Queen Mary mechanical condition

[NE John]

10 minutes ago, Cruise Liner Fan said:

To be sure is when it is Brooklyn Wedding dancing the music is coming out of the QM2's sound system in the night club?

Sometimes a DJ, sometimes a live non-ballroom dance band:ABBA, Bon Jovi, Four Seasons. You know wedding dance music. 

[Pear Carr]

I do not see the Bright Lights shows currently on QA (Noir and Fizz) transferring to the G32 - these are interactive, intimate shows and G32 is far too big for the like. Silent discos are thankfully limited to a couple of sessions per voyage and hopefully a fad that will die out in the next year or so!

Edited August 11 by Pear Carr

[D&N]

We'd need the same music piped through our headphones. We mainly dance in hold whether we're on a ballroom floor or a disco. Not into this weird idea of dancing alone.

[NE John]

Those who tried Silent Disco said it was fun and don’t knock it until you try it. Still on the fence about this one. 

[*Miss G*]

I’d like to try silent disco! Or at least watch and giggle. 🤭 

[exlondoner]

12 hours ago, NE John said:

Those who tried Silent Disco said it was fun and don’t knock it until you try it. Still on the fence about this one. 

Never having set foot in a disco of any sort in my life, except I once passed through an empty G32 in the morning, while walking round the ship (hate loud music, hate pop music, can’t dance), I would be quite glad if you can explain the point of this. 😀

[Jim_P]

According to people on board now the Planetarium is back up and running as of today.

[NE John]

4 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Never having set foot in a disco of any sort in my life, except I once passed through an empty G32 in the morning, while walking round the ship (hate loud music, hate pop music, can’t dance), I would be quite glad if you can explain the point of this. 😀

Silent disco would be good for you then; there is no music to be heard on the dance floor. Every one has over the ear headsets on and each person chooses the music from a set playlist to dance to. Hence Silent Disco. Partners can dance to the same song or different ones. If you watch a floor of people during a silent disco, it looks odd. 
I’ve never tried it. Dancing, to me, is a communal experience with everyone listening to the same band or DJ, but many say they like silent disco. 

[exlondoner]

3 minutes ago, NE John said:

Silent disco would be good for you then; there is no music to be heard on the dance floor. Every one has over the ear headsets on and each person chooses the music from a set playlist to dance to. Hence Silent Disco. Partners can dance to the same song or different ones. If you watch a floor of people during a silent disco, it looks odd. 
I’ve never tried it. Dancing, to me, is a communal experience with everyone listening to the same band or DJ, but many say they like silent disco. 

Dancing wearing headsets doesn’t sound very agreeable. So, the fun of this bizarre sounding activity is largely for the spectators? I think I might prefer watching ballroom dancing, in the whole.

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

20 hours ago, sucramdi said:

 

Yes, that's how I would envision it. I don't see Cunard tearing out a venue like Illuminations for something like this. Not to mention what a huge undertaking that would be, a multi-deck, sloped theatre isn't as easy to reconfigure. 

I think that is more likely. A remodelling of G32 presumably. A non structural change so presumably cheaper. Perhaps resorting back to a disco later in the evening/morning. Multi purposing of spaces on ships has always been a feature. 
 

Doing anything big to Illuminations sounds very expensive. Also they need the space for lectures and films. Particularly on transatlantic crossings. For most of the time the Royals Court is used shows, rehearsals for shows and staff briefings. They really need two tiered seating theatre/cinema spaces. 
 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

[*Miss G*]

29 minutes ago, Jim_P said:

According to people on board now the Planetarium is back up and running as of today.

 

Fantastic!  This was one of the top things I was looking forward to on my June TA.  Alas, it was not to be so I am happy to hear it is back!  Now I’ll just have to do another TA to experience it.  😇

[new to cuising]

I think any twenty year old ship will have mechanical issues from time to time. Worth remembering out of all the cruise ships in service at the moment our beloved QM2 is now one of the older vessels and spends far more time at sea than any of the others. Many spend each year probably in one port or another for upwards of 200 days whereas QM2 probably has little more than 100 days in port a year (estimates) so QM2 has greater wear and tear, and less port time to address issues.

[D&N]

1 hour ago, exlondoner said:

I would be quite glad if you can explain the point of this.

That would be quite difficult. It's one of the stupidest ideas I've ever come across.

[Jim_P]

2 hours ago, new to cuising said:

I think any twenty year old ship will have mechanical issues from time to time. Worth remembering out of all the cruise ships in service at the moment our beloved QM2 is now one of the older vessels and spends far more time at sea than any of the others. Many spend each year probably in one port or another for upwards of 200 days whereas QM2 probably has little more than 100 days in port a year (estimates) so QM2 has greater wear and tear, and less port time to address issues.

Yep, not to mention she goes through much rougher seas and weather. Probably not many other cruise ships out there you could build a snow man on (as some people did earlier this year!).

[new to cuising]

Yes I was fortunate to be on that eastbound crossing in January. Quite surreal watching the snow at sea

[WantedOnVoyage]

True.  When we sailed in QM2 last,  on her first long post covid cruise (Southampton direct to the West Indies and return) she was a mess at the beginning but 26 days of generally superb weather (it of course rained only in the West Indies!) let the deck crew carry out the sort of underway maintenance that we passengers notice: chipping, priming and painting. And having done it myself, there is nothing quite so satisfying as painting ship on a hot afternoon at sea. QM2 looked a lot better at the end then the beginning. I doubt that they get as favourable conditions on a North Atlantic crossing. 

[bluemarble]

11 hours ago, new to cuising said:

I think any twenty year old ship will have mechanical issues from time to time. Worth remembering out of all the cruise ships in service at the moment our beloved QM2 is now one of the older vessels and spends far more time at sea than any of the others. Many spend each year probably in one port or another for upwards of 200 days whereas QM2 probably has little more than 100 days in port a year (estimates) so QM2 has greater wear and tear, and less port time to address issues.

 

Very good estimates. This guy who has the itineraries for the current Cunard fleet stored in a spreadsheet has calculated the number of port days per year over the life of each ship including future published itineraries. I've counted cruise-by calls/canal transits as sea days and excluded all the days during the shutdown in operations as well as days spent in dry dock. These figures are rounded to the nearest whole day.

 

QM2: 139 port days per year

QV: 208 port days per year

QE: 206 port days per year

QA: 192 port days per year

[tacticalbanjo]

9 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 

Very good estimates. This guy who has the itineraries for the current Cunard fleet stored in a spreadsheet has calculated the number of port days per year over the life of each ship including future published itineraries. I've counted cruise-by calls/canal transits as sea days and excluded all the days during the shutdown in operations as well as days spent in dry dock. These figures are rounded to the nearest whole day.

 

QM2: 139 port days per year

QV: 208 port days per year

QE: 206 port days per year

QA: 192 port days per year

And for QM2 a greater proportion of those port days are also turnaround days which will limit how much maintenance work can be done.