Megabear2

Although I have sailed a great many times with Cunard (Diamond World Club) I have never ventured beyond the Britannia dining room. For next year on Queen Anne we have opted to try Club, mainly for the dining feature of your own allocated dining table without a time restriction. I am aware there is no guarantee of a table for two in the restaurant and would like to know how things operate if you are allocated a shared table. For instance if we were put on a table for four or six and we eat at different times to our table sharing counterparts how would it work? If we say down at 6.15 and they wandered in at 7.00pm what happens? For personal reasons connected to mental health I might encounter a problem on a shared table such as this so would like to be fore warned and prepared so to speak. Ideally the request to Cunard for a table for two may be successful but my travelling companion will not eat in shared company not known to us and I need to plan accordingly as I apparently may be way down the list as apparently the earliest bookings get first selection. Thank you.

No actual train company charges but Trainline make a living out of their supposed "cheap tickets" by adding on their booking fee. All these train ticket sales websites are computer driven search engines with access to multiple train timetables, they don't actually have something to sell. In fact if you choose a paper ticket you go to your station to collect it from a ticket machine there. I do use Trainline for tickets abroad and for that the fee is well worthwhile as you get access to the cheapest tickets. European train companies have very simple ticketing options which start low and rise as seats sell. Here in the UK there are literally thousands of options. A simple search for a train to London at around 8.30am tomorrow produced a choice of 12 different ticket types! Whatever happened to a single or return I ask! Interestingly two advance purchase bargain singles had a fare almost double the cost of an off peak return and yet is proudly shown with the cheaper ticket options hidden.

I can most likely but the admin charge is £5.00 and I'm mean!!! Seriously though I'm more cross they haven't put the information on their website which I checked for ticket types before going to the station. It was quite confusing with the different fare types and I'm pretty good on train tickets. Heaven help us when they shut the ticket offices too.

Well after the airport IT fiasco I can now report the Great British Train one! Just walked a fruitless one and a half miles to the railway station to be told that due to IT problems all ticket offices have been unable to accept card payments since start of trains this morning. On enquiring if I can buy a ticket for travel tomorrow I was told the machines are also affected although I could buy a ticket with cash. Us being a near cashless society I never carry much, currently having a tenner in my purse. The tickets though are £88.40 each (only into London) so I'm stuck. No says the nice man, there's a cash machine outside in the alcove. Off I go to look ... sorry out of cash and awaiting a refill. So no train tickets, no idea when they'll be back on sale and a three mile roundtrip walk for nothing. You couldn't make it up could you.

P&O undercut themselves too though. My last cruise I booked direct 6 weeks out, for a single "cheap". Others on board, also at future sales, seemed to have paid twice as much as me - remember I'm a single so uprated anyway - and were very unhappy. Lots of cancelling to rebook was observed!

Thank you Hattie. I was aware it was the case in Grills but have had until now no interest in Club. I booked it on impulse because of my concern on how all the extra paid for restaurant options may impact normal dining arrangements. Selbourne, very much like myself, has a unique circumstance with regard to dining requirements- in my case a medical one associated with mental health issues where my husband will not eat with anyone he does not know and Selbourne's as explained by him in his post. We entered these discussions previously based on who they intend to dine in all these specialty restaurants and how the ratio might be looked at in view of the Arvia dining arrangements being based on figures expected to eat in each one. I understand Selbourne may not have been aware of the sharing tables from his previous posts. Thanks for the info. Will keep an eye on the situation over on the Cunard board.

The only thing I didn't like that I was told today is that if you're allocated a shared table and for instance sit down at 6.15 the others allocated your table can stroll in at 7.00pm and start their meal at that time. I'd find that very offputting and strange being a sort of halfway house!

Dealing with all the hullabaloo maybe P&O weren't aware of how serious the air problems were. Did they even let the volunteers know there might have been delays involved? Without a crystal ball what were they to do? Reading about fisticuffs and passengers at Palma not being able to get accommodation in Majorca in what is peak season I'd think they've done very well to house 321 or whatever persons anywhere. I've got relatives currently trapped in Europe, originally in France but now in Italy after taking a train there overnight. They can't get a flight home for a week, have work commitments going to pot but are super lucky to have friends in Italy to help. The P&O guests should put their hands together and thank the lord they at least have someone doing the worrying and organising for events totally beyond P&O's control.

I hope you get your wish. I'm not sure the "grade" counts in Club because there are only two grades and they're based on position unlike the Grills where there are massive differences in the cabins together with prices. Fares of $100,000+ pp for the highest grade Queens Grill on a world cruise will certainly have "bagsy" rights over everyone else! My general impression is they expect every sailing in QA to be at or very near capacity which is to be expected. Apparently quite a lot of interest from new Cunard cruisers so it will be interesting.

I think as I mentioned once before to you, the misunderstanding is based around "table". Even in the Grills you may have a "shared" table. They do of course try to accommodate everyone with their preference but on a full sailing it may not be possible for this to happen. I've just been on the telephone to my personal Cunard contact (often calls me to notify of special deals and to see if I'm receiving emails, post etc) - she has worked for Cunard for 17 years and knows the ropes. I actually wanted to see why my assistance form hadn't arrived but we had a very long chat of nearly an hour about the dining arrangements, Club -v- Britannia "freedom style" dining and who gets priority for what. It is confirmed dining arrangements are just requests, not guaranteed, we will have a table but it is not necessarily an exclusive table. Again, as I've previously said to you there are most definitely sharing tables in Club and both Grills and the mature d' has the final say on what you are given. He plans seating about 7-8 days before the voyage and your table allocation is in your room on arrival. No one apart from him has access to the dining list. He will look at date of booking but this is not definitive, it was admitted that if he sees a high up Cunard club frequent traveller on the list they may well be offered the better located table within the club restaurant. The Grills seating priority takes account of the grade of cabin so a Q1 should get higher table priority than a Q6 for instance. Again I was told there can be favourites amongst the guests. I'd describe this as being a bit like the table on Iona being reserved for your breakfast every morning if that makes sense, ie not strictly within the rules but no one's any the wiser and no harm done. I know you, like myself, have special reasons for wanting a non sharing table which I fully understand. I have had a note put on my reservation regarding this and have also been asked to add the details to my assistance form and send it back by email explaining the "problem"/reason. For full belt and braces it has been suggested I ring my adviser back 7 days before sailing and she will email the mature d' to remind him of the situation. Actually in the discussion it was offered for me to downgrade us to an ordinary Britannia balcony with freedom dining as it would mean we would be able to ensure a table for 2 by choosing to wait for a table to become free - remember we have to eat early for medical requirements and my agent believed using the app did have less problems. However as I've told my husband he's going club and he's very excited about it (and given my QM2 difficulties with others not using the app) I've chosen to stay where I am and follow all the steps suggested. My faith in Cunard to assist is far, far higher than my faith in P&O! To the others asking about where the prospective number of tables comes from, that was actually the number quoted to me on Saturday as the proposed ratio of sharing "seats" by the sales lady taking my booking. My personal agent has said today that's by no way definitive but certainly some banquet type seating within the structure will be there and as such part of the structure so the rough estimate may be more or less right but at this stage no definitive answer is available. I hope that clarifies the confusion on both points.

I'm sure quite a few of the ancient Mariners here on the forum would be able to help ...

The sale for me is pretty good and some of the shorter cruises of 7 and 10 days away from Queen Anne are actually coming in cheaper than some P&O cruises for a solo with nice itineraries. As I said elsewhere Cunard have never in my experience had the P&O style fire sales so I doubt you would find your fare undercut, matched yes but not slashed miles below your fare. I was able to get the double OBC offer combined with the sale so have $600 OBC - I think that's the maximum under the offer at present and definitely the most I've ever had since start Cunard sailings back in 2001. I booked the club based on a lot of dithering by the nice agent on the telephone as there was only £700 difference on the price she quoted me so adding on the OBC I though I'd give it a go. If you look at the plan the Club dining room has 20 tables which vary between 4 and 8 in size which is why I am querying it. Normally I'd not consider even looking at the plan but I did think it weird and booked Club specifically to avoid the need to share, our other QA cruise we are 10 so have requested sharing anyway. Unfortunately I'm the lead passenger for the 10 as for some weird reason the family believe my diamond status will rub off on them, I think they may be disappointed though!

Britannia remains my favourite P&O ship as well. I have two cruises booked on her one with my husband and one solo. She is comfortable and offers everything needed. We too have Queen Anne and against all the odds I've also booked Club Britannia as the latest sale cut the price on the September cruise I booked on Saturday to the level of the one we are doing as a family early August on her in a normal balcony cabin. I was surprised to receive my Club booking confirmation stating a table for 2 is only a request rather than confirmed as such. As it's booked for an anniversary and birthday I hope that is merely a standard reply and will call tomorrow to check. As you say the itineraries are repetitive on some of the ships and it is noticeable on both lines that the number of ports has been cut for many voyages.

Assumedly if its lifeboats only they may be able to switch them out or whatever. If its mechanisms as well that may be more difficult, only the engineers will know. However with only four more Southampton based cruises before Britannia sets sail to Barbados for her Caribbean season no doubt they will need her in tip top first class condition as repair in that area will be more difficult and presumably expensive sway from home.

I found Arvia odd in as much as it was my first P&O or Cunard cruise where I never found anyone, staff or guest, who I'd not met before. With all my personal traumas over the noise issues etc I think I would have felt far better if I had that individual contact with others I'd met before even if it had been only a day or so before. It became an extremely lonely place at the time and I now realise much as I like my own space and being alone I do like the comfort of a friendly face I've seen before.

That being the case you will love Iona. I found it quite lonely on Arvia compared with all my other solo cruises as unless you actively made arrangements to be in a certain place at a certain time the ship was very large and you rarely bumped into the same people twice. I guess that's why we are all different. I love building friendships and relationships with people I cruise with. I have wonderful relationships with the people I shared my table with on my world cruise in 2019 and the past few years and all the turmoil worldwide has ironically bonded us even closer. On this coming Thursday I am meeting two American friends I shared a table with on QM2 in 2014 and in the interim period the whole group of 8 of us meet up either in Texas, Florida or London. This is our first meet up since March 2018 and we are all extremely excited.

When travelling solo and not dining with the same people every evening you get asked the same questions day in day out on shared dining tables. However Club dining can have unexpected problems too. I have a husband of 43 years who I frequently travel without. I didn't realise people actually think I make him up until some American cruising friends travelled to meet me for lunch after disembarking in Southampton a few years back and were astonished to find him with me. When introduced the wife said well I never I thought after all these years you were pure fiction but I was too polite to say!

As someone who regularly travels solo I considered the Iona 35 night Caribbean cruise and weighed it up against the same length Queen Mary 2 one departing on the same day. I loked at the many modern features on Iona against QM2's older more traditional style together with the dining options, my experience on Arvia and the daytime offerings for the seadays. Although Iona was tempting for her modern and upto date style QM2 won on almost everything else for travelling as a solo and so that's the way I went. The price at launch was not too dissimilar but I chose a single outside deck 2 cabin rather than a balcony which I believe you were looking at. Based on my Arvia experience it was quite hard for me to get to know other guests but everyone will of course have different experiences.

Someone on BBC stating he was selected but refused to go. Also he has been offered 20% off his next cruise by way of compensation. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-66639366

The western Med area is still under a weather watch for heavy rain and high winds until the end of today, including the Balearics. Safety being the main issue no doubt this has to be monitored.

Won't she need to refuel in Gibraltar though.

I've never had noise issues with lifeboats but did have a light on a stanchion all night on deck 9 Britannia from the lifeboat below.

On a cruise in May with P&O calling at La Spezia I booked an excursion to visit Andrea Bocelli's vineyard and home town. Unfortunately due to lack of participants it was cancelled. I am now booking on Queen Anne for next summer and wonder whether anyone who has sailed to either of these ports recently knows whether Cunard offers this particular excursion and if so from which port. I had hoped that with Cunard's wider spectrum of passengers there would be more take up if it was offered. Thank you.

Sadly not, I'm just a sad old lady who loves anything to do with ships and is fascinated by all the different options.

Some of the online specialist cruise agents often have deals for families of four on RC which can sometimes make it cheaper. Not sure if you are aware but a large number RC's inside cabins have "virtual balconies". Although they are insides with no window they have a screen on the wall which shows live pictures from outside. It can be pretty cool. You will be looking at Anthem from the UK as RC predominantly sail out of the US to the Caribbean hence the "bargain". If you can face flying their biggest ships are often based in Eurooe - the Oasis class - and these make Iona look very small. Incredible ships for families more like small cities but can be very ugly! They look super cool at night though with amazing blue lighting to highlight their hull being unlike any other ship.