Underwatr

What counts is probably what the contract of passage says on the day you book.

Whenever I've seen single cabin pricing it's generally been comparable to single occupancy of a double Britannia cabin.

I think that's just a milder form of getting to know you than asking what you do/did for a living. Small talk.

I used the new app ("Mobile Passport Control" in the Play Store) flying into Philadelphia last December. It was very useful but unfortunately like Mobile Passport, it's not accepted at many cruise ports (currently San Juan and three in Florida). It was great to use the old app in Port Everglades a few years back. Basically no passengers were aware of it.

George Takei was on a QM2 Christmas itinerary, speaking and promoting his projects. Roger McGuinn (frontman for the 60s band the Byrds) was on a different cruise; his wife was active in the Cruise Critic role call and attended the mixer. Garrison Keillor was on a QM2 westbound transatlantic. I said good morning to him near the Grand Lobby and he characteristically ignored it.

This hardly the first example of that. US Bookings are cancelable with full refund until 120 days before sailing. UK bookings often include flights to/from the ship.

It's included in the (US) cruise contract. https://www.cunard.com/en-us/advice-and-policies/passage-contract 6. PUBLIC HEALTH AND COVID-19 PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES; UNDERSTANDING AND ACCEPTANCE OF RISKS. (e) You agree that if at any time within fourteen (14) days prior to embarkation, You test positive for COVID-19, exhibit signs or symptoms of COVID-19, have had close contact with a person confirmed or suspected as having COVID-19, or the Carrier otherwise determines, in its sole discretion, that You are unfit to board because of any communicable illness, the Carrier will deny boarding to You as well as Your traveling companions. Under these circumstances, unless the Carrier determines that the Guest has failed to comply with the Carrier’s COVID-19 Guest Protocols or this Passage Contract, any Guest denied boarding will be entitled to a future cruise credit equal in value to the amount Guest paid to the Carrier, subject to Guest providing verification satisfactory to the Carrier of results of tests administered by providers other than those retained by the Carrier. For further details, refer to the Carrier’s Refund and Cancellation Policy for COVID-19 located on its website. Under no circumstances shall the Carrier have any other liability for any compensation or other damages whatsoever including, but not limited to, compensation for consequential lodging or travel. (f) You further understand and agree that if, after boarding, and even if You have fully complied with all Carrier’s COVID-19 Guest Protocols, You test positive for COVID-19 or exhibit signs or symptoms of COVID-19, the Carrier may disembark, refuse re-boarding after a shore excursion, or quarantine You as well as Your traveling companions, or take other steps which the Carrier determines, in its sole discretion, are necessary under the circumstances to protect the health and well-being of others. Under these circumstances, any such Guest who is disembarked, refused re-boarding, or quarantined shall be entitled to a prorated future cruise credit for the unused portion of the Cruise Fare. Each such Guest is responsible for all related costs and fines including, without limitation, consequential travel expense and lodging. Under no circumstances shall the Carrier be liable to any such Guest for any costs, damages or expenses whatsoever incurred by any Guest.

I've been unable to enter any information into the Emergency Contact field, with or without a phone number, and with or without an address including the properly formatted 2-letter state ID. Eventually I'll contact my travel agent to have the information entered but for the time being I keep hoping to find the magic keystroke.

Screenshot of my dining selection: Perhaps "register preference" means something I don't understand. Highlighting the circled i reveals "This will not be confirmed until you are on board."

Perhaps just a data point - In November we're on QM2's 13-night Caribbean voyage. We're confirmed in second seating with a request for a table for 6. There's nothing in Manage My Booking about open seating for second seating. I believe I saw that option earlier for a different sailing.

A table with Vermont on one end and DC on the other and you conclude that DC is the safe end? From that site "Higher crime index value means more crime."

Even if some don't want to pay $120 there are plenty willing to, and the price hasn't prevented the tour from immediately selling out with no publicity. Look at it this way - if it was free you'd still be unlikely to manage to get a tour (perhaps less so). It's just a means of rationing.

I've never been on QM2 when there hasn't been a lot of coughing. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

I don't believe foreign nationals pass through immigration on embarkation so you may be correct. I've seen immigration given as the cause for a delayed embarkation before. Of course the bulk of passengers showing up at 11:30 regardless of their designated check-in time can contribute... 🙂

Cabin availability is very much a fluid thing. Consider the itinerary where QM2 departs New York for the following ports: Southampton, Hamburg, and back to Southampton before returning to New York. This itinerary can be booked in any of the following ways: New York to Southampton New York to Hamburg Southampton to Hamburg Southampton to Hamburg and return Hamburg to Southampton Hamburg to New York New York to Hamburg and return Where these itineraries overlap, Cunard maintains separate inventories - a cabin that is available to book New York to Hamburg is not available to book New York to Southampton, or Southampton to Hamburg. This ensures that Cunard will be able to accommodate passengers on any published itinerary. If New York to Southampton is selling very well and New York to Hamburg is not selling as well, Cunard may reallocate cabins to increase availability on the shorter segments. Obviously reallocating from shorter segments to a longer itinerary is complicated somewhat since that cabin may have been booked on one or more of the segments, making it unavailable to someone wishing to book the longer itinerary. I've seen this myself. I wanted a particular cabin on QM2's 12-night December New York trip to the Caribbean. The cabin was available but it was allocated for passengers booking the 26-day itinerary out of Southampton. The onboard booking office held the cabin and called someone in corporate (I don't know whether it was in UK or California) to break that cabin's availability into the segments so it could be booked for just the NYC-NYC segment (and presumably it also became bookable at this point for each of the adjoining transatlantics, where it previously could not have been booked for just those segments). I don't know whether Cunard ever holds back availability of a cabin completely, but cabins becoming available may be due to these shifts among bookable segments.

You may find that Cunard won't deal directly with you once they have determined that you have booked through a travel agent. That interface to Cunard should be through the agent.

Both the priority queue and the lounge are open to Platinum and up. I agree that the lounge is too small (and there are times that the priority queue is as long as the regular queue, although they do have the flexibility to process from that line at a higher rate).

I've learned to keep the bottle closed until the room service OJ arrives and I can make mimosas. Pol Acker is good as a mixing wine.

I'll make that known as much as I can. You don't need to spend Grills fares to enjoy Cunard. I'll be traveling QM2 in an Oceanview for the first time after many Britannia Balcony voyages (I'm CWC Diamond) so I'll probably post about that difference during or after my trip.

That sound like the Gros Piton climb on St. Lucia. It's offered on my Queen Mary 2 trip to the Caribbean in late November, listed as "Activity Level: High" with additional detail about the trail and duration provided below the standard description. I'm intrigued (I enjoy a good climb if it leads to a good view, and have climbed similar mountains recently) but my GF is a bit put off. I was a little surprised to see it offered as a QM2 excursion given the average passenger age but I suppose there's some range around that average. They generally offer a scuba excursion but for some reason only when the ship visits the BVI.

It's a simple matter to load the lists into a spreadsheet and then look up the current prices from the wine list posted upthread. The Captain's Collection wines average about $48, or a little over $55 when the 15% gratuity is added. So if you drink the entire 6-bottle allocation you're likely to save about $4 per bottle on average. The wines in the Commodore's Collection average $65-66, or about $75-76 with gratuity. Savings is about a dollar or two per bottle for the six-bottle allocation. The 12-bottle allocations would save more. If you were very selective you could save $6-8 per bottle in the Captain's Collection and $5-6 per bottle in the Commodore's Collection by only selecting the most expensive red and white wine offered. I have a 13-night Caribbean cruise booked and could easily go through six bottles of wine between two people in that period (the 12 is possible if we have wine every night). But selecting across the cellar we might choose from lower in the price range some nights.

Edit: Sorry, you're not the OP. Most of what I've posted probably isn't applicable to you - but I'll leave it intact since it might be useful to @steve4031 Apologies if you've covered this, but I know you've been on Carnival - what other lines and cabin/suite levels have you cruised on previously? No doubt Queens Grill is luxurious, but even Britannia is a bit of a step up in price from mainstream lines and QG is a fairly substantial step up from there (full disclosure - too rich for my blood). Maybe OH will be more willing if you weren't proposing to spend the cost of a new (small) car for the transaction. Aside from dining and of course your suite there isn't much ship territory that's exclusive to Grills, and a lot of what is exclusive (deck space) isn't going to be of much utility on a crossing. Courses for horses as they say, but Grills is in no way a necessary component to the feel of a Cunard voyage.

I know not many Cunard cruises depart from US ports but on Cunard the drinking age is 18 when the ship is not in US waters, even when the ship has embarked passengers in the US. For what it's worth I'm sailing to the Caribbean from New York on Queen Mary 2 over Thanksgiving (not that the drinking age makes a bit of difference to me). From Cunard's Passage Contract: "No alcohol may be purchased, possessed, or consumed by any Guests under the age of 18, except when in waters of the U.S., in which case no alcohol may be purchased or consumed by any Guests under the age of 21."

85% of the (full) passenger capacity is Britannia and Britannia Club. Does anyone know how it's been allocated during reduced capacity? I could see a case for it being reduced in Britannia with Grills capacity being left essentially intact.

If it's two days before the implementation of the change I'd assume that the change doesn't apply.