QM2 and QE November 12 to December 4, 2016

When I headed up to the top deck for coffee I actually saw a star (or perhaps a satellite). I walked on the promenade deck until about 7 before returning for the morning show and some internet updates, and then some more until 8, and finally finished 5 miles (17 laps) around 9. There were a number of clouds in the sky but the sun found one of the many gaps around 7:50. We had one little hitchhiker on the promenade deck and some of the loungers in the aft areas are either new or replacements but are metal rather than the traditional teak.

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It was a very busy morning in the Royal Court Theater with 3 lectures. Guy Caplin led off at 10 with “From Dad’s Army to D-Day General”, the story of an Army officer scorned for his views on tank warfare who eventually paved the way for a successful invasion. Caplin has been my favorite lecturer; he seems to go for the untold stories. He was followed by Mark Rosenker on “Taking the Presidential Show on the Road” at 10 and George McGhee on Alfred Hitchcock at 12:15. The bridge was on the PA a lot this morning, starting with a man overboard drill while I was walking. During Caplin’s lecture there were a number of times where the microphone cut out on the speaker, at first a mystery. It appears they were related to a medical evacuation and after his talk the Captain requested that the outer decks be cleared to prepare for the event. She had to make the announcement several times and by the end I got the impression she was annoyed at the response.

While the first part of the day was heavily in the Royal Court Theater the Queens Room became the focus of my afternoon with a final concert by Martin Vishnick, and a final scone at afternoon tea. The days are short and sunset came about 5, not as pretty as sunrise but not bad. I also saw a little sliver of the moon just past the new moon stage on the way to dinner.

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We have had our full complement at Table 349 each and every night this cruise. Most of us chose the Beef Wellington while I had the cucumber soup (not one of the better chilled soups), the lasagne, and the Baked Alaska. The farewell parade of chefs was held near the end of dinner. Something which has not happened recently is we were given packets of the menus at the end of dinner.

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The featured entertainment was the Royal Cunard Singers and Dancers in Palladium Nights. As a parting shot, best wishes for a full and speedy recovery for the person taken off the ship today.

Roy

Nice that they gave you a packet with all the menus,Roy.

Sorry to hear about the med evac. Best wishes for that person that all goes well and they recover quickly.

Thank you Jacqui. Cunard used to do that regularly but I haven't seen it for a couple of years. The good copies are now posted on the blog. Sadly the weather didn't hold but it was nice inside the ship.

Things were looking fairly good today until I stepped on deck, as the winds were quite strong. I went down to deck 3 anyway for a look at the Promenade deck and it was pretty well buttoned up with just the doors to the smoking area open. It was a day to confine my walking to the ship’s interior corridors.

I wanted to do one final load of laundry. I had a small spill on my trousers at last night’s dinner and I ended up washing all my long pants, leaving me just shorts for a day that was quite chilly and windy. Fortunately, there was no real incentive to go outside. The laundry rooms are “officially” open 7:30AM to 9PM. I went to wait at 7:10 and the door was open with one washer already in use. The clothes went to the dryer at 8:55 and were complete about 9:40.

The morning lecture schedule was the same as on Friday. Guy Caplin led off at 10 with “Agent Zigzag”, the rather bizarre story of a safecracker and general criminal who started spying for Germany but then became a very effective double agent for the British. After the war he returned largely to crime but was never again imprisoned. . He was followed by Mark Rosenker on his time as Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board. After Captain Thorhauge’s noon update (at the time we were near Brest with 40kt winds) making the 48F temperature feel a lot colder. We have sailed 3009 miles since Southampton (657 since Lisbon) with 237 to go.

The final lecture was at 12:15, George McGhee on the musicals of Busby Berkley. After his talk and a quick lunch I did not do a lot, packing and working today’s Sudoku which I found quite a challenge. I walked across the open Pavilion Pool deck in late afternoon getting tea and found conditions essentially unchanged, still very windy, with heavy clouds and also blue skies nearby; from what I understand a typical day on the Bay of Biscay.

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Our final dinner at Table 349 ended up with sad goodbyes. I had enjoyed the Pina Colada Soup, Spa Chicken, and ice cream.

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The final featured entertainment was a variety show featuring Magician Brett Sherwood and Musician Mark Donoghue. After the show the outer decks were still closed. According to the information on the internet it may expire at midnight unlike QM2 where it’s valid until disembarkation. I will try to complete my post before retiring for the night.

Roy

I'm sorry the Cunard part of your trip has come to an end, I always enjoy reading about your journeys.

Do you have any comments on the differences between QM2 and QE?

I'm sorry the Cunard part of your trip has come to an end, I always enjoy reading about your journeys.

Do you have any comments on the differences between QM2 and QE?

Thank you Host Hattie.

I was actually up a bit before 5, completed morning meds in time to turn off my alarm and immediately up to the lido for coffee. The wind was still howling and the Promenade deck was still closed so I walked for 30 minutes on QE’s inside corridors. I knew I would not get to a church so I listened to a sermon by a Chaplain of my faith who posts on Cruise Critic (revNeal) and used my remaining internet time (It did not cut off at midnight), then went back to the Lido for a final omelet.

Our departure information indicated we should vacate our rooms by 8; I left about 7:45, catching the rising sun on the way down to the Queens Room.

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My transfer was slated to leave at 8:30. The first group was called right on time at 8:15. At 8:30 2 other groups (listed for 8:45) were called but us not until 8:50. Once we were called, disembarkation went very rapidly. In the terminal there were baggage carts at the ready, and with no border formalities we were on the coach pulling out at 9:05.

There were only 7 of us going to St. Pancras and we shared a minibus (19-seat) with overflow passengers going to Victoria. We had a comfort stop midway and were dropped off at St. Pancras at noon.

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I was over cautious in booking my train; a 4PM departure. After getting a bit of lunch I investigated the possibility of an earlier train (my ticket said changeable with fee). The train that would work best was an additional 150 pounds, so I decided to wait. St. Pancras is not a great place to wait although there are a few benches. I grabbed one and sat for about an hour. I checked at 2:30 and checkin didn’t open until 3 so sat some more. Once my time had come, I scanned my ticket at the entrance gate and went on through security (airline style) and the British and French passport control, This took about 20 minutes leaving another 20-minute wait (in more comfortable seats) until boarding started.

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I am in “Standard Premier”, effectively First Class with a few less perks. I am in Coach 1, in this case the last car of the train. Soon after leaving dinner came around, not great and a little early but still civilized.

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My go to site for train travel is http://www.seat61.com. While waiting in the terminal I did a quick check and reviewed details of my transfer in Paris. I also learned that Paris Metro tickets were sold in the bar car, eliminating the need to deal with that while fully loaded in the Metro station. The train appears to be about 16 cars, with the bar in the middle. Cars 1-4 were all first class, then the next 3 were economy. 2 and 1 seating vs 2 and 2 seating makes a real difference. Three were enough feet extending into the aisle that walking through economy was a bit of a challenge.

We arrived in Paris Gare du Nord just about on time at 7:20. The Metro ride to Montparnasse was a bit more than I was planning on. The train was extremely crowded, something I really didn’t expect on a Sunday evening. I did get a seat but it was narrow and I had to bend totally forward to fit my pack into the space. Otherwise, I would have been absolutely on the edge of my seat. Once at Montparnasse I think I walked something longer than I should have finding my hotel (Ibis Montparnasse) and was really ready to relax once I arrived. Eurostar was excellent but the ends of the trip, especially the Paris end, were a bit much.

As a parting shot, this was my first Cunard “cruise”. Host Hattie, I tend to be a small ship person and definitely prefer QE/QV as a cruise ship, but there’s no substitute for QM2 on a North Atlantic crossing. They both have their place. There were a couple of surprises on the voyage. I think the dress on the cruise was significantly more formal on QE than on QM2. It may be that there really is a choice for people who prefer something less formal in a cruise while there is no such choice most of the time on a transatlantic. I was also a bit surprised at how many wheelchairs and scooters there were on QE than on QM2. I would have guessed that someone with a more limited mobility would prefer a transatlantic to a more port intensive cruise.

Aside from questions this will conclude my posting for now on the Cunard Forum. (I’m not sure when I’ll be back; I have a heavy 2017 cruise schedule on other lines, and no firm plans yet for 2018 but will likely go back to my norm of a fall TA returning on a cruise ship. I will continue posting on the Seabourn Forum.

Roy

thanks for your interesting and informative posts, as ever Roy. I can see I'll have to hop over to the Seabourn forum now for the next installment!

I second the use of seat61.com, an excellent resource. We used it to plan our 3 weeks round Southern Spain by train last year, and everything worked very smoothly.

Enjoy the next leg of your trip.

Thank you elmsliebev. Looks like I have one more post here as the Odyssey was not the only ship in port today. I walked down to the Tagus early this morning but not quite early enough to catch her arrival, but after checking her docking location found QE approaching up the river. It was a little dark for a great shot but QE still looked lovely with all her lights.

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I boarded the Odyssey just about noon. Here’s the Odyssey with QE in front:

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And QE by herself viewed from Odyssey’s bow.

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Officially, our departure was 5PM and QE’s was 6. As often happens with transatlantic cruises (QM2 has the logistics down to a science) we were delayed loading supplies and QE left a little early. Farewell, QE:

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Roy

 

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Officially, our departure was 5PM and QE’s was 6. As often happens with transatlantic cruises (QM2 has the logistics down to a science) we were delayed loading supplies and QE left a little early. Farewell, QE:

 

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Roy

Great evening picture of the QE.

Thank you laktex.

For the last 5 years I’ve been saying 2 things: My cruise line of choice, hands down, is Crystal and (2) my favorite non-Crystal ship, hands down, is the Prinsendam. I’ll do a bit of a comparison of those ships with the ones I’ve recently sailed, Seabourn Odyssey and Queen Elizabeth. While QM2 does function as a cruise ship, I look at it mostly as a ship uniquely suited to crossing the North Atlantic.

Before going into details I’ll revisit my 2 long held beliefs. (1) Favorite cruise line, hands down, no change there. (2) Favorite non-Crystal ship, the Prinsendam. I’m retiring the second hands down. Prinsendam, overall, slightly edges out the Odyssey as my favorite non-Crystal ship.

1, Check-in. I claim to follow a religious leader who said “as you’ve treated the least of these, you’ve treated me”, and I try to live that way. Tied for 3rd are HAL and Cunard. On each I’ve encountered long lines at the terminal checking in far more people than they have the staff to handle. It’s not entirely a matter of ship size; I’ve encountered these lines on Prinsendam which carries fewer passengers than either Crystal Ship. I now have the record with both companies to get priority checkin, but it should be easy for everybody. Tied for first are Seabourn (based on my very small sample) and Crystal. In each case we typically have security screening in the terminal but then go directly to the ship where full checkin is done by ship’s crew in one of the public rooms and there has always been ample staff allocated to the task to make it painless for everybody.

2. Room turnaround:

(4) Odyssey - Rooms are not available until 2PM on embarkation day. At least some of the hallways leading to the rooms appeared to be closed off. We were requested to vacate our rooms by 8AM on the last day. There was a place to leave bags until the rooms are ready. Also, the only option for the first and last meals was the Colonnade.

(3) Crystal - Rooms not available until2PM but it is easy to drop a bag off in the room before that. Disembarkation instructions said nothing about a need to vacate room before leaving the ship. On embarkation day the Dining Room is open until 1:30 and the Trident Grill all afternoon, but the Lido buffet is closed. On disembarkation morning all dining venues are available.

(2) Cunard - Rooms are available on embarkation but must be vacated by 8:30 when leaving. Only the Lido buffet is open on embarkation day (except for Grills) but both the Lido and Restaurant are open the final morning.

(1) Prinsendam - Rooms are ready on boarding and may be occupied until we leave the ship the last day. Both the dining room and buffet are open for both the first lunch and the final breakfast If HAL can do this why can’t others.

3. Walking

(5) Odyssey - just a short section around the aft of the ship, falling short even of the 15,000 ton Wind Surf.

(4) Queen Elizabeth - Very nice but a little below the others because the view is obstructed going around the bow and it’s pretty narrow in some spots.

(3) Prinsendam - A pure delight

(2) A step up from the Prinsendam in elegance

I’ve exhausted my 4 ships without a number one. I’ll break my own rules; number 1 is Queen Mary 2. A step below Crystal’s decks in elegance it more than makes up for that small shortcoming in practicality. QM2 provides far more suitability in a much greater variety of weather conditions with a bulkhead around the bow that can be closed off in high winds to make moving around it easy, high enough above the water to be less suseptable to spray and with double doors with an air lock which makes access much easier in windy conditions. A deck truly appropriate for a North Atlantic Ocean Liner.

4. Dining

(4). Odyssey - Very nice but two for me critical deficiencies. First, no choice of fixed dining. Also, way too late for my liking. It starts in the morning with only room service for coffee before 6, and nothing more than pastries before 8 most days. Dinner is the real challenge and several factors conspired to make it very undesirable for me. Starting out late, I found the dinners also very long, typically 90 minutes when dining alone and 150 minutes at a hosted table. Then follows a late show. I found it especially awkward to be at a table hosted by an entertainer and say “no, I missed your show”. Finally, a little administrative item on the Odyssey. Notice of time changes was very inconsistent. I pretty much said I would watch the late shows on nights where we gained an hour. One night it was in the Herald, a second the Captain mentioned it at noon. On the other 3 I saw nothing until there was a card on my bed after dinner. One night my hosted dinner ended about 9:40. I wanted to watch at least a little bit of the show and went right up to the Grand Salon, leaving by 10. When I got to my room, the card was on my bed and I returned for the rest of the show.

(3) Queen Elizabeth - Overall, very nice. A little bit less extensive menu than the other ships but still plenty of good choices. Could be downgraded slightly because the assignment of fixed vs flexible depends on cabin grade but Britannia Club is less expensive than any of the others than HAL.

(2) Prinsendam - High quality food and attentive service.

(1) Crystal - All the above plus the ability to order anything off menu with a day’s notice (I believe also on Seabourn). The Maitre’d is especially good at matching people up, will make changes if the very rare instances where things do not work out, and the staff is generally very quick to intervene when things go wrong.

Roy

Roy, thanks very much for sharing your candid opinions as well as your live ship board postings during your travels over the years.

Best wishes for wherever your travels take you in 2017...and a very good Christmas to you!

Regards,

Salacia

Thanks for your comparisons Roy, I have enjoyed following your recent trip.

Seabourn Odyssey - 450 pax

HAL Prinsendam - 740 pax

Crystal Symphony - 922 pax

Crystal Serenity - 1,017 pax

Queen Elizabeth - 2,090 pax

QM2 - 2,600 pax

I think it's a bit poor for Odyssey and Crystal to not be able to check in until 2pm with such few passengers. I think Cunard do a good job to get all cabins ready between 8.30am and noon.

Thank you Salacia, Host Hattie, and Ray66. Remember that how much can be done in a certain time period also is a function of crew size. There are probably things that can be handled more efficiently with the volume of a bigger ship.

(V) Public rooms

(4) Prinsendam - 3 Very nice rooms, Showroom, Crow’s Nest, and Wajang Theater but only one of the rooms is large enough to support a big event.

(3) Odyssey - The Club and Grand Salon are both very nice, and the Observation Bar is great but a bit on the small side. It looks like the Grand Salon was the only venue suitable for movies, and was very heavily committed. The Grand Salon also is a bit awkward due to the many columns and many obstructed view seats.

(2) Queen Elizabeth - Again 3 main rooms. The Royal Court Theater is one of the best theaters I’ve seen. Queens Room is great for Tea and Social Functions, and can double as a movie theater. Commodore Club is big enough to be a real gathering place

(1) Crystal - 4 superb rooms, a great theater, really 2 rooms suitable for social events, Starlight/Stardust Club, and the lovely and large Palm Court with spectacular views. Finally, the Hollywood theater, a great place for movies, lectures, and other events. I prefer the Symphony’s Starlite Club to Serenity’s Stardust but love each. The only other ship I remember with 4 such rooms is QM2 adding Illuminations, the Planetarium/Movie house, and lecture hall.

VI Cabins

(4) Queen Elizabeth - Except for the Grills, Cunard cabins have only a shower.

(3) On the smallish side, but well laid out. From my point of view the biggest weakness is limited computer work space.

(2) Prinsendam - Very nice. I think it had the nicest facilities on any ship I’ve been on for using my computers.

(1) Odyssey - Big, separate tub and shower, and a walkin closet. The nicest of my cabins but I’d give it up in a heartbeat for a slice of a Hollywood Theater or real promenade Deck.

VII - Service

(4) Queen Elizabeth - Very good service. The number 4 ranking is attributable to what the other 3 ships offer rather than any QE shortcomings.

(3) Prinsendam - Superb service, more personal than any I’ve seen on any other mainstream ship.

(1) and (2) - Crystal and Odyssey - While nothing human can be perfect, about as close as humanly possible. I used to consider being recognized by name as important until I sailed the other “S” luxury line where everybody knew my name but it stopped at that; while I had a name the crew seemed to have no concept of my individual needs or preferences. I got a bit more name recognition on Odyssey while staff recognition of my preferences was probably a bit higher on Crystal. Overall each were equally sublime.

VIII - Enrichment

(4) Prinsendam, generally a significant HAL weakness. I’ve seen a speaker or two on very long or special cruises but very little in general. The one bright spot in that area is what they call the “Location Guide”, a person who provides information on the areas we sail and the ports; while a member of the permanent crew his advice is very independent.

(3) Odyssey - 3 good speakers for our 10 sea days, one or 2 “Conversations” per sea day. The talks were apparently broadcast live on our suite TV, but I never saw any indication of a rebroadcast if a talk was missed.

(2) Cunard - More presenters and usually 3 per sea day. If a talk was missed, the day’s programs were broadcast over cabin TV later in the day on a rotating basis.

(1) Crystal - The variety of programs and speakers was actually quite similar to Cunard but Crystal added 3 enhancements. There is usually time allotted in each talk for audience feedback and participation. The talks are both broadcast live and repeated on TV each on a separate channel so you don’t need to wait through 2 other talks for yours to come up. Finally, it’s not on every voyage but Crystal often offers “Ocean Views”, panel discussions of topics from 2 or 3 of the onboard presenters.

IX Afternoon Tea

(4) Prinsendam - Very nice but it is done in the dining room and feels a bit morel like an opportunity for another meal and less as a social occasion.

(3) Odyssey - In the lovely Observation Bar. Music was always a pianist, and I downgraded it slightly one day because it appeared to be a fashion show by the shops.

(2) Queen Elizabeth - Absolutely first class with varied musical accompaniment including a harp, string quartet, and piano.

(1) For me, an upgrade over QE because while the Queens Room is lovely, Palm Court is equally elegant and adds sweeping ocean views.

Every ship has it’s good and not so good points. I start with Crystal as my measuring stick. I have several “go to” cruise lines, not necessarily because they are the best, but all of them offer something I do not get on Crystal. Some are far less than Crystal like NCL where the Studio cabin has some unique pluses or Royal Caribbean with by far the best itineraries out of Baltimore. I will talk more about HAL’s pluses on the HAL forum but there are several. Cunard’s main strength for me is the quality and frequency of transatlantic sailings.

Roy