QE: Gingerbread Village

[AspirationalFlyer]

I’mjust on my way home from a wonderful theee night short trip on QE. 

 

The gingerbread village was finalised late last night. I thought it would be good to keep up the festive mood and share some pics! 

 

I hope everyone enjoys!

[Host Hattie]

That looks amazing, thanks so much for posting the photographs.

[AspirationalFlyer]

My pleasure! Here are a few pictures of boarding and the festive atmosphere on the first day!

 

I was personally looking for an insight into how festive the short cruises are; I hope these help others. 

 

Overall, I would highly recommend it! 

 

Happy to post an actual review (albeit most likely, pretty succinct) if others would find that of use and/or interest. 

 

Edited December 17, 2018 by AspirationalFlyer

[Host Hattie]

Yes please, I always enjoy reviews.

[grayjay]

Happy to see that you had such a great time on QE and thank you for the fabulous pictures of the Gingerbread Village! We missed that ( we left the ship before you started on your cruise) but were very happy to see and explore the ship when every day following the 6th. December some new Christmas decorations appeared on the ship. It was very festive and a good reason to book a December cruise on a Cunard ship again even if the first and last days of the cruise to the Canaries were cold and gray and quite windy, compared with cruises starting in Barcelona or Las Palmas, for example.

We had booked this cruise to see for ourselves what had been done during the refit in November and to see the Christmas decorations we had read about on CruiseCritic (thank you!!) besides of course a few days of sunshine and warmth!

And we were not disappointed either! The new carpeting really fits the style of QE very well. Besides that we didn't notice many changes compared to our cruise in August, besides the fact that service in the Lido restaurant was outstanding this time and the crew and officers much more accessible and friendly. Tables were cleared quickly and re-laid with napkins and cutlery, tea/ coffee were promptly served in the mornings and the food was good.

The only thing we had hoped for hadn't changed - still clingy curtains in the shower and no new showerheads....

Thank you again for the photos!

[David2115]

Just returned myself from this 3 day cruise to Brugge, it’s been a few years since my last Cunard Cruise, previous been QM2 AND QV. Ship did not disappoint, the food and service was excellent both in Brittania and Lido, only complaint was poor signage directing people to the shuttle bus that took people to local train station, however we did find it by asking.  The only signed one was the shuttle to the exit gates. It would also have been nice if Cunard had informed people how cheap and easy it was on the train to get to Brugge. The train did special price  for cruisers, only  €5 return. The cheapest excursion to Brugge was around $65. We only knew by overhearing from other passengers at the bar. 

[AspirationalFlyer]

And here are three of the ship in Zeebrugge on Sunday. 

Edited December 17, 2018 by AspirationalFlyer

[The Bullingdon Club]

Hi David2115

 

Thanks for sharing the great photos. We’re on QE for NYE and are interested in the train option to Brugge, we’d been looking at Cruise Express before. Can you remember if shuttle from the ship drops you at Zeebrugge-Dorp? I can only see trains from there on Sunday’s.  And abouthow long did the shuttle take from the ship? There only seems to be one train an hour so hopefully we can time it well.

 

Thanks in advance

Edited December 19, 2018 by The Bullingdon Club

[Ray66]

The ships' shuttle takes you to Blankenberge. it stops right near the station. From there, you get the train to Bruges which is only about a 10/12 minute journey. The trains only run every hour though so you need to be careful about the time on your return journey.  When we have been the train left Blankenberge  at 11 minutes past the hour and left Bruges at 36 minutes past the hour.

You'd better check though.

https://www.belgiantrain.be/en/home

 

Thanks for posting those lovely photos AF.

[Underwatr]

Just be aware that the train station in Bruges is on the outskirts of town, a little under a mile from the Markt/town square.  20 minutes or so to walk.

[Curly locks]

Thank you for all the wonderful pictures. Whereabouts on the ship is that magnificent Gingerbread Village located? We've never cruised at Christmas but seeing the amazing decorations is seriously making us reconsider!

[seacruise9]

Hi, 

 

Thanks for posting these pictures. The Queen Elizabeth's holiday decorations look great. In early December 2012, I did a 10-day cruise on the Queen Elizabeth. Holiday decorations were added throughout the cruise. It was fun discovering new decorations each day.

 

Chuck

[Ray66]

Edited December 20, 2018 by Ray66

[Ray66]

The above are photos taken in December 2014 in the annexe to the Queens Room.

[daisybel]

what lovely photos. we are booked on a Christmas cruise from Adelaide on QE for 2019. Already looking forward to it . Thank you for sharing them

 

[AspirationalFlyer]

Hello 

 

I’m pleased to hear that so many of you have been enjoying the photos! 

 

Just to answer some of the questions above: 

 

Location of the gingerbread village: in the area between the Queen’s room and the casino/Golden Lion. It wasn’t finished until the third/last night of the voyage. 

 

Shuttle from the ship: there was a complementary shuttle (which was an approx 50 person coach) to Blankenberge. The coach stopped almost opposite the main station. The coach ride was 30 minutes or less (sorry I didn’t time it exactly). I’d suggest leaving the ship about an hour before the train. It’s worth bearing in mind that the coach didn’t leave until it was full. You’d also need time to buy tickets etc. The standard of spoken English in Belgium is generally excellent. 

 

Blankenberge is ok. There are a few shops and ok places to stop for a coffee. The beach is quite nice, but it was very cold with a bracing wind on the day we visited! 

 

Tours: plenty of tours were on offer both through Voyage Personaliser in advance and once onboard. They worked for us (they took us over a cashback threshold on a recent Amex threshold so we effectively got them for free) but best avoided otherwise. Otherwise very expensive what you get and not needed for Bruges. 

 

As as a final thought, I’d really think about visiting Gent if you’ve been to Bruges before. It has the canals, boat rides, beer and waffles but is less touristy and far cooler. 

 

AF

 

(A picture of me in Blankenberge attached!) 

[si_boy]

This is a picture from NYE last year onboard QE while docked at Amsterdam.

We will be doing the same 5 night cruise again this year, leaves Saturday and can’t wait. Fantastic atmosphere and if I am honest a fair number of younger passengers.

Pity they are not doing the same cruise again in 2019.

[Matelot70]

52 minutes ago, si_boy said:

This is a picture from NYE last year onboard QE while docked at Amsterdam.

We will be doing the same 5 night cruise again this year, leaves Saturday and can’t wait. Fantastic atmosphere and if I am honest a fair number of younger passengers.

Pity they are not doing the same cruise again in 2019.

Thank you for the picture we were delighted to see you captured us enjoying ourselves at the champagne pouring as well! I think you will find it was Queen Victoria however. We also enjoyed it so much we will be there again on QE this year. Maybe the weather will be better and we won't miss Bruges this year.

[si_boy]

I have video too, but won’t upload that...I never checked whether it was QE or QV before posting.

Yes disappointing to miss Bruges last year, fingers crossed for this time.

[David2115]

On 12/19/2018 at 7:58 PM, The Bullingdon Club said:

Hi David2115

 

Thanks for sharing the great photos. We’re on QE for NYE and are interested in the train option to Brugge, we’d been looking at Cruise Express before. Can you remember if shuttle from the ship drops you at Zeebrugge-Dorp? I can only see trains from there on Sunday’s.  And abouthow long did the shuttle take from the ship? There only seems to be one train an hour so hopefully we can time it well.

 

Thanks in advance

Possibly some has answered already but the shuttle only dropped at  Blankenberge, I think someone went to the station you described  and found it was closed, this was a Saturday. They ended up in a taxi which was expensive at €55 each way. Shuttle took 10 mins to the train. 

[Camgirl]

21 hours ago, si_boy said:

I have video too, but won’t upload that...I never checked whether it was QE or QV before posting.

Yes disappointing to miss Bruges last year, fingers crossed for this time.

We were on board last year too. Looking forwards to doing the NYE cruise for the fourth time this coming Saturday. Real shame it is not happening next year.

[ckl001]

On 12/21/2018 at 3:52 PM, daisybel said:

what lovely photos. we are booked on a Christmas cruise from Adelaide on QE for 2019. Already looking forward to it . Thank you for sharing them

 

Are you on the Christmas/new year cruise for 2019/2020?  If so, so am I.  I can not wait to see the ship decorated and the christmas atmosphere.

[mef_57]

(I am so bad about not taking ship photos), but just came off the QE today from the Christmas cruise. The trees were doing a lot of swaying the first few nights due to heavy seas, so were tethered ot walls and ceilings to avoid further mishaps. The Gingerbread Village still looks festive and hope will stsy up for the New Year's sailing. I did notice the door decorations were removed last night. There were small potted trees with decorations in the staterooms, but they might also disappear.

There was a Christmas Eve carol sing along in the Grand Lobby and a Christmas Day carol service with the Capitan. She also read Twas The Night Before Chrietmas to the children Christmas Eve following the carol singing. Santa arrived as well. This year's gift was a tea cup with snowflake decor. Some with ship designs, but harder to see on smaller cup.

Christmas Eve goose dinner option, with traditional turkey for Christmas Day.