ddgarner1

May us a good time for this cruise. We loved the entire experience.  Guides were great, crew fellow travelers and food superb, The live music perfect.  Only caution:  don’t walk alone near the cathedral in Koblenz.  There is a consistent radical presence in the area and some German women walking alone have been assaulted.

6 hours ago, LittleFish1976 said:

I'm a very keen (female) ballroom dancer, and by ballroom I mean International Standard not American style. I would wish for professional male dance hosts on the ships who can dance in that style. I thought there would be more female passengers who would be doing International Standard than American style so employing American male dancers is not an ideal situation imo. I must have been unlucky or travelled in the wrong waters but I've been totally underwhelmed by the standard of dance hosts on board. As for employing female dance hosts we single female dancers may as well give up on having a decent dance on board at all and leave our shoes at home. As you say, Dancer Bob, dancing is also of considerable importance to me so it is a great disappointment to me that the dancing onboard is way below what I was lead to believe it would be. 

Perhaps I wasn't paying close enough attention to the male dance hosts (why would I?), but I don't recall that more than one was American -- and he may actually have been Canadian.  I shared a dinner table with lovely lady from Florida whose only purpose in being on the QM2 was to dance. She preferred International Standard, although she was happy just to be dancing with so many men who didn't constantly mutter the steps to themselves. I did dance twice with the female dance host during my last TA, and did find her to be quite good at both International Standard and American Smooth,helped considerably by a quick five-minute session to choreograph a bit of "apart" Fred Astaire and a lift, the first one I'd done in about five years (at age 69, I don't recommend doing many lifts).         

(I'm a former Arthur Murray dance instructor in my youth, a retired competitor and adjudicator with Dance Sport USA.) 

Bob, at the end of October there was a lovely couple from the US who were dance hosts.  They are quite excellent dancers and engaging conversationalists. There was some talk of adding a second lady as a dance host, but that view seemed odd to the many ladies traveling alone or with husbands with two left feet.

I didn’t see anywhere that Cunard weighed my luggage when I checked in.  It’s probably on of those things no one pays much attention unless you wave the policy under someone’s nose.  

Personally, I reserve my rants for the shower.  😁

Whatever you wear, you will judged by some. I saw it on my recent TA crossing at the end of Oct. 

What I found most amusing was the distain in the reaction of people eating in the Kings Court when anyone in a tux walked through on formal evenings.  It seemed oddly counterintuitive 

The QM2 may not be for you.  There is an interesting alternative— passenger cabins onboard freighters where there is no dress code or formal dining.  It’s really a nice, quiet way to travel.  I enjoyed my voyage from Amsterdam to Baltimore. 

7 hours ago, Bell Boy said:

 

Obviously you are not a serious  Ballroom Dancer. 

I wrote, " Wear yours to dinner if you wish.  Frankly, no one cares."  I was referring to the people at your table and the wait staff.  What shoes one wears on either casual of formal nights don't receive noticed.   

Bell Boy, I don't know how you could possibly infer from two sentences that I am not a "serious ballroom dancer."  Such a statement is quite an assumption.  Here are a few facts to inform:
1.  I began studying ballroom dance at age 14. 

2.  I first competed as an amateur at age 16 with multiple trophies won with my partner, Natalia Alexandra Ivanovna.  

3. I began teaching ballroom dance at age 18 and continued throughout my university years.

4. I began competing as a professional at age 22 and retired a decade later after military-related injury in 1981. 

5. I was a qualified adjudicator for nearly two decades, though long-since retired, and retain a great many friends in the professional ballroom dance community both in the USA and in the UK. 

Thus, the question of "serious" is rather laughable to me. 

More to the point of the topic, though, some people leave dinner quickly to change shoes in their room and not miss the first dance, but on the QM2 you are only about 100 feet away from the Queens Room when dining in Britannia.  Thus, it makes little sense to go back to your room simply to change shoes.  You can change shoes in the Queens Room, but that is also where the stretching and yoga classes are held daily.  I have never seen the crew clean either the carpet or the dance floor in the Queens Room, so unless you are really careful and don't touch the floor as you change your shoes, you are inviting lots of germs, something I prefer to avoid by wearing my dance shoes to dinner.     

23 hours ago, Fairgarth said:

 

Quite right, you should be!  I was on stage in the choir and it was a "once in a lifetime" experience.  Anthony Inglis is exceptional and has infinite patience with us rank amateurs.  I think he gets a charge out of so many people wanting to make good music and he can lead us there.  It was also interesting to sit at the back of the stage and face the conductor during the orchestra performance.  Normally, you see only the guy's back.  He conducts with his face as well as his arms.  It also became obvious that Capt. Wells has no future as a symphonic conductor and should stick to steering the ship but full marks for trying!  History does not record if Anthony Inglis was given a chance to steer the ship.

I am, indeed. 

Wear yours to dinner if you wish.  Frankly, no one cares.

I brought a box of decaf tea with me on a recent crossing and didn't even open the box.  The fair offered was far support to my prior purchase at Whole Foods.

I was on QM2 #0840 TA crossing, and seated at a table of 8, all solo travelers.  Five men, four women.  One of the women was on the ship only for the ballroom dancing.  She was quite good.   We were told that one person was a last minute cancellation. We had a great party at our table (Late dining) every night, and were usually about the last group to leave the dining room.

I also tried to visit the Britannia Dining Room as often as other activities would permit and met new and interesting people daily.   The daily 1030 solo traveler coffee also proved to be an interesting way to meet people who were specifically interested in meeting other people during the crossing.  With 2600 people on board, it was surprising how frequently while walking around the ship, walking into a lounge,  shop or event space that  would see and talk to someone I'd perhaps only have met the day before.  I was like seeing a long-lost friend.  A group of us who met at a Solo Traveler coffee set a time an place to meet in the evening for cocktails. That, too, became a regular thing.  Most of that group of about 25 have exchanged email addresses and are keeping in touch.  

I did meet a couple of solo travelers who did seem a bit miserable, but I suspect they are among those who could be among the thousands at the Proms in Hyde Park and yet feel quite alone. 

Bottom line:  There will be many solo travelers aboard, most of whom will be delighted to meet you. 

VintageCCG,  I understood you comment completely.  As a former bartender during my college years in NYC, I can attest that money speaks its own language -- particularly in the dialect of "gratuity." You received a very classy reminder and it clearly was well-received among your group.  Now that I've been on the other side for about three decades and have acquired an affinity for 25 yr old Macallan, I find there is a certain greater appreciation shown by staff when I'm in black or white tie that when I pop into the Commodore Lounge after having lounged in a deck chair for an hour or so, appropriately bundled for late October in the North Atlantic.

For anyone traveling soon about the QM2... should you find a lonely black sock in the launderette on deck 10, please let it know it was not my intention to so cruelly abandon it.  

18 minutes ago, Underwatr said:

My only TA was when the National Symphony Orchestra was onboard. I had assumed that the passenger choir was in association with their visit.

I'm incredibly jealous of your opportunity.  My recent cruise was the week after the NSO' Westbound crossing and all the staff could talk about was how great it was.  My understanding is that the NSO will be aboard again in 2019 but in September.  I'll be booking another crossing as soon as the date is firm. 

You definitely won't have any problem, particularly after the first night. 😉

Candid confession:  During the TA Eastbound crossing at the end of Oct, '18, I casually engaged a different group each day during Tea Time aboard the QM2 asking the very questions put forward in this thread.  By day three, the staff was fully on to my game and played along as perfect foils and masters and mistresses of. misdirection.  The debate each day was predictably  vigorous, with absolutely not a single person changing his or her mind.  No blows were struck, although one elderly very English gentleman from Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, did, on our last day at sea, call me a "Gxx dxxx colonial" for asking the questions. My thanks to Deereke for more than once bringing me a day-old scone that readily fell apart whether broken apart by hand or cut with a knife. 

On 11/11/2018 at 9:07 AM, deck chair said:

Hello

If there 

You can be 99.99% sure there will be a passenger choir on this voyage.  If there is no choir it will only be because no one on the ship believes they can sing!  I will be on this segment as well and am looking forward to the event.  See you on the ship!

 

Deck Chair

I've long since learned that disagreeing with Deck Chair usually means I'll be wrong, but thought this might be useful info.

Our choir director was very candid with us that some staff would be happy if the choir were to disappear again, as it has in the past. 

I was on TA 0840 Eastbound arriving in Southampton on Nov. 1.  We had 75 passengers in our choir and about 8 were current or former professional singers/actors.  Our choir director and the rest of the key entertainment staff will be leaving the ship on Nov 18 when their current contracts expire.  Our choir director is leaving to join the cast of Hamilton in New York as the new Aaron Burr.    

If you have strong opinions on the pax choir continuing, I'd recommend you did what many on my crossing have done, let Cunard known that you EXPECT there will be a passenger choir opportunity during your crossing/cruise.  This is the "squeaky wheel" theory from people with $$$$ who do matter to Cunard.  

 

Having just returned from the most recent QM2 crossing eastward, I can only compare one TA Cunard crossing with 15 dissimilar RCCL cruises.  RCCL focuses their attention on destination ports during the cruise while Cunard focuses on pleasing the passengers during their waking hours aboard ship.  Cunard probably does a better job of catering to their luxury grills pax than RCCL does to their equivalent, but we've been in either the Royal Suite or Owner's Suite on 6 RCCL cruises and can't possibly imagine how we could have been treated better.  

Here's how I score the things that we found important:

Food  equal, with "volume" going to RCCL

Lounges  5 to 3, Cunard

Liquor selection, 5 to 4 RCCL

Entertainment equal

Informative lectures, 5 to 2, Cunard

Spa/gym, 5 to 3 RCCL (Canyon Ranch's prices are absurd)

Crew friendliness, 5 to 4 Cunard

Destinations, 5 to 4 RCCL

TA, 5 to 2, Cunard

Suite comfort, equal

It’s due to the current weather pattern.  The channel is likely to be rough.  Talk on the ship yesterday was that the day programs will not change much.  There might even be extra room in the royal theatre for the lecture presentations. 

They write quite fine.  Perhaps more important than the quality of the pen is the skill of its user. 

This is the pen currently deployed in the lower deck cabins. 

If you carry one bottle in each checked bag and one in a carry on, only you and you room steward will know the truth... 

Another pizza option near the Queen Mary 2's dock in Brooklyn is Marks Red Hook Pizza.  It's less than a five-minute from Pier 12 at 326 Van Brunt St, Brooklyn, NY 11231.   It has a 4.5 out of 5 review on Google.  Here is the menu:   https://marks.programceo.com/cdn/images/menu.pdf 

Orvil, thanks for your reply.  That has been my experience on other ships as well.

16 hours ago, deck chair said:

HI

 

I have spend considerable time in the fitness center which is forward on deck 7.  You will observe all sorts of dress so don't worry about it.   Wear what is comfortable.  There are no lockers in the fitness center itself.

 

Deck Chair

Thanks, DC. I appreciate the cogent reply.  The potential of a locker was really at the heart of my question -- should I bring an extra small bag to carry my rather worn and ratty, yet incredibly comfy workout gear to and from the fitness center.