transatlantic fan

Do you think the port side Deck 3L will still be available as a thoroughfare to the Queen's Room or will all traffic be routed to the starboard side? The refit would be a good chance to ban smoking in the Chruchill's and find some new use for that room. The constant reek of cigar smoke makes half of the CC an unpleasant place to be, and here speaks an ex-smoker :rolleyes: Shame about the loss of glass lifts, they were handy when going from steerage cabins on Deck 8 to Britannia.

The glass lifts use for Kings Court never went to deck 8:confused:

Another legend gone, Did a lot for charity including on the Cunard ships.

Far too many people going already this year from the celeb world.

Again RIP Sir Terry.:(

Post Refit Deckplans are here.

 

http://www.cunard.co.uk/Documents/2016-2017-deck-plans/QM2%20Deck%20Plans%20for%20Web.pdf

 

Now with "Corinthia Lounge", "Verandah" labels in their correct places. Also worthy of note:-

 

• Glass Lifts in The Grand Lobby / Kings Court are gone - which we kind of knew
  
• Sports Centre's new location is shown. It's now by the steps as you go up to Deck 13 from the Pavilion Pool - Might be a bit windy unless there will be more structural changes up there?
  
• Veuve Cliquot Champagne Bar is now just labelled "Champagne Bar"
  

Thanks for that, glad to see they have not removed the casino bar like on the other ships.

Why did you book if you considered the gratuity part to be "ridiculous"? If you are as your screen name suggests you already know the crew compensation system. The gratuity system if badly broken but the crew will work to make your 26 days enjoyable. If the terms are not agreeable then book on an all-inclusive line. (An quite frankly I cannot imagine the Purser actually encouraging you to remove them.)

Try reading it again if you can.

I said the purser said that , and yes she did say that.

And yes I know how the system works as I have a couple of friends who work onboard so probably know a little more than some.

I would like to raise three points:

The cost of fuel has dropped over 30%. It wil interesting to see when the 2017 programme is announced whether we will see a noticable reduction in prices. After all, I can remember when the oil price dramatically increased a fuel supplement was soon incurred. Of course someone is bound to raise the old Chestnut about forward buying, but I think that that argument is very thin.

Secondly, having just returned from the QE Christmas cruise, which was very enjoyable, we went for the automatic gratuities. On the last morning I mentioned to our restaurant steward that we have opted for the auto gratuities and did the company notify them of this. They replied, no. They were both excellent and we gave them an additional tip each. Do members think that the stweards expect these extra tips? i don't know what to think. We also gave our cabin steward an extra tip (although we didnt ask him to do anything for us other than make the beds etc).

Lastly, we have taken two successive Christmas/New Year cruises and they both had very similar itineraries. Both had calls at Cadiz and Lisbon where it was cold and damp. I wish Cunard would cut out these two ports and spend more time in the sun, cruising down to the Cape Verde Islands with calls in the Canary Islands and Madeira for the fireworks. This could still be a 15 day cruise. We decided to give this Christmas a miss as we feel that this years itinerary is even worse (Vigo in December or January!) Looking forward to reading all of your views.

We are doing a 26 night cruise this December and the total tips for that would be $702.00 for the two of us.

I am not sure as yet if I will leave the gratuities on or take it off and give them something at the end.

When I was last on I spoke to the purses office about the upcoming trip and she said that paying $702 was ridiculous and advised me to remove it but we shall see.

They put the price up after a week of the ultimate upgrade deal,we booked the club balcony and got the p2 for the same price for the 26 night round trip on the Qm2 in December before they increased the price...just have to be quick.

We have had this suite before and loved it.

Loved walking in the room via the glass lift.

There is something I am wondering about after perusing the Seabourn forum. The luxury lines are all inclusive and tipping is generally not encouraged, but many passengers will show their appreciation with a donation to the crew welfare fund. Seabourn has recently decreed that non-refundable OBC cannot be used for such donations.

 

On my upcoming Cunard cruises I have more OBC than I can easily use. I had been thinking of using some of that OBC to adjust the gratuities upwards. I'm now wondering if I will be allowed to use my OBC to increase the daily service charge. Does anybody know?

 

Thanks

Roy

Yes you can do that if you wish.

Next installment is the Verandah as we thought.

This all seems like a hell of a lot of work to complete in 25 days.

Hope it's already for the 21st June when we d apart Hamburg.

If they are removing the lifts I think that is a great shame.

I am aware they show some games onboard but does anyone know if they show the 3pm games. Because in England TV stations are not allowed to broadcast them.

Yes they do show them onboard.

Bathrooms seem nice on the refurb, no more shower curtain. I hope that will also be the case in the regular Britannia rooms and not just the club and single rooms.

 

I am disappointed that most Britannia rooms won't get a refurb until 2017. The inside cabin we had last week was getting rather tired, with the lacquer on the bedside table starting to peel and the television system is already years outdated. We're hoping to do another B2B transatlantic next October so I'll be keeping an eye on the refurb and hopefully we'll be able to get one of the new rooms. If not, I hope there will be a significant enough price difference between refurb and non-refurb rooms.

Not sure the older club rooms will get the glass shower doors , thought it was just the new ones on deck 13...I hope they do though.

Just bring a portable device and watch it on the Itv Player.

Commodore Christopher Rynd is currently in charge.

Many Thanks...Enjoy the cruise.

May I ask who the captain is as we join the ship when you depart.

Many Thanks.

I think they will start from the top to deck 8 then decks 4 5 and 6 will be done at a later date.

Just my opinion.

I would recommend staying at the Queens hotel as you are In walking distance of the things you want to see.

you could get the train about £10 each or book a taxi city wide do it for about £40.

02392833333.

Portsmouth has far more to offer than Southmpton.

Enjoy.

Hi All,

 

Next week, I will traveling on the Queen Victoria on her 11 night voyage from Rome to Southampton. We booked a Q4 Guarantee Cabin through our Travel Agent in Belgium as it is really hard to get a booking with Cunard through other channels like the internet.

 

The Cunard website is even blocked and we are always guided to a small local broker's website with limited info.

 

Our cabin was assigned three weeks ago and unfortunately did not got upgraded even higher as the ship is completely booked.

 

Apparently, we were booked on a 'Saver Fare'. After some research this means we are no longer able to take the shuttle buses from/to the ship.

 

On my last voyage on Queen Elizabeth in 2013, this was not the case.

 

Can anyone confirm this ?

 

Thanks !! Max

You can still take them but will have to pay.

I wonder if the club balcony rooms on deck 12 will be get the same treatment including the glass shower doors,I like the look of them.

Maybe the TV is going to be somewhere opposite the sofa?

 

It will be to the left of the bed either on the wall or the unit as it is now.

The idea of auto tipping is you longer need to deal with any other tipping

You asked about customs and that is not done on the ship it is done just before you leave the terminal, Green nothing to declare Red to declare.

I would assume they will update the wi fi during the refit next May.

Something we may look into on our next back to back.

I think they are going to be putting large flat screens in the rooms like they have on QE,would also be nice if they could do something about the poor picture quality as well as the programmes shown.

A wi fi upgrade would also be nice.

If the Dogs are getting a Lamp post I want HD TV;)