Blue Note Transatlantic 1st Aug 2016

Hi all,

Having always wanted to go on a Transatlantic cruise and being slightly restricted with dates, I am looking at sailing on the QM2 Blue Note cruise on 1st August 2016. There are two queries that I am hoping you may be able to help me with:

1. Is the fact that this is a Blue Note cruise significant? Does it significantly alter the general atmosphere and traditions of the Cunard line?

2. The pricing of this cruise has been particularly interesting. I'll probably settle for an obstructed balcony and this started at the 2k mark, was around £1500 last week and is now around £1300. The pattern seems to suggest that this cruise isn't selling as quickly as they hoped? I do wonder if I should hold out to secure it at a lower price?

Thanks in advance!

Yes, the fact that it is a Blue Note Jazz crossing does indeed mean that the sailing is far different from the expected Cunard experience. You can see some opinions and observations here in this thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2267170

This is my opinion only....and my observation. If you love Jazz, you can make the most of it. If you don't care...it can be avoided altogether. And, if you don't look for differences in the dress on board....you won't notice it any. There were fewer formal nights....but elegant still reigned in the areas I frequented.

Frankly....I simply didn't notice any difference....but I wasn't looking to find any. :)

We too are on this TA, and last I checked on the VP, there were four formal nights listed, but no theme associated with them. Also, one night longer at sea. We are not jazz fans, but have been assured by our Travel Agent that we won't have to endure jazz 254/7. Hopefully this Cunard experience will be as good as the one EB in July (which is highly anticipated).

We too are on this TA, and last I checked on the VP, there were four formal nights listed, but no theme associated with them. Also, one night longer at sea. We are not jazz fans, but have been assured by our Travel Agent that we won't have to endure jazz 254/7. Hopefully this Cunard experience will be as good as the one EB in July (which is highly anticipated).

I hope you're right. I can't check because the Voyage Personaliser is down at the moment (what else is new?). But according to Cunard's Specialty Cruises web page (http://www.cunard.com/cruise-types/speciality-cruises/#tabbedModule6305), we're guaranteed at least three formal nights, which is a considerable improvement over the one formal night they had originally scheduled.

I was on the Blue Note trip last year and a lot of us made our views known that the dress down code was not acceptable so presumably Cunard learned that the TAs are formal and not to be messed with.

I don't know if it will stay this way, but here is what is currently shown on the Cunard (US) web page regarding the dress code for this cruise:

"...There will be three formal nights with smart casual dress for all other evenings. For the smart casual evenings, jackets are required for gentlemen and smart jeans are permitted (but cannot be torn or have holes in them)..." quoted from http://www.cunard.com/cruise-types/speciality-cruises/

We too are on this TA, and last I checked on the VP, there were four formal nights listed, but no theme associated with them. Also, one night longer at sea. We are not jazz fans, but have been assured by our Travel Agent that we won't have to endure jazz 254/7. Hopefully this Cunard experience will be as good as the one EB in July (which is highly anticipated).

Sorry to sound as if I'm putting a damper on your trip, but I do hope that your 4 formal evenings are correct.

I was on last years November Jazz voyage, and as lannp has pointed out, we certainly made our views know re the evenings dress codes. Our VP (UK guests) originally stated four formal, however, this was changed shortly before the date of departure to one formal evening. There was further confusion once onboard, after a number of guests made their views known, an additional 'Formal/Optional' evening was added.

:)

I guess we go with the flow. We said TA EB in July so will have plenty of options with us for most any occasion. Hope Cunard gets the message about cruisers wanting and enjoying the formal nights.

Yes, on that optional formal night people did dress up which to me signalled their feelings about the dress code.

The Voyage Personaliser is up and running now. If it's correct, there will indeed be four formal nights. Whether it's three or four, a great victory has been won. Many thanks to lannp, Bell Boy, and the other passengers whose complaints helped change Cunard's mind!

The person who came up with the "blue jeans is OK" idea needs to be fired. Cunard is damaging their brand image with the trend from formal dress, etc.

If you are not a jazz fan I suggest you think twice before booking. The time spent avoiding the jazz presentations takes away from other types of entertainment that you might actually enjoy.

We were on last years Blue note cruise, and had a fantastic time. I must say we are not jazz fans, but Gregory Porter and the other musicians came over as really nice guys. We didn't go to any of the concerts but the Q&A sessions were very good. Food was excellent and everyone dressed up in the evenings as others have said they did add an additional formal night. We love a transatlantic l am sure you will have a great time.

Sorry l forgot to say l would hold fire because l think the price might come down more.

It seems Common sense has prevailed and Cunard has listened very carefully to our comments and customer feed back from the 2015 Jazz cruise.

Talking to a senior executive at yesterdays London Cruise show , he assured me that things will be a little different and better organised this year, than they were last year .

Most of the jazz performances this year will take place in the Theatre ( rather than every evening in all the venues around the ship)

The headliner acts ( Herbie Hancock & Gregory Porter) will perform their own 'full one hour programme' , with the Blue Note accompanying the performers, rather than the Blue note being the main performers with Gregory Porter only appearing as a token gesture ( for about 15 mins ...3/4 songs towards the end of an hours show as he did last year)

There will be at least three separate Headliner shows in the theatre, enabling all guests the opportunity to catch a show.

The Dress code will be a slight improvement from last year. ( In other words there will be more than one formal evening)

Last years arrangements for the Jazz cruise were organised entirely by the North American Brand., however, this year will see some input from the UK brand.:)

Mmmmm... I might even give it another chance. ;)

FYI. I received a notification this morning, which states 'there will be four formal nights and four informal nights. For this special Blue Note crossing, smart jeans are permitted (no holes or tears) on informal night'. I certainly don't plan on wearing jeans and will opt for a smart suit instead.

FYI. I received a notification this morning, which states 'there will be four formal nights and four informal nights. For this special Blue Note crossing, smart jeans are permitted (no holes or tears) on informal night'. I certainly don't plan on wearing jeans and will opt for a smart suit instead.

Just to mention that Cunard.com says 3 formal nights...

"There will be three formal nights with smart casual dress for all other evenings. For the smart casual evenings, jackets are required for gentlemen and smart jeans are permitted (but cannot be torn or have holes in them)." -copied from http://www.cunard.com/cruise-types/speciality-cruises/

However Cunard's dress code PDF has it as you mentioned - four formal and four informal. https://ask.cunard.com/help/cunard/life-on-board/dress_code_all.html

Hopefully, they will correct the webpage so that everyone is reading from the same script :)

We were happy to see this when we were looking at our information.

This cruise is pretty booked up. We had very very few choices with our booking yesterday so it looks popular. We had better luck with prices and choices on the EB on July 34.

So it's a popular sailing, but perhaps not with those who prefer the traditions of cunRd. Fortunately, all of the information is available before hand, so one can make an informed decision.

. We are in one dining room WB and another EB so that takes the pressure off.

Usually, I do very port intensive cruises which have a very different feel.