jimmybean

We (happily) book inside cabins, which are the most economical choice of accommodations --any time of the year :) Some of the inside cabins are larger and wheelchair accessible---if this is helpful information for your planning.

Have a wonderful time with your mother! I agree: she is fortunate to have such a thoughtful daughter!

Jimmybean

Trays: I won't miss them.

BoisDore, I look forward to the service you described. Much nicer to have waiters provide beverages.

Happy Sailing to all!

This has been discussed in a previous thread. Maybe, you could find in with a search...

Temperature in the dining rooms does not warrant disrobing. Your husband will not find it overly warm.

Adhering to the dress code means actually wearing the described clothing, not just placing it on the back of one's chair.

DH and I have sailed on Royal Caribbean. Cunard has a different tone. Royal Caribbean was great, but it is nothing like Cunard when it comes to dressing for dinner. One of my memories of the Royal Caribbean dining room is someone wearing a baseball cap to dining---arranged in a backwards fashion.

In my experience, passengers on Cunard ships do follow the dress code.

Have a wonderful voyage, erniebernie!

Great story! Alls well that ends well!

(I guess a number of passengers who stayed in your cabin weren't real princesses or princes after all).

Jimmybean

We have had several "solos" at our dinner tables over the years and enjoyed their company. I think you will find a number of opportunities to meet other passengers.

There is typically a trivia game on sea days. Easy to join a group and get to know others while playing.

You can ask to be seated at a group table for lunch (assuming you will be in Britannia).

Have a wonderful voyage and welcome to cruise critic!

Jimmybean

Many of us remember when the "specialty restaurants" in Kings Court were absolutely free…

Thanks for pointing this out, Beth. I didn't know this book existed :) Never saw it or signed it, but I'll look for it in the library.

Nice to hear that your voyage was wonderful. DH and I are counting less than two weeks before we board. I expect we will return with equally favorable report.

Please let us know the outcome. I hope everyone is well, again, soon.

Well l must say "intimate apparel" is a refreshing change from most of the dress code posts.

 

David.

Here, here!

Great detailed review! I enjoyed reading it.

Congratulations on your expanding family. I hope there are many happy voyages in your future (with and without the children).

Jimmybean

This is incorrect; cabins are ready upon boarding on Holland America.

It's been 5 or 6 years since we sailed on HAL. On our Alaskan cruise, we were initially herded into the buffet room until the cabins were ready. Probably had to wait an hour--maybe longer. ….Can't speak about all HAL cruises, but this was something we didn't like about our experience on HAL…

Cunard always has had all cabins cleaned and ready when passengers come aboard. I appreciate this.

Talk about early disembarkation! In 2014, Celebrity had self-disembarkation (in a Spanish port) completely finished (not just started) by 6 a.m. It was so early it was dark outside and taxi cabs didn't arrive until 20 minutes later.

Travel CAN be an adventure...

Cunard has all the rooms ready before passengers board, so it isn't one of the cruise lines that has you wait in public areas before you are allowed to go to your stateroom. This is one of the (many) things we love about Cunard.

DH and I drive from afar (and have parked at the dock for a month), so we have latitude in determining our arrival time. I realize it can be difficult, when you are depending on transport from others or have to consider check-out time in a hotel. IF you arrive earlier than the time indicated on your boarding pass, Cunard will let you join boarders scheduled for that time. But, honestly, from 12 to 1 o'clock is a zoo---the most crowded and busy time for boarding. It would be better to arrange a later hotel check-out time and come when it would be less stressful.

Our experiences included varied times our luggage was delivered. This isn't something predictable, but it was always there well before dinner. We love exploring the ship in the interval between boarding and lifeboat drill and have never lacked sufficient time to unpack before first seating, sometimes before the drill and sometimes after it.

There will be a half-bottle of something bubbly in your cabin, compliments of Cunard. No one on this board is enthusiastic about drinking it, but the gesture is nice.

Since you have cruised on other lines, you will find much that is familiar. But, the Queen Mary 2 is a special ship. I can't imagine that you won't enjoy your time sailing on her.

Have a wonderful voyage!

Jimmybean

Wow! Beautiful! Really impressive :)

Thank you for sharing.

Inside cabin deck 6 we've heard a distant-sounding scraping noise from above in the middle of the night. I think we were below the Gallery and it had to do with cleaning or carts rolling. It didn't bother us once we had identified it in our minds. Kind of like you sleep through a train whistle, after you become accustomed to it.

We do always pack ear plugs, though, just in case something does become bothersome..

Love the Mary! You certainly captured her beauty!

Thank you for sharing :)

Hi donnes,

Welcome to cruise critic!

Since I'm terrified to turn my phone on when we travel out-of-the-US, I'm happy that rakkor had such a detailed answer for you. I hope you now feel prepared for your voyage.

Please feel comfortable approaching this board with any other questions you might have. Wonderful, knowledgeable members have been helpful with all my posted questions.

In case you don't know, there is also a posting in the Roll Call section of cruise critic specific to your voyage. That might make interesting reading for you!

Happy Sailing,

Jimmybean

Thank you for your great advice. We have purchased a six drawer hanging bag for over the closet door. I hope we can remove those wooden hangers and the plastic ball they are on. I am bringing my own wire hangers, that take up much less space.

Right now we are more concerned with Hurricane Matthew; we are right in the path.

Wish us luck.

Wishing you safety, LewiLewi! It is a night for worry and prayers.

It sounds like you have worked out a lot of practical solutions with plan-ahead logistics. We always take extra hangers, even on transatlantics. Our longest voyage, so far, was 36 days---only a third of your planned trip---also on the QE. It was great (actually fabulous)!

My only additional suggestion would be to consider bringing a few (small) magnets for posting papers (like invitations) on the wall. I found this a convenience.

Happy Sailing!

Jimmybean

I thought priority boarding and priority baggage delivery were two separate things and the latter applied to diamond (and probably the grills), but not platinum…

Jimmybean

Thank you for posting this information, mainewoods. I was wondering if the remastering included this "feature" (which we experienced on the QE). Handy to know in advance.

Jimmybean

What a great thread! Everyone's thoughts and comments (even those in disagreement) have been interesting.

I agree with David about leaving enough room in the suitcase to pack some brains.

I agree with everyone who stated "class" has nothing to do with this discussion.

I agree with Pepper that counting nights vs voyages seems the most fair way to determine "status."

Chunky 2219, you put the icing on the cake!

Signed: Jimmybean,

a confirmed inside-cabin-booker, platinum-tier-status Cunarder.

Happy Sailing to all!

Nicky, since you asked, of course one can be over-dressed, just as one can be under-dressed. My personal choice is to follow the dress code. From what I have noticed, the overwhelming majority of passengers do follow the dress code.

 

I have no idea what is the norm in PG, but in Britannia Category the overwhelming majority of passengers follow the dress code, and an evening gown on an informal night would be a bit outré.

 

An argument can be made that there is no reason to follow the dress code. Enjoy your voyage. -S.

I agree.

For me, it is as important to follow dress code on informal nights as formal ones. The argument that one cannot be over-dressed is too similar to one cannot be too "comfortably-dressed."

I also think it dilutes the specialness of formal nights.

On the other hand, I have seen over-dressing on non-formal evenings more often that I have under-dressing on formal nights.

I just believe not-following the dress code, in either direction, is problematic---if we want to have a dress code, at all. Dress-code is "group think." We all agree to do the same thing for the common benefit.

Why should there be an insistence to only pay attention to the parts of dress-code that we like (be it the formal or informal aspects)?

On the other hand, cocktail dresses are listed as appropriate for either formal or non-formal evenings, so there is a compromise. Cocktail dress would be neither over-dressed nor under-dressed.

We also were stiffed on our first platinum voyage, when the Senior Officers' Party was never scheduled. Since we self-disembark, we have never needed a special lounge in which to wait. I have mentioned in other postings that priory embarkation can be no special privilege, when the majority of passengers qualify.

I guess (for us) the biggest perk for "loyalty" is some free internet time and that can be pretty darn slow.

Maybe, the offering something "free" as an incentive for repeat bookings is like a Ponzi scheme. Eventually, the concept implodes on itself. Maybe, that happened with "free air miles" when ever tightening restrictions were applied. Too many people, increasing in numbers over time, cannot be served as promised.

I'm not sure our loyalty is unwavering (itinerary and price are important when we book), but we love Cunard---have never had a bad day, or even bad hour, sailing with this cruise line. Lots to love.

We sail for the ship, the service, the transportation, the experience. Anything above this is purely gravy...

Thank you for sharing your impressions with us! Great to read your review!

We are on the following Dubai Southampton leg and only 6 of the 20 nights are shown as being formal even though there are 12 sea days. It seems that about 2 per week is the ratio being used now. It was more than that on the World Cruise we did in 2009. I have just completed an on line questionnaire that seemed to have questions about dress code which appeared to be heavily biased towards casual evening dress styles. I was left with the impression that the marketing department seem to believe there is pressure to reduce formal dress evenings because the questions seemed to be biased in that direction.

We completed the questionnaire a couple weeks ago. Our responses supported the current dress code. I felt that opinions about attire was only a part of information Cunard was seeking from past customers. At the same time, I was grateful that they asked. It gave an opportunity to have our feelings known by Cunard.

Our experience during segments (much longer than 10 days) was (as David mentioned) nightly dress was decided on the ship.

I sympathize with Pushka. Boo indeed!

Jimmybean

Then, there are spa services…

Have a wonderful voyage!