Round Trip TAs; NY Crossings, Five Day Crossings NY - Southampton - NY (MERGED)

[sand dollar26]

Dear Mr. Shanks,
At the moment the Queen Mary 2 is our favorite ship. We are platinum members and have sailed on this elegant ocean liner numerous times. In fact we have two cruises planned in the coming year. Since we are residents of New York we enjoy sailing round trip Brooklyn or Manhattan. My question: Is there any possibility that in the near future Cunard will be bringing the Victoria or the Elizabeth to sail round trip from Brooklyn or Manhattan?
Thank you in advance for your response.

[Calliope]

Is it possible to have a liner enthusiasts crossing once a year or so when the QM2 would make a five night crossing? Racing across the North Atlantic at speed is truly an exhilarating experience. And, yes, the per diem fares would probably have to be higher due to the greater amount of fuel that would have to be consumed for the crossing. Since the ship would get in during the afternoon the last night could be spent dockside and a shore tour offered touring Southampton's maritime history.

[waterbaby54]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]Absolutely love the QM2! I live in the NY area and have done 3 TAs on her, my favorite being a RT, NY to Southampton to NY. The last 2 years have only had RTs going the other way. Will you bring back a RT from NY in 2014?[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR]

[bobby1119]

Agree. I have been discouraged by the lack of back to back transatlantic crossings originating in New York.

Please consider a return to this Cunard tradition which seems to have disappeared.

[DKNYC]

Thank You Waterbaby54 for asking this question. It was the first thing that I thought of when I saw that Mr Shanks was going to take our questions. I would love to do one of these B2B crossings from this side of the pond. Would also entertain traveling with my Dog (seen in the picture above) :D

Denise

[Chunky2219]

Here's a variation on the same question. It is impossible to do a proper back to back TA with a few days or a week in the middle to see and enjoy New York. The only options are a quick hop off/hop on during changeover day or else stay for almost two weeks. I can't see you returning to the two ship QE/QM routine of yesteryear.

We've only managed B2B once, on QE, but this involved going all the way up to Quebec and a 23 day round trip. The QM2 version of this itinerary is even worse, because it involves two short calls in NYC, with no overnight. At least we got two consecutive days in Manhatten with QE.

How about scheduling some TA sailings with, say, a week in New England or maybe even going south for 7 days? This would allow a reasonable stopover in NYC, without having to travel on one of those awful aeroplane thingies.
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[karl_nj]

Mr. Shanks,

Have you considered bringing back some of the shorter NY round trip itineraries on the QM2, such as the 4 night short getaway to the Bahamas? Currently the shortest trip is the annual 5 night voyage to Halifax and Boston in early July. I don't think anyone is looking for you to do 2 night booze cruises out of New York, but I think you would have an audience for one or two more 4 or 5 day cruises out of NYC a year.

Also, do you plan on ever bringing back any QM2 cruises to the Caribbean other then the one that runs over Christmas?

Thanks for taking the time to answer some of our questions.

[bobby1119]

Dear Mr. Shanks,

Thank you for offering CruiseCritic members the opportunity to pose questions and comments regarding the future direction of Cunard Line. I am a loyal Diamond CWC member with several hundred sailing days, including many crossings and a full world cruise. Here are my thoughts:

I am hoping in the future that transatlantic crossings on Queen Mary 2 from New York will be coordinated with European sailings of Queen Victoria and/or Queen Elizabeth.

I recall that it was once possible to cross from New York to Southampton on QE2, then embark on Caronia for a European cruise, and then return to New York on QE2. I believe these combination voyages were called "trans/cruises." One of my most delightful holidays was a Cunard Caronia cruise. These kinds of voyages are particularly attractive to those of us who do not like to fly or who wish to avoid the hassles of air travel altogether.

While I recently sailed a Queen Mary 2 "Grand Voyage" to Norway, at present, the itineraries for Queen Mary's Grand Voyages are very repetitive and not as attractive as some of the Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth voyages. Why not link Queen Mary 2 crossings with Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria to create more interesting and varied “Grand Voyage” itineraries?

Also, as noted in other threads herein, the decision to virtually eliminate Queen Mary 2 voyages to the Caribbean, with the exception of the Christmas Cruise, as well as back to back transatlantic crossings from New York, is very disappointing and regrettable. I am hoping to see a few more sailings to the Caribbean from New York, more roundtrip crossing opportunities, and even a cruise to Bermuda, especially fitting now that the registry of the ships has been transferred to Hamilton.

Thank you for your response.

[Cunard Cruiser]

[quote name='Calliope']Is it possible to have a liner enthusiasts crossing once a year or so when the QM2 would make a five night crossing? Racing across the North Atlantic at speed is truly an exhilarating experience. And, yes, the per diem fares would probably have to be higher due to the greater amount of fuel that would have to be consumed for the crossing. Since the ship would get in during the afternoon the last night could be spent dockside and a shore tour offered touring Southampton's maritime history.[/quote]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana][COLOR=blue]I second that. Being I am not retired my time is limited. I always favored 5 day crossing and then a few days on land or the short cruise (3 days) and then a crossing back to NY. QM2’s schedules are becoming too predictable with very few options for those who cannot take a 19-23 day cruise and avoid flying.[/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR]

[roving5893]

We're Diamond members of the World Club, and really Cunard is our favorite cruise line, but there are so few sailings from the New York area, other than transatlantic. We would like to see more sailings if possible. Do you have any such plans for expanding the itinerary?

[sfbearcat]

A return to several 5day crossings would be a nice option..or maby a TA that stop in St Johns or Halifax for another option..More TA crossing dates as Cunard is now down to 17 from 23-24 just 2 years ago..This is what QM2 was built for..not a standard cruise

[Peter Shanks]

Some really good questions on crossings thank you. Firstly - we can't envisage going back to 5 or 6 day crossings - the fuel bill would be too much for all our guests to bear. The 7 night crossings arte working very well - more time to relax and by slowing the ship down we have not had to put the fares up - that is we think the right balance.
Very good point on linking more crossings from New York to match with European voyages - we have taken note of this from a number of our valued US guests - and you will see the results of that soon in our new 2014 programme. We will consider more crossings by Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria in the future - for now they tend just to support the start and the end of the World Cruises. Queen Mary 2 however is the ship for the crossings - no other ship comes close and it is what she was built for.
And did I see a mention of Halifax on some crossings - well watch this space. As for taking your Dog with you - well of course you can but you have to book very early. I keep threatening to take my Labrador Pepper on a crossing... Peter