JT1101

All of Queen Anne's specialty restaurant menus are available. Of interest is that all of them seem to follow the convention of having a mix of additional charge items and included in fare items.

I strongly suspect this changed menu exists only on Queen Anne. As noted above the website lists Golden Lion for Queen Anne separately from the rest and classifies it as additional charge. Meanwhile the Golden Lion on the rest of the fleet is still categorized as included.

Something weird is Golden Lion for Queen Anne is now broken out separately on the website as additional Cost dining. The Golden Lion for the rest of the fleet is listed as included dining (a la Britannia). As to the menu all our favorites are still there ("Cunard Gold Beer-Battered Sustainable Hake" is our Fish and Chips and that dish has no surcharge for example).

I like the menu itself not the supplements - Golden Lion was always traditionally fare included.

Something like a fire is always announced in cabin. It's part of protocol.

Exactly what I expected. Both the Sun and a certain YouTuber exaggerated things (one because it's The Sun and the other for clickbait). By the way, who is the Captain on this trip?

It's the exact same story as noted earlier. Really just sounds like a fire event which sometimes can happen on a ship. It was apparently handled according to procedures.

The article seems to say it was a machinery space fire and extinguished rapidly. The You Tuber was their usual clickbaity self.

It should be the same as the Britannia Restaurant (main dining room).

Honorary or not they did promote him when he retired.

I've never seen this pretentiousness in there. The service is definitely hands on and it is a bit formal (which it should be given the setting).

I had some time this morning to look it up. Yes Captain Thorhauge is the Senior Captain having her first Cunard command in 2010 (Queen Victoria). Captain Hashmi's first Cunard command was in 2013.

Am I right that with the retirement of Commodore Wells Captain Thorhauge is Cunard's senior Captain? Or is it Captain Hashmi?

Count me as another Verandah fan. I LIKE the quieter atmosphere and the more traditional steakhouse fare. I have never found the service there to be substandard in any way.

I'm willing, based on the marvelous job Cunard did with changing the basic Vista design to give us QE and QV, to trust them on Queen Anne until given the chance to see for myself. That said, I REALLY hope the next time Cunard builds a ship it is a liner and not a cruise ship - give QM2 a true running mate.

It's Starlink - all the Cunard fleet has undergone the conversion to Starlink.

That FB group (no surprise) has a faker in it. First that is not the Golden Lion logo. Second the lunch menu does not have starters - the evening menu does.

I've stayed on Deck 8 twice, most recently in 2019. The rooms are quite roomy and having also stayed on decks 5 and 11 the room sizes were the same. Keep in mind that QM2 is built for rougher seas, and part of that is the balconies are either recessed (so the forward superstructure protects them) or set inside the hull. It works quite well too.

Another "Odd Duck" feature occurred to me - the Sunday morning service and the Bible Study. I love sailing QM2 in December, and the Sunday Morning Service is a highlight of that day. While being Interdenominational the feel is rather old school Anglican and the readings and hymns are appropriate for being on the sea. The Bible Study is a small group gathering of a more informal nature and being in December tends to be looking at Christmas related verses - one year I was aboard we had a surprise Study member on one of the mornings - Captain Wells. These sound like small things but they are all part of what makes Cunard Cunard. In this case these are parts of the onboard activities and enrichments which Cunard leans into pretty hard.

They changed the coffee in Kings Court from the big silver units? I always liked the coffee in King's Court when I would come in after doing laps on deck and just sit and relax in one of those side window spaces, sip coffee and look out at the Promenade.

The rowdier behaviors I think tend not to happen on Cunard ships because of the more formal atmosphere and the imbuement of history and tradition into everything. It sort of leads to self selection by guests.

Probably Stateroom for there Non-Grills and Suites for Grills?

They can only do stateroom replacement on decks 8 or higher and mostly balcony anyway. The lower levels would entail cutting into the hull and interior rooms would entail pulling a lot more stuff out. I would guess the deck 8 work was aimed at accessing wiring and or pipe/duct work. The staterooms can be refurbished in place as described earlier.

Yep! Generally speaking a party ship is one like Carnival or Virgin like to do where you have big parties going on every night on deck that frequently are also raves. Cunard parties tend to be more "refined".

Don't worry no shooting. Of course other cruise lines can be enjoyable and they pursue their chosen audiences the best ways they know how - as does Cunard. Cunard is our "Odd Duck" simply because it's chosen path has been one that embraces the history and traditions, embraces elegance and is not going for either the "theme park" or "party" ship experiences.