Wordzz

Each to their own of course. To me it sounds like a solution to a problem that doesn't exist - I've never had an issue with key cards, and actually quite like them. The Internet is a different story, however.....

We used a TA once, many years ago, and didn't have the best experience. So we now always book direct with Cunard. Not because I think it's necessarily the best way, it's just that I have no idea how to choose a really good TA from the many out there, and don't want to take the risk of another bad experience.

We were also on this cruise, and our experience was almost exactly as Camgirl describes. We travelled down the day before, as we always do - too much stress to travel on the same day, especially at the moment. We braved the cold and did go on a couple of shore excursions, and are really glad we did. Well organised, warm coach, and the visit to the Vermeer Centre in Delft and the Mauritshuis in The Hague were fabulous. We had a great time as always on QM2, but did notice a few changes. There were lots of staff that we didn't recognise, even from our last trip in September/October. Service was very friendly as always, though, and we found the food to be as good as ever. We had probably the best sommelier we've ever had, and the worst room steward. We did notice a few 'downgrades' - minor things, but noticeable. No charger plates on the tables in Britannia, paper napkins in Kings Court, ....small things, but noticeable. The Internet was as bad as ever. As we're Diamond our allowance meant we could sign up for the Premium package for the whole cruise. Didn't notice any real difference over the standard package - both as bad as each other. Don't know how Cunard have the nerve to charge for it at all, tbh. As Camgirl says, this was the first time ever for us that the QM2 has felt crowded. Presumably as it was too cold to be outside. One of the highlights for us was on boarding day, when there was an operatic choir singing carols in the lobby. A lovely start to the cruise.

Perhaps there's an element of pot luck to it, but our personal experience, having been on QM2 three times this year, always in Britannia, has been really good; no complaints about either the quality of the food (excellent) or the service we have received (attentive, friendly and all we could wish for). Agree totally about the new-style daily programme, which we find paltry and unhelpful. And as for the 'enhanced' Internet...

If it helps at all, when we docked in New York recently we also didn't want to go on any tours. We waited until the last possible moment before disembarking (Cunard advise you to do this, and they made very clear announcements); by that time there were virtually no queues at immigration. We then had to walk out of the building and back in to the embarkation entrance, and sat in a 'lounge' (= a designated area of the shed that is Brooklyn cruise terminal) for around half an hour or so. Good wifi, so it passed fairly quickly, and reboarding went very smoothly. So all in all, a bit of a faff, but we wouldn't hesitate to 'stay on board' again in future.

That's encouraging - hope rekindled!

That's a question that's occurred to me, too. We're going for four weeks on 15th September, Southampton - New York - Canada - New York - Southampton. It's being sold as separate trips, but we've booked it as one voyage from Southampton to Southampton. It would be great if our Platinum Wifi allowance was renewed for each segment, but I have no idea and not holding out too much hope!

I wish that were true. We are Platinum, paid the full Cunard Fare for our cruise on 15 July, and we've been given a boarding time of 3.00 pm. Same thing happened when we went to the Caribbean in January.

I've had an email today allocating our cabin, and, whilst not necessarily the precise one we would have chosen, it's near enough for us to be happy with it. Out of interest I just did a dummy booking for our cruise to see if they had released all the cabins, and it seems there is now limited possibility to select, but only the area (e.g. mid-aft, mid-forward, etc.), not specific cabins - and it would seem it's not possible to select midships (I was looking at balcony cabins). I still think it's an odd way of doing things, and doesn't quite fit with the 'choice of stateroom' benefit that is billed as a perk of booking the full Cunard Fare.

I booked the QV Southampton to Auckland on 11 Jan 2024 as soon as booking opened on Tuesday. That's 44 nights. I was only able to book a cabin category on a guarantee basis, specific cabins not available to book. I booked by phone and the Cunard operative (UK) wasn't able to explain the reason. If I do a dummy booking for a shorter segment (e.g. Southampton to San Francisco, 27 nights) I find that I'm able to book the specific cabin number I want. So a shorter booking apparently takes precedence over a longer one? I've booked world cruise segments several times in the past, including most recently QM2 Southampton to Singapore in Jan 2023, and never had this experience before. It does seem unfair to me. A big part of our reason for paying the full Cunard Fare is to be able to choose the specific cabin number we want. If Cunard want to give precedence to full world cruisers, fair enough, but they could perhaps have a day or two that are open only for booking the full world cruise. I'm just a humble customer (coming up to Diamond), but it seems to me that if they are charging the full Cunard Fare, they should be offering the full range of benefits. Not impressed, tbh.