thames_side

Can anyone tell me what brands of spirits are included in the all inclusive price?

I have sailed on Cunard and Celebrity. We were put off Celebrity by the loud music everywhere. The only place you could escape it was back in the cabin. Otherwise we enjoyed Celebrity. I wonder if it is any quieter now.

The Grills on Cunard are a haven of peace and quiet.

Certainly no point if they are the same size. That is probably why they don't seem to be selling very fast.

So is it worth paying the extra for a deluxe cabin. They look a bit bigger but do they have any other advantages?

So do people actually wear these things? They take me back to the world of work where the HR department come out with "loyalty" awards like a scroll for five years "loyal service". A photo with your head of department shaking your hand. And company ties. I am afraid I am far too cynical for all that.

Thanks for all the very interesting insights. I have now booked cabin 9009 so should be well away from any possible vibrations.

Thanks for your advice folks. I have booked 9009. I reckon that's far enough away from the cigar smoke/.

On a round trip next year Cunard has a Queens cabin near the bows on deck 9 and a Princess cabin midships on deck 10. For the same price. Which to choose? Up in the bows there may be more movement and you are a long way from the grills restaurant, midships should be more stable but then I am hearing about vibrations (see my earlier post)

Thinking of a round trip from Southampton next year. Princess Grill. I read of quite strong vibration in cabins between stairwells b and c. Deck plans don't identify stairwell letters, but cabin 10119 has been mentioned. Any advice?

We recently traveled in grill class and found the dining set up gave us the best of both worlds. We had a table for two but there were two other tables for two fairly close by. The diners in the other two tables turned out to be very convivial and after a time we got quite a party atmosphere on our "virtual" table for six. At the same time we had the flexibility to come and go whenever we wished. If, however, the others had not been such good fun we could have kept to ourselves on our table for two and just enjoyed each other's company.

I am sure there are no free cocktails. I know they do serve canapes but I don't know what time. I have never been there at the right time.

A "more immersive" Royal Arcade. I try to avoid getting immersed in there as it is.

Just back from Q Elizabeth to Norway. Great trip. However we did go up to some northern ports: Bodo and Narvik and I'm not sure it was worth the detour. Yes it was north of the arctic circle and so in the land of the midnight sun. However there wasn't any sun, midnight or daytime. The two ports were not that interesting although Narvik does have a fantastic war museum. By contrast the fjords in the sunshine were sensational. I agree you don't get to know the Norwegians much but I guess that applies to most cruises. Maybe Hurtigruten is better from that point of view. However they did a tour from Bergen to a farm where there was a chance to learn a bit about the country by chatting to the farmer

And only BLACK tie. None of your multi-coloureds.

Queen Mary or queen Victoria/Elizabeth?. They are different.

I think there is quite a difference between grills in Mary and grills in QV and QE. It would probably be helpful if posters said which ship they were talking about.

On QV and QE I found the princess grill suites little better than the ordinary cabins, just a bit longer, whereas the queens grill suites are quite a good size with a balcony twice as wide. As far as the restaurants are concerned I'm not sure that there is a lot of difference.

There are those that were looking forward to getting away from it.

And another thought. Does it count against your duty free allowance? After all, you haven't bought it (not directly anyway).

Well, I do tend to take home the paint stripper we commoners get. But do tell me, do you do a lot of paintwork around your house or do you actually get decent whisky in QG? ;p

Otherwise I'd assume that the crew is not allowed to drink hard liquor on board.

Famous Grouse suits me fine and the Gordons gin is export strength 47.5% proof which cheers me up no end when I get home.

I generally have a bottle of whisky and a bottle of gin in the suite. If there is a significant amount left I pack it up and take it home in my hand luggage.

Just wondered if everybody does or do some leave it for the staff to enjoy?

We were certainly put off celebrity by the loud music. Hard to find anywhere peaceful other than in the cabin. We have stuck to Cunard grills ever since. I would be interested to know whether Celebrity have turned down the volume in recent years.

Tea bags are full of dust and contain plastic that ends up in the sea. You can't make a proper cup of tea with them. We always use leaf tea at home.

Froxfield. You should put the jam on first.

Many thanks for your helpful and honest replies. It seems the quality of the food is the big winner for Ociania. I agree Cunard grills food is not what it was. You just have to find what they do well and go for that. Certainly keep off the fish which is always overcooked. You can always go off menu if there is nothing you fancy. Perhaps if they do get a fourth ship they will have to up there act in order to fill it.

I do like the big QG suites whereas I don't think the PG suites are worth the money - just slightly stretched standard cabins. I don't go on Cunard for the formal evenings but I don't mind. Tying the bow is a good test of manual dexterity!

We don't go for fly cruises these days so the cruise I am looking at for Ociania is round British Isles August 2019.

Perhaps I will give it a go.

Nobody has mentioned the executive lounge on Marina. Not sure it looks very exciting from the photos.

We have been cruising for around 20 years. Various different cruise lines. In recent years we have settled on Cunard Q Victoria and Elizabeth queens Grill.. We like the large suite, the exclusive ship within a ship atmosphere on the top decks. Particularly the Grills lounge with its own bar, big windows and access straight on to the Grills terrace. We have an assigned table for 2 near the windows in the restaurant high up on the ship. Dining whenever we like. But we have the stability of a large ship and all the other facilities to visit when we want to.

Thinking of Marina, it seems to me we would need to go for a Penthouse suite which comes out around the same price as Queens Grill.

What to do?