durante

Sorry, which part of the OPs comment didnt I read?

If you are walking around the back of Deck 7, the whole area actually stinks when smokers are puffing away. It's really horrible to smell, makes me feel sick, and I am so surprised to see anyone backing the OPs opinion that smokers are treated badly on qM2. They have a really nice designated area there, with chairs, not to mention the ones that use the back of Deck 8 right outside the Verandah restaurant. Both those areas are ruined for non smokers.

Someone said the fume is gone with the wind quickly, sorry but this is wrong . I am sure smokers would love to think they aren't causing any distress to fellow cruisers, but they have no idea that it does.

The Hilton Molino Stucky is literally across the Canal from San Basilio Pier. It's a lovely hotel, we had a canal view room and enjoyed seeing the cruise ships gliding past in the early morning, including Quest. You can use the hotels complementary shuttle boat to take you and your luggage over to the other side. From then it's just a 10 min walk max along to the San Basilio Pier.

I am assuming Azamara will be docking at San Basilio as it always has done in the past, but to be sure you should check directly with Azamara. We did another cruise on another same size as Quest, Oceania Insignia and that actually docked at the main Mariitima terminal.

I could not stand the fumes from smokers at the back of deck 7 on our recent QM2 cruise, as we were walking round the deck, sorry, but so depressing, you all looked very unhealthy too. Also we had our diamond lunch in the Verandah on deck 8, view consisted of yet more smokers puffing away outside.i think there should be a designated smoking Area way up on deck 13 where it won't impact anyone

4192 is a great location I think we had 4191 on the other side of the ship recently.

. So handy to Stairway D which provides quick access to Kings Court on Deck 7, also for going down to the Queens Room. You can also pop down to the Britannia Dining Room using the back entrance, upper and lower levels, really good if you are going there directly from cocktails in Queens Room to dinner. We used to prefer cabins near the front of the ship but now find it better near the back on QM2.

I woul not recommend your strategy as you call it, for the reason given by azam71209, also it seems a very convoluted way of going about things as you seem more interested in getting a refund as refundable OBC and chancing your luck once you get onboard.

Regarding the discount on buying the package of 4, in our case the discount was applied at the time of purchase directly on the Oceania website. I assume this is still the case.

You said the reason you were not opting for the free shore excursions option was because the one you want most was not included under that offer. Were the other 3? Are you intending to take all 4 excursions? Depending on cost, it might be cheaper to take the free package and then pay for the other one.

It's $600 OBC per stateroom or 6 shore excursions per stateroom. If you select the shore excursion option, both of you have to sign up for them so it is 3 excursions each.

Ha ha true regarding the one bottle of Pol Acker. Also to answer your question regarding shore excursions in New York, we did receive priority getting through passport control at Brooklyn, so it wasn't the usual chaos for once.

Yes, the Internet manager would be the best point of contact regarding Internet minutes. Yoyo, however seemingly was correct because I tried to purchase my second lot of minutes when I still had an hour left from the first set and the system flagged up a message to say I was already registered. Once all my first set were used up, the Internet page automatically opened up for me to 'purchase' the next package.

Also just back from the 5th November B2B transatlantic. We had all the CW benefits for both crossings. I spoke to Yoyo at the CW office onboard regarding the Internet and she advised you had to use up all your first set of free minutes before the system would allow you to 'purchase' the second set.

For people who say they enquirer at the pursers desk regarding CW benefits, this is probably the worst place to ask as they don't know...

As this is the Jacques Pepin cruise, I haven't seen any comments relating to this from anyone currently onboard. Would be interested to know what events were held with Jacques, if any, and what you thought of them?

THanks

Just my opinion but I think it intrusive to think of even filming a captain having lunch in the buffet, let alone putting it onto YouTube. Luckily it's hard to see much, although I do feel sorry for the lady in the pink tee shirt!

The cruise on 29 May was originally scheduled to end up in Istanbul, but once this port was cancelled, everything had to be rescheduled, including the dates.

The cruise straight after the 3 day cruise isn't a charter either...

Regarding Port Vendres, this seems to only be added fairly recently on the 29 May itinerary so perhaps The Destinations team haven't got around to finalising all the tour options. Carcassone should definitely be made available.

Where do, (not does) the cruise ships come in at Amsterdam. Why not look up the Port of Amsterdam website? It is quite close to the main train station. Depending on fitness level and amount of luggage, you can either walk, catch a tram or take a taxi.:)

I know you said you were thinking about doing the BTB Transatlantic next year, however on the Cunard website, they are offering an inside room for £839 and a balcony £999 for the BTB Transatlantic 14 days on 5th November 2016.

Also agree the food was great, even excellent in some areas, on this cruise. Also enjoyed the fresh crab claws at so many events and dinners, the oysters, both fresh and Rockerfellered, the amazing cheeses, some really excellent ones, thank you Normandy for those exceptional French cheeses, and thank you Azamara for buying them at the market for us to indulge in.

And we loved the fresh fish, thank you Canada! Your food is great, and we really enjoyed the Canadian Seafood choices in the buffet dinner.

We always used to have ok food on Azamara until the previous cruise we were on which was Auckland to Sydney, the food was v average. No sign of any chef bringing in fresh local food.

What a missed opportunity given the strengths of Aus/NZ cuisine.

So the reason I am posting now is to encourage the current chefs onboard to keep "buying local", you may have no idea how much this is appreciated.:)

We did this evening event. To answer your question re dinner, no, this is not served at the opera house. You go there for the recital. You can eat on the ship beforehand or afterwards. The event is fun and free, you do not need to be an opera fan to enjoy it. Not able to comment on your 'Florence after dark' alternative as you didn't say what things you were wanting to do there on that particular evening?

As much as I love Cunard, I am v happy our next cruise is on

Azamara, small ship and usually fellow cruisers who always look well dressed....

Lakesregion, oops sorry you read way too much into what I wrote...I was confirming re Merry Maids post what you will actually see on board re day dress as opposed to the photos on the brochure, ok? It is what is is...much as I hate that phrase. Am trying to be neutral here, neither criticising nor praising.

I never said anything about the evening formal dress code....which incidentally I have always enjoyed complying with.

BTW have always thought of brochure photos as falling into the aspirational marketing category, no one need copy their actual fashion as long as you meet the guidelines issued by Cunard. The main thing is people should enjoy their cruise! And comply with the dress code!!!!

Merrymaid, I agree with all your comments. Also, having been on 4 cruises with Cunard this year (including 2 transatlantics), your description of what you will actually see people wear as opposed to brochure photos, totally nailed it!

Blingy toe post sandals are fine in the MDR.

What I am not keen on are people, would they be mainly American? wearing baseball caps all around the ship, for lunch in any venue and into the Planetarium and theatre, those caps look and smell so unhygienic...

Contrary to what Sauer-kraut said about early diners going to the late show and late diners going to the early show, our recent cruises have all had shows at 8.30pm and 10.30pm, with the 6pm diners going to the 8.30pm show and the 8.30pm diners going to the 10.30pm show.

No teapot in our cabin. On the positive side, at least the water is hot.

Yes, Rome airport has been bad for us too, overcrowded and have always had really long delays waiting for bags, last time we were there our bags were on a different carousel and it was just luck that we spotted them.

We don't know that NCL won't cancel their Cairo stop at the last minute...