TheOldBear

8 minutes ago, BklynBoy8 said:

Hi nybumpkin,

Thank you for your quick response.

 

Sounds like something different to experience on board after all the sailings and activities we've seen over the years. Hope your DH truly found it full filling to perform on the Queen of the Seas.

 

Did he perform on the Stage in the Royal Court Theater or by the Staircase in the Grand Lobby?.

 

Once again, thank you...

 

 

The other passenger chorus is on crossings with the English National Symphony. On our eastbound crossing, the chorus performs along with the orchestra for “the last night of the proms” featuring music by English composers. Anthony Inglas conduits the performance and rehearsals. This September he coached the chorus on his arrangement of Amazing Grace.

The westbound return crossing featured the normal passenger chorus.

9 hours ago, rakkor said:

On our return from the Caribbean, we had an 20:50 flight from JFK and were assigned a day room at the Crowne Plaza.  It was a lot more pleasant than sitting around in JFK.

Brooklyn is local for us, so we have not explored any 'day room' options - but the new TWA hotel at JFK may be useful between disembarkation and a late flight.

One thing to check about the spa passes, on a multi segment or ‘grand’ voyage if the pass is valid for the entire cruise, or just for one segment/crossing.

Well, you just missed a q&q session about this - take a look in the sub-forum https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/2441-qa-cruise-insurance-w-steve-dasseos-of-the-tripinsurancestorecom/

41 minutes ago, MarkBearSF said:

In his noon update, Captain Wells just announced that there will be a medical evacuation at St. John's and the gas turbines have been started. 

I wonder on what percentage of westbounds this happens. (It was also the case on our last one in September 2018, and I often see posts here about other crossings as well)

This fall there were two helicopter medevacs - one to Cape Cod on the eastbound, and one to Cornwall on the westbound. 

5 hours ago, Underwatr said:

The website has said "$25 (subject to change)" for awhile but in June at least it was still $20 on QM2.

Same $20 for this October

49 minutes ago, larrythelabrador said:

Two questions:

 

How long before departure do shore excursions show on VP?

 

Is there any way of looking at examples before hand to get an idea?

Alaska Cruise June 20.

 

Thank you

I've had shore excursions show up in VP starting about a month before the 'final payment' date.

Sometimes the 'destinations' page will list [without prices] the shore excursions for a port. You may also want to check the web site of Cunard's corperate cousins [HAL and Princess] for their excursions. 

1 hour ago, lenquixote66 said:

When we were on a Cunard cruise the only dining option was the MDR . It was also semi formal attire at every dinner meal.

What year was that?

Cunard [QM2] evening dining options

Included with fare:

• Dining room [Britannia; Princess or Queens 'grill']
• Buffet [Kings Court]
• Chef's Gallery
• Room service [surcharge for a couple of items]

Extra cost

• Veranda [$$$]
• The evening 'pop up' themed dining in the aft section of Kings Court [$]

I think the reason for a charge for the 'pop up' is so Cunard can say 'we have two specialty restaurants'

On a recent 19 day round trip crossing, there were 8 formal nights, the rest 'smart attire' - which seems to be dressier than other lines 'formal'. 

I'm starting advance planning for our next cruise - likely for summer 2021 🙂

So far it looks like a choice between Alaska [likely on QE; possibly on a HAL ship] and another round trip crossing on QM2

Alaska would be [on the surface] shorter & cheaper, but would involve flying 😞  plus the recommended hotel stays before and after the cruise [allowing for connection problems & jet lag]. Norway is much simpler logistically - less than two hours drive to Brooklyn, plus we can take our over abundance of luggage.

Asking folks who have done both Alaska and Norway cruises, which did you enjoy more? 

2 hours ago, babs135 said:

Reading this thread made me wonder why are there no escalators on ships?

The QM2 has them - connecting the galley to the upper level of the Britannia dining room

I have not received a questionnaire for this September’s round trip crossing.

Our last two sailings [2017 and this fall] were both round trip crossings from Brooklyn.

For 2017 we selected dates based on my work schedule - and lucked into a 'National Symphony' crossing. When the time came to book this year's trip, we selected the National Symphony crossing for one of the legs.

Cunard offers are variety of themes for many crossings. The theme may influence your scheduling by providing a special interest feature or topic. Its all part of the "nothing to do, and not enough hours in the day to do it" experience on a crossing.

I would join the chorus recommending Cunard for at least one leg of a transatlantic round trip. This fall, we did a 19 day round trip [NYC, Southampton, Hamburg, Southampton, LeHavre & back to NYC].

Some folks followed the eastbound crossing with another line's repositioning cruise to Florida.

Another group left the ship in Southampton for a 'Road Scholar' Normandy tour, rejoining in LeHavre [and monopolizing the laundry on deck 5 the next day].

Its possible some other folks had independent travel in place of the Southampton to LeHavre leg of the round trip.

2 hours ago, 2Oldpeopleinlove said:

We've purchased the $250 package that includes flowers, chocolates, a bottle of LP La Cuvee brut, a half bottle of the same with breakfast in bed, a formal portrait, and robes and slippers. If anyone here has done this, could you please answer a few questions?

 
Does the purchased champagne replace the Pol Acker or appear in addition to it?
 

How do they manage the breakfast? Do we order just like any other room service breakfast?

 

What size is the photograph?

 

Are the robes the same as those we will have to use in our stateroom? That is, are we given fresh ones to take home? And are they exactly the same quality/type?

 

Same question for the slippers: fresh ones? Different ?

 

Oh, and are the chocolates the four-piece box of Godivas?

 

Thank you for any information. We've already bought this, as I said, but anticipation is half the fun for me.

The package bubbly is in addition to the Pol Acker.

The breakfast is on any morning you select - call room service to arrange the time

The photo is framed 8 by 10 inches - you can chose which of several photos to put into the frame. The formal nights have several background setups, and you can have multiple photos taken.

In 2017 we had the 'bon voyage' package [did not see it offered online in the VP for this year] which did not include robes - I think the included robes are fancier than the Britannia cabin robes. I don't know is there is more than one grade of slipper.

I recall that the chocolates where a larger box - perhaps 8 pieces.

24 minutes ago, ew101 said:

It is possible some dancing would be curtailed a bit by large seas in late season crossings.  The QM2 is a sturdy ship but Force 7/8 winds and 30 foot seas are possible.   You could also have it totally calm the whole week.  We had very bad weather on a recent crossing and lost an evening of dancing.  The ship is fast so you will move in and out of storms.  

In 2017 it was force 11 winds - but the ship did not rock, and there was little pitching [quite a smooth ride]. We danced a bit in the Queens room with no issues.

I have seen excursions listed about 30 days before the ‘final payment’ date for the sailing.

I wonder when the special events listing will be available for 2021?
 

We are planning on another TA round trip in 2021, and will have the listed special events / themes as the principal factor in selecting the departure date.

4 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

We love eastbound TAs, and would do one every year except for the pain of the flights back.  A week of sea days is bliss.  Visiting several Med ports is really nice.  But that's the end of the positive experience.  If we could sail across, spend up to a week there, and sail back, that would be perfect.

That is essentially what we are looking to do - QM2 makes round trip sailings [marketed as 'grand voyages'] with 5 or more days between the Southampton stops. You can stay on board while the ship visits [for example] Norway so the vacation is entirely ship based - or disembark and do something on land rejoining the ship for the westbound crossing [usually at Southampton, sometimes at  LeHavre or occasionally other ports]  back to NYC.

Often there is a new mix of passengers as the round trip is sold in three [or more] segments.

We've done two round trips, in 2017 and again this year. Both times were on QM2 - and for us the ship and sea days are the main attraction.

We do enjoy port visits as well, so I am looking at one of three itineraries for 2021. These are 19 or 21 day round trips that include at least two new ports [as well as two visits to Southampton].

Sunset from a Fire Island ferry

1 hour ago, Calibrachoa said:

How are the changing facilities at the pavillion pool? 

There are mens and ladies shower rooms - but no lockers

1 hour ago, exlondoner said:

 

Sorry, wrong ship. Its is the CR on QV. Might have something in Sir Sam's on QM2?

Only it it involves chocolate 

According to the folks on the 'behind the scenes' tour, the room service galley is located on deck 10

You probably are looking for a fixed lens ‘bridge’ camera.

There are several categories 

So called ‘one inch’ sensor cameras, such as Sony RX10 or Panasonic FZ1000

Smaller sensor cameras with a larger zoom range. Some in this range like Panasonic FZ300 are weather sealed. 
 

I would give special mention to Nikon’s P1000 with it’s ludicrous zoom range. At the long end of the range you will see every speck of dust or droplet of water between you and your subject. 
 

If possible, try to find a camera store where you can see how any one fits your hands and style. You may also want to check discussions here, or even head over to the wilds of dpreview.com (sort of like Cruise Critic for camera hardware fanatics)

I've only done crossings in early autumn - but I did see folks using the deck 6 hot tub when the ship was sailing [september 2017] into a force 11 headwind. The pools were not netted, but no one was using the pools on decks 6 or 8