TheOldBear

QM2 generally follows a great circle route - unless diversions are needed to avoid weather systems. There is usually a sufficient speed reserve to complete the crossing as scheduled, even with medical evacuation & weather diversions. QM2 is _capable_ of 5 day crossings, but is usually scheduled for 7 days. [and we will wait and see how the current QM2 situation in Southampton is resolved] Cruse ships doing a repositioning sailing may have less flexibility, or have scheduled some island hopping stops to constrain their sailing routes.

I wonder if they needed to use the gas turbines more than expected after that incident.

I wonder if some of the departments are taking advantage of the unexpected 'availability' to fix or patch some nagging minor issues without paying passengers getting in their way. An example is dealing with some of the more visible rust issues - particularly as encountered close up when stepping onto a balcony.

The US version of the passage contract contains information in 'section 8' indicating Cunard needs to get passengers to either their scheduled destination or home. Oddly, the contract pdf is 'locked' preventing copy & paste of contact wording

I remember last year there was a similar appearing speaker's list page - but when you clicked on the 'view voyages' link it took you to a listing of every scheduled voyage. I guess this is an improvement, but still a regression from the way the site used to work.

Look for posts in this forum from "John Bull" listing some of the available options. [lodging choices, nearby attractions, transport options to London airports]. A frequent suggestion is taking a train to Salisbury, and using a hop on hop off bus there to visit Stonehenge, the town and the cathedral as a day trip. [ideally without luggage] There are no rental car desks at the terminals [at least not at the 'Ocean' or 'Mayflower' terminals]. We have always been an 'in transit' passenger for Southampton, so our luggage stayed on the ship.

I think a winter sailing would be the only time we would consider a trip to a warm destination. We would also consider a non warm weather winter sailing - like the trip QM2 makes for a 'Christmas Markets' round trip sailing.

We tend to take the opposite tack, with our basic sailing a QM2 round trip transatlantic crossing - with some sort of european side trip. You could try: A river cruise Sailing in the Med - a friend is researching an Aegean Sea island hopping trip The Hurtigruten 'Norwegian Costal Express' - 34 stops in 14 day round trip 😉

With the current plan, any usage of wifi starts a day's usage - the billing is per day, not minutes between login and logout. On last fall's 26 night sailing there was a single credit for all three segments [eastbound, Norway, westbound] - and it was a single credit against my WC status, no credit for Mrs Bear's WC status. On the whole, there seems to less value for the internet benefit than the pre-lockdown minute by minute scheme. I think for next year's sailing, if the current policy and prices are in place, we will do a day at a time to exhaust both WC credits before purchasing any multi day plan. [and yes internet bandwidth seems horrid - even if your device has a strong connection to the internal WiFi network. The internal network response to the 'myvoyage' site is also quite poor at times; makes you miss the old style paper daily program]

The 'Chefs Gallery' section of Kings Court [starboard side, near stairway 'C'] offers table service [pasta & pizza] but seems not to follow the 'gala night' dress code. The 'pop up' space on the port side between stair case 'C' & 'D' does follow the dress code.

You will find still and sparkling water options in the room service menu. Mrs Bear and I will buy the sparking water package - if any are left we bring the full bottle home.

We had a 26 night sailing on QM2 this past October and November. All but two nights were in the Britannia [two evening shore excursions in Tromso]. Our impression was that the menu had one or two fewer choices than pre-covid sailings. On two occasions the menu including something called 'lobster bisque'. We tried it the first time it was offered, and it was quite unpleasantly unlike the common New England dish. We were able to speak with a 'developmental Executive Chef' about it - and he said that it did not sound like his recipe. He said he would check - but the same alleged soup was presented on the westbound crossing. We did dip into the 'always available' items a few times for entrees, and multiple times for tomato soup.

It used to be in 'before you sail' -> 'personal info' but not today. Likely another website 'improvement' Did you get an email from Cunard with the subject "Your Cunard Voyage Starts Here"? Mine has the booking reference, and WC status.

The two hour policy was abandoned last November, on the Norway leg of our last sailing. The policy reverted to the previous 'as long as you want, with multiple entries allowed' policy. Unlike previous years, the men's side lockers did not have a supply of disposable razors & shaving cream - perhaps that will revert too. (Now if they would just fix the shower drains....]

For Southampton, London and places in between - look for postings on this forum from Jon Bull. Is your pre-embarkation hotel in Southampton? Do you already have ground transportation planned? For LeHavre options - Cruise Critic geography puts France in the Mediterranean ports section of the forums. Lots of discussions - and again look for postings by John Bull. Typically LeHavre port visits will include a ship's excursion to Paris - but you will spend and much time on the bus as you will seeing any Paris sights. In 2017 our departure from LeHavre was delayed for over an hour waiting for a Paris excursion to return - mechanical problems on the tour bus. If you have similar problems and not on a ship's tour the ship will not wait. Making your own way back to Southampton might not be an issue for you - but our next port is Brooklyn NY. We are looking forward to more tours in Normandy - so far we have done the D Day beaches [American and British sectors], museums and the American cemetery near Utah Beach. There is much that we have not seen after these tours, so we might repeat one of them, or we might consider Bayeux as an option.

From the 'en-us' version of the 'vaccine and testing policy' page: For voyages departing on or after the April 23, 2023, on Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria and voyages departing on or after June 8, 2023, on Queen Elizabeth, Covid-19 vaccination and testing will no longer be mandatory for guests traveling with Cunard. Prior to these dates there are still some voyages with Covid-19 vaccination and testing requirements. For more information on our vaccine and testing policy and to see if your voyage has vaccination and testing requirements, please visit our vaccine and testing policy page.

Not familiar with Princess - but [like many Carnival brands] are there self service laundries? Cunard has reduced 'gala' [formal] nights to two per crossing, and we had three others during the Norway side trip [7 over the 26 nights]. How many 'chic' nights are typical on a Princess week long sailing? Are they only on sea days? We did a 26 night sailing last fall [QM2 Norway and Northern Lights] and as usual we figured on luggage for 10 days between running out of clean socks and underwear 🙂 . We have the advantage of being local to the terminal so we brought [as our routine] more than we needed for shoes, shirts, sweaters, gowns, tux, wine ... We also brought a large duffel of winter clothing for Norway - mostly turned out to not be needed. If we had to travel by air, we likely would have made different packing choices.

In practice, you can bring aboard whatever you want [soda, beer, wine, spirits] for consumption in your room. I tend to have a carry on filled with wine bottles and socks 😉 The bottle limit in the passage contract is rarely enforced [I have not noticed anecdotes of enforcement here or on faceplant] at least at the Brooklyn cruise terminal.

These are the big programs that are much more readable & useful than the condensed programs we got in October & November

Today is the last day before the site is frozen 😞

We discovered in october that the new internet plan has multiple problems when trying to apply world club credits. Even though we both had world club credits - we could not apply Mrs Bear's credit to our network purchase for the 'entire voyage , one device at a time' option. Perhaps things will be updated by October 2024, but we will look for a purchase pattern that will allow us to use both WC credits before purchasing for the rest of the trip. Since we are not heavy / constant network users the earlier by the minute plan seemed to be a better value - but that is no longer an option.

As does Viking and Cunard - no shortage of cruise line options. Time for comparison shopping and itinerary comparisons

I have often seen cushions on promenade deck sun loungers and by the deck 12 Pavilion pool. Last October the promenade deck cushions seemed in danger of blowing away, and I was surprised to not see them being taken off and stowed in the deck boxes. You should be able to give the purser's desk a call on a house phone [or ask the bartenders on the Terrace or Pavilion to call] and get some cushions.

It all depends on where you live, and what cruises and cruise lines you are considering. I would consider _both_ options to be local [no need for air travel or hotel stay] but for us the tie breaker is the NYC 'Brooklyn Cruise Terminal' has no toll roads or bridges between our house and the port. We might also consider a 'non local' option - taking the train to Montreal or Quebec City then doing a one way sailing ending in either Boston or NYC

From my reading the coffee package does not include soft drinks - but the $70 / day package does. I cannot consider any package a good value for us, based on purchases on our last several sailings.