exlondoner

By our final QE2 voyage in 2008, the QG lounge was described as ‘exclusively reserved for our Grills guests’, so at some point in her later years it changed. ,

If you are sailing in September, perhaps it would be worth waiting and booking on board, to get low deposit and extra credit.

How odd. I have just checked the stuff for our QM2 TA in 2006, and the Grills Lounge seems to be for all Grills. Can’t find anything about the deck. Don’t remember getting any service there at all, not like recently on the Vistas.

I think the European air traffic controllers are likely to cause cancellations. Nothing actually to do with the UK as such, but could still be very disruptive. Cunard might at least be more interested in getting you to the next port. Which is not a lot of help on a TA, I admit. I certainly wouldn’t want the M25 between me and Southampton.

You must be very young. When I was a child, it was the Third Programme that was replaced by cricket, then R3, then eventually R4, but only the long wave version. I too loathe the idea of participating or, indeed watching, any sport, except for listening to the cricket.

I don’t think there are any midship Q6s.

If you’d watched the Lord’s test, you might also have seen several MCC blazers. Now that is a thing.

And, of course, at all-inclusive resorts, unless you drink very heavily yourself, you are simply paying for others to do so, while you are more moderate.

The lifts go up the outside of the ship near the front, one each side, and you can see an excellent view. You can access them from the Library among other places. Have you found the bridge viewing area?

I imagine Cunard get through a lot of their cheaper wines. The more likely problem seems to be running out of some types rather than it getting old.

I must say I have found people at the other end of a telephone at Cunard universally pleasant and helpful if not always highly proactive. Why one should refer to them - or any other human being - as ‘the Blob’ I cannot imagine. As to refunds, when we had one, because of Covid, an amount equivalent to the deposit was returned within ten days to me by cheque, although the cheque we had paid by was my husband’s. It took months of pressing via our TA to get the rest, and that came via our TA. A mysterious process indeed.

I think we must resist the temptation to think that Cunard and Carnival have never had a new ship before, and therefore haven’t a clue what they are doing. You might not like their products but they are a major shipping company: I dare say someone there has realised that waiters need to move around restaurants, particularly as the ship is an adaptation of others currently in service.

I can’t decide whether this is worse than the MCC tie or not quite as bad.

We tend to have our pre-dinner drinks on the cabin balcony, but if we wanted to go to a bar, I don’t think we would choose that one, unless the plan is very misleading.

🙂🙂 That’s certainly working, as far as I’m concerned. Nonetheless, despite the carping, I am looking forward to my voyage on her.

They do indeed. And in the QG restaurant, almost everyone has a good view. It will be very interesting to see how it turns out.

I’m sorry I misunderstood. I thought by check in, you meant at the counter in the terminal where you show your passport etc. Having said that, I don’t think we’ve ever received them that early in the voyage, but I can’t remember too clearly. What do you do with them?

Excellent.

Would you expect them at check in when they are so busy? I think we’ve received pins in our cabin during the voyage.

Thank you, HH.

Who would want to go to it anyway? It lacks windows and a view. So disappointing.

I always chat to people at adjacent tables in the dining room, and often a relationship develops. I also chat to people nearby having morning coffee in the Queens Grill Lounge. I think on the whole people are happy to chat. It is often interesting to talk to people from different countries.

Sorry, I didn’t check: I was misled by the words wine list. In May, their own label Sicilian rosé, which is very agreeable, was about $39, including the 15% service. I assume the other colours were probably the same.

There is one from last year near the top of this page. It will obviously be somewhat out of date, but perhaps helpful, if longer than the 119th psalm.

I don’t think it is fair to say London prices are a rip off. They are high because they have high overheads and staff costs. Anyway, I have just looked at the prices for a smart bar in Bournemouth with a view. The cocktails are all £13.50. So Cunard prices don’t seem that unreasonable.