tacticalbanjo

Can't dress like a slob if you want to take photos for the 'gram 😆

The booking still has to be put into Cunard's systems though. Alarm bells should have rung somewhere whether at the third party or at Cunard when three passengers were assigned a two berth. It absolutely should not be on the passenger to check that the room offered can actually accommodate all passengers on a booking. Luckily your Cunard spidey senses started tingling and you were able to correct the error before you got on board. I wonder what would have happened if you had trusted the phone operator and left things be.

You need to call back. None of those obstructed view oceanview cabins are a three berth. I seriously doubt that there will be a sofa bed in a room not designed to have one in it. We were told that even if we didn't need a bed we could not book a double occupancy cabin, it had to be a three berth so I'm surprised their computer system has allowed three people to book in a standard cabin. Actually I'm not surprised really!

We've booked Queen Anne for November 2025. Got the rooms we wanted - we're travelling as a multigenerational family so it was important to us to have three rooms next to each other so we can open the doors between the balconies. Hopefully we'll find she's up to snuff when we go on the maiden!

We've preregistered for a QA trip which looked good value. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my travel agent can get three rooms together with two of them three berths which might be a tad optimistic. Good luck to everyone!

I either change the clock manually on my phone which is then reflected on my Apple Watch or I set at timer on my phone rather than an alarm. Actually, now I do neither because I have a toddler and I'm up at the crack of dawn regardless.

As others have said Verandah is the only true speciality restaurant. It's definitely worth a try whether that's the lunchtime menu or the bigger dinner menu. My husband and I are looking forward to trying it again when we are on board in November. Of the Lido pop-ups I've only tried Coriander but I did enjoy the first time so much we made it a priority on our subsequent trip. The food was excellent and so was the service. Possibly helped by the flight of wine I drank alongside it!

I used a bandaid to disable it on Sky. I had my toddler in a pack and play in the closet so it was more than a bit inconvenient to have a spot light blasted at her every time we needed to use the bathroom. And a cushion was shoved in front of the bedside table motion light because it would turn the light on every time the ship rocked. It can't be too much of a health and safety issue because I sailed on P&O Britannia which is also a Royal-class ship and didn't have a motion sensor. I boarded with painters tape just in case!

My husband and I did a British Isles cruise in 2021 and we keep saying it was one of the best cruises we've taken. I'm only 35 but it appears that I prematurely have one foot in the grave!

Not my cup of tea really. I did notice that Clarendon Fine Art does seem to heavily promote Mr Brainwash so I wonder whether this is led by them rather than Cunard.

Unfortunately with a little one in nursery my budget is a lot more restricted than it used to be so if drinks prices keep going up I'll be priced out even if I would rather be on Cunard. I won't be the only one who has to reduce spending on luxuries to meet spiralling living costs.

I dread to think how much the drinks prices are going up? But with inflation getting making life uncomfortable for a lot of people already how much more will people be prepared to pay? It's an especially poor deal when you compare to Princess Plus which includes grats and WiFi as well as drinks under $15 for just $60 a day.

I've been on twice during Halloween, most recently last year, and there wasn't anything beyond the pumpkin display. I was on board with a 9 month old last time and did put her in a costume for a cute photo in front of the pumpkins. She wasn't going to play ball until a helpful passenger did funny faces at her until she looked in the right direction!

I've cruised on P&O with a 17 month old, Princess with a 15 month old and Cunard with a 9mo and 11mo. Cruising with a baby is great especially if you pick a Southampton to Southampton itinerary because that means you can take as much stuff as will fit into your car. P&O supply a travel cot but I choose to bring my own which can be folded without taking the mattress out to provide more room outside nap times. I can't speak about formula because we didn't use it and I don't know about baby food because we BLW. We let the head waiter know on the first night that little one had dietary requirements (no salt, no whole nuts, no honey) and we were given menus the night before so her food could be specially cooked to order. For our first cruises we chose to give chicken breast or well cooked steak and steamed veggies most nights. We preferred to visit the buffet for breakfast lunch. When baby was little we stuck to fruit, cereal/toast for breakfast and salad items, veggies and meats and fish for lunch to keep salt to a minimum. Now we choose more widely. I've only been on Britannia but there were plenty of changing tables around the ship. You'll have to stay with your baby in the kids club while they are under 2 but they have loads of baby toys and books. At night they run a free night nursery service where they have lots of travel cots put up, you bring your child and settle them (best be near settled when you bring them so they don't wake the other kids) then you get given a pager for if they wake and can't be resettled easily. It's well worth giving a go even if you don't think your little one will sleep as you might be surprised. We managed a good few nights out albeit some interrupted by the dreaded pager but it was nice to spend time one on one with each other. On my last cruise my toddler slept through another kid howling and the staff told us she was one of the best sleepers they'd ever had - cue much confusion because she never sleeps like that at home. It must be the magic salt air! All in all, my husband and I love cruising with our baby. Everything is so easy once you are on board and the staff generally love having babies about. We've got another 3 cruises booked because it just works for us so well.

If you are want some idea about the view from this balcony then you can find a photo of the view from the cabin on the opposite side, 8048, which has an identical view in this thread: I've been in 8046 which is the cabin next door and has a slightly better view but it's a small boat not a tender in front of these cabins so you won't feel closed in by orange. The cabin is in a great location for the grand lobby and the theatre. We had a great trip

My 18 month old has 4 cruises under her belt, 2 with Cunard and we've found the children's facilities and the youth staff to be really good. The teen facilities looked as good as the stuff I saw on P&O which is pitched as very family friendly. In fact, they're run by the same staff in a very similar way. You'd just never know that the kids stuff was there unless you happened to walk past it as its a bit out of the way. We're all looking forward to our next 3 Cunard trips including the Queen Anne maiden.

I wouldn't worry too much. You'll be able to register the children on embarkation day. This is usually between 2 and 4pm. And if you don't make it to that, just turn up the the first session you want to go to and register them then.

Thanks for the great review. I'm looking to do an Alaska trip in 2025 with my husband, toddler and my parents so this was very helpful in my planning.

It's strange how something as nebulous as ambience makes such a huge difference. And it can change trip to trip. We did a Baltics cruise a few years back on QE which was about 70% Australian passengers and the atmosphere was so different compared to the Canaries trip we'd taken just 6 months before. Much more lively in the bars - not that the Canaries trip was quiet given most of the ship had vast quantities of OBC - and we had so much fun. Those memories make up how you see a ship - I still think of QE as being a bit of a party ship. I did a trip on QV with a family member who did nothing but complain the whole time and it tainted how I saw the ship for a long time. But now when I think about the QV I start to think about both staff and passengers fussing over my little girl, the cute little dresses she wore for dinner, the first time my little girl put her feet in the sand. Hopefully by the end of the year I'll think about her as the ship which took me to see the Northern Lights.

I'm hoping Michel Roux doesn't reimagine the fish and chips too much! I doubt I'll be able to try any of the alternatives on the maiden but I'll keep my fingers crossed that by some miracle they will have the kids club staffed and I can leave my little one while my husband and I enjoy one of the new restaurants. And if not, I'll have an excuse to go on her again.

Oi, keep your mouth off my beloved QM2! 😆 Even though I prefer QV in almost all points (except the Golden Lion, QM2's is much nicer) I just can't help loving the QM2. She's rusty and her layout is downright confusing but I love TAs so much that I can't help but feel happy when I'm on board. Although come to think of it, maybe the Great Aunt's sitting room vibes are what makes her feel so comforting!

Plenty of ships in Flam this year. I visited at the end of June on P&O Britannia. https://www.flamport.no/ship-arrivals2021

Yes, it's very clear right now what the deal is with service charges. So why on earth deck chair is acting like there is some sort of new hidden change to bar service charges which is doing waiters out of their rightful tips I don't know.

I've only been cruising on Cunard since 2017 but it's always been my understanding that the 15% service charge on drinks was split between the beverage team. If it only went to the person you order from the guy actually making the drinks at the bar would get nothing and the waiter delivering them pockets the lot. How would that be fair? In fact, if you look at Cunard FAQs from 2013 (https://web.archive.org/web/20130709232823/http://www.cunard.com/frequent-questions/) it is clear that this charge is split between beverage and support staff. So not a recent change at all if its been the same for the last decade.

I seriously doubt that QM2 is going to be retrofitted with LNG. Cunard (and other lines) will simply sail other fjords which don't have the no emission requirements. It's going to take a long time for cruising to move to zero emissions but Norway is playing the long game here and is happy to take any reduction in emissions it can get by offering the carrot of World Heritage fjords to those ships which comply while not completely turning away ships that don't comply.