david,Mississauga

A few weeks ago a member said that Skagway was the worst port for congestion in the town. I'm not doubting anyone's experience, but mine have been different. Our last three visits to Skagway have been on the Noordam in 2015 and on the Queen Elizabeth in 2019 and 2022. There were four ships in port on each of those days. The streets of Skagway didn't seem at all crowded, especially when compared to Juneau and Ketchikan.

The rockslide situation hasn't had a permanent solution, but "rockslide mitigation" is working well. The linked article is mainly about an increase in the port tax, but the eighth paragraph has interesting information on the testing of the efficiency of the mesh and fence. https://skagwaynews.com/2023/06/09/passenger-tariff-increase-to-offset-landslide-mitigation/ I will be in Skagway in just over a week. We are docking at the aft end of the Railroad Dock and will see how well the transfers to the town end work.

Dennis Dawson was quite a character. It was worth the modest charge for a deck chair just to have conversation with this man. The morning bouillon and afternoon tea service were a bonus. We have travelled in all restaurant classes, not always the Grills. On our five crossings on the QM2 in the Grills I have never seen any amenity on the tiny Grills deck other than water. Perhaps if we had spent more time there we might have seen something else. On our first Grills experience on the QE we realised what a superior Grills deck the QE has vs the QM2. We didn't spend too much time there so are not aware of any service.

Alaska cruises can be very cheap, even at regular fares. For example, on Holland America a 7-night Alaska cruise from Vancouver usually costs half of a 7-night cruise from Montreal to Boston. This season I have noticed a lot of sales, including the line we have booked on: Cunard. I have been getting e-mails and brochures in the post from other Carnival-owned lines - Holland America and Princess, all offering cheap deals. After we paid in full for our Queen Elizabeth cruise the fares tumbled for new bookings. An inside cabin could be had for as little as (Can.)$820 for 10 days. A balcony was as low as $1350. Other cruises were similarly reduced. Because the cruise lines are almost giving them away the cabins are filling up and there are now many sold out cruises on various lines. I suspect there are too many ships this season for the potential passengers. Whether this will be the same next year is anyone's guess.

ArriveCan is no longer necessary. Arrival in Victoria, even last year when ArriveCan was required, was as simple as previous trips. Because Cunard had all the information collected at embarkation, the Canadian officials had received all that and passengers went ashore with no fuss at all. Passengers are told that photo ID is required for all ports but we never had to show it in Victoria.

After reading all these suggestions (and they are very interesting suggestions) I have to think there will never be a loyalty programme that is even close to perfect. I suspect Cunard will just leave it alone. I am amused when I think back of how easy it used to be to board a ship. In the "old days" there were no formalities other than showing your passport and surrendering a ticket. For example: several times we took the boat train to the Southampton P&O dock (now called Mayflower) and there was no queue. We just passed a table where someone looked at our passports, a second person removed the ticket from the folder and we went up the gangway. It was much the same with Cunard and Union-Castle and other lines in Southampton and other ports - no security, no credit card to produce, no photos. I am well aware of the various reasons why those days will never return.

It isn't necessarily easy to get to Diamond. We had our first Cunard crossing in 1973 and we didn't reach Diamond, i.e. 15 voyages, until 2017.

The son of a friend obtained a pardon from the Canadian government for the "sins of his youth". The US government would not recognise the pardon unless he paid what to me seemed like a large amount every five years. He is still doing that.

We boarded a Holland America ship shortly before the pandemic. We were fortunate to have booked a Neptune Suite at a good fare so we had priority check-in and boarding. We have no status with HAL, but those who do have high status also had priority boarding. Our agent recommended checking in early, so we started the process about 10:45 and we were on board at 11:30. There were three ships in port and the US border services did not have enough staff to handle all the people. We met people who said it was a zoo and they queued for a long time. All three ships departed at least an hour late. I don't know if HAL are strict with the assigned terminal arrival times since the pandemic. Last year Cunard was not (check-in opened at 11:00), but the Queen Elizabeth was the only ship that day so it wasn't too bad.

On all our voyages since Cunard started to provide tea in the cabin it has been Twinings. Our favourite is Tetley, so we bring some for an occasional treat, but we are fine with Twinings. We do not like brewing tea in a mug, so we request a tea-pot from room service. We noticed last year even in Princess Grill that the full tea service as pictured was not provided. But our steward obtained a Wedgewood china pot and cups and saucers. On another voyage in Britannia Club room service would not supply a china teapot - "Sorry, only for the Grills" they said - but a silver-plated one was sent up which we kept for the duration of the trip.

I hope Cunard will still sell them to Canadians who are handled through the US office. Because we pay our fares in Canadian $ the FCDs are priced in the same. The last ones we bought cost $390. I will find out in about three weeks when we are on board the QE.

I agree with a previous posting that taking a taxi from YVR to the pier is the best way. I do not agree that taking the cruise line's shuttle from the ship to the airport is the worst way. It depends on one's circumstances. Although it is expensive and is not a good choice for people with good mobility, from my experience getting a taxi at Canada Place can be a horror. My wife has mobility issues, although she does not need a wheelchair. Not that long ago we used the Skytrain, but that is not convenient these days. We have never waited too long at YVR for a taxi (or limo when they had them) and as we always stay one or two nights at either the Pan Pacific or the Fairmont Waterfront the cruise line's shuttle from the airport would not be possible anyway. In 2019 we disembarked the Queen Elizabeth and had only a short delay in getting a taxi. We were the only ship in port that day, which was the reason. Last year we arrived on the same ship. There were two ships that morning and the queue for a taxi was enormous. The friend we were travelling with suggested we make our way to street level and the hotel where we had stayed prior to the cruise. The staff remembered us and phoned for a taxi. It took about 20 minutes but my wife was able to sit in the lobby. We are doing the same cruise yet again next month and have booked the Cunard transfer from the ship. There will be three ships arriving at 07:00. The cost is a steep (Can.) $60 pp. but it is a matter of convenience, something we didn't worry about until a few years ago. We have used Cunard transfers at a few other ports and they are worth the cost. Eight years ago we arrived in Vancouver on a Holland-America ship. Because we had a lot of on-board credit we booked the transfer whilst at sea. In reality, it cost us nothing - and yes, there was a long queue for taxis and we just went to the right and boarded the bus. So if you are young(ish) and fit there are certainly cheaper ways to get from ship to airport, but sometimes we just have to pay more for convenience.

On our last crossing of the QE2 in 2008 there was a long price list for cabin items that might be pilfered by the passengers. I suppose because the QE2 was being retired in six months there was a greater than usual demand for souvenirs. It seemed that everything that wasn't bolted down had a price. I was amused to see the hairdryer was one thing even though there was nothing on it to indicate its provenance. There was nothing about dining room items, such as silver. I have noticed that Cunard's recent silverware is not "badged" which is probably one reason why it isn't in demand.

We were in a Britannia cabin with the slightly larger curved balcony. I don't remember what cabin it was. There was a partition on the side adjacent to the cabin which also protruded out, but only a partial partition on the side which was adjacent to the recessed cabin - 8035 in the deck plan in post #1. When we had our chairs close to the cabin door that partition would provide privacy for us and the other cabin. But if we moved the chairs close to the railing for a better view forward (some similar cabins face aft) it would be possible to see each other. It never seemed to be an issue though.

Although I have been on the QE three times I can't answer most of your questions because they are specific to an area where we have not travelled. On one of our cruises we had a cabin similar to 8033 shown on your deck plan. It definitely stuck out further than the the one on one side and we could clearly see the balcony of it. The occupants of that cabin were rarely on their balcony at the same time we were on ours. If we wanted to to we could look at each other but it seemed rude to do so.

These cutbacks are considerable. Last year we noticed some minor issues in PG on the QE, but nothing like this. What excuse is there for doing away with flambée items and downgrading the cheese trolley, one must wonder? On a QM2 Québec-NY voyage last October in Britannia Club there was a flambéed dessert every night as usual. I wonder if this has been downgraded. We are considering a crossing in autumn of next year and dithering over Britannia Club or PG, both of which we have experienced several times. It sounds like PG is not worth double the cost of the Club.

We have stayed there several times and used the hotel porter service to deal with our two cases. Although we have yet to see the card about "gratuity based service" we wouldn't think about requesting such excellent service and not giving a good tip. We almost always stay on the Club floors. Taking the cruise package would be a waste of money because of the generous breakfast in the Club Lounge. If you wish to handle your own luggage, it is not quite as simple as taking a lift down to the terminal. The lifts from the rooms go only to the street-level lobby. Another lift will take you down to the terminal. It's not too difficult, though, but nothing beats having your luggage collected in the hotel room and not having to deal with it it until you unpack it in your ship's cabin. The Fairmont Waterfont across the street also offers the delivery to ship service. Although the Pan Pacific is our favourite, last year there was a huge difference in the rates so we "cheated" on the PP that time. For our cruise next month we found the PP to be about half the cost of the Fairmont for the equivalent, so there is no consistency.

I have been on cruises calling at Skagway three times in the last seven years, with four ships in port each time. I suppose I have been lucky, but I have never seen the streets of Skagway as crowded as other ports (such as Juneau and Ketchikan). Skagway is my favourite port because it is the only one with a train excursion on the shorter - 7 to 10 day - round-trip cruises from Vancouver.

That is available, of course, only up to the time of final payment. The last two times we did that I found it wasn't as easy as before. At one time Cunard would simply re-price when requested by our agent. But for those two recent times we had to cancel and re-book. The deposits (both of which were future cruise deposits) were refunded back to our account and we started again. One time our chosen stateroom was changed and on the other occasion it disappeared from the booking and we were marked as a "guarantee." We did manage to get the stateroom back both times.

Several years ago Cunard included Halifax on the occasional Atlantic crossing. We wanted to disembark a w/b crossing at Halifax. I wrote about this a while back so please forgive me for telling it again for the benefit of those who haven't read previous discussion. Cunard initially told my travel agent that "it can't be done. They have to go to New York." While my TA was pursuing this with Cunard I contacted Canada's immigration service. I was assured by a senior agent in Ottawa that we could as long as it was an international voyage. Eventually Cunard agreed and we were issued with a "Deviation of Itinerary" form. There was no problem and 30 passengers who live in Canada disembarked in Halifax. Cunard should be informed of your intentions and if at first they say no pursue the matter as long as your request is within the law. If you have a knowledgeable travel agent that will make it easier.

I have noticed the regular room service menu is the same, But in addition, Grills passengers can order meals from the Grills menu during restaurant hours.

Although some cruise lines have cancelled the originally scheduled call at Skagway, it is still busy. There are often two ships at the Railroad Dock as well as one each at the Broadway and Ore docks. https://claalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SKG-Skagway-2023.pdf Postings on Cruise Critic and another site indicate that passengers from the ship at the aft end of Railroad Dock are taken by shuttle bus to the town end of the dock where the train will be. Those from the ship at the forward end of that pier are using tenders. Passengers are, in theory, prohibited from walking along that pier but there have been a few postings saying at certain times of day (usually in early morning) some people have been able to walk. In a little over a month I will be in Skagway. The Queen Elizabeth is the only ship at Railroad Dock that day and will be at the aft end. I am pleased with that. Reports indicate that the situation is normal at the Broadway and Ore docks. From my recollection last year, the trains back up to the head of the pier so it is a short walk from the ship. I remember when the train came right down the forward end of Railroad Dock and entrained and detrained passengers right at the gangway of the ship. On my cruises in 2019 and early 2022 that was no longer the case.

I have taken the railway twice and the time given was the time of departure of the train. I have booked it again for next month and the time of the departure is what we have. As indicated above, the cruise line will give you information about disembarking the ship. If your ship is docked at the Railroad Dock it may take some time to get to the train because passengers have to take either a shuttle bus or a tender to get to the town end of the dock.

We have done three recent round trip cruises from Vancouver, including last year when the ArriveCan forms had to be filled out . Arrival back was painless. The purser's office asked us to fill out our customs declaration forms a couple of days before arrival and place them in a box. On arrival in Vancouver we simply walked off and never spoke to an officer.

It is great to read some others remember the Union-Castle Line. My wife and I were on the very last voyage of RMS Windsor Castle from Port Elizabeth to Southampton in September 1977. There was no dressing down, at least in First Class. It was formal every night except the first, last, an evening in port, and Sundays. As much as I love the Cunard ships, my two voyages on the Windsor Castle remain my favourite of all.