Underwatr

Looks like the old carpet was faded!

Corridor! Corridor! 🙂

I haven't seen that in quite some time. I'm boarding in less than 2 weeks so I've been in frequently checking on an excursion that's sold out, checking in, etc.

as contrast, here's the corridor from 2010 or 11. Sorry about the white balance being off.

Typically that's a "new" booking but you'd lose any benefits that were part of the old booking, such as OBC, prepaid gratuities, etc. (both of which I've seen in Britannia booking offers). That's what they mean by "new booking" - they can't just modify the old booking with the new fare.

The problem is that that specific language isn't in the offer on Cunard's website, so it remains vague or for the customer to figure out. Any idea whether that's new language? I'm not sure how to find an offer from 2018 or 2019, when I routinely got the latest promo plus the onboard booking OBC (I sailed at Christmas 2019 with around $1300 OBC as a solo traveler). Not having seen the actual itineraries and pricing I'm not sure it's a matter worth worrying about. I'll be on QM2 in a couple of weeks but I may not be looking to book while onboard.

I don't see that exclusion explicitly stated in the terms on the page Bluemarble linked to.

I'll always see the world through the eyes of the Britannia passenger.

As mentioned I haven't been onboard yet since the shift to daily pricing so know that. QM2 has a computer center (down one deck from the entrance to the Illuminations theatre/planetarium on the port side) with staff who can help you get connected if you're unsure. The easiest way to connect would be for you to either share one device or sign up for two devices (I believe there's a small price break to do this compared to 2X the one-device price). You can actually sign out on one device and in on another with the single-device plan, but you'd have to be comfortable with that. Your "My Cunard" page for the voyage will show you the daily and full voyage pricing for WiFi. In my case (six sea days, five port days) it would be slightly cheaper to buy the daily access for the six sea days than the full package for sea and port days but I think I'll just buy the whole package. My Diamond credit will pay for a little more than half of that. The pricing for my voyage is in the first post of this thread. I'm not sure whether the daily pricing is consistent among all itineraries. There are two levels. If you plan to do voice or video calling, Zoom meetings, or watch streaming video you'll need the more expensive package. I don't know how well the ship's total bandwidth supports passengers' use of the higher-bandwidth services, but the Starlink service should be in general faster and lower latency (time for the signal to go end-to-end) than the older service.

And as a result, fairly crowded compared to every non-free shipboard laundry I've seen on a ship. Don't expect to put your load in without at least a short wait for a machine.

Given that the usual single supplement fare is 175% of the per-person double occupancy fare, does it follow that the promotional single fare is 1.75*0.75= 131.25% of the PPDO fare for a given itinerary? Sounds pretty good.

I just successfully did that in my last post. - phone in airplane mode, then turn on WiFi & connect to home network, then turn on hotspot. - connect laptop to phone hotspot - surf web on my laptop - verify that phone is in airplane mode aside from WiFi on. I don't think it's a function available on all phones and I was surprised to find it.

I haven't looked at Bluetooth bandwidth in many years but at the time it was much slower than a 3G connection. I think I can set my phone up as a hotspot sharing its own WiFi connection - definitely worth a try to see if we can make that work for convenience. Otherwise we'll connect one of us at a time. One twist is that I'm Diamond and my traveling companion will be a Red Card (so no internet time credit for her until a hypothetical third voyage). We'll make do with my allotment. Edit: Yeah, I'm successfully sharing my phone's WiFi connection via its hotspot and typing this on my laptop via the shared connection.

I haven't cruised since just before the pandemic so I haven't experienced the new high-bandwidth internet options with a daily charge vs a per-minute charge. I've done some research and this how I understand it works currently for Cunard World Club members who get credit toward onboard internet packages. Could folks with more recent experience than mine please verify my understandings? If I go to the US World Club benefits page at https://www.cunard.com/en-us/cunard-world-club it still shows the old benefit of a given package of minutes being provided at a given CWC level, but if I go to the UK page at https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/cunard-world-club I see the following benefits are now applicable: Gold: $45 internet credit per guest Platinum: A total of $80 internet credit per guest (i.e., cumulative and not in addition to the Gold benefit earned) Diamond: A total of $135 internet credit per guest (no longer double the Platinum benefit - grr) Further, down in the footnotes it points out that you can't apply this benefit when purchasing via My Cunard prior to boarding. "Cunard World Club members with credits will have to wait until they are on board before booking an internet plan." Finally, it says "The same prices quoted on My Cunard will be valid on the ship." For example I'm seeing a rate of $240 for my voyage ($20 per day) if I buy the Premium package or $180 ($15/day) the Essentials package for the entire voyage vs $36 or $24 per day if I pay a day at a time (which I might be tempted to do since I have six sea days and five port days in which my phone plan will give me free data). So those daily and package rates will still apply. So to conclude: Internet credit will be available to CWC members ($40/$80/$135 depending on level) I can wait until after boarding to sign up and will pay the same rate per day and per voyage as I'm currently being offered on My Cunard. Apparently the only way to apply my CWC internet benefit is to wait until I've boarded. Is that all correct?

You've just confused many of the Americans on this board. 😁

Historically, passport services have been classified as essential during government shutdowns so in general passports will continue to be issued, but if the office is located inside a building that's managed by an agency subject to the shutdown that location may experience delays in issuing passports.

When I booked my upcoming Caribbean voyage I had the choice of a rate with a refundable deposit and a rate with a non-refundable deposit. The refundable deposit had a higher fare but it included enough additional onboard credit to make it not matter. If you're quoted a rate with a nonrefundable deposit you should inquire whether there's also one with a refundable deposit. You may have to speak with an agent to achieve that, or have a relationship with a particular TA.

I assume the wine packages are still available to purchase after embarkation, and that one can review the available wines in the packages prior to purchasing... ?

There has always been more of a party atmosphere (for Cunard) on the short cruises compared to longer itineraries. I assume some bean counter has done the math and concluded that they'd need to raise prices on the short trips to clear a profit compared to selling only by the drink.

The deck plans aren't changing (they used to post multiple plans when the categories of a given cabin changed and surrounding the 2016 remastering) so I believe the cabins and their categories will be restored in the same configuration.

They're not particularly recent and they're not Queen Elizabeth but I have some menus from QM2 crossings in 2019 here. Look in the folders for the particular crossings to browse menus and also Daily Programmes.

I know that in the US two one-day one-way rentals are often cheaper than 12 nights parking in Brooklyn - that's how I'm getting to New York for my November QM2 cruise.

Queens Grill is normally able to disembark around 8:00 (based on my most recent crossing). Diamond World Club members are permitted to disembark around 8:10 (assuming that perk still exists). There may be 150-200 Diamond passengers on board in all booking classes (on two crossings in 2019 there were 160+/-). As one of the first into the baggage hall you should be able to find your luggage with minimal difficulty. Those with Cunard transfers may be shortly behind you or slightly even earlier so if you want a more predictable disembarkation you should leave at your first opportunity.

When I was working I did an eastbound crossing, spent a week in England and then flew home. Some airlines have reasonable one-way fares.

A non-expedited passport amortizes to $13 per year of validity, while expediting a passport's renewal costs $60. You're correct that renewing within the old passport's final year is appropriate if there aren't travel plans (doubly so when you realize that a passport with less than 6 months' remaining validity may not get you admitted to many countries).