Leucothea

It is the first part of your sentence that you have repeated in some form three times on this thread. What are the chances that others do not live as you do?

And why do you think every passenger is on holiday? You might be surprised how many non holiday passengers are on crossings, besides me.

 

Punki.....we sat at same dinner table with Nathan Detroit.

I'm never on holiday on QM2; just traveling. I travel by ship instead of flying. It's the way my grandparents traveled back and forth, and it's a much more gracious as well as romantic (in the artistic sense vs the Hallmark card sense) way to travel than flying in a sardine can.

However, the time on QM2 becomes a holiday in itself.

The Technical Department, headed by the Chief Engineer, is in charge of repairs.

 

Given your bad luck with excessive stateroom noise on board QM2, you might be happier sailing on another ship. I don't mean to belittle your complaint or deny that there was excessive noise. (I wasn't the one trying to sleep in that stateroom.) But if the source was never identified nobody can guarantee it won't happen again.

Well, first of all, I will avoid any stateroom where such a noise occurred. This has only happened to me is such a severe way one time. I just thought I might find out if anyone else experienced this so I could know what else to avoid. I'm sure any problems are fixed now, and were most likely fixed soon after I experienced them.

Sail on another ship? Never. I'm an addict.

Is the Chief Engineer in charge of making repairs to staterooms, such as those involving noise, or electrical problems?

And I'm going to be annoying and ask one more time: Has anyone who has traveled on QM2 this past year noticed any particularly loud continuous noises in their staterooms? I'm talking about construction site loud.

Or, for that matter, any other huge, glaring "fatal flaw" in their stateroom that is apparently happening there for the very first time; and that they say is impossible to fix?

I always find doing laundry a huge drag, unless I have a washer/dryer in my home. On QM2 it has been difficult for me to get my laundry done as the laundry rooms are always very popular.

I think next time I will make sure I won't need to do any laundry on board, or just give a couple of items to the room steward for washing/cleaning (although never "delicates").

Are there 4 Commodores/Captains on QM2? It seems they work in 2 month shifts.

Wells, Oprey, Warner and Rynd? I think the Commodores may have worked longer shifts before, I'm not sure. It seems Captain McNaught is finally working close to home after years away from his family at sea. Such a charming Captain. I remember Chris Wells when he was Staff Captain. Back then they assigned seating to various people at the Captains' tables for the entire journey. I don't think they eat in the main dining rooms that often anymore. It's a shame. But in QM2's case, it is so huge...

My main concern (...many staterooms available, meaning people are not reserving, which is never a good sign.... I've noticed on a couple, many of the QG are sold out, and one had both QG and PG categories sold out, whereas all the other categories are hardly being booked, or at least they have many availabilities....) is that Cunard is not filling the ship with early bookings, meaning perhaps slower sales.

I'm worried about the future of Cunard (and damn will this ### economy ever recover? :eek: It's been endless already!)

Also, I wonder why some crossings are sold out in the Grills. Perhaps some of these are lecturers who've been booked. However, I would like to know what it means in terms of the "desirability" (lectures on board, etc) of that particular crossing.

Current promo RDC or RD5 applies to most transatlantic sailings 2014 booked by 5/31/14.

 

Best rates seem to late Aug - Oct and depend on whether you are looking at East or West, 7 8, or 9 nights ?

 

However the very best rates may not be included in any so called Sale , but unadvertised FLASH rates which may appear after Final payment date.

They won't appear on the Cunard website but TA's will have access to FLASH rates.

I looked at the sailings for 2014 on the Cunard site, and it's rather worrisome because it seems that on all of them there are many, many staterooms available, meaning people are not reserving, which is never a good sign.

I've noticed on a couple, many of the QG are sold out, and one had both QG and PG categories sold out, whereas all the other categories are hardly being booked, or at least they have many availabilities. I'm not sure what that means. Are people just waiting until fares go down because of the economy?

Also, I remember when I used to book a crossing Cunard would update my rate if there were deals on it. They haven't done that in a few years now, and I'm paying full price.

Does anyone know which QM2 crossings for 2014 are heavily discounted/on sale? I often wonder why they choose certain dates to promote sales and not others.

I got an email from Cunard today "announcing the Spring sale"

 

...we've been doing a little spring cleaning of our own this month and from 18 April you can save up to 30% on 2014 cruises with Early Saver Fares.*

 

The sale will end on 27 April 2014.

 

* The Spring Sale applies to bookings made between 18 April - 27 April 2014 on selected cruises departing between 28 July and 23 December 2014 and is not combinable with any other promotional fares. 30% saving based on a Balcony Stateroom when comparing an Early Saver Fare with the Cunard Fare.

Do you know to which crossing and cruises this applies? Do they not indicate this?

I wonder what this implies in terms of upgrade possibilities as well as the general ambiance ("classic" or more of a tourist type event).

Wow , I know how that felt . Although with all due

Respect to Commodore Warwick , he did dodge

Many hurricanes and lows on the transatlantic run

Yes, Commodore rather (I assume he was in 2002). I have great respect for Commodore Warwick. Even though it was quite an experience, I thought it was rather romantic and very British to just get on with it and brave the storm. Apart from being very seasick (and after my mega-shot) I quite enjoyed it.

Warkick for those in the "know" as when he sailed

On the QE2. & QM2 he would "kick A"

Never

Avoid a storm. Head directly into the rough

Seas. The rough seas:D

Yes, I was on the QE2 for one of those! I recall being told that the Captain was not avoiding the storm, but going right through it, and it was unbelievable! A jumping roller coaster with furniture on the move, and nowhere to be but horizontal and firmly gripping your bed. I believe there was resulting damage to the ship.

However, he was a very good Captain otherwise.

I don't like to fly much, and become somewhat panicked when there is turbulence. I much prefer to travel by ship no matter what the weather.

Don't worry about it. It'll be fine. :)

Not worried about the sickness I fear the unknown. ...Does the ship rock? Or does it go up and slam back down if there's a storm? x

 

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I worried before my first sailing too. Even in the roughest of weather, gale force 11 winds, the ship may rock and roll, but it's fine. It is a very large ship, and you get used to it. The worst weather can make it hard to sleep because of the jerking movements, but in that case I wouldn't travel in December if I were you. If you get seasick, make sure you have some pills with you and take them early if it looks as though it's going to be rough.

Some crossings are so smooth you almost forget you're at sea. But you can never be sure what the Atlantic will do.

It's still March until Tuesday. The first Transatlantic is on 9th May and from Southampton.

What about the January crossings? There was a New York to Southampton crossing on January 3, 2014 on QM2, and there will be a January crossing in 2015 (as there was in 2013) as well.

So QM2 does crossings every month of the year except February and March. In 2015 there will be a crossing in April.

I do admit though, they have slowed down. There were usually crossings twice a month up until a few years ago, now they're only once a month.

Very true, there is no need for dead of winter crossings. But still we are proud to have qualified for the Winter Crossing Club thanks to the westbound crossing we enjoyed December 15-22, 2012. The force 11 gale that QM2 calmly sliced through the night of December 18-19 was icing on the cake (but not on deck).

Yes, I know about those December crossings. They are quite formidable. The best is dancing in G32 until the wee hours with the dance floor wildly swaying and bouncing! It's great fun.

The only problem is it is not easy to sleep when the ship is lurching insanely. Also, when the wind reaches force 11, even the best seasickness meds can fail, and the crew become ill as well.

Does anyone have any idea when the

RMS Queen Mary 2 resume the Transatlantic schedule?

It is a shame to Cunard legend that an ocean liner is

Being used as a cruise ship for many months

As they said "what a waste "!

This was the job of the qv & qm. cruise ships

It's April , this is the season for the north

Atlantic .:rolleyes:

Even QE2 sailed at a cruise ship during the winter months and occasionally during the rest of the year. I'm not sure exactly when the tradition of regular ocean liner year round transatlantic crossings ended, probably in the late 50's, early 60's I would suppose. QE2 and QM2 have usually begun their transatlantic crossings in either April or May, but I thought now QM2 was doing one in January as well. I know she will in 2015, and she did one last year.

Thid dosn't sound like a minor problem. Did you keep the balkony door open? This may cause the stateroom door to vibrate. It could well have also been an adjacent stateroom door. If it was between elevators C and D portside there is definitely a source of serious noise on QM

No, I would not keep the balcony door open. It was not a vibration, it was an extremely loud bang every few seconds, which sometimes stopped for a few minutes. The staff checked everything thoroughly and could not find the cause. Maintenance said it could not be fixed, but I was not informed if they knew what it was or not. It was not a normal ship's noise.

I had just wondered if anyone else had a similar experience, but apparently this was a one time thing.

How awful! Fortunate that you had a friend to offer a quieter sleeping space. So often, there just isn't another (unoccupied) cabin, where one could be re-assigned during a voyage.

 

Noise can be much more than unpleasant and more than just a nuisance. A good night sleep is important for us all.

 

What a puzzlement! I can think of no explanation for such noise. Must have been related to the rough sea. I picture some large heavy "nonessential" ship part becoming dislodged and rolling around, under the flooring.

 

I admit such a sound would have made ME nervous!

 

Again, your report displays your patience so very well. Sometimes, we just have to make the best of something.

 

I'm very happy that this experience didn't put you off the QM2 : )

 

Happy sailing and may all your ship accommodations be quiet in the future as you well deserve!

Thank you. Hopefully Murphy's Law will take a break on the next crossing. Happy sailing to you also. :)

How interesting and unusual (and certainly unpleasant)!

 

Where was your cabin/stateroom located? Was the noise from above, below, or behind a wall? I wonder if location on the ship could lead someone to venture an explanation as to the cause of such a loud noise at such an odd hour…

 

This happened on just one night and not the entire voyage?

 

Even ghosts and metal drums couldn't create such an occurrence. Hard to believe it would be a repair in the middle of the night. But, an emergency repair would explain not delaying until daytime hours.

 

We have rarely needed them, but we do bring earplugs when we travel. It doesn't sound like earplugs would have been much help, though, in your situation.

 

It sounds like you took this experience in stride --with good spirit-- and didn't let it ruin your trip. Each voyage is an adventure! Thank you for sharing your experience with us. It puts everything in perspective, doesn't it!

Hi JimmyBean,

This lasted the entire voyage, but I had a friend in another stateroom who let me use her other bed for sleeping at night (as she was out all night anyway).

The noise seemed to be coming from underneath, yet no one could hear anything on the deck below. It was very odd, and they were not able to find out what it was or fix it. The cabin steward heard it and said he had not heard it before this. It was constant, particularly since the sea was very rough.

I've heard noises on the ship before, but this was like being next to a construction site.

delete

When I travel in PG, I don't find the issue of timing at dinner to be a problem. We are on the ship to relax after all. Usually I have found there is a consensus regarding when we might arrive for dinner.

In Britannia Club, same thing. When I travel in Britannia, I find I often arrive when everyone else is having desert. Oh well :rolleyes:.

[quote name=cunardaddict;

Those who notice more noises than others on the QM2 have a different experience in life. Some are very regularly on the ship' date=' recognize the origin of some of the noise and just do not see any reason to mention it. Others may be living in a very quiet house or in a region where people do act immediately on any unknow noise.[/quote]

Good point cunardaddict. Thanks.

Jeanne

Actually I have traveled on Cunard many times and regularly (transatlantic) and have experienced various noises, none to make a fuss about.

However, on one occasion the banging was so loud (like a jackhammer, no exaggeration) that it was impossible to sleep for more than 10 minutes at a time. It was absolutely horrible. I have never heard anything like it, the cabin steward had never heard it before this, and no one seemed to be able to figure out what it was or to fix it.

I was just wondering if anyone had heard anything like this, to try to solve this mystery, and also to make sure it is not now a more frequent thing that I would have to watch out for.

I am certainly not fussing about minor creaks and noises, which are normal on any ship.

I live in cities for the most part.

The ghosts of world club members past?:rolleyes:

These ships do have ghosts I hear...

We were last aboard in July, 2013, and before that in December 2012. The only creaking we heard we attributed to the storms encountered; and we enjoyed the storms. The creaking certainly did not keep us awake.

Yes, I admit the noises I heard were during extremely rough storms, but even then they seemed much louder than normal.