Queen Elizabeth - show times

[subaru94]

We are going on the Queen Elizabeth next month, and wondering if they have the same show times as other cruise lines 7pm and 9pm please?

[Bell Boy]

Show times are 8pm & 10.15pm

 

7pm and 9pm are Far too early for Cunard dining  

 

[subaru94]

1 hour ago, Bell Boy said:

Show times are 8pm & 10.15pm

 

7pm and 9pm are Far too early for Cunard dining  

 

Thank you, helps with dining booking.

[SireDoime]

On 1/8/2023 at 2:40 AM, Bell Boy said:

Show times are 8pm & 10.15pm

 

7pm and 9pm are Far too early for Cunard dining  

 

Can I ask why are these dining times too early?

I just booked Queen Elizabeth, and chose Early Dining (6p-9m).

I was hoping to eat before a show. Do Cunard cruisers eat late?

[lissie]

37 minutes ago, SireDoime said:

 

Can I ask why are these dining times too early?

I just booked Queen Elizabeth, and chose Early Dining (6p-9m).

I was hoping to eat before a show. Do Cunard cruisers eat late?

They aren't dining times - they are quoted as show times - I agree far to early early dining is 6pm so you'llmake the 8pm show. The late dining last year moved back from  8:30 to 8 because it was really hard to get to the 10pm show from an 8:30 seating. 

[starquake]

16 hours ago, lissie said:

They aren't dining times - they are quoted as show times - I agree far to early early dining is 6pm so you'llmake the 8pm show. The late dining last year moved back from  8:30 to 8 because it was really hard to get to the 10pm show from an 8:30 seating. 

Quite simply it's because Cunard dining is an experience, 5 or 6 course affair as normal if you take all the food on offer.   As such it takes 15 mins a course to be served.   At Christmas  on our 19 night cruise we arrived 6pm prompt for dining, and finished at 8:15 most nights and actually missed the first 2-3 songs of the early show on around half the shows!   Others did finish faster (we had a slow eating member of party, along with 2 people with dietry requirements, which do slow things up as they are "special" orders).

 

We have booked late dining for our summer cruise, as the timings seem "more in line" with the time our tables take to eat.

 

[lissie]

3 hours ago, starquake said:

Quite simply it's because Cunard dining is an experience, 5 or 6 course affair as normal if you take all the food on offer.   As such it takes 15 mins a course to be served.   At Christmas  on our 19 night cruise we arrived 6pm prompt for dining, and finished at 8:15 most nights and actually missed the first 2-3 songs of the early show on around half the shows!   Others did finish faster (we had a slow eating member of party, along with 2 people with dietry requirements, which do slow things up as they are "special" orders).

 

We have booked late dining for our summer cruise, as the timings seem "more in line" with the time our tables take to eat.

 

Not sure when you last cruised but its 5/6 courses its appetizer/main/desert/coffee. On our tables people had somewhere between 2 or 3 courses. You probably won't get to coffee if you want to make the show. our table of 6 were easily done in 90 min if the servers were effiicent 

 

[exlondoner]

10 hours ago, lissie said:

Not sure when you last cruised but its 5/6 courses its appetizer/main/desert/coffee. On our tables people had somewhere between 2 or 3 courses. You probably won't get to coffee if you want to make the show. our table of 6 were easily done in 90 min if the servers were effiicent 

 

There are those who go starter, soup, salad, main, cheese, pud. Don’t know how they do it. Or if they survive to do it twice.

[techteach]

@exlondoner I love doing all of the courses so we split almost everything. I also order smaller portions, which by day 2 our servers have figured out. DH would order salad and skip dessert which is the opposite of my preference!

[alc13]

On 4/6/2023 at 3:54 AM, exlondoner said:

There are those who go starter, soup, salad, main, cheese, pud. Don’t know how they do it. Or if they survive to do it twice.

I wasn't concerned until I got to cheese AND pud!

[techteach]

@alc13 Cheese or pudding? That isn’t a hard decision if chocolate is involved.

[exlondoner]

6 minutes ago, techteach said:

@alc13 Cheese or pudding? That isn’t a hard decision if chocolate is involved.

Also, but all accounts, the Cunard cheeseboard isn’t what it was.

[alc13]

Oh, I will be so sad if the cheeseboard isn't good.  It's a real pleasure when I'm traveling.  Still, I'll have to give it several attempts on our upcoming cruise to be sure it's really declined.

[Victoria2]

19 minutes ago, alc13 said:

Oh, I will be so sad if the cheeseboard isn't good.  It's a real pleasure when I'm traveling.  Still, I'll have to give it several attempts on our upcoming cruise to be sure it's really declined.

Always worth asking  if there's anything you'd like which doesn't feature. I rather like the soft cheeses but they have to be aged properly. Not so that a nose peg is required as the cheese is running off the trolley but equally, not so firm, a carving knife would do the trick. I'm picky and there's usually something for me. 👍

[starquake]

On 4/6/2023 at 8:54 AM, exlondoner said:

There are those who go starter, soup, salad, main, cheese, pud. Don’t know how they do it. Or if they survive to do it twice.

 

Exactly, our table done this every night bar one on the 19 night, and with our special orders taking longer, starting 5:55pm sharp, we regularly finished 8:15-8:30.

 

Note everyone on table was doing above - it was a slow, small portioned affiar (all bar main portions were reduced on our ask as above!).

[lissie]

15 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Also, but all accounts, the Cunard cheeseboard isn’t what it was.

The cheese selection was actually much better in the Lido than Britannia for most of our cruises last year 

[bluevictory]

Both show times and meal times depend on where the ship is, Japan and Australia cruises have earlier times eg 5.30 and 7.45 for meal sittings.