TheOldBear

We may be seasoned TA travelers - we have done six crossings so far on QM2, but have never done a repositioning sailing. The crossings have been on round trip sailings with both eastbound and westbound legs, and no flying. 

There are multiple options for London to Southampton - rail, bus and car service. There are discussions about the options over in the Cunard forum and the Western Europe / British Isles forum. Posts by "John Bull" are usually informative about transportation and lodging options.

The NY Cruise web page has schedules through year's end. Princess seems to be using the Brooklyn terminal - schedule at https://cruise.nyc/BCT-Schedule 

There are several threads on this forum where hotels are recommended for Brooklyn departures [we are almost local, so have not explored any hotel options].

The 'always available' options should still be available, even when not printed on the Britannia dinner menu.

Our most recent sailing [November 2022] we only needed the 'always available' choice of entree twice over a 26 night cruise [we did the 'always available' tomato soup for many nights]

Mrs Bear has some mobility issues - we bring a rollator mostly for waits in terminals, but she also uses trecking poles instead of canes.

We have only had a normal Britannia balcony room - not an accessible one [I did request a shower seat on the personalizer for our next sailing]

Around the ship _almost_ everything is on the level - there are a few exceptions, off the top of my head I can think of both accommodations and problems:

• Both the Royal Court and Illuminations have deck level seating toward the back of the theatre main entrances. The Royal Court has indicated handicapped seating near the aisles for folks who can handle a ramp or a couple of steps. Illuminations has steps or ramp access from the deck 3 lobby.
• QM2 has 'half decks' as a bypass around the Britannia dining room and Royal Court [e.g. Deck 3L] these are served by dedicated lifts at either end. The Art Gallery occupies one of these decks, and is common route from the central lobby area to the Queens Room
• At the forward end of deck 8, there are steps and a ramp up to the elevator lobby and the Library
• The Spa pool on deck 7 and the Pavilion Pool on deck 12 have a chair lift to bypass steps and ladders. The outdoor deck 6 'Splash' and deck 8 'Terrace' pools do not have lifts.
• Handicapped access to the deck 8 terrace is by crossing through the Veranda restaurant.
• Some topside areas - like the "Lookout" are only accessible via staircases. 
• Our room was right by the 'D' lifts and staircase - Mrs Bear found it preferable to walk from Carinthia to the D lift by walking through the pop up restaurant area between the C and D lobbies.

Have you checked the directions on the NYCruise site?

https://nycruise.com/manhattan-terminal/directions/

There should be many past discussions in this subforum - just search the ports by name.

Most Norway ports will have a tourist web site - e.g. visittromso.no with local attraction guides [maps, transit and tour vendor information]

We last did the Norway and Northern Lights sailing in 2022 - with weather diversion [forecast freezing rain], we missed Alesund and Staganger - and gained Zebrugge

Bergen looked to be quite walkable, but we opted for the 'sights and sounds of Bergen' tour as it featured a visit [with concert] to the Edvard Grieg museum. It was raining when we got back to the pier, so I elected not to take a trip on the funicular.

In Tromso, Cunard runs a shuttle bus into town, and there is a Tromso city bus route stopping just outside the port gate [check the visit Tromso web site for rout and fare detail] We did three excursions 1) Concert at the Arctic Cathedral, 2) A visit to the Polarea Aquarium & Tromso Wilderness Center, and 3) A Cunard's northern lights bus tour.

Trondheim was quite walkable - we took the ship's shuttle into town and spent time [and had a nice lunch] near the Cathedral. Mrs Bear elected to take the bus back to the pier - I decided to walk. If I had known about the next day's diversion to Zeebruge I would have visited a few more Trondheim locations, including ones off the direct route to the pier.

16 minutes ago, snorklinbarb said:

Are pop up's common on QM2 transatlantics?  

Any examples of what a typical pop up might be and what the cost is?

What's the best way to find out about these - the daily?

 

This is something new since I was last on Cunard and have only been on QM2.

 

Thanks!

The Kings Court pop ups have been a feature since 2010 or so [port side, between staircases 'C' and 'D'] 

I think that the planned theme rotation should show up in the personalizer about a month or so before the sailing date. The evening's theme is also in the daily planner [and on the 'my voyage' intranet site - 'my voyage' may show the planned themes for the entire sailing]

1 hour ago, D&N said:

On the subject of the sling.

We saw a lady who wasn't disabled but like the OP couldn't manage the ladders. They were advised that they needed to have someone with them to operate the hoist, which she had. A member of staff came to instruct them but would not operate it for them, possibly an insurance issue. It seemed quite straightforward.

Same thing for the spa pool - could not be operated by an employee.

9 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Funny thing about ships with decent Promenades.  Most of the time we sit or walk on those decks we might run into a few dozen other passengers.  But a few dozen, out of more than 1000, 2000, etc. really makes me wonder what happens to all the folks who claim to love Promenades.  It seems like, these days, the typical cruiser will wait 15 minutes for an elevator to take them one deck, complain when they need to walk from one end of a ship to the other, etc.

 

Hank

On QM2 there is a steady stream of walkers - even when direct deck 7 access is closed due to high winds. The hardy souls will head out on aft to either deck 6 or 8, and use the exterior stairs to the promenade and enjoy a brisk walk in the force 10 breeze.

Some 2024 Brooklyn sailing dates were moved to accommodate MSC sailing from Brooklyn.  For example M432B sails two days earlier that originally scheduled, with port calls at Newport and Boston added - with the eastbound crossing sailing from Boston. The preceding Quebec to Brooklyn sailing was shortened by these port visit days.

Our upcoming sailing was booked with a similar offer - but our receipt from the $UNNAMED_TRAVEL_AGENT did not include the comped gratuities or mention of KC / Veranda dining. I'm bringing a printout of the offer's terms in case there is a need for onboard discussions.

The sailing was also bumped from 19 to 21 nights with the rescheduling in Brooklyn - that might result in an additional comped dinner.

53 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

There was likely no questions about the ship's generators.  A fuel pump can seize on an engine at any time (especially when the load changes from what the engine has been experiencing for a while (like going from just hotel load in port to using thrusters).  A seized fuel pump can drag the plant down to blackout, even with another generator online, as there would be while under pilot's orders.

Would a freighter of that vintage have any backup available for the rudder [e.g. some sort of  pressure accumulator] or would it fail promptly with loss of the electric buss?

Deck 7 😉 promenade - with the photo's contrast boosted to 'dramatic tone'

We do mostly round trip transatlantic sailings - with different 'side trips' that are sold as seperate cruises. This makes for a substantial turnover in passengers from segment to segment. For example our 2022 sailing only had 216 passengers making the entire Brooklyn to Brooklyn round trip - the rest of the passengers were only on for one or two segments, not all three [NYC-SOU, SOU Norway round trip, SOU-NYC].

We have noticed that Cunard adds more languages to announcements and daily program printouts when there are segments beginning or ending in LeHavre or Hamburg.

Back in November 2022, on the westbound crossing we tried the room service afternoon tea.

Sandwiches & scones were delivered [with proper accessories] were delivered as expected - but we needed to se the stateroom kettle to brew tea in cups.

The rest of the days on that sailing [26 nights] we had the Queen's Room Tea about a third of the time, with the balance up in Kings Court [or bringing cups of tea from KC into Carthenia]

53 minutes ago, cruisetonowhere10 said:

I am looking at Cunard for the first time so I have a ton of questions.  In looking at fares, I’m seeing the option to add Cunard Care but don’t know whether it’s worth the pretty small investment?  Mostly concerned what benefit there might be if I were to cancel before final payment is due.

Assuming you are a US resident, in state where Cunard Care is available [it is 'cancel for any reason' so not available to NY residents] it has the advantage of premiums not being age dependent.

You will likely want to compare the fine print of the CC policy vs third party offerings [visit the Insurance forum a bit further down the page]

Check Cunard's site [or with your travel agent] for the typical prorated cancelation penalties that are effective after the 'final payment date'.

53 minutes ago, cruisetonowhere10 said:

 

Also there are three fare options…selecting a balcony (non obstructed) but don’t particularly care where it would be located (distance from things, floor, aft/forward doesn’t influence us much (unless there are particularly unsavory locations.) Thoughts/opinions/experiences?

Your mention of 'obstructed' indicates a likely sailing on QM2 - many of the staterooms on QM2 deck 8 are obstructed [there is a 'sticky' thread showing their views of the tenders and lifeboats].

We tend to book the lower deck 'sheltered' balconies, and prefer a midships location between the 'B' and 'C' staircases. 

53 minutes ago, cruisetonowhere10 said:

 

Confirming that unless in a “Grills” stateroom nothing common is included (gratuities, beverage packages, etc?)

Sometimes there are promotions in effect that include onboard credit or prepaid gratuities.  There aren't that many things not included in the fare - and these are listed on the Cunard site [and are the things the Cunard is eager to sell you as a package]. We usually think we make out better as pay as you go rather than purchasing a package.

53 minutes ago, cruisetonowhere10 said:

 

Anything I’m missing?

5 minutes ago, BVILady said:

OOps, he will be in trouble there because I do not know how to tie a black tie, wondering who can help, maybe we have to purchase a clip-on.

On our 2019 westbound crossing, there was an informal bow tie tying seminar [with hands on lab work] held by a passenger in one of the embarkation lounges on deck 1. I need to start practicing for our October sailing 😉

On the other hand, the shops onboard sell only the 'pre tied' cheater's bow ties.

I've used it for my tux [cheapie, but 100% wool] with good results - I've also used the laundry service to clean and press tux shirts.

8 hours ago, gailellen12 said:

Thanks. Ps. What is TRS🤔

Tropical Rotating Storm - e.g. Hurricane, or something less energetic 

I would expect shore excursions to start being posted six or seven months before departure date.

An oddity / defect of the voyage personalizer is that it shows tours at the departure port that are only applicable for 'in transit' passengers at that port [in my case New York City excursions]

Found pictures from the 2017 NSO crossing - "The Last Night of the Proms".

This picture shows the soprano & alto folks on the left side of the stage. Clearly formal / black and white was not suggested back then

I can only offer the perspective of a Queen Mary 2 crossing - we have not tried any repositioning cruise.

A QM2 crossing [round trip] is our vacation. The onboard experience is the stereotypical 'nothing to do, and not enough time in the day to do it' - both the ship and onboard programming are designed around crossings.

Someone with repositioning experience will no doubt join the thread, but my impression is that the repositioning sailings are becoming more popular than say a decade ago, and the cruise lines have adapted by adding more onboard activities. [as opposed to a port intensive sailing where most folks are on board for the port visits]

1 hour ago, H.A.L. LOVER said:

Do men still wear tuxes on Holland Americian cruises that are 10 days or longer?

Welcome to the Cruise Critic forums.

You likely want to check the HAL forums over at https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/103-holland-america-line/

I've been in the guest choir twice - both times on the English National Symphony crossings - and the performance with the orchestra was on a formal/gala night. 'Black Tie' was a natural fit for the performance.

For other performances where I was a spectator, the venue was the grand lobby in the afternoon - no formal wear in evidence.

2 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

Do you define a disembarkment as a stop ?We boarded a cruise in Alaska and disembarked in Canada.

Then you did not do a 'closed loop' round trip