Caipi

On 9/14/2024 at 9:43 PM, Uffda1 said:

 

- The free upgrades are those usually within the same category but a better position on the ship - forward to midship, for instance, as opposed to balcony to balcony grill or princess grill?

 

 

In August we first got an upgrade from a sheltered balcony staterom on deck 5 to a balcony stateroom on deck 11 and then to a Britannia Club Balcony Stateroom on deck 13. (But the second upgrade may have happened because I wrote to them that I don't like the connecting door of 11031, and they wrote back that I have to take it because I allowed upgrading, which was not true -  I was not asked about that at all, and I wrote that to them as well.) 

18 minutes ago, ernnnn said:

And those are the ones I want to wear, designer unicolour polo shirts, without text or numbers. I'm not going to wear a Formula 1 team polo, for example.

🙂

Whether it complies with the dress code or not, I saw Polo-Shirts in the evening in Britannia Club Restaurant and even on a Gala Night when going through the Britannia Restaurant. But I thought to myself that the airline must had lost his luggage. 🙂

1 minute ago, david63 said:

There is the other argument regarding polo shirts in that sports wear is, supposedly, not allowed after 18:00 and by definition a polo shirt is sports wear.

I do not agree, it started as sportswear, but the unicoloured versions (of course without any text or numbers) are meanwhile the more elegant version of a T-shirt. Lots of men wear them in 'stylish restaurants'. 

10 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

I can't find a thread from you asking about the dress code before you sailed. These are moderated boards and we don't allow insults.

Sorry I've just edited my post and wrote that it was in a Facebook-group. 

23 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

I very much doubt that the majority of people on Cunard know what Cunard means by smart attire, given that it is very clear from this thread that Cunard as a line does not know itself and the only opinion that matters is that of their staff.  I sense that you meant to write 'the majority of people on Cunard cruises know how they interpret what Cunard means by smart attire'.  That allows a very wide degree of variance, whilst still remaining well within the bounds of the stated dress code.  It is unfair to suggest that individuals are 'pushing the limits' whilst they are complying in full with the dress code.  And, as I've said before, how the way that a passenger dresses in accordance with the dress code, whether at the 'casual end of smart' in the opinion of some or otherwise, has any impact on the 'overall atmosphere' for other cruisers is entirely beyond me.

I agree with ShipboardSteve that people definitely know what can 'safely' be regarded as smart attire. But I also think one can have reasons for questions regarding the 'casual end of smart', I did ask as well in a Facebook group, months ago, because my husband had a lot of (designer) polo shirts, but only 1-2 'real' shirts. So why buy new clothes when you don't have to? But after I got my answer, (and some insults because of that really scandalous question,) we did buy several new shirts for him. 

27 minutes ago, D&N said:

IRegular passengers and others who would choose partly Cunard because of the dress code are concerned that it is constantly under attack from folk that want casual who have 320 other ships to choose from.

I never saw someone attacking the dress code, what would that be good for? It is as it is, and as you said if they don't like it they could book another ship anyway. (And Germans who were with us on QM2 did not bring evening wear at all, they just went to the buffet.) 

What I did see in several groups are 'traditionalists' attacking people who don't plan to wear a tuxedo or a suit every night, because according to them you have to, although Cunard clearly states that is not the case (anymore), only on formal nights. 

As long as people are following the dress code which is stated by Cunard they can wear anything and noone has the right to criticize them for it. 

We had this one in our room:

https://www.illy.com/en-us/coffee-machines/all-italian-espresso-machines/ese-pod-coffee-machine/coffee-machines-illyese-us-p.html?dwopt_60500_subscriptionOG=0&dwvar_coffee-machines-illyese-us-p_color=Black&pid=60500&quantity=1

The problem with the one in our room was it only gave very short amounts of coffee, so we downloaded its manual and saw that it was blinking for descaling. We got some descaling liquid from our steward (who said they do that 2-weekly, but it seems they don't do it the way Illy describes it) and after we descaled it the buttons stopped blinking and we reprogrammed one button for a correct espresso amount. (ca. 30 ml) 

26 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

We'll have to agree to disagree on that interpretation.  

It's the end of the first para that is about 'more relaxed attire'.  If the statement about jeans was meant to fall in the description of that category, there would be no paragraph break.  By inserting a new paragraph they are introducing a new point, thus disassociating the statement about jeans from that about 'more relaxed attire' and including it under the general heading 'What to Wear: Smart Attire'.

 

From the OP's perspective, it's also interesting to note that the 'dress shirt' reference on the web site is replaced here by 'collared shirt'.  Polo shirts have a collar, so that implies that polo shirts are perfectly acceptable as smart attire.

 

But, as I stated earlier, it doesn't matter what I (or any other poster) think - all that matters is what the staff are enforcing.  But, if they are going to try to disallow jeans and polo shirts, I'd recommend that they re-write their dress code more clearly, both on their website and in the Daily Programme.  And, ensuring also that the Daily Programme and the website descriptions matched would help to avoid confusion.

I saw a man in a polo-shirt on a Gala night in Britannia restaurant and was quite surprised, but i thought maybe he had lost his luggage. Could happen. 🙂 I was so afraid of that that we had all our evening stuff (suit, cocktail dresses, all collared shirts, 2 pairs of shoes) in our hand luggage. 🙂 We could have rebought some clothes in Hamburg, but definitely not these....

1 hour ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

The rules are not 'so different'.  @Victoria2 provided you some excellent advice above.    

My advice would be to remember that of all the hundreds of thousands of passengers who sail Cunard each year and enjoy their cruises, only a fraction of 1% are active contributors to these boards and there is a tendency for some of them to have views and opinions at the extreme end of the spectrum on issues such as dress code which are not in any way representative or typical of the vast majority of cruisers on Cunard.    I sense that many cruisers trying to find out about Cunard via these boards are scared off by some of the views they read on here (which often bear no resemblance to the truth and sometimes contain blatant misinformation) and thereby miss out on experiencing this cruise line.  That is sad.

 

What the dress code actually says (on the UK site) for smart attire is:  'Smart attire simply means a dress shirt and trousers, skirt and a top, or a cocktail dress. Essentially, choose something along the same vein as you’d wear to a stylish restaurant or the theatre on a special occasion'.  Jeans meet any but the most extreme definition of trousers and, given that Cunard does not make a distinction between jeans and other types of trousers, neither should anyone cruising on Cunard.  I often wear jeans to stylish restaurants and have regularly worn jeans to the dining room on non-gala nights.  Many other passengers clearly do likewise.  

 

The situation with polo shirts is a little more complex.  'Dress shirt' as per the dress regs means something different depending on where you are from.  In the UK, a dress shirt is a formal shirt worn with a dinner jacket and bow tie.  That is clearly not what the Cunard dress regs mean by the term when talking about 'smart attire'.  I suspect that what they have in mind is more aligned with the US definition, which I interpret as a shirt with buttons down the front, long sleeves and a collar.  Whether or not a polo shirt will meet that definition may be open to debate.  However, the only opinion that matters is that of the maitre d' at the restaurant or the staff in the venue you are visiting.  It might be wise to ask the maitre d' on the first night on board and to take some more traditional style shirts with you just in case.

 

I cannot understand why some are so fixated on what other people wear.  It is nothing to do with them and should have no impact on how they experience their cruise.  Your cruise is your cruise and you should wear clothes that you feel comfortable in and which comply with the dress regs.  Only the staff can judge whether what someone is wearing complies or not.  My advice is not to be put off by what you might read on here, to ignore any (spurious) claims that you will feel under-dressed if you are not wearing very formal clothing every night and to give Cunard a try because it offers a good value cruise experience which is very similar in many respects to other mainstream lines at a similar price point, with some interesting and unique characteristics of its own.  I'm sure you will have fun.  If what you choose to wear results in a couple of other passengers not having fun because they are spluttering into their gin and tonics about you wearing jeans, that, in my opinion, is their problem, not yours.

CUNARD does mention jeans as relaxed (not smart) attire:

Of course, if you prefer to spend your evenings in more relaxed attire, a selection of casual dining and entertainment venues is always available for your enjoyment. Feel free to dress casually as you visit any of the following venues: Kings Court, Lido Buffet (Including Al Fresco), Golden Lion, Casino, Carinthia Lounge, Winter Garden, Garden Lounge, Yacht Club, and G32. Non-ripped, jeans are appropriate, but after 6pm please refrain from wearing shorts, sports attire, swimwear or sleeveless t-shirts outside of the gym, spa and deck spaces.

We have to book at Cunard International with the same fares as, say, Germans, and it is stated that gratuities are included. (However, in our case they charged it anyway, but I had it removed - Germans always write that they are asked on some paper in their stateroom whether they want to pay the extra gratuities or not.) 

No one showed us our stateroom and we did not see the people handling our luggage. We gave a tip to the steward, to "our waiter" and to the sommelier. (We were in Britannia Club.) We did not plan to give to the sommelier but we he was so nice and the only person in the restaurant who seemed to enjoy what he does 🙂 So we had no more cash left for him, and I asked him on the last day whether he gets the tip if I tip on the bill and he said yes he does. 

Oh and we gave 5 dollars tobthe the lady delivering the breakfast to our room, because we could not get a smaller banknote here in Hungary. 🙂

14 hours ago, napria said:

So, if the upgrade fairy hasn’t gone away for good, when would an upgrade be granted?  I’m setting sail on my first Cunard voyage on September 29. (THIS MONTH!!!) and if she waves her magic wand and upgrades us from sheltered balcony to regular balcony I wouldn’t be happy.  However if we were to be upgraded to PG or higher, we’d be in BIG trouble.  We have 3 weeks of back to back sailing booked on QM2 in August 2026.  I’m afraid if we were upgraded to PG, we’d have to go back and pay for the upgrades for the 3 week voyage.  Luckily for me the chances of that happening are probably slim to none 😁

We got the first upgrade 7 days before sailing, (sheltered balcony on deck 5 -> glass balcony on deck 11), and the second one 5 days before sailing. (glass balcony on deck 11 -> Britannia Club glass balcony on deck 13) After the 1st one I wrote them that I don't like it because of the connecting door, but they wrote back that I have to take it because I had agreed to being upgraded. But this was not true, I booked on the phone and was not asked at all about this, and I wrote this back. So maybe the second upgrade was because of this, but of course there's no way of knowing.  

2 hours ago, Kynance said:

The club dining room on QV is a lovely, light, elegant room - much nicer than the club dining rooms on QM2, though I don’t dislike them but they do feel darker and don’t benefit from the high ceiling of the main Britannia dining room.  Club balcony cabins on QV are identical to the Britannia balconies but are midships on decks 7 & 8. There is allegedly a “pillow concierge” menu but I have never seen it - you have to ask if you want a different sort of pillow (and we have had success with that when it “ordinary” Britannia balconies. 
 

I really like the QM2 deck 13 Club cabins. None of them have connecting doors. Much nicer shower rooms and cabin decor too.  There is also a better hairdryer (hidden in the wardrobe. It’s larger than those in standard cabins but still nice and light). We tried the coffee machine and it was a comedy of errors. It only makes espressos so was next to useless for us. No one has mentioned the “enhanced” biscuits yet - so I will! Assuming they are the same as we had this June, they are the Walkers brand - we had about 4 different varieties on rotation - oat crumbles, salted caramel something, stem ginger and chocolate chip. Absolutely worth the successful upgrade bid on their own! 🤣

The price differential between Britannia and Club is much smaller on a short cruise, so it’s a good way to try Club out. 

 

 

I did mention the cookies in my review :), and I've already looked them up, but unfortunately I cannot buy my favourite, the salted caramel one, in Hungary. I suppose they had lots of this on board:

We were upgraded to a Britannia Club Balcony stateroom, and it was very nice experiencing it, because we definitely won't pay that difference for a different restaurant, a choice of, say 8 more dishes at dinner, - which by the way were the same ones on all 8 days, and some of them should have been preordered -  and for some water, espresso and cookies. 🙂

(And we won't book higher than deck 10 anyway, we did not like those vibrations.) 

2 hours ago, exlondoner said:

I believe the only people who have true success with the coffee machines are those with Italian ancestry or relatives. 😀

We are hungarians, we drink 'short' coffees too. 🙂

But first we had to 'repair' our coffee machine, because it gave only very short shots (you had to press, say, 8 times for an espresso = 25-30 ml!!) and it could not be reprogrammed, because it was blinking for descaling. (We downloaded the manual.) 

So I asked our steward Aris whether he has something for descaling, and he laughed, and said, oh yes, this coffee machine only gives very short quantities, but he gave us a sachet for descaling anyway and assured us that the machines are descaled every 2 weeks. But I suppose they don't do it the way Illy writes to do it, so at first some guest who did not know how to use it reprogrammed the amount of coffee and it could not be reprogrammed again because of the blinking lights. 

By the way, it was an Illy E.S.E. (easy serving espresso)-pod machine, and they gave Illy Classic and Illy Decaffeinated pods. It has 2 buttons, and normally one is for a small cup and the other one for a big cup, maybe they have Illy Lungo pods as well. 

2 hours ago, FSW2024 said:

Thanks for this. Very useful. Next May we’re actually in 6 cabins down from the one you’ve mentioned. It’ll be interested to see if I experience the same re-vibrations. 

I hope for you you do not. 🙂 

59 minutes ago, Jack E Dawson said:

On our very first Crossing on the QM2, back in 2017, we were in cabin 12022 and almost immediately noticed the vibrations which came and went. Since this was our very first cruise of any kind and didn't really know what to expect, so we thought this was "normal". The vibrations didn't bother us and we soon didn't even notice them. However, on the second night of the Crossing we were fortunate enough to be invited to dine with the Deputy Captain (now the QE Captain) and I asked him about the vibrations. He said he was aware of them and the cause was the large washing machines on the ship. That sometimes when two or more are in the spin cycle they can set up a harmonic vibration that is felt on the upper forward decks. At first I laughed because I thought he was kidding but he assured me this was actually the case. To this day I still don't know if he was pulling my leg or not but that would explain the randomness of the vibrations, even when the ship wasn't moving. It's just one more quirky thing about the QM2 that adds to our love for this great ship.

Jack

Yes I read that explanation here in an older topic, (that's how I found this webpage in the first place - Googling 'vibrations on QM 2' :D,) maybe it was you as well who wrote it. 🙂 I understand your hesitation to believe it, it really sounds weird, but my husband, the mentioned maintenance technician says it could be true. However, in that case they must be washing all the time, 24/7. And I definitely do not love that quirk :), I could live with it again but we both hope we won't feel it in 8014 the next time... it's even more forward than 13033 was, but at least several decks below.  

We were in 13033 from 6th to 14th August. No problems with seasickness although we had a quite bumpy night on the North Sea. 

But the on and off and on and off vibrations, which have nothing to do with the ship sailing, for we had it in ports as well, - even on the first day standing in Hamburg, all the time - , were really very unsettling. When it's on everything is trembling under you, the floor, the bed, bottles very near to each other are rattling a bit, you can see it on the surface of a glass of water as well, my husband actually made a video of that. On the first day it felt like all our insides and our brain was being shaken in our body, from the second day we got kind of used to it, but we did not like it a bit. 🙂 The Britannia Club - to which we were upgraded - as such was great, but I won't book or accept a room on or over deck 10 ever, because I only found reports of these vibrations from people who were on these decks. There's a review here on CC from someone who wrote he canceled the return leg of his TA because of it... 

My husband (who is a technician) said the vibration is on a very disturbing frequency, but maybe not all people are receptive / sensitive to it....? Most people don't mention it at all, but some wrote that on some sailings they felt it and on others not. A mistery. 🙂

13 hours ago, D&N said:

We had 8014 booked for 2020, but of course that never happened. I did look at photos of the view and some high definition exterior pictures of the ship and came to conclusion that 8013 and 8014 were the least obstructed of all in that category.

 

I've just searched and found this video of 8013 posted in November 2022. I wouldn't think there would be any change to either cabin since then.

 

For some reason I haven't 'Googled' 8013, only 8014, that's great, thank you very much! 

13 hours ago, Tigrou said:

Sorry, I don't sail until autumn 2025.

 

So do we, to Norway (again), in November. 🙂

On 4/12/2024 at 2:53 PM, Tigrou said:

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has provided photos and information on this thread. 

 

I've sailed in a sheltered balcony cabin and didn't like it even though I thought I would (turns out I want to see the water from inside but can't because I'm too short!) so have since sailed in a standard balcony.  I was planning to book one for my next trip but then wondered about the obstructed views, found this thread and now I'm booked into 8013. 

 

The photos were invaluable to me, being able to see the exact views in each cabin.  Some I definitely wouldn't consider as there's far too much of an obstruction, others I think I would find interesting.  I'm still undecided about those with tenders rather than a lifeboat - it looks like a bus is parked on the balcony but it does have windows which allow more light through and potentially offer more of a view.  When I saw that 8013 was available that was my decision made, I'll give it a try.  I know it's no guarantee but I have asked for my booking to be noted 'no upgrade' as I don't want to be moved to a cabin Cunard consider an upgrade but which has a more obstructed view.

 

Thank you again.🙂

  

Hi, 

if you have already sailed, how was it please? I've just booked 8014. 🙂

3 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

Ah, that's something for me to look forward to. The reason I don't think that's strange is that it presumably relates to U2's residency in Las Vegas, to which I was able to attend, a terrific night out. It was held in the Sphere, a new venue in Vegas, which looks likes this:

 

The show made heavy use of graphics as part of an immersive experience, so I can see a show based on that would work well in the QM2 planetarium.

Yes I was aware of that event and thought also that there would be a connection, but never having seen U2 for a minute made it strange for us. 🙂 We had booked for the first day and the Daily programme did not say a word about what it was. (On the next day there was a short description as well.) 

We saw a strange 25-minute-long graphic show with U2 music in the planetarium a few days ago ("The U2 Dome Experience"), we did not know whether this counts as the planetarium working or not. 🙂 You had to book a timeslot for it in MyVoyage. 

We boarded QM2 2 weeks ago in Hamburg and although we had uploaded photos, and followed the guidance exactly as well, they took new ones.