buchanan101

I sailed from Southampton to NY on 18th October. They didn't even ask to see vaccination proof on boarding - no tests, though the shop came straight back from NYC so presumably avoided the Canada requirement Crew maybe 30% masked, passengers 5% to 10%

Working on my good lady for a half world cruise. Think it’ll be a way off as she won’t have the time before retiring in 14 years; by then I will be 75 ….

OK - so far not bought any excursions through Cunard (only done one crossing) - I am skeptical about them not gouging as all I have to go on is the prices they charge for transfer from Brooklyn to Manhattan - easily well over double the price of a pre-booked car if you DIY (ended up taking a green cab for 1/3rd of the Cunard price). But hopefully you are correct as it sounds like an organised one day trip - as long as it includes the train - in Flam would be great!

I'm sure I will get a cabin... just whether I try for one of those QGs... £800 more pp, and will be more motion but North Sea in June is not the Atlantic in October

Never not been a convert... There isn't so much room per passenger according to a table I saw in a magazine yesterday, so may miss that aspect of QM2, but be good to compare and contrast

I'm certainly online at 1pm on the 6th... Whether I try to get a cheapest QG 7001 or 7002 at the bow, or settle for a PG on Deck 4 I don't know yet...

WRT prices - surprisingly I don't think Cunard prices have gone up much; the QA fjord cruise I am looking at is the same price essentially as a 2023 QV one. Given maybe 10% inflation, that's actually quite a good deal. Still, they have 45% more cabins to sell now by my rough maths... (3000+2000+2000+2600)/(2000+2000+2600)

Oh no, not more art. I bought a £3k painting on the QM2 in October. Will be tempted again...

I can book according to that site (it's a 3rd party site), but as exlondoner suggests it IS only 4 months out according to this site https://www.norwaysbest.com/the-flam-railway/round-trip-with-the-flam-railway/ And the official price is 1000NOK for 2 x returns in March 23 - which is £84! I will never, ever look at RailNinja again! Thanks both for the very valuable advice!

Check the date... that's the date QA is in Flam. I guess the 11:43 is best; 8:58 a bit early, 14:33 a bit late for return. Do they lay on extra ones when ships are in? (I fully expect prices to go up when they know what days ships are in: I booked a hotel in Oslo next June before Springsteen tickets were officially on sale - once they were officially, hotel prices doubled...)

Was looking at train costs - £224 for advanced return saver tickets for 2. Can only imagine what Cunard would charge for a combined package... (flex train tickets are something like £160 each return, for a 2 hour train journey....) ...but IS such a package available for train plus one of those other trips? If not, I'll be booking train tickets shortly after I book the cruise next week. I know it's not until June 2024, but I like to be prepared 😉 . Heck, I just bought Sarah Millican tickets this morning.. for October...2024!

In one day, and not miss the boat?

Thank you. Yes most cruises seem to do Geirangerfjord. The 7 day cruises only seem to do two high sided fjords. (The one I am looking at has Bergen and Haugesund to book end the other stops) Interesting that crowds don't seem to be as much of an issue as I'd have thought; I have seen Youtube videos of CitySightseeing buses turning up in villages when the cruise ships are in Your comments on excursions are probably as expected: Cunard cost more but guaranteed; concierge may help Grills but (actually, rightly) no priority. I know it's the herd, but I'm doing the railway! Are Flamm and Olden both non-tender stops (I assume as fjords are deep, quayside moorings are not an issue) I could book tickets now! £242 round trip on saver tickets... I guess it's Norway! Goodness knows what Cunard would charge? $600?

Back to the fjords again. QA is going to Flamm, and my mother highly recommends the railway. What are places like Flamm like when 3000 passengers descend? Sounds like it might be a touch crowded (do the 5000 passenger monsters do the fjords?) Am considering PG minimum (I know some on here won't recommend that on QV or QA) or even QG; do these grades help with booking excursions in overcrowded Norwegian villages - obviously want to do the railway The other stop in the heart of the fjords for the June 24 QA trip is Olden. Are Flam and Olden good choices (later QA cruises go elsewhere)

This cabin looks very interesting on QA. 8 of them. Lowest is deck 7. Cheapest QG

Same here. All lined up to book QA to fjords. Includes Flamm as well. Just the question of PG or one of the Q6s right at the front with a forward facing window. They look interesting…

BC seems to vary more in price than any other class. Relatively small so impacted more by supply and demand.

Ah ok. The one on the 10th is the first on the booking page - which was what I was going by, so the 11th May could still be a meet up

I've only done QM2 so far, so want to try one of the others, from Southampton to the fjords, so I have one choice of ship and date!

What was the main problem? The cabin size/layout? Always the QG option! Or the BC...

The main complaint about QA that I've seen on here is the Promenade Deck being severely compromised? I guess it's a bit ugly and looking at passenger numbers/crew numbers/size it may be a bit more crowded than the others, but it's going to be a bit different and the renderings look cool.... so why not?!

The one trip I was looking at (fjords) was from £2699 PG pp and £3499 QG pp which was cheaper for both than a QM2 trip to what it claims are the fjords. Yeah, it's £750 night ... knock 5% off, and $260 OBC, and shareholder $100 and I get it to about £690 per night! Was looking at SAGA and they seemed no cheaper, though they are all inclusive...

Guessing QE refit with its crew moved to QA maybe?

@Victoria2 Their New Voyages page says this (below). So that's the same as the maximum you can save through agents. I assume there's still the usual OBC/Parking/Coach options with the Cunard Fare

It could cross with the QM2 in the channel on 11th May (one day out from Southampton for QA, one day to go still for QM2)