majortom10

Glad you have sorted out your problem, of a sort, and hope they will be sufficient for you to be able to claim successfully from your insurance company. Wish you a safe journey home and that you both have a good Christmas. With regards to service received from Cunard nobody can say that you have had good service and certainly not White Star service that they constantly preach. Can understand you not wanting to cruise again, especially with Cunard, I don't really know what is happening but Cunard currently are falling way below the standards they should be giving. My own theory is that they are that short staffed in all departments that those working onboard are not adequately trained or not up to standard and wouldn't be on the ship at all in normal times.

Good customer service then...........not.

The Princess Grill cabins on QV are not much bigger than ordinary balcony cabins and even though bathrooms have a bath it is very small with the infamous curtain if you use the shower.

The Welcome lunch provided on embarkation day is for suite guests and all Caribbean members and higher in the Peninsular Club.

It has been widely reported of a global wine shortage, try Google.

It has been said for many years and keeps getting dragged out "like a block of flats" and is getting boring. 95 % of the time you are onboard and cannot see what the ship looks like from the outside. Also the pressure on cruise companies to provide what the public demand is balcony cabins so that doesn't help design style. Also and major part for me is what the ship is like inside and facilities and what is available not what she looks like. If not onboard even when at port how many sit and admire the ship and its design. So possibly less than 5% worry about what the ship looks like. Cruising like any other business has to move with the times and provide what the public want or they will struggle. It is 22yrs since Aurora first sailed and a lot of things have changed since then in cruising and life in general. If you don't like how cruising is moving them perhaps time to move on and look at some other type of holiday.

She already is compared to latest Royal Caribbean ships.

Very true many of the "old" P&Oers on Aurora and Arcadia maiden voyages moaned about the size of them and said they were "huge". They said they were horrible, big and ugly compared to Victoria and Canberra. How times change and people's moans.

I agree completely but know many Americans who were proud to purchase 4 or 5 cruises on Princess cruises on brochure release. They had no intention of doing all booked cruises but did it to secure best cabins and then just prior to balance being due would cancel all except one knowing that they would get deposits back.

Cunard's website has differences in US/UK websites and different booking conditions. It is normal booking condition in US that deposits are refundable except occasionally Cunard make a cruise fare deposit "non refundable". It is UK law that all holiday bookings whether for cruises or with any other holiday company that deposits are "non refundable".

All bookings in the UK whenever they are booked are non refundable and a deposit of 15% of cruise fare. Refundable deposits are a privilege of the US.

We have done numerous roundtrip TAs on QM2 and cannot wait for May for our next one. Our last one with a leg up to Quebec and return a total of 28 days was cancelled due to COVID.

The only time we have used the bus was in June because of the unreliable trains due to industrial action. Love Edinburgh so have to be honest have always headed there for the day and have never turned right off the pier and stayed in South Queensferry.

Yes that is the one but if able the steps are good exercise after a hearty breakfast and the train is cheaper.

Afternoon tea would have been better in PG on QV in November if there had been some sort of music played by somebody as it was on QE last year. Music was played in Queens Room so don't know if this was due to staff shortage or a cutback by Cunard.

Sounds posher than reality. They come round with a trolley offer you sandwiches/cakes off a tray and coffee or tea out of a flask. A pretty abysmal affair.

Yes we have always docked at South Queensferry and tender under Forth Road Bridge is an experience. Then if you can manage the steps up to railway station we catch train from Dalmeny. But local coach company also put on coach transfer into the new town (lower) part of Edinburgh.

Afternoon tea in PG on QV was poorly attended and no atmosphere so we stopped going and went to Queens Room instead.

Like I said staff will always be loyal to the ship they are serving currently on. Don't think if they are on QV they are going to tell customers that QE or QM2 is a better or happier ship.

I am sure all Cunard shops are happy ships and staff like customers will obviously have their own favourites. Obviously yours is QV but that doesn't make it any happier or better in others eyes. My personal favourite is QM2 and think QV/QE are equal and neither is better or happier than the other. If you choose a cruise would be down to itinerary and price as personally cruise experience would be the same. Having said that our cruise on QE last year, late replacement for QV, food was better in PG than recently on QV but think that is down to cut backs by Cunard rather than down to the ship.

It is easy to compare QV with QM2 as they are totally different ships built with different travel experiences. The true and fair comparison is QV/QE and having sailed on both cannot find any real difference in ships or staff to have a favourite between the 2.

I honestly think staff all have their favourite ship and if you speak to them they are all loyal to their own shops whether it be QE/QV or QM2 Having done 3 cruises on QE/QV in last 18 months cannot honestly say any difference in the service or the staff.

On our cruise on QV chatting at length with a member of staff and was told that a lot of the staff when they returned to Southampton at the end of the cruise quiet a few were being transferred to QM2. She also told us she was going across to QM2 and that it was normal for Cunard to transfer staff across the fleet and not all stayed on same ship for full contract.

Cunarders call it ""character".

QM2 is our favourite ship of all that we have done in over 50 cruises in 25yrs. We have also sailed on QE/QV and to be honest in my opinion there is very little difference between the 2 to favour one or the other. I have always found the staff equal on whatever Cunard ship we have been on and cannot honestly say one is more friendly than the other as staff come and go and regularly change ships.