foodsvcmgr

Just booked September 28th - 13 days Seattle to Yokohama, glad it’s not going to be a first sailing out of drydock.

Elvis you are absolutely correct about use of “the”, but many ship nicknames are started by their crew not just arbitrarily assigned by outsiders. One of the worst nicknames was when the grand old Cunard liner “Berengaria” was reduced to cheap cruises to nowhere in the Depression she became known as “Bargain Area”.

I wonder why they would get rid of a tech upgrade that saves time? Both Cunard and Celebrity have you load your own photo.

If you have noise concerns, be it loud music or scraping pool chairs, guarantee is not the way to go. Unfortunately tribute rock is meant to be loud, it’s the nature of the genre.

USD, Euros, or the currency of the ports sailed are all graciously accepted and appreciated as tips. No need to exchange for anything that you are not already carrying.

We were on the same sailing as craigrlewis and would thoroughly recommend it. Certainly at 64 I didn’t feel old. Very nice group of passengers, seemed more UK than US. The weather was often not the best but it didn’t really impact anything till heavy fog on the last sea day blocked our view of Wolf Rock and Eddystone Lighthouses just 3 miles off the ship.

I prefer direct booking, be it online, onboard ship, or last resort by phone. Am willing to forgo any extra OBC from US agents to control my own affairs start to finish. Admittedly I’ve been cruising and traveling worldwide for the past 45 years so I realize I may have a comfort level making reservations that others don’t. If you choose to use an agent, find one that is a cruise specialist in general and has a relationship with Cunard in particular.

Agree with what has been discussed as that was how we boarded in 2020. Keep in mind though that since the check in terminal was damaged, supposedly now you will do your paperwork in a different location then be bussed from a farther distance to embark. Not clear on where the luggage drop will be currently. We sail on January 20th, interested to hear about the temporary procedure from anyone traveling sooner.

Good news, I’ll be sailing aboard next month. Thanks for the report.

Not necessary to purchase different currency for tipping, whatever one has on hand from the region sailed or one’s home currency is fine and appreciated by the crew.

Of course HAL will be the final arbiter, but I’d like to do a transpacific from Yokohama, clear US immigration in Kodiak then disembark in Juneau for further time in Alaska on my own rather than go all the way to Vancouver. Appears to satisfy the criteria, any thoughts?

We are booked on this tour for January 31st. I didn’t really think about it negatively when asked for the passport #’s as I had already been asked by a different Argentine tour company prior. Unlike Social Security, not like your financial info is tied to a passport. Also this company allows payment on the bus if you don’t care to pay in advance so to me further mitigates any fraud concern.

In her last few years the old NA was reflagged to Curacao in order to replace some of the Dutch hotel staff with Indonesians for the first time. In those days Dutch flag required Dutch crew, obviously since changed. Another reason for the demise of old tonnage particularly in the late 60’s, early 70’s was inability to refit these ships to the latest SOLAS fire safety standards due to extensive wood paneling, open stairwells, etc. Also the oil embargo and fuel crisis doomed many of the thirsty steamships. Some liners were sent to the breakers less than 20 years old, “Northern Star” was 13!

Here are some photos from my visit to NA in Port Everglades in April 1973, just a few months before her final voyage in December of that year.

I think you will find Nieuw Statendam more similar than different to Celebrity S class overall. Although production shows are lacking compared to the Cirque type acts on Celebrity, the Music Walk venues on new HAL ships somewhat compensate. Both lines are considered direct competitors in the superior mass market category.

Thanks, good to hear generally positive comments on the current food situation.

Wanted on Voyage - agree these aren’t terribly exciting Caribbean ports, the exciting aspect is sailing there on QE. And 9 and 12 nights with weekday departures and arrivals in Miami is far better than an endless 7 day loop. Cunard seems to have a long relationship with many of these ports such as St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Maarten, Tortola, etc. That was the bulk of the itinerary on my two Caribbean sailings on QM2 from NY years ago and still is currently.

I don’t see this as being unreasonable or a big deal to get agitated over personally. When conditions are legitimately unsafe either the vendor or cruise line will cancel a tour. Arbitrary cancellations by the passenger should be far enough ahead that Celebrity can resell their spot. JMO

Re: the evolution of keys - I recall my first cruise in 1978 aboard “Leonardo da Vinci” they actually used very ancient looking skeleton keys despite the ship being built in 1960. Each key had a tag with the cabin number engraved on it. And in those innocent days you hung your key in an open box at the end of your corridor when going ashore and picked it up on returning!

Underwatr - despite all advance information indicating 8:30, it was in fact advanced to 8:15 onboard. Hopefully you’ll have a similar situation.

In August on QV late seating dinner was 8:15 and the second show was 10:00, so more than enough time without having to rush. On nights we went to the show we arrived between 10 to 15 minutes ahead and had no issues finding seats on the balcony, the lower level was more crowded.

John - what do you think is Cunard’s thought process for leaking these schedules to the travel agency and not simply putting them on direct sale now that they have been completed? I would think Cunard would want to maximize their selling opportunities as far in advance as possible.

Looks good, thanks for your research efforts, greatly appreciated. I’m slightly surprised by the early start of the Caribbean season and even more so by the choice of Miami over Port Everglades. I imagine the home port was selected due to international airlift using MIA. In any case I can tentatively pick my itinerary and wait for the books to open.

I’m anxiously awaiting the Caribbean itineraries as well. As someone who enjoys studying the cruise business in between actual sailings, I’ll make a (semi) educated prediction here. If QE winds up her Alaska season at the end of September I would expect to see a Hawaii cruise and/or a couple of Mexico sailings from California prior to her eastbound Canal cruise. I don’t think there is any great demand to begin the Caribbean season from Florida prior to mid-November. Just my thoughts….

Sargasso Pirate - great comments about closely spaced two tops, all too common these days. My sentiments exactly.