dfwguy

I apologize in advance if this question has been posted a million time before.

We (party of 2) are travelling on crossing in May 2017 . Our friends (party of 3) will be on same crossing. 2 different booking numbers- 2 totally separate reservations. How do we arrange for all 5 of us to be at same table in Britannia for the crossing? Through Cunard ? our travel agent ? or their travel agent?

Queen Mary 2 M716 SOU-NYC 08 May 2017-15 May 2017

Mark and Clay will be aboard and delighted to make your acquaintance.

Thank you all for taking the time to reply.

I think we will book with TA, pay the initial deposit and wait till last minute for final payment, to hedge against price reduction. If anyone see flaw in my logic, please be so kind as mention. thank you all - you are very kind.

Apologies, as I know this question has been asked in the past.

Planning a May 2017 crossing.

1) Is it better to book directly through Cunard or a TA. Who has more latitude to refund/upgrade/offer OBC. etc?

2) Prices always seem to drop- dramatically- as crossing nears. Is it better to pay the deposit and delay final payment at the very last minute?

3) Any tips or experiences regarding this matter you wish to share?

Thank you all for your kind comments.

I was only pipe smoker on recent cruise- standing room only with cigarette smokers

Have only Only 2 cruises under the belt. 1 crossing QM2 and Coral Princess repositioning- paid about the same price- QM2 was far and away a better experience for us. Princess not bad by any stretch- but as the voyage WAS the vacation, Cunard wins ( for us, anyway). For example, Noticed smartly uniformed officers always about on QM2- rare on Princess. Many more onboard activities on QM2 . Yes, I know both lines have different business models, so this is not an attack - we found food better- especially Canyon Ranch offerings on QM2

Hi Nina, surprisingly the price differential was very comparable ( less than $200) and QM2 was 6 nights versus 5 nights. I would say - all things considered, QM2 was a better value for the money- FYI, some transatlantic crossing 7 days go for $899 per person

Coral Princess- San Pedro, CA - Vancouver BC May 2015.

somewhat lengthy, hope it is useful .

Caveat, this was our second sea voyage. The first was a transatlantic crossing on the Queen Mary 2 in 2012. I recognize Cunard and Princess are two very separate entities with different business models. So comparison, contrasts and criticism are for illustrative purposes.

Boarding San Pedro, the norovirus special measures (deep cleaning of ship) delayed boarding by 4 hours. Norovirus is a hazard among all cruise lines.

I do not blame Princess, but practically speaking, we lost a half day aboard ship, familiarizing ourselves with the key locations. It was a loss from which we never fully recovered. Nevertheless, I appreciate the special measure taken to keep all healthy.

So, in no particular order, random thoughts below.

Cabin: A partially obstructed balcony- Dolphin deck. Room was nice, plenty of storage. Steward introduced himself promptly. Ice in room. If you want bathrobe, you must request.

No stationery in the rooms. We looked forward to writing postcards / letters from the ship. Perhaps these were available in other parts of the ship ?

Horizons Court (buffet, all day service): Food is subjective. Some will love it, some will hate it,etc. We found an array of hot and cold items always available. Comparable to a mid range Las Vegas hotel buffet, but there were always choices from other cuisines - especially south Asian. Seating was often hard to find. Hint: send a member of your party to secure an open table while other(s) obtain food.

Bourdeaux / Provence Rooms (Fixed sitting): We opted for the late sitting with a table for 2. Caution: on days when the early seating (5:15) is too soon to accommodate on score excursions and other activities, they will dispense with fixed seating. This means you probably NOT get your usual server and / or you will be seated with other passengers. For this situation, Princess should be faulted. There are several alternatives to consider: a) adjust seating times to something more continental - say, 7:00 and 8:45; b) only have two-tops in the dining rooms and pulling together for larger parties; c) at the very least, informing those of us who choose fixed seating WHEN WE MAKE THE CHOICE about those days when fixed seating will probably NOT be possible.

Lupita our fantastic server is a treasured asset to Princess.

Evening meals- again, food is subjective. No Michelin rating dining, but

meals were good with at least one or two items on each menu that were particularly memorable or creative. Desserts seem to be the weakest.

Breakfast- usual array. Usually opted for Horizon court as wait for dining room

Lunch- usually at dining room. Some days, I thought the luncheon menu was better than dinner menu.

I have photos of dining room menus and will post later.

Wine:- we brought 4 bottles on board, Cab, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Bordeaux blend. Checked in with luggage in standard cardboard box- Cabin steward brought the bottles to room on departure day. Hand carried bottle to dining room each evening, (noticed others doing same), our server issued the $15 charge slip. Half-empty bottles were stowed by wine steward for future use.

I have scanned the entire wine list from the ship and will post at future date.

Smoking: I smoke a pipe, but the Churchill Room (the Pipe and Cigar room) was unbearable as it was standing room only with cigarette smokers. Tiny little room with minimal ventilation system. I am not complaining about cigarette smokers, but wish Coral made a larger, more ventilated venue.

NOTE:Cigarette smoking is permitted in a designated area outside on deck 15-Starboard side. However, ash from cigar and pipe smoking is too much a fire hazard for that type of smoking to be permitted.

Hint,here is a very useful backdoor entrance to Horizon's Court down the stairs from this area. You will find this very help when trying to secure a table (see note above).

Staffing: Cunard seems to have more staff for tasks. Princess crew seemed truly overworked and minimally trained.

On QM2, smartly uniformed officers were ALWAYS walking about. Did not see any CP officer types in 5 days.

Sabatini and Bayou (the for-a-fee restaurants): Menu did not appear to change during voyage. We considered and opted out.

Bought the coffee card and soda card, both well worth it. Coffee card also works for real brewed coffee and does not count as a 'punch'. The main venue coffee is odd, was told a pre-made bagged liquid coffee concentrate is added to hot water and served.

Casino- $20 lasted 4 hours, not bad!

Coral had a better stocked convenience store than QM2

Coral did not have as many daytime lectures or events as QM2.

Bought the Grotto pass (4 days , $89) from the Lotus Spa. It was nice and would do it again, but the spa on QM2 is far better.

Movies Under the Stars (MUTS):- love the concept. Sadly, it was too choppy and windy to be much used.

Internet and cell phone: slow..but so is internet on all cruise lines. It is charged by the minute (not the megabyte) so be sure to log off -not just turn off your computer (Lesson learned: burned up 50% of our purchased time because we left the connection on when we put the tablet away.) Hint: Cellular At Sea was always active while at sea. We used intermittently because we were uncertain how it works with our cellular plan so next month's bill may be terrifying. Please check with your cell provider about how Cellular At Sea would be billed (domestic roaming, international roaming, satellite service, whatever) BEFORE embarkation. It is nice to know that cellular connectivity is available in case of emergencies.

Passengers- average age mid 50's and had cruised before.

Laundry- open 24 hours (QM2- open daytime only), swipe your card to purchase token (3.00) for washer & dryer. Soap and softeners available.

Not crowded. On QM2, laundry always crowded and fights erupt (really!)

This may annoy some, but I find comparing things to department stores helps clarify. QM2 (Britannia class) comparable to Nordstrom or -Neiman Marcus, Princess comparable to Macys or Bloomingdales.

Thanks to all the hard working guys and gals at Coral Princess who work ridiculously long and hard hours to for very minimal wages. If so moved, please try and slip extra $ to your server and steward. These folks send the money back to their families and it really helps.

Thank you all for the nice replies. My airline menu collection goes back to the 1960's to current. Menus really are a 'snapshot' of the time. From over the top "trader Vic's " type cuisine in 60's to 'healthy options' in current times, etc. Looking forward to my Princess cruise menus.

I am a collector of menus. My collection is primarily from various airlines. May I take the daily menu from the MDR home for my collection? We travel on the Coral Princess this Spring. Any one else have experience with this? Thank you .

We did 72 hours in Buenos Aires 2 years a go. Stayed in central business district. Plenty of nice hotels throughout city-found the BA guide books to be spot on with accuracy. We loved the subte (metro) and rode everywhere. Safe and fast, but can get warm and a little stuffy. Normally, I avoid hop on-hop off bus tours, but we did it here and loved it. We enjoyed self guided cemetery tour (Evita tomb-and the cats) , took subway to Palermo area for dinner- all restaurants desolate until 9 pm- then packed - get a great bottle of Malbec and a steak dinner- don't skip the provoleta. Calle Florida (big shopping street) is hugely crowded day and night. Italian food is the best -as well it should be, given the huge Italians immigrant population. Lots of little road side/sidewalk stands selling steak and grilled onion-excellent. My Spanish is fairly limited but managed just fine as English widely spoken. I loved BA and would go back in a minute. enjoy!

we took taxi from airport -don't recall the fare but don't believe it was too much. We took the taxi drivers business card and used him when we returned to airport.

Thanks, Cardomon. We have an overnight in LA (arrive from TX), so scoring some really good (and hard to find outside of West Coast ) CA wines is a great idea. We are on Coral princess.

We sail on a 5 night repositioning cruise; lax-yvr in April 2015. We wish to bring 3 or 4 bottles of really good wine for our dinner enjoyment. We are aware of corkage fees and are OK with that. Anyone willing to share your 'essential' wines to bring? Considering a Cab, Chardonnay. Riesling, Rhone, chianti, etc. to make our dinners more enjoyable - Planning on bringing a vintage port to enjoy for desserts and a nice champagne (bringing a champagne stopper) .

Upcoming trip, First time on Princess -Los Angeles-Vancouver (Coral Princess). Second cruise ever (Queen Mary 2 Southampton-NYC). We are looking forward to the tranquility that only happens when the pressure of port excursions are removed. Any tips from past cruisers re. Coral princess? How is the spa? Day pass worth it? Is the specialty dining worth the up charge? Being so close to the US mainland, any chance internet speeds are better? Any favorite spots to hang out and enjoy a coffee and solitude? As this is a repositioning cruise is it crowded/sparse? We are doing the inside cabin, as we discovered on QM2 we spent majority of our time on the outside decks.

I am a pipe smoker- is pipe smoking allowed in designated smoking area? Thinking about bringing a couple of really , really nice bottle of wine (know about cork fee , that's ok) Is there a soda package available ? Any other tips or hints from you nice folks? Thanks to all for reading this.

My husband and I did crossing in 2011. We are early 50's. Zero issues for us.

Coming from red-neck Texas it was refreshing to be among a large group of Europeans who are not obsessed with the 'gay' . We look forward to a future QM2 crossing.

We are fortunate to have 4 options for Galveston sailings; Princess, Disney, RCL and Carnival. Perhaps it is the deep discounting, but Carnival seems to generate all the 'horror' stories about homophobic pax on Carnival departing from Texas. We live smack dab in the middle of these folks- many are nice or consider 'gay' a non-issue. Sadly, a vocal minority of hate filled rednecks both intimidate their fellow straight pax into compliance and are openly hostile to LGBT folk. Ultimately, I think the departure port is best indicator of the demographic you will encounter. The 'redder' the State, the more likely you will encounter aggressive homophobia.