david,Mississauga

I have taken three of the QE cruises to Alaska. The maps are often incorrect. Leaving Vancouver the ship travels between Vancouver Island and the mainland. That should show properly for some cruises. The cruise after your shows the actual route. https://www.cunard.com/en-us/find-a-cruise/Q424/Q424 The QE will, however, return on the outside of Vancouver Island as there is a call at Victoria.

What excuse did they give you? It seems strange that any fare could be discounted to such a degree 13 months in advance that it would not qualify for the OBC.

On our June cruise to Alaska first sitting was 5:30 with last orders at 6:00. The second sitting was 7:45, last orders at 8:15. From recollection it was the same on our first QE cruise to Alaska in 2019.

If you use a travel agent, the on-board booking will be transferred to that person if you wish. I made a booking on board the QE a couple of months ago. When the transaction was completed the rep. said she already transferred it to my agent. Usually I am asked, but it might have been apparent that I have been using the same person for a long time.

Indeed, a reasonable inference from the wording is that only reduced fares offered after final payment will not qualify. I have used FCDs many times and never been refused even when fares are reduced from the original so-called brochure fares. I suppose I have never booked at what is considered a deep discounted fare. Although it will be a year before I will be able to buy future deposits on board I will do so with the hope it will be beneficial. On each of two QE Alaska cruises we got $800 OBC from the deposits - plus other credit for booking early - which were the best we have had. I'm not normally a suspicious person, but I wonder if Cunard is trying to get people fed up with the FCDs so they can be discontinued (as they have in other countries other than the US and Canada) with minimal complaints.

Looking at the confirmation I received for the FCD we purchased on the QE in June, the exclusions at the bottom of the page say: "The Future Cruise Deposit is not combinable with Last Minute Deals, Sailing Soon Savings and other fares offered inside final payment." It seems a bit cheeky of Cunard to deny the use of the FCD so far in advance. As I said earlier I have used this FCD for a voyage in Sept. 2024. It was a discounted fare under the current Summer Savings Event. Perhaps that is not considered a "deeply discounted fare" as mentioned in the posting by Queenvee.

If you are willing to wait a while before booking, precise berth information is available from this site: https://claalaska.com/?page_id=1250 We have had three Cunard cruises to Alaska and found this site to be helpful and accurate. Two cruises ago we had to tender into Juneau. The Railroad Dock in Skagway is currently offering different procedures than usual due to the risk of further rockslides. Passengers from ships at the aft end of the pier are required to board shuttle buses to get to the town end of the pier. Those from ships at the forward end are shuttled into town by tenders. This is not meant to be a permanent arrangement. We have noticed in Juneau and Ketchikan that one or more berths are a fair distance from the heart of the city. As Coates55 said there is a (complimentary) shuttle service on double-deck buses in Victoria. It is a long walk to the centre of Victoria. It took me 30 minutes and I walk fairly fast.

I booked a crossing under the "Summer Savings Event" promotion. It is a Britannia Club cabin. We have been given $200 credit for the promotion and $300 for using the future cruise deposit.

Thank you, bluemarble, for the screen shot. Perhaps it is just as well I didn't receive the survey. There is no reason for it to be so complicated. I recently completed a lengthy survey for VIA Rail Canada (train travel being my other travel passion) and it was so easy. It appears to me there are far too many IT people who think: "We are smart and you are not" so they make things far more complicated than they need be just to prove it.

Thank you for this information. If I should receive the survey I will fill it out.

With one exception we have always had the same waiters in all four restaurant categories, including the dinner sittings in Britannia. Last October we were in Britannia Club on the QM2, the starboard side restaurant. We were served at various times by what seemed every waiter in the restaurant. We couldn't figure out who the "main waiter" was. The service was excellent from all. From the comments above this must have been an anomaly.

Our travel agent and I have received this several times. Three of those were for Alaska cruises from Vancouver which of course return to Vancouver. The first time we got the notice was for an Atlantic crossing. Our TA contacted Cunard and they had no idea what it was about. So we now ignore it.

Well said. Yes, it's not just Cunard. VIA Rail Canada is promising (threatening?) to make major changes to their loyalty programme. This will offer a few minor improvements and some major downgrades. I have not received the survey from Cunard, which is just as well considering the problems many people have had completing it. I do not have a phone - well, not the type of phone necessary to complete the survey. Although I have a desktop, a laptop and a tablet that may not be good enough.

Unless there has been a very recent change, the Coast Guard does not charge for emergency evacuations at sea. Our "free" hospitalisation is available only for Canadians, so purchasing travel insurance is prudent.

I think the table was shared with HAL and Disney. A few years before that experience we did board a HAL ship in Vancouver. It was so different than boarding Cunard. The man at the desk looked carefully at each of the two permitted bottles of bubbly, checked that the corks were intact, made notes in a ledger, had us fill out and sign a form. Thankfully Cunard is still civilised.

We had an unfortunate gap in our Cunard voyages from 1989 to 2008. Because our earlier voyages - starting in 1973 - were in the pre-Carnival era there was no record of these. Our tickets and information for the 2008 QE2 crossing showed us as first-timers. I contacted the club by e-mail and they said they would credit us for all the previous crossings if we could prove them. A variety of ways was suggested, but I had kept all our tickets so that was the easiest. When the club received the scanned tickets they gave us Gold status. We were close to Platinum at that point. On boarding the QE2 in Manhattan we were still showing as first-timers. On board, the lovely Yo-yo sorted things out quickly and restored our status.

If anyone thinks requesting a wheelchair will guarantee an early disembarkation they should think again. Last year we disembarked from the QM2 in Red Hook. I was not expecting everything to work well in New York, it never does. There is always at least one issue. Those who had requested assistance were told to report to the Golden Lion at a certain time. There were not enough wheelchairs and/or enough shore staff to push them. Fair enough, not everyone is going to be able to leave at the same time. It took over an hour before it was my wife's turn to get assistance. By the time we got to the bus loading area we found out there were not enough transfer buses for La Guardia. So it was another hour before a bus bound for Manhattan had enough space for 15 more passengers and it was redirected to the airport.

On our recent Alaska cruise on the QE most passengers disembarked from their cabins. Those of us who had booked transfers or tours with Cunard were told to meet in the Queens Room. There were quite a few people there. We were escorted to the gangway in groups, starting with the direct airport transfer. I don't know if this was unique for Vancouver.

According to the passage contract guests do not have to produce a credit card until boarding the vessel. A quote from section 2: "(B) Upon boarding the vessel, You must register a valid credit card or other acceptable payment method at the Guest Services/Purser’s Desk to cover any charges to Your stateroom account." Although it doesn't specifically say so in the passage contract - unless I missed it whilst quickly scanning the 18 pages - guests do not need a credit card. Cash can be deposited. I suppose this meets the definition of "other acceptable payment method" in the contract. The wording below is the same on the UK site. A while back I was checking into this for an eccentric friend who refuses on principle to have a credit card. I don't know if it is the same now, but in order to activate the cruise card for on-board charges a deposit of US$300 had to be made at the purser's office. Further deposits would be required if spending exceeds $300. https://my.cunard.com/en-us/mycruise//articles/money-service An excerpt: "You may choose to settle your account with cash. However, a payment card should still be registered. If a payment card is not registered the account must be kept in credit at all times. If the account is not in credit you will be unable to make charges to your account. You may add credit to your account at any time by visiting the Purser’s Office and making an additional cash deposit. You may credit your account with any major currency, which will then be converted at the ship’s current exchange rates into USD; this will then be applied to your account in USD. We are unable to accept either personal cheques or traveller’s cheques. We are also unable to accept €500 notes at any time, this includes the Casino."

Good grief, is that $2459 for one person? I will need a one-way flight from Toronto to London next year. I can get premium economy direct from Air Canada for about $1400 - and that, of course, is Canadian $.

On the QE in June we received the promised bottle of Champagne in QG. A few days later a half bottle of PA with a note from the Cunard World Club appeared. We left it unopened. The year before we had the same Alaska cruise in PG. We had a bottle of an Italian bubbly called Contessa. It was far superior to PA.

Until recently the small print about bringing alcohol on board said (after mentioning the so-called limit of one bottle per person) that it is not our intention to enforce this unless we feel we must do so in the interest of safety - or words to that effect. I notice the current terms and conditions don't mention that. It can be amusing going through security at Vancouver when there are often three ships at the terminal. The security area is common for all ships. One time our bottles were noticed by security. We were told: "You have to go over there to that table and declare them." I knew that wasn't the case, but there was no queue so I humoured them. I was about to show the two bottles to the chap at the desk and as soon as I said we were going on the QE he said: "Oh, that's all right. Cunard doesn't care how much you bring on."

It seems people either love or hate the Q4s on the QE and QV. We recently had a 10-day Alaska cruise on the QE. I am not going to give my opinion of the suite as it is irrelevant. But I will mention two facts. With the bathroom divided it is convenient for one person to linger in the shower or whirlpool bath and the other person can have privacy in the other half that has the toilet and sink. The suite is partially divided into the sleeping and sitting areas. So when my wife had her usual afternoon nap the heavy curtain could be drawn. I had access to the bathroom, the bar area and the balcony without disturbing her.

For a long time Cunard has been promising priority boarding only for New York and Southampton. Yet they do offer it in the two Canadian ports which Cunard uses: Vancouver and Québec. Recently Britannia Club is on the list for priority boarding.

Thanks for posting the photos of the library. (I have not managed to take any good ones.) It is one of my favourite rooms on the QE. It is just one of several aspects of the QE that is, to me, superior to the equivalent on the QM2. I am very fond of the QM2, however, especially for Atlantic crossings. As someone who does not have a smartphone and prefers not to take my laptop on holiday, I have used the computers in the library almost every day. It's a pity that half of them were out of order on my June cruise. On our first QE cruise in 2013 there was a large very attractive computer room off the Grand Lobby. It's a shame that is gone. At least last year the QM2 still has a computer room as well as some computers in the library.