Pushpit

I have been on QE, QM2 and QV since the pandemic ended and I've not seen this happen.

Paracetamol helps reducing the impact of a fever / high temperature along with body aches and headaches. Most people find it helps with COVID-19, others less so, and find switching to ibuprofen more effective. If you don't really have body aches but do have a temperature, that's a common reason why ibuprofen may work better. Aspirin can upset the stomach somewhat but a small percentage of people find it works for them. By all means ring 111, your surgery or your pharmacist for specific advice. (COVID-19 is not specifically covered under the new Pharmacy First scheme though). And yes, liquids is always important in this scenario. At 2 weeks the vaccination will just about be at full strength, so hopefully that helps.

No quite, I'm assuming the QA stern is shorter, but QM2 slightly wider. But I agree that Cunard should give both of us a free ticket to both ships with a tape measure in order to verify this most important computation. I've not included the fact that on QA one may have to do more sideway steps due to SWOT (sheer weight of traffic). [More seriously, I think it's about the same, all things considered].

I make it 2.7% based on the stern, plus the width of the vessels.

I think it's just a lack of precision / trying to simplify. Both ship are effectively the same, plus or minus 100 feet on the circuit, so QA could have said 3 laps = 1.1 miles and it's all lost in the rounding, There's only about 5% in it.

@Colin_Cameron One way that sometimes works is to consider the need for the board's software to seek, by default, a landscape projection of your photo. So I downloaded your original photo, cropped the top above your head (nothing useful there) and some of the deck below your shoes, and in a dummy CC post it did end up the correct way, whereas your original photo was rotated by CC. It's kind of cheating since as bluemarble has indicated it's a markup interpretation issue. But in short, cropping your photo to reduce the portrait effect, trying to get more to a square, will be a quick fix here.

For QA I have no idea if this is still offered. But the OP here was asking about QM2 and I know it is still a feature of the other 3 ships. It's 10 writing sheets incidentally, and a few envelopes.

One minor souvenir / practicality to consider. In the Grills they offer to print up some personalised headed stationary to a set of Cunard writing paper. About a dozen sheets I think. Firstly on the short sailings you best get that organised earlier on departure day, to have a chance of getting them before Hamburg. Secondly, you are given a free hand on how to describe yourself, so it could be Mr. and Mrs. Deafrcruiser Suite nnnnn RMS Queen Mary 2 en route to Hamburg .... and various variations. So to save time you may want to think about how you want it done. Then you also have only a short time to compose your brag letters!

The access route is wide enough for wheelchairs and if you are physically able to walk yourself and baggage through the walkways at a reasonable pace then you are at liberty to do so. Other people will be doing the same. If you are OK with a later rendez-vous time for the pick-up, then it's usually fairly quiet and straightforward. I know there are reports of bedlam, and yes some people are keen to get off quickly, but if you leave it a bit later on, after 9am, but allow your bags to go baggage area in the usual way, then it's going to take about 20 minutes or so from stateroom to terminal exit door.

Britrail passes are still available, but yes it's a lot more complicated these days. However it being a Sunday helps, since that means Super Off Peak singles - a flexible ticket at £45 without railcard reductions - can be used on all trains on that day of the week. I can't think of a reason to pay any more than that. You can save money by buying committing to a specific service and/or buying a split ticket, with a £5 fee for changes, but I guess you're trying to avoid that complexity. If there is going to be a strike, the unions have to give at least 2 weeks notice by law, and in the case of the rail unions they tend to give a lot more notice than that.

Yes, it's just the UK has a higher insurance requirement, there were some incidents that prompted this from Carnival's lawyers. That said, though I have this sensible level of insurance anyway, I've never been asked to show it. I now don't print it out, I will dig the policy out on my phone if asked. On one occasion at Southampton I did see someone else being asked at the next check-in to show their policy but that was in one of the first sailings in the latter stages of the pandemic, when the whole process was fraught with nervousness all round. There are quite a number of areas where the print / web version of Cunard is somewhat detached from what happens on the ground, usually in a good way.

But that's relative too, is it not? After all there could be a major accident on the roads (and private transfers are inherently much less safe than public transport), there could be roadworks, Extinction Rebellion idiots, poor weather affecting traffic flows, livestock on the motorway, infrastructure issues on a bridge, load shedding by HGVs, the list is endless. So I wouldn't say you get peace of mind here. It's all about one's own analysis of risk, cost and reward.

For completeness, there is also a National Express coach service from Southampton, fairly close to the rail station and docks, which does end up at Victoria Coach Station. It also calls at Heathrow T5 en route, if the Piccadilly, Elizabeth or Heathrow Express lines are useful. I would personally take the train since I find the Cunard link overpriced, given that my OAP or Military Veteran passes get me a hefty reduction on train fares. It's also worth considering if you are in a mad rush since the Cunard coach service isn't the fastest way of doing it. But still it's not clear what benefit you're looking for here, the Cunard service is well organised in Southampton, reliable and is convenient. Just not cheap or fast.

Around about 09:00 hrs, the public address system can get a little insistent that anyone disembarking needs to do so soon. Self disembark, where you take everything off yourself, tends to start around 07:00 hrs or sometimes a little before then. So in essence yes, it's a reasonable assumption. There again there is always the unknown factor of the weather, I've had a couple of disembarkations delayed by that, one delay being 7 hours. There have been longer ones than that. Now the chances of this happening are not high, but it's worth bearing in mind.

He got a special Oscar in 1943 for directing the Royal Navy film In Which We Serve, a film which is often credited for moving the USA to offer more support to the Allies during WWII. The film itself was up against Casablanca for Best Picture, but the Academy gave him an Oscar anyway. So not unknown in the USA. Sir Noel's play Brief Encounter is on the list for Queen Anne from 3 May.

Yes, you can still book Verandah nights instead of going to QG, indeed your Grills concierge host will make that easy for you and make the necessary arrangements. While I don't think it's that often done, for obvious reasons, those with Diamond get a lunch on the house, and so the concierge will know what to do. You can also prebook via my.cunard or book onboard by popping to the Verandah front desk, using mycunard and on sailing day there are often pop up stalls in the central areas.

Well there is a well known debating point, where people will say 5.45pm is way too early to eat, but 8pm is way too late to eat. I'm not sure how Spanish and Dutch passengers manage, but that's another issue. Either way for many passengers, 7pm or so is perfect, I would suggest, and I suspect that in advance they may only allow a few tables per time slot. People booking this time may not necessarily be focused on the main showtimes anyway, and other people booking now may not realise the showtimes at this point.

If you buy on board, then there is a series of slightly confusing panels that need to be highlighted, but on day 1 and day 2 there should be an "all voyage" option, which is a bit cheaper on day 2 since the per night multiplier will have reduced by one. Thereafter you can only pay by day. It has to be like this since Cunard World Club members can only buy on board, not in advance, and therefore need both options - voyage and daily - available once they get to mycunard.

Depends how fast you eat but not obviously so. That said I'm not sure of the show times on QA, but if it is like the other ships, it may be something like 8pm and 10 pm, which ties in with the two Britannia sittings of 6pm and 8pm respectively (plus / minus 15 minutes).

From the sign in the sales office (see below for a photo in the link referenced) it just says "all categories over 25 nights" get the 3% discount, so I would have thought that includes world cruises. given all the other factors mentioned on that sign. So I think the discount would apply. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2984468-on-board-booking/

I would also point out that the air conditioning on Cunard vessels tends to chilly on the whole. It's fine for me, but it's not unusual to notice that flesh coverage tends to increase as the evening wears on. If I was noticing, that is.

I think I'm going to disagree there, at least if it's for the current voyage, I think the evidence is that Cunard is pretty keen on money, so if there are empty cabins and your wallet needs slimming down, I think they would be happy to assist. It's best to go to the Voyage Office since they can give you a straightforward answer as to whether it's possible, and usually on embarkation they aren't too busy. I saw one couple do this since they didn't realise that the outside window didn't open (ok, that's a whole thread in itself,,,,,) but the Voyage Office agent said "how about $500?" and the husband concerned couldn't get the money out fast enough. If it's a future voyage then I suspect again that while it gets worked back via the TA, and they will make suggestions.

The reason to pre-pay is to reduce the cost per head, and so using the OBC (once boarded) instead isn't going to work. But I wouldn't pre-book out of fear that Verandah will sell out - some time slots may do so, but when I've checked mycunard onboard I've never seen it full.

As far as I know, the Plusgrade programme can still apply for those who tick "no upgrades" on the initial booking. That tick relates to free upgrades, which come from leftfield, and that sounds unsuitable for you. But yes, this sounds like a good issue for your travel agent to resolve.

My post today (Saturday!) had a "Your ocean awaits" booklet for me, for a sailing in May, so they are being sent out.