NE John

Yes, it looks like Global Entry is slowly expanding to cruise home ports.

That is confirmed from my experience. And the recent “Americas Sale” offered even lower rates for Alaska. But who knows for next year? Seattle may prove more popular than Vancouver.

Global Entry does not apply to ports/cruise ships. There are many immigration posts open in Brooklyn. Getting onboard in Brooklyn is worse than disembarking.

While no cruise line is going back to the days of what pax wore on the QE2 and beforehand (or even from my first QM2 Crossing in 2008) Cunard is the last line that promotes (in their wordy and muddled way) a more formal type of attire and many sail with Cunard mainly because of that heritage. Cunard, not the passengers, need to better communicate what they want out of the dress code and what is expected onboard. IMHO, passengers are only required to try their best, dress code wise, as those on this thread are indeed discussing. The sum of our onboard experience is a cumulation of each part we play. PS - to be fair, I also am wordy and muddled most of the time too…

Kinda…The Cunard site says Smart Attire evenings “simply means a Dress shirt and trousers”. Beforehand it said collared shirt and some read as polos. The idea of how someone from NYC sees a dress shirt can be different from how someone from other parts of the country may think of a dress shirt. There is no mention of sports jackets/blazers as even an option to wear in the evenings. At least they got rid of the channeling your inner James Bond phrasing.

The “Zoo” phenomenon in Brooklyn immigration stems from the US Customs law that every ship has to zero out with all pax disembarking and then re-embark, even if staying on the ship for the next leg of the voyage. That applies to all US ports and Brooklyn seems to take the brunt of bad press because of this policy. However, I also heard Vancouver bad too on the US side for Alaska cruises.

I do like my kippers and milk poached fish for breakfast.

It’s not a stupid question. Britannia MDR is an impressive space. We had lunch there last summer, from PG, but I’d recommend breakfast at Britannia because the difference in food and menu offerings between Grills/Britannia is minimal. For lunch, try the excellent Golden Lion pub food as a break from Grills dining. And mix up Afternoon Tea in both the Queens Room and Grills Lounge too.

I’m still wearing a jacket!

Many cruise travel experts advise to stay away from taking maiden voyages…

We should all try our best and realize that we all play a part in creating an elegant and respectful environment around the ship in how we dress. For example, I think a black long-sleeved dress polo with nice trousers looks just as good as others wearing a jacket. I like a turtleneck sweater under a jacket look too. Making an effort in dressing shows respect for yourself and towards others.

The whole idea behind men wearing suits and jackets is to establish a uniform look among us so the ladies accompanying us stand out with their elegant attire. Men shouldn’t be the focus of attention, dress-wise. I think old school dress code adherents miss that environment of uniformity onboard we had with the old Formal/Semi-Formal code. With a more open dress code, there’s too much variation causing a confused look.

I would assume one wearing a dog collar would fit into that point too?

Please report back with your feedback. Enjoy.

@Archipelago Please try your best and as others stated above, make an effort in dress. I like to dress to match the quite nice decor of Cunard ships. To me, the dress code is the same whether on a TA, Alaska, or Caribbean/Med cruise. Match the elegance of the ship is my mantra.

DW first came over to the US in a transatlantico, and I’m sure, nowhere near any Grills-type area…actually she took a couple transatlantici as a youth. She said she remembers her mother being seasick most of the time!

How does a smaller R class Azamara ship handle rough seas? Even the Mediterranean can be rough, let alone a Transatlantic crossing. If I understand from your post, do the menus change nightly on Azamara, outside of the “standards”? The food looks very good on Azamara from various Vlogs.

Some of the Longshoremen I knew weren’t too delicate…

So for now, it seems that the Grills US Drinks Promo covers drinks $12 and under and, as they’d say in the old neighborhood in Brooklyn, Cunard ain’t budgin’!

Hey Roscoe…I’ve been enjoying your WC blog and, if it’s not too personal to ask, are you staying in one of those forward PG squarish suites on 5 Deck in this WC? If so, do you still like that location near the front out in open oceans? You spoke highly of them recently. I did grab one of those unique suites on QE for a voyage coming up in June. I do agree with you that I could spend three months at sea without touching land (DW will probably beg to differ on that one though…). It’s all mesmerizing.

Is that unusual for a pilot to stay on board that long? Is the longer time onboard because of the high volume of marine traffic clustered around the Channel and North Sea? In a previous job I worked on Brooklyn waterfront issues and development and spent time with the Sandy Hook Pilots. I have a “boatload” of respect for those guys. If any young person wants advice for a well-paying career, I suggest for them to start learning about the port pilot business.

If you like wine, on the first day onboard, ask the Grills Sommelier if he is offering any tastings during the Crossing. We had a great experience on ours and it’s a good way to use your OBC. ($120 pp for high end Chardonnays and canapés). There were only 10 people at the tasting so ask first chance you can. Please also write a review of your Crossing too.

That spire looks more Ottoman inspired or something from the Eastern Med. My guess is Istanbul.

Is this your first Cunard voyage? If I remember, you’re doing a TA in late June. Maybe Cunard gave extra OBC to World Club US Grills members? Who knows… To add: Cunard has fantastic cocktails and an incredible choice of wines and whiskies.

Wow, even the variation on Cunard’s response to each passenger is all over all over the place. Bummer. My beef is the lack of uniform policy and responses. There are still quite a few cocktails below $12, just hit the sexy ones.