exlondoner

53 minutes ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

The Advance fares on the Waterloo-Southampton route start at £14 Standard and £19.80 First. I’m surprised you have never seen them, they are widely available. 

Interesting. My husband sometimes pays £9+ for Bournemouth to Waterloo. That is with a Crumblycard, so full fare would probably be about the same as from Southampton for 30 miles further. The fare structure is more than somewhat opaque.

On 9/9/2019 at 8:37 PM, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

My reaction to having the gym as our muster station was disappointment because I was breaking my streak of never going to the gym on the ship!

 

HAL stopped asking people to bring life vests to the muster a few years ago. They cited injuries from people tripping on the straps.

 

It took me a long time to get over having to go to the gym for muster. And several glasses of wine.

26 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

I must add to the banquette debate, Gary Bembridge [he of the wonderful 'Tips for Travellers'] sat just down from us on a banquette and quite liked it.

So it's not all gloom and doom for anyone assigned to the benches, as Gary calls them.

The benefit of the banquette is you get the view. We hardly saw the couple between us and GB, because they dined much earlier, but she did tell me that it wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as it looked.

1 minute ago, rakkor said:

On my many cruises, I'm Diamond and get a free pass for the pop-ups, I've only booked the pop-up restaurant once, Coriander, and it was very nice, but I'm unlikely to rush to book again as I find the dining in the MDR to be excellent and I don't see the need.  

We’ve used our freebies, but I’ve never bothered to book more than a day in advance. I wouldn’t pay, though I’ve certainly enjoyed the Indian and Italian, even though the portions are huge, so we generally share a starter and desert.

2 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

It certainly does and thinking about it further, it was in that position in July as a lovely American family were sat there. However, I'm fairly sure it wasn’t there in May.

Flexibility is all.

I don’t remember it from May, though I may have been banquette-fixated, though we did in fact have a chair each.

Once you are aboard, you might find you are enjoying the Mdr food and company enough not to bother with the specialties. I believe you can cancel.

5 minutes ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

 

Although neither Cunard nor its passengers would welcome someone like me, I do hope you will sail on Cunard one day and provide another glimpse into this world I can only peek in like a voyeur.

 

 

I was surprised to learn that chili is of British origin. 

 

Why would you not be welcome? Cunard is actually very welcoming.

According to,Wikipedia chilli is of Mexican then Texan origin.

1 minute ago, Silverspringcruiser said:

Americans don't put baked beans on potatoes (and we definitely do not put them on toast). Some do like chili, but it's not a standard topping.

 

Probably the same here. I only put butter on baked potatoes.

13 minutes ago, Silverspringcruiser said:

Then you would be very unhappy.  They had none of that.  Instead there was chili and baked beans, because Cunard is geared to a British clientele.

You might think that, but the British, some of whom are actually quite keen on baked potatoes, might think it is quite American, or perhaps mid-Atlantic. After all the prices are in dollars. I certainly don’t think chilli and baked beans is remotely a British dish. 

5 minutes ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

 

And.... the Queens-Midtown Tunnel was temporarily shut down because water was leaking into the tunnel due to a drilling mistake. No reason to panic at all.

 

Ooooops.

8 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

I this the large round you're talking about? It's under the chandelier, behind the entry podium. Taken June 6. It would be difficult to move, as it looks like it "belongs" centered under the chandelier. 

 

 

I really don’t remember that.

13 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

I don't remember it either but the date on the photo is definitely 10th May,

Maybe the table configuration was changed? We were first in the restaurant and this was taken before the restaurant opened?

 

and we were next to the three two tops, not a round table.

Very interesting. I think you must be right.

Interestingly the table for three does manage to give everyone a view.

26 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

This one was our shared cruise, the first one was our second cruise. Where you sat next to the other two top, the round table was set for three.

Yes, I can see the table where ours was, but I don’t remember that large round table in the foreground of the other at all. You would have been next to it?

2 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

The opposite view 

I assume that was on a later voyage than the one we shared. It looks as if the tables are quite differently arranged, apart from by the immovable banquettes.

I would probably avoid trains at the weekend. On Saturdays they tend to be expensive and crowded, on Sundays there are sometimes engineering works. On the other hand on a Monday, say, out of the rush hour time, the fare may be very low, and there will be space for your luggage without annoying anyone.

1 hour ago, s.s.France said:

They removed the banquette seating in QM2´s Grills in the remastering, but brought it back on Queen Anne. No lesson learned?

Clearly not. Such is the human condition.

35 minutes ago, BigMac1953 said:

 

QV originally had them too! Nobody wanted to be seated there.

The QA banquettes are particularly uncomfortable, because they go all the way up. Usually they stop at about shoulder level giving you a chance to lean back a bit, but you are stuck very upright on QA. It must be purely for looks.

14 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Is South Queensferry often difficult for tenders? They had to suspend tendering on QA in May for about an hour because it was too rough. They used only the hired local boats.

 

My tour was cancelled because the tickets for the royal yacht Britannia were times, and the suspension put us too far behind to make our time. It was pouring rain, and as much as I was sorry to miss seeing the ship, I wasn't looking forward to being wet and sitting in a coach, dripping on my seat. 

Certainly, it was decidedly bumpy when we were at Newhaven just along the Firth. It may be the inevitable effect of funnelling all that water into a narrowing space.

13 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

We have spent a month in the QG restaurant on Annie and banquettes aside [ not having sat in one], our prior thoughts have been dispelled and we thought the restaurant light and airy.

 

Don't knock/try and change it [it won't happen] until you've tried it.

 

 

I bet they take those banquettes away at some point in the next ten years.

8 hours ago, tv24 said:

First comment is that we love Princess Grill class and find it a much better buy than Queens Grill, which is usually much more expensive with not much more offered.

 

As far as a TA versus a port intensive cruise, you need to ask yourself what kind of holiday you are looking for.  A TA is an experience on board a ship.  A port-intensive trip is an emphasis on what you will see in the ports, and you will have less time on the ship.  And note that the QM2 is a huge ship, so docking (tenders versus in port) and crowds pose issues in ports.

You will not have to spend less time on the ship. Nobody makes you get off, and indeed when visiting the fjords it is hardly necessary, as you can see so much from the ship as it goes up and down the fjords. I always enjoy the ship greatly when it is almost empty, as so many have got off, and nothing is happening.

39 minutes ago, NE John said:

The idea of interior decorators making high-end restaurants cozier via banquets is all good, however so few restaurants provide tableside service, like Grills in Cunard, and that narrow corridor looks very difficult for waiters and M’ds to cook and flambe. Maybe the designers never knew Cunard is big putting on a show with tableside prep? 

Banquettes are not cosy. Compared to almost any chair, they are simply uncomfortable.

3 minutes ago, alc13 said:

My trouble is that I start chatting at the first encounter and then can't find a way to disengage politely...  

It’s particularly easy at breakfast when nobody in their right mind feels chatty. A brief Good Morning, and that’s it. But I’ve never had a problem at other times.

2 minutes ago, alc13 said:

And then, then most recent time, we were on QE in a Q3, and I was pretty certain we'd finally get a window seat.  But we were placed one table in from the window.  Those seats were occupied by a nice couple who were on the second leg of a longer cruise, and they had asked to be moved to the window at the changeover. I decided - with no evidence - that they were given the table that had been assigned to us.  

 

Really, though, the nicest table so far was the one on QV, because it was set a bit apart from the other tables.  Those side-by-side tables for 2 are too cozy.  

I don’t mind the close tables. I find it easy not to engage if feeling antisocial, but most of the time it is nice to chat. Of course one could be unlucky and end up next to someone who smelt or had a very loud voice, but it hasn’t happened so far

3 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

No need. I think it's an expression used on my side of The Pond more than yours. it is a good reminder that we should count our blessings. Unfortunately, it's sometimes used as a way to be dismissive of someone's problems/complaints. I see it used that way on some of the less congenial boards on CC.

And of course, it covers any discussion of dress code, which is virtually the raisin d’être of the Cunard Board. 😀