LadyL1

14 hours ago, Millieloulou said:

We are still having a “ding dong” with Cunard over the selection of our seats for our UK flight to New York for the Caribbean Christmas cruise.We now have a case number.Although we have settled our account our flight is yet to be ticketed.BA blames Cunard and Cunard blames BA.We cannot select our seats until 45 days before the flight.We think Cunard block books the seats ,but does not pay for them until the 45 day.

It doesn’t make sense, and it certainly does not put the customer first.We are hoping on the 45th day we will be able to find two seats together.

Perhaps I can help a little as we use BA long haul quite frequently to get to a city direct, as well as using them with Cunard, where the pricing has been excellent.

BA use a different ticketing system to most other airlines. Unless you are a highly rated loyalty client, prebooking seats is different and expensive and this includes Club World. I doubt whether you will have access to choose seats before Cunard pay BA. If you are not a very frequent flyer one has to pay extra to prebook seats before departure (Including Club). Unless you are in Bronze tier or upwards, seats are available to choose at 24hours before departure. You will have been assigned seats so when you log in to see your allocation, you might be able to change the seats if the flight is not full.  
Virgin, United and American, that I know of, give you the opportunity of seats at an earlier date.

So I think you problem is mainly due to BA’s very outdated and expensive seat choice application. However, most flights with BA  to NY are on the new very new, quite and comfortable aircraft.

Don’t let this hiccup or worry spoil a lovely Caribbean holiday.

33 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

 The Upgrade Fairy hasn't visited me in a very long time.

Is she still alive? 🧚‍♀️ Perhaps her demise came with the bidding system.

I am sure I would enjoy the alternative dining, but do hope they have table clothes, rather than the easy wipe surfaces (which I know is more eco friendly). Nice crisp linen gives a restaurant that special ambience!

1 hour ago, Victoria2 said:

M'D is Ico at the moment and not sure when he goes on leave as he was there May/June too, but he will be there in Nov.

Good to know, and looking forward to November!

3 hours ago, tv24 said:

Yesterday we submitted bids for upgrades on our Sept. 5 Queen Elizabeth sailing.  Our TA thinks the cruise is sold out, so both he and I don't understand why bids are being accepted.  Maybe Cunard knows something that is not disclosed to TAs?  Anyway bidding was painless.

I hope something good turns up for you. Our next voyage later in the year has been showing all grades Britannia Club and upwards sold out for some while, so it will be interesting to see if bidding invites are sent out.

However, this is from the UK FAQs, which states only direct bookings! Are T&Cs different across The Pond?

You are eligible for our stateroom upgrade programme if you meet all the requirements below:

• you have booked directly with Cunard
• you are the lead guest
• you are aged 18 or over
• you have paid your balance in full 
• you have not opted out of receiving pre-cruise communications

If eligible, you will receive an invite to this upgrade offer approximately 80 days prior to your cruise departure.  

Most voyages will be included in the upgrade programme, but Cunard reserves the right to exclude voyages for commercial reasons.

If you meet all the eligibility requirements but still cannot access the upgrade offering website, please call our Customer Contact Centre (local call charges apply) and choose the “Cunard Upgrade programme" option.

It did look the same last November into December.

I too,  avoid the corner suites. Prefer the space inside rather outside!

I wrote this after a week on the Silhouette in May half term (UK) this year.

Probably at least 300+ children on board, and the ship was heaving. This was a 3 generation family trip, and myself, in the oldest category. Never again. I am afraid some parents seem to switch off from child responsibility!

However, we had sailed Celebrity before and now looking forward to a September cruise on the same ship. Just choose sailing dates according to what you know you will feel comfortable with.

19 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Celebrity has already moved most Amsterdam cruises to Rotterdam which is only 30 minutes from Amsterdam. Our September Apex cruise departure was moved there months ago,

City centre to city centre is just over 50 miles, and will take at least an hour. If you are travelling at peak periods it will be longer if by car. 
if you have time, visit the cube houses in Rotterdam, which are near the port.

2 hours ago, daisybel said:

Thank you to everyone for suggestions, good idea Victoria, another cheaper cabin just to sleep in, 

no Q6 available .Is there a curtain in Q5. 
 

 

Never had a Q5 but from the video in this thread, almost certainly no dividing curtain.

The suggestion of booking  the cheapest inside cabin as an extra for night use, seems just the ticket. You will all be able to share that lovely balcony during the day and enjoy the QG restaurant together.

25 minutes ago, Wheats24 said:

We are on the Fjords Cruise 6th Aug and today have just been given our arrival time of 1300. We are first time Cunard passengers and are staying Princess Grill deck 8, from what I have read this arrival times seem to be completely random.

Do not be concerned. Boarding is slightly later these days, with QG appx 12.45ish directly followed by Princess Grill.

Once you have been to your room and deposited bags, go to the PG restaurant (which is in a delightful location) on deck 11 and start to enjoy.

Are there any Q6 suites? I am sure most of these have a curtain separation from the main bedroom which might be useful. This had a separate toilet but possibly only 1 basin.  Just a thought!

The photo was QE 5198 last year. In fact we found we preferred this to the Q4s!

We have hired a car!😊 This was about 4 years ago, and there was a shuttle from the ship to the car hire offices!

Have you asked Cunard if they have luggage storage as you are sailing the Atlantic both ways? I think I may have read that it is possible. 
Definitely worth investigating.

In March 2022, I wrote a daily blog on this board about our trip to the  Northern Lights on QE. Also posting along with me was a gentleman who had his own private blog that he was updating, (link spelling later corrected) along with a few casual remarks from other passengers at the time.

You might find these useful as weather and excursions are well documented, along with some photos.

I started this on March 22 2022, ONOUR WAY TO THE ARCTIC ON QE, if you have time to read with a cup of coffee. The only difference is that all comments were written when COVID restrictions were the norm.

49 minutes ago, seasickphil said:

Can i jump in and just ask if anyone has requested wagyu steak in QG, they have it onboard as it is on the Verandah menu but with a $30 supplement. I wonder with the current finances of cruise lines at the moment if this would be a request to far.   

We did ask for this on our last cruise on QV in QG, offering to pay the going rate, but was refused.

Your children should be showing on your booking, so you can register them with the app: might as well as it asks you to do so.

The best thing is the child places are guaranteed when you book, unlike some other cruise lines. They have so many places in each age group, and once the cruise is at that capacity, that’s it! We have been on a wait list before, where one child was able to book, but not the other, so the holiday did not go ahead. There is no adding a child to another group because of insurance purposes.

Grandchildren have had a wonderful time over the years.

Just more chaos, with more priority boarders than can be possibly handled.

Interestingly on the P&O threads, there are many mentions of not being allowed to enter terminal early: queueing outside!

3 hours ago, mirkymirk said:

Hello

My wife and I are travelling on the QE to Alaska with our 8 and 11 year old children and have registered them for the kid's program, on board.  I cannot find any information on their hours of operation and wondered if someone knew or could point me in the right direction.

 

We have cruised Cunard once before (no children) and sailed several other lines with kids and enrolled the kids in the programming, which has been brilliant!  

Thanks in advance,

Mark

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles/cunard-kids-clubs-on-cunard-cruises#
 

This was added a few years ago, but probably not much changed!

Our grandchildren children have spent many enjoyable hours there.

Totally agree re crowded venues in the evening, difficulty in finding seats and being served. On the 29th May Silhouette cruise, the MDR was a shambles with so much queueing.

We have 1 more Celebrity cruise booked, but my money is for the suites on Cunard. Fabulous location dining rooms on the 2 smaller ships, with own table for whole cruise no matter what time you turn up! The ships are certainly have more public space.

The library is more in name than reality, with not so many books. It is a lovely area, but often occupied full time, by older folk asleep!😴💤. Suggest you take a kindle or a few of your own books to read. Once read paperbacks can be left in the library to save on luggage space.

Do look at the link at the top of all the threads on this page. There is one that says “What do obstructive views look like”?

Make sure you look at the correct ship, and this should be extremely helpful, with photos for all cabins. Definitely go for the balcony on QE.

49 minutes ago, AbbyCruiser45 said:

In the future, inform guest relations of this and specifically ask to move cabins. On the Equinox last summer, a member of my party complained because their inside room was next to the food service corridor. The carts were literally shaking the wall from 5 AM onwards. They informed guest relations and asked if there was another inside room that they could move to. Guest relations moved them to a concierge cabin with no complaints. Guest relations wants you to be happy! 

The ship was absolutely full. We had asked,  but to no avail. Our steward was aware of our plight, and confirmed what we had been told at guest relations.

Lovely photos of Vigo: just so much enjoy the northern Spanish ports and surrounding areas.

Thank you for posting.

Bigdrinks

 Were you able to pre-book your chosen dining times before boarding? As we were such late bookers, this was not an option. The waiting and pagers for dining I can do without.

As you say most children were so well behaved and had a wonderful time! In my post I did say “just a few” were not in this bracket. I was travelling with family including 2 teenagers.

I think I will put this cruise as an “experience” and have been taking such holidays over the last 20 years. Previously been on Equinox and Eclipse, a few times each, and enjoyed them very much.

My view on a very recent cruise on Silhoueete, is somewhat mixed. This was the first time in many years I have sailed during school holidays and probably the last! We were told the number of pax was 3400, so that being nearly every berth in every room utilised.