QM2 to host film premiere

The guests are secondary on this cruise. Hoping to leave soon from NYC - no sign yet as perhaps the movie stars have not left yet.

 

 

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I really don’t think want to be negative but one of the best things about cruising is leaving a port and commencing a journey. Despite the enforced Hollywood delay till midnight, it seems the ship is not leaving anytime soon (1 am). Determined to stay up but the excited crowds are quickly diminishing.

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I really don’t think want to be negative but one of the best things about cruising is leaving a port and commencing a journey. Despite the enforced Hollywood delay till midnight, it seems the ship is not leaving anytime soon (1 am). Determined to stay up but the excited crowds are quickly diminishing.

 

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Checking QM2's track on AIS, it looks like you did finally start to get underway about 1:00am. It probably won't go over too well to learn that Hugh Jackman said during the onboard red carpet broadcast he was told the ship was probably not going to leave until 1:00. Seems the passengers may have been left in the dark about that.

Regards, John

All in the past now. Enjoy your crossing (and take good care of Mary for the next two weeks!).

I wasn't expecting the ceremony to take over the Grand Lobby and Deck 2 aft of that as it appeared to in the feed (I guess we only had our own guesses about what areas would be affected). If they intended to showcase the glamour and ambience of an ocean liner voyage I don't understand why they covered the Deck 2 walls with movie posters.

Was first seating Britannia dinner affected? Were passengers permitted to use the Deck 2 entrance to Britannia?

Were passengers permitted to view the red carpet in the O bby from Deck 3?

Video footage from the premiere on the QM2 now posted on YouTube.

All in the past now. Enjoy your crossing (and take good care of Mary for the next two weeks!).

 

I wasn't expecting the ceremony to take over the Grand Lobby and Deck 2 aft of that as it appeared to in the feed (I guess we only had our own guesses about what areas would be affected). If they intended to showcase the glamour and ambience of an ocean liner voyage I don't understand why they covered the Deck 2 walls with movie posters.

 

Was first seating Britannia dinner affected? Were passengers permitted to use the Deck 2 entrance to Britannia?

 

Were passengers permitted to view the red carpet in the O bby from Deck 3?

Disappointing start but overall the crossing exceeded high expectations. Will provide in the coming days a more complete review.

Disappointing start but overall the crossing exceeded high expectations. Will provide in the coming days a more complete review.

That's good to hear, I look forward to reading your review.

The head of customer service on board confirmed there had been many complaints from guests.

Cunard were very helpful to us, with a response on the day to a request for information made weeks before by our travel agent, after they had consistently ignored our questions.

We should have felt lucky, because the late departure allowed us to see the Statue of Liberty in the dark and illuminated.

(of course, it isn't dark and the statue isn't illuminated at the regular 5pm departure time in December. At least not in the deranged world of Cunard).

Was the answer an insult or a joke from Cunard? I'm really not sure. What is beyond doubt is the way it illustrates the contempt they show towards those who pay for their services.....

Personally I will fondly remember the 'event' and fireworks for many years to come.

Leaving later from NYC gave us more time to admire the night time skyline as a backdrop rather than just dark ocean if we had sailed away at the normal time. The later departure also gave a more relaxed time to explore NYC in the day and some people chose to explore / go on tours in the evening, although I do admit that those who had been to NYC many times before may not see this as an advantage.

Some areas of the ship were off limits but the vast majority of areas were open, it's not as if we were corralled into a small area of the ship and told to stay there, or banished to our cabins (sorry staterooms).

Personally I will fondly remember the 'event' and fireworks for many years to come.

Leaving later from NYC gave us more time to admire the night time skyline as a backdrop rather than just dark ocean if we had sailed away at the normal time. The later departure also gave a more relaxed time to explore NYC in the day and some people chose to explore / go on tours in the evening, although I do admit that those who had been to NYC many times before may not see this as an advantage.

Some areas of the ship were off limits but the vast majority of areas were open, it's not as if we were corralled into a small area of the ship and told to stay there, or banished to our cabins (sorry staterooms).

That's good to hear, initial reports had been rather negative so it's good to know that it wasn't all bad.

If the impact of the premiere was so insignificant, I wonder why Cunard refused to deal with us or our travel agent until the day of sailing over concerns raised?

Perhaps the answer to that is in the detail of their response, already detailed on this thread, which constitutes an insult or joke, depending on the recipient's state of mind!

Perhaps part of the answer also came from the head of public relations on board, who told me personally there had been many complaints.

We have a follow up complaint with them, which I assume will be dismissed. So it will be ABTA as the next stop - they sold us something, replaced it with something inferior and then refused to talk to us.

Gives confidence in putting money their way in future, doesn't it?

Personally I will fondly remember the 'event' and fireworks for many years to come

Sadly, for many of us long time Cunard customers, we will be remembering this 'event' for years to come. However, it does not fall under the category of "fondly" in our memories.

Sadly, for many of us long time Cunard customers, we will be remembering this 'event' for years to come. However, it does not fall under the category of "fondly" in our memories.

Neither does loosing the last port of Antigua, only one of 5 caribbean ports visited and arguably the best before the New York Premier with not a word of apology either.

Some on board said the ship did visit the manufactured Carnival resort on the Caribbean leg? Another device to prop up profit levels if that was the case.

It does feel like Cunard are now taking their customers for fools.

The itinerary on the Caribbean leg was affected by the Hurricane damage in some of the original ports of call.

http://www.cunard.co.uk/caribbeanupdate/

Sadly, for many of us long time Cunard customers, we will be remembering this 'event' for years to come. However, it does not fall under the category of "fondly" in our memories.

'Each to their own', the event will live in my memory in a good way for a lot longer than just another dark sail away from NYC which I have done several times before.

I am also a long time Cunard customer.

Yet another viewpoint:

We didn't find the inconvenience of not having access to the Queens Room and Illuminations for a few hours to be that big of a deal. (On our return, leaving Southampton I don't think we used either public space on the departure day.)

We arrived at the Red Hook terminal with the intention of dropping off our bags and heading out to shop. There was absolutely no queue, so instead we went ahead and checked in and were aboard in 10 minutes! We had lunch, relaxed, attended the muster and then went ashore to shop in Brooklyn. Returning around 7:30, we got to walk on the red carpet and were entertained by the jugglers and mimes. And the fireworks display was amazing, some of the best we've ever seen. An additional plus was having Ellen Mirojnick on board. She was very entertaining, down to earth and insightful. We had the chance to chat with her extensively during the "Speaker Meet and Greet".

It was definitely a different start to our voyage, and one we'll remember.

Phil

Thanks Phil

Yet another viewpoint:

 

We didn't find the inconvenience of not having access to the Queens Room and Illuminations for a few hours to be that big of a deal. (On our return, leaving Southampton I don't think we used either public space on the departure day.)

 

We arrived at the Red Hook terminal with the intention of dropping off our bags and heading out to shop. There was absolutely no queue, so instead we went ahead and checked in and were aboard in 10 minutes! We had lunch, relaxed, attended the muster and then went ashore to shop in Brooklyn. Returning around 7:30, we got to walk on the red carpet and were entertained by the jugglers and mimes.

Phil's post is interesting.

We'd asked for a later boarding time, which would have resolved all our issues - a few more hours in NY would have been welcome.

But Cunard gave us a noon boarding time (13 hours ahead of departure) and then refused to communicate with us. Like all meek customers, we felt we had no choice but to turn up at noon or risk problems with boarding. Had Cunard put on mini-buses or cabs to take those who wanted to be there back into Manhatten, they may have found it would have preserved customer relations. Instead, I suspect they've isolated more people than they imagine.

Ta - Da.. no not a Microsoft (MSFT) meaning here..:D

What a wonderful first eh.. having it on an Oceanliner!

The movie is great but did not obtain thge ratings from the Movie Critics well so far . The tickets now just after Christmas A.D. 2017 are not getting the amounts thought and projected..

You be the Movie Critic from Cruise Critic here and go see it.

The film's lukewarm response from the critics may well affect Cunard's (inevitable) plans to put photos all over the next Cunarder magazine. Oh dear.

Still, it may focus their minds on giving paying customers the deal they have bought in future, instead of just double-selling the time/space on board....