WantedOnVoyage

Here, I don't think the occasional meal in the Verandah is either a good introduction or even inducement to try the Grills. We have had mostly very good experiences (not aboard QM2 however) but the tendency is to try too hard and the service can be well meaning but frankly bordering on fawning and kow-towing. It's embarassing frankly and can be offputting. Some of the "touches" like being presented with a box of knives that would be illegal on the streets of London to cut your steak are... cringeworthy. The last steak I had in QV's Verandah, for lunch was a delicious and tender Australian cut that did not need, thankfully, a Lee-Enfield bayonet to cut, either. It's an atmosphere totally at odds with what we've enjoyed in Grills over the years, well since 1993. The maite d' then had served as the head steward at Chequers... he did not have to fawn over anyone, especially us!

Having the same stewards and table throughout in QG,PG and BG are huge plusses I think, contributing to the sort of personalised and intuitive service that you simply don't get in other shipboard dining experiences. It's worth every cent to us. We've had the same stewards, too, over a few cruises and years and astonished they remember our preferences, too. Maybe for the wrong reasons.... but we are remembered!

We've never observed too much "fawning"... we are regular and predictable enough to be addressed (and address) by name and have our glasses filled with our predictable drink even before the menu arrives. Maybe we are too familiar but don't care. Maybe we enjoy the ambience and atmosphere of the Grills and the company of so many familiar faces (including fellow passengers) so much we don't really notice "others" but it would be distressing that anyone would feel ignored or slighted. I have real issues with Cunard "management" ashore but cannot, honestly, fault the folks who make us come back again and again. And they are given major points for having nothing whatsoever do with "Silent Disco" and "Hey Guys" christenings.

Nope. Not anymore. And I do not think was exclusive to US market Grill passengers. The little black diamond that designated Grill (PG or QG) last appears on my card from QUEEN VICTORIA Sept 2019. Why it was done away with is one of those Cunard shrug-inducing moments. "Someone" thought it was a good idea.

Last cruise on QV, I discovered to my delight, more than few former Costa staff aboard and we could practice our very rusty "cruise passenger Italian" on one another. Negotiating drink prices within the $12 Grill package not only sounds better in Italian, it was also very effective in the end, too. "Meno di dodici...e vero?"

I was treated to kedgeree for breakfast twice last QV cruise in May BUT.... they offered. I did not ask. There's a big difference. Tableside preperation has been drastically cut back in PG too since last year as well. But sure... ask away and appreciate one of the arts of fine service is the tact of saying "not a chance" in the most gracious of ways.

Yes, but the OP was querying true "special orders" in PG... not a la carte items. And no, my recent experience (over the last few years) you cannot ask the maitre d' for shirred eggs at breakfast or chicken korma for lunch or spam fritters for dinner because you fancy them. Special off the menu items are the preserve of Queen's Grill.

Don't worry... I would be astonished if Carnival invests further in Cunard, HAL or Princess in the near future. If ever. Costa seems a write-off already and I would not be surprised if one of these three follows. Having lines of old and now irrelevent history and tradition is not compatible with cruise marketing today hence the deliberate "Cunard Lite" that QUEEN ANNE represents. And why she has no visual reference to Cunard heritage. And won't, either. Same thing now with HAL.

No. Not in my recent experience. It's not a blanket no but it's very very rare and extended as a rare courtesy... not requested.

In the end, you are Cunard's customer, not your travel agent's. And the relationship between Cunard and their agents is congenial, supportive and yes, to use that old word, that of "partners." I can assert that having put in 42 years in the "travel industry" and, no, I have been happily retired from it for... gosh, a blissful four years now. I suggested the OP contact Cunard directly about this oh back on page two of this discussion and pleased he or she did so and achieved the result hoped for. And, more importantly, expected. It is still Cunard's product, their reputation and you are their customer. And yes, mistakes happen and there is nothing worse when they effect someone's holiday. I know. And yes.. again, Cunard have been doing this since 1840, too. Today, their marketing team wants to ignore that tradition and history. But here, the fact they have been doing this way longer than any travel agency, wins the day. Enjoy your cruise. You earned it... more than most.

I wouldn't take QA to Cowes and back. Maybe a one-way and Red Funnel back if there was an open bar and I didn't have to look at "the art". If she is sent packing to the hinterlands and QE/QV out of Southampton I'd be delighted. Meanwhile we are happy to follow QUEEN VICTORIA to the ends of the Cunard earth and back even if it means flying one-way and recognising locals in some of the ports we seem to keep returning to. Over and over again. I looked at the most delightful itinerary offered by Fred. Olsen in BALMORAL... 57 days in the Med and wonder why Cunard cannot think of something along those lines. But Fred. Olsen seems to have lost the plot otherwise and their prices are delusional. QUEEN VICTORIA ex-Southampton on longer, more inventive itineraries like round trip to the St. Lawrence (with no New York!), two-months to the Med in spring and fall, etc. would be most appealing indeed. But we are happily "booked up" with QV and QM2 through 2025 and "await developments". Like folks booked on QA round the world and contemplating the wardrobe space they have for those three months....

And would be just about the only thing "British" about her, too. Maybe they need to bring back CUNARD COUNTESS, CUNARD PRINCESS and CUNARD ADVENTURER which actually garnered quite a bit of loyality over the years especially the first two with British passengers.

I would prefer no traditional "-IA" name be appended to anything resembling QA, thank you. Maybe CUNARD HEY GUYS might be just right

But the OP is travelling Britannia which is hardly "premium" in price or purpose.... and no line that I know of at this price point includes wine at meals. The ones you cite are premium priced and "various policies or promotions" indeed is the case. UK market Grill passengers do not get "free" drinks, etc. Oceania offers it as a option in a choice of "freebies". The irony is that it used to be those travelling Tourist Class got free wine with meals, now it's considered a "premium perk". I do think even the meanest Cunard house red is slightly better than Italian Line "vino da tavola" however.

"Cunard... Taking the Angst out of Ocean Travel... since 1840"......

Gosh, the last lines to offer free wine at meals were French Line and the Italian lines (Italia, Costa, Lauro etc) half a century a ago when it was actually a government requirement that Third (Tourist) had red wine at dinner and lunch provided free of charge. Paquet Line (the much missed MERMOZ) may have had complimentary table wine into the early 1980s but that was it. I loved that even at age 16, the French and Italians served you wine at the table!! And the French gave you a little packet of cigarettes at gala night, too! The value of these drinks packages is easy to figure out if you've cruised with Cunard before and even allowing for the steady uptick in prices. A lot of folks forget that the 15 per cent gratuity is included in these packages. And they included all speciality coffee, teas, soft drinks too.

Actually, who is Captain makes a big difference to us. Always has. I can still name most of the captains I've sailed with and back in the good old days (and they were, too!) on P&O and B.I. you were invited to so many private cocktail parties by the officers you seldom had to buy a drink. The famous CANBERRA morgue party held the evening leaving Gib into the Med was the best. Captains Wacher, Gibb, Scott Masson, Biddick of UGANDA etc. Lots of happy personal memories and moments with some wonderful characters and seamen. We have our favourite Cunard captains and knowing they are aboard on which cruises would frankly influence our decision as to cruise especially in the Med where the itineraries are SO repetitive, we don't even care anymore about that. Modern cruising can be... and seemingly wants to be faceless and souless. But if you make an effort, it can be personable and almost family like. We prefer the latter and always will.

True. When we sailed in QM2 last, on her first long post covid cruise (Southampton direct to the West Indies and return) she was a mess at the beginning but 26 days of generally superb weather (it of course rained only in the West Indies!) let the deck crew carry out the sort of underway maintenance that we passengers notice: chipping, priming and painting. And having done it myself, there is nothing quite so satisfying as painting ship on a hot afternoon at sea. QM2 looked a lot better at the end then the beginning. I doubt that they get as favourable conditions on a North Atlantic crossing.

Either way, it presents an appalling prospect....

Yikes. It almost makes one pine for Mrs. Olsen's "art collection" we all had to contemplate on BLACK PRINCE for all those years.... It was apparenty worth a fortune which made it even worse.... Artwork has always been controversial on Cunarders... there was a huge hue and cry when the Bates Bros. took one look at the "progressive" artwork offered for QUEEN MARY and refused to accept any of it, saying it should be donated to a school for the blind! Hence, the appeal of a nice tranquil portrait of R.M.S. PANNONIA anchored off Fiume, c. 1911.

True.... and the good thing is that we stick to QV and QM2 and you to QA, and our food smells, spatterings and sputterings will be like ships that pass in the night. I wonder if they can even do scrapple in QG... in six plus weeks I can find out.... or, demurring to my better instincts, save that for Sunday mornings at home.

Yuck.

Thoughtful consideration of others should not be an "elective" in Queen's Grill or anywhere else. The ability or means to pay for the best does not purchase a pass to be inconsiderate. Indeed, the reverse used to be case... what did they call it "noblesse oblige". Maybe I should have my special order of scrapple (which I adore) prepared tableside at breakfast and prove the point...

Tableside preparation is part of the experience, yes. But it never even occurred to me that one would want or need most Indian dishes prepared that way. I adore Indian food and would never wish that, either. CANBERRA in Pacific Restaurant would make you the most wonderful Indian feasts, as a treat, but would never dream of preparing it tableside. And I don't want it spattered on my white d/j, either, thanks very much. I do miss French service... though... you never, ever had a full plate of food "plopped" down in front of you, with preordained number and variety of vegetables etc. on liners 15 years ago. Even in Tourist Class. They even do that in Princess Grill now.

We always know were are "almost home" when we we pass this painting on QV between 5-4 Deck! My favourite Card painting is a rare vertical format one of R.M.S. CARINTHIA sailing from a wintry New York that is off the Chart Room. Just beautiful. Without its history, to me Cunard is just another generic cruise line. And we have plenty of those as it is. And yes, I think the majority of "cruisers" are fine with that, too. As Ethel Mertz said about Europe... "it's so old...."