Windsurfboy

If you want to gamble there is a new airline starting up London to New York in 2024, Global airlines. Good opening bargins

No need to wait this would pass for black and white night, if it was charcoal grey😁

Maybe that's the new dress code. "Dress as if you are in front of a Jury" We could have special orange themed nights "dress as if you've been convicted"

Not wearing a jacket is 100% in line with Cunard's dress code, so Cunard do not see it as a drop in standards, just a change in the definition of smart attire. So there is no question standards have changed, but dropped is a personal judgement and out of line with Cunard's view . As to trainers, if they looked as if they had been used for a cross country run , then I'd agree standards have dropped. If they were fashionable shoes in the style of trainers, it's a sign of standards changing not dropping. No doubt many will disagree

I should have said choice of table rather than special treatment

I love the speculation on CC and how there's always a difference of opinion. It looks like there are some things that P&O can do to make things better, but at the margins if there is fundamentally a shortage of tables when full. Please anybody got any numbers @molecrochip can you dig some out. Anyway here are some contentious ideas. To increase capacity encourage sharing. Have more big tables and if you want to share you go straight to front of queue. Publicise way to get table straight away is to share Introduce a maximum table time of 1 and half hours. Stop serving tea coffee in included dining rooms Pre covid and pre big ships, select got preference as to dining slot. In all freedom dining like Arvia perhaps select get to front of virtual queue , or the app opens hour earlier for select.

The Q5s feel more spacious than a Q3 and have a far nicer balcony. However they are st back if you feel sea. Q3 and Q4 are almost identical except Q3 dead midships. I'm not sure on Q.E. that Q3s get any special treatment, they are basically standard Queens grill suites only a small difference in price above 4,5 and 6s. It's only Q1 and Q2 that are the premium suites

All I go by is on my first cruise on Aurora, everyone had an allocated place at one of the two sittings. So the buffet capacity, plus Sindhu and the glass house were extra. If I read the P&O promise correctly , everyone if they choose should be able to eat at a waiter served included venue every night. Do they have anywhere near the capacity for this. Or have they planned for significant numbers eating in paid for restaurants and buffet to make it work. Can't tell without numbers. Key is how many included waiter served covers

Reading various posts including @Damiang latest and informative thread. Arvia seems to have plenty of good dining choices but always a nightmare to get into. This could be due to two things A) The way it is organised : the app that is not an app being misused or rubbish, maybe combined with the mixture of fixed times and freedom leading to an inefficient use of dining rooms B) simply too few seats or covers as they call it in trade for amount of people. In the old days with club dining two sittings you knew for 6000 people they would have to have 3000 covers. I've tried hard to find out have many people each of the venues can seat, does it add up to 3000. Or is Arvia based on faster turn over than twice per evening. Or are they hoping / forcing more people to use buffet. Don't want a whingefest, but if anyone, perhaps Molechip , has any numbers could they share them,

It's a carnival problem same happened on Cunard

Thank you, very interesting. My read is Arvia has some good food and a good variety of choices of types of food, also some good entertainment. As someone rightly said above it's all the problems booking that let it down.

Looking at this choice, the Brittania Club premium seems redundant. For less money can have exactly same cabin and eat in the 4 very nice speciality restaurants.

Do you think your dining booking problems are due to party size or is it a more general issue PS my wife ,who I nickname widow twanky would love the article on laundrette

My argument is there should be no link. That is what professional training is all about , everyone likes a different level of interaction. Chat to the chatty people yes, but provide equal service to all. What you describe is yes human nature, but professional training should override this and give everyone the attention and service they require.

This started off with the premise interaction resulted in better service , which is different to chatiness , it's remembering what people like, acting on request etc etc. For a retiring person may not want chatiness.

Why not

Professional training and good systems should mean all are remembered , and wellcomed back. Why should "retiring" folk be disadvantaged, Cunard should be the height of professionalism as well as friendliness.

Some people love chatting to staff (ourselves) some are quiet. This should make absolutely no difference to the level of service you recieve. I know it's been said, it's just human nature for staff to come to people they know and chat to. However professional training should override this and mean that all recieve the same high level of service. This is differenent to recognising loyalty, which should be part of the system not left to memory, also it's loyalty across all 3 ships that counts, so no member of staff will know this without a system.

I think you missed my point, something like getting the table you want should be taken for granted that's not subtle. Neither should be the fact that a Q1,Q2 butler should serve less suites and have more time to service cabin at exactly time you want. That's just good management. What I was talking about is attention in dining room. It should be done in away that neither the Q1s or anyone else notices.

There is nothing wrong with Q1 , Q2 getting better service, they have paid a lot more. It should also be so subtle that they don't notice it.

New passengers shouldn't have to learn things, it should be duty of MD or head waiter and butler to ask is this your first-time on Cunard / QG and explain everything thing you mention to new passengers on the first lunch and when butler introduces themselves on first afternoon.

Why not they cost the same per day, circa £1000 A night per cabin , so you should get same service . No excuse

My logic is if the best food on the ship is in the pay for dinning, then why go QG.

One would hope you could get any dish from any of the restaurants in QG , or it would make one wonder why pay QG premium. As our main QG draw is food.

I don't think you are blinkered or partisan. But is it worth considering that as a very regular Q.V. passenger, as you say one of the family. This coupled with being in Q1. Then in QG everyone is equal but perhaps some are more equal than others.