tjunmin

The worst of her is not too bad. Here are photos from this past December: [photo album link].

I'll stick with the new itinerary. I've not cruise around Africa yet, so I'm fine with the new itinerary. For passengers considering cancelling, the email notification I received did not provide any additional information; the only language in that regard asked passengers to contact their TA or call Cunard if booked directly. Please keep in mind I'm in Canada, and regulations might be different depending on your country of residency and governing laws.

I think I better go shopping for pants a few sizes bigger. 🙂

I just received this notice from Cunard about QM2 itinerary change.

Carnival needs to take into consideration that sailing a radically different itinerary might require passengers to obtain additional visas, and certainly change shore excursion plans; therefore, lead time should be given to passengers to get ready for an itinerary change. Allowing these ships to get to Singapore and then make an announcement just before they are due to depart has the potential to be chaos for passengers.

Tuscan Grille has a good size menu. I had wonderful dining experiences there while on the Connie [photo album]. I understand your concern regarding the lack of options, but I'd focus on the quality of the food and service, rather than the quantity of restaurants.

It seems quite logical and straightforward, but the reality is quite different. When a corporation expands through acquisitions, with each new company brought into the fold, a new set of legacy systems come into the IT mix. In order to do what you are suggesting involves not only replacing the systems in the new company with the equivalent one from the parent company, but it also involves integrations with a number of existing backend systems, which are usually quite complex. Furthermore, when you start replacing systems and integrations, it usually involves process re-engineering, which is another can of worms. Such projects are usually costly and can take multiple years to be completed. And here I'm talking purely from the IT perspective, without even involving the bean counters.

Actually, picture people in suits - in their posh offices - looking at applications on their computer screens - or tablets - like the one below, to have a better understanding of what consumers are doing and make business decisions. The image has been heavily readacted, but it gives you an idea of what is out there. This system is a few years old, so what is currently out there can be even more sophisticated. It tracked data for a small portion of the business and is not related to cruising or travel. The system was fed by massive amounts of data that were poured into it on a daily basis, and were processed by multiple servers nightly, before it was presented in a neat graphical way, easy to be visualized and consumed by business decision makers. All the visual data can be filtered by different categories, and clicking on any of the data on the screen will drill further down into the data, at a more granular level.

OP asked about Caribbean sailings. But sure, why not do a B2B2B, starting in Boston, doing Canada, southern Caribbean and then Eastern Caribbean? lol

I find interesting observing people's priorities. My main concern regarding wearing a tracking device - which the Princess medallion absolutely is - is the loss of personal privacy in regards to my physical location. The matter is not "I'm not doing anything wrong and therefore I have nothing to hide". What truly matters is that your movements are being tracked 24/7 on board, and you have no idea who is looking at that data, how it is being used, or how it will be used in the future. And marketing departments smartly package a tracking device as a convenience tool. Hope no one takes this as a personal offense; it is intended as raising awareness of privacy concerns.

I personally would pick Eclipse, starting with the 10-night Boston to Fort Lauderdale sailing departing on Oct 11, 2024, and doing a B2B with the 7-night St. Marteen & Puerto Plata sailing departing on Oct 21, 2024. As per your request, it is a longer 17 night cruise, visiting both Southern and Eastern Caribbean. Happy planning!

In my books, bosses and clients who think they can reach out to someone on vacation "just because internet is available" should be fired.

I definitely wish that we'll hear from Cunard sooner than mid-February. No one likes uncertainty, but I can imagine that Cunard will attempt to postpone the decision as much as possible, in hopes the situation in the Red Sea will stabilize; although personally, I doubt that it will improve enough to allow safe passage of cruise ships in the area. MSC cancelled their three cruises in the area [announcement link], and will sail the ships - Splendida, Opera and Virtuosa - empty back to Europe, around Africa. Hope Cunard will manage to ensure docking in ports and supply channels along the route. It is an unfortunate situation for all people impacted. At least we can take comfort that we are being looked after - by governments and companies - ensuring our safety. Hope there will be a silver lining for the World Voyage folks.

It is all speculation at this point. We really need to wait for Cunard's final decision and the ensuing implications.

Somebody did the calculations in an earlier post in this thread, and the consensus is that QM2 would not be able to arrive in time in Southampton if it made its way to Dubai. Someone else also alluded that the hull insurance might not cover QM2 sailing in those waters, given the entire region volatility.

Queen Victoria World Voyage itinerary leaves Colombo on March 30 and arrives in Cape Town on April 11, with stops in Port Louis on April 4 and Port Elizabeth on April 9. One of the discussed alternatives on this thread is: Queen Mary 2 is scheduled to be in Colombo on March 31, and could potentially follow QV's itinerary.

Here are photos of the 6131 balcony [photo 1][photo 2], taken back in 2018, so the furniture is different, but it gives you an idea of the layout. It is a great balcony. Happy sailing!

As an outsider, with no insight into their business practices and IT infrastructure, it is difficult to say. At an extremely high level, this is my best guess. When a corporation undertakes a project, usually there is a business case to justify the underlying cost. In the case of a cruise ship mobile app, if I were working on such business case, I'd be looking into how tracking passengers and creating analytics would assist me determining how to increase profitability on board. For instance, when passengers scroll through the daily program, which free/paid events are attracting the most interest, and how many people actually sign up for the paid ones? In regards to paid restaurants, which are the ones that people are most interested and checking their menus, when does that happen, and how many of those people actually book a reservation? You can cross-reference the data collected to find out all sort of patterns across ships/itineraries/passenger demographics/time and so on. On a separate front, using tracking technology, such as wi-fi, it is possible to track passenger location onboard and collect all sort of data about how passengers spend their time on the ship, including where they go and how long they spend in different venues, which in turn can be used in a wide range of ways, from understanding passenger behavior, to deciding how to update venues or implement new features. On land, stores have been using such technologies for a long time; just check "in-store analytics" to learn more about it. In order to implement such solution, investments are most likely required not only on the mobile app, but also on the ship IT infrastructure. It is up to the business to perform the cost/benefit analysis to determine if it is worth going ahead with a mobile app for Cunard or not. Since other Carnival brands already have a mobile app in use, it will help reduce the implementation cost to reuse the underlying code for Cunard. First, I imagine that Cunard will have to consider the cost to make any adjustments to the IT infrastructure on board. Second, I imagine that middle and upper management at Cunard probably have their own KPIs, which in turn means that the analytics created for other Carnival brands might not necessarily fit perfectly for Cunard needs and will need to be adjusted, which again means additional cost to the project Hope this makes sense to most people, and sorry if I bored anyone with my TED talk. ;-) I worked in IT before I retired; business cases were part of my work; implementation of complex IT solutions was another aspect. But I never worked with cruise companies, so my guesses might be out of line.

I see what you mean. I priced a Transatlantic (Prime Aqua) and the single price came over double, as you said. But I was surprised when I priced a Norway sailing (Prime Aqua), and the single supplement was an absurd 171%. What the?!?!?!

As per Laura's message above, 75% of cabins will be priced double or under for singles. So maybe it is a matter of the itineraries that interest you. Which sailings did you price? I priced two itineraries, Fiji Transpacific for 2024 (Aqua) and 2025 (Concierge), and for both of them it came a bit under double.

I concur with mahasamatman. Do a dummy booking on your Apex April sailing and check suite availability. If there are still sky suites available, it is very likely what you'll be assigned. Move Ups will most likely have priority over your suite guarantee for higher suites. Nevertheless, you probably got a good deal. Enjoy your sailing!

As someone new to Cunard and unaware of its history, why QM2 cannot run closer to its design speed anymore?

I personally would not move to 9111. In addition to the noise from chairs being move on the pool deck, you'll also have to big overhang from the pool deck above you. Correct, both Luminae and the Retreat Lounge are on deck 4. Luminae has 6 large windows on one side of the dining room [photo], which provide light to the rest of the intimate restaurant [photo]. The Retreat Lounge [photo 1] [photo 2] has no windows, except for the area by the bar, which also gives passengers access to the promenade deck. Correct. The Retreat Sundeck on deck 12 has a hot tub [photo 1][photo 2]. I've been to those S1 suites [photo 1][photo 2][photo 3] over the lifeboats and the view of the lifeboats did not bother me as much as chair dragging noise from the pool deck above early in the morning would had bothered me. But it is ultimately your vacation and your decision. Happy sailing!

If you are traveling in The Retreat and trust the chefs, you have the option to ask the maître d' to talk to the chef at the beginning of your sailing - my spouse usually does it on the first day, after lunch - and ask him/her to prepare pescatarian meals for the entire duration of your cruise, and you'll be looked after. My spouse asks for tasty and nutritionally balanced meals; some chefs are more successful fulfilling his request than others, YMMV.

It is my understanding that in the MDR you have to ask for the vegan menu. At Luminae, my spouse talks to the chef on the first day of the cruise, and vegan meals are taken care for the remainder of the sailing.