Queen Anne

[NE John]

Yes, the American Grills package offer includes Drinks/Gratitudes package but the fare costs more! Nothing is free…

I really don’t drink that much and certainly wouldn’t pay extra for the Drinks package in Grills. For the record, I believe it’s unfair to our British travel companions to not, at least, be offered that package. 

As for the QA, wellness and fitness is important to many travelers and there seems to be an emphasis on that in the new ship. There is still an emphasis in the Cunard marketing to “dress to impress” so let’s see. 

As for Cunard traditions, check out the deck plans online. The Queen’s Room looks very large and I see no mention of a HAL-type music area. Most venues and areas look very familiar. The outdoor venues seem very nice too. I’m sure Grills level services will be top-notch. 

My only concern is the larger size of the ship. Anything ship bigger than the QM2 is usually not my cup of tea. 
 

[buchanan101]

6 minutes ago, NE John said:

Yes, the American Grills package offer includes Drinks/Gratitudes package but the fare costs more! Nothing is free…

I really don’t drink that much and certainly wouldn’t pay extra for the Drinks package in Grills. For the record, I believe it’s unfair to our British travel companions to not, at least, be offered that package. 

As for the QA, wellness and fitness is important to many travelers and there seems to be an emphasis on that in the new ship. There is still an emphasis in the Cunard marketing to “dress to impress” so let’s see. 

As for Cunard traditions, check out the deck plans online. The Queen’s Room looks very large and I see no mention of a HAL-type music area. Most venues and areas look very familiar. The outdoor venues seem very nice too. I’m sure Grills level services will be top-notch. 

My only concern is the larger size of the ship. Anything ship bigger than the QM2 is usually not my cup of tea. 
 

It’s smaller than QM2 (at least in tonnage) but carries more passengers…

 

We don’t go for drinks packages. We aren’t huge drinkers. U.K. cruisers are offered a drinks package as a separate item. 

[exlondoner]

6 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

It’s smaller than QM2 (at least in tonnage) but carries more passengers…

 

We don’t go for drinks packages. We aren’t huge drinkers. U.K. cruisers are offered a drinks package as a separate item. 

Yes, free drinks are only a benefit if one does in fact drink. Otherwise a cheaper fare would be better.

[majortom10]

3 hours ago, ballroom-cruisers said:

I guess also Cunard may be keen to have more Americans since it is more the tradition that American holidaymakers are used to paying extra for drinks, for tips, for additional services and indeed to pay for higher levels of services in special restaurants, whereas British holidaymakers like to know what they are paying for at the start and like everything on a holiday to be already covered in the cost of the holiday before they leave home.  So having various extras on holiday that need additional payment is possibly more acceptable to the American market than the British market, which may be an additional reason that the American market is attractive to target for higher returns on Cunard cruises.

Certainly not the case for US cruiser's who book QG/PG as they get a free drinks package and free gratuities and have done for some time, which UK cruiser's don't get.

 

 

 

[LadyL1]

Going back to the original topic of Queen Anne, I am so looking forward to a NEW modern ship.

I would not be disappointed if the ballroom floor was smaller, after all it is so often nearly empty with no real atmosphere, apart from when when there are some excellent tribute groups when the venue is heaving with a great atmosphere, and the bar staff are busy.

Hopefully a high tech QA will attract some younger cruisers and revitalise the evenings . We need a classy ship, still with some kind of dress code, to be apart from the rest of the cruise world. More passengers and hopefully more revenue, and we might even have the expectations of another new ship ( a smaller one would be good). After all, the other Carnival brands are expanding with plenty new vessels, but somehow Cunard seems to be in the slow lane. Cunard brand needs a positive future!

 

[exlondoner]

I have just been sent an email, offering me, inter alia, the delights of a Norway cruise on QA in August 2023. I know we love Cunard for their administrative incompetence, but you’d think they might get the year right. Or are Fincantieri getting on very quickly?

[Petulia]

I too have been sent this email for cruise H420. 

 

The words ‘somebody’ and ‘Specsavers’ spring to mind! 😏

[LittleFish1976]

 

What will be interesting is the massive job that staffing of the Queen Anne will entail.

 

I was told recently by a member of staff that Cunard are taking 50% of the crew of each of the existing ships to staff Anne. They are initially being given the opportunity to offer to move but the company will also just be moving staff whether they like it or not to the new ship.

 

So it seems to me that the staffing of Anne is going too upend the entire fleet and may alter the experience of cruising with Cunard, irretrievably - and I don't believe that's an exaggeration as the culture of the company exists in its staff and its practices which are its traditions.

 

In light of the comments above regarding the stated intention to bolster the percentage or proportion of passengers from the US, this would be a perfect opportunity for Cunard to alter the company culture, to the consternation of those of us who like the old Cunard and sail with them based on our presuming we will find that culture intact.

 

Given labour markets are so tight post-covid, they should have already started recruitment from external sources (whether as new staff for Anne or as replacements for those taken from the other three ships) and be training and shaping them in roles already on the existing ships. There did not seem to be an oversupply of staff when I was recently on QE.

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

16 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

 

What will be interesting is the massive job that staffing of the Queen Anne will entail.

 

I was told recently by a member of staff that Cunard are taking 50% of the crew of each of the existing ships to staff Anne. They are initially being given the opportunity to offer to move but the company will also just be moving staff whether they like it or not to the new ship.

 

So it seems to me that the staffing of Anne is going too upend the entire fleet and may alter the experience of cruising with Cunard, irretrievably - and I don't believe that's an exaggeration as the culture of the company exists in its staff and its practices which are its traditions.

 

In light of the comments above regarding the stated intention to bolster the percentage or proportion of passengers from the US, this would be a perfect opportunity for Cunard to alter the company culture, to the consternation of those of us who like the old Cunard and sail with them based on our presuming we will find that culture intact.

 

Given labour markets are so tight post-covid, they should have already started recruitment from external sources (whether as new staff for Anne or as replacements for those taken from the other three ships) and be training and shaping them in roles already on the existing ships. There did not seem to be an oversupply of staff when I was recently on QE.

 

 

They "cherry picked" staff from Caronia to transfer to QM2. They may have taken experienced staff from QE2, as well. The positions on Caronia were filled by inexperienced servers who needed a lot more training than they had been given. 

[ballroom-cruisers]

Whether it is 50% or a bit lower or higher matters not. Increasing the number of ships from 3 to 4 will of course need a significant number of new crew, across the entire range of roles from engineers, to maintenance, to dining and entertainment, and they will have to come from somewhere.  So there will inevitably be upheaval at some level with a major change to the fleet.  Whether or not passengers start to notice a big change in the quality of the service on board in the next year or so, on all the Cunard ships including Queen Anne, remains to be seen.  Of course I would bet that Cunard managers will be making every effort to try as far as possible to maintain the high level of service that Cunard regulars will expect and is why they are prepared to continue to pay for a holiday on board that is not a cheap option, otherwise their sales may suffer - and of course in the current economic climate maintaining income will be strong focus in the company manager's minds. Cunard will need to survive financially into the future, and that means making the cruises, the ships, and the service attractive to us as passengers from every possible aspect of cruise life and the voyages they plan.

[BigMac1953]

Remember, the existing officers are not exclusive to Cunard. Carnival moves them around at the moment and often swaps P & O staff with Cunard.

[buchanan101]

1 minute ago, ballroom-cruisers said:

Whether it is 50% or a bit lower or higher matters not. Increasing the number of ships from 3 to 4 will of course need a significant number of new crew, across the entire range of roles from engineers, to maintenance, to dining and entertainment, and they will have to come from somewhere.  So there will inevitably be upheaval at some level with a major change to the fleet.  Whether or not passengers start to notice a big change in the quality of the service on board in the next year or so, on all the Cunard ships including Queen Anne, remains to be seen.  Of course I would bet that Cunard managers will be making every effort to try as far as possible to maintain the high level of service that Cunard regulars will expect and is why they are prepared to continue to pay for a holiday on board that is not a cheap option, otherwise their sales may suffer - and of course in the current economic climate maintaining income will be strong focus in the company manager's minds. Cunard will need to survive financially into the future, and that means making the cruises, the ships, and the service attractive to us as passengers from every possible aspect of cruise life and the voyages they plan.

Given that all 4 ships have similarish crew levels, (QM2/QA, 1250ish, QE/QV 900 ish), taking 50% from the current 3 Queens would produce a grossly overstaffed QA.

 

In any case, Cunard will have had a couple of years to sort the crewing issue. And given that Carnival group  will have many times the numbers of crew Cunard have (I don't know - 10 times maybe group wide), I am sure they'll be able to sort the crewing issue by late spring next year

[buchanan101]

42 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

Given that all 4 ships have similarish crew levels, (QM2/QA, 1250ish, QE/QV 900 ish), taking 50% from the current 3 Queens would produce a grossly overstaffed QA.

 

In any case, Cunard will have had a couple of years to sort the crewing issue. And given that Carnival group  will have many times the numbers of crew Cunard have (I don't know - 10 times maybe group wide), I am sure they'll be able to sort the crewing issue by late spring next year

Ok, the group has ~80 cruise ships. Adding 1 at Cunard shouldn't be an issue, though P&O/Cunard (UK based ships) combined only have 9, increasing to 10.

[ballroom-cruisers]

It would be interesting to have a chat with crew on any Cunard ship to know if many were transferred/recruited from other lines within the Carnival group but outside of Cunard?

[exlondoner]

1 hour ago, buchanan101 said:

Given that all 4 ships have similarish crew levels, (QM2/QA, 1250ish, QE/QV 900 ish), taking 50% from the current 3 Queens would produce a grossly overstaffed QA.

 

In any case, Cunard will have had a couple of years to sort the crewing issue. And given that Carnival group  will have many times the numbers of crew Cunard have (I don't know - 10 times maybe group wide), I am sure they'll be able to sort the crewing issue by late spring next year

Yes, I really should have thought even Cunard might have thought about this. 😀

[buchanan101]

1 minute ago, exlondoner said:

Yes, I really should have thought even Cunard might have thought about this. 😀

Agree - I'm not sure why people are getting worried about it, especially given the delayed introduction. 

[NE John]

The major theme of many of these posts is fear of change; changes brought by a new ship, new marketing campaigns reaching to younger people, and the never ending changes to the dress code. 
 

I have to trust that Cunard knows what they are doing and to keep Cunard standards at levels what we expect. I hope at least!

[exlondoner]

Obviously there will be lots of teething problems: in a new ship nobody may be sure where the spare corkscrews are. Nonetheless, P&O always seem to be having new ships without imploding, so I expect Cunard may manage. 

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, NE John said:

The major theme of many of these posts is fear of change; changes brought by a new ship, new marketing campaigns reaching to younger people, and the never ending changes to the dress code. 
 

I have to trust that Cunard knows what they are doing and to keep Cunard standards at levels what we expect. I hope at least!

I seem to remember much similar sentiment when QE2 went out of service and QM2 and, particularly, the Vistas were introduced. I didn’t particularly want to book QA, but there we are on its second voyage, unless it is further delayed, and much looking forward to it. I just hope they’ve found the corkscrews.

[Victoria2]

2 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

I seem to remember much similar sentiment when QE2 went out of service and QM2 and, particularly, the Vistas were introduced. I didn’t particularly want to book QA, but there we are on its second voyage, unless it is further delayed, and much looking forward to it. I just hope they’ve found the corkscrews.

Apart from the fact my tipples all seem to come in screw tops, I always have a corkscrew in my luggage so you can borrow mine on that trip.

 

 

[exlondoner]

5 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Apart from the fact my tipples all seem to come in screw tops, I always have a corkscrew in my luggage so you can borrow mine on that trip.

 

 

Yes, actually, NZ whites, of which we drink a number, always seem to have screw tops, bless them. Are you on the Canaries trip?

[Victoria2]

10 minutes ago, NE John said:

The major theme of many of these posts is fear of change; changes brought by a new ship, new marketing campaigns reaching to younger people, and the never ending changes to the dress code. 
 

I have to trust that Cunard knows what they are doing and to keep Cunard standards at levels what we expect. I hope at least!

FDR sort of said 'there's nothing to fear but fear itself' and at the moment, that's true for some folk with respect to the new ship and to a certain extent, Cunard itself.

IF, and it's a huge IF, Cunard changes out of all recognition, we will be among those who look to Regent or Silversea etc but we are willing to be QA newbies and hope the Maiden sorts out any potential teething problems.

 

[Victoria2]

1 minute ago, exlondoner said:

Yes, actually, NZ whites, of which we drink a number, always seem to have screw tops, bless them. Are you on the Canaries trip?

Yes

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, Victoria2 said:

Yes

Not really the topic, I know, so I hope HH will forgive, but, coincidentally, we have both twice been booked on cruises which were the last cancelled before restarting.

[Victoria2]

Just now, exlondoner said:

Not really the topic, I know, so I hope HH will forgive, but, coincidentally, we have both twice been booked on cruises which were the last cancelled before restarting.

We have similar tastes in cruises.🙂