buchanan101

Us citizens CAN use egates (but has to have biometrics on the passport). These work well at T5 (but that's only BA flights). Waiting for your luggage though...I too would not arrive in UK on day of ship departure.

Virgin doesn't fly to ski resorts... the BA Avios tickets in Club Class are great value for skiing... Plus use them for a lot of European city breaks (off to Dublin in 3 weeks to see the Boss) Have 150,000 Virgin points too, so they'll be used to get to NYC for our New England cruise in 2026 (and Avios to get back from Montreal) "Taxes" on are a lot higher to US than even Canada on Avios and Virgin Points (paid £1k "taxes" for 2 club world tickets back from NYC after Oct 22 crossing) Sorry, this is a cruise forum - headforpoints.com is good for Avios/Virgin earning and redemptions...

It works the same as Schengen - once in the CTA you can travel freely in it, whatever nationality (as it is impossible to separate out UK/ROI and non UK/ROI citizens without... checking their passports!) I've breezed through LHR many times (the egates work pretty well now), only to wait for ages for luggage How long does immigration for US citizens take at Dublin, though I assume the OP is thinking about an overnight stay in Dublin?

I don't fly anywhere without using Avios, though the "taxes" can be very high if you want anything above economy - still have 400,000 of them, enough for two transatlantic holidays over the next two years

It's just the one flight a day I think leaving Dublin at 7:20 - which is great for getting to QM2 early... Dublin airport hotel overnight? I guess a back up plan is then via LHR/taxi, via LCY or Bristol. If the flight didn't go for some reason. Loads of flights to LHR and LCY from Dublin

I thought the only Dublin arrangements worked for clearing US immigration going west... ...however Ireland and UK are in same Common Travel Area - in theory you do not even need a passport for the flight; my OH came back from Dublin in to Stansted (different London airport obviously, but...) - she did not have to clear UK passport control and was through very quickly LHR is actually pretty good at passport control if you had to go through (not sure if US passengers can use egates) - the main problem with LHR can be collecting luggage. I'd be more worried about flight delays coming all that way for a same day boarding... and it's still 60mins to Southampton on a good day

The only downside of West to East is 5 x 23 hour days. Less time to enjoy yourself/relax/eat food. The upside is that you won't get jet lag and you don't have to get from LHR to Southampton (but it's not that far - book a taxi) The other downside of course is that you can't do a few days in the UK if you wanted to - so much to see but I'm biased; going the other way i can't see the attraction of going all the way to NYC to then leave the same day!

I assume everyone has seen the latest 30 second Cunard video? https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/cunard-stories/queen-anne-sail-out?utm_campaign=ECNB1857&utm_content=cta-hero&utm_term=CU-43871107&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ECNB1864 QA venue sneak peak

@King Amo Absolutely spot on. Couldn't have said it better myself - it's the insistence by some of the "unwritten higher dress code" that I find a bit irritating. And pompous. I've not noticed anyone on board disapproving of what others are wearing - though I'm not the most observant person and maybe there are some who sit quietly fuming?

I think the discussion here was about how smart - I doubt there are many who go on Cunard not expecting to dress up Quite possible to enjoy putting on a DJ on holiday - (of course it's a holiday) - and I also think the discussion was almost exclusively for dress code on non-gala nights Apart from that...what attracted me to Cunard was partly history, partly because the ships seem so much nicer than most other ships and are not full of garishness and climbing walls etc. But I guess the main thing that got me on Cunard in the first place was the idea of a crossing on QM2 - there's no other way to do it properly (and I loved everything about it - oh - the talks were a bit disappointing). And now I'm trying QA in June as a second go (and have booked QM2 again for Sep 26 for a New England cruise)

I never said it was a dress shirt. I was reinforcing @exlondoner's comment about dress shirt meaning different things to different nationalities. Quite possibly Cunard removed it from on board guidance because of this. ...and the on board guide as has been pointed out says "collared shirt" A polo shirt is a " collared shirt" as it...has a collar and is a shirt. You say that we should not twist the English language and I'm not - I'm being quite literal You wear what you want and I will wear what I want. Both of us will be complying with the onboard dress requirements. If you get upset by people not dressing to the standard you think they should, then that is your problem.

They can probably be made of anything you want... But even I am not suggesting that this fits Cunard's dress code for evenings How about cargo pants on a golf course?

Or different parts written by Americans and Brits... (In other news the Shareperks system seems to work well...)

A dress shirt in UK English is also somewhat more formal; I always thought of it as something you wear with a DJ (and wikipedia seems to back me up, if you can believe that as a reputable source) so to me that requirement has always seemed nonsense, whereas the "collared shirt" didn't (i.e. mainly not a T shirt)

...and it says differently elsewhere. I don't know how many times Windsurfboy wants to go round this, but it's not "absolutely clear", and no one comes up to you and tells you what you are wearing is wrong. Cunard are possibly being a bit vague somewhat deliberately. It has to put bums on seats ...and it's not the army, or school, but a holiday (or experience as someone said recently)

Precisely And...does it matter provided people are reasonably smart and respect the "fudged" requirements however they interpret them; it's pointless trying to insist otherwise. (Do maitre d's police dress at all?). People are getting more relaxed in dress in general and Cunard have to fill their ships; they are less likely to do that if they insist on stricter dress codes and that'll be the judgement they've made (especially now they have 4 ships to fill - and their capacity has gone up from ~6800 to ~9800). Whatever happens, Cunard will still be - and always will be - a bit different

No - it's the attitude to those who think others aren't dressed to the standard they want despite there being no problem on board with people dressed a little differently I never said i could dress as I "darn pleased" - I will dress in line with what the requirements say and which is perfectly acceptable on board. If it's not up to your standards, then, sorry, but "tough" As for the rest of your post, I think you've proven my point

Hence my comment about more pomposity on occasion on here than seen on board. @D&N Don't miss wearing suits or even a tie at work - that went out decades ago in the business I am in (engineering consulting). The only concession I tend to make is not to wear jeans when seeing a client! Even then, depends on the client...

I understand that Cunard have relaxed the code somewhat, but this merely reflects societal changes; I haven't worn a suit for work in about 35 years, and haven't worn a tie for about 25/30 (these are guesses obviously). And Cunard obviously don't want to exclude a growing proportion of the population so have a fine line to tread Having said that, I liked dressing up on gala nights (in my specially bought DJ), and had no problem with being smart (at least for me) on other nights. But thank you @King Amo - it's a holiday after all...

I think the general conversation was about non formal nights; I have a DJ etc for formal nights and I enjoy wearing it. I even bought a properly fitted dinner suit for the last cruise/crossing (so I need to cruise more to get the value from it). But the rest of the time, I think I follow the code and I think I'm smart enough... ...yes it IS easier for women (but probably at the same time harder..) as there's a lot more leeway. My OH bought a couple of nice Hobbs dresses last time, but this time she will also have a unique home made dress that I rather like 😉.

Apologies Victoria - my comment was a general one too as there appears to be people on here who *do* seem to care what others wear; indeed I've seen more pomposity here than I've seen on a Cunard ship where really no one DOES care

Yet elsewhere "collared shirt" is referred to...and round and round we go again! Lots - most - of my (non polo) collared shirts would look rather daft with a tie, so there's that as well (try matching a tie to the type of checked shirt typically sold by Crew Clothing who have supplied most of my wardrobe!) I've worn a polo shirt with jacket (and "dress" shirts with and without a jacket, never with a tie). No one has stopped me. I think it's smart enough. I'm on a holiday that I've paid a fair amount of money for and I don't really care if other passengers don't approve. I'm not affecting them in any material way

Never had to tick any boxes about insurance booking BA to and from London airports. I suspect your airline was trying to upsell to you. Very sneaky. You don’t need travel insurance to fly.

What is the actual point of jackets? somewhere to put stuff? Insulation? They don’t actually make much sense as an item of clothing.

Surprised it’d be a deal breaker if everything else excellent… Of course I may be saying something else after Norway in June. Seems plenty of deck area elsewhere. I guess if there were loads of sea days it may be more frustrating and a good walk is an excuse to have a cream tea. Anyway . Can’t wait 😉