TheOldBear

Next summer we are booked on a westbound transatlantic followed by a QE cruise and the eastbound crossing. This will be our first Cunard cruise since 2014 QE World Cruise. I had a question about transfers but my husband got the Cunard representative to answer it. But since I was in the of middle doing this, I wondered what changes we would see in either, the QE, or the QM2 which we haven't been on since 2010.:hearteyes:

For the QM2 there were extensive discussions about the 'remastering' result here on the forums.

Based on my recent TA round trip, I noticed:

• The new deck 13 cabins, and the walkways on top of them. Its another area to almost touch the Verrazano Narrows bridge when leaving NY harbor
  
• The photo gallery is moved across from the Golden Lion, and the vendor has gone mostly electronic.
  
• The new single cabins displacing the old photo gallery & part of the casino
  
• The new Carthinia lounge replacing the old Winter Garden proved to be a popular place on sea days.
  

The Kings Court also had a makeover - I guess my wife and I were some of the folks who didn't mind the old layout - but this was a modest improvement.

One nice feature of the National Symphony crossing is the passenger chorus. There are several rehearsal sessions, followed by a performance with the Symphony on the last evening.

On our crossing, Captain Philpott was drafted to conduct during the concert :-)

I think that I may have heard that Stephen Payne regrets adding the 2 gas turbines and now he says that it would have been better to have a 5th diesel engine to generate more electricity than the 2 gas turbines since the QM2 needs electricity to sail. Am I right with this story of Stephen Payne's regret of the 2 gas turbines? Regards,Jerry

Gas turbines are very light for their output, responsive to changing load/demand - but they are at their most efficient operation when running at full speed. And its rare that full power is needed. [and they need to burn more expensive low sulfur #2 diesel, instead of the 'heavy oil' that suffices for the low speed marine diesels]

On our recent TA, one of the diesels was offline and the turbines were needed for the entire cruise as a supplement.

Am I correct in thinking QM2 will still be the one and only in her class?

Well, in another thirty years or so she will be ending her planned lifetime, so there may be a successor 'last ocean liner'.

I'm hoping that is an annual school project for naval architects somewhere.

It was not in the bookstore in September - seems an obvious missed opportunity.

It would be interesting if on their new ship Cunard are still differentiating dining arrangements according to what you have booked, i.e. Brittania, Grills etc. This is maintaining the liner tradition. Most other luxury cruise lines have dispensed with this and the only differential seems to be in the position and quality of the cabin/suite. We love the dine anywhere and open seating arrangements and are anxious that we will not enjoy our forthcoming cruise on QE.

On the other hand the MSC Yacht Club or the NCL Haven 'ship within a ship' seems to be closer to the old 'first class' concept than Cunard 'grills'.

What did you carry as id in place of the passport?

In France, carried the passport for the rest of the day - would need to go through passport control again when returning to the ship.

In England, I had my driver's license - as a just in case. We were on a ship's excursion, so all that was needed was the ship's id card. I'm assuming that if returning to the port independently, there would be the need of some sort of photo ID to confirm a match for the ship's ID card [no access to the shipboard photo database]

So on a British Isles cruise, including Le Havre, do we need our passports off the ship? Just one of the questions I haven't asked yet. :)

 

Sandi

On our recent transatlantic, we did not need the passport for Southampton shore excursions [immigration completed onboard during the eastbound crossing] - but we did need to bring them on shore excursions at LeHarve. The passport was checked and stamped both entering and exiting France.

There was a bit of a backlog when reboarding, as there were only two passport stations. Four busloads took almost an hour from arrival at the terminal to stamped passports.

Does Red Hook have space to dock two large ships?

Nope, just the one pier.

Note if you use Google maps, the marker is not located on the actual terminal - switch to the satellite view and see a smaller ship docked at the terminal

QM2 is Cunard’s raison d’etre, carnival only bought it to build QM2 to profit from the transatlantic niche market, and seem to be doing quite well from it. QM2 also serves as a ’halo’ product to draw in attention, her secondary purpose. Where QV, QE and the new ship come in is making it ‘worth it’ to maintain the brand, economy of scale for shoreside operations so to speak. They can bring the Cunard shipboard atmosphere to more people at once in more locations, but the real Cunard experience is on the Atlantic.

 

Arcadia going to P&O was actually because they decided they needed to maintain the QG, PG, Britannia set up/ ratios from QM2 on QV. Arcadia as a smaller ship could only accommodate a much smaller QG and PG (indeed I understand it was to be only QG and Britannia at one stage in the ship’s development) and had no grand lobby and a cramped queens room. You can see this from the ship’s current deck plans.

 

The degree to which they altered the vista design for QV and QE makes me think they might have a similar degree of free rein here, to raise the lifeboats if the promenade is deemed an essential Cunard distinguishing feature (and they do promote it a great deal). Remember we’ve only seen a single artists’ rendition so far and it was likely based heavily on Koningsdam as the Cunarder’s design has yet to be finalised.

I think it is safe to assume that a promenade would be considered a popular feature - on the recent westbound crossing quite a few hardy souls were out on the deck despite force 10 or 11 winds.

The wind was mostly off the bow, and the doors from the interior of deck 7 to the promenade were roped off. [did not stop folks who had enough outside from coming in with a blast of air]. The terrace doors ere open, so you could come up from deck 6 [where there were a few folks in the 'minnows' pool] or down from deck 8 to reach the promenade.

I've seen some really nice designer (Polo, Gucci) track suits for us guys.

 

Could a track suit pass on formal night?

Hopefully not on Cunard :p

What is long life milk? We sail on our first Cunard cruise this Friday but have sailed on many cruises and have always seen fresh milk, and not just on 7 nt cruises. There are usually containers at breakfast buffet as well as small pitchers at the tables. I usually ask milk not cream for my tea. Dh drinks his coffee black but wants milk in his cereal.

It's also known as UHT - Ultra High Temperature pasteurized milk. An unopened UHT container is shelf stable for months - but it does taste different.

We just ordered cream [half & half] with a room service breakfast, and kept the leftover cream in the refrigerator for later use.

Strange that they would do it from the bridge. Wouldn't it be easier from a lower deck?

The bridge wings are wider than the ship - likely nothing else does, and they don't want the sample dragged along or bouncing off the hull.

I din't bother to use the last day of my Spa pass, as the pool was closed in the afternoon. A couple of hardy souls were using in 'minnows' pool on deck 6 around mid day.

I am just wondering why it would need to close at all? The local gyms around my home are all 24 hours. If there are no cabins below the workout center, then why close it?

Perhaps no passenger cabins - but likely crew quarters.

I travel in two weeks from SJU PR arriving to same port. I dont have passport. Cant get an original birth certificate because take to long. I only have photo copy and drivers licence. Has anyone traveled with copy? Is it ok? :loudcry:

I think the consensus answer will be no.

The certificate needs to be an original issued by the appropriate local government agency.

I'm a first time cruiser and would like to know about Meals in the complimentary dining venues, i.e.:

• Two main dining rooms on every ship except Norwegian Breakaway, Norwegian Epic, Norwegian Escape and Norwegian Getaway which have three
  
• Buffet
  
• 24-hour Dining venue (on select ships)
  
• Room service menu items (convenience charge may apply)
  
• Outdoor Buffet (on select ships)
  
• Pool Bar and Grill (on select ships)
  
• Coffee Bar (regular coffee and pastries included, specialty coffees at nominal extra charge.
  

Is there still an associated fee with dining in these venues and the two main dining rooms? or are they free of charge?

 

Thank you for your answers.

I'm not sure I understand your question, but in general if its not explicitly listed [room service "convenience charge" or a specialty restaurant] it is included in your fare [not 'free' ;-) ].

If you need to sign for it [e.g. drinks, specialty coffees, spa services....] then it is not included.

On my first cruise, I recall someone who was shocked by accumulating thousands in bar charges - he bought multiple rounds and did not realize that when the bartender used his card and asked him to sign he was spending real money.

We show a 3PM time on the e-ticket. [deck 5]

Our current plans are to arrive at the terminal between 1 and 1:30, prepared to wait if necessary [book or kindle in the carry on]. The terminal is plain industrial space - but it is not too bad as waiting rooms go.

Sooo, in theory. LARGE mega cruiseships have to 'giveway' to all those 'idiots'(NO offense intended to any CC sailboat readers) you see darting across AND in front of cruiseships sailing down a narrow strait too the open sea??:eek:Absolutely Scary!!

 

Mac

Nope - vessels 'constrained by draught' have right of way over shallow draft vessels [displays three vertical red lights, or a black cylinder 'day shape]

See https://news.usni.org/2017/08/21/photos-show-collision-damage-uss-john-mccain-ship-arrives-singapore-10-sailors-still-missing

Just the LI E (Long Island Expressway), always a joy ;)

Fortunately, these days apps like Waze will provide alternatives to the world's longest parking lot.;)

We show a 3PM check int time - and have a 70 mile or 90 minute drive. This is from Long Island [or Lawn Guyland for the phonetically challenged ;-) ] so there are no bridges or tunnels to get stuck at.

We plan on arriving between 12 and 1, prepared to wait in the terminal [books and change for the vending machines].

It's my first time on any ship, and I'm taking the QM2 for a transatlantic crossing in September.

Which sailing? We will be doing a TA Roundtrip - cruise M733B (roll call link) from 7 - 22 September. There are also 'roll call' threads for each way from Nw York, and the Southampton round trip.

How does seating work in the restaurants and bars? Such as the Carinthia Lounge, Commodore Club, etc. Does one just sit down at an available place or are there hosts who seat you?

The only fixed seating is for dinner (same table every night, with the same folks - unless you or someone else someone wants to try an alternative (Veranda, Kings Court, room service) for the evening.

We usually choose a table for six, and give things a couple of dinners to 'gel' before considering asking for a change - so far we have not needed to ask.

Sounds silly, but I have social anxiety, and these sorts of things make me nervous.

 

Thanks!

Here's a thing. Say you do a t/a b2b, can you stay on board whilst docked in NY, and if so do you still need a visa. Also my DW is a Malaysian national and wondering if she can travel on UK visa, or would she need a visa for USA, even if staying on board?

The ship needs to be cleared [down to zero passengers] before any passengers for the next segment can board. I recall reading that there can be accommodation in the terminal - but that is a bare functional space - not a comfortable lounge.

For the visa issue, check with the US State department - online or at a consulate or the Embassy.

We has 8003 for our last cruise. Very convenient to the Library, 'A' staircase & elevators, Scenic elevators, spa and the Commodore Club

There was no heavy weather on our sailing, so I cannot comment about the ride.

Oh yes - there was a quickly resolved plumbing issue with a non-sucking toilet one night. This was back in 2010.