Québec-Southampton 29 Sept.

[david,Mississauga]

Last year we enjoyed the Québec – New York cruise. This year, the opportunity to sail to England from our own country proved to be irresistible. Three years ago we crossed from Southampton to Halifax, but this would be our first eastbound crossing from Canada since 1987 on Polish Ocean Lines tiny Stefan Batory. There were several reasons why it was to our advantage to book this as two separate trips, the most important of which was needing two segments to attain Diamond level in the “club.” It was also our first Cunard voyage longer than seven nights. This is not meant to be an extensive review, just a few comments.

 

Regarding embarkation at Québec, much has been written about the inconvenience of boarding at the appointed hour of 12:00 or 12:30. Many have pointed out there is no priority boarding for Grills or Platinum/Diamond members. Both last year and this year we arrived at the pier about 2:00 p.m. which is a perfect time as there were more check-in clerks than passengers. Normal embarkation ends at 6:00 p.m. but passengers can board any time – even the following day (the day of departure). Captain Wells said that 120 boarded on the departure day. Without the check-in desks being in operation, it is a bit of an inconvenience as security has to call a purser’s staff member to come off the ship and escort you on board.

 

I refer to the following not to have a moan, but a warning to others. A friend always sends us a bottle of Champagne, a plate of canapés and a large bouquet of flowers. I was talking to him shortly before departure from Quebéc and he asked about his gifts. For the first time on any voyage they were not in our stateroom. After our visits to the purser’s office and our friend’s phone calls to the U.S. office, the warm Champagne and plate of canapés arrived on the third day whilst we were at second-sitting dinner. The flowers arrived on the fourth day.

 

The other issue was the lack of promised on-board credit. I discovered this only when I requested an interim statement on the third day. Fortunately I had written proof of this, but it still took four days to get the “head office” (the one in California) to sort this out. My advice to anyone who has OBC is to verify it on the first day. For our second segment I checked this before we sailed from New York and all was well that time.

 

Not wanting to go anywhere during the call in New York, and not wanting to stand in a lengthy queue at Immigration, we followed Cunard’s advice and waited for the last call to leave the ship. This came at 10:25 and we were two of the first ones (of about 200) to leave at that time. We saw an enormous queue for the desks, but a young woman was screening people and she sent us to a desk with only two couples ahead of us. We then left the terminal and re-entered, went through security, then were directed to an area of the cavernous waiting room. We were allowed to re-embark at 11:25.

 

Some have written about the procedure when a change of staterooms occurs on back-to-back voyages. We deliberately booked two different categories: an obstructed-view balcony (in reality, only semi-obstructed because we chose it a year in advance) and a sheltered balcony. Some people have posted that you need to pack everything in drawers and that clothes on hangers will be taken for you to the new accommodation. That is no longer the case. I checked with the purser’s office and was told that there have been problems with clothes on hangers and it is now necessary to pack everything. Our steward said that he would personally move the clothes on hangers, but later said his supervisor had over-ruled him on that. The day before arrival in New York we received a letter from the purser saying we had to pack “all” of our belongings. The flowers, still fresh, also made it to our new stateroom.

 

 

For breakfast and lunch we always request a large table and enjoy meeting so many people. On our last trip in Britannia we encountered a number of men who moaned about the dress code. We were pleased this time that not one man griped about this. We have travelled in all four restaurant “classes” and, while we enjoyed Queen’s Grill the most – no surprise – we have thoroughly enjoyed all restaurants. The other six people at the dinner table were disembarking at New York, so for our second segment we requested a different table so we could be in the section where Oliver was the head waiter. Oliver has been maître D’ or head waiter in three different restaurants on five voyages, so it felt like home.

 

I would like to do a Québec-Southampton or v.v. trip again, even though obviously it costs twice as much as the N.Y.-Southampton crossing. In 2019 the QM2 is doing two of these Southampton-NY-Québec-NY-Southampton voyages.

[Bell Boy]

Re clothes on hangers:

 

Well I don't know what to make of this :confused: A member of my party had to change their cabin for the return voyage on the 7th September ex Brooklyn. I was assisting her with her luggage, the steward just transferred her gowns the usual way ,on hangers on a trolley.

 

 

Correction David, just noticed your post refers to a voyage on the 29th September . Must have changed almost over night .