TowandaUK

We have just had our first Cunard cruise on QA having previously sailed with Celebrity. We found that the food was much better on QA than Celebrity Silhouette, although I would qualify that by saying that our last X experience was exactly a year ago when X was experiencing severe cutbacks in choice and quality of food - I understand that many of those cutbacks have now been reversed. Standards of dress is definitely better on QA. While some Cunard regulars may see a downturn in dress standards we thought it much improved on X. The afternoon tea is exactly as you will see on the vlogs and is a treat not to be missed - just turn up in good time. If you plan on ships’ excursions you will find plenty of choice - 89 on our QA voyage. Although ships excursions are never inexpensive we thought they were better value than X. Whilst the entertainment on Cunard was not razzle dazzle (except for bright lights) it was ok. Insight lectures are very good, and the celebrity talks excellent - we had Val McDermid and Will Carling. It sounds from your post that Cunard will be a very good fit, and hope you have a fantastic time.

Queen Anne open dining

We had open dining on Queen Anne to the Canaries. We usually went shortly after opening, and were always given a table for 2. On the first night the maitre’d said we would have to share, but I said we didn’t want that and we were shown to a table for 2 next to 2 other tables for 2 that quickly filled up. Most nights we were seated in a row of 3 and the tables were very close. We were surprised that we actually enjoyed meeting different people each night. There was one night when we asked to be away from others and we were given a solitary table next to the balcony overlooking the level 2 dining room. We never once had a window seat in the 14 nights (we never asked and were not bothered about a window). On one night when service was particularly slow there was a massive queue when we left just before 8pm, but that was the only queue we saw. The main problem as we saw it was that on a couple of occasions the set of 3 tables was served as if it was one big table. We were the first to arrive and the last to arrive was some 20 minutes after us. We were all given menus and served courses at the same time. One couple had an extra course and the rest of us were kept waiting until they had finished and were ready to move to the next course. Inevitably it slowed us down and instead of our usual 45 minute meal it took over 2 hours and we skipped coffee so we could get to the early theatre. Another time I would not be prepared to wait and would raise it with the servers. otherwise we were happy with open dining and would choose to do it again.

I’m with you on long life milk. Have to have black coffee onboard.

When we visited sales on Queen Anne during the Canaries cruise we booked a taster on Queen Mary. I asked about the planetarium and Chris said that it would be refitted. He said that it would be fitted with LED walls and that it would be an all immersive experience that could also host concerts. He didn’t say when this would happen. We booked a two night taster M612, which appears to have a gap in itineraries just before it. It seems possible that this would be a likely dry dock. Hopefully all will be completed during that time and hopefully M612 will go ahead.

Interested that you had a faberge talk and unveiling. On the Canaries voyage we also had a faberge talk and unveiling. Items unveiled were the new Queen Anne pendant and an egg which if I remember rightly had a ship inside. Did they unveil something new or was it the same 2 items?

If you google Cunard wine collections the information is there. Just beware that even if a wine is listed it doesn’t mean they have it onboard.

I think there will be those who are disappointed, especially if they were expecting a royal. I suspect if this was known from the start people would have been well behind it. As it is the lack of information led to unrealistic expectations.

We were in a balcony cabin and heard no noise from the neighbours or corridor. However there were a couple of nights when it was a bit rocky there was some creaking around the balcony door.

We recently visited voyage sales and booked a taster voyage on QM2. I asked about the planetarium. I was told that it was due to have a major refit. He said it was going to be fitted with state of the art LED walls to give a truly immersive experience and that it could also be used for concerts. He gave no time scale.

When we were on the Canaries voyage we visited voyage sales. In a general conversation about the ship the staff member said to be sure to complete the survey. He said some things had already been identified which are already in the pipeline to be addressed. The one thing he mentioned was the position of TVs in the inside cabins - he said they plan to fit brackets so they can be angled. He didn’t give a time scale for it to be done.

Victoria has hit the nail on the head. Emails didn’t work and the first person I spoke to in customer services didn’t help, however the last time I rang I spoke to somebody who actually knew what they are talking about and the refund has gone through. The refunded drinks package will pay for the 2 nighter taster on QM2. We cancelled the package due to medication being prescribed to my husband just before boarding. This unexpected turn of events did us a favour. I would not book a package again. We were shocked once onboard to discover that there were very few red wines available that were covered by the package. On the one or two occasions that I had wine in the Britannia restaurant there were only 4 red wines by the glass within the package, one of which was unavailable. When dining in Sir Samuel’s only one wine would have been available to us. We shall definitely be pay as you go in future.

I thought Elijah and his female counterpart were sometimes scruffy singing in the Queens room. Jeans after 6pm?

Thank you. We actually booked a 2 night taster onQM2 while onboard so hope it’s the start of a longer relationship with Cunard.

Thank you for your help. I originally emailed via the website. Customer services then gave me a different email address to try which they said would respond straight away, but they didn’t. I have just spoken to customer services again and this time the lovely lady I spoke to put the refund request through herself. Interestingly she said there had been no refund request from the ship despite me being told 3 times that refund was on its way! I feel a little more confident that the refund will arrive now.

Incidentally. We have not received a survey. Has anyone else received one?

He did do 2 performances. Perhaps the content differed. I have no intention of commenting further on this one small part of my review. To be honest I’m more upset that I have paid for all my drinks twice and getting nowhere with my complaint to Cunard.

I did state in my review that my comments on Berni Flint were just my opinion. Sadly there were many people who found him funny. However when he told the story similar to the Lola song by the kinks it made me feel very uncomfortable. I didn’t find him funny at all. Incidentally the promised refund of $2016 for the drink package has still not materialised and I’m getting nowhere with Cunard. Seems like I shall have to start a dispute proceeding with my credit card company. This despite being told 3 times by the pursers office that the refund was on its way, and having paid pay as you go for all our drinks.

Thank you Hattie

My review of the Canaries voyage. has now been published. It may be of more interest to those in a Britannia balcony.

Our allotted time was 9.10. We had breakfast and at 8am we decided to find somewhere near deck 2 where we could park ourselves for an hour. Went down in lift c as instructed. and it was chaos everywhere. It seems disembarkation was delayed and there were people queued and people waiting everywhere. We had been intending to wait in the Chart Room but it was completely full. We had no option but to make our way through the queues it was impossible to turn back, and managed to get through to the Queens room where thankfully there was plenty of room to sit. Had we known of the delay we would have waited well away from deck 2 and not added to the congestion. Cunard did a very poor job of advising people of the delay and nobody was marshalling the queues. They did eventually advise of delays but not until well after things got really bad. Chaos. There were announcements that the gangway closed completely for some while because of overcrowding in the terminal. We held back because of the chaos and joined the queue at 9.55 (45 minutes after our allocated time). We went through steadily and were in our car at 10.25. I’m surprised that Cunard claim that everyone was off by 10.25. When we drove out at 10.30 there was still a steady stream of people leaving the terminal.

We went as a special treat to Sir Samuel’s. It was very nice but not worth $130 for 2. We had a very acceptable steak in Britannia the next night included.

We haven’t had any problems logging in. We share one device so are constantly logging off to let the other login. We did have problems getting emails but I believe that to be a BT problem. All ok now.

Can someone explain something for me please. We are on Britannia open dining so we eat on deck 3 and arrive when we like. However we tend to book an early slot as we like to go to the first show. We enjoy moving around, meeting new neighbours and experiencing different servers. We have noticed that there are quite a few people who have set tables they go to every night on deck 3. They bypass the front desk and seat themselves. How is this possible with open dining? Is it an overflow of fixed dining guests from deck 2?

We are not dancers but have been loving watching the ballroom dancing in the Queens room. Last night was particularly good. There was the usual host who danced with a variety of ladies. There also appeared to be a couple more gentlemen fulfilling that role - passengers maybe? Early on in the cruise we watched one lady have a dance lesson - last night she was tripping the light fantastic like a pro. Lovely to see.