Se1lad

12 hours ago, david63 said:

Good luck at getting that through security without questions being asked!

I’ve taken one on board several times with no questions asked!

2 minutes ago, tacticalbanjo said:

I’m really surprised how many children there are considering how much it cost to come on the maiden. They all seem to be having a good time though which is great for Cunard’s future.

I think it’s half term week for some schools 

22 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Some of you may remember a review, where someone’s cruise was pretty much ruined by disorderly non-matching cruets. I imagine they will happy with the ship at least. 😀

Do you have a link - id love to read that review !

1 minute ago, exlondoner said:

On QM2, Q4s are half as big again and have a dining room.

Agreed - the Q4s are much bigger than the Q5 and Q6 on QM2

I’m booked on a 3 night mini cruise on QM2 end of May and was offered a potential upgrade from Q6 to Q4 with minimum bid of £180pp

I’d bring a roll of sellotape with me in my hand luggage, and attach on arrival in the UK

2 minutes ago, 57eric said:

I searched the forum for another instance of "BC" and couldn't find one, other than category BC. I'm sure that's not what was meant here.

BC = Britannia Club

My last experience of boarding at Southampton was in January on QV - they opened the doors to the terminal at 11.30am and let anyone with priority boarding (QG/PQ/Diamond/Platinum/BC) check in.  Everyone else had to wait outside the terminal.  
 

Once through check in we were organised into zones based on  cabin grade / status.  At 12.20 they called QG  and we were through security and onboard by 12.30.  Some friends I was travelling with were in Britannia - they were let into the terminal about 12.45, and were called forward for boarding at 1.15, onboard by 1.30.

On 3/28/2024 at 7:04 PM, WantedOnVoyage said:

"The smaller the house, the greater the effort"... the old show biz adage suits here. 

 

The service tries way too hard, it's frankly embarassing, over the top, insincere and some of the "added touches" are downright lame... like selecting your steak knife as if you're picking duelling pistols. Fine beef should not require a blade that looks like a fit for a Lee-Enfield rife. The maitre d' has been, in our experience, a non-entity who spends the whole evening peering intensely at a computer screen... how long does it take to find tables for the average eight people in a 45-seat restaurant on a given evening?  The "view" from your table is invariably the smoker's corner out on deck.  And it's way too brightly lit to impart an intimate or romantic atmosphere.  Finally... the menu is pedestrian, boring Aberdeen Steak House fayre and all that's missing is the fag ash in the velour upholstery and the Black Forest Gateau. 

 

It was at least better menu wise when they tried to recreate the proper Veranda Grill of the old QUEENs with a sophisticated French menu and there wasn't a steak fry or a "hot fudge sundae" within 100 yards.  

 

I'd gut it... convert the space to a new Grills Lounge with outside deck adjoining and repurpose the existing Grills Lounge.  

You’ve described it perfectly! 🙂 

On 3/26/2024 at 10:16 AM, david63 said:

Personally I cannot be bothered lugging a load of bottles of wine (or anything else for that matter) onto a cruise that has cost me several thousand pounds just to save a few pounds.

You can save a lot more than a few pounds - a bottle you buy in a wine merchant for £40-£60 (or less if you bought wisely and stored well for several years) can easily sell for $150+ on board.

It is also a great way to get to know your sommelier - especially if you’ve got unusual wines with you and you let them sample a bit!

I did my first OBC claim via StockPerks last week - it took 3 business days to process and the email incorrectly stated I had been awarded $0 OBC!  The correct amount had been added however.

I submitted another one today at 08.40, and received a mail showing the correct amount of OBC at 09.01.

19 hours ago, Pushpit said:

I had the thermostat about half way into the blue zone. It's a personal thing, some people notice the cold a lot more than others and I suspect I'm in the others group.

 

I live in a house with no central heating which is normally pretty cold, but this was pushing it even for me!

I had the thermostat set to maximum and the vents were blowing out cold air.  When the maintenance person arrived he confirmed there was an issue with a number of the cabins at the back of ship which is why they were providing portable heaters.  As you mentioned, the temperature outside was -8, so the lack of heating made it a bit uncomfortable - you could see your own breath in the room at one point!

Returned from the four night cruise from Southampton to Hamburg and back on the QV in QG, 7th - 11th January.  Was in general an enjoyable trip.

Embarkation

Arrived at the terminal at 11.40 and it looked like that had been letting people in since about 11.30.  Anyone with Priority Boarding (QG/PG/Diamond/Platinum/BC) were being allowed in the terminal (regardless of printed boarding time.)  Remaining passengers had to wait outside the terminal.  At 12.20 they started calling QG passengers to board, and it looked like round the same time they allowed the Britannia passengers to start the check in process.  We were boarded and in our cabin before 12.30, so no complaints there.

Butler

Our Butler was much better than the previous one on this trip last year.  Fruit and changes to the minibar were promptly delivered while we were at lunch.  We had booked this as 2x back to back trips - last year the butler would not give us an extra bottle of Champagne for the second leg - this time we received it with no issue.

Queen's Grill

Food ranged from good to excellent.  We made several off menu requests - Steak Tartare, Sole Veronique, Banana Foster, Peach Melba and Spaghetti Carbonara.  All off the off menu requests were excellent.  An issue on the second day where we waited 45 minutes for the breakfast to arrive, and then it arrived in separate components (toast, eggs, kippers) about 5 minutes apart.  They were also some problems with the temperature of the ship.  On a couple of the days QG was uncomfortably cold at breakfast.  

Entertainment

The lectures were good but there could have been more of them - there were only 5 over the 4 day cruise, plus a Q&A with some of the lecturers. 
 

The entertainment team tried a new event which was quite fun - a speed jigsaw competition - everyone was split into teams and given an hour to complete as much as possible of 1,500 piece identical jigsaws.  We gave some feedback that if they try this again they should use smaller jigsaws - we only completed about 15% of the jigsaws in the time allotted.

Cabin

From the second day onwards our cabin was really cold with the vents blowing cold air, even when the heating was set to maximum.  Finally late afternoon on the 4th day we were given a portable heater which helped somewhat.  I had to ask 3 times before we were given the heater though.  I logged a complaint as it meant our cabin was unusable to sit in for much of the trip.  I was promised that someone would get back to me before we departed, however this did not happen.  I've now raised this as a separate complaint direct with Cunard at Southampton, hopefully they respond in a positive manner.

Regardless of the heating problem, it was still a most enjoyable trip, and I’m looking forward to my upcoming trip on Queen Anne in a few months.

Which terminal are you flying from with BA?  T5 or T3?

I presume that you’ll only be able to request assisted boarding if you’ve pre notified Cunard via the process indicated in the email?

It may help to stop abuse of the assisted boarding process.  On one trip I saw a couple jogging round the deck - one of them had boarded in a wheelchair the day before.

You’ll also be paying the service charge on any drinks you purchase 

12 hours ago, ballroom-cruisers said:

Not the reality for us either - so wondered how they can publish this if it is not the experience on current voyages?

I suppose ‘up to ten dance hosts’ can also mean zero!  The story does make it sound like the dance hosts are going to be readily available though!

2 hours ago, transatlantic fan said:

How about a top tier called Commodore 30 voyages or 300 Nights 

It should be 64 voyages and then they could call it Commodore 64!

If you go for the discounted offer which covers the entire trip, for every day you hold off signing up, the price comes down proportionately.  As you will likely have mobile phone signal for some of the first evening, you can wait until the following morning to sign up and save a bit of money!

4 hours ago, fourmile.ranch said:

Maybe make it a theme voyage. Once or twice a year have a 'Relaxed at Sea' crossing with no formal nights and the rest of the time is traditional Cunard dress code. Then people can plug in where they fit best and still experience everything that Cunard is.

It would be interesting to see how popular such a crossing would be!

4 hours ago, PORT ROYAL said:

New levels above Diamond?  - 150 nights
just a thought……

 

Red - up to 24 nights - current Silver benefits

Silver - 25 nights

Gold - 50 nights

Platinum- 100 nights 

Diamond - 150 nights 

Next Level above Diamond - Countess - 250 nights

Above - Carinthia - 350 nights 

Then - Caronia - 500 nights - Receiving the current full Diamond benefits, with a stretched sliding scale (downwards) to Silver level benefits 

 

 

 

The current Diamond benefits are pretty mediocre so I wouldn’t take them away - just add some better benefits for the higher tiers.

I also think they should look at how you earn status - I’ve commented on this before, if you book lots of short cruises in inside cabins , you could get to Diamond status, while someone who booked longer trips in QG could only be silver for the same spend.

1 hour ago, exlondoner said:

True. Though Southampton to Waterloo runs even on strike days.

Which day of the week is it?

Not always - on 2 of the strike days in the last year trains did not run any further south than Basingstoke 

6 minutes ago, moses0 said:

from Orlando

 

Looking 6-7 months ahead you can fly business return for $3,395 on Virgin direct  from Orlando 

39 minutes ago, moses0 said:

Just checked Virgin Atlantic Upper for the dates of my trip and its $13,300 for 2

Nearly 2 grand for basic econ for 2 

I would need to fly at least fly Premium and that would cost me more than 6 grand. 

I got my crossing for half that. I know what I prefer.

Can't stand the hassle of flying. Thankful for QM2

Is that from NY?  Going the other way I’ve never paid more than £2.5k for business class return on BA when booking 6 months in advance -during a sale.  If I was booking only a few weeks ahead, or if my itinerary didn’t include a Saturday night away it could cost significantly more.  However I normally plan my holidays 6+ months ahead to take advantage of the cheaper fares.  I do agree though that you could do a return cheaper on Cunard than 2 business class flights - though probably not in Grills.

Just now, Victoria2 said:

Lovely.

Can we peer in and see what's going on? 😄

 

 

It does look like you’d be able to peer in! Maybe the bar staff will be trained in sign language and you can order a drink from the terrace via the dome! 🙂