new to cuising

Given the difficulties many passengers had setting the time on their device as we lost an hour (on five days) during an eastbound TA I think an app on Cunard Line would not be well received by many.

No problem. The point I was trying to make was not necessarily distance, but top speed. I can't believe any revised route would use a speed of greater than 24knots. The prolonged use of the turbines for more than a few hours in an emergency situation would be considered far too expensive and potentially dangerous

April 7 to April 28 is 21 days rather than 15 so should be well within her capabilities. Whilst her design max speed is 30 knots, it is now very rare for her to exceed 24knts. To do so requires use of the two turbines to create the additional power required. I was told by a well informed crew member on the 3 jan TA that the last time the turbines were run they had to be shut down through fear of them catching fire. Additionally the fact that they use high quality fuel, they are expensive assets these days . One wonders whether they will or could be replaced by methane burning units, which would then mean QM2 might be able to circumvent the many restrictions being placed on cruise ships these days

The event was mentioned in daily programme and by captain during noon announcement but nothing more. Given there was a 5th anniversary voyage (around UK) and the tenth anniversary was celebrated by a transatlantic crossing at end of world voyage that year it's a little disappointing. The only designated celebration this year is the 400th transatlantic crossing at end of August. It's been an interesting crossing with F10 gales, 10-12m swell and snow on the deck.

Today is the 20th anniversary of the formal naming of the Queen Mary 2 in Southampton by our late monarch Queen Elizabeth II. Whilst there do not appear to be any official activities announced in the daily programme today, a "cake" has been prepared and is on display in the Grand Lobby.

QM2 is the ship that sets Cunard apart from all other companies. The space, deck heights even cabins all are a little larger than the equivalent grades on most other ships. Yes the bathrooms are small and the shower curtains a nuisance but retro fitting the bathrooms would be very time consuming with each one needing to be done in situ, so could be done whilst at sea by taking a block of rooms out of use and upgrading them. Remember when these ships are built the whole of the cabins are constructed shore side, put onto the appropriate deck, moved into position, and “plugged in”. I think the greatest challenge facing her for her upcoming refit will be the generator exhaust systems, which are rotting, and the various scrubbers and filters that will need replacing in order to meet the ever increasing stringent emissions limits. On a voyage earlier this month I was talking to one of the engineers who is part of a team on a six week secondment who are specialist fabricators who are on board specifically to troubleshoot problems as they occur until the job can be done properly in the autumn refit. The main issue is of course the diesel generators are running most if not all of the time so these exhausts never cool down. Unlike practically all other cruise ships the vast majority of QM2 days are spent at sea, eg during the TA season she spends about 12 hours a week in port. Majority of other cruise ship spend 12 hours a day in port, this also has a major impact on what can be done as part of the ships overall maintenance program.

Guess it’s a medical emergency, but that’s quite a trek for the RNLI bembridge boat. Guess QM2 stopped hoping a boat from either Cowes or mainland would attend.

Anyone have contacts on board QM2 at present. Current, doing 0.2 knots off Isle of Wight instead of the normal 12 -14 knots at this point?

Yes we tried this, but could get it to work, but I think that was a phone issue, possibly needed to loosen off the phone internet security.

Having just disembarked, qm2 I hadn’t realised until reading this post how new open seating was. It was problematic but there were signs of improvement by the end of voyage. I preferred the fixed dining as it gave one a chance to get to know ones waiter, however being a late booking we were not given an option and had to book each day, that said we still ended up for eight days on one of two tables. I believe, Britannia upstairs is flexible and downstairs is fixed, but I may be wrong. Due to larger numbers dining later, Meals were over running, and the 10pm theatre performance for the last three or four nights was rescheduled to 10.15pm start.

I too just returned from this Norway northern lights cruise, and it was my first experience of the new internet charging policy. Our diamond credit was only equivalent for six days use each so I had the first six days, and my wife the second six days. Once purchased the daily 20 dollar access can be used on any number of devices, but only one at a time, so as long as I logged out on my phone, my wife was able to use the same account on her phone. You only need to purchase a ‘second device’ access if the devices are used concurrently. We too thought that the daily charge was a bit much, in that we only sent the odd email message etc so could easily have got by with an hour a day, as we are not of the younger generation that seem to need 24/7 access. incidentally, re the IT issues. We were on deck six with identical phones, my wife’s phone worked in the room but mine didn’t! No problems in public areas such as deck 7, commodore club, theatre, illuminations though.

I was allowed a Swiss Army knife on QM2 on 1 November. Was told longest blade should be no more than about 2 inches, and must not be a locking blade. Locking blades of any length were banned. I declared knife at check in, it was measured by security and passed through the shoreside scanner on our way to the ship