redhydra

Hi. Yes we were on the QE for her 5th Anniversary Cruise.

 

For a 5 day Cruise we thought this was excellent. The QE was her usual clean efficient self and we thought the service throughout the ship exceptional. Special mention for the food both in the Lido and the Britannia - superb.

 

We sincerely hope that the lady who was airlifted to Calais by helicopter is now recovering. We were by the pool on Deck 9 when the announcement was made to clear the area for the helicopter evacuation and it was impressive the way the Crew and in fairness the passengers dealt with the situation. No panic - everyone knew their roles and what was needed in the emergency situation. Well done Crew.

 

The sight of a cargo ship (Flinterstar) half submerged suddenly appearing through the windows in the Mid-ship Bar area was a little surreal. Pleased that no one was seriously injured.

 

Also there were 300 Japanese guests on board together with a Japanese TV crew from Panasonic. They were apparently making a programme for release in Japan in January relating to Cunard and the QE. No doubt highlighting the QE's up and coming section of the World Cruise around Japan. All seemed really charming people and the added splash of Japanese food in the Lido was different.

 

Altogether a thoroughly enjoyable five days.

yes, i was at the Carynthia Café, drinking my morning espresso when i saw the sunken ship pass by, i remember doing a double take and cursing myself for leaving my slr camera in my stateroom, so i took my smart phone and took a picture and retook more picture when we left harbor with my camera

i enjoyed the ambiance very much for the fifth year celebration on the formal night

i was standing on the rear pool deck taking photos when i saw the crew starting to remove the chairs which made me wonder why until they announced the helicopter evacuation, i then went to the commodore and saw the french navy copter circling the ship

i admit i was suprised by the number of japanese on the ship, i wonder if they were there just for the short cruise of if they were on a longer cruise

well, i am not sure if ncl and cunard can be compared as both are of complete different nature, even the size of the fleet is different, with cunard having 3 ships vs norwegian who possess a dozen vessels

its kind of like comparing a maserati ghibli vs a cadillac cts i suppose

two ships of both line of similar size i've been are the ncl pearl and the Queen Elizabeth

i will admit however that i am biased toward Cunard but ncl is not a bad line either, i just prefer cunard despite my young age, its a matter of taste and personnal experience

both are similar sized around 92000 tone, however ncl can carry at full capacity 2700 passenger vs QE which is 2200 full capacity, and having been on both of them, i could see the difference in crowd, the Qe is also very well designed in crowd dispersion which make an even bigger difference. of course the trade of is that booking a cunard cruise is more expensive

interior design, ncl pearl tend to cram as much room for maximum activities as possible in the ship with a very small main lobby compared to ncl sky which was better looking for its main lobby and the decor tend to be brightly coloured, too much for my taste but its a matter of opinion

also the result of cramming as much content as possible result in a ship that is quite maze like, complex to navigate and i got lost several time unlike Oasis of the seas who despite being the biggest ship is the world has a suprisingly simple layout

Qe decor is art deco and a big tribute to the golden age of transatlantic crossing with the original Queen Elizabeth which started as a troop ship in ww2

there are more bigger open public area, like the main lobby, the queens room and the sweeping stairs with the clock near the golden lion pub

QE layout is simplier as well and and its easier to find my way around

in term of food, ncl rely on freestyle which consist of several main dining room and a number of alternative restaurant with each different theme, if i remember, the pearl at a very least 5 alternative restaurants

the two main dining room are somewhat small, especially the indigo room who always had people queuing to get in there so i was never able to eat there, the second and bigger dining room , the summer palace was easier to sit in but there was still the occasional queue

the buffet on ncl pearl at the top deck is simply too small for the ship and it it was almost always very crowded

QE lido buffet is quite huge and well designed to disperse crowd so i was able to get something to eat at a reasonable time and find a place to sit even at peak times. the only other buffet i saw that could rival this one was the one on the solstice class

Main dining room on QE is quite huge and elegantly decorated in art deco as most of the dining experience rest on its main dining room

there is also a class system, there is the britannia club balcony with a more intimade main dining room, the princess and grill queen for the suites

thought i know that celebrity solstice has its own class system with the blue verandah if i recall the name and some of the bigger ships of ncl has integrated some sort of class system with some of their staterooms

cunard ships like QE has two main alternative restaurant. part of lido buffet is converted into a alternative restaurant that change theme every three nights, i tried the american steakhouse style (wanted to try the asian) but i wasn't available those days

and the top notch restaurant is the Verandah which serve french cuisine where you get a very personalised service.

ncl pearl too has it's fair share of alternative restaurants with personalised services like the cagney steakhouse and the italian one. but personally, i think cunard has superior quality food especially in its main dining room. but that is my opinion

term of activities. well, ncl tend to have more family friendly activities, waterslide.

one thing that annoyed me most on ncl pearl was the forward observation lounge for a quiet spot to rest and drink, suddenly turn into a loud music club and making anyone who want a quiet spot like me flee the room

QE on the other hand has designed a dedicated night and music dance club two rooms away from the commodore lounge. so if one want loud music and dance, they just go to the yatch club and those who want a quiet time goes to the commodore

term of activities. cunard tend to be activities that combine lecture such as navy history (in my cruise) the golden lion pub will have sport match like rugby available to those who want to follow their sports

the theathers show and other shows delivered in the hall and queen rooms are delivered by onboard musician with their full set of musical instruments. there would be some trivia as well. i even saw fencing lesson at one point in the cruise but i missed it unfortunately

however their is no waterslide or things like that on cunard ships. the open deck consist of some pools with classic sport decks to play sports like tennis and althought the ships has a good programs for kids, they are unapologetic ships for adult

for solo, i might be wrong but considering the freestyle nature of ncl and the fact that there seem to be no traditional sitting. they dont feel like solo friendly. but i can't say for sure since i wasn't sailing solo on ncl pearl

both qm2 and qe are suprisingly solo friendly, i tried the solo cabin on qe and althought they are not exactly cheap, they are well designed and conveniently placed on the ship's center and close to the main lobby allowing and they had me sit with other solo cruiser on the main dining hall and other guest are suprisingly easy to talk to despite my shy nature. by the end of my last cruise, i had 5 group of people i would converse with when i met them

clientele wize, ncl tend to attact more multi generaltional group while cunard attract usually a more older but well travell crowd that enjoy travelling with a fair share of ship buff. but there is still some young people, my last cruise saw a suprising number of people my age on QE

well, i guess that is all for my analysis of Queen Elizabeth vs Norwegian pearl, two ships i have sailed with

The cruise on 2 october celebrated the 5 year of qe, the celebrations were just awesome with dance and musics

The solo window cabin was lovely and conveniently located on second deck next to the casino and golden lion puv with a corridor in between that isolate the sound very well

On the sea day, they had to close the pool deck for two hours and turn it into an improvised helicopter zone to evacuate a ill person, a helicopter from the french navy came over for the rescue

I also think the ship is quite semi intimate and does a good job a dispersing the crowd

The lido buffet was also better designed that king court on qm2 and i like the view offered by the commodore club

I think its brillant to have the comodore club as a quiet lounge while two rooms away is located the yatch club (night club) basically dividing into two distinct bar rather than have the lounge suddenly going from a quiet place to relax and drink to a loud night club like i saw on some other cruise lines and forcing those who want a quite time to flee the lounge

The other event was in bruge and the ship bad to delay for 2 hours but left bruge two hours later, so every excursion ran as they should

The cause of the delay was a dutch ship, flinterstar who had a collision with a tanker (al oraiq) no one died but the smaller ship sank and rested on the seas floor caused quite a mess in zeebruge harbor

We passed the half sunk ship when we came and left the harbor and also saw the huge tanker in questions

Hi, just wanted to kmow if any one has been on qe on second october, ? For my part, i travelled solo and enjoyed the cruise, i think the two event, the helicopter evacuation and the flinterstar cargo incident in bruge showed how well the cruise line was well organise, or at least in my opinion

Those who has been on board know what i am talking about

Hi, thanks for the information

From my research, i deduced that for port intensive destination, hal appeared more suited for the purpose while cunard get more interesting for sea days

Indeed Hal is slightly less expensive for both solo and double occupation on similar cabin

Hi

I have seem a similar topic on cunard board and thought to put one here

I have sailed on cunard before, solo and enjoyed my experience, i am considering a cruise on 2016 from barcelona on queen victoria or eurodam

I was wondering the difference

Here are some details i consider

In term of food, main dining hall and specialties restaurant

Entertainement, daily activities

Ambiance on the ships, i am not exactly a party person and tend to shy away from very loud environment

Do they attract the same or a different crowd

Me too i am considering a hal cruise but on eurodam from barcelona, however, in my case il cruise solo, i cruised solo before on cunard and enjoyed it very much, i am a foodies , i also cruised on celebrity, royal carribean and ncl, thought i am not the biggest fan of ncl.

a detail i like with cunard is that they dont put their music too loud in their lounge and bars such as the golden lyon and commodore club

I am a 32 year old, i havent decided on eurodam or queen victoria for more or less the same itinerary

Or have a look at the sticky at the top of this board !

Good idea, my apologie, i didn notice that thread, i blame reading with my phone without my glasses while lying on the cought after a nap

I know in my case i did lot of research and spoke to many people and hesitated a lot bedore booking my first cunard, in the end, my only regret was not taking a cruise a bit longer, for me at least

Hi, i am 32 year and did a qm2 cruise on british isles from southampton and doeing another on qe, i also did royal carribean, norwegian and celebrity

Yes it is true that there is quite an older folks but most of them has a love of travel so if you like travelling, its easy to get in conversation with fellow traveller and you quickly forget the age, the ships are also real ocean travel museum for ship buff like me, i also spoke with other travellers and families and they seemed to enjoy themselve

The ships are indeed very formal at night so if its a bother, there is celebrity cruise which is somewhat similar but less formal in dress code. there is no flow rider or water slider, most of the activity are focused inside because the ships has been designed for variable to bad weather in mind, uk weather, even the twin vista class qe and qv are hybrid liner cruise ships and more inside focus. Good interior activities ranging from som golden lion pub trivia, shaffleboard competitions, rubby match, wine tasting, fencing on qv etc. I like the ambiance on the lounge as the music is not too loud especially after a whole day walking 20 km in a city. So i quit drink with soft music in commodore club is heaven before diner

If you want a better idea, i recommend googling the ship of interest and the word beyondship. Beyoundship website has a good collections of photo, a ship profile description and sample of daily activities and restaurant menu in pdg to look at

There is also no announcement exept the 12h ship progression. But nothing abt activities so it force you to truly read the daily activity log, otherwize you ll be missing a lot

The line is also suprisingly solo friendly, more so that other line i tried in my experience

i never sailed on holland america but tried qm2 and trying out QE in two weeks, i am considering either a cruise on QV next year vs eurodam from barcelona, both solo cruise, i haven't decided yet

thanks for the awnser

i know in my case, there wasn't much of a difference in price (about 100 dollar) difference between a regular and a solo cabin so i decided to try the solo because the cabin configuration seemed more interesting and better strategic placement combare to the other one which was slightly less expensive, il know for sure in two week what the room are like on QE which must be more or less similar to those on QM2

i have a question on my own, does any solo cruiser who cruised on victoria had been able to participate in the fencing lesson? since it required a fencing partner, i reckon it might pose problem for a solo traveller

thanks for the informations, that would be useful if i go this way, i would be arriving lne day before my cruise, so that give me a bit of leeway if something happens

I have to admit that i am a bit of a ship and plane buff hoping to compare the boeing 747 vs the new 787 of british airways and since i often travel to london, i am kind of curious of how jfk compare, the prince is. About 150 difference when i checked

I am allowing myself time to think, may be il end up chickening put and book a direct fly to london for fear of missing the since, especially in october, autumnal weather tend to be more chaotic vs winter or early spring

Hello,

A flight i am looking for is british airway, from montreal with connection in new york jfk, arriving in ternial 7 i think with american eagle and goeing to terminal 8 to catch a british airways to london to get on Queen elizabeth

Is 6 hour connection is enought? I am asking because i. Read several commentary that 2 hour was too short, so the flight i am looking allow me a 6 hour in between flight, of there is no delay on the first flight of course

Thanks in advance

Thanks for the advice, il think about it, if i rent a car, i do not intend to drive directly to london but drop it in gatwick and take the train, i used to drop my cars in heathrow when my friend used to live in middlesex but since she moved in closer to central london

My visit in porthmouth will be on a wednesday

Hello

i will disembark at Southampton and go for the day in Portsmouth to visit hms victory before goeing to London, i plan to use the train, do you know if there is a luggage facility either at the train station or on walking distance?

otherwize il just go with plan B, rent a small estate car and use it as a glorified luggage locker and head toward London with it

thanks in advance

i came back from my cruise and i decided to use the bow tie for the formal night, a pre tied bow tie and i did the Windsor knot for my tie on my last night. i did the four in hand knot for my first night, i also went without a tie one night and i felt a little underdressed

i am in my 30 and i came back from my first cruise with qm2 from Southampton, i am not british but i did spend a fair amount of time in britain because i have a friend who lives there

i did several cruise, celebrity, royal caribean and norwegian and i think cunard does really feel very british in its atmosphere and design, yet despite the grand ocean era decor, it doens't project a snobbish image, the ship has a somewhat down to earth decor and environment

i did tons of research before taking the gamble of goeing on the qm2 and i really enjoyed the cruise

indeed the majority of passengers are older however, most of them are people who are well travelled and live their live to their fullest, being blessed with being a well travelled person myself, both for leasure and work. i found many kindred spirit to talk to

i also met with a good amount of people from my age, including a fellow ship buff like myself where we had an animated discussion about qm2, cunard and ship in general

i think i was a little too well prepare sometime, like right after my excursion in bruges, i went to my room, washed and dressed up formal and went to the commodore club for a rest before goeing to britania and i felt like overdressed, (it was before 17h30) i was like the only one already dressed up for the night

i decided to buy a bow tie in addition to my own conventional ties that i will bring on board, at least, il be ready and able

Thanks for your awnsers everyone

Its a full windsor i usually use and its more for comfort than elegence, i also know the four in hand knot but for some reason, i feel a bit strangled with that, may be because of the shape of my neck

I thought a bow tie only worked with a tuxedo, since i dont have a tuxedo

Hi, am sailing on qm2 from southampton 4september, usually i wear my tie using the windsor knot but i read it was associated with the royalty in uk

Will i offend fellow passenger using this configuration? I heard it was frowned in the uk military so i want to make sure

Thanks in advance

Thank you very much for all the information

That will be useful, usually i leave right after breakfast and this will be no exception as am goeing to my friend in uk

Hi

I have a question. Does cunard offer express checkout where you carry your own baggage in southampton

I ask because i always took advantage of this on both celebrity and RCI but since cunard belong to carnival corp, may be their policy is different or because european policy are different than in america

Thanks in advance

Cab would be a good idea if i wasnt travelling solo

Yeah, having walked in rome 10 km a day average, i know first hand what cobblestone does if you dont have the proper shoes