Fjords - P&O or Cunard?

[Surprise50th]

2 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

We are off at end of June this year on QA, so be interesting to see how many children on board. I'm sure @Surprise50th there will be plenty of comments on here about how many children there are on a Cunard QA June cruise

 

The 3000 has concerned me, but no one yet seems to have said that the QA seems crowded, and there is loads of topside deck space and a lot of lounges etc. I wish they'd get rid of all 3rd party shops though - they are a waste of space.

 

3000 is still fewer than most P&Os. Iona currently in fjords: 5206+. Britannia 3647+. Ventura and Azura have marginally more passengers than QA, but i couldn't go on them as they have to be amongst the ugliest cruise ships at sea...

We just did a party cruise on the Virtuosa with 6000+ passengers on board. Given it was a totally different type of cruise but made me realise bigger ships aren't always best. It was totally perfect for what it was and what we wanted out of it though but the Fjords would be totally the other end of the spectrum in comparison 

[maggielou362]

@Surprise50th, you will NOT be disappointed with Cunard. Re the drinks package: we enjoyed a recent jaunt on QM2 and found the drinks package very suitable for our purposes. Our aim was not to save money, but more to fully enjoy our Cunard experience. I did not bother to do the arithmetic. For us, the prepaid drinks package was about relaxing. Tasting different cocktails (if you don't like it, no problem, just leave it and get another one!), having a fancy coffee or two, fresh smoothies or premium Fever-tree soft drinks and pretty much unlimited glasses of acceptable wine with meals. Then also knowing that we don't have to worry about another big bill at the end of our cruise and didn't need to cart bottles of wine on embarkation. Just my opinion. I hope you and your husband have an absolutely beautiful voyage, and happy half century to him.

[buchanan101]

28 minutes ago, maggielou362 said:

@Surprise50th, you will NOT be disappointed with Cunard. Re the drinks package: we enjoyed a recent jaunt on QM2 and found the drinks package very suitable for our purposes. Our aim was not to save money, but more to fully enjoy our Cunard experience. I did not bother to do the arithmetic. For us, the prepaid drinks package was about relaxing. Tasting different cocktails (if you don't like it, no problem, just leave it and get another one!), having a fancy coffee or two, fresh smoothies or premium Fever-tree soft drinks and pretty much unlimited glasses of acceptable wine with meals. Then also knowing that we don't have to worry about another big bill at the end of our cruise and didn't need to cart bottles of wine on embarkation. Just my opinion. I hope you and your husband have an absolutely beautiful voyage, and happy half century to him.

I get that aspect...and the cocktail comment....so I thought let's go and look how much it costs for next month as i might be tempted

 

$1008 for the two of us for 7 days

 

Even though the $/£ rate has improved since the days of my last Cunard (just after Liz Truss did her stuff - which made NYC even more expensive than normal), it's still £800 so I think we'll do it piecemeal!

 

They don't have prices for the two wine collections online any more - 6 bottles of wine - I may ring up and find out what that costs!

 

[maggielou362]

@buchanan101, certainly, I understand. If you do the arithmetic the World of Drinks beer, wine spirits package is definitely NOT a bargain, paying as you go is economically rational unless you can put away an inordinate amount of alcohol (cheers to you if you can!) Liz Truss seems to have had a disproportionate influence for the time she was in charge. For us the drinks package was good for the relaxation and pre-budgeting. Everyone should do their own sums and work out what they are prepared to pay for in material and psychological terms.

[King Amo]

Agree MaggieLou. The psychological element is important, and as I commented on another thread weighing this up as a solo cruiser, if I was going solo I would definitely pay up front so that I didn't have to question if I needed a drink, and as a means for something to do, scoping activities without commitment etc. 

 

I've decided for the family cruise we're on in the summer, I'm going to pay myself the drinks package for the three of us and try and treat the cruise as if it were all inclusive. If there is money left over at the end, which I'm sure there will be, that will be a bonus, but I'm going to do all I can to think of it as spent money. 

[Megabear2]

1 minute ago, King Amo said:

Agree MaggieLou. The psychological element is important, and as I commented on another thread weighing this up as a solo cruiser, if I was going solo I would definitely pay up front so that I didn't have to question if I needed a drink, and as a means for something to do, scoping activities without commitment etc. 

 

I've decided for the family cruise we're on in the summer, I'm going to pay myself the drinks package for the three of us and try and treat the cruise as if it were all inclusive. If there is money left over at the end, which I'm sure there will be, that will be a bonus, but I'm going to do all I can to think of it as spent money. 

Yes, I took your comments onboard and bit the bullet, thank you!  I worked it out based on the costs of a couple of glasses of wine with lunch and dinner, an aperitif and a g&t or cocktail plus all my teas, coffees etc and came out just about equal once I took into account the 15%.  It came in around £800 for the two weeks. 

 

Incidentally P&O's classic (very restricted) package would cost me £560 on my next cruise with them and an upgrade to the deluxe would be another £120 or so.  The Cunard offering is far superior, no contest really.

[buchanan101]

22 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Yes, I took your comments onboard and bit the bullet, thank you!  I worked it out based on the costs of a couple of glasses of wine with lunch and dinner, an aperitif and a g&t or cocktail plus all my teas, coffees etc and came out just about equal once I took into account the 15%.  It came in around £800 for the two weeks. 

 

Incidentally P&O's classic (very restricted) package would cost me £560 on my next cruise with them and an upgrade to the deluxe would be another £120 or so.  The Cunard offering is far superior, no contest really.

One slight tweak to this is if you are travelling Grills tea and coffee are free in the Grills lounge (and Grills and BClub have reasonable pod coffee - Illy - in the rooms). And I believe you can get specialty coffees with any meal in any of the main restaurants (haven't tried but I think it was in a Gary Bembridge Vlog).

 

[Megabear2]

20 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

One slight tweak to this is if you are travelling Grills tea and coffee are free in the Grills lounge (and Grills and BClub have reasonable pod coffee - Illy - in the rooms). And I believe you can get specialty coffees with any meal in any of the main restaurants (haven't tried but I think it was in a Gary Bembridge Vlog).

 

I'm not rich enough for the Grills though.  Strictly down in the bilges for me!   

[maggielou362]

Not quite bilges, but I am happy to travel in steerage. You will find that you are not treated as mere ballast, wherever your cabin is! It's all lovely.

[buchanan101]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

I'm not rich enough for the Grills though.  Strictly down in the bilges for me!   

I don't know, with the money you are paying for a drinks package...

 

 

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, buchanan101 said:

I don't know, with the money you are paying for a drinks package...

 

 

Ahh but my cruise cost less than £2,000 for solo so I can splash out ... last time I looked at a Grill Suite a Queens one, on the 21 night transatlantic we are doing next year, it was a mere £23,500pp starting price so based on my QA voyage I could have 11.75 more cruises for my money.

[Millieloulou]

It’s good to hear from travellers who are not travelling in “Grills”.We all still enjoy the voyage, and all that these beautiful ships have to offer.

[Tattycoram]

Thanks to Gary Bembridge at Tips for Travelers I was led to this drinks-package calculator:

 

https://www.cruisemummy.co.uk/cruise-drinks-package-calculator/

[2BACRUISER]

We did a 7nt fjords cunard QV in 2022. It was August the weather was hit and miss but the scenery and QV more than made up for it. Our review is https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=690233

We didn't think the drinks package was vfm, with OBC our bill for the week was $179 

Hth 😊

Edited May 15 by 2BACRUISER
Typo

[D&N]

13 hours ago, rakkor said:

Re: The drinks package, here's a fairly recent Chart Room drinks menu from QV to give you an idea of the prices (all are +15% gratuity) - I've toyed with the idea of a drinks package, but I would really struggle to make it pay - I could easily drink enough on a given day, but not every day, each to their own though. For our 14 night cruise the drinks package is $2016 for the two of us

 

 

Chart Room Menu.pdf 2.46 MB · 16 downloads

Sorry that menu is not up to date. Spirits are in 1oz and 2oz measures. Small wine is 150ml.

Since around last summer spirits changed to 25ml and 50ml measures, and small wines are now 175ml.

[Surprise50th]

11 hours ago, buchanan101 said:

We are off at end of June this year on QA, so be interesting to see how many children on board. I'm sure @Surprise50th there will be plenty of comments on here about how many children there are on a Cunard QA June cruise

 

The 3000 has concerned me, but no one yet seems to have said that the QA seems crowded, and there is loads of topside deck space and a lot of lounges etc. I wish they'd get rid of all 3rd party shops though - they are a waste of space.

 

3000 is still fewer than most P&Os. Iona currently in fjords: 5206+. Britannia 3647+. Ventura and Azura have marginally more passengers than QA, but i couldn't go on them as they have to be amongst the ugliest cruise ships at sea...

We just did a party cruise on the Virtuosa with 6000+ passengers on board. Given it was a totally different type of cruise but made me realise bigger ships aren't always best. It was totally perfect for what it was and what we wanted out of it though but the Fjords would be totally the other end of the spectrum in comparison 

[Surprise50th]

Thanks all for your comments, help ans advice. I have bitten the bullet and booked a balcony room on Cunard 🥳

[rakkor]

3 minutes ago, D&N said:

Sorry that menu is not up to date. Spirits are in 1oz and 2oz measures. Small wine is 150ml.

Since around last summer spirits changed to 25ml and 50ml measures, and small wines are now 175ml.

 

It's from 15th October, but feel free to post a more recent one - It was only intended as a guide - my point about the drinks package is it's not very good value, unless you can consistently drink 7 drinks per day, which I couldn't and even less value if you have a half decent amount of OBC

[D&N]

@rakkor for info.

 

I found this one somewhere on the UK website nine days ago. The filename suggests validity from May 2023 on QM2.

Of course I've no idea when each ship transitioned to the new measures (and prices) or if they all changed at same time. And the prices may have changed since this one was created.

 

 

qm_chart_room_menu_may_23.pdf

[rakkor]

I created the Chart Room menu PDF while onboard in October from the Menu on the Cunard app, so it is as current as anything I've seen. Edit -  Actually not true I created the Gin & Fizz one one the 18th October

 

Gin and Fizz menu.pdf

Edited May 15 by rakkor

[john watson]

18 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

I'm not rich enough for the Grills though.  Strictly down in the bilges for me!   

 

I think for many Britannia is good enough for a cruise holiday.  It is not about the cost it's about not wanting to go above what is sensible and have a decent cruise

 

.Regards John

[Surprise50th]

Thank you everybody for your help, we have booked the cruise on the Queen Anne and I added the drinks package as we would have a drink before dinner, couple of glasses of wine with dinner and maybe 3 drinks after dinner plus taking into account the sea days it would be more and also it means everything is paid for before we go apart from excursions. 

[buchanan101]

2 hours ago, Surprise50th said:

Thank you everybody for your help, we have booked the cruise on the Queen Anne and I added the drinks package as we would have a drink before dinner, couple of glasses of wine with dinner and maybe 3 drinks after dinner plus taking into account the sea days it would be more and also it means everything is paid for before we go apart from excursions. 

Excursions- there are 3rd party companies that offer excursions a fair bit cheaper than Cunard. Or things like Flam railway book direct. However the coach trip to glacier at Olden is cheaper through Cunard than the one other one I could find not sold out… Don’t know your itinerary but we are doing Bergen and the Cunard prices for cable car and funicular are ridiculously expensive. I think (?) you can walk to funicular from ship… and advance booking when it might be low cloud is a little risky anyway. Worth googling excursions …

[napria]

The cruise I booked on QM2 for August 2026 is supposed to go through the Norwegian fjords as well, but I read some articles that Norway is prohibiting ships that aren’t powered by electricity from UNESCO fjords starting next year.  Thoughts?  I asked my TA and she said that it’s too far out to know what will happen in 2026.

[buchanan101]

2 hours ago, napria said:

The cruise I booked on QM2 for August 2026 is supposed to go through the Norwegian fjords as well, but I read some articles that Norway is prohibiting ships that aren’t powered by electricity from UNESCO fjords starting next year.  Thoughts?  I asked my TA and she said that it’s too far out to know what will happen in 2026.

UNESCO world heritage fjords may have ban from 2026. It was going to be 2025 and whereas supposedly it was electric only cruise ships (there are none) I read something about source of fuel used or offsets. I can imagine a big push back from affected economies (eg Flam). 
 

Your TA should at least know there is a possible issue and should know what the current status is. Poor show.