NancyDrew1953

I very much second this comment. For me, the best benefit was the same wait staff for every meal, who after my first meal accommodated my eccentricity of lots of ice in my water. The wait staff is more experienced in the Club and since they have fewer tables and the same guests, they provide an overall better dining experience.

I am on an upcoming cruise on the Queen Elizabeth, which I purchased as one cruise, but consists of two shorter cruises. My cruise is shown as SOLD-OUT, but the two individual shorter cruises are not sold out. I'm in the Club and have been offered the opportunity to bid on the Princess Grill at an attractive price. I am considering bidding, but when I looked at the two shorter cruises, the available Princess cabins shown are different cabins between the two cruises. Before I bid, I am concerned that the QE would require me to change Princess Grill cabins in the middle of my booked (longer) cruise. Cunard's FQA does not seem to address this. Does anybody have any insight or thoughts on this issue?

This is so helpful. Is there anyway that this chart or thread could be pinned at the top for future reference? Maybe someone more knowledgeable with the workings of CC boards make a request to the Viking board moderators?

I am currently on the Encore from Athens to Dubai with a stop (one day) for Luxor on November 27. Most seemed to be doing the ship excursions due to the logistical challenges of Luxor in one day. However, there were no issues or concerns with those who traveled independently. I did one of the ship tours, but talked with others who made private arrangements. Very safe. The war is far away from here, but circumstances can change.

For a different perspective, I am currently on the Encore on the Athens to Dubai journey with many sea days (I believe 10 so far, but have not counted them). The Restaurant (MDR) has been open on sea days for breakfast and dinner, but is almost deserted. For breakfast time, the number of passengers have ranged from a high of 10 to a low of 3 (including me). Although I dine there every sea day (mainly for the quiet in the morning), frankly I wonder how Seabourn can justify opening it for breakfast. When there is an event at lunch in the MDR (Galley Market, etc.), the turnout is good, but otherwise there are very few passengers there. The times I eaten lunch there (5 sea days), the count has ranged from 5 to about 25 maximum. From this view, I understand why Seabourn does not bother to open the MDR on port days and question if it even makes sense to open for breakfast (or possibly lunch) on sea days. Each voyage is different, but my assumption is that Seabourn has studied the situation and concluded that there is just not sufficient demand to open.

It is the Sharm el Sheikh stop in Egypt that has been cancelled. We are still scheduled for Safaga (Luxor), but the date has now been changed. As I mentioned, although disappointing, I am still looking forward to this cruise. — my first time on a small luxury ship, plus the Suez Canal! I know that the cancellation of the stop for Petra will be a major disappointment for many. Although I am not that well travelled, I’ve actually spent time in Jordan and at Petra, and for me, Petra falls into the category of “one and done”. Everywhere else we are visiting, including the substituted ports, are new to me. All in all, I still very much anticipating the upcoming journey.

Based upon shore excursions being offered, it appears that just about all choices are the same, except English or Japanese speaking options. In a couple of places, there is one or two offerings in one language but not the other —sometimes English and sometimes Japanese, but it doesn’t seem like there is more choices in one than the other.

I’m on the upcoming November cruise on the Encore. Earlier the stop in Israel was cancelled and Rhodes was substituted. Notified yesterday that the stop in Petra and one of the Egypt stops have been cancelled with a second stop in both Oman and UAE substituted. Plus a couple of changes to the dates for other ports. Although fully supportive of the changes, it is still a bit disappointing. Although understandable, this will be a much different agenda than planned. Seabourn has already refunded the excursions booked for the cancelled locations to my credit card. I have been pleased with Seabourn’s responsiveness; however, for the two new ports they have not yet announced any excursions. They indicated that they will have excursions to book once on board.

With respect to your comment on late 2023 cruises, Seabourn has provided their plans. I am on a Seabourn cruise later this month in this area. Right after the attack on Israel, Seabourn cancelled our stop there with a substitute planned in Greece (Rhodes). Other than that, the schedule is unchanged and includes Egypt, Jordan, cruising the Suez Canal and onward. I haven’t been following what Seabourn is doing for the 2024 cruises, but for 2023, they have definitely sone a very good job of keeping the upcoming passengers informed based on my experience.

A couple of comparisons from my perspective based on my experiences (on HAL in Australia/New Zealand earlier this year and on the QM2 late last year - both times standard balcony cabins). As others have stated, activities are generally more plentiful on the QM2. In addition to evening entertainment, the day time Insight lectures are generally very good to great. There is also a real library on all the Cunard ships (QA will have one). QM2 still provides nightly turndown service with chocolates every night, but no towel animals ever (unlike HAL). Quality and variety of food in the main dining room is better on QM2, but the service in HAL main dining room is generally better. The buffet, particularly salads, is better with HAL. Service on QM2 is good, but not as friendly or cheerful compared to HAL. Also, senior officers are somewhat more visible on HAL. In my experience, problem resolution is slightly better on HAL. The one big advantage HAL has is in the area of technology - better Wi-Fi (although hopefully QA will be as good) and a much better app. The number of in room movie and TV choices are also better on HAL. I really envy your World Cruising…..it is my goal (someday).

I agree that several of these points don’t seem to make sense. In the winter - spring of 2022, these ships were doing coastal cruises, and at least, the one I was on was about 85 percent full. Just speculation, but I would be concerned about the overall viability of the American Queen cruise line. The ongoing problems with refunds noted in this Board sounds like the Queen is about to go the way of Vantage Travel (bankruptcy and liquidation). Although I have had many great trips with them in the past, I would be very wary of booking anything, including river cruises with them now.

Last year, they had several trips in January to about April up the East coast with quickie stops in the Bahamas. Then, the ships went further north along the U.S. with stops in the Canadian Maritime provinces before starting the Great Lakes seasons. I thought that the pattern in reverse heading southward was repeated in the late fall in 2022, but it looks like AQV has abandoned this. I haven’t heard any speculation as to the fate of these two vessels. It will be a shame if they are scrapped as I thought they filled a good niche in small ship cruising.

I’ve actually completed a southeast cruise with AQV’s Ocean vessel. It was round trip out of Jacksonville Florida going up the coast through Georgia and to Charleston SC. To make it “legal”, there was a brief (very brief) stop in Freeport, the Bahamas. This trip (Feb. 2022) was delightful. At that time, both Voyager and Navigator were doing cruises along the SE coast, and the cruise I was on was relatively full (maybe 85%?).

I have cruised on both Ocean Voyager and Ocean Navigator including a round trip on the Great Lakes starting and ending in Chicago. Although definitely not as luxurious as the Viking Great Lakes offering, the pricing was much more attractive. However, the reason I elected AQV and not Viking was the shore offerings. Viking’s offerings were much more geared to active offerings, e.g., hiking, kayaking, biking, etc., while AQV offered a greater range of activities such as a tour of an old copper mine, a museum, etc. I am at that stage of life that most (if not all) of the Viking choices are beyond my physical limitations or interests. Hopefully, some other line will continue to provide competition to Viking on the Great Lakes — maybe Am Cruise Lines. I believe that ACL already has some affiliation with Pearl, which operates one ship on the Great Lakes?

I only hope that I will receive brochures in the mail. I spent over 30 days on the QM2 in 2022 in total, but don’t have anything booked yet for 2023. I really love hard copy brochures - so inspirational for future planning. So far, nothing from Cunard. Meanwhile, Viking, who have never cruised with, sends me something each and every week!