IB2

The photos you need to be looking at are the ones in this thread:

The two worst places you could visit on a cruise tour! Go to Lucca instead.

You clearly don’t stay in many hotels.

But don’t go to the CT villages as part of a cruise ship tour. Use your independence and do something more sensible instead.

Don’t do it as a day trip, see here: https://www.topic.com/cinque-terror If you want to enjoy the CT, as far as you can given the overcrowding, make the effort to stay overnight, or even better, for several nights, in one of the villages. Then you will see it at its best, when the crush of cruise and other day trippers has gone.

I’ve done it twice westbound with an EU PP, and it’s nice and easy. Just put the PP in your pocket (assuming it’s all valid) and board the ship. Otherwise you will need to see a vet within ten days of travel and get an AHC, assuming your dog already ticks all the boxes in terms of chip and rabies vaccinations. The Cruisemaven website has a good article on the subject.

Yes, there is a fair bit of stress for the dogs, although it does vary considerably by breed and individual. I doubt it’s as stressful as flying in cargo but it is obviously more prolonged. For a senior dog one particular issue is that they are locked away when the kennel closes at 8.30pm and not let out until 8 am the following morning, which is nearly twelve hours, or nearly thirteen on the westbound with the clock change. Accidents are common the first night, but most dogs adjust thereafter; this might be difficult for a very senior or otherwise less than healthy dog. Also note that there is no vet on board and therefore you are on your own if there are any medical issues. Although the kennels book out very early, a fair few of the owners I have met on my four doggie TAs have actually booked relatively late, as cancellations are very common. If you can travel at short notice - unusual with a pet - there is very often a space, and I have only once known the ship to sail with every cage full.

Like Patria, I didn't like it on the trial last autumn, and I don't like what I am reading now. Gone is the restaurant feel of meeting a group of people and enjoying the evenings with them through the crossing, and now it's a canteen where you queue in line and get put here there or anywhere. For solo travellers or couples who enjoy becoming part of a larger group, the new scheme seems a real detriment to enjoying the TA. And no-one's really focused on all the extra work for the staff - not just seating you but having to find out individual preferences or dietary restrictions afresh every single night, and the wine guys spending the first half hour of every sitting hunting out and retrieving diners' half-finished bottles from the night before. If the staff are busy doing all this extra admin, it follows that you aren't getting the same service and attention at the table. The other point which seems reasonably obvious is that the two-sitting system was designed to get everyone through of an evening. Allowing significant numbers of people to start dining at a 'bridging time' of say 1930 means that table can't be used before or after, which must reduce capacity. The only benefit for the kitchen is that the orders are spread more evenly through the night rather than all coming in at once.

There’s never any guarantee with the North Atlantic, but of the four summer/early autumn TAs I have done, I can only remember one day when there was any appreciable movement of the ship, and even then, it’s pretty stable when its high tech stabiliser fins are engaged. Indeed the latter are expensive to run and I am told you notice the movement most when the sea is just not quite rough enough to justify turning them on.

Summer is more expensive, and I think westbound is more popular, because of the New York arrival and the longer days with the clock changes. Westbound is however typically a lot more windy on deck. The outward facing cabins sell out and Cunard then has to shift the interior ones - for a first timer an inside cabin is perfectly acceptable - you’ll be out enjoying the ship all the time, not sitting in the cabin, and the ship is stuffed with attractive places to hang out when you need some quiet time. There are often last minute offers on inside cabins. You can opt for an upgrade, and you never know - I got one on my very first TA, but not since.

Westbound, during the night, such that turning up for early breakfast becomes more and more difficult as the crossing goes on. And the poor dogs are locked up for an extra hour most nights. Eastbound, at lunchtime, such that an hour disappears from the middle of the day and by the end of the week those who booked the early sitting for dinner feel that dinner is coming way too early.

There are some posters to this site who enjoy posting ‘alarmist’ stuff on the flimsiest of evidence. I had booked well in advance third deck single cabins for my two TAs last year, and was most alarmed when someone posted on here that clubbers from the night club staggered down the third deck corridor late at night making a lot of noise so that it was difficult to sleep. On both of my crossings the third floor single cabin corridor was almost completely quiet. I can only assume that this reported disturbance happened just once, and the poster made it sound like a nightly occurrence. When single posters try to put you off a particular cabin because of their own personal experience, it is always important to seek out other views…

Very brave to even consider it. The best of luck….

The issue is that, with the level of debt they are carrying, the company isn’t worth what it once was, and in their position I’d be looking for a chance to raise the number of qualifying shares needed from the current 100.

Yes and yes

I feel like that about my family too, sometimes. 😉

There are some very good videos on YouTube that explain how to pack formal clothes so that they take up the minimum of space and aren’t unduly creases. Especially those that explain the rolling method. In extremis, the laundries on board are, after the usual first day rush, pretty quiet early in a cruise or crossing, and the irons there can rescue you from undue embarrassment if you have made the mistake of sleeping in your formal clothes, or having packed them so that it looks that you have done so…

There’s some misinformation above. The information about the tapeworm treatment needed between 24 and 120 hours before embarkation is correct. If you aren’t disembarking in the EU then you can ignore the EU paperwork you’ve been provided. The advice about rabies only being accepted one year after is incorrect. Both the UK and EU have recognised the three year vaccinations for longer than the US, and if your pets have been given a vaccination now recognised for three years in the US, this will be accepted on board as entry for the UK. Me and my dog have done the crossing four times now and, whilst it’s an experience, it can be a stressful one for both owners and pets - although not as bad as putting the pet into cargo on an aeroplane. There is a very good thread on the cruisemaven website with comments below it that will give you a good idea for what you are letting yourself in for. On the upside, the shared adversity of the pet owners onboard the QM2, whilst the rest of the passengers are eating, drinking and dancing, delivers a camaraderie that you won’t find anywhere else on the ship. And all the other passengers will be VERY interested to hear about your experience of travelling with your pets on board….

Silly really, as the train service from Southampton to London is pretty good and taxis to the station and from Waterloo will cost you a lot less than a road transfer all the way, and be a quicker journey too.

No.

That’s always been there. Take no notice. Spread your bottles between your luggage, and enjoy them during the crossing.

Excellent choice. Unlike the westbound crossings, into the prevailing wind, crossing the Atlantic eastbound in summer can often be surprisingly wind-free, given luck with the weather. Because the ship and the air are moving in the same direction at similar speed. So it may well be a pleasure to be up on deck mid-Atlantic. And you won’t feel compelled to get up at 4 am to see the Isle of Wight in the dark, or to be up on deck at 5-6am when the ship pulls into the magnificent sights of Southampton Water. Enjoy!

It varies considerably through the ship. If you keep your eyes out for the WiFi routers - often on the ceiling - and sit near one of those, you should be fine, most of the time.

Welcome, and you're in for a great time. You don't have to take a DJ, but most people do - however the minority who don't (mostly American, in my subjective impression) is enough that you won't feel the odd one out if you don't. There are a few things you can pre-book, and nearer the time you'll be able to see these on the Cunard portal where you manage your booking. One thing to be aware of is that if you book spa treatments in advance you'll pay full price, whereas later in the crossing they tend to make various offers to encourage people to take up unbooked slots. The beauty of the QM2 is that the ship is large enough that it never feels crowded, and different passengers can carve out entirely different experiences depending on their personality and preferences - especially on a TA when you have seven straight nights at sea unpunctuated by everyone going ashore at port stops. If you want to spend the whole week in a hectic social whirl of activities and dancing, you can, or you could visit the library and find a quiet spot on deck (on better days!) or in your favourite bar and spend the week reading, with a drink at your side. Or fill your day with lectures and the planetarium and the cinema, where you're passively sitting being stimulated, or hang out in the casino and onboard pub enjoying fish & chips and its endless cycle of quiz nights. Or be up on deck gazing out to sea and watching for the occasional dolphin or whale. It really is up to you.

Yes. I had the same problem when travelling in the US this autumn, and needed to print out the booking confirmation (ticket) and luggage tags, which I downloaded as files to my iPad. The first hotel I asked was happy to print them out for me, if I emailed them to reception.