Victoria2

Apologies to all for banging on here but Cunard are WONDERFUL with their mobility challenged guests and I feel very strongly when folk don't read all the required literature before booking and then blame Cunard for their own lack of foresight.

They haven't tightened up, they have just made the need more prominent for those with mobility needs who didn't read the T&Cs and turned up only to be denied boarding and for Sarah W. as their policy conforms to EU Passengers Rights, there can be no issue with 'discrimination' issues.

Cunard [I can't speak for any other Carnival Corp. line] do NOT deny mobility challenged passengers at all but for health and safety of all, they restrict all scooters to certain designated cabins and have done so for years...from Southampton. As I said, if you had read the not so small print, you would have been aware of this so please do not put any Human Rights/denying access to the disabled onto Cunard. It's there, on the website Medical and mobility equipment If you use a wheelchair or scooter, or require medical equipment to come with you on your holiday, check our policies to ensure you have everything you need for a smooth journey and ample support on your voyage. in plain language. If it's not on any other site then you have cause to grumble a bit, but not a lot! Edit and just for belt and braces Choose the right type of stateroom - if you will be bringing a mobility scooter inside the stateroom, you must book a fully accessible stateroom or selected suite. Please note your mobility scooter must still be a maximum length of 120cm. For a list of suitable staterooms, visit our accessibility on board webpage. Please measure your mobility aid and ensure it will fit through the stateroom door. Details of stateroom door widths can be found on our accessibility on board webpage.

Just out of interest, were your three cruises with your scooter in an inside cabin on Cunard and if so, where did you board?

Feedback This is not new. I have no idea how you managed to board a Cunard ship in any port in Canada with a scooter, however foldable, in a booked non scooter specific cabin, but in the UK, you would have been denied boarding. Your scooter would be of no issue in an ordinary cabin but who is to say a passenger would put one thing on a disability form but turn up with something else. To avoid the denied boarding scenario, all scooters must be in a suitable cabin and if you had read the blurb on the website [I assume it's on North American sites] before booking it would have informed you of this requirement. Edit I have no idea of pricing for accessible cabins but I do know Cunard have a system of fluid pricing so a cabin booked later then the same category booked earlier, might be more, or it might be less expensive. Maybe that is what is happening?

The QV 1s are aft and are elegant and beautiful with floor to ceiling windows and doors. QE's 1s too have floor to ceiling double doors and are spacious and comfortable but aren't a patch on QVs as far as elegance and facilities are concerned. No view for either 1s dining tables, the 2s have a sort of view but it's not as if you can sit down to dine and easily see outside. A bit of neck straining would be involved. The 2s have a ridiculously large bathroom space [should have been utilised for a second shower room and loo] as far as I'm concerned and yes, the corner bath has a window should you want to look out. Whereas you can sit in a comfy chair and stare out to sea or whatever in both styles of 1s, you can't as easily in the 2s on both ships. If space isn't the issue, then I'd stick to the Penthouse. The only possible slight advantage service wise is if you want breakfast in room, we find the 1s and 2s get the appointed time on the dot and you can hold great parties in all that space.

OK, as one with experience of most QG grades I would say the 1s on QE aren't a patch on the refurbished ones on QV. The 2s are the same as QVs We book 1s or 2s depending on the itinerary. I would say bouncing up and down across oceans in any aft cabin wouldn't be my idea of fun. Are they worth it? Difficult to answer that as we book for the space. The 2s [both QE/QV] aren't elegant spaces like the 1s on QV but they are very comfortable and if you spend quite a lot of time in the cabin then yes, go for it. If you don't, but would still like the experience, then put in a low offer on a que sera sera basis.

I don't recognise Cunard's Dauphinoise as Dauphinoise. Theirs is a slab of dry, layered sliced potato with layers of onion and I guess, butter?🙂 I have my beef [fillet like D&N] blue if it's of excellent quality and I am usually OK with it on Cunard but others would look at it and ask for a vet to revive it. I think that's why when we read reviews, we have to read them as the correct but personally subjective opinions they are and it's only when we know, or in this site's case, feel we know the author can we start applying them to our own future experiences and treat them as objective...if you know what I mean.

I sometimes ask for dark rye bread or pumpernickel. It keeps its dense texture without the need to be toasted. No good for a gf diet though.

Just shows how opinions can vary on the same subject eg food in this case and more pointedly, the buffet.

Would love all that breakfast!! Blueberries on a small dish of oatmeal when at home doesn't come close to the yumness of a grilled breakfast with trimmings on Cunard!😕

When dining in the restaurant, I ask for it to be toasted [properly] first then left to cool in a rack on the table and not left to go soggy under napkins. Wait staff soon cotton on. Cool/cold toast and unsalted butter, brown sauce and brittle bacon. Heaven. No wonder Victoria has 'problems' apart from apparently perceived dodgy' ish 'rudders', we all like different ways of eating the same product! 🙂

The room service [very] lightly toasted toast [always white on holiday as a treat], when spread with brown sauce and having had a slice of brittle bacon in between two [very lightly] toasted bread, makes a great bacon toast sandwich for breakfast. I have asked for 'proper' toast when in the restaurant, and got it but then the two slice toast sandwich has to become a one slice open toast sandwich. Win win either way. 😁

We spend a lot of day time in our cabin so comfort is pretty vital, as it is for everyone, obviously but more so if more time is spent there during the day which is why I can say aft noise and vibrations just didn't affect us at all and only when head hit the pillows did anything make its presence felt but not enough, apart from the 48hr lumpy sea, to disturb us.

Vibrations were felt aft higher up but our sleep wasn't really disturbed. Didn't notice any problem during the day.

Just for reference, as it's probably QM2 in question for a TA., the 3s and 4s on QE/QV will be very cramped with three adults.

If you want space but wish to dine together in PG/QG, simple solutions on the Vistas are expensive but feasible. I would book a Q1 for the main bedroom and the separate bedroom/snug, or a Q2, again for the main bedroom and for the sofa bed in the sitting room or book any PG/QG cabin with you as the third person in that cabin, but also book a cheapy inside in which to sleep. No idea about QM2 but you can book three people into the cabin for dining purposes and book a basic inside for sleeping in.

A table mate celebrated a birthday and was presented with a cake in an equally, and preferred, low key manner Well it was low key until the rest of his tablemates sang Happy Birthday 'con brio'! 😀

If you wore your tux, then you would be in the majority. However, a dark suit is more than acceptable.

I keep saying to each his own. I really mean that. Wear what attire meets the dress code of the evening. You also have the option of expanding the theme. A gala night is about an evening of great food, dance and merriment mostly in the ball room. Nobody will care. Tonight's posting gives further insight to why we dress up. English/Scottish is our heredity. I will find any time to express through dress the feelings of my experience and heredity. These terms you do not recognize are a part of the English history. Please take the time to google them, to look at the fun pictures they embody of the times. We will wear on one of the black and white gala nights our Victoria attire in honor of Queen Victoria's time, to honor the Cunard Ship that bears her name. I don't need to google anything. I am more than acquainted with the history of my nation, just as I am very familiar with the mode of dress assigned to various centuries past, possibly even more familiar then yourself. I am aware the various nations of the world are invited to wear their national clothes on Gala nights but national attire is very different from wearing Victorian clothes on a formal occasion on Victoria. 'Dressing up' in Victoriana is, to all intents and purposes, fancy dress. You have said, you are expanding a theme. Looking back, we had a Victorian evening on one of the Worldies. Wearing Victoriana [still fancy dress] on that occasion would be an example of expanding a theme but in my book, wearing Victoriana fancy dress on a black and white Gala evening isn't expanding any theme, it's 'misreading the room'. If you wish to make a statement and stand out in a crowd, I can't think of any better attire, on a black and white evening than to turn up a la Dickens. You will most definitely be a talking point. We will blend into the background in our black and white attire. You apparently keep saying 'each to his own'. If this became the general mantra for Cunard passengers, then it would be time up for the Cunard USP of Gala evenings.

I know of the Jones Act. A loop makes sense to start and finish at the same place and I don't recall any cruise such as the scenario I mentioned but I asked an immigration officer what a closed loop was and that was his explanation. Now he might have misheard me, but I didn't mishear him. Either way, the explanation was obviously incorrect.

Interesting. Begin and return to same port. That conflicts with a DHS chat we had re closed loops.

A US closed loop is any cruise starting and ending in any port in the US with no foreign ports where passengers can disembark for a visit if they want to so SF to Miami with no Caribbean/Mexico/non US stops etc is a closed loop.

I showed my class how to get distilled water from tap water. It involved me boiling the water in a pan, a bowl in the boiling water, a glass pan lid bigger than the pan and ice cubes to put in the inverted pan lid. Took some time and didn't get much as the steam condensed into the bowl in the pan but it was definitely distilled.

I agree but let's put this to rest. Jeans are usually denim, be they 1000%cotton or man made fibre/cotton mix and are of a definite style and mostly of a blue colour. Said jeans after six pm are not welcome in many areas of the ship. However, not all denim trousers are jeans and definitely not all are of a blue hue so it's the style of the garment, the colour and how the garment is worn which dictates its place in Cunard dress code categories. Edit Unfortunately, not all are up to deciding what is/isn't appropriate wear hence a blanket ban on jeans...unless the dress code stand outside the restaurant specifically says non ripped jeans can be worn.