WantedOnVoyage

I just hope they put her on a decent 14-day circuit.. the last thing we need is another seven-day wonder. A decade ago or more, HAL made a nice winter break indeed but to me, they are the perfect example of alienating their core customer by progressively ruining everything I valued in their product. So QE would be an ideal, even better replacement. Personally, I'd be more than content if they exiled QA to the Antipodes or fly cruises from the Med, put QV back where she belongs out of Southampton and had QE out of the US.

Having dumbed down Holland America Line to near Carnival standards over the past decade, there really are no vaguely traditional cruise options to the Caribbean anymore so QUEEN ELIZABETH would fill a void of Carnival's own making. Of course, the real saturation point is that reached and exceeded in so many of these ports... four or mega ships, and they are simply overwhelmed. And there is no "aren't cruises horrible and destroy the planet" nonsenses from the locals, either... tourism is THE industry so the ships will keep coming and before long fighting for quay space. Looking for quiet solitudes when cruising? Cross the North Atlantic in QM2... that's about the last unspoilt bit left!

I favour a ban on "greenhouse gas" produced by those hectoring and harping about it. But more to the point, this repositioning makes sense and returns Cunard to its core markets. I shouldn't but I blame the Australian deployment for "The Polo Shirt" even being mentioned in these pages. It will be interesting to see what itineraries they come up with... I'd love some "no fly" ones from New York to the Caribbean. Now I need to find some great shots of LUSITANIA laying down a blanket of thick coal smoke c. 1907. Those were the days.

Odd they would have had Lisboa AND Tenerife as initial outbound calls... one or the other yes but both? Both are pretty minor for a world cruise anyway and more of a "stretch your legs" stop in either case. Cunard itinerary planning remains perplexing....

In May, it was $80 for jacket, trousers and shirt. You have to buy the bow tie. No shoes. They had a reasonable selection of sizes. Thanks to United, I had no luggage for 2/3rd of an 18-day cruise but Cunard kindly comped the rental.. I am just glad I flew in passable black shoes!!

I would rather the crew take care of this when or if it becomes an issue. As a once teenage "gate crasher" on liners, I was spotted in a heartbeat on FRANCE... they could smell Tourist Class passengers at a 10 ft. distance. They just knew. Italian Line to a lesser degree.. if you had a girlfriend in First, why they issued issued you a pass to visit First Class every evening... those romantic Latins! But... no... if I sensed folks using what they did not pay for, I would quietly approach a staff member and have him or her deal with it and PDQ. QM2 especially where the deck is too small in capacity in the first place. Fifty years after FRANCE/RAFFAELLO, I am on the "right side" of the red velvet rope and mean to enjoy it, too!

I've known Stephen Payne since 1979 (!) and I think like all architects (my father was one), in the end, the client designed much of the ship. Or at least meddled, muddled and messed up large aspects of it. That what clients do. But I do think QM2's mascot should be mountain goat who, in the end, must have laid up her interiors. QE2 you couldn't easily go up or down, QM2, you cannot go fore or aft without going up or down. She must rate a negative star in the mobility impaired guide to cruise ships.

Or people who drive from London to Manchester via Plymouth.

Impressive! I like the care taken to cover her wonderful teak decks, too. If I had to name the two personal favourite features of QM2 it would be her teak decks and her high ceilings. Great to see the pools retiled, too... they were a mess. What is shown are indeed cabins but yes, let's hope the Veranda is gutted and reconfigured so you can at least get to the open deck without walking through the restaurant. Who on earth laid out this ship inside? All very encouraging to see this investment in a unique and beloved vessel.

Really? Try walking from the Grills forward indoors to say the Carinthia Lounge? You'll wind up in the queue for the omelette station in Kings Court. That's just on one side, too. The other is a dead end. During dinner hours, you cannot at all. You have to go up or down to get forward. Or accessing the outside deck from Deck 8? You can say hello the few dining in the Verandah if you try. They rather you not. At least they finally made the "art gallery" an official access way to get to the Ball Room. And if you want to get to G32, you have to actually walk THROUGH the Ballroom. "Symmetrical"?? Only if you're a mountain goat.

She also also had common lifts and stairs that did not not stop or access certain entire decks. So D Stair Tower was First Class and remained that even when one class so if you had a what was a Tourist Class cabin, you could not access it from some decks. Each one was colour coded, too. First Class midships was white (that was gorgeous and with the deepest pile Axminister carpet), Tourist Class forward was sixties orange etc. The aft one was blue. When they re-engined her, they tried to opened her up more with mixed results. What I love is that the "new" QM2 is, if anything, even more incomprehensible. I love her for that... you can spend a foggy wet morning getting lost.

It was a lot easier when she was First and Tourist Class.... you had your own decks and stairs and that was it! You needed a lot more than a jacket and tie to sneak into First Class, trust me. QE2 was more confusing and QM2, astonishingly, even more so. Cunard wasn't kidding when they said "Getting There Is Half the Fun."

Good lord.... do ladies and gentlemen really need let alone want an "influencer" on Youtube to tell them how to dress on an ocean liner like ladies and gentlemen? I guess I was raised in a different age and different ships... even at age 16, travelling alone with friend from high school on ss FRANCE we just knew to wear a jacket and yes... a tie (oh boy!) every single night. So did everyone else. In Tourist Class.

I am as picky about ship condition as anyone but QV 1-20 October was a shipshape and Bristol-fashion as any Cunarder I've sailed in since 1977. She's always been more so than QM2 and QE in my experience but everything I saw, inside and out was fresh, clean and spotless. Sure, the teak rails in the balconies could have used some varnish... but appreciate the near impossibility of doing this during her usual turnarounds especially in Southampton where monsoon conditions prevail 24/7 apparently. But abject neglect and decay, I never saw a bit of it. Every morning round of the Boat Deck and you'd see 2-3 deck crew scraping, painting and polishing. I put a lot of this on Capt. Hoyt who has a real fondness for the ship shared by her passengers.

Copenhagen has done the same thing as Oslo... no more berthing right in the centre, indeed near the "LIttle Mermaid" statute. They put cruise ships way out of the city centre and it was an hour in each direct transfer (wait and journey time) in each direction on QV in May. Cruising has completely changed in character, quantity and quality over the past 20 years and alas with increasing consequences for everyone be it Oslo, Copenhagen, Santorini or Venice. I've been enjoying sea holidays since 1974 and have 65 cruises/crossings under my belt but like the residents of these "ports of call," appreciate their being fed up and share many of their turn offs with a product gone... mad.

FYI https://www.newsinenglish.no/2023/07/03/cruise-crackdown-gets-underway/ Alas, look for this to continue... and I cannot really blame them. A far cry from VISTAFJORD docked in her homeport next to the Akerhus Castle back in May 1983 when I was aboard. These monster ships are going to destroy themselves and cruising at this rate....

We had a port substitution two weeks ago on QV from Mykonos to Iraklion which was done with 24 hours notice and very well handled I must say. This was for weather conditions. But... why on earth would "they" cancel an overnight call at Oslo of all places?? That would be a huge draw to me, too, if I were on this cruise and without it changes the character of it entirely.. well at least to me. $100 OBC credit in lieu of? Surely they are kidding. The approach to Oslo via the Oslo Fjord is simply wonderful and the city is utterly charming. A overnight there would have been delightful. I am glad I saw so much of Norway by ship in the 1980s and the last time was in QE2 in 1994. It was still an relatively unspoilt cruising idyll.

The confusing thing with many of these QV itineraries is that whilst one can board in Southampton and make a 21 day (or a 29-day one) ending in Italy, you can also do shorter segments of the same cruise indeed originating in Spain or Italy etc.How and who keeps track of all this? Cunard has a hard enough time managing the zeroing out of the daily drink tab on the US Grills package as it is.

To be clear, these "IVA" taxes are most certainly applicable to any and all drink packages. If you ask Mr. Google, this is precisely what it causing a lot of angst and expense both for buyers of them and the lines selling them. Even with a package, you are still getting a real bill for each and every drink you "buy" using your package. And the full IVA is applied to that bill. The cost for the drinks disappears, along with the service charge but NOT, repeat not.. this IVA. Do they give you a bill for the bottles in QG suites, too?? Hope not. We had this on QE last year and shrugged it off as a Covid era blip... but it is clearly not going away unless the lines do something about it. If I worked for the Tunis Tourist Development Board, I'd be beating a path to their doors... the work around this is for a non EU port to be on the itinerary. Tunisia and Morocco seem the obvious ones for cruises originating in the Western Med. Our QV cruise next May from Southampton calls en route at Turkish ports and winds up in Italy but I am going to insist that Cunard clarify... in writing... if these taxes apply... before final payment.

My apologies, it's 15%

Thanks.... we are booked on QV from Southampton to Civitavecchia next May so should be exempt from this except for the usual in territorial waters which on QV the other week seemed to only apply to Spain, not Italy or Greece. Not sure how they figure this if you originate outside the EU. But if an issue, we'll cancel. Including the 18 percent service charge, you're looking at a 28% (!) add on to the drink or wine prices. No thanks. So farewell QV, old friend, at least until you escape from the EU!

Missing in May in QV, back as of a week ago. The selection was very satisfactory, too.

I was going to ask if that Spanish IVA nonsense remains throughout the cruise. Seems it does. No more embarks for us in BCN. Given recent published comments re. cruises and cruise passengers by the Mayor of Barcelona he certainly knows how to squeeze every penny out of them regardless. Does anyone know if the same applies for embarking in Italian ports?? Nice review... and the mystery bottles of sparkling whatevers continue to intrigue... in PG, we got the occasional extra bottle but left them in our fridge. We got a nicer bottle from the shops after blowing our considerable on board credit on watches, though....

I don't think sister ships built for the same line are "off the shelf" now are they? The ships you mentioned were unique to the line and purpose. Holland America Line had ships with the same concept as MEDIA/PARTHIA but wholly different in appearance, accommodation, decor etc. QA is still a K'DAM with grill accommodation and a different funnel. Just is.

Alll of which makes one appreciate QM2 all the more... she will most likely be the last ship specifically designed for Cunard Line. While I like the "Vistas" (sailed in NIEUW AMSTERDAM, EURODAM, QE and QV) a lot, the Pinnacle class holds zero appeal. 3,000 passengers? No thanks. QM2 remains special. Not a "badge engineered" off the shelf design.