japyke

ok I'm gonna be the bad guy here. People have said it but it seems you don't hear it.

A guarantee is a guarantee is a guarantee. Get over it. Next time pay attention to the small print, choose an actual room in some grade, or don't go! It's that simple. If you follow these boards with regularity this issue comes up ALL THE TIME. Stop blaming Cunard and take responsibility for your own actions. Are you really going to let this ruin a great 93 day vacation. If you're so able bodied why are you complaining. How about devoting your energy to say, maybe a handicapped person who might need some assistance.

The sad thing is that despite their clear policy, Cunard will to a point attempt to take care of you. However if you push this too far you'll go over the edge and nobody will give you the time of day and good luck getting those extra chairs then.

no sympathy here.

I feel sad and miss this someone I never met in person. Her's was a constant and reliable presence here on this forum. May her spirit endure.

Roscoe (P. Coltrane) and others: I was paging through the following photo essay and lo and behold in the 9th photo down what to my wondering eyes should appear...

://www.bloomberg.com/news/photo-essays/2017-04-07/san-francisco-skyline-reshaped-by-tallest-office-building-on-the-west-coast

It took me a minute to put 2+2 together and I had to zoom in to confirm. Thought you Victoria SF'ers might appreciate a novel view of the mother ship. Regardz

Roscoe, thanks again for your efforts in keeping us along for the virtual ride. You make not being on board tolerable. Nice Lens!

Good Job Boss. Great segment and you were wise to choose it. Sorry to hear about the internet, have you informed Cunard IT that your loyal fans depend on your reports being dispatched in a timely manner? Hope you're having a great trip, carry on! ...and thanks.

I suspect that you are now tagged as a problem customer at Cunard and as a result they have dug in their heels. Why do favors or bend policy for a customer who books discount rates and makes complaints and demands restitution after a voyage?

Furthermore, I don't buy your argument: 'can't book you in a handicap when there are other Q6 staterooms available'. If someone comes along who needs the handicap room prior to sailing you will be placed elsewhere without a thought. If the only thing you wanted was a bathtub you should have booked a suite with a bathtub.

I don't mean any offense with this reply, I just feel I'm more in Cunard's camp than yours.

Brutal, The end of the voyage that is. Surely for you and definitely for us.

Thank you so much for taking us along on your voyage. Your blogs were just the right length, the perfect mix of self and selflessness, and somehow reflected the hi's and lo's which are reliable companions on any long trip. I'm sure the Line, the officer's and crew were sad to see you go.

Here's to your next trip!

In this day and age a major commercial booking website being down is pretty pathetic and management (wherever that actually is these days) should step forward and bear responsibility.

Maybe now we know why they've been loathe to change itineraries; who thought moving the QV from a world cruise in 2018 to the circum. S.America express would be so difficult. Figuring out where those ports are and which ones they are going to sell and which ones they're planning to skip is just too confusing.

Or, maybe their system has been taken hostage via ransomware and the bean counters refuse to pay up.;).

In all seriousness, I would hope they are going to roll out something much improved which justifies the downtime. And please, no multiple sliding bars to set excursion preferences like: Walking, some walking, no walking.

Just finished catching up on your 'exit via' blog Roscoe. Many, many thanks for your efforts in keeping the anchored folks up to date.

This drydock is such a bummer that it deserves it's own thread. Apparently the plan is to make the stern of the QV look like the QE by adding 30 additional cabins; which is to say square and ugly. Plus all you folks whose favorite ship is the QV will get to share it with another 60 people; what a brilliant idea! News of this has been buried in two threads about the QM2 remastering, I think forum readers deserve to know. There's a reason why many people prefer QV to QE; I argue that this is due in part to it having a one of a kind profile that both crew and passengers are proud of. If the Cunard line is that short of capacity why can't they persuade the Carnival brass to build them a new ship?

I found the highlighted part (regarding the Queen Victoria) interesting...

 

"Thirty additional Britannia Club Balcony cabins, giving more passengers access to the exclusive Britannia Club Restaurant (which will also be expanded during the refurb). Britannia Club Balcony rooms, which are already available on Queen Elizabeth, will also be added to Queen Victoria when the ship goes into dry dock in 2017."

 

So, no more Chart Room on QV? And a new near-vertical stern (with larger pool area) as seen on QE?

Anyone have further details or more information?

Are they really going to go vertical with the QV stern? If so, such a shame. It's the only thing that gives the QV any character. The QE is a typical Vista class tub in comparison. Packing more sardines in the can is no way to promote or effect a luxury experience. I guess an industry that's capacity constrained really doesn't care. Premium maybe, Luxury not.

Good Morning all. I Thought this title might get a little attention. But seriously check out the following link:

http://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/australian-volume-has-increased-for-cunard.html

Another follower here. Thanks and have a great trip.

I got that mailing too but it seems like it was about 10 days ago; I didn't follow up at the time. I guess this would qualify as a 'severely capacity constrained offer'. Strange that this same or a similar mailing would arrive in Montreal only now. However, there has been a great deal on princess grill suites on the same Southhampton-FLL voyage; $1999 for 12 days! on a very large online travel booking site. Hope someone here can take advantage of this, seems like a great rate.

I echo Host Hattie's post and add: You can rest assured that having booked and paid for Queens Grill accommodation your names will be on 'the list' and that you will be extremely well taken care of. Many of us who frequent this board would love to arrive at the terminal with our names on the 'duplex list'. Check-in and boarding can be a bit of a scrum as there can be thousands of people coming and going but before you know it you'll be on board and settling in. You definitely picked a great way to dip your feet into the world of cruising. Have fun and please let us know how it goes.

We were aboard QM2 on a TA crossing when she experienced a propulsion problem. It was a January eastbound crossing. We had left New York a few hours late due to a nor'easter. This incident occurred the day after we passed the Titanic point on the moving map. So, the Titanic was on my mind.

 

Something awoke me at about 2 in the morning. I woke my husband up and said, "The ship isn't moving." He said, "Don't be silly. We are still moving, just very slowly." He's an airline captain, so don't expect him to get very excited about much.

 

The television monitor showed that she had slowed from around 19 kts to 10 kts. We had just enough forward momentum to keep us from wallowing. A few moments later I heard a young voice on the PA in the hallway. I leapt out of bed, ran to the door, felt the door for fire and cracked the door open. The young man's voice was calling, "All hands to the ECR. All hands to the ECR." Silence thereafter.

 

I got back into bed. My husband and I lay there trying to figure out what ECR meant. We couldn't figure it out, but it kept us occupied. My husband said, "Don't worry. It's not serious until we hear from the Commodore." Okay, so we waited. Then, the PA crackled into the stillness, "All hands to the ECR. All hands to the ECR." It was the Commodore! So, I turn to my husband and said "What now, smart ass?" Can you tell we have been married a while? He said, we wait.

 

Maybe an hour later we hear the Commodore again. He said, "Stand down." Whew, problem solved. Now we want to know what ECR meant.

 

The next morning we asked every crew member we encountered about the event. No one was spilling the beans. We finally got an answer from Osman, the Maître's D in the QG. It was a propulsion problem.

 

The Commodore did address the issue in the noon address. He said that it was a propulsion issue. He went on to say that it is always better to gather the entire team to deal with an issue from the onset than have to assemble a team piecemeal as conditions worsen. He also said that we would be increasing our speed to make up for the lost time. He pushed the pods up to around 25 or 26 kts. That is not the QM2's maximum speed. But, it's really fast compared to a cruise ship. They only had to make up a couple of hours. With the increased speed, we couldn't detect any difference except on the television monitor.

 

BTW, ECR stood for Engine Control Room. Mystery solved.

 

The QM2 is an amazing piece of technology. On a good day, everyone should go up on deck to "Prophenge" and have their picture taken with the prop array. It gives you an appreciation of the engineering.

I was on this voyage as well. And yes, to lose propulsion in the middle of the Atlantic in January, in the middle of the night, and to have an announcement calling for "Emergency response team to the ECR" piped into the cabins is a worrisome event for a person from a generation raised on the Poseidon adventure and in my case having read "a night to remember". My partner also rolled over with no interest but wide awake I had no choice but to muster myself. The ship was eerily quiet in the dead of the night at such low speed. There were a few other type A's out and about but the only real action I found was at the base of one of the stairwells where it interesects with the Burma Road (the crew passage down the center of the ship)where I observed Paul Laughlin (sp?), our cruise director, in a windbreaker, walkie-talkie in hand, directing crew who were scurrying about. This was clearly not a time for asking questions as management clearly had it's hands full. I repaired to the Kings Court for very early morning coffee and to wait this event out. Not long after Commodore Rynd gave the order to stand down. Phew!

I took the behind the scenes tour on the same voyage, I was hoping to gather some details. One of our stops was a visit to the ECR. My questions were these: What was the emergency and it's cause, and if there was none, wasn't it unusual that they would pipe the emergency announcement into the passenger cabins in the middle of the night if this was just a drill? While they never admitted that there was an actual emergency or that this was unusual, the response that I heard reading between the lines was that there was indeed an important issue, or alarm, or possibly even a drill, but that 'a critical team member had not responded to the first public area announcement or responded to their 'page'. Hmmmm, possibly he or she was in a passenger cabin?

Anyway, all is well that ends well. To see our cruise director in the middle of the night in 'emergency' management mode gave me a new understanding of the role of the ships officers. In the history of Cunard's continual scheduled TransAtlantic service this 'emergency' was maybe a mosquito bite, if that.

It was of some comfort knowing that if there was an emergency, that we were in the hands of Cunard's dedicated officers and crew who clearly take seriously their responsibility for passenger safety and the tradition of professional excellence.

Now if we can just get the QM2 into the shop for a seriously needed overhaul...

Hi,

we are about to go our 6th cruise with cunard (canaries Dec12) and yes there are some people on the ship with a touch of "let ME through I am important(well I think I am)" BUT the majority of people you meet are from all walks of life.

 

You will fit in as anyone who has bought into the idea of dressing for dinner and enjoying it as opposed to the numerous posters who bitch and whine about it (lordy knows why they book) will fit in.

 

My partner and i are working class - he's a retired teahcer and i work in an office and take public transport to work-we find we fit in. Clearly there people on board form lower And higher ends of the social scale but just going to a supermarket you run into that

 

We laugh at some fo the Hyacinth Bucket characters pretending to be whatthey are not and yes we comment at some of the people with rolexes on heading off to the grills & say "wow they must be rich" but its like flying -you see all sorts!

 

Go and dont stress you wont regret it

 

Our only "regret" is going on our first cruise with cunard as we became hooked and now i just dont feel inclined to fly or take other sorts of holidays

Your first post here (or so it seems), Yay! The more the merrier. Always a good thing to hear fresh perspectives. Have a great voyage in December, I hope you let us readers know how it goes.

If you like to play cards or games or are just looking for a quiet room away from the crowds I recommend the Atlantic room, Deck 11 all the way forward behind the observation deck. Have a great voyage.

Another Britannia perspective: We had good meals in the Verandah on QV at a very fair upcharge. The food was very rich. Downside is that the menu doesn't change (in my experience and from what I gather) so essentially once you've had your choice(s) or favorite you're out of luck. We had a positive experience in the Lido alternative as well (I don't remember which specialty night it was). Unfortunately I can't compare to the Grills. Some day...

Looking forward to your posts. We had a metal fronted balcony last winter on our Panama Canal voyage and it was fine. Rather liked the location, very convenient to the public spaces in the heart of the ship. And the gym upstairs too!

I'm not a frequent poster but a frequent reader of this forum. I wanted to say that we're lucky to have Host Hattie (you) on this board. For a volunteer position you continue to rise above and beyond the call of duty. On the 'eve' of another of your departures I hope someone at Cunard reads this forum and that they find some way to reward you for your continued contributions as Cruise Critic's 'Brand Ambassador' for the Line; I think of it as on-line White Star Service. You are very attentive, responsive, and yet in no way heavy handed in your responses. I think it's very important to support the 'critic's' among us, whether good or bad. If we didn't care we wouldn't be here. Thanks again and have a great voyage.

Thank you for posting, I enjoyed reading your feedback. It's good to hear from experienced cruisers who have just tried Cunard for the first time.

2) the dining room is going back to the way it use to be set. A full service of dinnerware. Last cruise half the time we had to ask for silverware. And bring back the server and his assistant. Also last time after waiting for twenty minutes or so for the tables to be cleared we just finally got up and left. no desert, no coffee. The other night the matre'd came and helped to clear tables. A couple of other nights we had problems but not as bad.

Cunard lurker here enjoying reading this thread; with 15 ships this board always has something interesting. My question is this: Do HAL servers NOT have an assistant?

Thank you...what I did was printed all the pages out with sailings and dates and used a three hole puncher and put them in a binder. That way I can compare and make notes to give me an idea.

good idea. I try to use a spreadsheet to keep track of fares but it quickly gets very confusing what with changing fares, changing cabin grades (e.g. when 3 grades of balcony go to 8 as of a certain date when they reclassify all the accommodation on the ship), the occasional special offers including on board credits and/or free gratuities, and that very rare breed: the special offer that includes port taxes and fees (they do seem to come along from time to time). Unfortunately, the only way(that I know of) to see the price breakdowns within a certain grade (e.g. balc. or OV)is to enter the booking process, plus at this point you can click 'availability' and it will actually give you the staterooms they are booking at that time or if only guarantees are available.

I know, way too much info. but you'll catch on. If nothing else keeping up with POLAR (the booking software)is great activity for those with obsessive compulsive disorder. Having a good travel agent, preferably a good friend who will suffer through the process with you, might be the best advice. If they do any volume with Cunard or if they have wealthy clients who book expensive trips they seem to be able to get a little extra perk here or there for their clients (chocolate covered fruit upon embarkation or a little extra OBC).

As always, these are just my thoughts, and I'm sure someone is going to call me out on something but that just seems to go with the territory.

From a 'thrifty by necessity' perspective I suggest watching prices for the same cruise this year. This is a good time of year to watch what happens with the pricing for this year's equivalent voyage. Granted one year isn't necessarily the same as the next but what else does one have to go on? Right now the best fares I've seen for this year's cruise stateside were in Cunard's World Club Memorial day sale with insides at $1399 and balconies at $1599 (you can be assured that this will be sheltered!). Cunard seems to be promoting this cruise always so I'd wait 'till later as opposed to booking sooner. I have no idea what kind of accommodation you're looking for and obviously if you want something specific you should book early ( the standard disclaimer). My gut feeling tells me that the best you could possibly hope for would be $100/day (+fees, 2nd std. disclaimer) for a sheltered balcony in the bow but that this might only be possible by booking an inside guarantee and hoping for the best. I too am interested in the advice you'll receive. Good luck.