Phil50

Excellent, thank you both.

I had to read your post twice....apart from the Platinum bit it's exactly the same as us...travelling down from Staffordshire the day before, staying in hotel, boarding at 1330 and on Deck 11 - you'll probably be in the next cabin to us!!!

My Brother in Law and his wife are getting on the train at Stafford and we're getting on at Birmingham. I drive trains for CrossCountry so it will be nice for me to relax whilst one of my colleagues chauffeurs me to Southampton. Are you travelling by train too?

Thanks John for the info on Joshua Levine, sounds very interesting. I am currently reading John Peters book, "Tornado Down" which is fascinating so really looking forward to seeing him.

Thanks Dory - I am ready to be bowled over!!! .....less than 3 weeks to go now and I am seriously excited, more so than any other holiday I've ever done in my (nearly) 50 years....

I do have a few questions still......

Whilst I understand we will be allocated a table in the Brittania restaurant for dinner, will we use that same table for breakfast? I'm guessing tea and coffee are included with breakfast?

What are the opening times for the gym?

Is the promenade deck open 24 hours and in most weather conditions?

Can you take books from the library, to your room for example?

I will probably have some further questions but I do try my best to look through all the fantastic information available on here first.

We are first time Cunarders and for our TA on 18th October we've been allocated a 1330 embarkation time, so I guess we're really lucky. We are on deck 11, Brittania.

....I hand them a pile of luggage and a fiver and Bob's Your Uncle.

Is it common practice to tip the luggage handlers separately/with cash? Thanks

I am more like a hobbit on cruises: 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, although only 1 dinner and a very late night snack in the buffet.

 

Afternoon tea and snacks of course.

 

:eek:....at least you restrain yourself at dinner ;)

Yes I don't think I'll be able to manage breakfast everyday. Or afternoon tea!!

Is room service available anytime during the day and is there a cover charge for this? Thanks

Fabulous, thanks HH :-)

I am struggling to find a menu for the Golden Lion. I am very interested in having lunch there a few days on our WB crossing in 4 weeks. I'm getting excited now and in full on planning mode, I've managed to print out menus for other restaurants but can't find this one anywhere. Those menus look lovely - can't wait! But I reckon we'll be skipping some meals some days as it's going to be a heck of a lot of food for 7 consecutive days....do you seasoned cruisers "skip" meals?

Also, my wife and myself don't drink so we may be interested in a soft drinks package. I noticed on Cunards website that there's a "new" $10 pppd soft drink package available. Anyone know anything about this or used it?

I also have a question regarding the laundry service/launderette. We are on deck 11, I believe there's a laundry room on that deck. Will we need to take some washing powder ourselves or is it provided?

I'm sure to be on here regularly now with a few last minute questions! So thanks in advance :)

I hope you really enjoy the experience, it is a lovely way to celebrate a big birthday. We first sailed with Cunard for our Honeymoon in 2007 and I was absolutely thrilled with the trip. Hope you enjoy your birthday, I am sure you will.

Thank you very much. I’m sure I will too! Had another 2 hour work break in Southampton today so went to the Titanic museum. It was quite good and gets me in the mood. (Plus a nice bonus when I’m being paid by work to do stuff like that!)

Well I’ll have your check in slot as you say you’ve been delayed “a few times” previously!!! So some people are late and some are early - so there’s not really any issue here is there, it’s got a bit silly if you ask me. I will be in Southampton that morning and IF Cunard are happy to let me on early I will most certainly accept - I noticed you say you “usually” travel.... so maybe it’s not a big thing for you but I can assure you it is for me. I’ve been waiting for years to get my wife on a cruise and she’s finally agreed as it’s my 50th Birthday treat, we booked it almost 18 months ago, we visited the ship last November, and I can honestly say I cannot wait to get on board! Excited is an understatement. So I’m sorry but I may be one of those “infiltrators” as you call them....

Checking the NY Harbor Webcam archives, QM2's arrival time has been pretty consistent for her last four arrivals in New York available for viewing there (June 10 through August 3, 2018). In each of those four cases, QM2 has passed under the Verrazano Narrows bridge between 4:45 and 5:00am. I believe that means she would have been alongside at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal sometime between 6:00 and 6:30am. Early self-help disembarkation is typically scheduled to commence at 7:00am, per the landing arrangements document distributed on board.

That’s great, thank you. Will be nice if we can disembark around 0700-0800 as I thought we’d be more like 1000-1100. Our boys are flying out ahead of us so they’ll already have our hotel room sorted so that will work well, a little nap on arrival at the hotel would be good but I doubt that’s going to happen with all that goes on in New York!

A similar question - does anyone know what time QM2 generally arrives in NYC?

Booked via Booking.com but will email them and ask them. Thanks for the heads-up.

It seems to be getting heated.

 

I see no reason against people arriving earlier , there are many good reasons for some to do so.

 

as long as

 

1) There is a separate queue for early arrivals, both for boarding and luggage drop off, that slots them in only when ontime arrivals have been dealt with.

 

2) They Are happy to sit and wait for their allotted boarding time , accepting that early boarding is a bonus not a right.

 

3) Don't keep bothering the Staff whilst waiting

 

4) Cunard puts aside a separate space for early arrivals, for example those more than 30 minutes early, to wait, thus avoiding chaos.

 

This all requires a bit of management by Cunard and patience by early arrivals .

Agree 100%.

I would like to think of myself as someone who has, and has been brought up with good manners and respect for other people. So as excited as I am about this trip, I will only attempt an early embarkation in these circumstances you suggest. I appreciate the work that the staff have to get done and we need to consider them, but if someone from Cunard assures me it is fine to board early then I certainly will do! As I mentioned previously, once we've had breakfast at the Grand Harbour Hotel and checked out, there's not a lot else to do (I go to Southampton regularly with my job, in fact I had 2 hours break there today), so I certainly don't need to do any sightseeing, and although I know it's not the nicest place, but I'll happily sit in the terminal building....

It's definitely coming around fast, I've even thought about packing! If you go to the Cunard site & look for enrichment programmes you can download a list for QM2 for all the speakers that will be onboard.

Thanks, found it. Yes looks very interesting, looking forward to hearing John Peters and the Historian chap seems to be an expert on Normandy/Dunkirk so looking forward to that too. To be honest, it's not something I've ever really done, apart from Mark Beaumont - the man who cycled the world, so it will be something different for me. I'm now getting worried I'll run out of time!

I understand what you are saying and I agree that it’s quite annoying when people don’t stick to their allotted times in all manner of different circumstances, I only started asking the question after reading on here about people getting on board early. I hadn’t realised it was quite so structured. So I’m going to adhere to my check in time, which will hopefully be decent!

...What difference does it make as to what time one boards?

 

You have your stateroom, and the ship is not going to run out of food or drink.

Makes a big difference to us as this is a really special trip for us having never cruised before, so I want to maximise my time on this amazing liner. We’re staying in a hotel in Southampton the night before, I’ll be up first thing to watch her arrive hopefully. If I could board at 0600 I would! So it’s not a case of worrying about food and drink, it’s just an excitement thing!

Apologies if I am adding to any congestion but I will take a chance and get to the terminal early. What else is there to do anyway?

Hi Benny, Yes it’s not far off now eh!? Are you doing it both ways or just WB?

How did you find out which speakers are on board???

Thanks Wenlyn,

Hooked, who me??? Only gone and booked a Baltic cruise on Queen Victoria for next August :-)

And that's before we've even sailed with Cunard, but I'm that confident we'll love it!

I'll never forget my first sailing-in Manhattan (and the only one) on QM2.

 

It was a very cold November morning, probably around 3:00 and the city lights where very far, maybe 50-75 km away still. What stroke me and still does was that I could already hear a lonely church bell from the shore.

That sends shivers up my spine - sounds fantastic. As a regular early riser with my job as a train driver, I'll have no problem getting up at silly o'clock. I always say if I can do it for work I can sure do it for my own enjoyment! I love the early hours, best part of the day for me once I'm up. Plus I want the 25th to last as long as possible as it's going to be a very special day indeed - I couldn't believe my luck when I looked at the schedules and she arrives in NYC on that day!!

I just had quick look on Cunards website to check the Symphony Orchestra are still on it, and the cheapest fare for this crossing now is £10,000!!! So I'm guessing it certainly pays to book early.

Brilliant, thank you all :)

To be honest then, I think as first time Cunarders we'll just stick to the Brittania as it's all new to us anyway. Although I reckon after a couple of days we'll end up skipping some meals (I'm very active and I'm currently training to get myself as fit and lean as possible in anticipation of putting a couple of pounds on!!!). On that note, I'm hoping there's no charge to use the gym!? - I don't really like gyms, but I do a lot of cycling so intend to use the static bikes a little. "Intend" to though ;). A few walks around the deck is probably more realistic.

Sorry about this but it’s a dreaded “roll call” question! There’s a roll call for the round trip crossing, is it best to stick with that even though we are just doing WB, or start a new roll call?

Whilst I’m here I might as well ask a couple of other questions too...(only 9 weeks to go and getting just a little excited!!!)...

1. I’m still a bit confused about mobile phone useage on board. I certainly don’t want to use my phone very much, but maybe a quick catch up with the boys to check the house is still standing once or twice during the week! Will I be able to get any phone or 3G signal for this or will I have to purchase some kind of data plan? Or is there any free WiFi available?

2. Looking at dining, we may dine somewhere else 1 or 2 nights rather than Brittania. Thinking of the Pub, what is the cover charge for this and is it worth it?

3. Do I have to “activate” our onboard spending money at all?

4. We were really looking forward to using the Sauna/Steam room etc after having seen that area on our ship visit, but I’ve only just found out it’s an extra charge! That’s seems a bit naughty by Cunard IMHO. We will pay the extra but I’m not too impressed about it. I can understand paying for treatments but just to relax in that area it seems a bit harsh to charge for it. Can we just book our weekly pass when we board?

5. I also really want to do the ship tour, I believe it’s best to book this the first morning on board, but our first morning isn’t the crossings first morning as it starts in Hamburg 3 days before, so I’m hoping the other guests on board haven’t “reserved all the sunbeds”....if you know what I mean 😉

Same goes for getting tickets for illuminations and also the “Last Night of the Cunard Proms” - which we definitely DO NOT want to miss!

So any tips for making sure we get tickets would be much appreciated thanks.

6. Finally, what is a “rough” estimation of boarding time? We are staying in Southampton the night before so will be there and eager to get on board! I understand we’ll be given an allotted time but I just want to get on as soon as I possibly can.

Thanks all,

Phil.

Apart from tea and coffee offered after the meal, the only included drink is iced water. Some people prefer bottled water but that's charged for.

Thanks Hattie. Iced water will do nicely, looking forward to the food more than drinks anyway. Would rather enjoy a nice drink at other times. And don't get me started on bottled water in general - biggest rip off ever!!

Nothin' bad about being Britannia Class and dining in the beautiful Britannia Restaurant! There is no charge for coffee, tea, or iced tea in the restaurants (nor for juice at breakfast). There is a charge for soft drinks and specialty coffees. If you are heavy consumers of soft drinks, you may wish to check out the beverage card for them. (I can't offer an opinion on their value as we've never used them.)

Excellent stuff, thanks Mark :)