Winchester Ranger

I had $750 of OBC courtesy of the 250th sailing promo (which I had to cancel my original booking for and then re-book when they announced it) which gave me $250 and then an extra $500 which Cunard were kind enough to give me as a courtesy because my $2,300 cabin was being sold for $1,000 immediately pre-cruise.

I still managed to burn through all but $20 of it and I didn't make any special effort. It's nice that you think of the crew, but I'd suggest not doing any upcharge on the gratuity until the end of your cruise.

I was in 6257 which wasn't opposite the laundry room on deck 6 but it was close, and that place was like a social club - a line in the corridor and lots of yacking, but the noise didn't penetrate the cabin.

I did however have a sheltered balcony with an interconnecting door and I could hear EVERYTHING that my neighbors did. Speaking personally I will never have an interconnecting room again, even as an upgrade as was the case with this booking. It's just one of those cabin rules I have now learned along with others like avoiding any cabin near the nightclub, or under a main deck, or directly opposite the stairs or elevators.

As with most things this is just a personal opinion, but I reached the limit of my patience when the husband in the interconnecting room (who was addicted to watching soccer on tv) yelled out "GOAL !!!" one night when I had turned in early. Never again.

I just sailed on her and the only definite advice I would give you is that you avoid King's Court which was simply terrible.

Personally I would have a full English breakfast in my stateroom, skip lunch, take afternoon tea in the Queen's Room, and then a late sitting for dinner in Brittania - or the Princess/Queen's Grill of course if you are booking a suite. I did try the Golden Lion a couple of times and the food was great but it is a bit like a rugby scrum at times in there.

Enjoy your cruise :)

I came here to see if there was any more information on the accident, but after reading some of these responses, particularly those to the father of the teenage children who witnessed the aftermath of this horrific accident, all I can say is that if these ships had to sail on the ocean of compassion in this thread you would all be permanently stuck in port.

Sympathies to the family of the deceased.

We had a lovely 28 day cruise on QM2 returning 3rd December. All the staff from our cabin steward to our incredibly helpful Britannia MDR staff were all simply fantastic. Couldn't fault them.

 

Regarding Joanna the entertainment director, she certainly has come a long way since her end of cruise crew productions and her dance of the fans on the Black Watch, but I wasn't impressed when after broadcasting the same thing along the corridors five minutes earlier, Joe then paged straight through to the QM2's State Cabin's speakers full volume to tell us all about entertainment changes. That sort of thing used to happen in cabins on Fred Olsen all the time because Joe certainly loved to broadcast, but this is Cunard! The only thing I want to hear from my cabin speakers is about ship safety (or perhaps if I have won the lottery) It happened at 6.05pm on 1 December 2015, I remember it well because the blast from the ceiling speaker from Joe in my cabin woke me up with a fright. :eek:

As much as I liked Jo I must confess that the room broadcast about the postponement of the Flying Wallendas (or whatever they were called) on the cabin speakers was really annoying, especially when they went on to repeat it in other languages. Jo does like to broadcast, this is true.

Hmm Azipod 3 yet again, how many times has that thing been "fixed" now ?

Just some general and highly personal opinions on the general crew performance aboard QM2 during her 250th crossing last month (is it already last month :( )

I must say that I was impressed with Joanna Hayley as the Entertainment Director - a simply delightful girl in every sense of the word. My morning routine wouldn't have been complete without her daily briefing and the almost Tai Chi like hand movements she makes as she speaks. She appeared in the MDR one evening for the chef's parade dressed in a dazzling skin tight cocktail dress - and yes, it would be true to say I developed a huge crush on her :o

As for the more junior staff, especially the stewards, I came away with a mixed impression. Most of the Thai/Malaysian/Philippines staff were very pleasant and professional, especially the room maids who were a delight even in spite of their heavy workload - I had a few instances where a male steward would walk past me while resolutely staring at his feet and pretending I wasn't there, but it was unusual. The Russian/Eastern European staff were however notably surly and unfriendly for no apparent reason. One experience typified my experiences with them - I joined a cruisemate for High Tea and we both decided on Earl Grey. Knowing that I would drain the small personal tea pot in no time I asked our Russian steward for 2 pots - one for each of us, and his reaction typified my experience with the Russian/Eastern European staff:

Steward - "why you want 2 pots ?"

Me - "well there are 2 of us"

Steward - "you share one pot then"

Me - "Yes but one pot only makes 2 or 3 cups and we would like some extra please"

With that he rolled his eyes and turned away without saying anything. To be fair he did bring us 2 pots and I thanked him profusely, but his attitude made us feel more like a nuisance than a valued guest, which is not what I'm assuming Cunard is looking for.

I inevitably have to draw a comparison with the staff I encountered aboard NCL Getaway (my/our last cruise) who were absolutely amazing - positive and professional, they made you feel like they really wanted to go the extra mile for you.

As I said, just personal observations but thought I would share.

Hello, I had to read it twice as could not understand why Maureen would nudge the pier, I have been unwell , safe journey home and you may want to keep the note under the door from a Polish gentleman to yourself when you get there.

 

Rodger.

Going back and inserting sentences can indeed be tricky, fortunately Maureen was not damaged by her encounter with the pier, nor me by my encounter with the Polish gentleman.

You're a saucy bunch :D

If for no other reason than to kill some time I'll continue my ramblings.

I'm currently sat in Southampton Airport patiently waiting for my puddle jumper to Manchester, the timings couldn't have been worse with the first flight of the day leaving just as QM2 lets you disembark followed by an 8 hour wait for the next one - I could probably have improved on my planning for this part of the trip.

Back to the ship - dinner last night was all hugs and handshakes, Maureen was as delightful as ever and I will miss my tablemates immensely, what a great bunch they are. I was still awake around 1am as I felt her nudge the pier, if only they could have let us off at 4am it would have been perfect. As it was, 6.30 to 7am for self-disembarkers turned into a solid 7am and I was right at the front of the line. In spite of it being early and dark not to mention me now having a cold, no breakfast, and being generally grumpy I couldn't help but smile as couple after couple rounded the corner by H Stern on Deck 3 and first said "oh s##t" as they saw the huge queue and then asked "is this where you disembark" while standing 3 feet from a large sign saying "disembark here" :)

I had a delightful 20 minute taxi ride to the airport with a completely silent taxi driver who had apparently splashed himself liberally with Eau de Camel's Armpit (I had to have the window down - I was gagging), and the official price is 21 pounds which seemed very reasonable, the BO was free.

So now on to Manchester and a hire car to "home". A challenging trip to be sure.

Thanks all - it has been fun and I hope you got something useful from my ramblings even if it's just a smile.

I'm off to pack now and I wish you all a fond farewell from Queen Mary 2, and she says hi too :)

This would interest Winchester :D

 

Your/our very own 'Maureen Ryan is the model for the correct photo style' .

Hopefully you'll pick this posting up before you disembark .....do mention it to her it'll make good conversation during this evenings diner table. ;)

 

Maureen is also the 'voice of the lifts' ...." Deck Seven ! " :D

I'll mention that at dinner tonight, and as for the elevator/lift voice we had some fun with Maureen last night as we shocked guest after guest with Maureen re-pronouncing each deck after her elevator voice had said it. The look on their faces was priceless as we told them she wasn't just a good imitator, but that it was actually her.

Speaking of Maureen, she and I destroyed a bottle of champagne last night in the Commodore Club after which she shared a few more secrets. She is actually a bit-part actress in her spare time, and recently played Alan Carr's (I hope I have that name right - he does some kind of campy talk show apparently) rather tarty grandmother on a recent show, she was heavily made up and dressed in a skimpy outfit and was required to burst out of a huge birthday cake. Perhaps someone can find it on Youtube. One of the most incredible individuals I have ever met, and absolute Cunard royalty.

Host Hattie - yes they have the Christmas lights up in Brittania and some type of Christmassy thing by Guest Services with what appears to be a large stuffed rat and a badger singing Christmas carols, I think there is a small(er) tree but honestly I wasn't paying attention. When I saw it last night I thought someone had spiked my drink ! I suspect the huge tree etc will follow within a few days, if I haven't missed it that is. The Scrooge is strong with me I'm afraid.

Today promises to be a rather more dismal affair with the requirements of packing, guest surveys, flight arrangements etc etc. Courtesy of drinking with Maureen until 2am I missed the room service cut off time of 1am and was forced to do Brittania this morning which was actually quite nice as they offer Eggs Benedict which isn't a room service option, at least not an official one.

I did finally get to do the Bridge visit and was able to see the Azipod control screen quite clearly. For any engineers out there the diagnostics are shown in 2 sections "Propulsion" and "Steering". Propulsion was showing as green in all areas but Steering had 3 non-critical and 2 critical faults indicated (shown with Orange attention getters). The ship's rumour mill has it that the fault is actually fixed and just needs to be tested, but that is entirely unofficial. The bridge officers appear to be around 14 years of age - I think I'm getting old.

So all the saucy comments about my "lady friends" had me chuckling especially as the note under my cabin door was from a 27 year old Polish guy seeking career advice, at least that's what I'm telling my DW who will doubtless be reading this :eek:. I only have one official crush on this ship, and it's Joanna Haley the Entertainment Director, she is simply breathtaking.

Oh well, I'll try and do one more post later today and then I'll be signing out for a while as I continue the second part of my journey to the wilds of Northern England. TTFN.

I had to purchase another Internet package to post this, so you all collectively owe me $48 :D

You know I never realized (aka realised) that I was really posting a travel blog, talking only about the ship seemed pointless as most of you have already been on her or are just weel researched in advance of any upcoming trip. But I do have a bit of news, nothing major but more later.

Yesterday I finally went to view the bridge - and it was closed :mad: we experienced 60 knot winds last night and apparently all hands had been summoned aloft in the rigging, or something like that, so I went to see the doggie parade instead, lots of eager little dogs desperate for attention and willing to take any master as a temporary respite from their loneliness. I practically adopted a fat little Daschund, she may be coming home with me. I did a lengthy spa visit and suspect I may be "over chlorinated" - either that or I have finally caught my traditional travel sore throat. We did the whole Scottish thing last night with it being St.Andrews day and I had the haggis followed by scottish salmon which were excellent and some traditional Scottish dessert (I didn't think the Scots knew how to make dessert and as it turns out I was right). One of my former tablemates at dinner grumbled at me for leaving, so I had tea with her to patch things up and then a couple of drinks after dinner in my beloved Nine Forward (Commodore Club) while the ship pitched and heaved in the heavy swell. We giggled like schoolgirls as we staggered back down the passageway bouncing from wall to wall. Finally I got the bad weather I was hoping for !! A note was stuffed under my door from another passenger wanting to do dinner tonight, which is awkward since I absolutely have to sit down with Miss Maureen Ryan at least once more after listening to her absolutely superb second guest lecture about the history of Cunard and her role in it (which is significant). A truly amazing lady, the last of her kind I fear - to say I'm a fan would be an understatement.

On other news, the captain just announced that Azipod 3 is still giving problems. It's fine at straight ahead but maneuvering is quote "limited" - so a healthy daub of vaseline must be required on the swivelly bit. Anyway, all this means that we have shovelled on a little extra coal and will now berth early in Southampton at 1.30am on Thursday morning, disembarkation will still be at the usual time of 6.30am to 7am. He didn't say if it was just to make things easy for the port with us hogging the tugs, or if the early arrival is to facilitate repairs. Either way, it's nothing major, she manages quite well.

Ok - I'm off to see the bridge (again), then tea, then dinner, then more cocktails.

Life is hard :)

Love your blog - being about you on the ship rather than about the ship (if you see what I mean).

My pleasure :D

Not much to report today - spent 3 hours in the spa :rolleyes: and noticed that they spelled diarrhea incorrectly (don't get in the whirlpool if you have....etc etc), more on that when I get a dictionary.

I still haven't done the bridge viewing and these 23 hour days are killing me, it makes a big difference.

Off to High Tea now and I'm in jeans (have I no shame !!) - decided to read Michael Palin's biography about a life of traveling, can't for the life of me figure out why I chose that one from the library (which is excellent).

Tata for now.

So I actually switched to Maureen Ryan's table for dinner when I found out ther was a vacant spot, and I have to admit that the guests at her table are simply wonderful compared to the raucous bunch I had at the last one (with apologies to Barbara who was a delight). Not only did I have dinner with that amazing lady, we ended up drinking champagne with 2 more of our tablemates in Nine Forward (the new name for the Commodore Club - hopefully the reference to a certain other ship's bar will resonate with someone) until the early hours - an absolute delight. Barramundi for dinner which is now a new favorite fish for me, followed by sticky toffee pudding and Cunard's excellent ice cream.

Signed up for a 4 day spa package today and had to note that the spa pool and showers are definitely one area that Cunard needs to work on during the coming refit - nothing terrible just some sprucing up required and I still loved it, especially those 2 huge water jets in the pool which basically gave me a free chiropractic adjustment for my creaky back.

I missed lunch today so I plan on doing High Tea, also discovered the external elevator (it's right by the main spa) and visited the Churchill Cigar Lounge which took on the air of a London gentleman's club with some decidedly non-progressive political opinions being broached through the clouds of smoke - does it make me a bad person if I agreed with most of them ?

As I sit typing this, one Mancunian lady sat right outside Connexions is voicing her assessment of Todd English, and it isn't exactly complimentary - such is her forthrightness that everyone in Connexions is chuckling everytime she declares a dish to be "absolute rubbish" - can't say I've tried it myself but she's certainly not a fan !!

Ok you landlubbers I'm off for some tea and cakes - stay tuned, I'm sure there's more to come.

Oh you are a demanding lot :p

Ok, so where to begin. Yes, now I know that drinking half a bottle of Pol Acker will give you a banging headache, and it's funny how many other people made the same comment. Best advice - don't drink it.

Random comment - I LOVE this ship, but she is determined to confuse me as I try and find my way around her. My own personal trick is to not the stairwell nearest where I want to go (A,B,C,D) and then simply walk down my deck to the right spot and drop down on the location. Going to a lower deck and trying to "walk through" never seems to work but I'm sure there is a knack to it.

Food - started out good, and has definitely got better. Last night was fillet steak with roast potatoes - a major highlight and cooked to perfection, the night before feature crepe suzette with vanilla ice cream which was to die for. My routine is breakfast in the room, lunch in the Golden Lion, and then Brittania for dinner at my big table, speaking of which I'm planning a change for tonight as some of my fellow tablemates are getting a little too rowdy as the wine flows so I'm feeling for specialty dining tonight.

The lectures are absolutely fantastic, I just listened to Maureen Ryan's presentation on her Cunard experiences as a purser on QE and QM - absolutely superb, what an amazing lady, the highlight of my trip so far.

My own excesses include drinking vodka martinis at Midnight with Barbara, a rather spritely 69 year old former flight attendant who expressed her amazement that I gave up at "only 1am" as I staggered to the elevators, I swear there were 12 elevators that night and not the usual 6 in the main lobby. I also met a young Polish guy at the singles meet and greet and the rest of that day disappeared in a foggy Golden Lion type haze as we sampled everything on the top shelf. More headaches.

The weather has turned decidedly chilly compared to the shirt sleeve conditions we had for the first 2 days, but it's still remarkably mild for the time of year.

The good news is that DW is returning my emails and talking about us doing this as a couple next year, so I appear to be back in good books :o

Now I need to figure out dinner, hit the spa for some sauna and steamroom sessions, find the Churchill Cigar Lounge (I'm not a smoker but will puff on a solitary cigar just for the experience of it), and get back in the champagne, ah yes, I'm afraid my consumption of that delightful substance has been excessive but I can at least confirm that Veuve Clicquot does not give you the headache that Pol Ackers finest furniture polish most certainly does.

I don't think I'll want to get off - seriously considering living permanently on board.

If I'm not boring you, there's more to come :D

Just approaching the Verrazano (spelling ?) bridge - beautiful crystal clear night, if somewhat chilly.

So it's not quite as obvious as you might think.

My carefully prepared white stickers and best black felt pen writing threw the system into chaos and my bags went missing. When they did eventually arrive (after a search and 2 phone calls FROM the Purser's Office) my original labels had been removed and replaced with yellow handwritten labels, and there was nothing in there that shouldn't have been.

Moral of the story - print the right ones !!

Settled into my stateroom and I actually drank the Pol Acker - apparently I have no shame. I did a tour of the ship with my iPhone in reverse FaceTime mode so DW could see the ship, when I arrived at the Champagne Bar and pointed the camera at a table for 2 and mused aloud "well I wonder who will be sitting in the other chair" DW went strangely silent.

I ran into a fun couple of ladies who met on board and did the outbound trip together doubling it up with the return - now that's the way to do it. They warned me to avoid terminal bores at dinner - I just hope it's not me !!

QM2's interior still looks fresh unless you look really closely but unfortunately I was greeted with the aftermath of a flood on deck 6 about 5 doors down from me - someone isn't going to be happy, but such things happen.

So much to explore - it's a big ship, all I need now is my luggage and I'm all set.

Wish you could all be here with me !!

Typing on a phone can be tricky, so while this may get somewhat more wordy, for right now I'm posting bullets as reminders. Just checked in and sat waiting patiently to board. QM2 looks radiant.

The bullets for later elaboration (when I can find a keyboard).

- Crazy cab driver, ouch

- Aloft Brooklyn and Kathryn

- Fabulous weather

- First sight of the ship

- Boarding times

- Lines, complete absence thereof

- Passenger demographic

- Terminal personnel

- DW not happy, threatening to sell my Abba collection

So this will be an entirely personal ramble, my own travelogue if you will. I hope you enjoy it.

They are starting boarding now, all by the numbers. Here I go 😀

Thanks - if all they do is read the tags and not scan them then it's an easy fix, I'm sure I have a pen somewhere (as I seem to have packed everything else in the house).

So here I am sat in my hotel immediately pre-cruise and I just noticed that my luggage tags all show my original cabin number that I had before the Upgrade Fairy waved her wand and moved me to a new one.

On previous (non-Cunard) cruises my luggage was always taken before check-in, and if that happens it will go to the wrong cabin before I can correct it.

Any thoughts ?

GE engineers came aboard today and fixed the problem. Case closed.

Perfect - many thanks !!

I really think some people are overreacting to the questions posed by those of us who will be on the next sailing. The heading of this thread suggested that there could be issues and naturally some of us would initially be concerned. I'm sure most of us also realize that if there was a genuine problem Cunard would contact us.

 

Please don't jump down our throats because we are asking for information.

A voice of reason.

It seems I do owe you that Champagne after all babs.

I doubt I would have any interest in this either were it not for the fact that I am on the next sailing, and contrary to popular opinion I remain interested ;)

So did they fix it Navaleye, any word ?

I need to know what exactly is the concern you have about this propulsion issue with QM2. Do you really expect a great delay or a cancellation? I certainly do not.

I think we live in an age where people prefer to remain informed.

Speaking of which - any more updates ?