WantedOnVoyage

52 minutes ago, elaine5 said:

Worst case, you need to wear in trousers instead.

Oh dear... the "worse case" is having to wear trousers to dinner on Cunard. I do despair. 

The only teens I've seen on the last 3-4 Cunard cruises I've taken have been the cadets.  And any younger children have been exemplary in manner and behaviour and none, yet, have been seen wearing crocs with their formal wear, either.  They will learn with the passage of time, no doubt....

I do like the "collared shirt" term which is right out of the Edwardian Era... when gentlemen wore "a shirt and collar". And the collar was celluloid and indeed separate. 

Today, like such much of the Cunard dress code, it is vague, confusing wordage that varies even where you access it on their own website.  And yes... a "polo shirt" has a collar. As does a rugby shirt and some cycling jerseys.  So anyone who thinks a "polo shirt" counts as "smart" let alone evening attire, should be free to wear a rugby shirt as well.  And no doubt do.

What's missing in the dress code is the essential: the phrase "ladies and gentlemen".  Possibly for good reason.

I guess I considered anything that does not mandate a jacket let alone tie... more "Casual" than "Smart"!!

But point taken.  I will pack another tie for QUEEN VICTORIA departing in 17 days as penance!  

Actually, "the polo shirt" finally appears to have relegated to the locker room... the wordage, at least on the Cunard website (US) is "a dress shirt" for "smart casual" for men.  And is a "polo shirt" a "dress shirt".  No. 

Yes.

Overall, we remain delighted with what we have received on QUEEN VICTORIA over the last four post Covid cruises and one in QM2.  

But yes... there are noticeable cut backs (experienced as travelling Princess Grill)

• Long waits (20 mins) for drinks in Chart Room and Commodore
• Long pauses (20 mins or more even) between courses in Princess Grill which suddenly crop up halfway through the cruise
• Very uneven deck service on the Grills Deck... ranging from superb and attentive to non existent
• Bed linen not changed nearly as frequently as before and sometimes to the point of having to request it. That should NOT be necessary. Ever. 
• And the cutbacks in side of table presentation, dover sole etc. in Princess Grill which may be more market driven than anything else to increase the difference between PG and Queen's Grill.  But there are indeed reductions here regardless of reason.
• Lack of live music in Yacht Club which we really missed... they have destroyed the atmosphere of this room alas.

But... generally, it remains a superb product and especially it's the people on QUEEN VICTORIA that keeps us returning... indeed in, why in 17 days time! Not that I am counting

We're aboard in January 2025 ex-Southampton for 35 delicious nights to the West Indies and while the Boardwalk Cafe is hardly a deal breaker for us, we hope to at least get a whiff of chips (as do the occupants of the kennels below) during at least some of it. 

Not sure if they will make the investment but yes, the old QM2 needs a makeover and there are features and facilities either underutilized or not working anymore.  The Grills Terrace, the Verandah Restaurant and Boardwalk Cafe come readily to mind.  She has always been a odd duck having the "lido restaurant" miles from... well... a lido or pools and a complete lack of bars etc on the upper open decks, etc.  Me, I just love her for those acres of real teak decking and her high ceilings indoors.  But... yes, some things just don't work. And it shows. 

He is indeed.... so rare, one remembers his name, too!

It was open during our long UK-West Indies cruise in 2022 but sorry, it looked SO unappetising at first glance and smell that we avoided it. Big stainless steel trays of precooked and 20 times warmed over beef patties and sausages... even the mess deck of an wartime corvette had better grub than that, surely. Our crew mess sure did. 

And yes... it's often windy enough to discourage al fresco dining too... a little too much "fresco" and your rubbery sausage might fly off and put someone's eye out. 

I've been sailing with Cunard since 1977.... and in the space of a few months, I find that I can be called "a Cunarder" (which once referred to the ship not those sailing in it), and now I discover I can also be a "Advocate".  It sounds vaguely cult-esque and I think I have seen enough to forgo the $100 "OBC" thanks very much.  

In the end, no one really cares (cruise line or travel agent) who you choose to book your cruise with. They really don't.  Most travel agents have plenty of regular clients and all the cruise line wants in the end is bodies in berths. How they get there is of no consequence. You engage an outside professional to do stuff for you or to you as you choose.  Although judging from this remarkable flurry of exchanges, it rather sounds more personal than that.  

My wife is celiac and one of the reasons we stay loyal to Cunard is how well  they accommodate her diet.  It is exemplary and except for one glaring exception this May on QV in the Veranda Restaurant, she had never had an issue in being served the wrong food or not be being able to fully enjoy every single meal... including afternoon tea.  Unlike many lines, the maitre d's know their menus and preparations and when you pre-order something, they can tell you on the spot if it can be served "as is" or specially prepared gluten free.

Ensure that you (or your travel agent) advises Cunard that you are gluten free as that information will be passed on to the dining room staff in advance.  If in Britannia, you might find opting for fixed seating makes it easier for them to accommodate you. 

Cunard does special diets "right"... no worries. Honest. 

As a happily (and how!) retired "travel professional" (1979-2020) after 41 years, I "could not possibly comment" on this rather astonishing flurry of comments.

Except to suggest the choice to forgo the services of a travel agent as one might choose to dispense with an estate agent, plumber, mechanic or doctor is always yours.  It's why they invented the internet... the ability to "do it all" as long as Mr. Google tells you can. And you believe it, too. 

Nope. It's the Japanese naval training vessel SHIMAKAZE.

Or indeed, if you wish to make individual choices as a customer.  Carnival, like all lines mired in astonishing debt, will wring the last farthing out of you once aboard and at least if you "pay as you go" you just get a drink.  With these welter of "packages" I feel I am being "gamed" at times by cold calculation to ensure you don't get value out of it.  The more pax on packages, the fewer bar stewards or the $13.50 (let alone $12 (!)) limit doesn't get you want you'd want to drink anyway. 

"Any time dining"... as long as it's their time, it's all good!

No thanks.

We disliked "open dining" on Oceania.... it was the old "make yourself comfortable at the bar" and the beeper like in some clinic.  

The old ways are invariably best.  Set sitting, table and stewards.  Not like booking a dentist appointment every single night. And not even magazines in the waiting room. 

Hardly the same animal at least if originating from the UK.... QM2 in January 2025 (which we did in 2022) and booked as soon as it was released is my favourite Cunard itinerary since it's DIRECT from the UK to the West Indies with nine (!) glorious sea days in each direction and if 2022 is an indication, lovely and increasingly warmer weather en each en route.  The other QM2 West Indies cruises are via New York so you have a winter North Atlantic crossing if originating from the UK plus the sometimes bumpy run south from New York, past Cape Hatteras, before getting into the Caribbean. We are already booked for QV UK-West Indies direct in Jan 2026 and if QM2, as rumoured here, is doing it in Jan 2027 we will book as soon as practical.  

I am just glad they even have these public computers as I do not (and will not) possess a "smart phone".  

I got "stuck" with the banquette seat on QM2 in Queen's Grill when it was all original (and in my opinion, much nicer looking, too) and it was perfectly comfortable and yes, for the reasons "exlonderer" suggests (good grief we agree!). What is on QA even looks otherwise. Like the seats in Second Class "slam door" South London carriage stock c. 1968. 

When an interior designer is left with a corridor by the architect to fashion into a restaurant with trolley service, "the up against the wall" concept is hard to avoid.  Odder still, conceived for what should be the premier dining space in a vessel.

Actually, I love painting ship.... give me a sunny day at sea and a five-inch paint roller and I'd happily work off my bar tab. And get an ace tan in the process. 

Enjoy QV and mind the wet paint...

Boy this is sure taking time.... they were chipping and priming her balconies on this side of the ship in May!  I have never been on a ship, in service, with more primer splotches than QUEEN VICTORIA and in three assorted colours, too.  She looked like a spotty 13 year old. 

Maintenance is good but not an attractive (nor particularly quiet or restful) prospect for those aboard at the time.  

They have 25 days to get this all done until we board in Barcelona.... so carry on painting, gentlemen.

7 minutes ago, david63 said:

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/first-world-problem

Excellent... I do appreciate authentic Islington Coffee Bar worldview as much as anyone. I love it!  "Don't put a chocolate on my pillow every night and I'll feel better about myself in the morning."

Oh well, another reason QA ain't my cup of tea... even on paper.  

What is this "first world issue" phase... is this some UK expression? Not sure what it refers to, other than possibly investing tens of thousands of hard earned dollars on a holiday at the top end and having expectations of a degree of excellence and thoughtful planning. Or is QA a "third world" ship charging "first world fare"? Or something.

Bad design is bad design. Just is.  Maybe it's the architect's son in me that recognizes it's best nipped on paper before it's built in. 

Sounds like QUEEN ANNE could spend many weeks being rebuilt and reconfigured after reading all of these comments. But, of course, she will not. Pity... almost all of these issues were noted and commented upon on these very pages when the very first deck plans were released. If some of us could see the potential problems, why could not the people paid to design her? Here, the real issue is that QA is far more of a modestly retooled PINNACLE-class Holland America ship than QV/QE are VISTAS.  Or indeed, a VISTA is just a better platform all round.   Just is.