Colin_Cameron

Nope.⁰

As someone that rarely uses the promenade deck on QE or QV I have no particular axe to grind, but here's my thoughts anyway.

The promenade deck has a more consistent width without the very narrow bottlenecks that exist on the Vistas, so may be more suitable for those out for pure exercise. The lack of any view on 60-70% of the circuit may discourage those out for a stroll. And those that used the loungers are obviously completely out of luck.

7 minutes ago, safarigal said:

However, how is everyone doing with the lift lady informing you that your lift is going up or down?

I got on at the top deck yesterday to be informed that the lift was going down.

I thought, "I @&%£!* hope so"

3 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Is there not a gate or something that you need your card to operate?

There are gates but no sign of a card reader.  Though that may come.

2 minutes ago, MylesS said:

My worry with that is people using it as a shortcut to get from the front to the back

Especially when the alternative is two decks down, through the lido, and two decks up again.

1 minute ago, richard_london said:

So you have to go down to deck 10 and then back up to get to that deck? 

No, because that's also the Grills. You need to go down to at least 9.

7 minutes ago, richard_london said:

Is the rear of deck 11 not also grills I just got to where the wellness studio ia and there is a gate.  I thought it was all Grills only from there?

No, it's only the Centre section. The problem is getting from A to C without going through B. 

4 minutes ago, Cruise Puss said:

Hi everyone,

 

Possibly a daft question, but how many of the bars have seating actually at the bar?

 

Thanks in advance. ☺️

Tha Chart Room,  Carinthia Lounge, Queen's Room,  at least three of the outdoor bars and probably some others. 

20 minutes ago, MylesS said:

I disagree with a lot of what you’ve mentioned, but that’s due to personal opinion.

 

However, the quoted is completely wrong. We’ve never been able to go closer to the funnel on any other Cunard ship, regardless of Grills’ status. 
 

I’m happy to go to the spot and take a photo should you wish. 

I'm with Myles on everything here.

Edit to add that the photo I have from below, looking up is a portrait one so will probably turn sideways if I post it.

@tacticalbanjo I thought you would be easy to find but there seem to be quite a number of babies, infants and children on board.

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

How are you finding the included dining experience ... reports of excessive delays earlier in the cruise 

Things are improving. Slowly, but they are improving.

Last night, night three, there was no queue to get into second sitting. The tablet/pad ordering system (used by the waiters, not the passengers) seems very hit or miss. Sometimes they're all using it,  sometimes they're all back to pencil and paper, and sometimes it's a mixture.

The food itself has been good, with the exception of a bowl of cold soup last night which was promptly replaced.

2 hours ago, tacticalbanjo said:

I watched Georgina Jackson in the Queens Room last night and quite enjoyed myself. A big downside is that there are pillars everywhere which block the view.

We watched this and enjoyed it as well, and agree about the pillars.  I can see this being a useful second entertainment venue. 

Maybe we shouldn't be comparing to the other ships but Cunard have invited the comparison by branding the ship as a Cunard Queen and labelling this as The Queen's Room. 

It seems I'm not alone in my thinking that the Queen's Room is not large enough. Tonight's World Club party is to be held in the Pavilion, by the pool.

And then there's the bad news.

The Queen's Room.

A "Grand Ballroom", it is not. It's not just the dance floor, though that's bad enough. It's the whole room. It feels like a hotel function suite. I had written 'corporate hotel', but it doesn't even aspire to that. Think cheap wedding venue. When you walk in from the aft end the first thing you see is the bar (which does have bar seating!), it's the focal point of the room. And the size! A quick scan around today at afternoon tea, a port day and overflowing,  suggests it has maybe a bit more than half the seats of QE or QV. On a ship that has 50% more passengers.

I've tried taking some photos to illustrate but none of them really show the true picture.  I'll keep trying.

1 hour ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Or get a seat in the back row to avoid being called up. 

As you were seated several people, myself included, were asked if they would be willing to participate, I declined.  There was no pressure and it wasn't done during the show.

51 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

Queen Anne departing A Coruña ... Looks like she had a fireboat water display to accompany her departure.

 

Along with liberal use of the ship's whistle!

4 minutes ago, addo said:

Iwould be interested to know if the rails in the wardrobes can be removed so the hotel hangers can be taken off/.

In a word, yes.

While we're on the restaurant, the spiral staircase between the two levels is so narrow that it serves no practical purpose.

So I like the restaurant,  I like the cabin, I liked The Bright Lights Society (although until they change the show it will be a one off novelty). The theatre, while not a patch on QE or QV, is much, MUCH better than it appeared in the renderings and early photos. It's wider than it looked and it's not the same slope the whole way back. As you move back the seats are on a steeper rake,  improving the view.

5 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

I thought it was random seating at breakfast.

Not quite random.  Tables are assigned by the maitre d' at the door. But when people move after being shown to a table, and then other people are shown to a table that 'should ' be empty it slows everything down.

Very steady most of the time. An odd shimmy and shudder as we crossed the Bay of Biscay but very little pitch and roll.

Still getting used to things,  as are the crew. I thought the Britannia galley problems were fixed as we had no problems yesterday but then we started hearing some horror stories, and then this morning's breakfast took a couple of minutes under two hours.  It was just as well we had a good table and everyone was happily getting along. If we'd had a table of moaners we would probably have left. Tables around us that arrived after us, ordered, were served, ate, left, and the tables were being refilled and we were still waiting. According to the waiter all the delays are with orders for large tables. I also note that they have either given up on the iPad ordering, or that system has stopped working. 

Things are not helped when passengers are shown to a table and as soon as the waiter has left, move somewhere else. I saw this at lunch and last night we had a gent moved to a spare seat at our table because others had parked themselves at his table. I know BellBoy has had the same problem.

Other than these problems I do like the dining room. It reminds me quite a bit of Vistafjord/Caronia's dining room. 

My first thought was that the corridor carpet design pointed forward, but it actually points to the closest staircase/lift.

Pre-publicity was quite confusing.

It has to be booked, but there is no charge for the show. There is a drinks service which, like everywhere else on the ship, is charged. 

It is the same show, twice a night, every night, at least on this voyage. I guess they may introduce a different show at some point.

The same venue is also used as the late night disco.

So with the Commodore Club at roughly 20% capacity, both drinks orders took 25 mins to be served. And both times the dry martini arrived without the olives specifically ordered, and repeated by the waiter.

We headed down to dinner at 8:20 and finally got into the dining room at 9:15. 

I'm stating these as facts, not as complaints.  It's a maiden voyage. Stuff happens. But there are definitely some people that shouldn't book maiden voyages.

Once we were at the table I'd say things were no slower than any other first night, maybe even better than most, but because of the late start that's us just out at 11:15.

7 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

Queen Anne's maiden voyage sailaway with fireworks.

With nearly half the ship in at dinner.

In the Commodore Club  for our first martinis.  First thing we noticed is no seats at the bar. Must be about double the seating capacity of the Vistas but with the same number of staff. The room is also completely flat so has a different feeling.

Edit: Just been advised by @Solent Richard that there's no canapés. And won't be any !!!