FennoExpress

We completed our crossing on 13th July. It was an eastbound and our third, the main motivator for booking was to see the ship after the Remastering. We loved every minute of the voyage, gained several inches on the waist and left the ship longing to get soon back on board again. Embarkation was fastest I've ever seen, we were in our cabins about half an hour after arriving in the terminal. Fellow travelers were quite different than on our previous voyages, more children and teenagers and younger couples. As on the previous crossings our cabin was DF category obstructed view balcony on deck 8 forward, with a large orange lifeboat in front of the balcony. This is our preferred cabin location, as we like to use the gym, deck 7 promenade and Commodore Club, all within short distance. On the Atlantic crossing the lifeboat is no nuisance as we spend so little time in the cabin - and of course the scenery is quite monotonous anyway.

On the whole the ship is looking fantastic. I don't think she was that worn out in 2015 but now all the public areas look splendid. The new carpets work very well in the lobbies and elevators, but on the cabin corridors they look a bit odd. The Carinthia Lounge is a huge improvement over the Winter Garden and seemed quite popular at times. Kings Court is also much better, but its still a buffet and we do prefer the Britannia for lunch and dinner. We all felt that the food in the Britannia was not quite as good as it used to be, but dinner service was flawless, during lunch the waiters were a bit less interested in doing their work. Our first table assignment was in the very last corner of the upper level, right next to the galley doors, but after a discussion with the Maitre d' we managed to get a nice table for four on the lower level from the second evening on. This time we decided to try the late seating and I think it was a better, at least on an Eastbound as you lose one hour every noon so lunch, afternoon tea and an early seating dinner are just too close to each other. Late seating also gives you the chance to see the passing of the bridge in New York and still good time to have a drink before dinner. The Verandah looks beautiful but we did not eat there, the 50$ cover charge is just too much for food you've already paid for. Breakfasts we took in cabin, except for one morning when our order card was not collected and we had to descend to the KC. We reported this to the room service and they promised to look into it, but never heard from them again. Some OBC would have cured our disappointment :D

Entertainment was in our opinion good, especially the Cunard singers and the Chart Room band. Planetarium was working and quite popular. We didn't attend any lectures on this crossing as they weren't interesting to us. My friend took part in the Behind the scenes-tour which he liked very much. He was fifth on the standby-list when he enrolled on the first seaday but still got in, so it pays to try. The weather was not on our side, with persistent fog for first five days and temperatures around 15degC. But the sea was almost dead calm the whole week. We had the CWC gold member's 120 minutes internet plan, but the service is still as slow as ever, loading a single photo took several minutes.

Then some critics. The new handles and knobs in the cabin cupboards and drawers are real finger killers, the edges are dangerously sharp and difficult to use. They may look art deco but sure aren't user friendly. There were two nasty holes on the shelf where the TV used to be, why didn't they just put a panel over it? Looks quite rude this way. Overall the cabins are the most dated looking part on the ship, even though the new bed covers, pillows, lamps and pictures do their bit very well. I hope that in the next remastering they concentrate on modernizing the bathrooms, especially the showers.One place which made me sad every time I visited was the Book Shop. A sorry shadow of it's former self, there wasn't even a single Cunard postcard for sale. Mind you, neither was there any freebie cards in the cabin folder, do I smell some carnivalisation here :confused: Drinks are very expensive, even the tea served in Commodore Club has gone up to about 3,5$ as they now have some fancy golden pyramid brand in place of Twinings. One day I made the mistake of ordering a soda water there, it was 4$ :eek: We like to drink a bottle of champagne every now and then and luckily they still had some Delamotte left, but we had to ask for it as only Laurent Perrier is now offered in the menus. Cunard logo merchandise range is minimal and very cheap looking, almost exactly the same as sold on QE last year.

Captain Wells was his amusing self and overall the service was very good, more committed and enthusiastic than on the QE. The stateroom service manager working our deck was from Finland like us and she came to meet us one morning in the Commodore Club for a nice chat. Disembarkation was not as well organised as on previous times but we still managed to exit the ship before 10am.

If I remember correctly the QM2 was designed for a hull life of 40 years, which means she will be around for a good 27 years still. So I might be able to take my retirement crossing on her!

The advances in shipping technology have been and will continue to be so great that the QM3 will be a totally different kind of ship. But I hope she will carry on with the style and grace of the current ship. My guess is that she will be powered by LNG or fuel cells, with gas turbines providing the backup power needed for the North Atlantic like today. She could be a bit larger but not much, the limiting factors being the Verrazano bridge and turning circle in Southampton port. Maybe a few meters wider?

The main question remains if there will be money to build the QM3. I remember reading somewhere that at current prices it would be impossible to build the QM2 today, let alone her successor. But 20+ years is a long time.

I bought the book from Amazon as soon as it was available and was greatly disappointed. The one on the QM2 was so much better in my opinion, only lacking detailed deck plans. There are better books around of the QE2.

But great to hear that the bookshop is getting better.

Chris Wells will be joining her today and Peter Philpott will be the "new man" for QM2.

Do you know how long Captain Wells will be on duty? We are on the QM2 in July, looking forward to his daily announcements :D

It seems that the Cafe Carinthia will just be renamed Chart Room. This according to the new deck plans on Cunard's website.

Slightly off topic but we are about to book a July crossing in a sheltered cabin. We would have preferred an obstructed view on deck 8 but our TA offers a very good price on a BZ category cabin. Now my question is which deck to choose, 4-5-6? We'd like to be as high as possible but is the noise from deck 7 promenade really a problem if we book a deck 6 cabin?

I know how she must feel: more age, more tonnage:rolleyes: Happens to the best of us!

Last night a new overhead view was posted.

 

And a status report from a shipping publication here.

A very interesting report, I still can't believe how they will manage to do all that work with so little time given. Using the Southampton turnaround time to finish the last cabins is a great idea.

But what is the "new steakhouse" mentioned in the article? Or do they just mean the Verandah?

I was just browsing QM2's deck plan for 2017-2018 on Cunards website and noticed that the port side of Fairways has now something called the "Photo Studio". Does anyone have a clue what this means? There is also a new profile of the ship, with the uppermost deck now labelled 14. In my opinion the profile looks more like a Costa ship now :confused: Fortunately the haven't done anything to that beautiful stern.

I've stayed in 8013 and 8014, which according to the deck plan also seem to have a slightly different lifeboat location. But in reality there was negligible difference.

We booked our last year's crossing through a US TA, they even offer interline prices for airline staff, something which is not available when booking directly with Cunard. Some months before sailing Cunard dumped the price by $300 and as it was before our final payment they agreed to lower our price too. But not before I asked for it :rolleyes: I've booked our this year's QE cruise throuhg the same TA, we got a past guest rate and I'm still hoping for an even lower interline rate before final payment. The official Cunard agent here in Finland offers only list prices and no perks what so ever.

If the link to these recent photos has been previously posted I apologise for missing it. Those who remember the QE2 may enjoy these interesting, yet sad, photos.

 

http://www.cruisearabiaonline.com/Golden-Age/2015/05/21/EXCLUSIVE--Cruise-Arabia---Africa-s-photo-tour-of-Cunard-s-QE2-in-her-current-state-in-Dubai

How saddening to see those photos :( I'm not sure when they were taken, the interior seems to be in too good shape considering the news that her A/C is turned off. She would be so good as a museum and hotel in Southampton or London.

Seeing that Cunard lion in the aft pool always makes me wonder why they haven't painted one on the QM2. It would look so cool!

The glass lifts use for Kings Court never went to deck 8:confused:

No they didn't, but were a handy express shuttle when trecking back from Queen's Room or Royal Court and having a night snack on the way at KC:) Then just a short walk to cabins on Deck 8 forward.

Do you think the port side Deck 3L will still be available as a thoroughfare to the Queen's Room or will all traffic be routed to the starboard side? The refit would be a good chance to ban smoking in the Chruchill's and find some new use for that room. The constant reek of cigar smoke makes half of the CC an unpleasant place to be, and here speaks an ex-smoker :rolleyes: Shame about the loss of glass lifts, they were handy when going from steerage cabins on Deck 8 to Britannia.

I was hoping for a more radical makeover for the TE, so that the walkthrough to the deck would have been rerouted. Overall I like the Remastering, everything Cunard has shown us so far is an improvement. The colours and art deco-details look very classy and upmarket. I just hope they don't forget the broken seats in the planetarium.

Has anyone spotted any information about refurbishments to the bathrooms?

The Carinthia lounge looks very promising, a good way of using the WG space. I definately will try the breakfast and lunch options. And I like the light colours, even though the palette in the new cabins is more stately.

With two more announcements coming from Cunard in December is it safe to guess that they are about KC remake and Todd English becoming Verandah?

Fenno - We will be taking the May 10th westbound next May and wonder if it would be worthwhile to spend one night in Southampton as opposed to spending all four, pre-cruise nights in London. We have been to London many times and it never loses its attraction. Also do you recommend the hotel in Southampton where you stayed?

 

Sorry, this is a little off topic.

If you haven't been to S'ton I would recommend it. It is smaller than I thought but easily explored on foot. The Mercure Dolphin hotel is centrally located, clean and well run, but the building is very old and there are a lot of stairs which is a bit challenging when dragging cruise luggage behind you. If I got a good deal I would book it again.

We took a Smiths car from Heathrow and that I do recommend. Very good service and good price.

I’ve just read Toffeegirl68´s great blog from the same crossing and can only add some points to that.

Travelling with my DP, my colleague and her husband, we spent the day before embarkation exploring Southampton and meeting friends we’d made during our previous crossing two years ago. With our heads still in Finnish time zone (that is UK +2 hours) we woke up early and after breakfast took a walk down to the waterfront to see if the destination had arrived. And there she was, looking every bit as gracious as I remembered, docked stern in at the Ocean Cruise Terminal. After the noon check-out we squeezed into a Skoda estate taxi, with four adults plus cruise luggage it really was a tight fit but just a short drive from the Dolphin hotel to the terminal. There we were given blue letter J card and waited for about hour and a half before being called to check in. In the end it seems we were lucky because after that there were some problems with the embarkation of the last passengers, delaying our drill and departure for an hour. Being in the early seating we missed the sailaway-party which was a bit of a disappointment.

We were in stateroom 8013, with our friends in 8014 on the port side, the two being mirror images of each other. I like the location of these cabins, as they are higher up on the ship than the sheltered balconies, close to the gym, book shop, Commodore Club and access to the deck 7 promenade. And when leaving for dinner all dressed up you get to walk the whole length of the ship and see people in festive mood, which adds to the sense of occasion. The half of a life boat in front of our balcony didn’t bother us at all, as when in bed or on the couch you can’t see it at all. And who comes on the QM2 to spend time in the cabin!

On the second sea day we experienced some rough seas, waves of 8-9 meters in the early hours and the ship bouncing around a bit. I later learned that they still had only three stabilisers out, wonder how bad it has to be before they take out all four. The weather made the ship seem quite empty, although she was booked to capacity. The rest of the crossing the weather stayed normal North Atlantic, with what looked like big swells but didn’t manage to upset the ship’s progress. One day we had beautiful sunshine and a brisk tailwind, so walking on deck felt like being in still air on a summer’s day. Towards New York the air and sea temperatures rose to around +17°C and the sea was dead calm, which was a blessing as on the second to last day they needed to do a helicopter evacuation of a passenger who had taken ill. After watching that operation I appreciate the skills of those helicopter pilots really high, as everyone who has been on the QM2 knows the hovering area is a really tight space.

As a birthday present to myself I invested in the Behind the scenes-tour. The price was USD120, a bit steep but in the end well worth it. We started at 2pm from the mooring deck and after 3,5 hours finished on the bridge. Very informative, interesting and exciting. We were encouraged to ask questions and so we did, learning for example that the next refit is indeed in May 2016 in Hamburg and during that she will get exhaust scrubbers. The amount of books left behind by passengers was stunning, a big cardboard box filled with them in the waste room. We were served some snacks and bubbly in the Britannia and given nice Cunard aprons. On the bridge we had a chat with the captain Chris Wells, a charming man with a witty sense of humour. I asked him what he would change about the ship if he had the chance. He said that they should have built more crew lifts, as during the turnaround days the current two offer insufficient capacity. He also mentioned that the layout of KC is a problem but not much can be done about it as it serves as muster stations and so has to divided into sections. They would also like to develop the Winter Garden into a more functional space, so we’ll see what happens during the drydock.

Then a few words about the most important thing on a ship, food. We took six of our seven dinners in the Britannia, where the quality of the food was from good to excellent, especially the fish. All warm courses were served hot and pepper was offered every time:rolleyes:. The portions were of good size, maybe too small for Americans but as I later learned they have been downsized to minimise waste. The real stars of the dinners were our waiter Ferdie, his assistant Keneth and sommelier Slivin, all great characters worth extra praise. On my birthday we dined in Todd English, which was a slight disappointment foodwise but still recommendable. With the coffee machine being broken in the Commodore Club our daytime lounging activity was this time more focused on the Chart Room and Champagne Bar. There we were served by three wonderful members of staff, Nil, Kalman and “Miss Poland” whose name we failed to catch. Evening entertaintement in the CR was provided by a charming lady, a fellow passenger singing a couple of numbers with the band. We went to the planetarium once and it was nice, except for the broken red seats all around. Evening shows in the Royal Court Theatre were mostly the same as two years ago, Apassionata by Royal Cunard Singers and Dancers shining above others. In the end there was again too little time to take part in all that was interesting, even with 25 hour days. The lure of watching the sea with a cup of tea (glass of Pinot Grigio) is just too strong to resist…

In the end we had a fabulous time and most definitely will be sailing on the QM2 again. What really made this trip was the staff on the ship, they work very hard for not a very good pay and still manage to give friendly, courteous and personal service. The ship is very much shipshape, after reading some reviews I was fearing for a lot more wear and tear but apart for some sink-holes there was nothing wrong. During the Behind the scenes-tour we saw some carpenters refurbishing the cabing tables so work is done constantly to keep up the appearance.

But after two crossing I still can’t figure out the KC layout:D

Feel free to ask me questions, I tried to keep my eyes open on the ship.

Absolutely stunning photos, thank you:) She seems to be in good shape, just like I left her two years ago:D Was it a light passenger load as you managed to take most of the photos without any people in them? Did you experience any heavy seas on your crossing? Only two months to go until my next rendezvous with the Queen!

I was pondering this question while doing the dishes and before reading what others had suggested. It seems to be that many of us are on the same track and I hope Cunard will do something more than just replace some couches and shower curtains. Here's my list.

Do not touch:

• Britannia Restaurant
  
• Commodore Club
  
• Library
  
• Deck 7 promenade
  

Do touch please:

• Winter Garden
  

 

Regatta Bar/Splash Pool

Three times onboard and never seen them used. Waste of space really, do something better? Maybe. If a subtle retractable roof could be incorporated without changing the exterior lines of the Ship, the Winter Garden could move here to make space for an enlarged Kings Court?

This is a great idea. The WG need more light and less plastique, I'm thinking along the lines of Normandie's WG. It could easily fit in the space of the Regatta/Splash and the Sports Centre. I'm sure a discreet retractable roof could be fitted and opened in warmer climates, to make this an al fresco lido/bar.

• Deck 7 & 8
  

I would move the QG to the space currently occupied by TE, ditch the PG and move KC to the Grills place. The forward part of the current KC-space would become a posh Extra Tariff-restaurant open to all and included in the PG-grade fare. Forward of this would be a speciality cuisine restaurant or two, more clearly separated from the buffet than the current KC evening eataries. A Midships Bar in what would be left of the current WG space, this could work as a seperate cafe during the day. And all along the port side of deck 7 a long gallery leading from the Spa to the KC/Lido entry.

• Theatre
  

I would like to see if a QE-style theatre would work on th QM2. For me the current space is a bit too plain and '90s glitz, not ocean liner style.

• G32
  

This space needs a total rethinking. Could it work as an Extra Tariff dining venue even though it doesn't have windows? Or maybe open it to become more a part of the Queen's Room?

• Atlantic Room
  

A wasted space with great views, but maybe too small to be anyting other than it currently is. Maybe a QG exclusive bar?

According to the Cunard website the QM2 will be drydocked in November 2015. There is a 3 week gap in her sailing schedule then.

https://ask.cunard.com/help/cunard/fleet/refit_schedule

The QM2 deck plan is running out of colours, fast:D

We took a bottle of champagne with us to enjoy in the cabin and asked the steward for a cooler with some ice, which he delivered promptly:)

On a side note, if I book a DC-category stateroom with a guarantee is it possible that Cunard moves me to a sheltered balcony on decks 4-5-6? Because I would consider that a downgrade, even though there wouldn't be a great big lifeboat in my view.

Absolutely fantastic pics. She does need a dry docking and a good scrub, that amount of marine growth must add to her fuel bills.