stan01

Missed this earlier while we were on Cunard QM2 for two weeks. I'd add QM2 Queens Grill to the list too especially if you enjoy traditional dining room service. We weren't sure we would, but once we were on board we immediately loved our service team and wanted to bring them home with us. Also there were 20-50 people at the LGBT meet up in Commodore Club every night at 5 PM, and at least while he was on board one of the ship's pianists served as an informal host which was nice. Gay men had their share of Queens Grills tables too. We've always found Seabourn to be a little less formal than Silversea. Easier to meet people, and people a little more relaxed and wanting to have fun. Seabourn's demographic is baby boomers in their 60s and 70s -- they've changed and its not as staid as it was 20 years ago.

True in the office world too. If you walk around Central London during weekday business hours you'll see professional men in suits (coat and pants/slacks/trousers) without ties. For many, ties now only worn for important client facing meetings I was told by several people.

@Fox trotterWere they able to get you a two person table? I saw on another forum that there was a mix up on the table size (reservation may have said you wanted table for 6 which is the default unless changed to 2).

Cunard gifted us a voucher for two (except for dinner in Verandah) as QG Silver passengers. We didn't use it because we were having a good time in QG.

We always said some combination of priority, Queens Grill, or in-transit as appropriate and those words seemed to be understood most of the time. We did notice both in Southampton and Brooklyn there were few signs and mostly it was asking people where to go. We did get wrong answers at times, and when we were directed to long lines we quickly asked someone else and got the better answer. What is your World Club status level? I'd hope that even if it is Silver but certainly Gold or higher you would get the two top without having to argue at all. Still, the immediate right answer (and what Osman would have said) is "please sit here for lunch, I'll see what I can do tonight". Should have been immediate response not a long discussion. I think Osman is on vacation now. I guess I'd say don't let these things stay on your mind, enjoy the trip!

I would just request a 2 top rather than a 4 top. If this is your first Cunard cruise you'll almost certainly be assigned a table that has another table on one or both sides of yours. You can decide which couple you talk to more, or talk to both. The window and more private two tops generally don't go to first timers; they will typically go to people with Diamond status, more expensive suites (Q1-Q3 if QM2), and people on the ship for a long time. Not always, but that's typically how the "better" tables will get assigned although I have seen someone throw a tantrum and successfully get a window table. I've also seen people ask for window tables and be told "sorry, that's not available".

I am about to pull the trigger on an annual policy from Allianz for spouse and I. We have used Travelguard for many years but have never filed a claim. Spouse has had two heart attacks (despite weighing 130 pounds, exercising every day, and eating a Pritikin diet most of the time). Medevac to include from a cruise is our most important need. We seldom have more than two cruises paid in full at any time. Any advice on if there is a better option than Allianz AllTrips Premier which has $500K of Medevac? We have good medical (Medicare with Tricare).

In Grills they will serve you on your own schedule. In Britannia they may serve the whole table together. Keep in mind that most of the two top tables are pretty close together, so it is easy to talk to the people next to you. You can even ask them to push the tables together in most cases if you find you want to do that after you meet your neighbors. There are pros and cons to assigned seating, but part of the Grills experience is having the same service crew every meal so they get to know your preferences and can give you the higher level of service. I'd have to recommend going with the flow on Cunard, and if it isn't for you then trying Seabourn, Regent, or one of the other luxury cruise lines if Grills isn't for you. We enjoy a variety of cruise lines, but we don't expect Cunard QG to be like Seabourn and we don't expect Seabourn to be like Cunard QG.

The two Brooklyn arrival "problems" in June 2024 have been six night Westbound crossings. The ship appears to be unable to make it in six nights if there is a slow down for any reason (winds, weather, mechanical, medevac). She can't go fast enough to recover even if the delay is relatively early in the voyage and can't get off Long Island soon enough to come in early to catch the low tide. If someone is on a six night crossing I'd have to recommend going with the assumption the ship will be late; there are often strong winds on a crossing. If you do that you won't be surprised if she is late and your travel plans won't be disrupted. Plan a flight after 4 PM or the next day. To Cunard's credit they did handle the June 29 late arrival reasonably well (including helping CBP understand they needed a full complement of 14 agents).

Did two cruises in June and July 2024. For both we got links to surveys emailed to us the afternoon of disembarkation. They were somewhat lengthy, taking a good 15-20 minutes to complete.

In 2024 US customers had a 28% off sale on shore excursions, wi-fi etc around Feb 14 Valentine's day. I don't know if this happens every year but it was a good opportunity.

Our QG fare for 31 days went up by $160, but we got $800 more in OBC plus the Grills drinks and hotel service charge reimbursement so net gain of probably about $2000. We book directly with Cunard, our assigned rep is good and she handled the whole change in about 15 minutes including rebooking and transferring the deposit to the new booking.

Called and it was about $2K worth of benefit to change including more OBC, hotel service charge, and Grills drinks package. The agent did a quick job of rebooking with the new fare keeping our well located suite. Thanks for the tip!

Hrm, booked on Tuesday under US Independence Day pricing and now this sale is a better deal for Queens Grill. Will US office for Cunard rebook me in the same suite at the new fare if I call them to ask?

Our recent crossing featured maritime archeologist Mensun Bound who among other accomplishments co-led the expedition to search for Shackleton's Endurance. Unfortunately he was not able to share many photos because National Geographic has the rights to them for a documentary they are producing.

Most non-luxury cruise lines now have luxury suites with restricted spaces and extra amenities including separate dining rooms and outdoor spaces. Celebrity, NCL, HAL, MSC all come to mind and I'm sure there are more that I'm not familiar with. I think the "class" term is "tongue in cheek" but in actuality I think some of the other cruise lines with luxury suites are even more "cocooned" than Cunard's Grills. Grills spaces aren't secured with a key card to keep others out for example.

I bought a small stapler to travel with. I print out the paper tags in advance and fasten them in a ring as Cunard specifies the night before the cruise from our hotel room.

My guess is this is why they do it, they give the paper to everyone because some people still want them and its easier to do it for all than figure out who wants them and who doesn't. Maybe over time fewer and fewer people will want them and they'll just go with the contactless.

The Tattoo featured military marching bands from Canada, Germany, UK, and a volunteer group from Massachusetts. They did traditional marches but also some more popular songs too. They did have some fun things too such as jump roping, bike tricks, and a dog that played hockey goalie (caught a foam puck in its mouth). It's not intended to be a variety show or a Broadway production. The signing of paper slips seemed to vary by bar and server. In QG, they asked for us to sign the paper slip the first night and then never after that. In Commodore Club and Chart Room every server we had us sign the paper slip every time. Maybe it is left to the discretion of the server whether to present the paper slip for more tip or not? That doesn't seem right either. Cunard has a challenge trying to please all of their customers on entertainment. If they offer anything more modern than the 1960s music some people will complain about not being traditional while others will leave the ship thinking it is stodgy and out of date. We heard a complaint that the Queens Room was welcoming of all dance styles instead of only ballroom dancing. For people who enjoy dressing up and expect others to dress up as well I can report that the Queens Grill passengers did a pretty good job on all nights.

We just spent two weeks on Queen Mary 2 in Queens Grill. Can confirm that people who like to see other people in formal attire should consider QM2 Queens Grill.

We were on from Southampton to Brooklyn to Brooklyn (Jun 23 - Jul 6). Overall the service was good to excellent, we did not really encounter inexperienced staff in Queens Grill but we did encounter some highly experienced staff who worked on the Queen Elizabeth 2 and seemed very hurried and under a lot of stress. Osman was on board so service was generally top notch. Food quality was generally good, although I'd have to say that British sourced beef was quite a bit better than US sourced beef. I think fish was often the best choice on the menu. The Kings Court is visually depressing; it is laid out in a bizarre arrangement. We did notice that some of the items in the Kings Court buffet were very similar to what was on offer in Queens Grill with a fancy French name. Our favorite entertainers were actually the Royal Theater singers and dancers, this group of 12-14 people was highly polished and they were so energetic and fun to watch. We really enjoyed the 2 days in Halifax, NS where we were fortunate to have good weather and see the International Tattoo on Canada Day. Not to be missed if you ever have the opportunity to see it. We were in Boston the afternoon of July 3 and all day on July 4; Cunard provided shuttle buses from the pier to near Faneuil Hall. We have cruised on Seabourn, Oceania, HAL, Celebrity, and Silversea. We agreed we'd cruise again on Cunard in QG. We do feel Seabourn has more variety in dining. For those who say you can order anything you want from QG and they will do their best to do it, I'd have to say Osman and the waiters were definitely not encouraging that and I think their ability to do that is rapidly declining to be a memory of the past. Shrimp cocktail and pasta yes, but definitely no evidence of multi course Indian or Turkish meals or suckling pigs that some have written about. To be honest, the staff appeared so overworked and hurried that we would have felt uncomfortable making too many special requests beyond the standard special request menu. Maybe we'll try Princess Grill some time, although what we've seen is that on some voyages the premium for QG not that much more over PG. There are some voyages, such as the NYC-NYC extended voyages to Norway were QG pricing is quite high. The Purser's office managed the late arrival in Brooklyn on June 29 well, but they were not really prepared for CBP to come onto the ship in Boston. They managed the front of the line, not the back of the line such as pulling disabled or very elderly people out of line only after they'd been standing in line for an hour to get to the front of the line. We told a few ourselves to go to the front. To top it off, once we did get into the Queens Room where CBP was set up there were multiple Cunard officers and managers just standing there watching rather than telling people who were going to wait an hour in line to come back later. For US citizens the Cunard personnel were not sending people forward fast enough to keep the CBP officers busy; half were waiting for the next person. Managing the line on the ship was Cunard's job not CBPs. Another nit-noid but we did not understand why servers in the bars are using the contactless room cards to place orders using their tablets but then generating paper receipts that still had to be signed with wet ink signatures. Seems duplicative and unnecessary. We did take an upgrade offer from a Q5 to a stern Q4. There's definitely some pros and cons with the Deck 9 stern Penthouse Q4s. Pros: more separated sleeping area, additional powder room, four person dining table, 2 outdoor chaise loungers, bigger sofa, walk in shower. But there are some negatives including smaller closet (and no closet by the door), smaller bathroom sink area, no vanity area near the bathroom, and partially obstructed view towards the stern (there's a bump out for the Q1/Q2 suites blocking the view toward the stern so you only get a 90 degree view not a 180 degree view). Also the butler was split across three floors so we only saw him about once per day. We paid $3000 extra for 7 days, we decided that next time we'd stick with the Q5 as we didn't get the extra value out of the Q4.

Grills are still on a Cunard ship, it’s not Seabourn or Regent where you generally would pay up front for more inclusions and less having to pull out your card for small charges like a soda or cookie.

@Joe33472for our reference, what other cruise lines (if any) have you been on in the last five years?

The biggest things Cunard needs to work on are IT issues. The bartenders use the contactless payment built into the room key to tap their tablets, so why do we also need to sign a paper slip and write in room number? Service charge is included. This also seems to be inconsistent between bars and maybe servers. Maybe some servers are hoping for more tip or some passengers are demanding paper receipts? The duplicate work slows everything down. Internet requires logging in again about every five hours which is annoying. Navigating through the internet login and my voyage sites is tedious with unnecessary form filling. They need an app with a persistent login.

I bring my own adapters and a 10 foot USB cable.