3rdGenCunarder

I don't think there are any Neptunes that are doubles. On the ships I've sailed, the corner afts have a single sofa bed and the rest of the Neptunes have a double sofa bed. So there's no double Neptune that HAL can move you to. On some ships, the Signature suites are all triples. What bothers me about this is that singles and couples pay for two people in a cabin. Kids sail free promos show up often and that means only the two adults pay for the cabin. SAME PRICE. Yeah, yeah, onboard spending, we've all heard that excuse. But is chasing that onboard money (which isn't guaranteed) worth alienating someone who has already booked and will now cancel? I hope anyone who does cancel over this issue makes the reason very clear when cancelling.

I agree with other posters, given that it's a holiday sailing there are likely to be families looking for triples and quads, so I wouldn't gamble on being able to keep the quads you've booked. By "leftovers" I suppose you mean less than desirable cabins. That's the risk of letting HAL choose where to move you, especially if the move is made late in the game. Have you looked to see what's available now? If you resign yourself to having an ordinary balcony, are there any available cabins that would be acceptable?

I was doing dummy bookings on the website to see if they were blocking triples and quads from singles or couples, maybe 2 months ago. I didn't talk to anyone at HAL. Question for anyone who has been moved. Did they move you to the same category grade? For example, if you had a VB, did you get another VB, or could HAL move someone to a VC or VD?

HAL doesn't let a solo or couple book a triple or quad any more. At least, not on the sailings I checked a while ago, after this issue first came up here. I think I was checking veranda cabins. If I said two people, I saw a bunch of doubles. If I said one person, I saw the same doubles. But if I said three, I saw triples. If I said four, I saw quads. I don't know if all sailings are showing that way, but it looks like HAL is making it harder for people to buy cabins with greater occupancy than needed. I also checked Sig suits, which I think are all triples. The site did let me choose one of them, I guess because there were no doubles to force me into. So going forward, I think people will not be able to book a cabin that HAL would need to move them from. The issue at the moment seems to be people who booked before the policy change and are not being grandfathered.

It could have been worse...

See posts 709 and 711 above. The bell made an appearance for the naming day and then disappeared.

Wellll... interesting idea, but I'm not sure they should play homage to Freddie with "We Will Rock You!"

Perhaps not, perhaps only for ceremonial occasions. This was taken on a sea day. I enlarged it a little and added the line to show where the hook is. But no bell in this photo.

Yes! It's on a sort of hook at the bow. I discovered it when I was looking at my QA photos. Rather than stand around outside for hours, I watched the naming from the sofa in my stateroom, sustained by my bottle of Cunard prosecco and some nibbles from the buffet. This is a shot of the TV showing the bottle at its target.

Aw come on! First you want to take away the ONLY Cunard Vista sailing around North America, and now you want to swipe HAL's Vistas??? Don't steal my Zuidy! Maybe Costa has a Vista to spare? (Wasn't Concordia a Vista?) HAL still has their four Vistas--Zuiderdam, Oosterdam, Westerdam, Noordam. I have sailed on three of them, and like them all, but Zuidy is my favorite. HAL also has two Signature class ships, which are pretty much stretched Vistas. They also have two of their original 8 small ships. I think they may come to regret shedding so many of those as ports get fussy about the size of ships they'll let in. (The two new Fred Olsen's are ex-HAL.) Zaandam got into Key West this winter. Not sure a Pinnacle would be welcome.

By that thinking, Carnival could shift Koningsdam to Cunard. Just change staff uniforms (their service is already excellent), improve their afternoon tea service, and add more speakers (which HAL definitely needs to do). And paint over the logo on the funnel. I give up. QA is what Cunard wanted, nobody asked me. At least the next Cunarder (if there will be one any time soon) won't be Queen Koo.

But how many people know where those are by the time they're leaving? Asking people to show those would back things up even more. They need staff walking the line asking what color/number tags passengers have--giving people an extra full tag would make this easier. HAL used to monitor disembarkation, especially early when priority passengers were leaving. At Southampton, they line people up outside the terminal to stick to assigned times. Perhaps Intercruise people could come on board to control the flow at disembarkation. The mob scenes in the atrium are a hazard.

I have never seen them check. I've rarely seen them even ask, and if they do, they don't ask to see the little tab. It's good to see that some people have good luck with disembarkation. Don't cruise with me, I get rain (seriously, my last three cruises had more rain than sun) and have delays disembarking. During the re-start, when disembarkation was direct from cabins and they didn't make ship-wide announcements, we were supposed to go to the gangway at our appointed time. Disembarkation from QE in Vancouver was backed up, and the atrium and nearby lounges were full to overflowing when I arrived at my time. So much for Covid safety! They should have made an announcement. I asked a gangway officer how late things were running. He asked my color. I told him and then asked if I should just stand and wait or should I find somewhere to sit. He looked at his list and said, you may as well sit. So I sat for about 15 minutes, and then remembered that they don't check (my first time back after Covid and my first time in many years without the priority lounge, so I was out of practice), and just got up and joined the queue. No problem, as it turned out, my luggage was in its area. Same thing in NYC (QM2) the following spring. Disembarkation ran late, people crowded the gangway, jumped the queue. I was about to head down when they made a ship-wide announcement that disembarkation was being held and please wait in your cabin. So I sat and waited until they announced things were moving again. The gangway area wasn't deserted, but it wasn't the usual mob scene, either. On QA, I arrived at my time, got in the queue, and they stopped disembarkation for a medical emergency in the terminal. When they restarted, they called the color AFTER mine. I just kept walking and got off the ship because I was concerned about missing the coach. Sure enough, I was one of the last to get there. So perhaps they had been running early, which made me late for showing up on time! In Vancouver this summer, they did a priority disembarkation lounge because there were so few high-level past passengers. We were the first group off after self-help, and we were walked as a group from the dining room to the atrium. For part of the way, there was a rope line to keep people from jumping in. Someone asked if I was Orange 1, but didn't ask for proof when I said yes. The only luggage in sight was the line of Orange 1 bags, so any queue-jumpers would have had to stand around and wait. I don't know why they can't simply make ship-wide announcements. Sit somewhere and wait until you're called. And maybe they could splurge on extra tags. Give you one to put on your carry-on so they can check that you are in the appropriate group.

Darjeeling?!?!?!?!? My favorite tea! Where were they hiding it???? Until a few years ago, maybe longer (before Covid?), Twinings Darjeeling was in the rack of teabags in the lido. Fortunately, I can still get Assam, my second favorite on Cunard.

Yes, those are bits of Cunard-ness on the ship. I didn't find any more. In fact, one of my first comments on the generic nature of QA was that they could sell her to any other line, just take out the large mural, re-do the pub into an ordinary bar, and paint the funnel.

If they're trying to attract US passengers, they may think Seattle gives them an edge over ships leaving from Vancouver. My home airport is Newark, which is huge, but there are only 4 direct flights to Vancouver, two United and two Air Canada. There are many more flights to Seattle from Newark. I suspect it's similar from other major US airports.

Oh yes, QE and QV have much nicer lounges. I think because I first saw the lounge mid-day on a sunny day, it seemed bright and cheerful. But I never felt any desire to sit there, except for a drink before dinner. My biggest negatives on QA were the thermal suite, which was ridiculously small, and the Queens Room, which was ugly. With Lido furniture in the part across the walkway! I wish I had a picture of the corresponding area on QE or QV, where there are sofas and comfy chairs.

I didn't mind that room, although I found it annoying that the bar was almost never open! I just wonder what they're going to do about dust on the leaves of the fake tree.

I have no recollection of the Clarendon art on QA other than a print of the original design for the Rolling Stones logo. Alaska on QE is more recent, and I saw little there that I wanted. I am so tired of Mr. Brainwash! And there was a hideous dog portrait that looked like something Adelaide Tempest would paint! (Professor T, season 1)

I think it's the impression Cunard wants to make--leaning a bit more toward young and hip and fun. Adding a little bit of the parent company to lighten the image. That was what several people I spoke to felt about Cunard's intent in making QA different from the other ships. Of course, those people didn't particularly like QA, so their impression might just have been biased.

I agreee that the occupants of OP's original stateroom will not know anything about it. I would find it interesting to know when the cabin was reassigned. Does Cunard hold unpaid cabins as a sort of invisible grace period, or do they go into inventory right away?

And it doesn't have to be all over the ship. Start with the Commodore Club, perhaps.

I agree that Alaska may be oversaturated at this point. I booked my Alaska cruise because of a promo email from Cunard that was too hard to resist.

I think it's how she's being marketed. Remember when Coke had the "uncola?" QA is being marketed as the "unCunard." Look at the terminal signage. No black and red. It's pink and turquoise and light blue, etc. Right there, they are setting expectations. All the banners in Liverpool were that same color palette. Even the brochure I got recently for QA is in that palette. It's funny, I was just talking with a friend who went to the grand re-opening of an old hotel in our town. A sort of grand lady as hotels go, looked the same forever, and now it has been "modernized." My friend said it's jazzy and hip and attractive, but it just doesn't feel like our town. As she put it, "This is not your grandmother's hotel." Well, QA is not my grandmother's Cunarder.