Wonky

I saw on another site that coffee/ hot chocolate was being charged for in the Grills Lounge on QA. Surely this can’t be true?

12 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

For a full World Cruise? That doesn’t seem bad at all £54k for a WC; £7k+ for a week is typical. 

Sorry, I didn’t make it clear at all, QA is £27,000 more than QM2 for world voyage of same length.

On 5/10/2024 at 2:39 PM, buchanan101 said:

50% bigger than QE and QV  (though not sure of ratios in Grills)

 

How is the pricing? Is that comparable between ships?

 

Lots of sold out cruises overall though..

I’ve been keeping an eye on the 2026 world voyages and they certainly are more expensive, £27,000 in fact😳! (QG)

Anyone on board have an obstructed balcony? I’m thinking as the lifeboats are hung lower they may well be not that obstructed?

Problems of not having the time to get a shakedown cruise to learn from.

Was there another ship in with the Viking? Mysterious how there is room for QM2 and QV but not Viking and QV or was she parked badly?!🤣

Dynamic pricing is just that. I’ve been tracking a “cheapy” obstructed balcony add on cruise to one we already have booked and it has ranged from £494pp to £625pp not trending in any particular direction, up and down like a yo-yo! 

1 hour ago, London-Calling said:

It's funny, people never used to need TVs, balconies, atrium, hot tubs and water parks, on their cruises.

Or enough lifeboats…

Are the soft drink options reduced on longer cruises as well?

If it’s a fly cruise also check out if it’s available as 2 separate week cruises. This can sometimes be cheaper or work out better with more on board spend. I’ve got a 3 week cruise later this year booked as 3 cruises but all in the same cabin. A TA can help with this😉

7 minutes ago, sfred said:

  QVs roof over the deck 9 winter garden is a flat shape and used to retract (before being fixed shut). QE's is angled and was always fixed.  The deck 9 pool area doors to the winter garden are in the centre on QE, and on the sides on QV.

For me this is quite an improvement, even if roof closed the winter garden on QV is much less of a sauna!

Even more bonkers MIL and SIL have times an hour apart and they are in the SAME cabin?!?!?!!

18 minutes ago, Winifred 22 said:

It is my understanding that she is hoping to attract many new Cunard First timers which can only be good for business in the long term.  Without attracting new folk they won’t be able to fill their ships with an ever aging population of core customers anyway. I for one have no reservations  and am looking forward to being onboard in July. As I only sail from Southampton and don’t fly I will make it work and enjoy myself regardless. 

If you have no reservations they won’t let you on🤣

13 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

and having also spoken to staff, I have my own view of staff remuneration so my positive assumption is just as valid as your seemingly negative one.

 

I often wonder if some staff play to the passengers preconceived ideas on a few things. My interactions with staff usually shed light from a positive angle.

 

Funny that!

It is interesting, I will continue to ask, on the last I was told that the pay will not change no matter how many remove the charge or leave it on. Until the last cruise I tended to leave one on and take the other off and tip cash for those we had more interaction with. I’ve changed that now and will just take more cash.

39 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

On one particular ten night cruise, we had $$$$s to 'get rid of'.

 

I really tried my best and family and girlfriends had exceptional Christmas presents that year, but I still had some left and so I went to the front desk and had the remainder assigned to staff gratuities.

Better that than leave it in Cunard's coffers.

You are of course assuming that this money will go to staff and not to Cunard’s coffers. In my opinion, having spoken to staff on board this is quite an assumption.

They were quite vague but definitely said wifi, some spa services and other “things” and has been mentioned on other posts that there would be some sort of drop In category if a certain number of cruises were not completed in a certain period. No timescales or number of nights required were mentioned. 

Yes choice for me is the key, which by the sounds of it is a good thing. Having had a chat with the on board sales staff they tell me a change to benefits in general is imminent. (That probably means this decade!). So the guest will get to choose the benefit they receive rather than being told what they are getting. I’m guessing you’d choose between wifi or soft drinks package or discounts maybe? Doesn’t sound like the complete overhaul I was hoping for but can’t be any worse.

https://www.cunard.com/content/dam/cunard/marketing-assets/pdf/booking-condition-pdf/cunard-booking-conditions-december-2023.pdf
 

Terms here, may differ by country, page 10 is what you’re looking for.

Really enjoyed my evening pizza on QE last week. Only downside was the amount of ingredients crossed out on the order slips.

Strange way of referring to that benefit! To be honest think I’d rather have the on board spend anyway!

What is the diamond lunch? Is this the lunch at verandah/alternative dining or something different?

2 minutes ago, NE John said:

How was the Cunard dress code adhered to in the South Pacific? White dinner jackets? DJ/tux at all?

Much better than when we were on board from Barcelona to Singapore at the end of last year. 

Completely agree with @sfred. The team in PG were superb. Stanley, I think has to take a lot of credit for this, I’m sure not long before he dons the grey tie of senior maitre D’. You must have been very close to us as we had Nell and Alma occasionally serve us but Alvin and Khosi were our main ones, also brilliant.

The only con I found was the housekeeping team that seem obsessed with keeping hold of “their” glasses from the room and were desperate not to replace them if we dared to take them out for a drink and leave them in a different location!

Her arrival this morning..

So probably one for @bluemarble or another aficionado. Is this the closest the 3 Queens have been to each other in sometime?? All in the same country’s water’s albeit a very big country!