Colin_Cameron

... But even so the difference in price would easily cover a return on the Eurostar and we would get 2 extra days on the ship.

And you never know, if you ask them to quote a "cruise only" fare it may be cheaper still!

Reminds me of similarly bizarre pricing a number of years ago. Having booked and payed for an 18 night cruise we got an offer to extend it by an extra six nights. By some anomaly, that only seemed to apply to our grade of cabin, this turned out to be cheaper. We said YES and they gave us a refund. Not many people can say they were paid £100 to sail on QE2:D

Regards, Colin.

True according to Cruise Critic but over 12 years ago.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/news.cfm?ID=1252

 

M-AR

That seems to be about the right time from what I remember. The Cruise Critic News item says "12 people" bumped but another item says "12 cabins", so possibly as many as 2 dozen passengers.

Either way, what got me at the time and I still can't understand is why fly them all the way to Sydney before telling them they wouldn't be sailing.

Colin

A number of years ago we had friends booked on a World Cruise sector out of Sydney (on QE2).

They only found out after arriving in Oz, on a Cunard organized flight, that the ship was overbooked. They, and several dozen others, were sent home again!:mad::loudcry:

Regards, Colin

Hi Bob,

Are you sure about the size of the Yacht Club Floor? It seems rather large. 24' radius = 48' across. That would make it the largest floor onboard.

I haven't measured it but I'd guess it was more like half that.

Regards, Colin.

I once did a two nighter Southampton-Cherbourg-Southampton where our first night was the last night for those doing New York-Cherbourg and our last night was the first night for those doing Cherbourg-New York.

I had the opposite experience to that mentioned by others.

This was in the days of the three tier dress code (formal/informal/casual) and once we got onboard our second night was listed in the programme as optional formal or casual. I expected a bit of a disaster but it turned out to be one of the dressiest nights I've seen. I only noted one man (I'm sure there must have been others) not meeting the 'formal' standard.

So I say take them with you. It wont be the first time dress codes announced beforehand by 'shoreside' are different once you get onboard.

And have a gtreat time. Colin.

Oh! And the Cruise Critic get-together and Cabin Cavalcade on QE2 where, unknown to most of us, one of our number was the captain's wife.

We ended our trip round all the cabins in the captain's cabin for afternoon tea.

Well done Lanky Lad for organising that one.

I suppose there's (at least) two different ways to look at this.

There are the 'occasion' memories. For me these would include Vistafjord's final voyage, Caronia and QE2 in New York together, QM2's maiden arrival into New York, QE2's 40th anniversary, Queen Victoria's Maiden voyage, QM2's 10th anniversary amoungst many others.

There's also the small 'moment' memories. Walking into the restaurant on the first day and the maitre 'd, a man we'd never met before, knowing exactly who we are.

Going into a lounge on the first night, after a three year absence, and the steward just appears with 'our usual'.

Getting to the front of the line at the welcome party and the hostess doesn't need to ask our names, and the captain doesn't need to wait for us to be introduced.

Bypassing the line and going in the back door to the welcome party. Sitting with another couple who had done the same, he had just finished telling us that he was sure if the captain really wanted to shake his hand he would come and find him when I saw his jaw drop. I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders and a voice behind me says, "So. You thought I wouldn't see you sneaking in. Trying to avoid me are you?" This has happened twice, with two different captains, so now we wait in line. It's less embarassing that way.

Having been at the Captain's Table on our first crossing (in the days when that was your table for the whole voyage) we turned up at the restaurant on the first night of our second crossing to be greeted at the door with, "Good evening. We have your usual table for you."

The trip where we had more than our fair share of birthdays, anniversaries and one couple on their honeymoon so almost every night we had a cake and the waiters singing at the table. We discovered that the waiter also had a birthday. On the appropriate night when he returned from the galley with the desserts he found the table decorated with balloons and streamers and a cake that had all been hidden under the table. We sat him down and all sang Happy Birthday to him. (Revenge is sweet.)

There's always the waiters that you remember, and who remember you. Twice we've had waiters become fathers during our cruise and seeing their joy, not just at the time, but when you ask about 'the baby' ten or fifteen years later.

We've watched a deck steward and a bus-boy both climb the ladder to maitre 'd. One of the cruise staff, and two dancers all rise to cruise director. Junior, and senior, officers promoted all the way to captain.

But an elderly friend has the best memory. A fire in the early hours of the morning had us all heading for our muster stations (on the open decks in those days). After several flights of stairs she had to sit down to catch her breath but she was picked up and carried the rest of the way by a six-foot tall, blond, Swedish barman, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts. The highlight of her cruising life!

Regards, Colin.

It didn't stop as long ago as you might think.

We have had visitors aboard on Cunard throughout the nineties and right up to August 2001. I'm fairly sure it was events the following month that were the final nail in the coffin.

As for streamers, we definitely had them on QM2 in 2004 but not on QV in 2007.

Colin.

While there are some sequence dances where you change partners most of the you dance with your own partner the whole time.

It is just a sequence of steps that are repeated over and over. Everybody on the floor should :D be doing the same steps at the same time. So if you have half an idea of what you are doing you can follow the couple in front to keep you right.

There have been sequence lessons on some cruises but not all.

Colin.

Thoroughly looking forward to the "Swedish Waterways" cruise at the end of May but it's been 24 years since we were last on this ship. Before she was stretched, indeed before she was bought by Fred.

So what changes can we look forward to? I know the cinema has gone. I remember the main dining room as being rather noisy but this time we're in one of the new, smaller ones.

Can you see the join where she was stretched like you can with Braemar?

Don't remember much about the dancefloor in the main lounge (did/does it rise up to become the stage?)

Any other hints/tips/things to bear in mind?

Regards, Colin.

I have taken over 15 cruises on QE2 and all three current vessels -- QE, QV, and QM2 -- and I cannot recall any instance when any of the ship's top officers have ever danced in the Queen's Room when the live band had been playing.

As tangoll says, I think it unlikely that you will find any of the officers in the Queen's Room for the dancing. You could possibly arrange something beforehand if you talk to them at one of the cocktail parties or some other occasion. Or as has been suggested, talk to the social hostess. She may (should?) know which, if any, of them dance.

tangoll, You're right, it's rare, but not unheard of. I have seen a couple of officers dancing on Queen Victoria, but that was with their own wives so doesn't really count . I have seen officers dancing with passengers on QE2, only once as far as I can recall, but it used to happen on Caronia on one of the formal nights. All the officers would ask a passenger to dance the first dance of the night. Most of them would disappear straight after that one dance but some would stay all evening.

Regards, Colin.

The removal of sparkling wine (prosecco on our last trip and I think a sparkling hock the time before that) from the "Inclusive" list and even it's exclusion from the 50% arangement will not make someone I know happy :mad:.

 

But then again, she now has a choice of three white and two rosé instead of one white one rosé and one sparkling so here's hoping that's enough to satisfy her.:D

 

Colin.

Works for me.

Great photos. Thanks for posting.

I'm still working on mine.

Colin.

Being vegetarian I feel that I am a second class citizen while my other half has the spectacular meat dishes.

Amazing the difference from one cruise to the next. We boarded as you left and had the opposite impression. I've mislaid some of the menus, but going through the ones I have to hand (main course only):

Day 3: 3 veg, 1 fish, 2 meat

Day 4: 3 veg, 2 fish, 1 meat

Day 5: 4 veg, 1 fish, 1 meat

Day 6: 3 veg, 1 fish, 2 meat

Day 7: 3 veg, 1 fish, 2 meat (chicken and turkey!)

Day 8: 3 veg, 1 fish, 2 meat

and so it went on. Thank goodness for the a la carte.

BTW. I managed to get a look into your suite and it looked spectacular. So jealous.

Regards, Colin.

Hi, Slowly recovering the photos one at a time. (10% in 48hours!)

Loved 5192. If only it wasn't so far from everything.

The balcony pictures are still amoungst the missing.

Hi,

Surprised how different your cabin was from 5192. I expected them to be mirror images. If I eventually get my photos sorted I'll post some of them as well (problems with corrupt files on the memory cards).

Have to say I agree about the menus. Especially the night where a couple of the canapes in the cabin were mozzarella and tomato, the amuse-bouche was mozzarella and tomato and the one starter on the menu was mozzarella and ... asparagus. Lazy is the first word that comes to mind

I did request shirred eggs for breakfast early on in the cruise and it had to be cleared by the maitre d'. As the final formal night approached we asked if caviar would be on the menu but were told "No, but would we like some?" So although definitely not invited, or encouraged, to order off-menu these two minor (in my opinion) requests were accomodated. Regarding the eggs: If the waiter had passed my request to the maitre d', he would then have had an excuse to come and chat to us. " Hi, I hear you've requested ..." and then, "I'm sorry but..." or, "It will be our pleasure..." Making me make the request through the maitre d' could be seen as an attempt to dissuade me from making the request at all.

On the plus side, with two notable exceptions, every dish was superbly cooked and absolutely delicious. (That's two out of sixty meals. Not bad at all)

Colin.

That's good news.

Does anyone know what happened to the one on Queen Victoria?

And was there ever one on Queen Elizabeth?

Afraid not.

We've sailed from Barcelona, I think, three times now and from a different berth each time. One time we didn't use any terminal and simply boarded the ship and did the check-in onboard.

Colin.

We had the chair removed and they gave us a garment rack for the duration of our cruise.

I know a couple who did a world cruise and they also took an inside cabin across the corridor from their suite. They had it emptied, fitted with hanging rails, and used it as a giant walk-in wardrobe:eek:

Regards,

Never bought a wine package before because we prefer the flexibility of ordering what we want when we want, but this thread got me thinking. I didn't realise you saved the 15% service charge although my wife says she had heard this before but had forgotten. (I'll bet the wine stewards just love this :mad:)

Also, never bought on-board credit before either as there never seemed any point. I had heard of good exhange rates a number of years ago but not when we had a cruise approaching.

So, prompted by this thread, I gave Cunard a call a few minutes ago. (Got through in less than 5 mins)

I started with the wine package (thinking it would be a good idea to get them into the way of thinking of giving me a price in pounds, then adding the on-board credit to the sterling transaction) priced on the website at $645, I was given a price of £418.93:) (1.5396) Bingo! I'm on a winner.

"Is there anything else?" She asks.

"Yes please. $300 worth of on-board credit. How much will that be?"

(Keyboard clicking) "That will be a total of £8xx Is that OK?" I was so shocked I missed the exact figure.

I pointed out that £400+ for $300 didn't seem like such a good deal and she realised that something was wrong. Lots more clicking and confused noises then she asked if I minded being put on hold. When she came back she said the two transactions would need to go through seperately (I could see where this was heading). We put through the wine package, no problem. Then when she went to process the OBC I pointed out I still didn't have a price. "It will be at your credit card rate." (surprise, surprise!) So I simply said, "No thanks."

Maybe I'll get my wife to try again later. You never know.

As I said, I've never bought a wine package before but at these rates it does seem like a good deal. All the wines on the Commodore Package are priced at either $55 or $60 (I think there's one at $57) so if we compare a $60 bottle bought on board normally, plus 15% service charge, is $69. Settled through your bill as normal by credit card at whatever the rate is at the time (let's estimate 1.25) comes to £55.20. Compare that to 1/12th of the package price of £418.93 is £34.91. That's more than a £20 saving on each bottle!:eek: Or, if I've done my sums right, that's the same as being charged $37.95 onboard for that same $60 bottle ($37.95 +15%=$43.64 converted at 1.25 =£34.91)

Thanks for the heads-up, even if I didn't get the OBC.

Colin.

We've sailed out three times. Once at lunchtime, once around 5pm, and once about 10:30pm.

So that's absolutely no help to you at all :D

Colin.

On four out of our five crossings (QE2 & QM2) we've had people at our table who were using the ship as transport across the pond so it's obviously a more common occurence than I would have otherwise expected.

Colin.

Reminds me of a cruise a number of years ago.

11:55am bing-bong "This is the Captain on the bridge. Today we will NOT be sounding the whistle at noon as we have a man working up the mast ... and he still hasn't forgiven me for the last time."

Colin.

Very interesting about Danceafloat, ... Maybe Sixth Star has lost the contract?

Whatever happened to Lauretta Blake? Didn't she used to be the #1 supplier of dance hosts?

Thinking about it, it must have been about 20 years ago:eek:

Colin.

However, I have also heard that, on certain rare occasions, the MDR was closed even to in-transit passengers. (I hope I am correct, and I am very willing to be corrected by other experienced people here, with greater knowledge, I have never been "in-transit").

I have a vague recollection of seeing an announcement in the daily programme some years ago that the Britannia Restaurant would be closed and all in-transit passengers would be accomodated in (I think) the Princess Grill. I don't remember which ship or which port we were in. It probably stuck in my memory because it was unusual. I guess if they knew the numbers were small (and some probably ashore anyway) it would make sense to use the smaller venue.

Colin