Aspidestra99

Reading the posts regarding QV with interest. We will be on QV later this month. We should have been on QV last December but shortly before we should have sailed, I was diagnosed with Cancer. We were past the point of refunds, had paid in full,  so the next thing would have been claiming on insurance, which was low on my list. Cunard were wonderful and we were able to re-book. Having fully recovered I am looking forward to some sun, some cocktails and chill time with my husband who has been a total star.

Does anyone know what the protocols are for using the gym? Do you need to book a timed slot? I always wipe the equipment before and after use but wondered if you have to wait for one of the attendants to clean after use.

On 11/17/2020 at 1:17 PM, Bell2805 said:

Just booked Qm2 transatlantic east bound crossing in October 22. This is to celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversary. Were having 4 nights in New Yok and then traveling back to the UK...

We booked Queens grill as a treat.

 

Bells' 

I'm sure you will have a great time plus 4 nights in New York as well.. I'm hoping to do a b2b ta on the same crossing but we are going to wait and book when we are on QE next summer to hopefully get extra obc. We will look for either PG or QG depending on price and take a risk on availability.

On 11/7/2020 at 2:46 PM, bluemarble said:

 

Here are the 7-night 2022 QM2 crossings from Southampton to New York.

 

M210: Apr 24-May 1, 2022

M212: May 8-May 15, 2022

M215: May 29-Jun 5, 2022

M218D: Jun 24-Jul 1, 2022

M222: Jul 29-Aug 5, 2022

M225B: Aug 21-Aug 28, 2022

M229: Sep 15-Sep 23, 2022

M233B: Oct 18-Oct 25, 2022

M236: Nov 13-Nov 20, 2022

M240: Dec 15-Dec 22, 2022

 

If you are looking for a 14-night round trip crossing from Southampton, here are the details for those five voyages that marjortom10 mentioned.

 

M212A: May 8-May 22, 2022

M215A: May 29-Jun 12, 2022

M222A: Jul 29-Aug 12, 2022

M225C: Aug 21-Sep 4, 2022

M233C: Oct 18-Nov 1, 2022

Thankyou both for the replies.The late October 14 day cruise looks promising. It would be a birthday treat plus Halloween. 

When searching for 2022 TA crossings embarking from Southampton there are hardly any as most QM2 TAs embark from Hamburg. Does this mean you can't book from Southampton? If you can embark from Southampton is the price fixed for a Hamburg start/finish. Most importantly I really don't want to have to travel to Hamburg.

On 10/14/2020 at 12:59 AM, Aspidestra99 said:

https://www.archbigicarita.eu/en/portfolio/asuka-ii-2-2/

 

Possibly some details regarding the new ship. This web page contains details regarding build 6274 in the fincantieri ship yard which is the cunard new build. Archi bigi carnita is a firm of naval architects who have worked on several carnival ships. You can see examples of their work on their site.

The link is just to a high level deck plan, which gives a flavour of what the new ship may look like.They haven't released any imagery as far as I can tell.

You can navigate from the web page to the main site which has images from some of their other design projects which include work on QV and QM2 for Cunard and  for other cruise lines such as Virgin and Carnival.

https://www.archbigicarita.eu/en/portfolio/asuka-ii-2-2/

Possibly some details regarding the new ship. This web page contains details regarding build 6274 in the fincantieri ship yard which is the cunard new build. Archi bigi carnita is a firm of naval architects who have worked on several carnival ships. You can see examples of their work on their site.

Well that's cruise 2 of 4 cancelled. The next one is June 2021 so fingers crossed.

Much as I love QE and would like to sail the med again, the thought of flying to Barcelona does nothing for me at all. I don't travel light hence the attraction of sailing from Southampton.

Although Cunard may push the'one-off' opportunity to sail QE before she sets sail for Australia, they will face stiff competition from the likes of Seabourn, Regent, Crystal, Ncl, Celebrity et al. who also sail out of Barcelona and will  be keen to welcome guests new and old.

We will make a decision for 2022 once we've expreienced a post covid cruise and hopefully book while on board.

1 hour ago, exlondoner said:

 

No, I certainly wouldn't either. On the Vistas, at any rate, the view from the Grills, even for those not adjacent to the windows, is excellent, while I always find the Verandah rather gloomy and miserable, even when near a window.

We have sat at window tables in QG. However if there was an enforced choice between fixed dining in QG and anytime dining in the Verandah I'd  choose the latter. This is a hypothetical anyway at present.

Not the same dining experience. I wouldn't want to take dinner in the buffet.

Dining space could be supplemented by using the Verandah as a venue. I know it will sacrifice an additional revenue stream but if it makes for a better passenger experience it might be worth it. Perhaps shuffle up, releasing the club dining room as a britannia overflow. Moving club into grills dining room and some of grills into Verandah.

Club have open dining so that would fit with grills, only the menu would be different. I know some grills passengers may miss the grills lounge for pre and post dinner drinks but some may prefer the more central location of the Verandah. Just a thought.

Also QE will be back in Southampton this month. If the Australian and Canadian season is delayed until summer 2021 and cruising can restart late 20/early 21, it would make sense to use QE's capacity to try out. the new procedures with a controlled number of guests. Perhaps introduce some short cruises or a couple of round britain voyages with additional inducements perhaps. Cunard need to be a bit imaginative. 

10 hours ago, Roger Ackroyd said:

Unfortunately I cannot see any “enjoyment” in subjecting oneself to these conditions. I’m 72 and my 10 years younger wife is diabetic and we had looked forward to at least 10 more years of travelling around the world on board ship, visiting those places we could never afford to see when younger (and working hard to save for our pensions). All those plans are now in the bin and I can’t see the regular cruisers who are in the older age brackets ever coming back to the liners. I took a look at Norwegian’s “Health and Safety” strictures just announced and it talks about “reduced numbers” on each boat among all the other guidelines. Not attractive at all. And think for one moment what would happen if just one case of Covid was to break out on a future cruise.

 

Either way I think the cruise industry is, dare I say it, holed below the waterline.

 

I sympathise completely. We are in our early 60s and late comers to cruising. We too thought we would have 10 or more years cruising having enjoyed ourselves immensely on the two we have taken and had three planned for 2020 and 2021. The only hope is an eventual vaccine as for us a 3 or 5 day cruise isn't practical when you take travelling to port into account and sailing circuits round the UK doesn't really appeal.

The publication by  the EU healthy gateways initiative for cruising makes for sobering reading.

From segregating over 65s who its suggested will need a doctor's certificate of fitness to travel, to removing tea and coffee making facilities from cabins. emptying mini bars and plastic covers on TVs and remote controls.

More passengers taking meals as room service and sharing tables with family members only.  Forming cohorts for embarcation and disembarcation where the wearing of masks will be required. Banning the use of covered pools (no more spa) and limiting access to family members only for the hot tub.

I tried to imagine these restrictions in a future cruise on QE and after skimming the 49 page document I concluded that if this is to dissuade you from cruising for the foreseeable future  it's a job well done.

Today, Simon Palethorpe posted on Cunard's YouTube channel that the pause in Cunard's operations has been extended until May 15th.

I have a unique world club number as does my partner which cunard allocated when we booked our first cruise. Cunard also have our email addresses.  So why can't I just create a password against my world club number and cunard request confirmation via an email link - seems to work for google. If they want to be a bit more secure, in addition to my world club number and password, I could be persuaded to enter my date of birth as well.

I'd have thought the cunard user researchers, designers and coders would have taken the revamp of the VP as an opportunity to come up with with a simpler process for user authentication.  I haven't managed to log on to the new VP yet from my phone as it doesn't recognise the booking number... So looks like not much system or acceptance testing against a range of target devices  and browsers has taken place either.

7 hours ago, exlondoner said:

 

Actually it's not usually the remnants, at least on the Vistas. I have seen the laden trolley being manoeuvred in to the lift to go up to the terrace, while still waiting to be served in the restaurant.

Beg to differ but we never saw the range of goods that were available in the grills restaurant for afternoon tea, nor the volume and we were on QE at the time.

I must admit I never gave a thought to what to wear for afternoon tea. I'm not sure anyone else worried too much either.

We learned that if you are on the Grills terrace around 4pm the waiters bring the remnants of afternoon tea to you and you get a decent sized cup of tea to boot.

This allows the consumption of afternoon tea goods while wearing shorts or even...swimwear (gasp)

Stick to the evening dress code and you can't go wrong. Outside of that I'd say don't worry.

For my husbands birthday in December we've booked the Atlantic adventure on QV and I want to try the  grills cabins on deck 8 aft as they look really nice. We were on QE last year when the weather in bay of Biscay was rough enough for the waiters in the commodore club to steer you to your seat.  We weren't seasick but I think I've possibly made a mistake in booking these cabins in December. Has anyone sailed in these cabins in rough winter weather. We will stick with the booking but it would be useful to know what I've let us in for. 

I have a couple of bottles of the Quercus toiletries and would be sad if this was changed. A whiff of quercus and if I close my eyes I'm back on QE getting ready for dinner. 

14 hours ago, 2Oldpeopleinlove said:

We've purchased the $250 package that includes flowers, chocolates, a bottle of LP La Cuvee brut, a half bottle of the same with breakfast in bed, a formal portrait, and robes and slippers. If anyone here has done this, could you please answer a few questions?

 
Does the purchased champagne replace the Pol Acker or appear in addition to it?
 

How do they manage the breakfast? Do we order just like any other room service breakfast?

 

What size is the photograph?

 

Are the robes the same as those we will have to use in our stateroom? That is, are we given fresh ones to take home? And are they exactly the same quality/type?

 

Same question for the slippers: fresh ones? Different ?

 

Oh, and are the chocolates the four-piece box of Godivas?

 

Thank you for any information. We've already bought this, as I said, but anticipation is half the fun for me.

If Cunard know how to do one thing, it's celebrating a special occasion. It will be worth every penny and the memories will be priceless. Keep up with the anticipation. I know you wont be disappointed. 

20 hours ago, Underwatr said:

Purely a matter of principle? Would it affect how you feel if your fare became opt-in?

Perhaps my reply to northwest newbie posted prior to your response answers your question. I would much rather have gratuities included in the fare, failing that I have always paid the autogratuity and would opt in, to ensure the charge is distributed fairly. So, to answer your post and to make it perfectly clear - yes it is purely a matter of principle.

I object to the change in the process and the underlying principle not the impact on fares/paying of a service charge, so booking on another site makes no difference. 

4 hours ago, North West Newbie said:

It seems to me that the human trait of envy is now playing out amongst some members of this board.

Envy, really? If Cunard had decided to remove autogratuities from the UK fares and left them in place for the other markets, I would have posted exactly the same comments.

24 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

I have contacted Josh Weinstein, President at Carnival UK by e-mail with reference to this subject and have had a reply from Jennifer Dalton, Guest Relations who has been asked to investigate it and she will be in touch when she has completed this. I will report back with her response as soon as received.

Thankyou majortom

7 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

I think this is annoying,  silly and ultimately unproductive and unfair policy treating different nationalities differently on a permanent basis. One off promotions are different. 

 

I  will not be cancelling any cruises, not that important,  but as someone who has always believed in everyone paying auto gratuities,  I can happily live with all the individual choices that people make. They are individual choices. 

 

But when Cunard effectively encourages one nationally not to participate,  then my response us simple, I'm going to not participate and I expect the form you will fill in to opt out will have a section for reason why (don't know never done it on any cruise line before ) I will put, Equality with German T&Cs.

I won't be cancelling either of the two cruises we've currently booked either.

However, I will be giving the purser some earache if this hasn't changed before our next cruise. 

Not sure if there will be a number 3 with Cunard but that choice, (as you can probably tell  I am more than a bit miffed by all this at present 😊), will be influenced by other factors too.