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A confirmed Britannia Cruiser tastes the Princess Grill

rafinmd

By rafinmd,
in Cunard Line

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rafinmd "Live from...." Rare

rafinmd

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I am now very close to beginning a trip that has evolved in the last couple of months.  I will board Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 Friday (September 29) in New York (Brooklyn) and sail northward to Quebec October 5-6.  I then move a few hundred meters to the waiting Crystal Serenity and return to New York (Bayonne) disembarking October 13.  

 

These are both very familiar ships to me with a couple of twists.  I have 103 nights on Queen Mary 2, all but 23 nights on Transatlantic crossings.  Up to now, I have always sailed in Britannia Class and very much enjoyed it.  I really never saw any reason to upgrade until Covid hit.  I was due to sail Sydney (Australia) to New York, about 46 days, but as Covid hit I got kicked off the ship in Perth/Fremantle after only 10 days.  I was given a huge credit which I needed to apply and can no longer do long cruises so this trip will be in Princess Grill.  I have known there were some upgrades going to the grills (an extra lounge, extra deck space, and a different restaurant) but otherwise I felt much like any other passenger.  On this voyage I will learn what other differences I was missing but did not realize.

 

I have 170 nights on Crystal Serenity and positively love it but the twist here is that the Crystal I have loved went out of business and is now under new ownership so I will get a taste of how things have changed that matter to me.  It will be a bit of a learning experience.

 

I am establishing 2 threads for this trip.  The one on the Crystal forum will cover the entire trip with the QM2 portion also serving as my journey to meet my ship.  The one on the Cunard forum will only cover my travels to Quebec.  My postings will generally be identical with the threads differing primarily by the comments of Crystal regulars on one and comments of Cunarders on the other.  2 nights at home before I head to New York.

 

Roy

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Jack E Dawson Great Review Rare

Jack E Dawson

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How wonderful this all sounds Roy. Thank you in advance for your thoughtfulness in taking us along on you voyage. We will definitely be following your thread. 

Although our cursing experience pales in comparison to yours, we just recently sailed in PG for the first time and quite simply were blown away by the experience. I would only say to you that there may be a few things about PG that you don't know that you don't know. Perhaps those who respond here might share their experiences in PG, Here are a few things that really surprised us that we loved.

- You never need to feel rushed to get to the PG restaurant. I guess we are creatures of habit but the first couple of days we felt this need to be at the restaurant at 7:00PM even though we knew it was anytime dining. Then we noticed that everyone else showed up at different times each night. Have that second drink before dinner. Stay a little longer in that lounger on the promenade deck before lunch. The point is, that wonderful staff in the PG restaurant will be there when YOU are ready.

- Even though you are in PG and not QG, the restaurant staff want you to challenge them. I had seared scallops 3 nights in a row even though they were only on the menu the first night. I had rum raisin ice cream 13 of the 14 nights even though it was only on the menu 3 nights (don't judge me until you've tried it). I had things in my morning omelette that never appeared on the breakfast, lunch or dinner menu.

- The "off menu" menu is just over the top. 

- The Grills' lounge is an oasis of serenity and (on the QE) was the best bar on the ship.

- The Grills' concierge was just so helpful on so many details. 

- You will be offered personalized stationary. Crazy, right. Start thinking now about how you want your Heading to read.

I'm sure that there is so much more that you can experience that we didn't because we just didn't know. I hope others can contribute their "secrets" to PG.

Enjoy,

Jack

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Oahucruiser

Oahucruiser

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Excited to start reading your posts again.  I always enjoyed all of them.  Being a long time Cunard voyager all the way back to the grand old QE2, I love impressions and hearing all about what is happening on the 3 beauties.  Hope you feel great so you can enjoy PG.  Aloha from Hawaii

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roscoe39 Great Review Rare

roscoe39

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7 minutes ago, Oahucruiser said:

Excited to start reading your posts again.  I always enjoyed all of them.  Being a long time Cunard voyager all the way back to the grand old QE2, I love impressions and hearing all about what is happening on the 3 beauties.  Hope you feel great so you can enjoy PG.  Aloha from Hawaii

hey Patty! will miss Hawaii next year but will catch up maybe the next year....

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Marion B

Marion B

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Roy,

   Looking forward to your postings.  Wishing you smooth, safe, and relaxing travels.  

   Like you, we cruise between HAL and Cunard.  While we have always been happy in a Neptune Suite, our recent experience on Queen Elizabeth in Princess Grill blew me away.    Wishing the same for you on QM2 and Crystal too.

 Marion

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grapau27

grapau27

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14 hours ago, rafinmd said:

I am now very close to beginning a trip that has evolved in the last couple of months.  I will board Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 Friday (September 29) in New York (Brooklyn) and sail northward to Quebec October 5-6.  I then move a few hundred meters to the waiting Crystal Serenity and return to New York (Bayonne) disembarking October 13.  

 

These are both very familiar ships to me with a couple of twists.  I have 103 nights on Queen Mary 2, all but 23 nights on Transatlantic crossings.  Up to now, I have always sailed in Britannia Class and very much enjoyed it.  I really never saw any reason to upgrade until Covid hit.  I was due to sail Sydney (Australia) to New York, about 46 days, but as Covid hit I got kicked off the ship in Perth/Fremantle after only 10 days.  I was given a huge credit which I needed to apply and can no longer do long cruises so this trip will be in Princess Grill.  I have known there were some upgrades going to the grills (an extra lounge, extra deck space, and a different restaurant) but otherwise I felt much like any other passenger.  On this voyage I will learn what other differences I was missing but did not realize.

 

I have 170 nights on Crystal Serenity and positively love it but the twist here is that the Crystal I have loved went out of business and is now under new ownership so I will get a taste of how things have changed that matter to me.  It will be a bit of a learning experience.

 

I am establishing 2 threads for this trip.  The one on the Crystal forum will cover the entire trip with the QM2 portion also serving as my journey to meet my ship.  The one on the Cunard forum will only cover my travels to Quebec.  My postings will generally be identical with the threads differing primarily by the comments of Crystal regulars on one and comments of Cunarders on the other.  2 nights at home before I head to New York.

 

Roy

I will be following along Roy.

Take care and enjoy.

Graham 

IMG_20230427_195424.jpg

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rafinmd "Live from...." Rare

rafinmd

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Thursday, September 28, 2023, Amtrak to New York

 

Crystal Serenity is at sea from New York to Boston. QM2 is at sea from Southampton to New York.  

 

I left home about 7:45 and made an initial stop at my fire house copying some forms and making a final check on things there.  I left about 8:50 and arrived at the BWI Amtrak station about 9:35. 

 

bwi1.jpg

My train was listed as on time for 10:37 and I headed out to the platform about 10:25 but by then the arrival had been delayed by 10 minutes and actually arrived 22 minutes late (trains originating in Washington tend to keep more to schedule but this one started in Virginia and was already quite late in Washington).  

bwi2.jpg

I was in the business class car but the seat was not quite ideal as the first row has no tray tables and although I did get out my laptop a bit it was awkward.  Lunch was a hot dog in the café car.

lunch28.jpg

The time on the train passed quickly and we pulled into New York’s Moynihan Train Hall about 1:56, roughly 10 minutes late.  My energy levels are still way down and the 2 ½ block walk to the New Yorker Hotel was very slow.  

 

Although check-in is officially 4PM when I showed up at the front desk about 2:20 a room was ready.  I’m on the 19th floor and the room is adequate but nothing special.

 

yorker.jpg

Based on my walk to the hotel I have concluded that while it’s nice to be traveling it’s a bit iffy at my energy levels.  As a result, I booked a car for tomorrow to the ship.  I’ll be using Arecibo, a company widely recommended on the Cunard forum, and they are due to pick me up at 10:30.  

 

I had actually planned on going across the street to McDonalds for dinner but it was raining and I decided to try to stay in the hotel.  There are a few restaurants and it looked like Trotteria Bianca was the most likely candidate.  The choices looked decent and somewhat less expensive than the others.  I ended up with the fillet steak, mashed potatoes, and gelato for desert.  The portions were huge and I ended up finishing less than half  the mashed potatoes.

dishes28.jpg

I will try to wrap up my post for today fairly early and been bed fairly early as well.  

 

Today’s parting shot: Despite all the challenges it is a good feeling to be back on the road.  Since returning from MS Eurodam last November 22 I have been home every night but 3.  Those 3 nights were spent in a hospital bed.  Finally the drought is over.

 

Roy

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NE John Great Review Rare

NE John

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1 hour ago, rafinmd said:

It's a very wet day in New York with possibility of flooding later Time to close up the laptops which go in the bottom of the rollaboard.  I may post again from my IPAD but no guarantees.

 

Roy

It’s a mess here. Stay dry!

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