fantasy51

It is certainly correct in the UK that shareholders should contact Carnival, not Cunard. Carnival is the parent company and has the shareholder department. I assume it is the same everywhere else.

I have found the UK department to be excellent. I have booked a cruise 2 days before leaving (book on Friday to leave on Sunday) and they have still managed to get my shareholder benefit. I have booked cruises on special offers with no problems.

As someone said earlier, it would be a good idea to talk to the travel agent to see if the agent tried to do the OP a favour by booking under a special code (at a cheap rate) that somehow precludes OBC. I have read of that happening before on this forum.

My only disappointment food-wise was that the battenberg cake at afternoon tea was dry and tasteless. I only ever eat this cake on Cunard but in December it tasted just the same as the store-bought variety I tried and rejected. However, on the bright side, they had some lovely almond and raspberry tarts the same day so I went to the Lido and got extra to replace dessert and supper that day.

While talking about battenberg cake, I have a lovely story to tell. On one cruise I kept going to the Queens Room to see if this cake was being served. The person in charge told me I could speak to my head waiter at dinner and ask for one to be made for my dessert the next day. I did not feel I could do that. (I'm only in Britannia.) A few days later he told me the same thing, then said he would arrange it for me. He asked for my room number. I went back to my room and about 20 minutes later there was a knock on the door. Someone had arrived with a freshly-made battenberg cake for me. They'd had the Queen's Grill kitchen make it specially. Freshly-made was definitely best. It was moist and I could taste the almond.

I always use ear plugs in a hotel or onboard ship. Deck 8 on QE was the noisiest location we have ever had.

I wish ear plugs worked for me. I have a small ear canal. The foam ear plugs press on my bones all night and give me aching bones the next day. I have tried cutting foam ones down to size and I have tried the mouldable ones, but nothing seems to work for me.

I had wondered what Deck 8 would be like. The noisiest location for me was Deck 4 forward whenever we arrived in port. I have limited noise-sensitivity issues (i.e. they only show up occasionally) as a result of ME/CFS and the thruster noise was at a frequency that set off these issues. I felt like screaming with the pain of it! I now know to avoid the lower price range of balconies in case I am put in one of these rooms. (It has happened twice. The staff were very helpful on each occasion.)

If somebody wants to set up the spreadsheet and keep it updated I am happy to make it a sticky if it would help.

That would be fantastic if anyone has the skills. Here is the relevant Celebrity spreadsheet so people can see if it would benefit them. Of course, it is all subjective. The type of noise that disturbs me would not disturb other people for example. That's why the more information given, the better.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lYvbGYBf2WB3jSFTVuliFltauVnhdqfheWJTeFujSbs/edit#gid=1603205250

Here's a photo taken from my balcony. It's impossible to look out of the window without seeing the lifeboat. One adjusts; it just struck me as strange that this was considered to be a premium balcony! As someone who enjoys looking at the sea and the waves, I was aware that I could not look straight down to see them.

Actually, it was the machinery noise that was more of a problem!

Thank you for your kind words, Blue Riband. The price was okay but not great.

Is there a place here where we can review staterooms? On the Celebrity boards, someone curates a spreadsheet where people can post comments about every room. It is very interesting when booking specific rooms.

Diane

I have just returned from a cruise on QE. I booked it at the last minute (delayed because of a friend's ill-health) and ended up with a BB balcony. I thought that sounded rather good. Well, perhaps it is a good room on other levels but not on deck 5!

I was in room 5057. The first thing I found was that I could see the big orange lifeboat from the balcony and from that side of my room. Being Winter and not balcony weather, that did not worry me too much. However, I was surprised that the second top category of balcony had such an obtrusive sight.

Worse was whatever was on the other side of the corridor. I was only told that it was some machinery. Every so often we would hear a series of 'Ker-plunk' noises that would go on for 10 minutes or so. I had initially thought that people were banging their doors very late at night but then realised it was the machinery. I seemed to wake up every morning at 5am and assumed it was my sleeping tablet wearing off. Then I realised that the noises were going at that time, and whenever I'd start to drop off to sleep there would be another 'ker-plunk'. I'm sure it was no problem at all for people who sleep well, but for someone like me with a sleeping problem it meant the difference between energy and lethargy all during the cruise.

I was surprised at how much noise I could hear through the stateroom doors. My last two cruises have been on Celebrity and I now realise my rooms there were quieter than the Cunard ones.

It's still not enough to make me forsake Cunard but it shows me more rooms to avoid when booking in future.

We were assigned an accessible cabin on QV in August 2015 and loved it! There was loads more space in the room and we also had a huge balcony. It was deeper (situated where the centre of the ship juts out) and also longer (as the room itself was wider than the normal balcony.

I felt that there was not as much storage space as in a normal balcony room, but we managed to jam all our clothes into the wardrobe.

I hope you enjoy your stateroom as much as we enjoyed ours.

The Officers' Gavotte is really easy. You will be walked through the steps, and instructions are given as you dance.

I have had private lessons on QV with two different couples. There will be a professional couple teaching the free lessons. Approach them privately and ask for lessons. Some couples tell you that lessons are available (and encourage you to book lessons and buy their DVDs) but others do not tell you but are happy to book you in. Times and prices vary depending on the couple. You pay in cash (dollars) at the end of the session. I very much enjoyed my lessons with Dan and Olena.

Diane

This year I have been on two Celebrity cruises where we had 'free' drinks packages. (On the first one we had to pay an extra £300 between us for a better grade of cabin to get the 'free' drinks and in the second it was included at the price that was offered at the time - and the price didn't get much better in the next 6 months even when the drinks were dropped.)

Both times I drank more than I usually would, but then I normally only have 1-2 glasses a week. My aim was to find what type of wine I actually enjoy and to explore cocktails. I never did find a wine that made me look forward to another glass. On the first cruise I discovered Mojitos and rediscovered Baileys. On the second cruise I spent a lot of time drinking non-alcoholic daiquiris by the pool and mojitos with low alcohol content. I had one lovely Cosmopolitan but the next one (made by a different bartender) was not worth drinking. I was left thinking that cocktails can be very hit and miss, depending on the mood of the bartender. Sometimes they just pour the alcohol without measuring, and get the blended flavour wrong.

I think I am just as happy on a cruise to drink iced water. Alcohol does not seem to add much to my enjoyment unless the drink is superb, and there seems to be no way to make sure it will be right.

The friend I travelled with made full use of the 'free' drinks and it was worth the £300 for the upgrade.

Last year I flew from Heathrow into Rome by BA charter and then out of Rome again by BA charter. When we arrived in Rome, we took our suitcases from the carousel and looked for the Cunard representative and were directed to a bus where we left our luggage and then boarded. Being a rather meticulous person, I waited until my luggage was on the bus, and at the other end I waited to make sure it was unloaded and safe in the Cunard system.

Coming home by charter was a disaster. We were on the second-last bus from the ship, and were overtaken by the last bus. That meant we were at the end of a very long line of people waiting to check in for the same charter flight. There were only 2 desks operating at check-in so it took about 90 minutes. Once through security we sat at a bar waiting for our flight to come up on screen and went to the gate immediately, only to be told off because it was time for the last bus to the plane. Evidently the boarding notices had only been up in the gate area, not the rest of the airport. All of us on the last bus had been sitting in other areas. On board, the Captain said there would be a slight delay while we waited for the last of the luggage to be put aboard but he thought we would still get our take-off slot. We left shortly after. My friend and I were among the first to the carousel and waited ... and waited. It took over an hour before they admitted that if our bags were not there at that point, they were lost. We then joined a longish queue of people to report lost bags. All those I spoke to had been at the back of the Rome check-in line. It seems that Rome was so slow with the baggage that they just did not even attempt to get it to the plane. It arrived at our house 2 days later. I have since heard that this is typical of Rome airport and that there is a lot of problem with luggage.

One frustrating thing was that we were due to go to a dance that night, to be run by the friend with whom I was cruising. His good suits were in the lost suitcase but fortunately he had packed the last night's suit in his carry-on luggage. Unfortunately his partner had left his suitcase on the train from Wales to Oxford, so they had to share the suit. One wore the jacket with matching shorts; the other wore the trousers with a nice shirt. It livened up the dance night, as everyone was used to David having luggage trouble. He once left his Louis Vuitton make-up case on Brighton station and returned to find it had been blown up.

It's also possible the problem was caused by an over-eager new steward's helper who decided to turn the mattress, but was interrupted before he could turn the second one. (Yes, I'm clutching at straws, trying to work out how come so many people had slept on it without complaining.)

I'm not sure if it is the Cunard mattress that I find comfortable or what I suspect to be a mattress topper, adding that extra layer of softness.

Could I ask... do others always give a small tip for room service? I was not intending to but don't want to appear tight.

I spoke to Reception and asked them this question. They assured me that part of my auto gratuities go to room service already, so I do not need to give them a tip.

Diane

Plus it depends how big the rest of your bill is as well. For people that do not drink, for example, they may well have a very small on-board account (more so now that excursions have to be paid for up front and are no longer added to your on-board about). So if you are Mr and Mrs Tea-Total and you see a few pounds for a couple of items and then 300 pound in tips it would make you more likely to go and remove them on the last day (well, I think so anyway).

That's interesting. I would have thought the opposite. There have been times when the gratuities were just about the only item on my account. I plan for that and I pay them. The time I travelled with a friend and we had a huge (well, seemed that way to me) joint bar bill, I wished my conscience would allow me to make it lighter by removing the gratuities. :D

do many/any singles sail QG?

Hi Janet. Most of my cruises have been as a solo passenger. I have met a lot of single women in the ballroom. As far as I know, only one of those was in QG. (It generally did not come up in conversation so I may have missed a few.) I have made friends with people who were in Inside, Oceanview and Balcony. Britannia restaurant can be wonderful for singles. I have often been put on a large table with lots of other solo passengers.

Diane

That was an interesting upgrade to have. How lovely to have a window, a new cabin, lovely shower, etc. What you missed out on from the Inside cabin was a larger bed and presumably more floorspace.

I think I would miss the floorspace and the larger bed, but I'm sure the other things would more than make up for it. Luxury would win out over space.

Were you given a choice in this upgrade or did they do it automatically?

What I love about the Cunard loyalty scheme is the free internet time. On Celebrity you had to purchase the internet package (24 hours a day, every day of the cruise) and receive a percentage off your bill according to the loyalty level. You could not purchase by the hour.

Some perks are worth it for the laughter level. On my last Celebrity cruise we spent a good 15 minutes going through all of our perks for the concierge class and our tier, laughing the whole time. We never did get around to collecting our one free scoop of gelato.

Quite often I leave my nightdress hanging on a hook in the bathroom after I take my shower, and the steward leaves it there. In view of this conversation, perhaps that is the right place for it.

Alibobs, I think you did the best thing possible. You gave him a thorough telling off but you enabled him to keep his job. It was a stupid mistake - a dangerous mistake - but he could have been new on the ship and we don't know if he was used to lamps or only overhead lights at home, etc. He will never make that mistake again, and hopefully he will go through life a better person because of your generosity. You could see by his reaction when your husband gave him a tip that he knew he was at fault (no hint of surliness there) and that he recognised and appreciated generosity when he saw it.

You have made life better for one man when you could have made it worse.

Now I am wondering what happens to my nightdress when the steward makes my bed in the morning. Does he just drop it on the floor so he can smoothe out all the bedding easily or does he walk around the bed to put it on the couch, where it is in the way of all the pillows? There is no room on my bedside table, with my book and torch and tablets. I can see why it might end up on the light fitting. If he'd folded it first, then I can see that temptation to put it inside so it didn't slip off.

Having travelled with a friend who uses hair straighteners, I wonder if this also comes into the banned category?

From memory, I packed those in hand luggage, so they might not have shown up on the thorough scan. I always try to put small heavy items in hand luggage when we are flying, so I can get bulk stuff in the suitcase. However, I have read on the Celebrity board that power strips (those for plugging in multiple electrical items) are banned on Celebrity ships and are picked up in suitcases but not in hand luggage. This makes you wonder about the different levels of screening.

Our electrical items are never hidden but are on display in our rooms, so if the stewards are properly trained I hope they would pick up any infringements and let us know.

I agree with the advice about speaking to your insurance company to see when they think you should decide about cancellation.

As for the shoulder, I think that there is a time to go private, and this is it in your case.

I don't know enough about the problem to say who you should see. If it were me my first port of call would be my osteopath or masseuse. I know these people do not come cheaply but I have reached the point where I budget about £100 per month for regular 2-weekly massages and 2-monthly visits to the osteopath. (I have ME/CFS and when I'm tired I slouch and my muscles end up in knots, etc.) The NHS is great but there are long delays and they do not cover everything. I know we all have different priorities in life but I think health has to be a high priority. Think of all the money you are saving because you are in too much pain to go out and spend. :D Put some of that into medical visits instead. How much is it worth to you to be out of pain sooner rather than later?

It has always seemed to me that most doctors are not good with things like muscles and back pain. I have seen colleagues who have visited a doctor for back pain and have been off work for a few weeks, in pain. I have been in such agony that I could hardly move and have visited an osteopath and been back at work the next day. Then there was the time I visited a doctor for shoulder pain. I followed his treatment and after 2-3 weeks I still had the shoulder pain and ended up in agony with back pain and had to visit the osteopath. While there I mentioned my shoulder and he spent 5 minutes fixing it and I had no more trouble. I would therefore see such intervention as my first port of call rather than my last.

Here's an article about trapped nerves from the point of view of a chiropractor. http://chirocentre.co.uk/trapped-nerve-neck-pain-relief/

I hope you can get things fixed in time to go on the cruise.

It looks like you missed the direct link that I posted previously.

 

I did indeed miss that. Thank you so much. I saw the tour by 'Jay' but it is the surname that stays in my mind.

Now I am bemused by the fact that you can post a direct link but I can't. I tried about 4 times, continually re-editing, and each time it substituted asterisks for the surname. I couldn't even type the surname in the body of the text as it became asterisks. Very strange. Even stranger is that it did not happen for you. In the past I have always gone direct to their own website. I can no longer find that. The poster must have taken it down. That's a real pity as he had some good information. I went around Amsterdam some years ago using his ideas.

Fantasy, your link doesn't seem to work. Rick Steves has a good walking tour of Tallinn in his guidebook, you can just photocopy the appropriate pages. I loved Tallinn! Not quite as touristy as the other ports. Linen prices were fabulous! I had to restrain myself from buying everything in the store.

 

Thanks for letting me know, and for the other recommendations. I'm not sure what was wrong as I copied it direct from the page I found. I suspect the person who wrote the tour has taken down his own website, as I could not link to that, but it's strange that site worked last night and not today. Such is the internet! (I have proofread a few books with chapters by different academics and professors. Nowadays these often refer to articles on the internet. I had to keep emailing the writers back and telling them that the link no longer worked and could they find another one. The internet is not permanent.)

EDITED TO ADD: I've tried and tried and it won't let me post a valid link. It keeps replacing a key word with asterisks. If you are interested in looking at it, copy the link below but then replace the asterisks with the word b-r-e-n-t-j-e-s, missing out all the dashes.

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/15654392/tallinn-walking-tour-by-jay-********-october-2010

If you would , what cruise line(s) would you look at for future cruises ?

In the past I have cruised quite a lot with Cunard. I think their style suits me better.

I like dancing and the Entertainments Director on Celebrity told us that Celebrity is trying to phase it out, thinking it does not suit their style. I loved the ambience of going to a dance every evening on Cunard, even when I did not dance much myself. We did not know what to do in the evenings on our last Celebrity cruise. Most of the shows did not interest us. We sat in the Martini bar. We tried listening to the band but our dinner time varied and we generally seemed to miss it and got stuck with DJ music. We even attended a couple of games but they were not for us. Add to that, our TV failed to connect for the last few nights. I was happy with my book, and could have spent even more time reading, but my friend is not a reader and got a bit bored. In addition we struggled to find food that actually suited us. That's personal taste, of course.

There are things I will miss from Celebrity, like some of the modern decor and the sense of light. I will miss the drinks package and Cafe al Bacio.

I often cruise solo and have always found friends on Cunard, but I think it would be more difficult to do so on Celebrity.

I loved Tallinn. Before I visited there I found a good online walking tour, written up by someone just for fun. It provides a good introduction of what you will see and how easy it is to get around. Unfortunately the direct link to it is no longer working, but someone has made a copy of the pages on a website so you can still read it and see the photographs.

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/15654392/tallinn-walking-tour-by-jay-********-october-2010