fourstacker

Several comments have been made about dogs in subways, grocery stores, etc. I'm wondering how common it is to encounter dogs on Cunard ships? My personal experience (albeit limited to twelve QM2 voyages) is that I have not encountered any dog in passenger areas. Reading this thread, one might get the impression that Cunard has gone to the dogs !

but I thought that was what started this whole discussion...wasn't there an "incident" on the QM2 and also the original op whom mentioned she had seen a poodle on the QV? Or did you not read back that far?

Happily for you, you apparently have not witnessed those who gained emotional support from their service dogs. We were talking about dogs on this thread, weren't we? Not parrots or cats. Exaggeration and simplification does nothing to advance the conversation.

 

If you don't think "emotional" is a valid reason, you might not have knowledge of various programs that help War Veterans with a service dog. Personally, I witnessed my neighbor who was best friends with his dog, and went everywhere with is pal (not a certified service dog), even after chemo left the boy paralyzed and blind. He died at age 14 of leukemia. His dog lived 4 years more, and was much cherished for all he had done for his best friend.

 

When emotions stop being a good reason for tolerance and acceptance, we are all in deep trouble. Just my opinion.

 

Salacia

they are actually titled "Service Animals" because they don't have to be dogs but can be pigs, (as I have personally witnessed) and in fact - our friend Mr Google states

There are many other animals that perform services for humans that are "service animals," including horses and other beasts of burden, carrier pigeons, sleddogs, parrots, hunting dogs, cats and racing animals.

So if we are talking service animals lets talk about them all.

And I still stand by my statement that "emotional support" animals are really just an excuse to bring along your favourite pet there will always be people who want to skirt the rules.

Perhaps there are some "self-entitled people" amongst those who have legitimate reason/s for having their assistance dogs with them on a cruise...

I dont think if you were "self entitled" you would have legitimate reasons, thats why you would be called self entitled.

Otherwise, you would just be called legitimate....

Either you can bring a dog or a pet on is valid as long as your reasons are valid, but i agree I dont think "emotional" is a valid reason, otherwise, I would bring my parrot and cat which give me emotional support. That I think is the slippery slope and I hope Cunard doesn't fall into that trap.

Assuming the best and consigning doubts to silence is, of course, politically correct. But that sort of deference does encourage a lot of self-entitled people to try get away with whatever preferential thing they want.

or maybe it is jealousy...who wouldn't love the opportunity to take our favourite Polly the parrot or Tiddles the pussy with us on a cruise?

Thanks Maggiemou, I take it then that you didn't receive anything special in the way of paperwork before a world cruise. Other lines that I have been told about send out all sorts of information for their world cruisers and I thought Cunard might do the same..

We are staying in London till the morning of the cruise so it looks like catching an earlier rather than a later train down. Its a pity they dont still run the Cunarder train down or the Orient Express as they used to. That would have been quite a start to our trip.

Thanks Scrapnana, we will surely be at that first cocktail party...free champagne and we are in!

So far I'm revelling in the planning, I hope the trip is half as much fun.

I'm not sure if Roscoe has ever explained how he got them - contact in the dock yard perhaps ?

hmmmmm intriguing!

Hello fourstacker, I'm sure Maggiemou will be along shortly,)

and just like bus no 32 on time and on route...there she was...thankyou.

thankyou Maggie, can you remember what information you got prior to boarding other than the normal cruise documents and when you got them?

Did you get the whole excursion book? Unfortunately my partner accidentally pressed the "green" button on our last trip in the voyage personaliser (there was hell to pay!) and we did not receive an excursion book and I am very keen on getting it this time around, also did you receive anything about the world cruise extras prior to boarding?

Thankyou I appreciate you have done the World Cruise a number of times and are happy to share your experience.

Hopefully once the World Cruisers return (not long now) we will find out what happened this year.

We have a couple of "Live from" threads running for QE & QV, it might be worth checking the first few pages of them to see if there is any mention.

Thanks Hattie, good thinking of which I have actioned. Unfortunately, the QE had an interesting beginning of her WC, her embarkation day delayed and her luck continued, amongst, missed ports, storms and even at least one death... I think the posters had plenty to write about but the opportunity for a cocktail party sadly missed.

The QV one hasn't mentioned one either, but has seemed to have a much luckier trip....long may that continue for her.

Hopefully someone may be kind enough to answer otherwise it is not the end of the earth and we shall just have to wait till closer to the event.

I hope all those who have travelled this year will review it and give us something to read in the coming winter months!

Again, it seems as though I have failed to communicate clearly.

understood now thank you for clearing that up for me.

Also, one last question, do Full World Cruisers have their own separate line for boarding or do we just board in a standard line? (Just asking for timing purposes not a question of anything more sinister!)

 

When we boarded in Southampton in January, there was no priority line for full world cruisers.

thanks, I didn't really think there was...but I will look enviously at those in the Diamond and Grills line!

We have done the start of the World Cruise - though not the whole world - and I would be very surprised if your Welcome on Board party was even on that day, muchless before sailing. I seem to remember, the World Cruise party was a day or two later when we were on.

 

If it really is on embarkation day, it is likely to be much later as many guests will not have arrived by 2pm - and the Captain is likely to be busy until long after sailing. Unless perhaps it's a luncheon?

 

Regarding checking in, we had Priority anyway because we were in the Grills, so I'm afraid I didn't notice.

 

Have a wonderful time.

thanks Gil, yes we are looking forward to it. Its marketed as a "Welcome on board for your World Cruise" drink and "get together to meet your fellow World Cruise travellers".

I saw a comment somewhere on here but can;t find it now...goodness there is a lot of reading to be had here... where someone complained that it was held at 2pm and it was not well attended because the WC travellers had "better things to do".

Just remembered it was on a review of a WC and from memory was full of complaints!

Hi., and I apologise in advance for asking if this is a stupid question, please blame it on my newbie status.

We are excited to be booked on the WC for the Queen Victoria in 2016 and I see that one of the "perks" is a welcome onboard champagne cocktail party on the day of embarkation. Can someone who has attended this tell me what time this is usually held, our agent thinks about 2pm and I am looking at timing for arriving at the ship and taking into account the time to get on board.

This is a big trip for us and I don't want to miss out on any of the fun...even if it is just a glass of "Pol Hacker".

Also, one last question, do Full World Cruisers have their own separate line for boarding or do we just board in a standard line? (Just asking for timing purposes not a question of anything more sinister!)

thanks in advance...

It appears that I have be very unclear about the type do Meet & Greets I have organized. There is no lecture just passengers sharing ideas with one another in an atmosphere where everyone can hear what everyone else has to say, and benefit from one another's knowledge.

 

Perhaps the rest of you all have unlimited funds and have no interest in saving money or increasing on board credit. We, however, can't afford a half a dozen fancy trips a year unless we carefully manage our budget and that requires knowing all the tricks of the trade, so I am very happy for any opportunity to learn, as well as any opportunity to meet new people.

Hi PunkiC, Im afraid we don't have unlimited funds more is the pity, but we do take the attitude that once we have found a fare that we are happy with then we are satisfied. I don't think sitting in a group being told how much people have paid for their staterooms would be constructive for our experience. Maybe it is my upbringing which makes the discussing of this sort to be a little nouveau and certainly a bit tasteless. I think that sort of discussion (minus the actual dollar figures) can best be done be done on a board such as this.

Once on board it is a little late to do anything about how much you have paid and finding out you have paid a little more than someone else can only lead to a negative atmosphere.

Now a meet and greet where you can meet others to say hello to that you have met on the board is another matter...

The general consensus on our cruise, seemed to be that the only reason the ship's stop there, is to refuel. If not staying onboard, the best options seems to be to walk to a nearby beach or to visit the Oasis Club, again nearby. Some crew visit the club for cheap food, drink and wifi. The beach lies just below the club, up on the cliff top.

 

The alternative is to negotiate a taxi fare to the reasonably nearby Hilton Hotel and then pay the fee for beach chairs, etc.

 

The port offers a free shuttle to the dock gates, where visitors are harangued by taxi drivers, who charge extortionate rates and it is vital to negotiate hard! Alternatively, it is a short signposted walk to the Oasis Club or the beach, below it, but the beach has no facilities, whatsoever.

Hi English Tim, while I don't disagree totally with all of your comments, Salalah is actually in Oman, not Jordan.

There is in fact enough to do there once, a day trip can include the visit to the tombs, the souk, mountains, francensence trees, the Queen of Shebas palace, the desert, numerous fishing villages which are very arabic and interesting for the culture, of course if this isn't to your taste the is of course a multitude of beaches and 5 star hotels.

Oman is a really interesting country at the moment. It is spending a lot of money on its infrastructure and tourism. In the next few years it will have changed quite dramatically...as is all of the middle east at the moment.

To get Cunard officially involved in a M&G is to lose control over the date, time, and place.

 

11AM tends to be the worst possible time as it runs against the featured Insights speaker's first presentation. Given a choice of a M&G versus hearing Stephen Payne or Christine Roussel, one guess which one I would pick.

 

I pulled out of my WB M&G because Madame Superorganizer - a high energy professional tour operator - was committing names to her event. One look at her posting history showed that she's an experienced hand at running these dreadful RCI/Carnival type events so one knows exactly what to expect.:rolleyes:

Im really glad someone bought this up. We are booked on the WC of the QV next year and new to this forum and after reading a particular book, mentioned on several threads which included the writers own meet and greets where they seemed to be pretty formal and dominated by a vocal few only confirmed for us a "Mix and Mingle" with no captains hats or name tags suited us perfectly but how to suggest that and not offend or get flamed as a newbie is a difficult task.

Im sorry Punkic I don't mean to offend but the thought of turning up and being lectured about how to save money and get the best deal is not to everyones cup of tea. But the idea of setting up a separate group for you is a good idea. As long as it was called something completely different to a Mix and Mingle or Meet and Greet so that people know what they are getting is a great idea.

Thankyou to the OP of bringing up this subject. And once again, Im knew here and don't mean to offend....this board can be scary at times!

Basically, Roscoe has access to details that are not included on the plans you see on the Cunard site. It explains in detail what all the blank spaces are, e.g. pursers' cabins, etc. Where we see blank space, he sees details.

wow...how do we get a set of these?

There are dogs trained for many things. Some can help an epileptic by alerting when a seizure is coming. Diabetics can be helped by a dog that is trained to detect low blood sugar. Some dogs are to help people with PTSD to help calm them. Many other reasons I'm sure.

 

The problems lies in the fact that anyone can go online and buy credentials and vests saying their dog is an assistance dog. Cruise lines really have no way of checking, or if they do, they don't.

 

Anyways, as always, dishonest people will always try to get away with things making it harder for the legitimate people with service or assistance animals.

 

There is no way to know if the poodle is truly a service animal, but often times you can tell by their behavior.

do you think this could be the explanation for the QM2 incident recently reported?

Apparently assistance animals are not only dogs but those little miniature pigs can be as well, in fact it seems almost any animal. We were on a flight once in the states and a lady had a pig that she sat in her lap and claimed that it was a

"psychological comfort" animal. Being NZers we were a little surprised but of course its a big world out there and who are we to judge...

I think it was Roscoe39 who had proper plans. I haven't seen him around for a while, hopefully he might see your request.

HI, sorry for asking but what is the difference between deck plans that the OP asked about and "proper plans"?

Thanks for the updates and Happy Day 100 !

WOW...watched the QE on the webcam yesterday while she was in El Aqaba. I was so envious of them going to Petra and experiencing the middle east culture in Jordan.

I had previously read quite a confident poster on here that they wouldn't call there so was pleased for them all that that didn't come to fruition.

Its a pity they have to sail past Egypt where they were originally meant to stop.

I wonder how long it will be before the Middle East is "back on the menu"? or if the "round the horn" route will become the norm now.

We have thus far done four Cunard cruises. The first was on the Queen Mary to Canada from New York and back again. That cruise was made up primarily of Brits and people from New Jersey, which was quite a switch from our Pacific Coastals which are populated primarily by Chinese from Vancouver.

 

Our next Cunard cruise was on the QV to the Baltic and on that cruise almost all of the passengers were Brits, as were those on our Med cruise on the QE last November.

 

This winter, we did a 21-day segment of the World Cruise, again on the QV. Most of the passengers on this one were Canadians and Australians. Those folks who were doing the whole world cruise were primarily Brits.

 

Longer cruises seem more relaxed and offer different activities, but, other than that, they all feel about the same to us.

 

Except for the fact that you will be feeling jealous when you have to get off the ship early, there won't be any difference between you and the world cruisers. :p:p

 

We have only been retired for less than two years, so we are still building up our cruise-length tolerance. We were a little concerned that maybe 21 days might be a little long, but we loved it and are ready to stretch our cruises out to even longer segments.

 

Our biggest problem is that I won't take long cruises in the summer because of my garden, and DH is reluctant to take long cruises in the winter because it interferes with his skiing so we have to work around that.

this will be the longest we have done, 120 days is a bit daunting but we are hoping that there will be enough onboard to keep us interested. We like the QV one because there was an average of 3 days between ports and gives us a chance to experience the formal nights and the old world cruising experience. Do people dress us fully or is it just a percentage of people and are dinner suits prevalent or do most men just wear a dark suit? What sectors of the WC did you do this last year?

Hi Gill

 

We originally booked the segment as cruise only as were advised that we could add the flights on if needed.

 

I called them when the outbound flights had been released by all airlines (after checking fares and frequent flyer availability) to Narita. The economy price for return using Cunard was around £850 on BA (the price difference between cruise only and cruise with flights on Cunard's website).

 

Cunard confirmed I could use an outbound flight only and booked it for me at slightly more than half price at £520 for the ecomony seat and I just had to add the upgrade on for the one way journey £299pp for WT+ or £1529 for Club.

 

I've checked frequent flyer miles on BA from HK as theirs have been released and no direct flight available but Cathay have some. I haven't got as many FF miles with Avios and am now waiting to get a flight with VS as have more with them. Weirdly though, I checked online and it was offering flights a couple of weeks before which was acceptable and now cannot do it online as it's greyed out and said cannot do it online. I phoned VS today and they have said that's incorrect and they will report it to their IT dept, so hopefully it's rectified soon.

 

Hope this helps.

Lynne

Hi Lynne, thanks for clarifying this. We are pretty new to Cunard and are looking at doing the full world on the Queen Victoria in 2016, we have already paid the deposit but we are travelling from NZ and the Biz airfare quoted so far on average is $11000.00 per person...thats $22,000 for a couple! It has added an astronomical amount to the end figure but I dont think that we could do that distance economy anymore. I will contact Cunard and see what they can offer but I have a horrible feeling we wont get far!