NE John

@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.

As one who has sailed in both classes, I too have been upset when reading various riff-raff type comments. Not too long ago, a guy called some pax akin to being in a Walmart. Luckily that poster hasn’t been around for a while. However on these pages, I have read some classic British self-deprecating humo(u)r. One calling himself a “rower” as a Britannia pax - that’s actually pretty funny. Bottom line, compared to the other suite level offerings from other lines, you’ll see pax from both Grills and Britannia sit next to each other at; the GL Pub, the Theatre, Insight talks, Queens Room, Comm Club…just about anywhere. 85-90% of each ship is open to everyone. So I’d argue that Cunard is one of the least class based system at sea. I’d be mortified to have a butler escort me to the front of a line and sit me in a suites only section at a public venue.

We are on the same voyage and we’re in PG. I’m planning a meal at Frontier to get to the Alaskan menu and the Alaskan seafood plate. I’ll be interested in hearing about your QG experience with your requests. Haven’t made it to QG yet.

I heard back with the same response of no change to US Grills Drinks package limits and Cunard also threw in some extra OBC as a courtesy. Along with thanking the rep, I strongly suggested that Cunard simplify the Grills Promo by just giving us extra OBC for drinks for us to decide what to use it on. OBC depending on the length of the voyage. We’ll see…

How would one slide open the drawers that are under the TV facing the bed? There is very little space to gain access to those drawers. One would have to lean over from the side to use that storage area. The marble everywhere looks excellent, and looks like a good sized sofa in the living area, but the tub looks small and narrow. Overall, while exciting to see the work completed, the cabins and suites on QA seem just a smidgen more cramped than those on Vistas while we are downright spoiled for space on QM2.

Is your $300 OBC for PG per person?

Just don’t take up a table to read in the Golden Lion Pub during lunch hours or you may get some “evil eye” stares from those wanting to sit and eat. However the Pub during off hours is very nice to read and it’s near the waterline.

Awkward syntax is common on this quiz show because it’s backwards of most quizzes: they give you the answer and contestants come up with the question. The correct response was “What is an ocean liner” as @bluemarble said above. But you’re right about not understanding, I had to rewind and read that sentence again.

The winner tonight immediately knew the Ocean Liner answer and cleaned up on all the other answers.

I’m glad to see that the penguins were properly attired for Black and White Gala Night…they may have to work a little harder to suit up for the Red and Gold theme though.

The Chinese reflexology is A++. Not the cheapest service but highly worth it.

I will too. The more the merrier!

At least you learned a great deal of Cunard lingo: Crossings vs repositioning and in the case of QM2: a real ocean liner vs a cruise ship. We have used QM2 both ways across the Atlantic as a preferred method of transportation and flown back home or to the UK. One day I’d like to ditch the air travel altogether and use Cunard. The activities onboard QM2 are extensive while I understand repositioning cruises are kinda bare-bones activity wise. Plus, most repo cruise ships take the longer southern route (to get to/from the Caribbean) and would not attempt the rougher North Atlantic. If you want to leave from NYC, QM2 is specifically designed to take on the North Atlantic passage smoothly and in style.

I defer to you on things nautical engineering and maybe “Ocean Worthy” was a misused term on my part. He was pointing out Neptune’s struggles to move in a dock during high winds vs ocean worthy. There was other frustrated Viking posters mentioning the lack of dock maneuverability. They, like me, are also armchair captains…I do find it interesting the interplay of a ship’s master and the harbor authorities and when one takes the lead. Usually the captain yields to harbor master. However on a separate post, even though I don’t know his technical terms, the industry vet said below. To me, this sounds like an overhaul? : I'll suggest the Viking ships need high-lift rudders and double/triple the HP in stern thrusters and a little more thruster capacity at the bow. This would require an additional DG in each E/R. Even with high lift rudders, they require more power on each shaft, as they have about the same as my last command, which was about 1/2 the gross tonnage and 200' shorter.

Along with the above great advice, don’t forget to plan what to wear while outside in Alaska. Especially for the chill and rain.