katzoe

Thanks everyone for all your helpful responses. I think we will pack the dinner suit plus a couple of jackets as we have a generous luggage allowance and both of us enjoy the formal/gala nights onboard.

Thanks "the inside cabin", " jars"  & "OlsSalt" for your responses. Most of our cruises in the past 10 years have been on Cunard where dressing up is a big part of the onboard experience.  We are excited about our return to HAL and we selected this cruise because the itinerary has lots of port visits.

Jars we look forward to seeing you at our first Gala Night.

We are cruising on Westerdam on 31 March for 28 days in Japan.

I think that there are six Gala Nights. I have gathered from reading these boards that the dress code is more casual than when we we last cruised on HAL in 2007.

Would you recommend that my husband pack his dinner suit or leave it at home?

Any advise would be welcome.

The wine in the QG mini bar is for consumption in your suite. We have on a couple of occasions purchased nice wine ashore to share with our table companions in the QG dining room. We were charged corkage as we expected.

Many thanks Chairsin for your informative posts with lots of useful information to fill in the gaps. Like previous posters we are on the Quest for the 2nd February trip and your account could not have come at a better time..

Could you please tell me how many formal nights there are on your trip?

We cruised for 21 days on QV in the Mediterranean in August and we would often have a drink in the Chart Room before or after dinner. It is a lovely lounge and we also enjoyed the musical offerings. We were disappointed that the room was always less than one third full and we couldn't understand why more passengers didn't stop there for a drink or to listen to the music. We will be sorry to see the Chart Room disappear but it was certainly not appreciated by the passengers during our cruise.

On QE in February this year we boarded in Fremantle at midday. We attended boat drill at 4.00pm and then went ashore for dinner with friends. We returned around 10.00pm & the ship sailed at midnight. My understanding is that you must be on board for boat drill.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We booked QE from San Francisco to Sydney for Feb 2018 whilst on board QV in the Mediterranean this August. We were able to book one of the Q6 suites across the back which have been unavailable on our previous QV & QE cruises. We have also booked a Swan Hellenic cruise from Rome to Portsmouth for April 2018. We like to organise our trips

well in advance.

If you are only on board for 7 nights I would pre-book. We had 21 night from Rome to Athens in August and we secured a booking 4 days ahead. We booked for 7.30pm and at that time the restaurant was only a third occupied. By 8.30pm several of the earlier diners had departed and all the previously empty tables were filled. They obviously like to stagger the arrival of diners to provide the service and attention expected from a specialty restaurant. We thoroughly enjoyed the food, wine & ambience and the attention of the staff. We will probably dine in the Verandah again on QM2 in May.

Great report. Especially pleased to read that the Carinthia Lounge is a good dining alternative for breakfast. Also that the Grills Terrace has been smartened up.

Thanks for the detailed information.

We are on QV in the Mediterranean for 21 nights, 6 -27 Aug and the itinerary on our Cruise Personaliser is also showing jacket optional on selected nights. It was a surprise to us as we have not previously experienced it on our Cunard cruises but we assumed that Cunard must be relaxing the dress code over the summer for Med cruises.

I agree Futureaussie, it does look a good itinerary. We have been on QM2 for 3 cruises, all world cruise sectors. We wanted to experience a Trans Atlantic Crossing on QM2 and this cruise also give us New England & Canada which is a bonus as we have never been to Quebec. It will also be great to experience the "makeover" of QM2.

Hi Salacia, No I haven't filed a complaint. I am still trying to work it all out. On the Australian website I cannot find information about any Cunard cruise after May 2017. There is a line through each of the following months. When I typed in my cruise number in the search area I get the following response. "Cruise ----- is no longer available on this website. All very strange seeing I now have a confirmed booking and stateroom.and they want the deposit tomorrow.

My Melbourne TA has managed to book the 29 day Trans Atlantic, New England & Canada for 2017. I am delighted but wonder why the Cunard reservations officer got it so wrong.

Thanks MCC retired for the information regarding US bookings.

Yes Beagle5 it is frustrating. I know which TA I wish to book. I may take your advise and use a UK based agent as my sister did last year. It is annoying as I would much prefer to book here in Melbourne with my local agent. I wish I knew why we are treated this way.

I phoned Cunard in Sydney yesterday to check when bookings will open for the 2017 Trans Atlantic Crossings. I couldn't get a definite answer and was told it would probably be a few months away. The consultant on QE in March told me they would open in early April. In the past Australians have been denied access to certain Cunard cruises when they have opened for sale in other countries. I would be very interested to know if the English and American offices have given an indication when the TA's will be open for sale.

Thanks lincslady. We do receive Seabourn brochures direct every couple of weeks but we haven't yet received a brochure with early 2017 cruise schedules. Perhaps it is on its way.

Thanks Dalliowner. I must have been looking at the wrong website last week. I have just looked at Seabourn and found what I wanted.

Much appreciated.

Lorraine

Does anyone know when Seabourn release their 2017 cruise schedule? I am very keen to check them out, especially for February & March.

Thanks everyone for your valuable insights. I was on the right track when I suggested we meet in the Commodore Club but I will take your advise and suggest we meet at 2.30pm instead of 11.0am and stick with the "flash mob" approach.

Lorraine

Thanks Scrapnana & Underwatr for your information and advice. I had suggested we meet in the Commodore Club around 11.0am. It is usually not too busy around that time, especially on the first sea day. With regard to venue, I wasn't too impressed with the Atlantic Room.

Does Cunard provide a meeting room, refreshments and a staff member for CC Meet & Greets?

Our group size to date is 14 and we plan to meet up on QM2 on 23rd February ex Hong Kong.

On one previous Cunard cruise I recall a get together of sorts which was organized by a world cruiser in the Atlantic Room.

thanks

Lorraine

Voyage Personaliser is currently down due to maintenance issues. I tried to access it last night & again this morning but no luck.

A terrific review, very informative & detailed. I have just forwarded it to a friend who is thinking of joining us on QM2 from Hong Kong to Sydney in February. It will be his first Cunard cruise. Thanks F-T-T.

Cunard & Silversea are very different experiences but we enjoy both. What do we like about Cunard? We love the well appointed & spacious suites, the QG dining room, all the wonderful public rooms, the promenade deck for walking and the vast expanse of open deck space. We particularly enjoy the variety of speakers and entertainers. We have not yet done a Cunard TA crossing so we don't know how different that would be from our experience on the 20-25 day sectors of world cruises. We have done two on QM2 & one on Queen Victoria.

Our most recent experience on Silversea was on the Shadow this year from Melbourne to Singapore. It was another thoroughly enjoyable trip. I thought the dining experience on Shadow was slightly better than on Cunard but my husband thought the reverse. In our opinion they were very similar.