48 cruises considering 1st on QM2

[RnD]

My wife and I have taken a number of cruises, mostly of the Celebrity/HAL/Princess variety. This January we are considering a NY-Carribean-NY ten day on the QM2, and we have a number of questions.

 

I realize that the dress on these ships is more formal, but how much so? I prefer not to get "fancy" every night as does my wife, though a couple of formal nights with dark suit is fine. My wife is concerned she will need several gowns and cocktails dresses for the ten day trip. Do men wear jackets and ties every night, and women cocktail attire, or are a number of the nights on the carribean trips of a less formal nature?

 

Tipping-we had an experience many years ago on an Italian line that drove us crazy. Every where we went someone had their hand out. We tied to get deck chairs by the pool and were told they were reserved, and to get one you had to ask a deck hand who gladly brought you one, as long as you had cash on hand for a tip. We asked a question, and out went the hand. Will that be the case on QM2?

 

The ship is huge. My Mom who is in great shape is 86, and I wonder if she wil be exhausted simply walking from the cabin to the dining room?

 

Cabins-we like a balcony/veranda, but I understand unless you book one of the most expensive ones you do not have a balcony in the sense that you really have the open space as on other vessels.

 

Finally-How bad are those first couple of days out of NY, in regards to the "sea-sick" effect?

 

Sorry for the ridiculousy long post, but as I said we are experienced cruisers, but have never travelled with Cunard.

 

Thanks

[Kindlychap]

My wife and I have taken a number of cruises, mostly of the Celebrity/HAL/Princess variety. This January we are considering a NY-Carribean-NY ten day on the QM2, and we have a number of questions.

 

I realize that the dress on these ships is more formal, but how much so? I prefer not to get "fancy" every night as does my wife, though a couple of formal nights with dark suit is fine. My wife is concerned she will need several gowns and cocktails dresses for the ten day trip. Do men wear jackets and ties every night, and women cocktail attire, or are a number of the nights on the carribean trips of a less formal nature?

 

Tipping-we had an experience many years ago on an Italian line that drove us crazy. Every where we went someone had their hand out. We tied to get deck chairs by the pool and were told they were reserved, and to get one you had to ask a deck hand who gladly brought you one, as long as you had cash on hand for a tip. We asked a question, and out went the hand. Will that be the case on QM2?

 

The ship is huge. My Mom who is in great shape is 86, and I wonder if she wil be exhausted simply walking from the cabin to the dining room?

 

Cabins-we like a balcony/veranda, but I understand unless you book one of the most expensive ones you do not have a balcony in the sense that you really have the open space as on other vessels.

 

Finally-How bad are those first couple of days out of NY, in regards to the "sea-sick" effect?

 

Sorry for the ridiculousy long post, but as I said we are experienced cruisers, but have never travelled with Cunard.

 

Thanks

 

I've not done a Caribbean cruise, but you should expect about half the nights to be formal or informal, (tux/dark suit for the former, jacket and tie for the latter) with the rest Elegant Casual, which (depending on the current mood of Cunard) will certainly drop the tie, possibly the jacket.

 

You do not need to tip at all until the end, and then you can rely on the autotipping if you wish. The Americans on the board will want to tip for room service etc., but I'm not American, don't do this and have not had a problem. Far from it in fact - the service is superb.

 

The trouble is that the Britannia Restaurant and the Commodore Club are opposite ends of the ship. You'll have a reasonable amount of walking. I don't expect anyone who is basically healthy to have an issue with this though. I managed it without trouble, and I am not in the best of health.

 

I don't understand your balcony question. Grades B6/5 and A3-AA have perfectly respectable glass fronted balconies. Grades B4-B1 have curious "in hull" balconies, which aren't as attractive looking for a warm water cruise (although I've never had one). P and Q grades do get larger balconies, but at a significant premium.

 

As far as seas are concerned, Queen Mary 2 is fabulously stable. She'll cope with seas better than anything else.

 

Matthew

[judy&steve]

We have done a Caribbean cruise on QM2. The dress was decidedly more elegant than other ships. On the first casual night, Steve felt horribly underdressed without a jacket. We had three formal nights on the week-long cruise. I use mix and match formal pieces. I don't do gowns, but have two long skirts with various tops.

We used the automatic tipping and felt compelled to "hand tip" at the end of the cruise. To our surprise, nobody was looking for anything extra. Our waitstaff and cabin attendant were actually surprised to have received cash on top of their other tips.

We do $2 for room service. We also give the bar waiter from the dining a little something extra at the end of our trip.

We are doing the 10-day out of Red Hook in November. We'll let you know how QM2 handles the rough seas!

If you are careful about choosing your cabin, perhaps you lessen the walking distance from your Mom's cabin to the restaurant. We try to stay amidships and it's usually not too awful a hike to anywhere.

--Judy

[Namvet4]

We have done a Caribbean cruise on QM2. The dress was decidedly more elegant than other ships. On the first casual night, Steve felt horribly underdressed without a jacket. We had three formal nights on the week-long cruise. I

--Judy

 

WOW! :eek: 3 formal nights on a week long! DW and I are going for the long Caribbean/Panama cruise and I am guessing maybe SIX formal nights!?!?! (I am definitely packing a dark suit in addition to the dress uniform) I am concerned about being out of place wearing the same attire several times!

(However, I admit I will be wearing my one pair of jeans ;) more than once! - but not to the Britannia!)

[patwell]

I'll echo what Judy said. Our Caribbean last Dec had a decidely more formal feel to it, even on the informal nights (more formal than Cunard's favorite description, elegant casual) I love formal gowns so I tended to lean in that direction, but some clever mix and match with long silky skirts or pants and dressy tops works well too. Our men had tuxes, dark suits and sport jackets and wore all of them. Daytimes were very relaxed as we had 3 port stops. We did have a formal night on a port stop which surprised me, so that made for 3 formals in 7 days.

 

As to the tipping, just as the others have said, no one ever had their hand out for anything and I had to actually insist a room service waiter take a tip one morning...like Judy, we do $2 for that plus extra at the end to the people whose service was over and above. I was super impressed with the service level everywhere we went on the ship. Do you have to do this in addition to the auro tip?? No, it's a personal choice.

 

I never noticed any "chair hogging" at the pool or elsewhere...there are plenty of them....it's a big ship! And yes, it's a long way sometimes from one venue to the other and we were forward with our cabin...easy to get to our favorite Commodore Club day and night but a LONG walk back to dining etc. If you stay midships it'll be much better. There were many nights I'd take my high heels off and make the return trip to the cabin barefoot!!:eek:

 

LAst year out of Lauderdale we did an A2 cabin on deck 11. We had a tad of rough weather the first night and 2nd day and you did feel it a bit up there. This year I've booked us on Deck 8 with an obstructed (but not badly) glass balcony just in case it's rougher leaving and returning to NY in NOvember. We also found that we'd spend so little actual time in the cabin that the obstructed view is no big thing.

 

I have no idea Namvet, how many formal nights on the longer cruises. This year will be 10 nights for us and we'll post so everyone after us will know. Personally I"m hoping for 4, but that's just me who loves to "glam" it up!!;) You may find denim to be a bit warm during the days in the tropics. We were in shorts every day and it was in the 80's and sunny...felt quite hot. I had packed some casual lightweight daytime slacks for my husband and he never wore them during the day.

 

Cheers, Penny

 

Penny’s Affair to Remember QM2 Review

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=471053

 

November 10,2007...the “Affair” continues....

[Namvet4]

Our men had tuxes, dark suits and sport jackets and wore all of them. Daytimes were very relaxed as we had 3 port stops. We did have a formal night on a port stop which surprised me, so that made for 3 formals in 7 days.

 

LAst year out of Lauderdale we did an A2 cabin on deck 11. . .

Cheers, Penny

 

Penny’s Affair to Remember QM2 Review

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=471053

 

November 10,2007...the “Affair” continues....

 

Thanks for the answer Penny! We have booked an A2 close to midships,on eleven deck....DW loves being high up. Can you share your thoughts on the cabin?

Oh, and I admit that I have a pair of jean shorts:eek: ;)

[patwell]

Thanks for the answer Penny! We have booked an A2 close to midships,on eleven deck....DW loves being high up. Can you share your thoughts on the cabin?

Oh, and I admit that I have a pair of jean shorts:eek: ;)

 

OK, so I won't hold those jeans shorts against you!!;) :p

 

It was lovely up there on Deck 11...you felt like a bird in a very exotic nest. It's lovely to watch the islands as you approach in the early morning, and I especially loved the sunrises thanks to forgetting to close the drapes at night!! The cabin is like most other Britannia cabins size wise. Comfortable, and truly I was surprised at the storage space...and I brought WAY too mush stuff (thankfully my DH doesn't read this forum...that parts a secret!!) Tell her I did take a few of my own pant hangers and was glad that I did although you can always ask the steward for more. I just liked mine better as I could hang one off the other to conserve space. Good on drawer storage if you do what we did and use the night table drawers as well. Wish the desk area had been bigger for "stuff" but it was no big drawback. Lighting there is fair if you do makeup...good if you're a certain age...you look better!:rolleyes: It's the best place to dry your hair and I brough my own dryer as the one in the drawer is awkward to use and not as fast. Fun to have breakfast on the balcony (you can sneak that coffee table out there) or just on the couch looking out. The bath is not spacious but I honestly had no issues with it...there's storage space and it functions as a bath should. I'm used to a big one at home but had no complaints. Do remember to close the drapes if you want to sleep in the morning tho!! Also, my huge 29 inch suitcases, 2 of them plus another 26 inch rolling duffle type all fit under the bed and out of the way...just!! Beds are great!!! Depemnding on how far back you are there is a bit of an overhang from Deck 12 that shadows your balcony a bit I'm told. We were in 11059 and had no problem...not that I think it's a big on unless you want to sun out there.

Any other things just ask....happy to help

 

Cheers, Penny

Penny’s Affair to Remember QM2 Review

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=471053

 

November 10,2007...the “Affair” continues....

 

[curlyQ]

Oh, and I admit that I have a pair of jean shorts:eek: ;)

 

"jean shorts"? EGHAD!!!!

[Namvet4]

Thanks Penny.. appreciate the review, as always :)Thank you for sharing... My DW is an early riser and will enjoy the dawn on the balcony...(May be a bit of a problem since we are in a starboard cabin...Hopefully we will sail an eastward tack in the early morning during our voyage!) Excellent heads up on the hair dryer . . will pass that along to my better half! Glad to hear the beds are great! Being an "industrial" sized guy (6'6"/285 lbs) I hope the bed will be long enough!

[Namvet4]

"jean shorts"? EGHAD!!!!

Yes CurlyQ ... basketball length jeans shorts.... My DW remarked that I have regressed to a pre adolescent stage. (possibly very true since my "hippie youth times were cut short). I merely reminded her that no one wants to see stark white legs on an old guy while on board! <G> For clarification, my wife, of Mediterranean descent, enjoys an immediate dark tan in just a day or two; I on the other hand . . . will resemble a boiled lobster if don't cover up and use SPF 1000! :D

[patwell]

Yes CurlyQ ... basketball length jeans shorts.... My DW remarked that I have regressed to a pre adolescent stage. (possibly very true since my "hippie youth times were cut short). I merely reminded her that no one wants to see stark white legs on an old guy while on board! <G> For clarification, my wife, of Mediterranean descent, enjoys an immediate dark tan in just a day or two; I on the other hand . . . will resemble a boiled lobster if don't cover up and use SPF 1000! :D

 

Ah ha...so you had "hippie youth" times too...that, and the namvet connection, make you and my DH of the same age most likely...shorter shorts aren't always the best on aging legs:p

 

As for the length of the beds, you may be pushing the envelope a bit but at least parts of you will be comfy. We were starboard side as well...one of my favorite moments of rising early was the morning the sun was rising at our bow and the full moon still high in the darker sky at the stern...I have pictures of both to remember the moment...unfortunately not together. I chose starboard again because of that, even though we have no full moon it appears on this trip. Oh well, the balcony is romantic enough on its own;)

 

Cheers, Penny

Penny’s Affair to Remember QM2 Review

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=471053

 

November 10,2007...the “Affair” continues....

[Namvet4]

Thank You Penny for sharing the pictures....

(Yes you are right Penny, your DH and I are of the same age bracket...Extend to him, on my behalf, "Welcome Home Brother"...)

[patwell]

Thank You Penny for sharing the pictures....

(Yes you are right Penny, your DH and I are of the same age bracket...Extend to him, on my behalf, "Welcome Home Brother"...)

 

Hi Namvet....It would appear that you are of a similar age, and he has asked me to extend the same greeting back to you since it was so obviously overlooked on both of your returns!:mad: And thank you....

 

Also appears that you share a geographic similarity as well as he was raised on the Jersey shore in Deal and later 2 years at Admiral Farragut Academy in Toms River. HIs "all expense paid vacation" in the Far East was August '67 to Aug '68 with the 525 MI Group housed in downtown Cholon with the exception of some scenic "excursions in-country"

 

Welcome home from me too.....

 

Cheers, Penny

Penny’s Affair to Remember QM2 Review

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=471053

 

November 10,2007...the “Affair” continues....

[travel-to-go]

Hi Namvet....It would appear that you are of a similar age, and he has asked me to extend the same greeting back to you since it was so obviously overlooked on both of your returns!:mad: And thank you....

 

Also appears that you share a geographic similarity as well as he was raised on the Jersey shore in Deal and later 2 years at Admiral Farragut Academy in Toms River. HIs "all expense paid vacation" in the Far East was August '67 to Aug '68 with the 525 MI Group housed in downtown Cholon with the exception of some scenic "excursions in-country"

 

Welcome home from me too.....

 

Cheers, Penny

Penny’s Affair to Remember QM2 Review

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=471053

 

November 10,2007...the “Affair” continues....

|

Although I am a little bit younger than you, (I'm not saying which "you") - My class was the last to get draft numbers, though the draft had stopped- Let me add my voice to the din, Namvet, (And Steve, too!)

I was an honorary member of the Viet Vets club at UT. I volunteered and did what I could for our guys. Although I am not one for the sensibility of most wars, I support our guys (and women!) fully. I was turned down for the Air Force and Guard due to history of asthma. (Though I was in ROTC and CAP) We can't make up for the horrible way you guys were treated, and I try to get some of my co-workers to tell me about it if they feel comfortable talking. I realize how much I didn't know back then. So much was rhetoric to my young ears. The silver lining is that your experience has taught most of us that we can hate the war and still love and respect the vet. For that, our present vets owe you a great deal. And let me say "thanks" while I'm at it. Because we didn't when we should have

 

Karie,

who is ashamed at how we treated our men and women who suffered so much, often not of their own volition, and we made them suffer more, and often in silence.

 

P.S. Have a great cruise!

[Namvet4]

Thank you Penny and your Husband.... And thank you Karie! ... Don't want to hijack this thread... but briefly - was across the pond 68-70, technically 1st Brigade 4th Inf...

 

And now back to our regularly scheduled threads about Cunard! :)

[NovaScotian]

Thanks Penny.. appreciate the review, as always :)Thank you for sharing... My DW is an early riser and will enjoy the dawn on the balcony...(May be a bit of a problem since we are in a starboard cabin...Hopefully we will sail an eastward tack in the early morning during our voyage!) Excellent heads up on the hair dryer . . will pass that along to my better half! Glad to hear the beds are great! Being an "industrial" sized guy (6'6"/285 lbs) I hope the bed will be long enough!

I was on deck 5 of QM2 (maybe a B2 cabin)with my wife, our bed was king size for sure. At 6'3" I had no problems for length of bed at all. As Penny says the beds are very comfortable. Enjoy your cruise.

[Uncle Pete]

I would not recommend an in-hull balcony for a Caribean cruise (so much more to see and the color of the water is superb but for a TA crossing they are the best, it protects you for the cold and wind and there is nothing to see.

As far as getting around the ship, there are so many elevators that it is not tiring to get around.

Don't worry about what to wear....we were expecting a lot worse. My wife had several dresses and gowns and I had one dark suit and sport jacket and dress pants and I was comfortable. We enjoy dressing up in the evening, we had a great time.

Enjoy your upcoming cruise.