Victoria2

Love Kirkwall. We have visited at least five times now, QE and QV. Afternoon tea v the archaeological aspects of Orkney? No contest. Let's hear it for Neolithic Orkney and yes, the Cunard archaeology excursions are excellent.

'Smaller' would probably have been more appropriate rather than 'crowded' buchanan101 .I don't know which itinerary you're sailing but I hope that both you and I thoroughly enjoy the new ship.

You prefer QM2, but I think she's a ship which has a stuffy, old fashioned atmosphere... but that's just a personal take. Although I have no issue with QE, I think my mindset for QV has evolved because of her overall happy atmosphere.

That's perfectly fine but for us, it's an intangible quality we experience every time we set foot on Queen Victoria. For us, she is a happy ship with happy staff/crew, which makes us happy passengers. Nothing more, nothing less.

Thx. I missed a couple 'forward' We''ll stick with the middle! 🙂

and I'm sure many others will agree with you, I've never eaten in the pub, but as M.Roux is apparently 'reimagining' the menu, we have no idea what 'we' will be faced with.

Difficult. We had lunch catered by his daughter a few weeks ago and it was faultless, The Rouxs are pretty special.

Golden Lion...sans fish and chips at lunchtime? If true, that's worse news than a narrow Promenade deck! Golly, standards as are definitely slipping if that's the case! 😄

I think there are around fifty nine QG cabin on QA. might account for the seemingly less crowded restaurant. All speculation to be sorted in the coming months. 🙂

It does and the refusal rate peaked in '21 and is going down. Have you checked the last decade for visa refusals? Have you given consideration to the world wide pandemic and the implications regarding travel from certain countries? China is opening up for both inward and outward tourism.

If it pours cash into coffers affected by the world lockdown and helps to keep 'my' cruise line afloat, then it's OK by me

and so when you googled, what was the source of your information.

Again, I agree but the slight implication one can save thousands booking direct depends on fares and routes booked and the difference for us, booking the same airline and route, with Cunard v with the airline, was most acceptable.

As one would prefer a direct flight but who avoids BA wherever possible, I can now appreciate the 'thousands' difference, so like for like, eg indirect flight, not too bad a difference, and if you have to have a stop, the Emirates lounges in Dubai are worth the stopover! 🙂

I don't think 'better' was implied at all. Happy, definitely.

Interesting. Please quote your source as I was under the impression the 'vast majority' of visa [Business/Tourist] applications from Chinese citizens are approved. Well they are according to the US Bureau of Consular Affairs and I guess they have a bit of a handle on the percentage of US visas dished out.

China is the world's most populous country and the government is aware of the value of tourism and so their attitude is changing and outbound tourism is being encouraged as never before. The list of countries which allow Chinese visa free travel is quite small at the moment but equally, it's not too difficult to obtain visas to travel to the EU, US and UK, as long as applications are accepted of course. The World Tourism Organisation reckons China will be sending 100 million tourists abroad per year by the end of this decade.

You got there before me.I absolutely agree. Totally. QE and QV both cruised out of Southampton for many years pre Covid so we had chance to sample both. Yes the decor is a different insofar as QE has a lighter touch, and apart from QV's aft refit, the hardware is basically the same. The difference for us boils down to the fabulous crew. It's a 'happy' ship and this manifests itself in the atmosphere. Wonderful. If this changes when some of the crew are redeployed to QA, whether by choice or not, remains to be seen but we won't experience it for quite a while due to our no fly policy at the moment.

What an experience for you Mareblu. Really looking forward to your account of the naming ceremony and accompanying celebrations, never mind the actual cruise. 🙂

We're hoping that's a Diamond perk. If not, we will certainly book it after ascertaining anything we fancy can't be replicated for dinner in the restaurant.

No. It won't and you know my thoughts on bribes, oops sorry, an advance on the tips, but it's their prerogative to do so and it will continue whatever is put in place. At least the p&o system has everyone paying the service charge. What happens 'outside' that is totally personal to each passenger and has nothing to do with anyone else.

If folk are interested, then I will, hopefully with other CC members who sail on her in her infancy so we can get a cross section of thoughts of Cunard's 'baby'. I'm a yomper, not a yawner [#26] so the promenade issue won't greatly influence my thoughts as it will others. Interesting times.

This could turn out into the can of worms we've been over many many times, so I'll just say the sooner Cunard incorporate the 'service charge' into the ticket fare as a proper service charge, the better.

So it looks fine for a yomp, but not for a yawn [on a steamer]. All will be revealed to me when we board QA.

I'm validated. Phew. Still can't believe I did this on my own. 😲