D&N

My wife normally sits on the bench seat. I need to twist my neck.

Perhaps swivel seats would be a good idea.

9 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

The only piece I’ve seen that I don’t like is, lo and behold, the Queens Grill. I feel I’m going to spend a fortnight staring at a wall. I’m sure it is a nice wall, but still…

Don't you get to swap seats from day to day? 🙂

I don't think I'd like that either though. It's ok in a restaurant where you don't have any outside views but they would have been better seating those facing fore and aft.

It also limits your observation of what's happening at most of the other tables.

Some of today's vlogs from Queen Anne were quite good and very useful.

These were seen in a Britannia Club cabin/stateroom.

The laundry list has a reference at foot, which suggests it was issued in January 2024 and I assume it's valid throughout the fleet.

I don't know if the room service menu is the same on the other queens.

36 minutes ago, RobbieNYC said:

Is there anyway I can find out what the theme lights are on board?

Since you sail so soon, unless you have red and/or gold accessories, or a venetian ball style mask to hand, you're probably best just to dress to suit Gala or Smart Attire. The majority of passengers do that and don't bother with themes.

The important thing for most is to dress smartly/elegantly.

A bit like tennis commentators.

Many of them witter on about all sorts of things that have nothing to do with the match you are watching. Would be better if they just kept quiet and let the umpire announce the scores.

Is that Bellarina?

6 hours ago, buchanan101 said:

Accessible suite may be bigger too? I wouldn't miss a bath*

 

(*note I do shower... )

We don't have a bath; just a huge walk in shower.

Generally accessible showers have more space. The only downside I see from videos of that one is the seat looks as if it's a permanent feature. Ideally you'd want to fold it up to give more space to move around.

🤣🤣🤣

I'm familiar with the shipping lanes as I try to get long range pictures of QM2 from our window when she visits. That's at a range of about nine miles!

If you are ready when leaving the Rade at Villefranche you'll get a view of the Promenade des Anglais at a range of about 2.3 miles. If you have a powerful zoom you might get some decent pics. Downside is that clearest air tends to be early in the day. By time you leave there will probably be a bit of a haze and pics might be a bit fuzzy.

In practice you will be asked to give details of your insurer on My Cunard, which amounts to giving the Insurance Company Name, the Emergency Assistance Company Name, and contact number. You will not be asked for details of the actual insurance at that stage.

When boarding at Southampton we were not asked to present insurance details. I'm not aware of anyone having been asked to show that type of document. I don't know if things are different at other boarding locations.

Typically in Europe rather than the UK, policies will state "actual cost" for repatriation rather than an upper limit, and many non Brits booking through Cunard UK will have that type of cover rather than specifying an £xx million limit.

Bottom line, as long as you have a decent travel policy for your region it will most likely be ok, and Cunard are unlikely to want to see the detail of the policy.

1 minute ago, buchanan101 said:

23kg is a very heavy small bag

I often wonder how you get 23kg into either of the small bags? Perhaps a mechanic's tool kit!

And how folk lift 23kg into the overhead?

Our policy is to put the heaviest stuff in those bags to save weight in checked luggage.

Economy is fine for our 1h40m flights to/from Heathrow and if we need an extra checked bag it's quite cheap. We have Avios on hand if prices are unusually high.

Decided to give skiing a miss. Took a day trip to Valberg one New Year, far far too cold for me!

1 hour ago, Tattycoram said:

but the European non-check bag is too small even for us.  

 

I couldn't get through to British Air for weeks,

Was that British Airways?

Their standard cabin bagage allowance is a full size (56 x 45 x 25cm) bag of up to 23kg to go in the overhead and a smaller 23kg bag to go under the seat.

How big and heavy a bag do US airlines allow in cabin? Delta wasn't any bigger.

And apologies to @buchanan101, who was so keen to jump down my throat and fell victim to moderation!

I'm sure this won't last long either! It's only a bit of fun.

I do love that we receive emails about posts that we then discover "never existed". 🤣

23 hours ago, D&N said:

If the man can force himself to wear a long sleeved collared shirt and dark trousers most nights (smart attire), and add a dark jacket and tie on probably four Gala nights, then he can participate in everything.

I should probably clarify my thought process behind this part of my earlier post as I believe some may have thought I was claiming this was the specified dress code. I didn't intend it to be read in that way, and I don't think I claimed it was. The thought was that by choosing that combination then adding the jacket and tie for gala nights would save packing anything else. Theoretically 1 x shirt, 1 x tie, 1 x dark jacket, 1 x pair of dark trousers, would cover every night for two weeks, if you could keep them clean and they didn't smell! 🤣

7 hours ago, Kelownabccan said:

do wonder if it might be tooooo much of "dress up" and dancing as one other poster said

Ballroom and latin dancers are in a minority, although there are far more of them than other lines. Most people will go to shows in the two theatres or listen to an act in the four main lounges.

We found the disco to be quiet between 9.30pm and 11pm. That might have been partly as the ship wasn't completely full after the pandemic. I believe it livened up later.

Because The Queens Room and G32 are beside each other (you need to pass through Queens Room to get to G32) we could flit between the two depending on what the music was like. We often preferred what the disco band was playing.

1 hour ago, Kelownabccan said:

February 15th Queen Mary 2

Is that M504 14 nights to Canaries starting and ending at Southampton?

As far as I'm aware most flights between Canada and Europe allow a full size carry on and a smaller under-seat bag each. That's about 120 litres of space between two passengers. We wouldn't have a problem dressing to a standard that we could attend any venue every night with that amount of luggage. We wouldn't of course because we're happy to take a checked case each that gives us at least 160 litres more.

The laundrettes on QM2 are free to use. There is also a laundry service, with what we consider to be good prices. You can bring a minimum quantity of the sort of outfits required and if needed they can be cleaned.

I've attached screenshots of the dress code guidance you'll find on board, which in my opinion is much clearer than the website or brochures.

If the man can force himself to wear a long sleeved collared shirt and dark trousers most nights (smart attire), and add a dark jacket and tie on probably four Gala nights, then he can participate in everything. I would add a tux and bow tie to that.

Ladies can choose elegant, glitzy or whatever. Unless they wear jeans and tee shirt every night nobody is going to notice.

This is a bit alien for us because the only reasons we go on QM2 are to dress up as much as possible and dance.  But if that's not your thing it is easy enough to do the minimum.

You won't find water slides. But there's a huge variety of musical entertainment, activities, enrichment lectures etc, plus six port days in places that shouldn't be too cold at that time of year, although deepest winter by our standards!

2 hours ago, asdf1245 said:

2 30 inch Enkloze, a Samsonite 32inch and a Enkloze 28 inch

What are the model names of those? (don't see a 30" on Enkloze website)

Won't the cabin cases fit inside the big ones?

2 hours ago, alserrod said:

BTW, where exactly tenders leaves you?

43.54650618773531, 7.014551963567566

These are the map coordinates.

It's known as Quay Laubeuf and the tender point is just beside where ferries to Ile Sainte Marguerite depart from.

If the flight concerned is EI122 ORD->DUB it seems to be fairly reliable. Scheduled arrival in Dublin is 05:15. Average arrival in last 7 days was 04:47, earliest 04:18, latest 05:23.

Of course that's no guarantee it'll be on time when you use it.

1 hour ago, asdf1245 said:

Speaking of luggage, can large suitcases fit under the King Size or Twin Beds.

These photos aren't of great quality, and it was QM2, but this shows two medium cases side by side under one side of the King Size bed. There is an identically sized dark blue one behind the red. The dimensions of each case are 66cm x 43cm x 29cm. Unless your cases are much thicker than 29cm, they should fit.

On the other side a little of the space was taken up with a box containing spare bedding for the steward to use.

5 hours ago, Live a little said:

Hi sorry if this has been asked before.

We have booked a QM2 cruise for later this year 1st Cunard cruise since 2018 so looking forward to coming back.

We have not done purchased drinks package before but are considering it this time.

12 night cruise & we both enjoy socialising with a few drinks at lunchtime, early evening, pre dinner, wine with our meal & in the night club ….
 

 At the end of most cruises the bar bill was quite a lot. 😂

We do have a healthy 690 dollar onboard credit.

So should we go for it. ??

Seems like your choice is whether to buy in advance or onboard. Onboard will cost you $192 more assuming there are two of you. You can of course get Illy coffees, soft drinks and bottled water on the package as well. And the 15% is included.

Depends what else you would use the $690 OBC for? We've only had/will have $290, but we'll buy a pro photo package at about $600, my wife likes Radley handbags and if there was an offer on one she liked that would be charged as well. Hotel & Dining service charge will take at least $348 of it. You might take internet access over and above any loyalty benefits.

The other thing is your taste in wine. Will you be happy with those available by the glass? If we're having a good meat dish at dinner we want a decent Bordeaux with it, or a Burgundy white with fish or white meats. Splitting one between two nights would be enough (of the decent stuff) for us, but that would help use OBC and you do get the 20% discount on those with the package.

I think you may be posting from UK, and I don't know when you travel. The other consideration is the GBP:USD exchange rate. It's currently close to it's lowest since November. You would have got the best deal for a while on March 11th.

2 hours ago, david63 said:

And therein lies the problem. What one person considers as the "right way" may not be the same as somebody else's interpretation.

Since you quote me; perhaps if you're talking about someone else....

In my case what she means is if I'm sorting stuff to put in the communal recycling I flatten cardboard boxes, crush plastic containers and cans, and make sure the correct things go in. Some of our neighbours put in huge empty boxes without breaking them up, which makes the bins fill much quicker. Or if I'm doing some sort of DIY job you can be sure it won't fall down the first or ten thousand and first time the cats jump on it. And I like to keep an eye on a friend who visits and when in the kitchen is liable to let the coffee machines overflow or try and wreck appliances by trying to use them by trial and error when he doesn't know how, rather than asking.

She's not talking about dress codes.

I certainly hope I don't come across as being pompous. I just asked my wife. She says, "that in her opinion I'm not, but I like to do things the right way". 😀

When we booked crossings for 2020 there were galas on the middle nights without themes. By the time we travelled in 2022 those had gone and there were only two each week. By then we had planned our outfits, so we just stuck with the plan. I didn't feel overdressed in the ivory tux on those nights. Therefore, I don't think I'll feel out of place wearing a tux every night.

There was only one comment; we were having pro photos taken when a lady wearing faded light blue jeans and a red and white striped T-shirt approached me to ask if "she'd missed something" and "was it a gala night?" I wasn't sure if she was genuinely concerned that she might have missed such information, or she wanted to let us know that she didn't approve of us "over dressing" for the evening.  As an aside, I think the jeans/t-shirt outfit might have been associated with a sort of jive that her group were doing, possibly hip hop.

Nora has so many outfits that didn't fit for years, plus lots of stuff that's been bought since she shrank. She couldn't possibly get through it all going out once a week, and she rarely gets a chance to wear the longest gowns. Two weeks on QM2 is an opportunity to wear as much as possible. I don't get many formal events that I can wear tuxes to, so I might as well get some use from them and complement her outfits.

And for us cruises/crossings are not holidays. They are an experience. Holidays are staying at home in our seaside resort.

8 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

I assume they are not so brazen as to sell tickets for those days?

Hmmm.. I've never tried that. Would be interesting, but I wouldn't fancy trying to get a refund if they accepted the ticket sale.

26 minutes ago, Winifred 22 said:

Slightly less frequently is an understatement certainly where I travel around in the south around Southampton. Hourly services reduced to infrequent 2 hours and as others have said loads of engineering works at the weekend with the dreaded replacement bus service. 

Think yourself lucky! 😀

When they close the line between Cannes, Nice and Monaco, they don't bother with replacement buses.

As that usually includes Sundays or Holidays when buses are only every 30 minutes, virtually all the buses leave Cannes or Nice full and hardly pick up anyone in between. We've learned the hard way that It's best to stay local when it happens.

1 minute ago, King Amo said:

Which is great, and clearly brings you pleasure to do so. Bringing what sounds to be at least three dinner suits, given your use of the plural, is not to be expected of most guests though, and goes well above both the stated dress code, and the predominant interpretation of the dress code by guests. 

 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with dressing up, and cruises give a greater opportunity to do so than most have in their day to day lives or other forms of holidays. For some, however, this sort of thing can be quite anxiety-inducing, worrying about how they will fit in, be perceived by staff and other guests, and simply feeling out of their comfort zone. As such I would hope that anyone who is reading this thread, and worried about what to wear and how they will be perceived don't feel there is such a high bar and may be put off from booking Cunard, as they would be missing out.  

Exactly.

For the next twice I will only wear those three dinner suits on the fourteen nights, plus varied accessories. It may even reduce what I need to pack. It also gives flexibility to send them for cleaning, which I will do at least once each as I'd trust the laundry more than our local dry cleaners and it'll be cheaper.

In my case just about the only thing I miss about work is wearing suits and ties when I was in an office or meetings. My base was at home, so I didn't go to those lengths to sit at my kitchen table! And even though I had the tech back then for video calls, none of my colleagues did.

But for folk that just want to match the advised dress code, it's not difficult. I admit to feeling slightly perplexed when folk come along trying to find ways of avoiding dressing to that code, but on the ship I'm unlikely to notice much other than my wife.

We might comment between ourselves now and again if someone is wearing a particularly stunning outfit, or hopefully less frequently something awful like ripped jeans or sportswear at dinner.