davyjones

On 10/8/2018 at 6:31 PM, mef_57 said:

It is simple common courtesy is to turn up on time.

My view is that if you are more than 15 minutes late then it would be better if you didn't turn up at all, instead of confirming to your dining companions that you have no consideration for them.

On my last cruise on a table of six, one couple had the courtesy to do that one evening when they were running late and went to the buffet instead.

However the other couple turned up late every night, never earlier than 10 minutes late, usually 20 minutes, and occasionally more. At 10 minutes late the waiters hustled them into making a quick decision from the menu as the rest of us had already decided. When they turned up 20 minutes late they seemed slightly shocked that we were part way through the first course.

Thank you for outlining what the waiter did as well. I agree it is common courtesy - and I would also hope people would tell the server or maitre d' if they intended to eat elsewhere so others weren't kept waiting. I most likely wouldn't decide until same day, but I would do my best to convey my change of dinner plans.

Later than what time in the above references to 'late' ?  The Daily Programme states dining from 18:00 with last orders by 18:30.

Last week I received a questionnaire re why I booked my latest cruise.

Today I have received this email:

As a valued guest of Cunard, we would like to offer you the opportunity to tell us what you think about our communications.

We have commissioned Acacia Avenue International Limited, an independent market research agency, to talk to our guests.

The research consists of two parts:

· Part 1 - involves you completing a short task (less than 20 minutes), in advance of your agreed session time.

· Part 2 - requires you to participate in a 45-minute discussion in a central location to you.

For those guests selected to take part, as a thank you for your participation we will be offering payment for your time.

If you are interested, please click here to register your interest and answer a few questions so that we can select the most appropriate session for you.

Thank you for taking the time to read this email and click on the link.

DJ

Regarding the issue of the location of Club cabins on QE/QV AS clearly needs to look at the QV deck plan for 2019 where four A1 cabins have been created on deck 7 (but not on QE) so some respite for a lucky few from clomping feet and scraping chairs above.

DJ

Hi,

During the 4 days we were there it was allocated to a family group (I think), a very impressive chocolate cake arrived on the last night.

I should have checked the table number as it seemed a great location.

This was our table (number 200). The chocolate cake was fantastic - what would normally be something sickly sweet if bought from a shop in the UK was delicious.

Miniature Wunderland is a short stroll from the town hall where the coach drops you off. On the way you can go up 76m in a lift in the spire of St Nikolai that also has a memorial exhibition to the bombings - http://www.hamburg-travel.com/attractions/culture-in-hamburg/culture-from-a-to-z/st.-nikolai-memorial/

DJ

I booked MW just over two months ago for the 25 March and even back then the first bookable slot was 13:00 and as someone has mentioned they are now all gone.

Good to hear about the shuttle bus although we might walk if it is a nice day.

DJ

Too many passengers for my liking.

DJ

I have just received an email from Cunard offering extra OBS for bookings in a period that covers V833. For a BE the price has gone up £100 each in the last week but you get £130 ($175) each back in OBS. So, again, not quite the deal it seems but a bit better than last week.

DJ

The spa facilities on the QV/QE and QM2 are like chalk and cheese. I thoroughly dislike the QV/QE spa - it gets very crowded, the changing rooms are out of the spa area and down a public corridor, the changing rooms are shared with the gym so are also crowded and the only thing better in the QV/QE spa are the warmed tiled beds - assuming you can get one. Personally I will never go in again - even for free.

DJ.

As usual it all depends. Back in January I booked full fare V833 BE grade for £1300. It is now on sale for £1639 with the saver fare at £1367 so the great saving not what it would seem. I have five cruises booked, all pretty early on, and all have continued to rise in price with the saver fares never less than my initial full fare.

DJ.

Look what is above you. Personally I would only consider 1036 to 1008. Between 1040 and 1042 is a bulkhead so forward of this is quieter as you can hear the music from the Queens room when it is loud e.g. party/disco nights. Above 1042 and back is the bar serving area for the Queens room and in 1040 we heard the odd crash and bash till they had cleaned up at around 1am.

DJ.

Normally when trying to browse to cunard.com from the UK you get re-directed back to cunard.co.uk. Right now the opposite is happening.

DJ.

These cabins might be affected by noise from the Queen's Room. There is a bulkhead running across the ship between 1040 and 1042. On this year's New Year cruise on QV there was a distinct reduction in noise as we passed this point (going towards the bow).

DJ

We are on Q614 and will be over-nighting in Reykjavik so having the chance to do two tours. I note that places visited with the 'Ring of Fire' and 'Golden Circle' tours overlap somewhat. Has anyone done these tours? Would doing both be a waste of money?

Regards

DJ

I always take a UK 4 socket extension lead with built in USB sockets that makes plugging things in easier and saves bringing some chargers.

Many moons ago on the QV when packing to leave and checking under the bed I discovered a single UK type socket there.

DJ

I comment on this issue in my post titled "Q519 - A Few Observations" that is a bit further down.

DJ.

In the past, the menus were basically the same in all 3 rooms, with added entries as you went up the ladder, so to speak. Are the Grills menus now very different from the MDR menu?

 

Sorry to hear about the abundance of beef. One of us has to avoid it for health reasons, and the other just prefers lighter food.

Completely different. I was rather annoyed as the Britannia restaurant was getting everything I wanted; they even got duck a l'orange and all the soups I prefer. This was the situation on Q519 and as the menus are evolving in response to feedback it is liable to change. I don't know when the roll-out to QV and QM2 will be.

DJ

In the PG cabin I was in there were US, UK and Euro type sockets above the dressing table and a Euro socket behind the bedside cabinet as I moved it wanting to plug in my phone charger. I admit I have not come across the Euro sockets before on Cunard ships but maybe they are being retrofitted to cater for our continental cousins, especially now many cruises go via Hamburg. The retrofitting may also explain why the socket stays on when the room card is removed.

DJ

The free to use sauna was still there last week on QE and it is off the gym changing room so is single sex. It seemed to be de rigueur to use it naked.

DJ.

For cruises of more than one week we have only been in Britannia but we have been in PG several times on QM2 so PG for two weeks was a new experience for us. The big change was that a new PG and QG menu was being given its first outing on this cruise. Much to the dismay of the more seasoned PG passengers old favourites such as rack of lamb, duck a l’orange, dover sole and crepes were off the menu entirely. Although in the past one has had the impression of being able to order ‘off menu’ in PG this was, in fact, just the Maitre’ D being kind and ‘borrowing’ stuff from the QG. The general gist of the new menus is to differentiate more clearly between the different classes (for wont of a better word) on board. A new menu entry is something called the ‘Cunard Signature Classic’ where dishes such as Lobster and Chateaubriand appeared but only one per night. The menu was top-heavy with beef – one night you could have had it in four different ways. The food is now being cooked to order rather than pre-prepared so if everyone turns up a once, e.g. after the Captain’s cocktail party, then there is a delay. One night someone with the name badge ‘Development Chef’ was outside the QG looking for feedback so the new menus are not, as yet, set in stone. No complaints however about the food once it arrived. There was a rumour that in future the PG and QG restaurants would be closed on port days for lunch as so few people used them – which on this cruise was true.

Watch out for the hard sell in the spa on embarkation day and a certain economy with the truth as to the availability of spa passes. We were told that only full cruise spa passes were available despite a sign outside saying 3 and 5 day passes were. We declined the full cruise pass and came back and bought just day passes as required. Unless you went late (17:30’ish) there were no beds available and no space to put stuff whilst you used the pool and saunas. You also had to walk out of the spa area to use the toilet (in the changing room) whereas on the QM2 it is all in the one place and having to share the changing room with the gym often meant I had to wait to get a shower. When I asked where the spa sandals referred to in the spa brochure were one receptionist said she had never seen any whilst her colleague said people kept stealing them and some more were on order so it might be wise to bring your own.

The ballroom dancing was lacking much Latin content. Annoyance number one was the band break CD being played. One night the pianist was injured so couldn’t play so the CD was on filling the time. When it started to repeat someone at the next table went to see the social hostess to see if other CDs ‘were available’ which indeed they were but as they were unlabelled nobody apparently knew what was on them but the bold decision was taken to stick one in and if two rumbas in a row came out then so be it. And so we had four waltzes before another CD was shoved in. Despite all this the original CD kept resurfacing over the days. Annoyance two was couples who could clearly dance well but insisted on doing a whole waltz or foxtrot two moves forward then one back; so just as you thought the coast was clear they would reappear again to stymie your progress. And annoyance three was that the band and/or the singer seem to have decided that the world does not have enough tunes written as foxtrots and rumbas so we had the strange announcements of X played as Y as in a quickstep being played as a foxtrot or a foxtrot as a rumba; to my untrained ear and feet this didn’t work.

The dress code was adhered to but on informal nights most ladies seemed to have made an effort and most men not if making an effort is putting a tie on. Most men danced jacketless.

Some useless facts: The euro type socket above the dressing table stays live even when the door key card is removed. The lamp socket behind the bedside cabinet is a euro type one.

Overall a very enjoyable cruise and we will be back on Cunard later this year and next.

DJ

Thank you for the replies. I have had a word with DW and the outcome was that she, unreasonably to my mind, refused to give up 6kg of dresses and shoes so it looks like going to the gym will be a new experience for me after many cruises.

DJ

Following a shoulder injury I need to do 15 minutes of exercises using two 3kg free weights. At home I do this in slippers and pyjamas and do not break into a sweat or get out of breath. Does anyone know what is the minimum gym wear I would need and if they have suitable free weights?

Thanks in advance,

DJ

On our first Costa cruise children were using the dance floor as a playground and during a tango I stepped back onto something soft that later turned out to be a child's hand. The crying boy was paraded past me after the dance but the look from the mother was of 'I told him not to play there...' On our last Costa cruise the daily program explicitly stated that the dance floor was not a playground.

We were lucky enough to be on the first cruise where the Wilfried and Ilona, the ex-European Ten Dance champions, were the professional dance couple. Before we knew who they were they stood out from the crowd in the way they glided around the floor with no histrionics; so clearly a good dancer doesn't need to be a showy dancer to be noticed.

DJ

This issue has been going on for some months and I raised it with a Cunard agent who confirmed it didn't work as expected. If you use an internet VPN service you can choose to appear to be based in the US where the Cunard web site does allow you to see cabin availability.

DJ.

what ship did your friends sail on?

 

qv.

This turned into more of an ordeal than expected and showed both the best and worst sides of Cunard customer care. Once on board my friends proceeded to the future cruise office and tried to purchase FCDs on our behalf only to be told that this was not possible as we had to be on board so somewhat defeating the object of the purpose.

My friends went back a few days later with the Ask Cunard web page where it states you can buy FCDs for family and friends not on board but still the salespeople were adamant that this was impossible to do.

I contacted a Cunard Personal Cruise Specialist and when they contacted the ship they too were told that it was impossible even though the CPCS confirmed that it has been possible for several years.

The CPCS was able to allow me to buy the FCDs and have them applied to a booking I then made on the basis that my friends were on board and were being prevented by Cunard staff from buying us the FCDs.

So a good ending on the FCD front plus I found a CPCS who is top-notch and really goes the extra mile. One hopes that the shipboard staff will be brought up-to-date on these matters.

DJ