TheOldBear

The 'Chefs Gallery' section of Kings Court [starboard side, near stairway 'C'] offers table service [pasta & pizza] but seems not to follow the 'gala night' dress code. The 'pop up' space on the port side between stair case 'C' & 'D' does follow the dress code.

You will find still and sparkling water options in the room service menu. Mrs Bear and I will buy the sparking water package - if any are left we bring the full bottle home.

We had a 26 night sailing on QM2 this past October and November. All but two nights were in the Britannia [two evening shore excursions in Tromso]. Our impression was that the menu had one or two fewer choices than pre-covid sailings. On two occasions the menu including something called 'lobster bisque'. We tried it the first time it was offered, and it was quite unpleasantly unlike the common New England dish. We were able to speak with a 'developmental Executive Chef' about it - and he said that it did not sound like his recipe. He said he would check - but the same alleged soup was presented on the westbound crossing. We did dip into the 'always available' items a few times for entrees, and multiple times for tomato soup.

It used to be in 'before you sail' -> 'personal info' but not today. Likely another website 'improvement' Did you get an email from Cunard with the subject "Your Cunard Voyage Starts Here"? Mine has the booking reference, and WC status.

The two hour policy was abandoned last November, on the Norway leg of our last sailing. The policy reverted to the previous 'as long as you want, with multiple entries allowed' policy. Unlike previous years, the men's side lockers did not have a supply of disposable razors & shaving cream - perhaps that will revert too. (Now if they would just fix the shower drains....]

For Southampton, London and places in between - look for postings on this forum from Jon Bull. Is your pre-embarkation hotel in Southampton? Do you already have ground transportation planned? For LeHavre options - Cruise Critic geography puts France in the Mediterranean ports section of the forums. Lots of discussions - and again look for postings by John Bull. Typically LeHavre port visits will include a ship's excursion to Paris - but you will spend and much time on the bus as you will seeing any Paris sights. In 2017 our departure from LeHavre was delayed for over an hour waiting for a Paris excursion to return - mechanical problems on the tour bus. If you have similar problems and not on a ship's tour the ship will not wait. Making your own way back to Southampton might not be an issue for you - but our next port is Brooklyn NY. We are looking forward to more tours in Normandy - so far we have done the D Day beaches [American and British sectors], museums and the American cemetery near Utah Beach. There is much that we have not seen after these tours, so we might repeat one of them, or we might consider Bayeux as an option.

From the 'en-us' version of the 'vaccine and testing policy' page: For voyages departing on or after the April 23, 2023, on Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria and voyages departing on or after June 8, 2023, on Queen Elizabeth, Covid-19 vaccination and testing will no longer be mandatory for guests traveling with Cunard. Prior to these dates there are still some voyages with Covid-19 vaccination and testing requirements. For more information on our vaccine and testing policy and to see if your voyage has vaccination and testing requirements, please visit our vaccine and testing policy page.

Not familiar with Princess - but [like many Carnival brands] are there self service laundries? Cunard has reduced 'gala' [formal] nights to two per crossing, and we had three others during the Norway side trip [7 over the 26 nights]. How many 'chic' nights are typical on a Princess week long sailing? Are they only on sea days? We did a 26 night sailing last fall [QM2 Norway and Northern Lights] and as usual we figured on luggage for 10 days between running out of clean socks and underwear 🙂 . We have the advantage of being local to the terminal so we brought [as our routine] more than we needed for shoes, shirts, sweaters, gowns, tux, wine ... We also brought a large duffel of winter clothing for Norway - mostly turned out to not be needed. If we had to travel by air, we likely would have made different packing choices.

In practice, you can bring aboard whatever you want [soda, beer, wine, spirits] for consumption in your room. I tend to have a carry on filled with wine bottles and socks 😉 The bottle limit in the passage contract is rarely enforced [I have not noticed anecdotes of enforcement here or on faceplant] at least at the Brooklyn cruise terminal.

These are the big programs that are much more readable & useful than the condensed programs we got in October & November

Today is the last day before the site is frozen 😞

We discovered in october that the new internet plan has multiple problems when trying to apply world club credits. Even though we both had world club credits - we could not apply Mrs Bear's credit to our network purchase for the 'entire voyage , one device at a time' option. Perhaps things will be updated by October 2024, but we will look for a purchase pattern that will allow us to use both WC credits before purchasing for the rest of the trip. Since we are not heavy / constant network users the earlier by the minute plan seemed to be a better value - but that is no longer an option.

As does Viking and Cunard - no shortage of cruise line options. Time for comparison shopping and itinerary comparisons

I have often seen cushions on promenade deck sun loungers and by the deck 12 Pavilion pool. Last October the promenade deck cushions seemed in danger of blowing away, and I was surprised to not see them being taken off and stowed in the deck boxes. You should be able to give the purser's desk a call on a house phone [or ask the bartenders on the Terrace or Pavilion to call] and get some cushions.

It all depends on where you live, and what cruises and cruise lines you are considering. I would consider _both_ options to be local [no need for air travel or hotel stay] but for us the tie breaker is the NYC 'Brooklyn Cruise Terminal' has no toll roads or bridges between our house and the port. We might also consider a 'non local' option - taking the train to Montreal or Quebec City then doing a one way sailing ending in either Boston or NYC

From my reading the coffee package does not include soft drinks - but the $70 / day package does. I cannot consider any package a good value for us, based on purchases on our last several sailings.

For 'in transit' passengers, the port is not their disembarkation port. For example in 2019 I embarked in Brooklyn [onto a zeroed out ship], sailed to Southampton and we were 'in transit' passengers until the ship returned to Brooklyn. Mrs Bear elected to stay on board, I took the ship's shuttle in to town for some shopping, and returned for lunch. As an in transit passenger returning, I bypassed all the check in activity for newly arriving passengers, and just showed my card and walked on board. We then sailed to Hamburg, and both of us took the ship's shuttle, and later returned. Again we bypassed check in and only needed to show a ship's card. Same again back in Southampton & LeHavre [Excursion to D-Day beaches] [in 2017 there was a need to carry passports and have them stamped for the LeHavre stop - in 2019 no one wanted the passport at the port stops] Southampton and Hamburg had large numbers of passengers disembarking and embarking - 40% or so turnover at each port. LeHavre only a few dozen, but the port was set up to accommodate them. Sailing to Brooklyn, we disembarked - but in transit passengers [embarking in Southampton, Hamburg or LeHavre] did not have the option of remaining on the ship [next cruise was a New England & Canada sailing - a side trip on a Southampton to Southampton round trip]

The 'zeroing' or 'clearing' the ship applies only to embarkation ports in the US - all 'in transit' passengers must disembark before any passengers may embark. There are no similar restrictions that I am aware of for passengers embarking in Southampton, Hamburg or Le Havre. In all three ports, the 'in transit' passengers could stay onboard, or come and go freely as they desired.

Much will depend on the cruise line and cabin category to see if room service beverages are included in the drinks package. You may want to check on the sub forum for the cruise line, or contact them directly.

If you look on the deck plans, some rooms are marked with a cross, circle or square cross = third berth is a single sofa bed - likely what you had in the sheltered balcony circle = third & fourth berths are a double sofa bed - looks like some 'glass front' balcony rooms, and a couple of the Queens Grill suites square = third and fourth berths are two upper beds. Mostly inside cabins. These beds drop down from the ceiling. I would find this beyond claustrophobic. There are a couple of far forward ocean view rooms on deck 6 that might be a smidgen larger than inside rooms

It varies with the ship/cruise line - for example on QM2 the cabins are available when you board, even if your checked baggage arrives later. The only 'must do' activity is following the ship's current emergency muster requirements. Some may have you watch a video, and then check in at your muster location. Others may do a full in person muster drill [everyone goes to their designated muster location, possibly with their life jacket, at a designated time for in person instruction]

Thanks to Cruise Critic geography, you will want to look for previous Gibraltar questions and answers over in the https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/472-mediterranean-eastern-western/ forum - and possibly that forum's Spain and 'Other Mediterranean Ports' sub forums.

We had 5132 across the hall from an atrium view room. It mostly looked like an ocean view room, without the view. Unless you were standing at the window, your view is just the windows across the atrium. I saw this as a short peek as the cabin was being cleaned on a turn around day - did not want to bother the cleaner by walking up to the window.

What arrival time is in your paperwork? Which cruise line? [Cunard? MSC?] Your ship and the baggage hall is likely busy with disembarkation until at least late morning [11 AM] or so. The ship must ['zero out'] with only designated watchstanders on board before any passengers can board. After that [and the luggage hall is cleared] the terminal folks would be ready to received checked baggage, and security screening set up for arrivals. Note that there are minimal creature comforts in the terminal - mostly just hard chairs. The vending machines _may_ have returned, but I didn't see any this past October. When the terminal is ready for checked luggage, you can leave your stuff with them and head out the pedestrian gate with your carry ons in pursuit of lunch, or just start the check in in the terminal.

The consensus is to use a broker, and explore the options that are available. It costs no more to use a broker than to purchase the coverage directly. The folks from the 'Trip Insurance Store' participate on these forums, and occasionally have a dedicated Q&A subsection. The recent subsection with 'insure my trip' was disappointing, with limited useful content.