david,Mississauga

The dumbing down continues. I, however, won't indulge in this and dress in the traditional manner that I have done for decades since my first Cunard voyage.

I recently re-enrolled in Medoc after dropping it during the early part of the pandemic. There was a long list of groups that qualified. I am a member of the Quarter Century Club for Ontario provincial employees. I was insured with Medoc for many years before that. Although we never had a claim, we were pleased with the coverage and the rates. The questionnaire asks a lot fewer questions than many other plans. The period of stability for pre-existing conditions is 90 days instead of the more common 180 days. Another thing I like is when you are at the top rate category - which is easy to reach at our age - renewal is automatic every Sept. 1st without having to complete a questionnaire. Medoc cancelled COVID-19 coverage for trip cancellation and trip interruption earlier in the pandemic. It has been re-instated. It is possible terms may differ for different groups. What I referred to was specific to my group. It's worth looking into.

The more I read about Wi-fi issues on board ships the more I am pleased that Cunard still maintains some computers, most of which work. There are very few on the QE, though, compared to the QM2. Other than being being a bit slow, I had no problems on our two voyages last year on the aforementioned ships.

It was mostly fairly minor matters. We don't always travel in the Grills, but this time we were in PG. It seems unusual to have to ask for toiletries. The elegant tea service seen in photos was not there, but a tea-pot was cheerfully provided on request. Ice was available only on request, as was the usual fruit tray. We could manage without those, but we met others who were not pleased. Even when we are in the Grills, we prefer to take tea in the Queens Room. A few times the finger sandwiches were stale - as if they had been left unwrapped in the fridge for a while. Although the string trio played frequently in the lobby and the Commodore Club, they did not play once in the Queens Room for tea. There was frequently a pianist, which was very pleasant, but on a couple of days there was an amplified saxophone. It was almost impossible to carry on a conversation with that noise. One day we left the Queens Room, picked up some goodies in the Lido and had tea in our cabin. I eat little red meat, but when I do I expect it to be of good quality. The tenderloin was not tender and the roast beef was inedible. The Beef Wellington and rack of lamb, however, were excellent. I won't dwell only on the negative. It is important to point out that otherwise the food was very good. The service throughout the ship was also excellent as it always has been. We enjoyed the 10 days and, as I said, we are doing it again in four months.

Has a harpist returned to the QE? Of all the cut-backs on last year's Alaska cruise we missed the harpist the most. It has not deterred us, however, from booking another Alaska cruise for this year.

It seems it is a marketing strategy. The cheaper Grills fares do not include the drinks package. Sometimes the cheaper fares offer no extras at all, such as OBC, which is available on the higher fares. But many times there is only one fare available which includes all the extras. That was the case when we booked the Alaska cruises for last year and this year.

The berth assignments have recently been added to the schedule. As you can see there are up to four ships a day. Before the berth assignments were shown there have been several cancellations of planned calls. Fortunately for us, the one cancellation for the Queen Elizabeth was not for the cruise we booked. https://claalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/SKG-Skagway-2023.pdf

Not always for US and Canadian bookings. It depends on the particular fare offering. Last year we had the drinks package in Princess Grill. Our friend who booked later than us did not. Right now there are three different types of Grills fares available for the Alaska cruise we are taking. One includes the drink package; the other two do not.

I have friends who are presently on the NY-So'ton-Dubai segment of the QM2 world cruise. They do not know if the World Club party was actually held as they are both quarantined in their cabin with COVID. They say there is a lot of COVID about, but of course no-one will give the real numbers.

I'm not sure how often it is updated. But the date of Jan. 23rd is not necessarily correct because on that day I checked to see if berth assignments were listed. They were not. I don't know the exact date when these assignments were added but I saw them for the first time Saturday the 28th. Perhaps the date of the last update was when updates about ships calls were updated and the berth assignments were not considered an update. But I will be watching it closely because we have the WP&Y excursion booked. I have found that site to be accurate, something I can't say about some of the sites. Of course, changes could happen at any time.

We are on the 20th June cruise with a scheduled call at Skagway on the 23rd. The CLA Alaska site still shows this. In the last few days the site was updated to show berth assignments. The QE is booked at RRA that day. The legend shows that as Railroad Dock Aft. The other two ships in port are the Norwegian Jewel and Carnival Spirit. It shows the QE also in Skagway on the 10th and 23rd of July and the 12th of August. There are many days with four ships in port which means two at Railroad Dock. That could be a problem. https://claalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/SKG-Skagway-2023.pdf

On the last two times we arrived in Victoria on a ship I found it to be a shorter walk to downtown to go right for a few blocks, then turn left to get downtown. I found it doesn't matter which street you take, but a map is helpful. I concede it is more scenic to take the recommended route - left from the pier - but it will take longer.

I believe I have mentioned this before, but I just checked the rates again. We have stayed twice at the Fairmont and more times than I can remember at the Pan Pacific. I like them both and my preference is mainly the rate. Even if the rates are similar I stay at the Pan Pacific. It has better views - even in the non-harbour view rooms which actually do have a good view of the harbour but to the east. We almost always stay in the upgraded section of both hotels. We like the PP Pacific Club Lounge better than the Gold lounge at the Fairmont. The lounge breakfast is a bit better. The honour bar at the Fairmont charges outrageous prices, e.g. $17 for a shot of gin. The PP is more reasonable. For our cruise this June the best rate for a Club room at the PP is $530. The best rate at the Fairmont for Gold was just over $1000 which is absurd. Even the cheapest "Fairmont room" was $850 - more than double the cheapest at the PP. I would expect the rates at the Fairmont to come down. Occasionally it is less than the PP but more often it is more, but I have never seen it double.

Regarding ice buckets, on our QM2 cruise in October (Britannia Club) the PA was in a bucket although there was very little ice or water in it. On The QE in June (Princess Grill) the "Contessa" was in a bucket with sufficient ice. I noted the bucket was the stainless steel variety usually seen in Britannia cabins, not the silver-plated one we have always had in the Grills.

I had been hoping a crossing on the QM2 would be feasible for an arrival in Southampton just prior to the coronation. Unfortunately, the QM2 arrives on the 7th. The next w/b departure of the QM2 is on the 18th which is not convenient. I detest flying both ways across the Atlantic (and can barely tolerate one way). So I will have to watch the coronation of our King on television.

Yes, they know that. I should have mentioned that they cancelled the world cruise segment not out of fear of being located under the kennels again (something easy to avoid by booking a specific stateroom) but because they were annoyed at Cunard.

Until recently there was a further notation on the US site saying, and I must paraphrase: it is not our intention to enforce this rule but we may do so if we deem it necessary. In October I had no difficulty bringing a bottle of Champagne on board at the port call in Halifax.

I know a couple who had one of the QG staterooms directly below the kennel. They were kept awake by barking dogs every night on the crossing. They could not be moved to another QG room. The best the staff could do is offer them ear-plugs which were of minimal value on the seven-night crossing. They had booked a QG guarantee and were not aware their assigned accommodation was directly below the kennel. They were so annoyed that they cancelled a future booking which was for a substantial segment of the QM2 world cruise. They are not members of Cruise Critic or I would have encouraged them to post a warning.

In theory, yes. Our experience on the last three arrivals in Vancouver from Alaska (one on HAL, two on Cunard) was as simple as it gets. We spoke to no-one for immigration and on the HAL voyage we handed the customs declaration card to an officer on the way out. On the two Cunard voyages we handed the customs declaration in to the purser's office a couple of days before Vancouver . So we simply walked out of the baggage/customs hall. Last year the ArriveCan forms were required but these were checked by the terminal staff at embarkation so there was no change to the seamless arrival procedure.

In my recent experiences Twinings is also provided in Britannia Club and Princess Grill staterooms. Better quality biscuits are given in the Grills (my favourite: Walkers shortbreads).

That is the normal procedure, but if for some reason embarkation starts earlier than usual there may be a wait for staterooms to be available. We boarded the QE in Vancouver in 2019. I'm not sure when embarkation started. We boarded at 11:20 (in Britannia, but Diamond members) and were not the first. We had been given a card saying early embarkation was being offered but staterooms would not be available until 12:30. Several times we have boarded the QM2 in Red Hook - and twice in Manhattan - at 12:00 and the staterooms were available whether we were in Britannia or Grills.

Attendance at classical concerts is not mandatory. Of course classical music is not enjoyed by everyone, but is there something wrong about providing varied entertainment for all tastes? Cunard does that well. A few years ago we had a cruise aboard the Noordam. The only entertainment that was to our taste was the violin/piano duet. They played an hour a day. That was it. There was no shortage of over-amplified blues/pop/rock. I have always hated that; it's not an age thing. You could hear the racket a hundred metres away from its source. There were rumours of a pianist but the room where he or she was supposedly playing was always either locked or closed for a private group function.

It's a shame that so many cabins have a tub without an additional shower stall. Even the majority of Queen's Grill staterooms on the QM2 have a tub with overhead shower - as do all Princess Grill cabins on all three Queens. My wife is finding it extremely difficult to get into a tub. On our recent QE cruise in PG we were able to get a wooden stool to assist. Mind you, I had to sign a form to promise to never sue the Carnival Corp. for any mishap. As for boredom on traditional crossings, I have made 15 (not all on Cunard) and never been bored for a moment. But I do understand that others will experience it differently. The QM2 is referred to as getting old by some people, but in reality she is middle-aged. P&O's Canberra was 30 on our last cruise aboard her and she was in great shape. The QE2 was 39 when we had our last crossing in her - just months before retirement - and to me she was in splendid shape. The shower curtain in our humble cabin had been replaced with a glass door, so there is hope for the other Cunard ships.

When Cunard asked us to complete surveys I always suggested cava as a substitute for the usual PA.

Not in my experience. We had such a bad experience the first time we disembarked in NY - yes, it was decades ago - we didn't disembark there again for about 40 years. We have, however, embarked about a dozen times and never had a problem.