godfreyb

Japan is just wonderful and worth the extra sea days.

I intend to keep up the battle, but here in the US the astonished looks you get when pointing out what afternoon tea is and what high tea is, mean the battle is going to be endless!

As my original comment was mentioned here, I would mention that it was the Lido restaurant that was the problem with the restriction on the number of regular items in favor of Japanese specialties, coupled with the earlier dining times in the Grills designed for Japanese passengers, which meant that when returning from a half day tour, it was too late to have lunch in the Grills dining rooms, and one had to repair to the Lido, where the reduced items, plus the early changeover to afternoon tea (in preparation, but not yet available on the buffet), meant that it was impossible to get a sandwich (for example), the other buffet items were very tired looking at that point. It is not that I don't want to try Japanese food, it's just that when returning from a half day tour, one just wants a quick bite and then a nap! The Grills menus did not seem to be affected by any particular catering to Japanese cruisers.

I queried these daily pre-authorizations with the Grills concierge. She gave me an interesting response. They do it daily, instead of waiting until the end of the cruise because cards can expire before the end of the cruise, or be cancelled by the passenger, in which case Cunard is left out to dry..........it reminds me of the occasion on our last cruise in Grills when my breakfast was served with just one egg - I asked 'what sort of boarding house are you running here?'

Another factor is that Cunard can change your flights without directly informing you. I had been trying to book a fare to Singapore on Singapore Airlines from SW Florida, but I could not do it on Singapore Air website. Cunard could book it at an attractive Premium Economy fare. Great, I thought and booked it. A month or two later, I looked at our cruise booking on the Cunard website and noticed a tab 'My flights'. Checking it, I saw that we had been rebooked on three United flights (instead of two, one being direct from EWR to Singapore) and NOT in Premium Economy. My TA got involved and we cancelled the entire flight booking. The problem was caused by the booking being done by Cunard on the United Airlines system, which when the timing of the initial connecting flight changed, automatically rebooked us on United flights (United and Singapore Airlines both belong to the Star Alliance group). If I hadn't checked I would never have known! That's why I won't use cruise air bookings now.

As I recall, Cunard had shuttle service at all the Japan stops. I was impressed with that at the time, even though we were on tours at most of the places.

As I recall, the increased vigilance started after a number of passengers booked regular cabins, then boarded with mobility chairs, and left them in the corridor outside the cabin, blocking the hallways. I myself witnessed several chairs being left like this on one cruise.

I gave up on the toast and asked for a toasted bagel every day - it isn't a bagel, but it is better than the toast, i.e. it gives you something to chew on!

That was our experience on the QE in April this year. Where formerly a request for an off-menu item was handled, now raising the question was met with a rebuff by the Maitre'd. A different experience in PG from years gone by - and don't get me started on the two vegetarian out of five main course options offered every day - that really reduced the choices available for regular eaters.

Not in PG, but the Lido was all ready to go by 3 p.m. Initially, as we arrived too late for lunch in PG on a half day tour, we thought that we would just substitute tea at 3 p.m. instead, but all those carbs didn't work for us. As an aside, the lack of atmosphere when they serve tea in PG instead of the Grills Lounge is not an encouragement to go!

I am assuming that these changes also take out the QE's month-long round April-May Japan sailings? That seems odd as they have put a lot of effort into this exercise. Also, because the out of the way ports in Japan were quite interesting.

1. It was good that they managed to get English speaking guides - my point was the chaos generated by the tour office in not having them in the first place. 2. We are not going to agree on the change in dining room times. 3.I estimate that the Japanese clientele on this cruise to be 50+% 4. You seem to ignore my comment that we thoroughly enjoyed the round Japan part of the cruise, which we did. My comments refer to some annoying changes that Cunard made that was generally felt by our travelling companions from the previous sector. Perhaps my comments will make more sense if I point out, as many of the passengers who we bumped into on the round Japan sector who were on the previous sector did, that the 25 day cruise from Singapore to Tokyo and around Japan, was marketed to us as ONE cruise and not two cruises. Non-grills passengers seemed to be more annoyed as it appeared to affect dining arrangements (not sure which as we were in PG which, apart from changed dining times, was not affected). 5. The Lido did not have 'lots of other items'. In fact, arriving at 2 p.m. you could see lots of empty serving dishes, some dried out meat roast, and the sandwich area being closed down in favor of setting up for afternoon tea. After two visits like this, we opted for room service or the Pool Grill (and as it was not a sunny day, having to get the Maitre'd to get the short order cook out of his hiding place). Not what you would call a 'luxury dining experience'. And while we are on the subject, one of our travelling companions we met on board liked to have a late drink after the theatre in Cafe Corinthia, supposedly open to 11 p.m. After finding it closed, they made inquiries and the manager was shocked to find out that the staff had just closed early - it was open to 11 p.m, every night after that. The more you try to belittle my comments, the more you jog my memory.........

As I recall, it was a number of things. You diss my comment about moving the dining times, but it DOES make a difference when you close lunch in PG at 1:30 p.m. instead of 2 p.m. if you are returning from a half day tour, and then have to try to use the buffet, where half of it is now given over to Japanese food items. (While my wife and I are happy to eat Japanese food, it was NOT what we wanted after returning from a half day tour) I also recall that some of the tours were Japanese speaking only, but when the tour desk realized how many non-Japanese speakers were booked for these tours, they first tried to dissuade us from going and then rushed to add English speaking guides. As for the person who made the comment about not needing the flower arrangements, if you had seen them you would have wanted one for your cabin!

It was the contrast between the first part of the cruise from Singapore to Yokahama and the sudden change for the Japan circumnavigation - it was clear that, unlike the first part of the cruise where all passengers were treated the same, on the second part, that there was a large group on board who were being given special treatment. In particular, my wife and I are late diners and bringing forward the close of dinner service to 8:30 p.m., made us feel uncomfortable, even though I warned the maitre'd, that we would expect full service, even if we turned up at 8:29 p.m.

We were on the Singapore -Tokyo QE cruise and stayed on for the next round Japan cruise. The changes were remarkable: 1. All new Japanese guests received flower arrangements in glass vases in their cabins - continuing cruisers got nothing. 2. All dining times were moved earlier by 30 minutes. 3. The buffet featured Japanese items every day, but no explanation as to what they were to the uninitiated. 4. Japanese speaking 'helpers' appeared in various parts of the ship, who somewhat resembled 'guards'! 5. Surprisingly, the dress code was relaxed for certain Japanese customers (jeans at dinner regularly appeared at dinner with no objection form the maitre'd in PG) which is surprising as most of the time the Japanese clients were well dressed While we thoroughly enjoyed the round Japan part of our cruise, there was definitely a feeling that the continuing cruisers, of which there were quite a few, were second class cruisers on this leg.