MarkBearSF

On 8/17/2022 at 4:03 PM, Jacqueline said:

I think that staying at a hotel anywhere near Times Square is not a good idea for most people. It’s awful. No one lived there it’s just tourists and not the best ones (not a Mecca of art or culture). It’s much like London in that you can stay in a central area that’s full of tourist attractions or say, in Marylebone at Durrants (our choice). 

We stay in Times Square primarily because we are Broadway addicts and my husband has mobility issues, so we stay at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square because it's closer to more Broadway theaters than any other. (It's within 2 blocks of half of the theaters). In other cases, we wouldn't recommend the hotel as its overpriced and a basic early 80s hotel with nothing special rooms (and the UGLIEST carpets in the hallways in the world)

We DO recommend the Times Square area for first time tourists spending a day or two before a cruise simply because its midtown location is closest to many tourist sights with excellent subway connections. (And everyone should at least see Times Square)

Poles apart. I've heard consistent complaints about the food on MSC (more than the usual cruise board bitching) and a very high density ship with much less room per passenger and fewer staff as well. Lots of glitz. That said, the Yacht Club experience is supposedly excellent and might be compared to the QM2.

QM2 is anti-glitz. A beautiful ship with lots of room and staff per passenger and consistently good food.

You'll get lots of opinions about the sheltered balconies. Personally, we don't mind them and they're our second choice for a crossing. Avoid the ones on Deck 4 above the Royal Court Theatre as there can be noise. (music, but it can be disturbing). Deck 5 is our favorite of the bunch.

Our very favorite rooms are some that have not-very-obstructed views on Deck 8. There is a link on this board with pictures of the even-numbered cabins. Our first choice is near the rescue craft (8043-8050?) The deck plans are very good to check the location as well. Although a fully-obstructed cabin will have a orange lifeboat covering the view (and casting a strange orange glow) - others have a mostly clear view with lots of light. Another advantage of the ones over the small rescue craft is that you're right near the B elevators. (Exterior photos will also show the smaller rescue craft to give you a better idea)

One of my rules of travel is that you will always forget to pack something.
So, when I realize what I forgot, I feel relief that I've identified the thing for that trip.

I've never heard that it was "mildly patronizing" so I'll try to work UK in instead.

By the same token "Americans" can refer to people from two continents, and although I seldom hear Canadians or Brazilians getting worried about the term, I will usually say something like "cruisers from the US"

7 minutes ago, D&N said:

I bumped into an officer sporting, I think, a "Food & Beverages Director" badge beside a very busy queue/line and took the opportunity to have a word about something that particularly annoys me and appears to be Carnival policy.  He was very dismissive....

 

I have never had cause to use a concierge in a hotel and can't see why that would be any different on a ship. A polite note to our room stewardess achieved anything we required.

First off, I would fault the officer's response. Unfortunately, that illustrates one of the few things that I really dislike about Cunard and seems to be part of their corporate "style."  In many cases, the staff (seldom the waitstaff or stewards, but often at the Pursers) have a superior, "we're Cunard and what we do is best" attitude. 

As for concierge - it's different than in a hotel. On the ship, the concierge is where you can go for pretty much everything that you'd wait in line at the Purser's desk for. (except perhaps cruise cards, because they don't have the machines, I believe). In addition to the purser's services, they also have tickets to Planetarium shows and can help with booking reservations for dinner as well as shuttles & transfers. We find them extremely helpful. (The concierge lounge also has coffee, tea, light snacks and afternoon tea goodies.)

12 hours ago, lissie said:

I was hoping that was the case  we have a boarding time of midday in SF - but probably won't get there until 1pm or later and ho ping the queues will have gone by then. 

Good luck getting through the marathon which is running on the Embarcadero, cutting off access to the terminal. We grabbed a cab across the street (actually our porter did) and had to cross through them. There was a phalanx of busses for excursions and transfers which were queued up and finally allowed through - but it's a mess. Hopefully by noon or so, it should start clearing up.

Assorted notes
- Unfortunately, I forgot to ask about the passenger count. It seems to be pretty close to full.

- As others have noted, the WiFi is not good. It seems to be worse than I'd expect, given my experience on QM2. I notice a difference depending on the time of day. In the past, this was not as big a factor - I expect that the omnipresence of the Internet and the end of per hour charges means that the WiFi and intranet is facing capacity issues that were less of a factor in the past.

- Connexions is no longer the Internet area - that is now on the second floor of the Library. 
And only one computer is connected to the printer, and I was unable to bring up a PDF on that computer. The Library staff was wonderful as always and helped as they could.

- The Lido is self-service, except for beverages. We normally eat in Britannia, but this lunch we wanted a little bit of light snacks since we were planning on Afternoon Tea. I must say that I was NOT impressed with the limited offerings today at lunch.

- Alternative dining in the Lido is back.

- They had hot hors d'oeuvres in the Commodore Club at 5:30 or so

- Cunard IT is as screwed up as ever. We had checked in and registered the credit card months ago, but got to board in Vancouver and they said we hadn't checked in yet, so they took our passports and did it. No biggie but.... 
This morning, we received cards inviting us to register a credit card. I went to the Purser's Desk and did so this morning. This afternoon, our cards were not accepted in the Commodore Club. I headed back down - it turned out that the card was registered, but they neglected to "open an account" for us to use it. Happily, it was ultimately cleared up, but it was NOT their finest hour.

- Last night was Red & Gold gala night. There was much more emphasis on the theme than in the past. I expect this may be one of the most popular themes these days, because what woman doesn't love wearing a red dress!

- Although we cleared US customs in Vancouver before boarding, today we were told that we must do it again and all passengers, including those in transit must appear to the customs officers in SF and leave the ship until it is cleared (much like Red Hook for round trip crossing passengers) In Vancouver, I asked if this takes care of customs for SF, the agent told us that we were all cleared so there would be nothing in SF.

We're aboard as well. Got on in Vancouver - glad you enjoyed Alaska!

We just boarded QE yesterday for a short jaunt to SF.
It's SO good tone back on Cunard. We've been on other lines recently (including Princess in January) - they've been great, but they ain't Cunard. It's all the little things and moments of grace that make Cunard special. I've missed them.  Looking forward to a NY- Quebec cruise on QM2 in September.

One note - I was apprehensive about dining, having read the late, flexible seating on QM (and perhaps QE). Happily, they're back to traditional dining and two seatings. 

And our service has been wonderful!

An interesting article on the Brooklyn ferries including some things to see in Red Hook.
A great article on the Brooklyn ferries (including some tips on things to see in Red Hook) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/travel/brooklyn-ferry.html

On 6/30/2022 at 2:02 PM, rafinmd said:

Since I was headed for 8th Avenue I walked forwards.   Unfortunately it wasn’t actually the original station but just tunnels that ended at the Long Island Railroad and Subway.

Oh no! Trapped in the confusing, cheerless, hell-tangle of corridors that is Penn Station!
...I also got on an 8th Ave express train by mistake on my first visit to NY years ago (In my case, the first station after 57th was in Harlem at 125th - oops!)

Have a great trip!
 

Yesterday, on The Talk, they announced an upcoming dating reality show, "The Real Love Boat" which will take place on a Princess ship in the Mediterranean.
https://deadline.com/2022/06/cbs-network-10-the-real-love-boat-dating-show-1234984386/

We're in a similar situation. My husband has mobility issues, so most port days, we look for a restaurant in an interesting area and take a taxi, and visit the nearby shops. (We're fine with a block or so walk)

We visited in 2019 and enjoyed lunch here. Two Doors Down. It's in an artsy area, away from the tourist stuff. There were a few restaurants.

Has anyone in the US cracked the code for entering phone numbers for emergency contacts?
No matter what I try, I get an error that it's the wrong format. 
I've tried
- traditional US format (xxx) xxx-xxxx
- no punctuation, numbers only
- added country code with and without leading 0 (+1, +01) using both US and numbers only for remainder

And I've done this both on Safari and Chrome.

 

3 hours ago, lissie said:

The  point is that their brands like Princess and P&O do this much better than Cunard! They have the expertise in the group if they cared to use it. 

Princess used to have a spectacular website. Unfortunately, since they launched their medallion and stripped much of the functionality off of the site, both have gotten terrible. Their medallion app is an embarrassment, and the small part of functionality left on the website is now buggy. 😡

Can you order in advance? I recall that one could only sign up aboard.
That said, we take a taxi or car from the terminal. (We prebook everything else with Dial7 - dial7.com, 212 777-7777 car service, except the trip from Red Hook to the airport - because the timing can be inexact)

One thing to realize - instead of being on a smaller ship which is luxury class throughout, in QG, you will have luxury dining and a beautiful stateroom on a premium line. Personally, we find the Cunard experience, especially the QM2 on a crossing, one-of-a-kind and wonderful, however, others coming from luxury lines find that some aspects of the total experience is different from their expectations and past experiences. 

Agreed. The train is the best way between NY and Boston.

In Red Hook, we've had mixed results prebooking a car from the ship, due to uncertain timing. As a result, we pick up a taxi or hired car once we emerge from customs. It hasn't been a problem in our last four or so trips. As a fallback, we'd use Dial7 (212-777-7777, dial7.com, or their app) from the terminal - they're our go-to service anyway.

I have been on a number of cruises with "the package" and have never felt that I needed to drink enough to make it "worth it." Instead, it's simply been more convenient. Likewise with the people I've traveled with. This has been on Celebrity, Princess, and Viking Ocean. (We did see it when it was offered to students on a Spring Break cruise on NCL, but that's a very different situation, and I think they would have been a noisy mess in any event)

Certainly, there are some people who would fit into the category to get their money's worth. (In most cases, we've gotten the package as part of a promotion or bundle). It really depends upon the people who are cruising. On Cunard, such worries are silly. More often than not, grills have been booked with the package included for US travelers over the past few years, yet you don't see unseemly displays in the Grills Lounge. Nor do you see it on luxury lines. Such worries are a Cunard canard.

And Happy Easter, Passover, and holy Ramadan to all.

2 minutes ago, Sweetpea711423 said:

That was my memory as well; that shirred eggs used to be on the Queens Grill menu for many years, but haven't been for quite a while.  I never had it, but of course regretted that I hadn't tried it after it was taken off the menu.

Back in the day, on the QE2, the shirred eggs came with caviar, if I recall correctly.

1 hour ago, WestonOne said:

All I can go on is the menus on the Cunard website.  I went to the bother of highlighting the differences, though whether these apply in practice is another matter!

queens-grill-breakfast.pdf 154.23 kB · 5 downloads

Thank you. 
For some reason, I don't recall most of the highlighted items being on the menu on our trip in December 2019 (although I'm sure they were) ...and I seem to recall waffles and french toast being on the Britannia menu. But I appreciate being corrected. 

3 hours ago, WestonOne said:

Maybe a word of explanation why I am asking.  I am in a Queens Grill in August, then in October I have a 14 day round trip Transatlantic in Britannia class, where I will be restricted to the 'conventional' breakfast offerings for around two weeks.  So I thought it worth trying to get the variations with Queen's grill breakfasts while I can.  I know they have a wider choice anyway, but why not explore a little further.

I honestly cannot recall a difference in the QG breakfast menu from Britannia. 

No complaints - it is a nice, extensive menu in any case. 

I'm also thinking about lunch and there may not be a difference there either. (Lunch is a bit more difficult to answer because it varies day-to-day, unlike breakfast.)

Of course the execution and service is impeccable in QG.

Shirred eggs should be no problem (you may want to request the day before).
They were a regular QG item on the QE2 years ago, and should be known to well-trained chefs. (and don't have items which might be unavailable)