QM2 - Upgraded/Quick Review

We were on 26th Nov Caribbean Explorers & got upgraded from D6 to B2 - WOW - How happy were we!! Not sure how this happened but welcomed it with delight!!! We thoroughly enjoyed the Balcony experience - could end up costing us a fortune in the long run - not sure an inside/outside will suffice in the future!

Thought the ship was beautiful - restaurant service improved with time, our waiters were not the life & soul (personality wise - very quiet & matter of fact) but we did warm to them by the second week.

Thoroughly enjoyed the cruise, we were shocked at the amount of casual nights & the VERY casual dress of passengers, we took far too many dressy clothes - after reading these pages thought we'd have to dress up to the nines - this must only apply to transatlantic crossings - certainly not caribbean cruises.

The entertainment also improved with time, the last few shows were excellent (the first weeks left alot to be desired IMHO). The band Xtasea were excellent both for the sailaways & in G32. Overall I think the ship caters for older generations with instrumentalists in every bar, we thought the Golden Lion's atmosphere improved when the piano player finished & the karaoki commenced - there were lots of talented passengers on board.

As a late bonus, our flight back to Manchester was overbooked & we volunteered to stay over, we were given a hotel with evening meal & breakfast (all transfers) & $500 Continental flight voucher each then got the same time flight back the next day, since we had no definate commitments this suited us fine, we were half hoping the same thing would happen again the next day!!

We would book QM2 again but would try to hold out until after final payment date, especially booking here in UK (USA passengers appear to be able to negotiate a better deal) - think we were very lucky, there were 8 in our party & only 2 of us got the upgrade.

Thank you Helena....I've been curious about this trip as we are booked for our first QM2 cruise 12/2/06 for a week. I'm curious just how casual it was, especially in the evening. Have convinced my husband he'll have a couple of nights with his tux so I hope they are still adhering to this somewhat. What type of clothes were most common? Were any Christmas decorations up yet? How was your weather overall? Did you find the ship too cool in the public areas? Since this will be our first cruise on Cunard I have many questions and I'd appreciate any feed back you have to offer.

How nice that you got an upgrade. We ae booked on Deck 11 and are traveling with our friends. I'm looking forward to the balcony too. And what a nice bonus you got to stay over a night at their expense. I do hope you enjoyed yourself.

Thank you again for this information and any other you can offer. Penny

Thanks for the review. We are mid 40's and were not looking forward to dressing "to the nines" every night.....so glad we can relax!

What about casual dining in the evening?

Also curious (and jealous) about your upgrade....when was your final payment, and when did you find out about your upgrade?

Thanks so much, Cindy