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On any QM2 sailing, there are a number of staff who serve the position of concierge.  And there are others who assist.  The one consistent person has particular and limited hours.

JPH:  Thanks for this as it has been fun to think this through.  I do believe that Seabourn is a good buy for a cruise vacation for those of us who like alcohol.  One can definitely get a better buy on a mass market cruise line, but that is a totally different experience.  My comparison point is to how we like to travel, a long-term stay in a major city in a tourist apartment, just getting to know one place.  That is a better buy that Seabourn, but again, a totally different experience, in the end not really comparable.  But again, it was fun to think about all of this.

I do not know of any plans for Seabourn to include free excursions.  They have always been available to purchase, if you want.

11 hours ago, Mauzac said:

And yet... on a long 65 day cruise we did stay in to watch a film and have the Main Restaurant delivered to us (with a couple of variations) a couple of times and it was excellent!

 

It's not something we do as a matter of course but on a long cruise, sometimes you just have to stay in!  

We did the same thing once and enjoyed a great movie that we had been dying to see.  Dinner, a show and a good bottle of wine.  Nice alternative on a long cruise!  Seabourn made it easy.  We will definitely do it again.

We boarded the QM2 in Cape Town a long time ago, 2015 I believe.  We took a cab from our hotel, and that was easy peasey.  But at the terminal there was horrible chaos, big crowds, no organization, passengers who were elderly or disabled at risk, and it took a couple of hours to board.  I hope it has improved.

8 hours ago, GUSGB said:

I am trying to ascertain if the wine package offered is good value? Does anyone have any wine lists with prices that are currently available to purchase? The packages are roughly $33 dollars per bottle. I do like a nice wine with dinner, better than the Comp wines on offer. The alternative would be to buy off ship and pay the $10 corkage. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Only $10 corkage?  That's a deal!

I have spent a couple of days thinking about how to respond to the prospect of paying $160 for dinner on a cruise ship when I have already spent $500+ per day for my "all inclusive" experience.  Even if I had excessive OBC to burn, I think I might find another way to spend it.  And my one experience in La Dame was nothing special.  So I am not their target customer.  But I do love Silversea, for other reasons.

17 hours ago, markham said:

You want great pizza on a cruise ship? Far superior to the mediocre stuff on Seabourn? How about sailing on Silversea Dawn, Muse or Moon where you get the real thing - 10 selections plus salads - with authentic ingredients in legitimate pizza ovens in a designated restaurant? It’s called Spaccanapoli on deck 11 when you pull up the deck plans.

 

Just sayin’

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

I'm just sayin' with Markham.  On the Silver Moon this spring we kept going back for the pizza.  It was high end restaurant quality, a shock since we never expect that on a cruise ship.  Nice setting outside on deck and impeccable service.  I think I am still in shock.  But I was well-fed.  The Seabourn pizza experience was pleasant because we could get it off-menu and when we had a craving.  But it was Round Table quality, not restaurant quality.  At least it was made to order and had not been sitting out under a heat lamp for an hour, which is what you find on the mass market ships.  But Silversea is made for pizza lovers.

7 hours ago, LadyL1 said:

I hope something good turns up for you. Our next voyage later in the year has been showing all grades Britannia Club and upwards sold out for some while, so it will be interesting to see if bidding invites are sent out.

However, this is from the UK FAQs, which states only direct bookings! Are T&Cs different across The Pond?

 

You are eligible for our stateroom upgrade programme if you meet all the requirements below:

• you have booked directly with Cunard
• you are the lead guest
• you are aged 18 or over
• you have paid your balance in full 
• you have not opted out of receiving pre-cruise communications

If eligible, you will receive an invite to this upgrade offer approximately 80 days prior to your cruise departure.  

Most voyages will be included in the upgrade programme, but Cunard reserves the right to exclude voyages for commercial reasons.

If you meet all the eligibility requirements but still cannot access the upgrade offering website, please call our Customer Contact Centre (local call charges apply) and choose the “Cunard Upgrade programme" option.

 

LadyL1:  I can't answer your question about the rules.  We simply received an opportunity to bid, so we did!  It's all a bit of a black box to me.  Yet another reason why I am not at all confident that our bid will be accepted.

Yesterday we submitted bids for upgrades on our Sept. 5 Queen Elizabeth sailing.  Our TA thinks the cruise is sold out, so both he and I don't understand why bids are being accepted.  Maybe Cunard knows something that is not disclosed to TAs?  Anyway bidding was painless.

11 minutes ago, JPH814 said:

You ordered pizza in the restaurant and the colonade?  

Yes, in both venues.  Presumably the pizza one would order via room service would be of the same quality.  We found the pizza to be OK, edible.  A casual alternative to a full mean in the Restaurant.

47 minutes ago, JPH814 said:

Did you order it from room service?

No, we ordered in the Restaurant and in the Collanade.

We've ordered pizza in the restaurant and in Collanade for lunch and it was OK.  Yes, mediocre compared to our favorite places at home and in some simple spots in Brooklyn.  But still OK and a nice alternative to a fancy pants lunch in the restaurant.

This is a total mine field with different cultural tipping habits, different gratuities included packages on board, and different experiences with service in QG.  Recently we sailed on QM2 on a crossing and had grats included.  We are from the US, a tipping culture, so are used to tipping.  The service we received in QG was adequate, nothing special.  Same with the service in the stateroom.  We felt a little shake down on the last day as our stateroom attendant was hovering, so we gave him and his assistant a little extra.  Then we went to QG for breakfast and as we left it seemed as though the wait staff were also hovering.  We did not hand over any envelopes as we were not all that impressed and witnessed a bunch of frowns.  Not White Star Service.  Just weird.  Like I started, a total mine field.

Recently on the Silver Moon, we had a lot of OBC, so we spent some of it on La Dame. It was a very weird experience trying to get a reservation in the generally empty restaurant.  We finally found a bar tender who volunteered to talk to his friend who arranged our reservation which we could not do with our butler or on their bizarre TV screen system.  Anyway, we made it , spent our money and it was a big MEH.  So a big increase in the up charge, who cares!  Major rip off.  But we did love the Silversea experience and the food was good in the other venues, actually better than Seabourn.  We had been told early on via CC and elsewhere that La Dame was not worth the up charge.  We can verify that advise.  Live and learn.

I've heard that a big benefit of an inside cabin is that you get no sunlight so that you have no idea that the sun has risen.  So then you can sleep and sleep and sleep as though morning has never broken.  Very good for those who board a ship to catch up on their sleep and rejuvenate.  

We've completed crossings at this time of year twice and neither time did we have uncomfortable weather.  However...this is the North Atlantic and it is often stormy in December.  The Queen Mary can handle the storms, but can you handle them?  If you are very sensitive to motion sickness, this might not be the best choice for you.  If you are OK with some exciting, dramatic, and fun motion, then you will be OK.  And you might have the same experience as we did and have no drama at all.

Latest news is that the city of Amsterdam is now considering the development of a cruise port that is not in the center of town.  Not great for us cruise tourists, but probably good for the residents.

No noise from across the corridor from the elevators.  But that is not the same as next door.

On 7/11/2023 at 10:55 AM, Riocca said:

Yes it’s just the difference $7, we’ve done this on a few cruises over the past year. 

Thanks Rocca!  We will probably want to upgrade from Premium to Super-Duper as well so it is helpful to know of the additional cost.  Thanks again.

Very useful information and thanks to all.  We also received this amenities notation on our recent booking and I could not find any info on AZ's website to decipher it.  The array of amenities is indeed a puzzle, some are itemized on our booking, some come with the type of suite we booked, some come with our tier of loyalty.  It will all add up to a lot of goodies (a good thing!) but figuring it out was a  puzzle.  May turn out to be a puzzle on board as well as we try to take advantage of it all.

All good news.  Some things are more important to me than others, but still...Maybe the President has been paying attention to complaints?

I had no problem on the Moon finding an available washing machine when I needed it.  If you have a lot of OBC, the laundry service is a good way to use it.  La Dame is OK if you have OBC to burn.  Lots of dining options available with no upcharge.

On our recent crossing there was a cocktail party in the early evening for World Club and one at 11:00 AM (!!!) for guests traveling in Grills class.  We went to the World Club party and it was a bit dull.  11:00 is too early in the day for me to hit the sauce, so we skipped that one.

We will consider Frontier on our booked QE crossing in September.