MrsPeel55

@surreymum thanks, I saw it, also the full on trip stops in Salvador, which would be great as we go to a small town south of Salvador off Porto Seguro, thing is, I need to speak to them to see if they would sell us only that part of the trip..... ideal for us would be disembark in either of the east coast cities, Fortaleza, Salvador or Rio, that would made my year.... will try find out iof they can sell only part of the trip! 🙂

oh Apologies, I read too fast, if we could leave from Southampton and stop in a city without needing to carry on all the 78 days, I think you may have found me the solution!!!! Thanks!!! will get my daughter to have a look 🙂

@busmech thanks, but as this was transported from anoither thread.... I'm not looking for a South American cruise.... I was looking for a crossing that would go from Southampton to an east coast city in South America, as in replacing flying with a Cunard crossing, so we would not need to fly, which these days takes a toll in my health 🙂

oh @Host Hattie I wish I owned it!!! we spent enormous amount of money with them LOL @Victoria2 yes, I know the Haagen Daz, but this is Casa Argentina, the dulce de leche ice cream they make is superior to Haagen Daz, as is one of their national specialities... 🙂 Back to the QM2, my daughter is already dreaming of sailing after reading all the comments about ice cream...

thanks Hattie 🙂

excuse my ignorance, what is an Esta?

If you like Dulce de Leche ice cream (or anything dulce de leche, actually!) there is a store that delivers everywhere in the UK and isn't too expensive, not sure if it can be named? I assume is fine because is not a travel agent ...? but will hold just in case 🙂

is NY the only crossing? I know they have South American itineraries but not sure if they make you fly somewhere? It was £3000 business class to Bs As with British Airways last year (as I need a direct flight taking that is almost 16 hours) and then we had the fares to Brasil after 3 weeks, which means they charge the International even though the countries are Mercosur, we go to 3 cities in Brazil, domestic flights there are relatively cheap for us, and then fly to Uruguay, all the within South America we do in Premium economy as none of those flights are longer than a couple of hours... but, oh , my.....if we could go with the QM2 (or any Cunard ship? but I think she is the only transatlantic ship?) anywhere to South America, it would be a dream.... also, do any of you know, if one books Southampton to Southampton in the crossing, can one stay in the ship that day before returning or is it compulsory to get of the ship? we have been countless times to NYC, long story short, (apart from the fact that the wheelchair would make it exhausting) I would go for sailing the 14 days, every post here keeps making me more excited about booking it, but if we could go to South America ...that would be perfect!!!!

@shippmates thanks, yes, my first choice for private was DHL, looked it up, reasonably priced and arrives in one day from here, I actually put the hotel address not the port/ship, but doubt it will make much of a difference, the port is an hour from the city.... I only looked at 1 package of 10kg, thinking on sending the formal clothes only, some of the heavier shoes, if they would deliver to the ship it would make it even better!!!! Need to call British Airways and see if/how much they would charge for an extra 23kg in the flight...we usually die it when we travel to South America and it is more or less same as DHL is charging for 10kg.... but then we would be dealing with 3 suitcases to check and the two cabin ones with me in the wheelchair.... but great to know they sent yours to the ship, that would make our life a lot easier.... Once again, I'm so very glad I found these boards, so many things I would have never thought of and you all are helping with! !

this is GENIUS!!!!!! Thanks so much for the idea!!!!!! need to look into Royal Mail and private couriers but all our worries about flying with too much luggage would be gone if we can do this!!!

@Winifred 22 yes, it is really not a good thing the rules they have in place right now... 😞 even though there were a couple of times in which we asked questions at the booking time to which the answer would be plain and simple : "this is actually a Southampton to Southampton 14 days cruise" we weren't told that. I found out a few days ago that the cruise starts in Southampton and we could have made the 14 days,.... we called Cunard to see if we could change the booking... the girl was very nice but the reality was that, either we would be loosing big time money (as they wont refund airplane tickets and if we canceled to make it a different booking we would loose a 60 or 70% of what we paid) if we wanted to forget about the tickets and just not use the flight, we would be paying more than what we had payed for the last 7 days, but wouldn't be in the same cabin, actually we would be in a lower category of the balconies and wouldn't have none of the perks our booking has, so we decided not to.

@exlondoner very true... I learned a long time ago that, in the travel industry, not always things follow logical thinking.... To me, it should be that the closest they get to the sailing date, the more they would want to fill in the left cabins so they would lower the price to attract customers.... in Cunard's case one could think that they want to keep a clientele who likes the more elegant atmosphere of their cruising, (which I think they do, despite many people complaining about the more relax dress code lately is because they think Cunard actually wants to attract that kind of clientele) but I have seen other cruise lines who do the same, you may pay more for your choice if you wait longer.... and I have seen it happening for 3 decades with air travel.... so as soon as my daughter can sort out her dates, we will book 🙂

Thanks, yes, this was my original thought, after joining the boards and getting this info from many of you (which have been a life saver, I had no idea of so many things, even though we booked directly with Cunard) low deposit is not a worry, the OBC was the interesting thing for us. Our experience on the phone was great, every person we spoke in the Cunard phone line was great, professional but friendly which for me it counts heavily, but no info in many things... we already weren't able to book Club Balcony in our sailing, and I looked up the TA Crossing a couple of nights ago after reading all the amazing experiences and again, the Club Balcony is sold out. My fear is that if we wait until September, we may not have a balcony cabin that would suit us... I don't think I want to even think about being in an unsuitable cabin being in the middle of the ocean for 14 days..... at the moment I'm waiting to see which dates we will be able to make, the idea was to do Japan next, now we are looking into the TA round trip, we'll see 🙂

Travel agents info aside, since the 3rd day after I join the boards here, I have the same wish.... @Victoria2 you are a breath of fresh air, and would love to share a cruising experience in the same ship with you!!!! (and promise isn't because of the fridge fairy offerings either!.... LOL) Maybe the three off us will be one day on board and can exchange info and experience, would love to meet you too @DaisyUK

We booked direct with Cunard I think 2 months ago for traveling in September .... we got a really good Britannia Balcony cabin , a position in the ship we wanted..... but when I went to look at the QM2 crossing for next year, we wanted Club Balcony, it is completely sold out, and this would be for May next year.... so, if you know which cabin you would like, maybe is prudent to book a bit more in advance? It will be our first time in Cunard in September, but after talking to people here and researching the Cunard site... as much as I don;'t like waiting for my holidays ... I now am considering booking now for next year ....

I thought we were going to book next on board...but when looking at the return crossing for next year, the Club Balcony (which we wanted for this) is sold out , am afraid if we wait until being on board (couple of month yet) the cabins we would like on balcony may not be available....so really thinking we need to find a good travel agent.... we booked direct with Cunard on the phone for our September coming one.... I thought who better than Cunard go give us all the proper info, but most of stuff that is vital to know I only know now because I found these boards by chance so, @DaisyUK if you can find a proper cruise TA, I reckon you will be better advised and looked after 🙂

it's becoming beyond the I want, now I NEED to do this crossing!

oh we wont miss thanks to you guys!!! I saw it on a post here in the boards, we then watched the videos with my daughter, we both want that curry (even though I'm not crazy about curries in general, that one sounds marvellous!!!!

yes, but is a business, and is known well for being a more upmarket company. We could have chosen to go with a (considerably long list) cheaper one, there we're tons of offers on free drinks package, gratuities included, and a number of other offers, but we wanted Cunard, so I was explaining that the prices are not completely a rip off... but I would assume that people who book a cruise will do their research before booking? Even before I got an account with Cunard I could see the bar's prices, I wasn't too stressed out on that because (Thank God) my daughter isn't a heavy drinker and myself I only drink on holidays, Christmas, New Year or weddings.... so, once again, if I thought it was a rip off I would have gone with one of the many cruise companies that charge a lot less.......

this. also, when we looked at the prices for the Commodore, which we assumed it would be expensive on the speciality (captains names and history in each drink) we were pleasantly surprised.... my daughter knows the industry (alcoholic & non alcoholic beverages) in London, she tells me those are London prices for many of the cocktails, and by the sound of them, I know I must try at least a couple and some are very reasonably priced. Also the whiskey, I have paid more for Chivas in London last year than Cunard's price.... We are still deciding if we will do drinks package or not, but most definitely have in our to do list to go to the Commodore oh and also the pub, I think is the Golden Lion, not so much for the drinking, but someone here posted stuff and photos & videos about their food...and we wanna try it, that will probably require some drinking! 🙂

Thanks, I m sure it would be amazing! Gonna go have a look at the site see what possibilities are 🙂 @steve4031 thanks for this wonderful insight on the qm2...am more and more tempted with every post of yours!!!!

you guys are tempting me with a crossing.... we spoke about our next cruise being Japan..... but taking that our interest in Cunard started by Queen Mary..... I maybe able to talk my daughter into a change of itinerary.....

I do have a laminator.... but I'm lazy at this point of my life LOL but old school is good!!!!!!!!

@alibabacruisers. Thanks Barbara 🙂 Things are ok, really, I know we are blessed with much better life than many, and always find our way... can't wait to get on that ship!!!!! 🙂

I'm bookmarking this thread and will delegate to my daughter to do this when we get the thing for printing, probably get a set of holder from Amazon, I had a look at what @rakkor linked, and there are many that come 5 or 6 for a fiver (£5) we have a Prime account, but may wait till we get the labels, it maybe that they fit in what we already have 🙂