Why Cunard

[ak1004]

Obviously everyone is different. Some prefer to pay for cruise only and not to take any excursion, not to drink etc.

But the simple fact is that when comparing fares, you need to account for what's included or not included in the fare. Otherwise the comparison is not apples to apples. I'm not sure why people still continue disputing this simple fact.

The bottom line is that to me typical fare in Britannia is an excellent value, but Grills is not. We paid $1,200 USD for our 7 days TA while Princess Grills was over $4k. To me, this is a very poor value when you consider that no extras are included, and what you get is basically a better dining venue that comes with a better service. 

But again, everyone has different priorities.

[Victoria2]

and without meaning to sound flippant,  those of us who book time and time again love the intangible something Cunard offers which transcends any deliberations over the price.

[ak1004]

50 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

and without meaning to sound flippant,  those of us who book time and time again love the intangible something Cunard offers which transcends any deliberations over the price.

 

You are right. What is poor value to one person can be an excellent value to someone else simply because this is the only option they would consider regardless of the price.

 

To me, and this would be my answer to the original question (Why Cunard), trying as many lines as possible (in my price range of course) is a blessing. Variety is good (for me). Loyalty is boring and doesn't pay off (again for me). Different lines offer different pros and cons, and even if I have my favorite line, I will still base my future bookings mostly on the itinerary and the value for money. Personally I would like to try as many different ships as possible.

Edited July 2, 2022 by ak1004

[PORT ROYAL]

48 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

and without meaning to sound flippant,  those of us who book time and time again love the intangible something Cunard offers which transcends any deliberations over the price.

Well said!
One selects to cruise Cunard, regardless of price, albeit £1000 or £2000 more expensive, because one feels comfortable there.  Also, booking Cunard goes a long way to eliminate the potential for any disappointments.  It’s one’s money therefore it’s one’s choice.

 

[Windsurfboy]

I don't think anyone  except  Jeff Bezos et al ,  selects anything regardless of price. We all have a premium we would pay, we all have our limits.  

 

However, when we look at Cunard are we paying a premium? Actually NOT AT ALL.

 

Most of the "luxury "lines mentioned , you would get a  cabin that's  somewhat smaller than PG for QG money.  So you are not paying a Cunard premium

 

The only line that is comparible in quality and price for both suites or balcony cabin is Saga, but that a different but in my mind equally good experience.

 

Other big ship , ship within ship concept are similiar price to Cunard.

 

If we look at lines without ship within ship concept that offer QG sized suites, then it's Princess or P&O, and Cunard is a significant £5k to £8k  per cabin (2 weeks)

 

 

[PORT ROYAL]

1 hour ago, Windsurfboy said:

I don't think anyone  except  Jeff Bezos et al ,  selects anything regardless of price. We all have a premium we would pay, we all have our limits. 

If one wishes to sail Cunard and the price is ‘X’, then so be it.  One gets the cruise on one’s line of choice.  Not interested in per diem, size,  extras or ‘Ow Mooch?’ comparisons.  

[ak1004]

3 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

I don't think anyone  except  Jeff Bezos et al ,  selects anything regardless of price. We all have a premium we would pay, we all have our limits.  

 

However, when we look at Cunard are we paying a premium? Actually NOT AT ALL.

 

Most of the "luxury "lines mentioned , you would get a  cabin that's  somewhat smaller than PG for QG money.  So you are not paying a Cunard premium

 

The only line that is comparible in quality and price for both suites or balcony cabin is Saga, but that a different but in my mind equally good experience.

 

Other big ship , ship within ship concept are similiar price to Cunard.

 

If we look at lines without ship within ship concept that offer QG sized suites, then it's Princess or P&O, and Cunard is a significant £5k to £8k  per cabin (2 weeks)

 

 

 

This assumes you want a 500 sqft cabin are would book a similar size cabin on the other lines. If this is the case, then yes, a 500 sqft cabin would be more expensive on Silversea and even Oceania.

 

For us, we don't come to a cruise to spend time in the cabin, so couldn't care less about the cabin size. Entry level cabins on Silversea start at 305 sqft, which for more people is more than enough. And if I can get a 305 sqft cabin on Silversea for less than a 500 sqft cabin on Cunard, with everything included, for me it's a much better deal.

 

Of course for people who want to sail on Cunard only and the price is not important (like the previous poster), this whole discussion is pointless. But I would assume even for those people there is some limit (like our friends who sailed with Celebrity for 15 years till they recently discovered they can book a similar cruise on Oceania for a slightly cheaper price - this was their breaking point).

[Covepointcruiser]

Actually, if you book Grill Suites from the U.S. they are all inclusive.   Drinks, Gratuities, and Internet are included.    Obviously you can’t have a high priced drink but most drinks at all bars except for the Champagne Bar are included.

[ak1004]

9 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Actually, if you book Grill Suites from the U.S. they are all inclusive.   Drinks, Gratuities, and Internet are included.    Obviously you can’t have a high priced drink but most drinks at all bars except for the Champagne Bar are included.

 

This is screenshot from my TA email:

 

 

So on my cruise it was not all inclusive. My TA is in the US. And on Canadian website they also don't mention Drinks, Gratuities, or Internet. 

[exlondoner]

11 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

This assumes you want a 500 sqft cabin are would book a similar size cabin on the other lines. If this is the case, then yes, a 500 sqft cabin would be more expensive on Silversea and even Oceania

 

But you were the one who wanted to compare like with like over included excursions etc. Surely the same should apply to cabin size, even if it doesn't matter to you personally, just as included drinks don't matter to some?

[WestonOne]

On 6/30/2022 at 9:30 PM, majortom10 said:

Sorry but that is so patronising, snobbish and incorrect to say that about clientele on P&O. We have done over 30+ cruises on P&O and we dont have tattoos, wear bling and get hammered around the pool and neither do many others and to tar everyone with the same brush is totally wrong. 

We haven't done quite that many P+O cruises, but we are in the 20s somewhere.

I quite agree that claim is patronising and snobbish.   I do think P+O is moving further towards the mass market and away from things I personally prefer, but I am still quite happy to travel on them - I was on Iona fairly recently.  And Cunard.  And Celebrity. And many others.

Each to their own, but I prefer to vary which I travel with.   Though I do avoid lines that have the water slides and so on, because they tend not to have the quiet atmosphere I like.

So why Cunard for me?   Mainly the lectures and the routes.  There is something a bit special about the Transatlantic.  The long spells of consecutive sea-days on world cruises are not quite the same, somehow.

Edited July 3, 2022 by WestonOne

[LittleFish1976]

On 7/1/2022 at 3:45 AM, ak1004 said:

 

 

 

 ...don't come to Cunard for food..

 

I have to disagree with you about the food on Cunard. It's a matter of taste, and what you're accustomed to.

 

I much prefer the Britishness of the Cunard cuisine to the American-style food on lines which I believe are (or were) considered 'luxury' by the industry, such as Crystal. I shan't go into much detail as I have no wish to insult anyone but one small example was Crystal's inability to cook a decent crepes suzette (fat, mushy pancakes have no place being called crepes suzette). There's no room for individual preference in that example - it was just poor cooking.

 

[TouchstoneFeste]

12 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Actually, if you book Grill Suites from the U.S. they are all inclusive.   Drinks, Gratuities, and Internet are included.    Obviously you can’t have a high priced drink but most drinks at all bars except for the Champagne Bar are included.

Internet is included in new bookings? That was not my recent experience, but the original booking was done years ago, delayed and rescheduled due to COVID.

 

[BigMac1953]

3 hours ago, WestonOne said:

We haven't done quite that many P+O cruises, but we are in the 20s somewhere.

I quite agree that claim is patronising and snobbish.   I do think P+O is moving further towards the mass market and away from things I personally prefer, but I am still quite happy to travel on them - I was on Iona fairly recently.  And Cunard.  And Celebrity. And many others.

Each to their own, but I prefer to vary which I travel with.   Though I do avoid lines that have the water slides and so on, because they tend not to have the quiet atmosphere I like.

So why Cunard for me?   Mainly the lectures and the routes.  There is something a bit special about the Transatlantic.  The long spells of consecutive sea-days on world cruises are not quite the same, somehow.

 

There is absolutely nothing "patronising and snobbish" about my factually correct post.

 

Maybe it wasn't what you wanted to hear, but it was true. One other couple we met on board (a GP and her husband) even tried to arrange a flight home half way through as they were fed up with the behaviour of others. Unfortunately for them there were no flights available from the ports we visited.

 

j

[WestonOne]

14 minutes ago, BigMac1953 said:

 

There is absolutely nothing "patronising and snobbish" about my factually correct post.

 

Maybe it wasn't what you wanted to hear, but it was true. One other couple we met on board (a GP and her husband) even tried to arrange a flight home half way through as they were fed up with the behaviour of others. Unfortunately for them there were no flights available from the ports we visited.

 

j

I don't doubt the truth of your experience.  The problem comes when that is generalised to apply to P+O and their passengers more widely.   I have met some rude and unpleasant people on several lines, including Cunard.   The vast majority are not like that.    I do agree, though, that one rowdy group can spoil a trip for thousands of passengers. 

[ak1004]

5 hours ago, exlondoner said:

 

But you were the one who wanted to compare like with like over included excursions etc. Surely the same should apply to cabin size, even if it doesn't matter to you personally, just as included drinks don't matter to some?

 

I was comparing what would make sense to me and what is a good value to me. Since the cabin size doesn't matter to me, my conclusion was that Cunard Grills is not a good value to me. It might be very different to people who care about cabin size.

[ak1004]

2 hours ago, LittleFish1976 said:

 

I have to disagree with you about the food on Cunard. It's a matter of taste, and what you're accustomed to.

 

I much prefer the Britishness of the Cunard cuisine to the American-style food on lines which I believe are (or were) considered 'luxury' by the industry, such as Crystal. I shan't go into much detail as I have no wish to insult anyone but one small example was Crystal's inability to cook a decent crepes suzette (fat, mushy pancakes have no place being called crepes suzette). There's no room for individual preference in that example - it was just poor cooking.

 

 

The cuisine on Oceania is not American at all. It's more European than American.

 

And just to clarify, when I said don't come to Cunard for food, I was referring to Britannia, not Grills. The food in Britannia was not bad, but in most cases just mediocre and not inspiring.

[exlondoner]

23 hours ago, ak1004 said:

Obviously everyone is different. Some prefer to pay for cruise only and not to take any excursion, not to drink etc.

But the simple fact is that when comparing fares, you need to account for what's included or not included in the fare. Otherwise the comparison is not apples to apples. I'm not sure why people still continue disputing this simple fact.

 

 

 I was comparing what would make sense to me and what is a good value to me. Since the cabin size doesn't matter to me, my conclusion was that Cunard Grills is not a good value to me. It might be very different to people who care about cabin size.

 

 

 

I really think these two views contradict each other. Either you compare what interests you or you compare apples with apples. It can't logically be both.

[ExArkie]

I take it by the direction of the discussion over the last couple of pages that we have exhausted the "Why Cunard" topic of the thread? It should go without saying that we all make our choices based on what is important to us in making those choices. I was interested in finding our what other people use as selection criteria, but it appears we gave up on that approach.

 

 

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, ExArkie said:

I take it by the direction of the discussion over the last couple of pages that we have exhausted the "Why Cunard" topic of the thread? It should go without saying that we all make our choices based on what is important to us in making those choices. I was interested in finding our what other people use as selection criteria, but it appears we gave up on that approach.

 

 

 

I suppose the real answer to why Cunard is that we first went because we wanted a TA, returning by Concorde, which meant Cunard. And we had a very nice time indeed, food, cabin, mainly lovely staff, quiet, elegant ship. And because of that and because they conveniently sail from Southampton, we are so boring and unadventurous that we've stuck with them.

[ak1004]

16 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

 

 I was comparing what would make sense to me and what is a good value to me. Since the cabin size doesn't matter to me, my conclusion was that Cunard Grills is not a good value to me. It might be very different to people who care about cabin size.

 

 

 

I really think these two views contradict each other. Either you compare what interests you or you compare apples with apples. It can't logically be both.

 

I had a similar discussion with someone on Regent board a while ago. he mentioned that Regent represents a better value than Crystal. When I pointed out that Regent average cruise is over $1,000 per night and Crystal you can book for less than $500, he pointed out that those prices are for entry level cabins, and they never book entry levels cabins on Crystal (they are "only" 210 sqft).

 

So when looking on the cabins that they book on Crystal, and add excursions and business class flights, Crystal indeed becomes more expensive.

 

So I guess theoretically you are correct, we should compare same inclusions and same cabin size. Practically we look at things that are important to us, not to other people. This is why for us, Grills is not a good value.

 

2 minutes ago, ExArkie said:

I take it by the direction of the discussion over the last couple of pages that we have exhausted the "Why Cunard" topic of the thread? It should go without saying that we all make our choices based on what is important to us in making those choices. I was interested in finding our what other people use as selection criteria, but it appears we gave up on that approach.

 

 

 

I think "Why Cunard" question is a very broad question, and one of the possible answers is what makes Cunard a good option compared to other lines.

[Host Hattie]

19 minutes ago, ExArkie said:

I take it by the direction of the discussion over the last couple of pages that we have exhausted the "Why Cunard" topic of the thread? It should go without saying that we all make our choices based on what is important to us in making those choices. I was interested in finding our what other people use as selection criteria, but it appears we gave up on that approach.

 

 

Initially why Cunard for us was because we wanted to sail on QE2 in her final season. It was supposed to be a one off ! 

We keep coming back because we enjoy the experience whether in the Grills, Club or Britannia. We have tried other lines but only once each, we haven't found anything else we like as much.

[exlondoner]

4 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

Initially why Cunard for us was because we wanted to sail on QE2 in her final season. It was supposed to be a one off ! 

We keep coming back because we enjoy the experience whether in the Grills, Club or Britannia. We have tried other lines but only once each, we haven't found anything else we like as much.

 

Yes, ours was a one off too. My bank account has never recovered.😀

[Windsurfboy]

23 hours ago, PORT ROYAL said:

If one wishes to sail Cunard and the price is ‘X’, then so be it.  One gets the cruise on one’s line of choice.  Not interested in per diem, size,  extras or ‘Ow Mooch?’ comparisons.  

 

"Ow mooch" .  Clearly only those who cant speak the queens English would dare to raise the issue of price, a gentleman doesn't discuss prices with tradesmen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

 

 

 

[PORT ROYAL]

36 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

"Ow mooch" .  Clearly only those who cant speak the queens English would dare to raise the issue of price, a gentleman doesn't discuss prices with tradesmen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

 

 

 

How true… Only ‘Trade’ make offers to sell.