3rdGenCunarder

I did the tour on Zuiderdam. I remember being told about the second purpose of the flower cold storage. When we got to the stores area, and our guide opened the door to oneof the cold storage areas and we were greeted by a waiter holding a tray of champagne glasses. So we sipped while we browsed. On Zuiderdam, the tailor shop was far forward, and it was cool to see the curved shape of the hull from inside.

On an upper deck on QM2, there's a viewing window where you can look at the bridge. There's a sign asking people to not tap on the window!

WOW! I've done BTS on Zuiderdam and QM2, and both times we saw the engine control room but not the engine room itself. Cunard didn't allow photos, I don't know why.

They look smaller than mine, which is nice. How do they stick on a wall?

Thank you! 1. On Eurodam this winter, butter was served at breakfast at the toast station. Generosity varied. 3. Tea light is a great idea. I have a battery operated motion-activated night light for the room, so it's dark in the room unless I get out of bed. It takes a little experimenting to find the right spot for it. I loved the floor-level motion-activated night light in the K'dam Neptune suites. I thought they were putting those in all rooms on the new ships. 4. I'm sorry you didn't get Maine lobster, but I hope they're still stocking "the real thing" for my Iceland/Greenland cruise next year! 6. I've seen the water cartons elsewhere. MUCH better than the poptops, which can't be closed. 10, Yes, Norway is beautiful!!! Best scenery I've seen, even beating out Yosemite and Alaska.

You're asking a lot with this statement! 😛 But seriously, you're right that there are options for these ships. If AQV can't find a buyer, they may have to consider some coastal cruises just to make some money with these ships.

I agree. And since Trip Advisor started selling tours, the companies that don't book through them get pushed way down the search list. I google the exact title of the ship's tour and if I find it or something close, I compare the descriptions. Often, the cruise line just picks up the text from the tour operator's website.

I consider it a no-go area, so I don't bring it up.

I remember seeing a cruise that sailed around Florida and stopped in interesting places. I wanted to do that one, and the company disappeared. I thought AQV's itinerary for Mexico was pretty weak. I could survive without a pool on a hot cruise, but the Navigator and Voyager needed more shade on deck.

I have been very lucky with table companions. Last winter on HAL, I was at a table for 8. One couple rarely showed up, but the rest of us had a very pleasant time. We shared a love of theater and art--HAL couldn't possibly know that, it was just luck. I think Cunard does make some effort in terms of ages. Twice on QM2, I've been at a table of all singles, mostly retired and well traveled. Other times I've been with people whose backgrounds and interests are quite different. But people brought up with curiosity and good manners somehow know how to find something to talk about.

I could sign in for a specific cruise, then follow the steps @Victoria2 listed, but I got "we could not find that page. I would really like to see it. 7-8 years ago, I asked the onboard booking person, who was also World Club contact, to look it up for me. It was full of errors. Short cruises on QE2 showed as TAs. Some cruises appeared twice and others not at all. But oddly enough, the total came out within a few days of my records. So I didn't bother correcting it.

Interesting points. I wonder if they don't find a buyer, will they try coastal cruising again. Is anyone else in this market? With small ships, they can get into a lot of small ports, and the east coast has plenty of interesting places to go. What do they do with the Empress when they aren't doing Columbia and Snake rivers?

On my recent cruise, first night, three of the people at the table (fixed dining) aired their political views, which did NOT match mine. I thought I would jump overboard if I had to sit through that for ten days. But they got it out of their system--or maybe they noticed that the other couple and I were silent--and everything was okay after that.

You never know what kind of football alliances may form. We sat with a lovely couple from the Dallas area. We're Giants fans, and they loved their Cowboys, but we bonded over a mutual loathing of Washington (Redskins at the time).

Since I was kind enough to offer someone my share of escargots, may I have your butter? 😁 There is a rose named for Julia Child. No surprise, it's butter yellow.

Although I love a shared table at dinner, I prefer to eat by myself at breakfast. A lot of chatter is not my favorite way to start the day. But when the two-tops are close together, you may get gregarious neighbors. The best was one morning on QM2, when I ordered the "English breakfast" and a woman at the next table said, "Excuse me, but aren't you American?" When I said that I am, she asked why I would order an ENGLISH breakfast--not in a judgmental way, just curious. I replied because that was what I was in the mood for! Were she still with us, I would enjoy dining with Julia Child. She wouldn't criticize my fondness for butter!

And you've got it. Nobody is going to give you a glare or say "shh!" at BBKing, Rolling Stone, or Billboard. And it looks like HAL is going to keep these venues in various combinations, depending on the ship. But some of us want a different experience than that. Now that LC is gone, I don't know what I will do in the evenings on my cruise this winter. I'm tired of Step One and that seems to be the only mainstage entertainment. I have little faith that LC will be rotating on my ship--or on any ship, frankly. I think the rotation scheme is a way for them to quietly disappear. Has anyone seen Cantare on a recent cruise, or has HAL quietly dropped them? There seems to be an added jazz combo, but that isn't certain for all ships.

Welcome to Cruise Critic! I don't know why you're seeing only the HIA price, but to add to the confusion, there is a third price called Advantage Fare, which never shows up on the website. (Nobody knows why, it just doesn't) The cruise only fare on the website has no perks and the deposit is non-refundable. The Advantage Fare is a little more expensive, but the deposit is refundable and there may or may not be some extras included, depending on the promos on offer at the moment. The HIA is more expensive because it has the wifi, drinks, and some credits. The HIA fare is often around $50 per person per day more than Advantage fare. Call HAL or your travel agent, and you can get quotes on all three fares.

I really doubt the audience at Lincoln Center wanted it to be non-revenue generating. It would have been nice to be able to have a drink while I listened, but HAL put LC in a space that didn't have a bar and they didn't bother to send bar waiters there to take drink orders. There was plenty of time before a performance to do that--people arrived early to get a seat, so during that time, beverage service would not have been an interruption.

Do you dock at the cruise port or tender into town? If you are out at the cruise port, there will be shuttles into town. What company are you going with? I went with Baranof tours (excellent!) and they leave from the dock at the municipal center, which is where the ship's shuttle drops you off. Best to check the website of the company you're going with or email/text them with questions.

Yes, HIA shorex credits are exactly that. If you don't buy excursions that use up all the shorex credit, it doesn't convert to regular OBC. Oddly, the website says a shorex credit of $200 is for two excursions up to a value of $100 each. But people have reported using the credit for one excursion that costs up to $200. And last winter, the system let me use my $200 shorex credit to book one tour at $69 and two more at $59 each.

OP says they will have the same cabin, so a move isn't necessary.

If you look at the deck plans, there are a lot of triple and quad cabins. K'dam's double occupancy is 2650. Max occupancy is 3194 (according the data on cruisemapper, which was the only place I could find the max without counting all those little squares and circles on the deck plans). That's an extra 21%, which has to affect dining and also crowding around the ship. Eurodam's max is an extra 20%, and the Vistas only 15%. So when they have the "kids sail free" or "third and fourth passengers sail free," it's no wonder serving gets backed up.

Euwww! If the sticker is their system, they could at least do something more ordinary, like a color or number, the way tours often do. Even "NCL" if they want to advertise themselves. @SuzWillCruise, the spa thing has been an issue for a while. Even though you booked the crusie as a B2B with one booking number, the computer doesn't let you do some advance bookings for the second half of your cruise. Book the first week and talk to the people in the spa when you get on board. They may not be able to do the second booking then, but they might be able to make sure you're on the list for the second week so you don't get shut out. You probably won't be able to book tours for the second week once you're on board (until the second week starts), another B2B glitch.

I agree! You can say you've "seen" London, but it would be barely a glance. I have never done a B2B because I can't imagine getting to England and having no time to tour around. I like it when there's an EB, a Europe cruise, and a WB. I can do the crossings and use the time in between to see more of the UK.