My return to Cunard, QM2, July 1-8, 2022

[ChansonDeLaMer]

Roy, it has been most enjoyable to read your trip reports. I’m happy to know you are traveling again.  

[rsquare]

21 hours ago, tv24 said:

I have a happier report.  When we disembarked on July 1 at around 10:15 AM, there were a number of porters around.  We flagged one down and it may have been the best tip money I have ever spent.

In years past (and hopefully still), the porters seem to have access to a separate line and immigration agent, making for a quick trip out to the pickup/bus loading area.  Definitely worth the tip.

[May B]

On 7/9/2022 at 8:31 PM, Oahucruiser said:

We took 4 world cruises on the QE and QV and loved the ships, the people and the places.  Just made it home after the last one and my husband passed away from a stroke.  I'm so grateful for all that we saw and did.  Don't put off your dreams if you are able to do them now.

So sorry to hear of your loss. Wise words, obviously from experience. Your memories and photos are even more priceless now, no doubt.

[BklynBoy8]

On 7/9/2022 at 8:31 PM, Oahucruiser said:

We took 4 world cruises on the QE and QV and loved the ships, the people and the places.  Just made it home after the last one and my husband passed away from a stroke.  I'm so grateful for all that we saw and did.  Don't put off your dreams if you are able to do them now.

 

We agree also. Now that my parents have gone to their reward we have now returned to sailing we could do for quite a number of years. We have the coming sailing and thoughts of the next one(s) we would like.

 

When could not board and travel we took out the videos, photos and on board paperwork and returned to our memories. We even during snowy winter evenings we do so and it really up lifted. And if someday our days are just memories we have these good times to enjoyed.

 

*(on board paperwork) - I enjoy taking all my paperwork collected from the trip to look over and remember what we did. It's not trash but memories.....

[techteach]

I am trying to get rid of items, like all of our cruise paperwork, so my children don’t have to. Which is why I love my smart device made by a large Seattle based company that starts with an “A.” I have uploaded lots of pictures from past trips and it just sits and cycles through them. It is great fun to look at pictures of us having fun over the years. So much easier than all of those scrapbooks. Our grandchildren love to pull up a chair and watch them go by. 

[rafinmd]

I’ve been home 4 days now and still slowly catching up on my life but it’s time for a few post cruise observations.  

The bag I shipped with Luggage Forward arrived at my UPS Store about 11AM Monday.  I have taken everything out but not completely unpacked.

I have done home Covid tests Saturday and Monday and have a PCR test booked for Friday as well as another home test Wednesday.  I’m quite sure all will be negative and at that time I will consider myself officially Covid free at the conclusion of the cruise.  As a result of my cabin location I was certainly aware of Covid on the ship by the blocked hallway between stairways A and B on deck 6 as well as occasionally seeing medical staff suiting up to enter the quarantine area.

Despite some passenger non-compliance I thought the protocols on the ship were appropriate.  I think part of the protocols were imposed by the government authorities and the constant hand sanitization reminders and staff serving of everything had little to do with the way Covid spreads but a big effect on preventing other problems like Norovirus,

Dining itself was a mixed bag.  I can’t really complain about any of my meals but the interface between my diet controlled diabetes and the dining procedures was the worst I have seen.  I can eat off the regular menu with few issues but it makes my life a lot easier to plan my day pretty much in advance.  I can usually get a dinner menu early but on this cruise it was like pulling teeth.  Since breakfast and lunch are only served on deck 2(and I don’t think the breakfast menu ever changes)  it seems to me a very reasonable process to just post the breakfast on deck 2,the lunch menu on one side of deck 3, and the dinner menu on the other side.  I don’t think I am the only one who would appreciate that as during the day I saw a lot of other people looking futilely  at the menu boards.  Asking for menus in advance was even worse as then I had to make my selections in advance and then had no control over what happened at final preparation, a special disaster with a salad that came with some horrible diabetic dressing.  I also believe there are some “always available”selections (and I think I’ve seen them on Cruise Critic but can’t find them now), and it would surely be friendly of Cunard to disclose them.
 
Several things that I love about Cunard were unchanged or even improved.  While I had 18 days at sea on another cruise line this year this was the first time since leaving QM2 in Perth that I enjoyed a stimulating lecture.  I especially appreciated that they are now simulcast on our cabin TV’s since they have always been severely crowed.  I hope that feature becomes permanent.  While some other ships have promenade decks the one on QM2 is in a class by itself.

My experience on QM2 was definitely degraded from what I experienced in prior years.  My experience at home is also degraded from what it was in prior years and I think the uptake on this cruise from being at home was as much as it was in past cruises.  I look forward to (so far) 2 more Cunard Voyages.

Roy

 

[techteach]

@rafinmd Dear Roy - I only know you through these threads, mostly through the sunrise thread. Yet I have tears in my eyes that this cruise has not been a wonderful time for you. No more standing in lines for hours with a 30 pound pack on your back. Based on your report I will not reveal that I am diabetic to crew, because I get to control my food. Please rest well. I may have to jump over to the HAL forum to follow your Panama Canal cruise in November, that is also on my list of cruises. Peace.

[exlondoner]

Looking back through old daily programmes, I have noticed that mention of the always available items sometimes appears underneath the restaurant times. It seems totally random whether it does.

[rafinmd]

9 hours ago, techteach said:

@rafinmd Dear Roy - I only know you through these threads, mostly through the sunrise thread. Yet I have tears in my eyes that this cruise has not been a wonderful time for you. No more standing in lines for hours with a 30 pound pack on your back. Based on your report I will not reveal that I am diabetic to crew, because I get to control my food. Please rest well. I may have to jump over to the HAL forum to follow your Panama Canal cruise in November, that is also on my list of cruises. Peace.

Despite not everything being perfect it certainly has been a wonderful time for me.

 

Roy

[Oahucruiser]

5 hours ago, rafinmd said:

Despite not everything being perfect it certainly has been a wonderful time for me.

 

Roy

How do we know when the next two Cunard cruises will be?  Keep checking on Cruise Critic and your website? Or, can you give dates now?

[rafinmd]

1 hour ago, Oahucruiser said:

How do we know when the next two Cunard cruises will be?  Keep checking on Cruise Critic and your website? Or, can you give dates now?

If you have signatures turned on they're there.  This is the Cunard part of the list

 

Queen Mary 2, September 29-October 13, 2023, New England and Canada

Queen Anne, February 8-21, 2024, Caribbean

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

One (I think) final comment.  As planned I took a PCR test Friday, 7 days after leaving QM2 and it came back yesterday afternoon as negative.  I have definitely completed this cruise covid-free.

 

Roy

[alibabacruisers]

Thanks Roy for your always informative trip report!  Did you have CWC benefits and can you let me know how they were?  I would appreciate it!

 

I have been trying to find an itinerary on Cunard that fits our schedules.  While researching and reading lots of things, I found where Cunard changed the internet benefit for CWC members from hours to monetary discount off their packages.  Can anyone, that has used this since the change, tell me how that went for you?

 

We are Diamond now and it says $135 towards package. I cannot really remember what the total hours we got before.  Our last cruise was in 2019 Tok-Vanc and it was wonderful...cannot wait until the next one.  

 

 

[sogne]

14 minutes ago, alibabacruisers said:

Thanks Roy for your always informative trip report!  Did you have CWC benefits and can you let me know how they were?  I would appreciate it!

 

I have been trying to find an itinerary on Cunard that fits our schedules.  While researching and reading lots of things, I found where Cunard changed the internet benefit for CWC members from hours to monetary discount off their packages.  Can anyone, that has used this since the change, tell me how that went for you?

 

We are Diamond now and it says $135 towards package. I cannot really remember what the total hours we got before.  Our last cruise was in 2019 Tok-Vanc and it was wonderful...cannot wait until the next one.  

 

 

8 hours 4 diamond old system used new on QM2 in june we logged in our laptop alternatively on sea days for 24 hours allowance so watching minutes go by on slow download etc on old system no longer matters  on port days we used our mobile data allowance neither of us used our full diamond allowance

[alibabacruisers]

Thanks for that sogne!  Does anyone have a Daily program or other document that shows the on-board pricing for internet packages?

[exlondoner]

As below.

[Windsurfboy]

This looks like an improvement 😁

 

Will more than cover our simple needs of odd email and WhatsApp

[exlondoner]

If it works. Of all the cruises we have been on, this was the only one where we have had significant problems. The place it worked best, bizarrely, was on our balcony, but it rarely stayed connected for long, repeatedly dropping out, and the entire thing was very laborious.

[ballroom-cruisers]

Having just returned from QM2, the internet via the ship's wifi on the voyage was not too bad at the start of the voyage, but got progressively worse as time passed.  If you connected and were continuing to use it generally it was OK, if pretty slow. But if you left your phone doing nothing for around 20 minutes it generally disconnected and you had to log in again. Periodically, at times when a lot of people were using it, you could even be be disconnected in the middle of composing an email for example. So yes, it was not ideal, and having a mobile phone connection with 4G at ports, independent of Cunard, saved the day, and certainly on sea days it was frustrating trying to get messaging done especially if uploading a single pictured to send to friends or relatives - when it was usually tortuously slow.

[exlondoner]

It seems to depend where you are on the ship, though I couldn't even get it to work on the stairs. Often it would drop our every few seconds, while I was looking at emails or reading a website. This wasn't a great bother to me, but, for people to whom it is important, would have been infuriating. When we were moved to Quarantine Row, it was rather more reliable.

[BklynBoy8]

3 hours ago, exlondoner said:

As below.

 

Thank you for future use....

[Covepointcruiser]

I m confused about all of the COVID testing for Rafinmd??!!!    If you are not feeling sick why would you take COVID tests and after testing negative, why would you then to a PCR test?    None of this is required in Maryland or the U.S.

[Host Hattie]

Peace of mind, protecting others he comes into contact with ?

[alibabacruisers]

Thanks exlondoner!

[seaoma]

1 hour ago, Covepointcruiser said:

I m confused about all of the COVID testing for Rafinmd??!!!    If you are not feeling sick why would you take COVID tests and after testing negative, why would you then to a PCR test?    None of this is required in Maryland or the U.S.

 

He's actually doing it the right way. He is trying not to spread covid to anyone.

 

If he has asymptomatic covid, his testing will identify that and he will be then be able to go into isolation to prevent spreading covid to others.