Victoria2

I for one have never joined in Cunard the line, as a luxury product debate as I only have around fourteen days experience of non QG so do not have enough experience to make a definitive comment but may I just add, I have no problem with QE/QV service outside on decks eleven and twelve so I must have a 'please look after me' sign on my person 😄, because the staff do.

Well I guess if a sweeping statement is made and another can find a point to challenge in that statement as I did with regards to Cunard service not matching up to luxury hotels, then I suppose one can only say, you opened up that line of direction!! 🙂

Absolutely fine but it's a shame your one and only experience has soured your opinion of the product when I know, through many days of experience, the service offered by the butlers is great. It's there when needed and not, when not required. A perfect system. 🙂

As has been said many times,you were obviously unlucky. To get a flavour of ours and others' experiences, book another QG cruise and see the difference.🙂

Butlers don't hang around. Unpaged, they 're in charge of servicing the cabin for you and bringing you canapes late afternoon but they're too busy to hang around anywhere. They are there but are at the end of a pager for you and when you page, that's when they come to the cabin so don't worry if you want to give QG a whirl, there's no creeping out involved at all. 🙂

Oh I don't know. We've stayed in some perceived up market hotels and QG could hold it's own against them, even down to the butler service which I consider better than some of the hotels we've stayed in.

Don’t know that one. Thank goodness!🙂

OOPS!

Don't think you are at all!!!😡 😄 I was told reciting The Lord's Prayer gets rid of earworms. Well it did until my earworm started singing it!!! Sorry Hattie Back to topic! 🙂 Apart from the fact we book so far in advance, some speakers might not yet have realised they would become speakers, speakers are of passing interest. Some we'd go and listen to and some we bypass but they have little effect on our enjoyment of the holiday.

One of my most hated earworms comes from a Disneyland ride. Damn and blast, I can hear it now! 😕

Ahhh A good old earworm. I hate earworms!!😕 Sorry! 🙂

Q1 and 2'er here and no, we've never had sneak prior knowledge of speakers but then to be fair, I've never looked but in the interest of research, I've looked at all our bookings and no, no speakers announced.

Oh I get you. Not at all. Can't have a Literature Festival without folk knowing who the speakers will be. No, I was thnking along the lines of privacy and data protection.

No idea what you mean, sorry.

We were used to the 'gentle hum' years ago but the reported not so good vibrations of late last year was a whole new ball game so that's very good news. Thank you. I will still report back though, to confirm.

Or it could be a privacy issue eg announcing to the world [well cruising world] 'you' will be away from home?

We will be aft on our next outing so I sincerely hope so!! I will report back.

Conversely, as one who books at rack rates then hears of tremendous free upgrades, it's slightly comforting to know the company might be getting more income. 👍

Hey, as a relative newcomer to Cunard, I must also be third class. We will celebrate our new standing in our not so third class cabin. 😄 All welcome to come and join us!! 🍷 ps Careful of those guns in Devon. I got cracking bruises on my shoulder and jaw for a while from a .22.

I have no fear of losing my favourite ship for the foreseeable future as the tweaks wrought by Cunard and yes, I guess bean counting had a huge input, will ensure she sails for a good few years yet. 🙂 I agree we are few here, indeed minute when compared to actual passenger numbers but folk read these boards and some will be influenced by comment tone as well as content so it's as well to tell it how it is. We can defend the traditional but must also be objective to the reality.

Obviously, he's not been on QV's worldies. The only world I can use to describe some of the Gala attire onboard, is dazzling! And that's just the chaps! 😄 I occasionally think some folk are on a mission to put newbies off Cunard with their own version of 'how things should be done' and thus hurry the demise of a great cruise line. 😄 Hopefully, the reality, as depicted by those of us probably considered below the salt, can continue to reassure newcomers The Gilded Age is over and Cunard is full of 'normal' folk enjoying the wonderful ambiance of Cunard ships. 👍 .

That's interesting. Are Cunard restricting the grades you can apply for, or is QG full on your cruise and so no upgrades available?

Again, kind but nope. We entertain, we provide. However, being cheapskates and non connoisseurs [this thread is waaaay above my pay grade 😄], it won't be the expensive stuff, just Champagne, Sauvignon Blanc and some red my husband likes.

How kind. I accept!😀 I often wish there was some sort of private messaging system where one could connect. Never mind, if ever you’re on Victoria, or Queen Anne next year and we’re on the same cruise, you're invited to dinner at ours. You’ll have to slum it with whatever we have in the fridge the wine list but you'd be most welcome. 🙂

I have no personal interest in staff wages, just as I have no subjective interest whether other folk pay auto- grats or not. It is none of my business other than mild curiosity, but thank you for all the links. They will be interesting reading for many although they contain nothing I haven't already read. When you copied me into your post, as I said, I assumed the emotive language I questioned would be addressed. I am aware of all the points raised. I am not aware though that a company such as Cunard would be paying slave labour wages and it's language such as that I wanted an official link to and not the blogs and reports from non Cunard sources. I quite realise exaggeration is often used to highlight salient points, but there's exaggeration and then there are plain untruths. Exaggeration is bad enough but untruths are downright unfair which is why I wanted, and still do, official information, which as it's none of my or others' business, I doubt I'll get. As an addition to Big Mac's excellent post #39, I recalled a conversation we had with one of our wait staff as he proudly told us of his daughter's achievements at her private school and how she was hoping to study computer engineering at university. His son, had just come back from a school visit [I can't remember the country] with his cricket team. He was SO proud of the fact he could do this for his children. Sp maybe he was a sort of slave, but to his children's future. If so, I can be counted in that number.