D&N

It's unlikely that the internet connection will be consistent enough to stream sports reliably. Possibly once it's converted to Starlink, but that probably won't happen before any current Med booking is over. Depending on your mobile plan you might pick up a good enough terrestrial 4G signal in some of the ports, but that depends on where the signal masts are compared to the ship. If you try to use the satellite 4G I suggest you take out a mortgage to cover the bill. A week of streaming on board could easily cost thousands of pounds/dollars. Some sports events such as cup finals are shown on screens in the Golden Lion Pub. I've not attended any of those screenings so can't advise how reliable the reception was.

Where the TV is mounted on the wall of the cabin it can be difficult to access the ports on the rear. I was able to plug in a USB adapter to review camera photos on an SD card but it was quite fiddly. In cabins where the TV is on a desk, which I think might be the case in those with upper berths, it should be much easier. But, and I suppose I really shouldn't comment, but of course I will 😀; You've asked two questions here that indicate that you want to spend time on QM2 doing things you could easily do at home, and do better there! By the time we eat our meals, go to gym, walk the deck whale and dolphin spotting, swim and relax at the pool, sip drinks in the lounges, and dance the night away in ballroom and disco, we don't have any time for shows, musical performances, lectures, arts and crafts courses and many other activities onboard. Plus in the Med you have port calls as well that we wouldn't have to cope with on a crossing. I certainly wouldn't waste my money and just stay at home, watching my films and streaming my sports!

In the unlikely event of a child falling from a bunk you would be safer in single bed formation as it would be difficult for them to fall on top of you. Having it as a double would break their fall but your injuries would probably be more serious than anything they would suffer. Looking at layout I'd certainly put the ladder at foot of bed on side without the desk. It would be difficult having ladders facing both ways between the bunks. If space allows at desk side I'd put that one at foot as well. Most 10 year olds should be flexible enough to access from any direction. We regularly host a family of 4 in a 10.26m2/110sq/ft room with bunks crossing the top of the double bed. The room layout was designed with them in mind. But they don't spend much time in the room other than for sleeping. It will be a tight squeeze but all the more incentive to be out and around the ship enjoying it's facilities. On the falling comment. I do mean a child in their sleep rolling about and accidentally falling rather than being thrown out by bad weather!

There was a post over a year ago where someone on a crossing claimed to have joined one or more business Zoom calls on the WiFi.

@AspirationalFlyer I'm quite happy for you to have any lighting and lasers that you want. And I don't really care what the floor is made of either, just as long as we can dance on it! We'll dance to any style of music that is close to strict tempo. We prefer to dance ballroom and latin but revert to disco if we can't fit anything else round the music. When Exxile were playing we danced more in G32 than we did to the not so good bands in Queens Room. Other than the odd gulp of refreshment we're on the floor dancing constantly. Most others there seemed quite happy to sit and watch and listen to the music.

I just looked at the waist. Maybe I need to stretch a few inches. But maybe not, extending all those trouser legs could be a problem.

They seem to have increased it to $4 since we were there last year.

Premium.

I posted all the pics and comment in posts #11 through to #157 using the WiFi and received all the replies, other than a few in New York when on 4G. I also contributed to various other threads. I also posted much the same content on Facebook and a WhatsApp group and received responses easily. Only thing was I used a compressor app rather than uploading 2.60MB photos. I kept up with various bank accounts. Wise kept me informed as to what Cunard were charging to my card. Emails were fine. I was able to retrieve photos from my cloud archive whenever I wanted to illustrate a past experience. I think you would need two subscriptions to send messages around the ship. Not something we needed as we're almost always glued together. Other than connection not being good in cabin, our cabin was near Pavilion Pool where it was fine. Obviously we'll look forward to Starlink, but what we had was adequate for our needs. I should also have said that all those 2.60MB photos were backed up to cloud so I didn't need to use the SD cards I'd brought for backup.

It's on the dance floor and "I" quite enjoyed dancing round it. My wife got a bit fed up when I went round it three times in quick succession. They could do with adding some padding to the head level wood around the DJ's station. My wife's head does get quite close to it as we spin turn in and out of that corner.

Not sure what difference lights and lasers make to ones dancing, but please leave the floor alone! I think it was wood and we found it absolutely fine for dancing on.

@Host Hattie Is that Biggles?

My post #41. Sea day when short cruise passengers are leaving next morning and might have packed their finery.

When we lived in North Lanarkshire in Central Scotland, taxis were really cheap. In many cases 2 people were cheaper in a taxi than taking a bus. Here taxis are extortionate and we would only ever use them in an absolute emergency. Most of them are one man bands, and you might need to call 4 or 5 before you get one available, unless you can pick one up from a rank. But we tried UBER and it was reliable and prices although more expensive than Scottish taxis, were much more reasonable than local taxis. Try installing the UBER app on a phone and try selecting journeys from the app. You can go far enough through the process to see what the prices are and estimated waiting times. Just don't go as far as booking unless you actually want to make the trip. Once you have it installed you should be able to use it in any country that they operate.

Or you could take the view that all the other clients were foolish. 🤣

The little family from the neighbouring town. Child #3 is behind mummy's right wing in the last pic. Our local pair have 5 cygnets this year, but only daddy was at the river mouth today.

Many of the Med ferries operating to Corsica and Sardinia originated from Silja and Viking in the Baltic. I'm sometimes tempted to take a trip to Corsica just to travel on some of them. However I fear we'd be disappointed as I don't think Corsica Ferries and Moby Lines have the standards of the Baltic operators.

With our mobility and the 2 medium roller cases and 2 cabin sized backpacks we would be travelling with, if there was a problem with cab drivers not knowing where they were going I would ask to be dropped off at the Wall Street terminal and we would manage fine from there. But if you can't do that or don't want to, I don't see a better option than a cab, unless Cunard offer a transfer from a central point in Manhattan. As 1025cruise suggests I would also consider UBER, which we already use in France. Given your experience, I would swot up on the routes to Red Hook on Google Maps and Street View and program them into a satnav on my phone then give the cab driver directions. Depending on traffic Google defaults to a route via West St and a toll tunnel. I'd be inclined to force it via Brooklyn Bridge, which I believe is toll free. Cab drivers must know where Brooklyn Bridge is?? Then you just need to know the exit from the bridge and directions from there to Red Hook. I just followed that route on Street View and didn't make a single wrong turn. Unfortunately when I arrived there was no sign of the ship. 🤣

One of my other favourites was the first of two 1990s Stena Britannicas from Harwich. It was previously Silvia Regina and later Stena Saga. I think it's now anchored in The Philippines. Originally built for the Baltic Capitals route as well. It had a really classy Tivoli Gardens two floored restaurant and was the first ferry we experienced decent cabins on.

Well maybe not what you get on Cunard..... We danced most of the night on a reasonably sized floor in the show lounge. The band changed at Helsinki so the first night was best. We vividly recall doing Viennese Waltz with about 50 others, mainly Russian teenagers, around that floor. There wasn't much chance of falling over as we were packed like sardines.

It actually has some similarities to Cunard. Those in Commodore Cabins and Suites have a card controlled section with their own lounge, saunas and jacuzzis. Their inclusive breakfast is served in the best a la carte restaurant. Deluxe cabin corridors are also entered by card only and the special breakfast for them is served in another restaurant. Other grades pay separately for breakfast in the buffet. 20 years ago we were in a deluxe, then known as "Silja Seaside" rather than the inner ones overlooking the mall. The self selection part of breakfast included a huge tray of glasses of champagne! Serenade and it's sister are 33 years old and still some of the best ferries in world. If we ever get round to doing it again I'd do the mini-cruise from Stockholm twice B2B and probably not get off during the two visits to Helsinki. That would let us dine in different restaurants on the four nights.

I feel the need to defend the honour of "ferry passengers". 🤣 Some of my favourite ships are car ferries. Several of them are much nicer than many cruise ships, like the MS Silja Serenade in the picture. We would certainly dress for dinner (perhaps not a tux) in any of it's 5 main restaurants.

I should have said that if you use NYC Ferry you can't pay onboard. You need to be prepared to use a ticket machine at the terminal, which might have a queue, or download their app to your phone. You can buy the tickets and validate them on the app. The staff scan the ticket onscreen when boarding so you need a mobile signal.

On a Sunday in June 2022 we set off at about 07:45 from our cabin. We made it clear to terminal staff that we were only going ashore for a few hours and were ushered to a customs gate with no queue. Had photos and electronic finger prints taken, no physical passport stamp (as TheOldBear said). We were at the Red Hook NYC Ferry terminal at 08:10, where we boarded the 08:45 ferry to Pier 11, then walked to Staten Island Ferry Terminal for 09:08 travelling on the 09:30 ferry. After some shopping at Empire Outlets and pizza and lobster mac & cheese in a bar diner returned by reverse route at 13:30 arriving Red Hook at 14:30. We walked to front of the lines, waving our cruise cards to attract attention of staff and were ushered past the queues to security and re-boarded in about 10 minutes. We weren't very ambitious to see much that day as were returning by air at the end of June for a longer stay. But the key time saver was making it clear to terminal staff what our status was.

@Jack E Dawson Agreed on the Champagne Bar. But they could easily fill it a bit more if they offered a few glasses at lower prices. Restaurants here charge around €11 for a 120ml glass of similar to L.P. La Cuvée. Cunard charge $16.75 for 150ml. They could drop the glass sizes and serve a cava or a prosecco as well.