Grills Lounge on QA - Capacity and Speculation

[NE John]

I saw from a popular YouTube channel that pax on the MSC Yacht Club get escorted by a butler to pass the lines getting into a theater or leaving for a shore tender - right in front of the throngs of people standing on those lines. And Yacht Club pax sit in a separate seating area in the theater, on a tour bus, etc. Highly segregated. 
I can imagine a few boo’s, hisses, and other interesting comments from those pax stuck in line. 
As some who has sailed both as a Britannia and PG pax, I’m glad Cunard does not separate Grills totally from the rest of the the ship. I was just happy to have a bigger bathroom in PG! That and the restaurant. 

[Victoria2]

2 minutes ago, NE John said:

I saw from a popular YouTube channel that pax on the MSC Yacht Club get escorted by a butler to pass the lines getting into a theater or leaving for a shore tender - right in front of the throngs of people standing on those lines. And Yacht Club pax sit in a separate seating area in the theater, on a tour bus, etc. Highly segregated. 
I can imagine a few boo’s, hisses, and other interesting comments from those pax stuck in line. 
As some who has sailed both as a Britannia and PG pax, I’m glad Cunard does not separate Grills totally from the rest of the the ship. I was just happy to have a bigger bathroom in PG! That and the restaurant. 

Interesting.

We do get met as we first step onboard by our butler and we have tickets for priority tender [well some of us do but  but others don't seem to as has been discussed] until open tendering is declared but apart from that, it's DIY to queues and the tour buses etc  which we are very happy to do.

 

I don't feel the slightest bit entitled as I press deck 11 but equally, don't make a show of it but, I think I could honestly say to be escorted to the front of queues and be segregated in the theatre etc would NOT float my boat so I'm with you on segregation, or not.

 

MSC can keep their YC as far as I'm concerned.

[Wonky]

1 hour ago, NE John said:

I saw from a popular YouTube channel that pax on the MSC Yacht Club get escorted by a butler to pass the lines getting into a theater or leaving for a shore tender - right in front of the throngs of people standing on those lines. And Yacht Club pax sit in a separate seating area in the theater, on a tour bus, etc. Highly segregated. 
I can imagine a few boo’s, hisses, and other interesting comments from those pax stuck in line. 
As some who has sailed both as a Britannia and PG pax, I’m glad Cunard does not separate Grills totally from the rest of the the ship. I was just happy to have a bigger bathroom in PG! That and the restaurant. 

All true, we did the yacht club a few years ago, we did away with the butler taking us to dinner (!) after the first day. Believe it or not when the Yacht club first started if you went in a lift and used your card to take the lift to the yacht club it would delete all other selections from passengers already in the lift!! Not popular🤣 

[exlondoner]

1 hour ago, Victoria2 said:

Interesting.

We do get met as we first step onboard by our butler and we have tickets for priority tender [well some of us do but  but others don't seem to as has been discussed] until open tendering is declared but apart from that, it's DIY to queues and the tour buses etc  which we are very happy to do.

 

I don't feel the slightest bit entitled as I press deck 11 but equally, don't make a show of it but, I think I could honestly say to be escorted to the front of queues and be segregated in the theatre etc would NOT float my boat so I'm with you on segregation, or not.

 

MSC can keep their YC as far as I'm concerned.

Why indeed does one need to be escorted to the theatre? It would make me feel I was on day release.
I hate that slot for the Deck 11 lifts. It seems invariably even if there is only one other person in the lifts, it is a very obese man standing right next to the buttons, to whom I have to say excuse me. He will want to know what I’m doing and then ask why or tell me it is not necessary. By this time, I have got so flustered that I have failed to get it to work, and the lift has turned round at Deck 9 and I have lost my chance. 🙂🙂

[exlondoner]

3 minutes ago, Wonky said:

All true, we did the yacht club a few years ago, we did away with the butler taking us to dinner (!) after the first day. Believe it or not when the Yacht club first started if you went in a lift and used your card to take the lift to the yacht club it would delete all other selections from passengers already in the lift!! Not popular🤣 

Dear me. As someone said on another thread, I’m speechless.

[Victoria2]

7 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Why indeed does one need to be escorted to the theatre? It would make me feel I was on day release.
I hate that slot for the Deck 11 lifts. It seems invariably even if there is only one other person in the lifts, it is a very obese man standing right next to the buttons, to whom I have to say excuse me. He will want to know what I’m doing and then ask why or tell me it is not necessary. By this time, I have got so flustered that I have failed to get it to work, and the lift has turned round at Deck 9 and I have lost my chance. 🙂🙂

If in a fluster, press 10 and that will give you time to defluster in order to achieve the great heights of deck 11.  🙂

 

I have sussed the lifts on both Vistas,

One ding - up, ding dong- down and slowly insert card for the green[?] light to show before pressing 11.

Only took me a few years to crack it but I'm a maestro now. I even give master classes when those wanting to get to 9 press the top button of the bank of three and wonder why the lifts are slow!

My calling in the next life will be to come back as a lift attendant! 😄

[WantedOnVoyage]

Well, I remember SS FRANCE where even in Tourist Class, you were almost never given the chance even to press the lift call button... that was the duty of her two score scarlet tunic'd bellboys.  But she did have automatic lifts. The only ship I've sailed in which did not was the dear old UGANDA and with the lift boy, there was barely room for four occupants. 

 

I usually master the "Grill Card in the Slot" technique by day four when thereafter we almost never seem to get one of the two "grill lifts" anyway and settle for the walk up from deck 9. 

 

On QV, I prefer the stairs if only for Capt. Card's paintings on each landing.

[NE John]

Yes, Yacht Club also have bright colored cruise cards to show everyone their status. 

Is Cunard trying to make QA Grills area more roped-off, similar to an MSC YC experience? Will the new demographics of Cunard pax that several posters worry about demand YC type segregation on QA Grill? 

Of the non-small ship lines that offer “suite” perks: Celebrity Retreat, Norwegian Haven, MSC YC…Cunard Grills are the least class based system as the pax on the others are much more segregated from the rest of the ship. 
I believe (and act) that a proper Grills pax is to be part of the ship and not onboard to isolate and show off one’s status - just enjoy your perks and good fortune to yourself. Showing off is classless and tacky. 
 

[exlondoner]

30 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

If in a fluster, press 10 and that will give you time to defluster in order to achieve the great heights of deck 11.  🙂

 

I have sussed the lifts on both Vistas,

One ding - up, ding dong- down and slowly insert card for the green[?] light to show before pressing 11.

Only took me a few years to crack it but I'm a maestro now. I even give master classes when those wanting to get to 9 press the top button of the bank of three and wonder why the lifts are slow!

My calling in the next life will be to come back as a lift attendant! 😄

The best thing of all is getting in a lift where someone, possibly you, has already done it.  Another mystery is why the lifts are quite often quite cluttered with people going up to go down.

[exlondoner]

24 minutes ago, WantedOnVoyage said:

Well, I remember SS FRANCE where even in Tourist Class, you were almost never given the chance even to press the lift call button... that was the duty of her two score scarlet tunic'd bellboys.  But she did have automatic lifts. The only ship I've sailed in which did not was the dear old UGANDA and with the lift boy, there was barely room for four occupants. 

 

I usually master the "Grill Card in the Slot" technique by day four when thereafter we almost never seem to get one of the two "grill lifts" anyway and settle for the walk up from deck 9. 

 

On QV, I prefer the stairs if only for Capt. Card's paintings on each landing.

Yes, Deck 9 and two floors of walking is a good idea, which even I can manage, especially as there is a flat section on Deck 10.

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, NE John said:

Yes, Yacht Club also have bright colored cruise cards to show everyone their status. 

Is Cunard trying to make QA Grills area more roped-off, similar to an MSC YC experience? Will the new demographics of Cunard pax that several posters worry about demand YC type segregation on QA Grill? 

Of the non-small ship lines that offer “suite” perks: Celebrity Retreat, Norwegian Haven, MSC YC…Cunard Grills are the least class based system as the pax on the others are much more segregated from the rest of the ship. 
I believe (and act) that a proper Grills pax is to be part of the ship and not onboard to isolate and show off one’s status - just enjoy your perks and good fortune to yourself. Showing off is classless and tacky. 
 

Yet it is Cunard that is often disliked and/or disdained for its class system. Strange, for other than when encountering people like me with lift problems, nobody has any idea what sort of cabin others have.

[Victoria2]

22 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

The best thing of all is getting in a lift where someone, possibly you, has already done it.  Another mystery is why the lifts are quite often quite cluttered with people going up to go down.

Well we have been known to go down, walk to stairwell B to go up as it's often easier so I suppose it's us in reverse.

[exlondoner]

4 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Well we have been known to go down, walk to stairwell B to go up as it's often easier so I suppose it's us in reverse.

But that involves changing lifts, and you can only get to Deck 11 in Stairway B. It is rather different from getting on an unbound lift, in the hope that it will - eventually - go down.

[BigMac1953]

Last November, when I entered the lift, there was a ady standing beside the buttons and kindly asking everyone which floor. When it was my turn, I said gthat i'll just pop my card in first.

 

She said that's not necessary and pushed and pushed at No 11. Then she said there must be something wrong.

 

Again I told her that I would just pop my card in. Hey Presto!

[Victoria2]

2 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

But that involves changing lifts, and you can only get to Deck 11 in Stairway B. It is rather different from getting on an unbound lift, in the hope that it will - eventually - go down.

Not really. The basic thought behind is the same. It's easier to go down to deck one to go back up to deck eleven than to meander midships to deck six or seven to wait for ages for a lift to go up.

[exlondoner]

Just now, Victoria2 said:

Not really. The basic thought behind is the same. It's easier to go down to deck one to go back up to deck eleven than to meander midships to deck six or seven to wait for ages for a lift to go up.

But it does clog up the lifts.

And, on a related matter, the lifts claim to hold 18 people. Hos anyone ever been in a lift with that many?

[Victoria2]

18 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

But it does clog up the lifts.

And, on a related matter, the lifts claim to hold 18 people. Hos anyone ever been in a lift with that many?

Aft lifts are usually empty when we get in. Must be in anticipation of us using them, 😄

 

Have been in a lift when it makes a noise after a well built couple got in. That scared the living daylights out of some fellow liftees and they got out and left the not so slight couple in. No way were 'we' eighteen in the lift.

[techteach]

@NE John I saw the same UTube video showing the Yacht Club. I was amazed and glad when he mentioned very quickly that QG on Cunard had superior food.

[NE John]

9 minutes ago, techteach said:

@NE John I saw the same UTube video showing the Yacht Club. I was amazed and glad when he mentioned very quickly that QG on Cunard had superior food.

Those mega-resort ships hold zero interest for me - YC or not. However, many like those ships and that’s great for them. Just not for me. 
My DW went on a recent “girlfriend” four night Royal Caribbean cruise with 5k pax and said she couldn’t wait to get off: bad food, can’t really see the sea, inside of the ship looks like a vast shopping mall, massive crowds, up selling of everything, smoking in casino (out of Singapore). That YouTube host also said he couldn’t wait to get off MSC YC. 
 

Edited July 19, 2023 by NE John

[seasickphil]

NE John

I believe (and act) that a proper Grills pax is to be part of the ship and not onboard to isolate and show off one’s status - just enjoy your perks and good fortune to yourself. Showing off is classless and tacky. 
 

Not everyone in grills feel the same. 

A number of years ago when getting into a rather full lift, i inserted the card to get to the grills restaurant, a posh voice from the other side of the lift said, oh you are in the Grills as well are you, Queens or Princess? i ignored the remark [to be fair i did not know what person actually spoke] but she continued speaking regardless, telling my wife and i that she would not cruise at all if her husband didn't book them into a Queens suite. We felt that uncomfortable, so much so that we got out of the lift at the next floor it stopped at and had a bit of a walk around and a much needed drink in the Commodore lounge before going to the restaurant for some food. Luckily our paths never crossed again.

[NE John]

2 minutes ago, seasickphil said:

NE John

I believe (and act) that a proper Grills pax is to be part of the ship and not onboard to isolate and show off one’s status - just enjoy your perks and good fortune to yourself. Showing off is classless and tacky. 
 

Not everyone in grills feel the same. 

A number of years ago when getting into a rather full lift, i inserted the card to get to the grills restaurant, a posh voice from the other side of the lift said, oh you are in the Grills as well are you, Queens or Princess? i ignored the remark [to be fair i did not know what person actually spoke] but she continued speaking regardless, telling my wife and i that she would not cruise at all if her husband didn't book them into a Queens suite. We felt that uncomfortable, so much so that we got out of the lift at the next floor it stopped at and had a bit of a walk around and a much needed drink in the Commodore lounge before going to the restaurant for some food. Luckily our paths never crossed again.

Ha…unfortunately there are many Hyacinth Buckets in the world!

[seasickphil]

10 minutes ago, NE John said:

Ha…unfortunately there are many Hyacinth Buckets in the world!

 

I never knew Keeping up Appearances was screened in the States.

[techteach]

@NE John I am taking a grandson to Alaska at the end of August on RC on one of the 5,000 passenger ships. I am not looking forward to being on a ship that size, but it has the kid friendly fun aspect I need for him. In September we’re cruising on Oceania on a really small ship and I’m looking forward to it, especially comparing the food to QG.

[NE John]

22 minutes ago, seasickphil said:

 

I never knew Keeping up Appearances was screened in the States.

Onslow rules!

PBS in US shows many British shows: Death in Paradise, Midsummer Murder, Father Brown. Lots more. About a year after you see it. 
 

[NE John]

23 minutes ago, techteach said:

@NE John I am taking a grandson to Alaska at the end of August on RC on one of the 5,000 passenger ships. I am not looking forward to being on a ship that size, but it has the kid friendly fun aspect I need for him. In September we’re cruising on Oceania on a really small ship and I’m looking forward to it, especially comparing the food to QG.

DW said there were 800 kids onboard too. Way too unruly. 
 

It’s all about expectations. She thought Royal Caribbean would be a nicer experience. She even brought nice dresses for their “formal” night and said she could have left all that at home.
She certainly, however, enjoyed our recent PG experience on QM2. 
Enjoy your time on both; I’m sure your grandson will really love RC.