Lynnewob

We haven't had upgrades into different categories, very often they'll be within category.

We've had BD to BA and BD to BC

A few P2s to P1s (not always the best as they tend to be on deck 8 under public areas)

Q6 to Q3 (when we would have preferred the Q6 and didn't say no upgrade, which I now do!)

 

We tend to get what we've booked so book what we will be comfortable with.

 

The only category change we have had was a P2 guarantee to a Q3 but this was not an upgrade, it was an upsell but at what we thought was a good price so took it.

 

The in laws booked 2 short trips in Club and on both occasions got upgraded to PG which they were over the moon with.

No problem if you're in PG at all - we're similar in age and we have done both.

 

There's much more a mixed group in PG, usually people who have decided to treat themselves to celebrate something special, rather than those who can afford it without question and then find something to complain about. In QG we find that one or two tables monopolise the staff in the restaurant with constant requests, leaving the other tables left effectively to fend for themselves. It's happened to us a few times in QG and we got really fed up with it. It has never happened to us at all in PG and unless we want to be at the back of the ship for views or sunshine, we book PG now and we are treated really well.

 

The other advantage of PG is that the restaurant has less people in it and we have found the tables for 2 are not quite as close to each other than those in QG.

 

We very often get looks in the lift when putting our card into the lift slot to get to the grills deck by people who think we should not be there as we're a little younger than most but we just laugh it off. Once we're in the grills lounge though, the majority of the people are fine. Don't worry about feeling isolated, as long as you're polite and make conversation with others, you won't get shunned. We've met some wonderful people in the Grills lounge as it's a small area and people are often keen to share details of their day with you whether they're in QG or PG - within the lounge everyone is treated the same.

 

Regarding dining, you get the standard menu every evening but also a la carte choices which are wonderful. You can order (the previous lunchtime or breakfast) crepes suzette for example for dessert in the evening which is always nice when flambeed at your table.

 

If you can afford it, do it, we do feel it makes a difference.

 

PS. Sorry I can't comment on ballroom dancing as it's not something we do as we tend to be in the casino but when we walk past the Queens Room, it's always really busy with lots of people dancing.

We're on the QV at end of August in the Med which should be lovely. tuxedos tend to be more common on most trips than dark suits but both are obviously acceptable.

 

The grills are great in sunnier climes as there's a separate deck(s) for sunbathing and they come round with afternoon tea and fruit during the day. It's nice having anytime dining and having a drink in the Grills lounge pre-dining but so is the commodore club.

 

Deck 8 can be a little noisier than other decks due to the public areas above.

 

If choosing QG go for the rooms on the back on the Vic as their balconies are longer than those on the Eliabeth so lots of sunshine.

 

I'm sure others will chip in with lots of other suggestions.

 

Hope this helps a little.

Have a great day in Guernsey, we'll be there soon.

Watched the Liverpool event live from the comfort of our own home and thought about what a wonderful time you would be having on board.

Enjoy the remainder of your trip.

Not sure about roulette as tend not to bother, but blackjack is usually minimum $5 a hand. However, they do offer $3 a hand on something called "fun 21" which is a slightly altered version of blackjack (taking out the queens and paying out immediately on 21 rather than waiting to see what the dealer has for a possible push).

 

There's also a side bet you can do at $1 each hand called "fun pairs", eg 2 x 3s, 4s etc. If you get a "captains pair" (2 identical kings) it pays out 50 to 1, otherwise the odds are 5 to 1 for unidentical pair, 10 to 1 for same colour pair, 25 to 1 for suited pair.

 

They also offer 3 card poker on all ships, Texas hold em on the QM2 but not the smaller ships anymore since the casino has shrunk. QM2 offers craps/dice too.

 

I think we're on the same Guernsey cruise, so may see you at the Blackjack tables - on this trip, there'll be 3 of us as myself and hubby are taking my 27 year old niece along to try her first cruise.

I've just had a very strange call from Cunard regarding a short trip we're doing to Guernsey. They've stated a large party has taken over the PG restaurant so they're moving individual guests who have booked (about 35 people) who have booked a PG cabin to dine in the QG restaurant.

 

I was worried that would make the QG restaurant rather cramped and they confirmed it wouldn't as there's more capacity in that restaurant anyway. We will get QG service and additional items on the menu that PG don't so there's an upside to it.

 

We still retain the PG cabin but just change restaurant and turn up there on embarkation day.

 

I've never had this before, has anyone else?

I think PG have always had the flat screens on the middle part of the room, one facing the bed and the other facing the sofa.

 

I think the op may have queried the Britannia cabins as the ones of the QE have gone from a TV that is on the worktop above the fridge to one that is hung on the wall opposite the bed freeing up some space storage space above the fridge which is useful.

 

Parents are on the QV at the moment (returning on Friday) in a balcony cabin. I will be able to let you know when they return if the TVs have been changed.

You're lucky, on our 10 April Ventura 2 night trip, there were 25 hen nights and 1 stag night on board. :eek:

 

I think you have got away lightly.

Wow, I remember that hike last year. It was a really hard slog in the high daytime temperatures.

 

We got as far as the other tombs and turned around and walked back - which, as you say, was harder as the slight incline on the way down, became a much longer higher climb on the return!

 

Enjoy a relaxing evening on board and make sure you rehydrate after the exertions of the day.

On BA's WT+, it's a smaller quieter cabin, and either 2 4 2 or 2 3 2 seating against the 3 4 3 that's usually in economy so nicer if travelling as a couple. There's the extra legroom at 38" against 31" ish. You get a Club class main course. It does differ from PE on Virgin in that Virgin give you your own check in, priority boarding and a drink when boarding. BA are also mean in the higher cabins in that you have to pay to pre-book your seat, on Virgin you only pay to pre-book your seat if in economy.

 

It's not a bad price (don't forget that's for 1 leg only, not return) for a little bit of extra comfort on long haul if Club class is out of reach, it's definitely a better option that economy.

Flowers were definitely in the cabin but no fruit or canapes. You may get these on a 4 night though rather than the 2 night.

We have just returned from the 25 hen nights (!) on board 2 night trip to Zeebrugge and we had D708 and parents had D706. We spent the time with the balcony dividers open between both cabins as we were lucky with the weather and it gave us relative peace from the mayhem that was going on around the rest of the ship.

 

The cabin has a bath with shower over and a 3 seater sofa (rock hard) which converts into a bed if needed. The room door is immediately in front of the lift area so don't keep your cabin door open for any reason as everyone coming out of the lift will see into the room. Parents have had a room near the lifts before on QM2 and hated the noise but said this was much quieter and were pleasantly surprised - they felt the soundproofing of the rooms were better than on the QM2 so that's a real bonus.

 

On the 2 nights, we were given a bottle of sparkling wine on arrival, a box of belgian chocolates (most of them hazlenut flavour), slippers and dressing gowns. The balconies are fully overlooked, which didn't bother us but could bother some people.

 

We were allocated freedom dining and found the best way to get to Cinnamon was to walk from our aft lifts to midships and go directly down as to get there from the aft lifts was not as straightforward.

 

Enjoy the room, it's more spacious than the normal balconies.

We were the same and wanted to do HK to HK but struggled with annual leave so had to choose. The factor that swayed us was the first part stopped in China and we weren't really that bothered about it, and with the additional hassle of getting the visa, our decision was made. Only you can make that decision - both parts will be very nice regardless.

Hi Gill

 

We originally booked the segment as cruise only as were advised that we could add the flights on if needed.

 

I called them when the outbound flights had been released by all airlines (after checking fares and frequent flyer availability) to Narita. The economy price for return using Cunard was around £850 on BA (the price difference between cruise only and cruise with flights on Cunard's website).

 

Cunard confirmed I could use an outbound flight only and booked it for me at slightly more than half price at £520 for the ecomony seat and I just had to add the upgrade on for the one way journey £299pp for WT+ or £1529 for Club.

 

I've checked frequent flyer miles on BA from HK as theirs have been released and no direct flight available but Cathay have some. I haven't got as many FF miles with Avios and am now waiting to get a flight with VS as have more with them. Weirdly though, I checked online and it was offering flights a couple of weeks before which was acceptable and now cannot do it online as it's greyed out and said cannot do it online. I phoned VS today and they have said that's incorrect and they will report it to their IT dept, so hopefully it's rectified soon.

 

Hope this helps.

Lynne

We're doing this, but as you get off, we will get on board as we're only doing the Tokyo to Hong Kong sector.

 

I'm of a similar age but hubby is a bit younger and we love cruising with Cunard.

 

I've scheduled our outbound flight using Cunard (BA) and have paid the upgrade fee as it's a long flight to do in economy! I've done this as we'll be flying out on the Saturday (overnight) from LHR and joining the ship on the Sunday and don't want to have the issue of delayed flights if organising them ourselves and missing the ship. At least if we're using their flights, they will arrange for us to meet the ship somewhere if there's a delay.

 

I am now waiting for the return flights to become available from Hong Kong to enable us to use frequent flyer miles as we're staying a couple of nights extra whilst there and haven't got to worry about any delay issues.

 

I anticipate there will be a lot of Japanese people on board, either for one or both of these segments as they love Cunard and are the nicest people we have come across when on board - well certainly the ones we met on last year's world cruise segment were between Dubai and Southampton.

I think we are on the same trip to Guernsey.

 

Cunard formals are more formal than most cruise lines and the majority on formal night will be in long dresses and tuxedo, with a few cocktail dresses too.

 

The other two nights for ladies will be cocktail dresses for most with a few trouser suits dotted around, with men in suits (with or without ties) or trousers and jacket (often chinos/blazer).

 

Hope this helps.

On the QE last year, we were advised that they didn't use the courtyard for evening dining if the ship was sailing as it got too windy on an evening - it's fine in the daytime and it will be open regardless of whether the ship is sailing or not (obviously subject to dry weather conditions), which seemed a little contradictory to me as if it could open in the day while at sea, why not at night?

 

The only time we have dined in the courtyard on an evening was when we were staying overnight in Istanbul so the ship was not sailing. That was on the QV and it was a lovely experience and despite the warm weather, we never saw any man remove their jacket whilst eating.

We're on this trip and have had it booked for quite a while now as Cunard only tend to do one Iceland each year.

 

It may be the case that a meet and green is arranged and that is always stated on the roll call and tends to be the first sea day at around 2pm. It's always nice to meet fellow cruise critic people and to put faces to names and see them during the voyage just to say hello.

 

Looking at Cunard's website, it appears that the cruise is selling well so I imagine it will be a full ship.

 

Pop over to the roll call and say hi regardless.

 

Lynne

Hi Hattie

 

Always good to have a host that we have actually met. Congratulations, you'll do a wonderful job.

 

Lynne and Mark

The P1s on Deck 8 can suffer with noise problems, we've had 8078 and 8079. They are below the non carpet covered walkway between the garden lounge and lido so you hear the click click of footsteps and trundling trolleys overhead, the trolleys being particularly annoying at around 5.30am. I can't remember which side it was but the golf nets must have been on the deck above as we also heard the thud of people driving golf balls whilst sitting on the balcony reading.

 

Our choice of P1 is on deck 7 and P2 deck 4 (for the deeper balcony) or deck 5 for no staff doors opening in the corridor opposite (deck 6 outside 6092 has a particularly busy staff door where the crew supplies are kept and crew gather outside talking usually around 6am). We're testing 6100 in June to see if that might be a little quieter being further away from the crew door and closer to the lift area which I can cope with as we never seem to have any noise issues being close to the lift lobby.

 

It's a risk you have to consider if you're opting for an upgrade as that may give you a P1 or an upgrade to QG, only you can decide whether you think it's worth it or not.

That's great to have that confirmed as I always use my Clarity card on Cunard to avoid a foreign transaction fee as they bill in US dollars.

 

At least on P&O I can use my normal card which gives me points if it's billed in GBP, so that's a plus.

 

I was a little unsure as it's all the Carnival group, so thanks for the replies.

We did a 3 night on the QM2 pre-Christmas and there was no formal night but a lot of people on the sea day did dress in Black tie and long dresses despite the VP stating informal for all 3 nights. I played it safe and took cocktail dresses for every evening and hubby wore a suit.

 

We're on the QE in June (treating my niece for her first time on a cruise ship) which is a 3 night to Guernsey and it states 2 informal and 1 formal. At least this time we'll know and will take the appropriate tux/long dress.

I've just checked the deck plans and it doesn't appear there are any doors there on deck 5 so you should be okay.

 

Our cabin was 6092 and you can see the indent opposite it, which is the crew door I'm referring to. I certainly wouldn't pick that cabin again.

They're all okay.

 

With the midships cabins, have a look at what's across the corridor though. If it appears there is a door opposite, it can very often be a crew access area. We had one on deck 6 which was used for collection of towels and had a sink area and other crew necessities for topping up trolleys. The crew always gathered there and had very loud conversations at 5am which constantly woke me up.

 

Being close to the lifts can be slightly noisy as you will hear the ping and people talking deciding which way to go but this is not nearly as bad as the crew door mentioned above.

 

Don't forget there are the 2 PG cabins at the front of the ship on deck 5. We've never had one of these but understand from parents who had the next door balcony cabin that they are more spacious than the midships ones.

If I had 5192 I think I would stick with it as it looked a little more open, without the centre island in the way.

 

When you look at the youtube video it's showing as a QV Queens Grill Q4 before Cunard reclassified those on the back of the ship to Q6.

 

The dressing area on the centre one seems to be nearer the bathroom and front door whereas the ones either side appear to be nearer to the bed.