam. No matter, anywhere, on sea, ashore, in town or in the country, try not to drop the cup.

The 4th of July cruise load is hardly is a crossing crowd. Nor even the leisurely cruise crowd. Being one of the hardly-ever NY to NY short voyages, leaving NY and back within days, easy to get on and off, there's a big attraction for the partying young and the NY local bridge and tunnel crowd. Being the 4th of July, the mood is very celebratory, if not "let's rock." "A Party Cruise." Cunard does its best with what it has to work with, get 'em on, get 'em off. but … for those unwilling to pay Grill prices on long voyages, it is a good time to go Grill. And for locals just liking Cunard, it's a quick 'n easy way to get on for a few days. I've done five, before giving up. The clincher was not too long ago, locked doors into the Queens Room for Tea caused quite a crowd, which literally ran into the room. Through the one open door. RAN! I went through a door to the side, got to a preferred table by a rail fronting a portside window. As waiters were serving, across on the level down one man actually stood up and banged on a plate with a spoon to get a waiter to come to his table, and come NOW! Too, usually there is only one black-tie evening. Bummer for those wanting a more formal ship experience. To "sample" the ship, or see it again, there can be better ways. On the other hand it it's a case of being on or not at all, well go on the 4th and just put up with the atmosphere you get.

Have you done this booking through some package by a tour company? They've got you on a Cunard voyage and before that put you in a London hotel or a few days? I ask because a 100% cancelation fee of $800AU to change hotels seems inordinate. Just dead wrong! Is this company telling you that is their charge to go into a computer and alter a booking? That isn't the Cunard way, and it certainly can't be the way of the Ascot Hyde Park, at best a very budget hotel.

I know the area, the street, have walked by the hotel many times, never gave it a thought, it being little more than a doorway. It looks like any of the very modestly-priced tourist hotels in Paddington. The Paddington area is very busy, quite safe, "international." Just about every doorway that isn't a cafe or small shop is a hotel. None of them are the Dorchester. Paddington is not elegant. You ask is the hotel reasonable and clean? Well it certainly is reasonable enough, and several notches above a backpacker hotel, probably thin towels on the beds, a sample-size bar of soap, all very simple. The hotel is just a small half-block down from Paddington Station … which fronts on Praed Street, good subway connections there, and down to the right becomes Craven Road. Walk down nearby Glouchester Terrace or Craven Terrace to the Bayswater Road, Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens, the buses, the great-fun Swan pub, the Lancaster Gate tube stop. If you're a walker Marble Arch and the Oxford Street shops are just a bit east. I've always liked the area .... fly into Heathrow from America, take the Paddington Express train 21 minutes to Paddington Station, enjoy walking down the street a few blocks to a family hotel (closed now doing renovations for four months and already one month behind) I've stayed in close to 30 years ... I'm home! Paddington is simple, like Greenwich Village in New York. Always active 24/7. It's very central to London, easy to get anywhere else.

I've found that Internet forums attract the crazies on hotel posts, the shower was at a bad angle, the television was too small, too big, too loud, too quiet, the carpet had a hole in it. If your booking agency has any experience I'd imagine they've booked the hotel before without complaint. It is a modest one. Maybe they didn't know. If you arrive and find it too modest, leave .. the area is filled with hotels. A Best Western is nearby, the Corus is on the park at Lancaster Gate. Many hotels around at all price points. You'll have no trouble in the area. Nearby Craven Road/Craven Terrace corner has a chemist, hardware store, flowers shop, Nisi …shops to make your hotel room more personal if need be. It won't be the best small room you've ever stayed in perhaps, but I'd not worry.

Love staying in Bayswater! Always do, have for years. Almost any hotel will arrange a car for you … be it to the Southampton docks or local to Waterloo or Victoria Coach Station. From Craven Terrace I've used Smiths and South Coast Chauffeurs in the past, finally stopped and have only used the Cunard Connection. A Cunard coach from Victoria Coach Station, just a hop across the park from Bayswater. A dedicated gate (usually One) with a Cunard attendant takes your bags and you next see them in your cabin. The ride is not expensive, is a quick two hours down, you're on ship before 2 pm. It can be fun, all passengers ready to sail, and Cunard knows you're coming. Transport is your call, so check prices for what suits you best for services provided. It's exiting even now thinking of the coach ride out of Victoria, going by Harrods windows, over the Thames, glimpsing the Battersea Power Station, all the open fields along the way, entering Southampton, pulling into the terminal. It's such an easy, convenient ride. For fun before leaving Bayswater, pop into The Mitre on Craven Terrace and The Swan on the Bayswater Road, both near Lancaster Gate.

Yes, go in to dine when you wish.

As well, I've had a favorite deuce booked, but on some sunny mornings have asked to "eat over there by the window to watch the sea" and staff have been very accommodating.

Cunard prides itself that any of the three Queens is a good introduction to the Cunard style. So, you''ve no worries on QE.

No matter brochure copy, Cunard only runs one true "ocean liner," the bigger Queen Mary 2. She has a stronger build/hull, has more steel for strength, closer to 40% more than a stock Vista-build cruise ship, has a longer tapered bow to cut through rough ocean waves, has a deeper draft. She can plow through any weather and keep on schedule. A liner, built for speed.

The Victoria and Elizabeth are more cruise ships that can cross an ocean but are more designed for holidays than transport. Their design has less call for strong steel in the hull, a reduced draft allows docking in more ports, the bow is shorter and wider, both have a more flat bottom. Liners easily cross oceans, cruise ships cross as well but prefer calm seas. The V. & E. are fine for World Cruise segments.

On a Word Cruise segment in January/February you'll not find it overrun with children, the load will be grown-ups able to afford almost a month on sea. Lots of friendly, relaxing, types on board.

In my 17 years of cruisecritic.com posts and more years of World Cruise segments on the last four Cunard Queens, dress code questions seem to be the most prevalent. It's all spell out in the brochures, but still people have questions. Remember, you're on a journey, the ship is a destination for many, as are ports to be seen. Dress on sea days is casual . For many, they turn themselves out smartly. It's not a load of people dressing as if they are making a quick run to

Tesco hoping no one will see them. After 6pm the dress code is throughout the ship. Tuxedo/Black Tie or dark suit, women in gowns, on formal nights. Informal nights a suit and tie, cocktail dresses, are the norm. The dress for the night is posted in the daily bulletin. And as said, is for throughout the ship. Lately Cunard has seemingly been trying to attract a larger load by allowing men in dinning rooms on informal nights without a necktie, if wearing a jacket. For the hyper-casual any night, in the Lido buffet anything goes. But really, the dress code is a guideline, nothing to worry about. Foodwise, no doubt you'll be friendly with your waiter, and if two entrees look good to you he'll be pleased to see you get two, if not three! Same with deserts!

Ship entertainment, the singing and dancing, is worth checking out; if to your taste, you'll be pleased. Same with the films. Often such take hard knocks on these forums, but it's all in good fun. Daily fitness? Well I'm very good at watching such activity, so cannot say. All four of the gym/fittness centers have been well-fitted out. Too, there are daily classes. I think you and DW will find your days well-filled.

Time passes, life happens, R.I.P. "stowaway2k" once an avid poster here. Of all the "QE2 People" Kyle Johnstone was a stalwart Cunarder and one of the founders of the fun group that became known as the Winter Crossing Club, a group of the likeminded that kept running into one another on early 2000 winter crossings and took it to the next level with online announcements, meetings, web pages and pins. His love for Cunard was strong, his knowledge ran deep. Beyond cruisecritic, Kyle's posts and videos as Leo Farnsworth were popular on Facebook QE2 & Cunard appreciation pages, sharing his knowledge of the secrets, nooks and crannies of ships. For the past few years Kyle was teaching English in Shanghai. Suddenly he fell silent in June. Word has been received he'd passed away in June, just slept away. He was a good friend to many here … Godspeed, my friend, we all wish you fair winds and following seas.

Of course, it's all speculation until actual plans are laid down …. no need to comment on a computer-generated image. As for names, I would like to see a 4th Cunard Queen ship … names? I can think of ELEVEN good ones …. Start with Boudica ? Berengaria? Anne, first monarch of a united Great Britain?

A pre-conquest queen? Bertha? Eadgifu ? Matilda? Because of the play I like Eleanor (of Aquitaine)! Philippa? Caroline? The nine-day Lady Jane Grey? Alexandra?

Heartily agree with post #2! Have a holiday in Manhattan! Your hotel can easily get you a taxi or car service to the ship. Get there by Noon-1pm, you'll be boarded and can lunch on ship!

It's all subjective, yes, but I never feel a few people rightfully or wrongfully complaining about seating at the maître d' desk in Britannia dinning, with almost 246 tables for almost 1,250 guests, would mean the system or the entire room is in disarray.

For me, "when we arrive in a US port for the first time during a voyage following a non-US port" answers the question. Soton-Bermuda-NYC.

Nice to read of a happy ending Here's another one and why ... one to-the-QE2 trip I flew into Heathrow. Almost immediately at the baggage carousel out came my hard-case red Samsonite. I took it. Waiting for the express train to Paddington I thought my case looked it had a hard trip. Then checked the number, uh oh, I'd taken the wrong bag! Raced to a Help center, calls were made, an officer got me back through security to the carousel. My lone red bag stood unclaimed. When the lady knew the red bag wasn't her red bag, Carousel security had opened mine, saw my info, called the hotel to tell me I'd taken the wrong bag. Luckily, the first thing I put in my case, and the last thing on top, I packed an 8x10 sheet of yellow paper, THIS BAG BELONGS TO with my name, London hotel address and telephone number, my e-mail address, stateside addresses and Cunard World Club number, with ship name, sailing date, cabin number and their phone contact. Every trip since I do that sheet, for a strong sense of security. If someone picks up my bag by mistake, it is easy to find where the owner is, is going, to make a return.

A black suit and somber necktie at a funeral is de rigueur; any other occasion a black suit and colorful regimental striped necktie is smart:

https://www.mycollectors.co.uk/content/ties/ties-Military-Regimental.aspx

Hi CambsCruiser82 … you asked, here's my take … Over many years I've refined my Cunard dress to black tie/tuxedo for all formal nights; to me their informal nights only mean not black tie, so I like to wear a suit at dinner, usually blue or gray, sometimes in pin-stripes. These less-than nights stressed lately, the jacket and no tie thing, well, not for me. What are we, a bunch of farmers at a hoedown? However … I'm big on the look of a navy-blue blazer, medium gray trousers, crisp white shirt, traditional English-rep silk ties. Regimental stripes for color, loafers rather than lace-up shoes. Same look but perhaps a bit toward more casual, is a navy blazer worn with khakis, a blue/white striped shirt. If you do that, keep shirt stripes thin and tight, so it will take a broader striped tie, or use a navy/white polka-dot tie, the dots small. That's it for my case for evening wear, one tux, one suit, one blazer, several white shirts, neckties. If you pack more, blazer-wise, I like blazers in color, camel, red, maroon, dark green. Depending how you look in colors, they look good with oxford-cloth button-down shirts and neckties, keeping color of shirts, striped or not, but always collared shirts, and color of ties in agreement. Bow ties are fun here. For all formal nights I like the traditional black silk cummerbund sets, but don't mind a bit of color, cummerbund & tie, maybe a pocket square, in colors or patterns. One favorite is simple solid dark maroon, another is ivory ground with musical treble clef motif in black, one if navy with embroidered Boxer dogs; for summer and/or warm waters, a madras plaid is fun. Remember, cummerbunds are worn with the pleats facing upward. Huh, straying from my one tux, one blazer, one trouser packing, a seersucker suit or jacket always works well in summer and warm waters. Other cooler months, if you look good in brown, so many men forget it as a color, a good Harris Tweed brown herringbone is sensational, patch pockets, 1/4" welted seams. If you only pack one item, on formal nights you've a suit, on informal nights a jacket. And remember men, and you women who control them, let's have none of this "look" of white dress shirt worn w/o tie and shirt-tails hanging out, under a jacket. For me, s.s. France and Solent Richard here have ship dress down pat! "Fair winds and following seas" to all!

Heard on morning television re a pair of khakis: "a durable and personal pant."

Minnie29, if you hurry you might book a QM2 eastbound transatlantic crossing, New York/Red Hook to Soton, 12 November or 08 December. My email had "Fall Savings" starting at $599 pp for Inside. As a Single you'd pay $1200. plus a little more for port taxes, fees, etc. They're always extra. For a Queens Grill Single stateroom you could easily do it for just under $6,000. You don't need air, you don't need transfers. All you really need is a Cunard transatlantic eastbound ticket at a good price. Check Cunard, one passage, check same passage booked with a local travel agent, it could be a bit lower. Your booking a Virgin flight to America needn't have anything to do with Cunard. Book yourself a hotel; again you might find a Virgin connection and a good rate. In a hotel, you taxi to Red Hook, maybe $40 tops, tip included. One caveat … a good hotel concierge should know to assure the taxi driver knows where Red Hook is. Some drivers are new or dense. If you hail a cab from a taxi line out front, before you get in ask if he knows where Red hook is, has been to the Queen Mary 2 . You don't want to be trapped in a taxi looking all around Brooklyn to get someplace he has never been. It does happen, not a fun way to begin a crossing. Just pass that cab by until you get a driver knows what he's doing.

Nice story, Fireflyuk.

Tuxedo rental aboard can work. Did it once. The lad told me in future when boarding and needing to rent, get to the shop at once. This'll assure first pick on "popular" sizes. Read 39L. They only carry so many, but he felt they usually are able to fit most anybody.

And it's true, for the rental cost for a voyage, usually one can get a M&S dinner suit for half. They aren't bad. Check their Web.

Nice review O.D. .... your reasoned discourse is appreciated. Back in the day, I remember your QE2 posts were usually spot on. Glad to see you back.

Nickymmm, I believe on QM2 starboard just beyond the Grand Lobby, 2-Deck, that men's room is able to handle a wheelchair. And I seem to recall the same starboard back at the D elevators. You know, it's the kind of thing I hadn't actually looked for but feel I've noticed in the public men's rooms … they seemed large and ADA compliant, wide entry doors, one stall quite large. My experience on board I've seen CruiseCritic folk on board posting/reading in the computer room …. if someone is on now and sees this, please go look and then post.

Interesting observation, Lakesregion, but Significant Others don't always "match" … I like big tables, have been seated with a short randy old cigar-chomper and his tall follies-girl wife, a short/wide 7th Avenue garmento and his company-model wife, both women in beautiful gowns, nightly. I'm sure each man was taller when he stood on his wallet. So each muttered well into the evenings, able to handle the Queens Room but not at all pleased to be in G32. But this is about dressing, "there really is no such thing as being overdressed on Cunard." you say, yes it is a joy to see women in their long gowns no matter the night.

I've sailed out of Soton 15-ish December on the Mary the past five years. There have been some chilly and gray, one damp, days, but nothing to worry about weather-wise. You'll be in Southampton the day before, no matter any weather, QM2 will sail as scheduled. Certainly QM2 will arrive in Red Hook/Manhattan as scheduled. I don't think there'll be a paralyzing blizzard in Manhattan 21-22 December, probably no snow at all. You'll make all connections. Really, you needn't worry.

I take issue with what fares are paid. I know over half a dozen Maitres d' on Cunard, they do not know, when you approach them at their station requesting a table change, what fares you've paid, nor do they care. They really, most of them, only care about making a passenger pleased with dining arrangements.

When you get to your cabin, take the table assignment card you will find there to Britannia dining and check the tables and see what your table number seats. It's ok to roam in the room, you could be up, down; ask for help if need be. If table is a two, you're in. If not, ask at the Maitre d' desk for a change. Be aware twos are popular, and limited. Good luck!

Fann1sh, good on dad! Does he fly? You might want to go over and take a westbound TA. On all three Cunard Queens I've always felt a P2 booking is the best value on the ship, so for QM2, yes. But Princess cabins are very tight for three no matter how close the family. However, in Queens Grill, cabins are roomier, you're on Nine Deck and cabins 9025 and 9034 are wheelchair accessible. This might come in handy with the equipment you travel with. However, only two to a cabin, not three. I'd still think Cunard could do something.

I'd only deal with a travel agent that actually knows the ship, has been on, not an agency that just says they do good cruise deals and work only off screens. They all go to Cunard. You can do that. You might source information directly from Cunard via an 800 number Ask for an agent experienced with handicapped cabins. It just seems odd to me Queens Grill doesn't have handicapped cabins for three or are unable to put a nightly bed in 9034.

As for formal nights, dad could rent, yes, just go in to the shop first thing for best fit. Probably $400 for the voyage. or could just wear a dark suit. Let sis dazzle in the dinning room, you'll have great fun!

Really, Eric, no need to worry. No need to wrangle your own bags. Cunard tags have codes telling handlers what holds and decks to send bags to. What you've heard isn't so. If you've given your bags to the handlers, then gone to check-in, by the time you rush to your cabin to put away your carry-on materials you may find your bags already there. if not, no worry. Check out the ship, they'll be there upon your return.