Alternative restaurants on first night

[jej122000]

We're booked on a transatlantic QM2 cruise New York-Southampton with 1st sitting at Brittania Restaurant. Only problem with this is that we will want to see the ship going out of New York & past statue of Liberty etc which means being late for or missing the 1st sitting dinner. Are the Todd English or Kings Court restaurants going to be open on the first night as an alternative, or what are the chances of getting into 2nd sitting dinner just on the first night?

[mufi]

Do what we did and dine when you are ready in King's Court, so you can stay on deck as long as you wish. No chance of getting second sitting just for one night though.

[susan1234]

We're booked on a transatlantic QM2 cruise New York-Southampton with 1st sitting at Brittania Restaurant. Only problem with this is that we will want to see the ship going out of New York & past statue of Liberty etc which means being late for or missing the 1st sitting dinner. Are the Todd English or Kings Court restaurants going to be open on the first night as an alternative, or what are the chances of getting into 2nd sitting dinner just on the first night?

 

You may want to do a search on this topic. It has been brought up many, many times, and the answer has always been the same: King's Court.

[jej122000]

You may want to do a search on this topic. It has been brought up many, many times, and the answer has always been the same: King's Court.

 

Yes, I did search various sources to try and get an answer to this, and there seemed to be conflicting information as to whether the alternative dining option at Kings Court was actually open on the first night out.

[Pincus]

Yes, I did search various sources to try and get an answer to this, and there seemed to be conflicting information as to whether the alternative dining option at Kings Court was actually open on the first night out.

JLind's excellent post: QM2 - Hints, Tips & Reflections...July 5th review eastbound crossing provides a current, definitive answer to this question.

 

She has answered many of my questions.

 

Thanks, JLind!

[mufi]

jej122000 - Refer to my earlier posting. King's Court IS open first night

[nutmegger]

See my post Aug 9th crossing comments and Tips

 

[Out2See]

I sailed out of NY on the QM2 last year and ate at King's Court right after we sailed under the Verazzano. Main dining room was a madhouse.

[jej122000]

Many thanks for all the confirmations that Kings Court will be open on the first night. Presumably Cunard have changed their policy since the Cruise Critic Review was written...

 

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=294

 

Maybe they realised it was not very customer friendly to close the Kings Court restaurants when they would be most wanted.

 

Does anyone know whether Todd English is open on the first sailing night also?

[JLind]

I tried to resist offering another answer to this one, but am going to put my two cents in. I have copied and pasted below, from an earlier post, my answer to the same question. Here is my description of what was open and how best to book it:

 

Regarding your question as to which alternative restaurants are open on the first night, I can of course, only tell you the way it was for our July 5 crossing.

 

We were assigned a 1pm embarkation time. I learned on these boards that we could arrive earlier and so we arrived at 11am. There were people who had arrived ahead of us, waiting in rows of chairs. At 11:30 they began allowing us, row by row, in order of who had arrived first, to go "check in" at the many cashiers where they took our photo for key cards, took a credit card, etc. We thought that we'd then go right onto the ship, but instead we were to wait a few more minutes in another little area. There were chairs and a table with coffee, tea and oj. There was another table set up to represent the dining options on the ship. This table was deserted but for the two gentlemen with their chef hats, and uniforms and a full spread of menus in front of them. They had a computer and they were available to book any alternative dining reservations for the cruise.

 

Right there, before embarking, we reviewed the different menus for all of the alternative restaurants. The Kings Court buffet breaks into separate restaurants at dinner time. These restaurants, Lotus (asian), La Piazza (italian), Chefs Galley (surcharge for this one), and Carvery (meat) all had menus for us to see. In addition, Todd English, the other restaurant with a surcharge was another option available at this table for making a rez. After looking at the menus, we made a reservation at the Lotus for 8pm on that night, our sail out night. We also made a reservation for the 4th night out, the informal night, at Todd English. There were at least four alternative dining options for the first night, the sailing out night. That was 3 of the 4 Kings Court "restaurants" and Todd English. I was relieved, as we really wanted to change our early seating to late, and this gave us at least the satisfaction to know that we could see the sail away from New York that night without the stress of thinking we'd be missing our first dinner.

 

It seemed to me that no one was really interested in this "dining" table, as everyone seemed to be preoccupied with getting onto the ship. We were just sitting there waiting for them to allow us onto the ship. I was thrilled to use the time efficiently. I think we were the first ones to have any reservations, as we had our total choice as to what night and what time.

 

We embarked through a door which turned out to be right next to the Britannia restaurant, and were easily able to change our seating for the cruise, to the second seating. We cancelled our rez for Lotus. We were so pleased with the dining in Britannia, that we ultimately cancelled our Todd English rez as well. I still strongly recommend second seating on an eastbound crossing with the dinner time getting earlier and earlier each night.

 

So there is my very long answer to your short question! I hope that you and others find the information helpful...

 

~Jill

[blue_crystal]

oh no.

 

my flight doesnt get into NY till 1:56 PM!! will i be too late to board??

[mufi]

In practice you can board until the gangway is removed shortly before sailing at (6pm ?) so you are unlikely to miss the boat.

 

David.

[susan1234]

oh no.

my flight doesnt get into NY till 1:56 PM!! will i be too late to board??

 

Assuming your flight is on time, and your luggage making it, you should be able to board before 5:00p.m. I would try to hand carry as much as possible though.

 

There is really not much room for error here. Hope everything goes smoothly. Good luck!

[Minne Wonka Girl]

We dined in Todd English on the first night of the July fjord cruise and for much of the evening we were the only ones there.

[MollyBrown]

I don't know why, but on my first crossings I used to stay in my cabin and order room service. Now I go to Kings Court for lunch or dinner (have a couple of times boarded close to noon), and try to be on deck for the Sail-Away. There should be a program in your stateroom which indicates which restaurants will be open and when.