New Cunarders!

Travelled with P&O and RCI.

Cunard for the first time...all messages from world cruisers!!! Is there any cruisers out there that cruise for 2/3 weeks? Starting to feel out of my depth!

Travelled with P&O and RCI.

Cunard for the first time...all messages from world cruisers!!! Is there any cruisers out there that cruise for 2/3 weeks? Starting to feel out of my depth!

On a world cruise approx. 1/3 of the total passenger consist will be full world voyagers depending on the cruise interest. Lately, it seems there are way more segment folks that post on CC. Maybe the true world people are too busy packing.

This past spring we were on one segment of the WC on the QMII, traveling between Cape Town and Southampton. Had a great time, met lots of people, both full WC'ers as well as segmenters. I posted a review on CC...there were issues as there always are on Cunard. But on the whole, a great experience. We will be back on the QMII for a crossing in July, 2016.

Welcome to cruise critic, Perezcruz.

I agree with Lakesregion. You will find the majority of passengers on a World Cruise voyage are actually booked for "segments."

Enjoy your Cunard experience! Happy Sailing!

Welcome to the Cunard board! There are so many knowledgeable friendly people on here you always get informed answers to any questions posed. We did a segment on our first Cunard and there was a complete mix of world and segment cruisers.

Hello,perezcruz.Sorry I am struggling a little to understand what you mean.Sorry if I am wrong but I get the impression you may think all Cunarders only go on world or long cruises.This is not the case.There are some of us who do short ones,even in Britannia class.

Rodger,

OP is actually on the QE roll call for 18 November 2015.

You will pretty much have a ship full of people who normally do shorter cruises.

Roy

Tv24

What do you mean by issues as there always are?

I am also doing my first Cunard cruise in march on QM2. H

Usually cruise celebrity and royal Caribbean.

Tv24

What do you mean by issues as there always are?

I am also doing my first Cunard cruise in march on QM2. H

Usually cruise celebrity and royal Caribbean.

In my review I highlighted two issue areas. Neither one was a deal breaker, but both were something to try to work around, if possible. The first is Kings Court on QMII, or the buffet on the other Cunard ships. Many frequent travelers call it "King's Chaos" because of the chaotic experience there. Food quality is poor, passenger attitudes are desperate as though the food will run out, furniture and ambience are like a high school cafeteria. Cunard really needs to work on this. My recommendation is to avoid it as much as possible or to take what you need and get out.

The other problem area is embarkations and disembarkations. Too often they are a mess with lots of delays, incredibly different than our experience on other lines. Too often passengers have to wait in very long lines with no explanations as to what has caused the delay. Sometimes we have been happily surprised with an ease of arrival or departure, but most of the time, it is a shambles. No good reason for this. My recommendation here is to lower your expectations. Not a luxury experience.

Otherwise, I love the Queen Mary II and will return often. It's not perfect, but no ship is, IMHO. And if you get a good deal, you can have very affordable vacation or transportation. And then there are the things that absolutely take your breath away, and there are many...

... The other problem area is embarkations and disembarkations. Too often they are a mess with lots of delays, incredibly different than our experience on other lines. Too often passengers have to wait in very long lines with no explanations as to what has caused the delay. Sometimes we have been happily surprised with an ease of arrival or departure, but most of the time, it is a shambles. No good reason for this. ...

Was this in Southampton or New York?

I ask because I've only had one poor boarding experience, that was in Southampton in 2009 boarding the Queen Victoria, and one poor disembarking and that was leaving the QM2 in 2007 at New York (Red Hook).

All the others have been delay and hassle free. You've clearly been unlucky, although I note, re-reading your post "Sometimes we have been happily surprised with an ease of arrival or departure" so maybe this is isn't a consistent/frequent issue?

I hope your next arrival & departure goes smoothly :)

Thanks for the explanation, as we are a group of 10 I think we will probably do our own thing for breakfast and go to dining room for lunch and dinner, or skip lunch so hopefully we wont spend much time if any in the buffet.

Is there an area, where we can sit outside to eat? I think it was on the radiance we collected our meal from the buffet and were able to go out through the doors to the back of the ship to eat at the tables. Really loved being able to do that each day.

I was hoping as we are doing a segment on a RTW that there won't be the chaos that often occurs when boarding as not everyone will be boarding where we are.

Another question - as we are a group of 10 we have asked to be on the same table however I notice when getting into the cunard website the max table size showing is 8. I asked the TA we booked through whether we are all on the same table but she answered my other questions but didnt address this one, I am hoping it was an oversight rather than deliberate. Just wondering if anyone here has been on a table of more than 8.

Thanks for all your very helpful advise.

In my review I highlighted two issue areas. Neither one was a deal breaker, but both were something to try to work around, if possible. The first is Kings Court on QMII, or the buffet on the other Cunard ships. Many frequent travelers call it "King's Chaos" because of the chaotic experience there. Food quality is poor, passenger attitudes are desperate as though the food will run out, furniture and ambience are like a high school cafeteria. Cunard really needs to work on this. My recommendation is to avoid it as much as possible or to take what you need and get out.

 

The other problem area is embarkations and disembarkations. Too often they are a mess with lots of delays, incredibly different than our experience on other lines. Too often passengers have to wait in very long lines with no explanations as to what has caused the delay. Sometimes we have been happily surprised with an ease of arrival or departure, but most of the time, it is a shambles. No good reason for this. My recommendation here is to lower your expectations. Not a luxury experience.

Having been on seven different cruise lines now including Cunard I wouldn't say that the problems in the Kings Court buffet are any different to the buffets on other ships. Space is always a premium in the buffets, though we have rarely had a problem getting a table in the Kings Court and if we can't, there is always the Winter Gardens. Sadly there are greedy and rude people on all cruise ships. It's not anything that Cunard can be blamed for and our experience on some other ships has been considerably worse. At least the QM2 seems to have fewer children running amock :)

I wouldn't agree that the food quality is poor either, though the choice is definitely a little limited compared with some other lines. That said, nobody is ever going to starve on a cruise ship and the quality overall on all cruise ships is definitely superior to that of most hotels we have been to. It's definitely a matter of perspective.

Embarkation/disembarkation varies as it does with all ports and cruise lines. We have had a bit of a wait at Southampton, though it was well organised. Getting off in Red Hook can be awful, but that's usually down to lack of staff provided by US immigration rather than anything to do with Cunard. It's no better at Heathrow or Gatwick for an American visiting the UK. Embarking at Red Hook is a breeze and disembarkation at Southampton is fine as the immigration is done on the ship beforehand.

Is there an area, where we can sit outside to eat? I think it was on the radiance we collected our meal from the buffet and were able to go out through the doors to the back of the ship to eat at the tables. Really loved being able to do that each day.

Nothing like on the Radiance on the QM2, no. Guess this is because it's an ocean liner first and foremost designed for transatlantic crossings. Most transatlantic days don't lend themselves to eating outside :)

Which segment are you doing? We are also on for one of the segments.

Hi Perecruz

We are new to Cunard too, previously sailed with RCI and Princess. We did a short 4 day cruise on QM2 last September and loved it. We are now booked on an 8 day segment of QE's world cruise, that's all we can fit in with our busy work schedules. We are really looking forward to it and are already planning our next world cruise segment for 2017.

Thanks Milamber, never mind I'm sure we will find places to sit and relax.

We are doing the Brisbane to Hong Kong leg and staying on an extra couple of days in HK. Group of 10 from Melbourne, Adelaide and Central Coast NSW.

Thanks Milamber, never mind I'm sure we will find places to sit and relax.

We are doing the Brisbane to Hong Kong leg and staying on an extra couple of days in HK. Group of 10 from Melbourne, Adelaide and Central Coast NSW.

We'll just miss you then - we get off in Sydney!

Actually one of the nicest things about the QM2 is the space onboard. Even when it's full it feels half empty. Never a problem getting somewhere to relax, unlike many of the other ships we've had sea days on.

Hi tv24,

 

Was this in Southampton or New York?

 

I ask because I've only had one poor boarding experience, that was in Southampton in 2009 boarding the Queen Victoria, and one poor disembarking and that was leaving the QM2 in 2007 at New York (Red Hook).

 

All the others have been delay and hassle free. You've clearly been unlucky, although I note, re-reading your post "Sometimes we have been happily surprised with an ease of arrival or departure" so maybe this is isn't a consistent/frequent issue?

 

I hope your next arrival & departure goes smoothly :)

Thanks for your good wishes, Pepper. Unfortunately we've had bad experiences in New York, Southampton, and Los Angeles. The most recent really bad experience was embarkation in Cape Town where we waited almost 3 hours and received no explanation for the delay. Over one hour of that wait was spent standing in line with nowhere to sit. The disembarkation in Southampton was problematic as well, with an hour wait.

As I wrote, this is not a deal breaker for me, and I will return to the QM2 (without Roman numerals). Thanks again for your kind comments.

Travelled with P&O and RCI.

Cunard for the first time...all messages from world cruisers!!! Is there any cruisers out there that cruise for 2/3 weeks? Starting to feel out of my depth!

Hi Perszcruz, Full world cruisers are a small portion of the full ship. I have done a few world cruises and usually there will be on average 500 doing the full world voyage. The rest are all doing segments. There are usually six segments around the world so the majority of people will board for a segment and leave at the end of it. Approx. 24 days later. Some people will do two segments, or even half a world cruise , but most passengers are all on segments. It is a good way to see a different part of the world.

I see you are on QE in November. I know of two other couples whom I have done world cruises with in the past will be on that cruise, but that is only six of us out of around 2000 others, so do not feel you are out numbered as this is just a regular 24 day cruise and not a world voyage. Have fun and look forward to your time on Cunard. Pleased you are enjoying reading about life on world cruises. ;) See you on QE. :)

We often skip Kings Court buffet at lunchtime, not because of the food which is good but because there is often heavy footfall in this area at that time. Fortunately there are also the other areas for lunch, the Britannia MDR, fish and chips/pie at the Golden Lion, or fast food at the boardwalk outside cafe if this is open. Sometimes we just like to take a breather and order from the 24 hour in cabin food menu, The in cabin choice of food is actually very good with caesar salad, steak, hot apple pie etc to choose from, and all delivered to the cabin door. Eating in cabin is a good alternative or on the balcony if the weather allows.

We often skip Kings Court buffet at lunchtime, not because of the food which is good but because there is often heavy footfall in this area at that time. Fortunately there are also the other areas for lunch, the Britannia MDR, fish and chips/pie at the Golden Lion, or fast food at the boardwalk outside cafe if this is open. Sometimes we just like to take a breather and order from the 24 hour in cabin food menu, The in cabin choice of food is actually very good with caesar salad, steak, hot apple pie etc to choose from, and all delivered to the cabin door. Eating in cabin is a good alternative or on the balcony if the weather allows.

Happily there are several very good alternatives to King's Chaos at all meal times.

Travelled with P&O and RCI.

Cunard for the first time...all messages from world cruisers!!! Is there any cruisers out there that cruise for 2/3 weeks? Starting to feel out of my depth![/quote

Hello,sorry am I missing something here.Surely Perezcruz was saying that they thought that only Crunard cruisers did world and not short ones.The thread appears to have morphed somewhat into discussing The Kings Court and where to eat.

Rodger.

Dear tv24

Sorry you had a bad experience in Cape Town. Good news: a brand new cruise terminal should be ready in 2017 in the Victoria and Albert Waterfront. This will be a huge improvement!

Regards.

Thank you, enjoyed reading all your comments.

Dear tv24

Sorry you had a bad experience in Cape Town. Good news: a brand new cruise terminal should be ready in 2017 in the Victoria and Albert Waterfront. This will be a huge improvement!

Regards.

Thanks for your comment. I wish I knew what went wrong in Cape Town, but unfortunately, the Cunard staff provided no explanation, only directions on where to obtain water rations. And then I wish I could explain big delays in other ports, but alas. But again, we are booked on another QM2 crossing and look forward to it.

Thanks everyone for all of your comments

We have cruise twice before both times on Celebrity X , I hope that there are no problems with the embarkation as I suffered a brain haemorrhage 2 years ago and get very anxious

Hx