Parsley Cruises

Hopefully we'll be joining a ship in Venice, and I think/hope there is transport provided. We've done our flights through Viking - is the transit automatically included, and if so, is it by road or water? After the airport do we take our bags with us ourselves, or will Viking sort that out?

Taking the waterbus is all very well, but it gets very lumpy and bumpy! Meanwhile, if you have no mobility problems, you can easily walk from the ship (if it is docked at Marittima), and experience loads of cute little bridges and small little residential canal views. You get to see small shops and churches and little colourful piazzas (squares) wouldn't miss those for the world.

We've been to Venice a couple of times. Don't know how mobile you are, there is a shuttle link from Marittima (where you will probably do embarkation etc), and there is also a good chance of getting a little boat trip into town (maybe try for Monumento which is right by the main square). However, if you are happy to walk and experience the many little bridges which Venice is famous for - go it by foot and discover the real Venice - it's not to be missed.

Always plastic card with repaid credit on it, and usually that is either in locked camera bad, or in safety belt. Cash is kept in a smart modern webbing sort of trousers belt which hubby wears, this has a neat very small zip pocket on the inside; we fold bills lengthwise, and can get quite a bit of cash in. If we have to take passports ashore we use a proper slimline miney belt.

Victoria 2: it's all a bit academic now, but our total number of Cunard sailings stands at over 30, and always QG. We never found it much of a scrum in the Grills lounge, because we were never late. I can see no point at all in dishing up a preselected number of items - so what happens to the food that doesn't get used by passengers who are early for afternoon tea? Do they throw it away or recycle it onto the next available cake stand with spaces on it? Doesn't matter to me any longer, because I won't be with Cunard.

Victoria2 - having been lucky enough to experience really good times on other cruise lines, the deterioration of standards we've found on Cunard is pushing us away from them and over to other cruise lines. Cunard boast about their superior service, and then fail miserably to provide it. I certainly don't expect to have to spend my holiday complaining about things which should have been in apple pie order to begin with.

Ok folks, so just back from QV, and it's almost depressing how standards have dropped. Not all of the ship has had a facelift, and in our QG cabin there was grouting missing along the bath, and the half round mat by the patio door was curled and out of shape and a big trip hazard.

 

There was a kettle and coffee machine in the suite, but the refilling of the tea box was hit and miss; as was the refilling of the toiletries in the bathroom. Room service orders were literally dumped down on the coffee table, nothing nicely placed. The menu in the restaurant has been shortened, and as for the afternoon tea farce - I was refused a tea bag because I didn't want tea leaves. I didn't like the cake stand being filled with items which we don't want - it left us with very little choice other than going through the fuss of getting it all changed. Also the change to Café Carinthia is a big disappointment. The speakers for the talks were brilliant at boring people to sleep! Glad to be home, and glad to have cruises booked with other cruise lines.

 

It's going to be a long time before we book with Cunard again, and that's so sad.

Ok, so we have now tried the afternoon tea in PG, and that's the only venue they open up. They don't like criticism, and insisted on trying to make us use actual loose leaf tea, but we had to make a fuss and then got tea bags. Otherwise they would have poured straight from a ready made pot of tea, and we don't like that. You get a cake stand with scones, cream and jam, a couple of random cakes and then between two people it's a couple of various finger sandwiches and a couple of random very small rolls. Exactly the same stuff was on offer in the Lido ; which made me think what the heck is the point of paying more?

Won't bother with the afternoon tea again, it's a blatant reminder of how things used to be.

We really need our next Cunard sailing to be a success - otherwise we might just be moving our loyalty elsewhere; so we'd like to not be given a 3 tier cake stand with a selection made by staff - we'd like what WE want, afterall, that was what we understood would be the situation when we booked and paid for our next sailing.

 

I understood that the service in the Grills Lounge would be 'as normal' with waiters offering us a selection at our table. A pre-selected 3 tier cake stand would leave us with very little choice and a load of waste - and most importantly a waste of our time.

 

So, we'll give it one chance, and then if that's no good we'll diy it; at least then we won't be let down and our time won't be wasted.

 

We've never been in PG, and then only times we've been in the Queen's Room is either waiting to go off on an excursion or for a 'drinks and nibbles' affair. Whilst I think that the musical accompaniment would be lovely, I suspect that there might be just a bit too much background noise in there for us.

Ok, I'll wind my neck in - maybe we've just been extremely unlucky, and had several Cunard sailings with disappointments; but it's not simply been a case of what happens (or doesn't) with afternoon tea.

 

So, it's fingers crossed then! Trying to be optimistic, but not holding our breath.:)

In the past we've either been told that the butler service is too busy and to try and go to the Grills Lounge, or when it has been delivered it's been a real let-down. If I'm not going up to the Lounge, I'll get my own - perfectly capable and I see no shame in not wasting time and not getting messed around.

The standard of service of afternoon tea in the Grills Lounge has been gradually getting lower - honest! We've had to wait for ages to get our hot drink/s, and also we've sometimes been provided with our hot drink/s in various stages, and then the drinks have gone cold by the time a waiter bothers to actually stop and serve food. The much celebrated clotted cream is served in a tiny china pot, and is in all truth about a level dessertspoon between two people, and if you want butter or spread that's a proper performance to get.

 

On other cruise lines like Celebrity, at least you get your tea etc brought direct to your suite, so that you have all the comestibles at the right temperature at the same time. We'll give QV one chance, and if the standard is poor, we'll do our own thing. I'd love them to get it right - but I'm not holding my breath.

 

In the past on QV only the late arrivals for afternoon tea have been directed to the PG restaurant.

We're used to sitting in the Grills Lounge on comfortable seating for afternoon tea when we are on a Cunard ship. I get the impression that we are going to be provided with a selection of cakes etc chosen by somebody else, and sit on restaurant chairs at a restaurant table - that's not what we expect. If the changes are true, then it's another lowering of standards. I do prefer to make my own selection of cakes etc. Maybe my idea of excellent is different from yours. We'll have to wait and see, we'll give it a go, though.

Oh well, when we're next afloat, if this new afternoon system comes across as yet another lowering of the standards of service, then we'll do our own thing. Hoping that we will get a kettle etc in our suite, we can easily beat a path to the self service and get what we want to go with the tea. ALTERNATIVELY, we can make our own hot drinks in the suite and bring our own much loved bikkies from home.

Ok, I'll try and give it a go - I'll get what price lists I can and maybe some photos, but I'll post that on the Roll Call thread for Eclipse for the 07 May sailing.

 

I've got plenty of internet, so I will try and just hope it isn't a slow connection.:)

 

I've seen a detail of the Luminae restaurant on Eclipse which appears to be on Deck 3, with the entrance near the ladies loo - and it doesn't take up as much space as I thought it would. I think it's about the size of the Grills restaurant on QE or QV.:)

Oooops - sorry for the spelling, I meant collar not colour.

Anyway cheers for the information, I hope that covers for evening dinner time as well.

No tie and jacket makes life a lot easier - saves on the packing too.:)

It's the same old language problem - something has one meaning in some countries, and a different meaning elsewhere.

So (being British), what I would like to know is this - for men, a sports shirt -
is that a shirt (with a colour and buttons all the way down the front) or can a polo shirt be ok?

I take it that ties won't be wanted for non-formal occasions; what about jackets?

One is art deco - the other is art nouveau, the aft balconies (at the moment) on QV are fabulous, much better than the aft ones on QE.

 

I think that QV is supposed to be getting the single cabins same as QE in the casino area, but the other difference is that on QV the bookshop is on deck 3 with a gift shop on deck 3, and QE is vice versa.

 

The carpet leading from deck 10 up to deck 11 is green patterned on one ship and beige patterned on the other - and that's about it.:)

How and where is the 'free caviar' going to be served?

 

I doubt it, sorry.