Help a newbie to plan a cruise (QM2)

Hello from Germany!

My wife will celebrate her 50th birthday next year and I plan to suprise her with a QM2 cruise. We always dreamed about such a cruise but never did any voyages on ship.

I want to book the "Brügge - Guernsey" (M917) trip because I would celebrate my own birthday during this on board too. This would fit perfectly.

Due to our first stay on the QM2 I would book an inside stateroom at they would reserve cabin #5082 for us. Looks good to me.

May there be a chance to get an upgrade due to our two birthdays?

I know that there are drinking packages (softdrink and wine) available. First I thought of getting us the wine package (4 bottles) but reading here oin the forum I know that you are allowed to bring your own wine on board.

Is the wine package a good deal? Softdrink seems not such a good deal for me.

It is a shame that Cunard US offers free drinks under $9 but Cunard German has not such an offer.

This are my first thoughts/questions and I thank you all for your help an opinions.

Sorry for my horrible English and greetings from Germany!

- Thorsten

Welcome to the site, and your English is fine, better than many posters here. While i do not know the terms under a German booking, in general here is some of your questions answered.

I would not count on a upgrade, many passengers on the ship that are part of Cunard World Club program. They would be offered upgrades first. But nothing wrong with a inside cabin. Unless you spend much much more the window really is not a big deal. Ocean Cabins have small windows and limited views. But many public places on the ship that you can sit and enjoy great views. The truth is you really will spend very little time in your cabin, except at night which is mostly just looking at black space.

You should let them know about the two birthdays and that may get you something while on the ship through guest services or the dinning staff. If you want they will bring a birthday type cake to your table to mark the event.

Only you will know if the wine package is a good deal. You need to look at the cost and how much you will drink. You are allowed to bring two bottles of wine onto the ship (1 per passenger).

Really no such thing as free the US bookings build the free drinks into the price paid.

In my opinion what you really need to do is just enjoy your vacation and understand everything is never prefect, don't worry about the small stuff just have fun. Look at the ports now and find out some information about things you really want to do. Read the information on Cunard site, this and other sites, and relax it is a fun vacation.

Thanks so much for your help.

I think I will book very soon and I am reading a lot at the moment so there will be some new questions from time to time.

When will be the best time to go to dinner? The first or second seating?

I think that the second seating will not so fully packed and that would be great for us (perhaps to get a table for 2).

On the other hand is it too late for the other things to do in the evening (the theatre for example?)

Thanks again!

The Show schedules in the Theatre are coordinated with the eating. If you eat early you can go to the late performance, or you can go to the early performance if you dine late. No problem there. You will find a lot of things to do aboard. Many guests enjoy music and drinks in the Commodore club on 9 deck forward after dinner it is open late. So they will accommodate you after a late dinner.

I see you will be sailing from Hamburg. I spend several days there last November prior to sailing to Southampton and on to New York. I had been in Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and Cologne before but was very impressed by Hamburg, in fact I am doing it again next year, this time in September.

You have chosen a excellent 'sampler' cruise, it sounds like a lot of fun. I hope you and your wife enjoy it. Have you considered booking a balcony, I looked at the fare (in USD on the US site) and it seems like a balcony is about 30% more, and sitting on your balcony on a June evening having a glass of wine before dinner as you sail along sounds quite lovely.

I am sure you will enjoy.

Mike

Thanks Mike for your answer.

Hamburg is a great city and even it is a 3hour drive from my hometown we often visit it for a weekend break.

Here are my plans at the moment.

15.06.18 Stay at the "Westin Hamburg" Elbphilharmonie hotel for one night

16.06.18 until 21.06.18 Queen Mary 2 inside stateroom

22.06.18 perhaps another stay at the "Westin Hamburg" for one night

All of this (with travelling by train) would cost for the two uf us 2.132,- Euro. We have $100,- onboard credit and two wine tastings on board too. This cruise is a special offer from a local wine shop together with Cunard.

A balcony cabin with cost us 450,- Euro more and I guess for our first ever cruise I would spent this money for other things.

Welcome, Herr Thorsten. Your English, Sir, is excellent! A couple of comments if I may. We have had inside, ocean view and balconies. If you wish to enjoy all that the ship has to offer, you will spend time in your cabin only to sleep and get dressed. Save your euros on a cheaper cabin and spend them on something else. You might want to be careful about the birthday thing. Chain restaurants will bring out a birthday cake for customers and the servers gather round and sing "Happy Birthday". Some people like the attention but it can be rather embarrassing. O.K. so Cunard is not Red Lobster, but you might want to take care.

The servers gather round and sing for me.....please not. :o

It is so much fun to do the planning at the moment and to read all of your threads ans answers here. I am a little bit jealous fo you all doing all these great cruises.

I have read that Cunard offers a birthday package for I guess $165 which includes dinning at the Verandah, a birthday cake, wine and a photograph. Perhaps this would be a perfect gift for my self.

Thank you all for your help and answers. It helps me a lot to plan and decide.

Edit:

Quick help please.

I´ve just got an offer from an US site:

$1206 per person for an obscured balcony cabin ( cabin #8106 on Deck 8 with the lifeboats right outside your balcony) including the drinking package ($9 drinks).

After all this would be 310,- Euro or $360 more compared to my inside cabin offer.

What should I do? HELP ME!!!

Quick help please.

 

I´ve just got an offer from an US site:

 

$1206 per person for an obscured balcony cabin ( cabin #8106 on Deck 8 with the lifeboats right outside your balcony) including the drinking package ($9 drinks).

After all this would be 310,- Euro or $360 more compared to my inside cabin offer.

What should I do? HELP ME!!!

In case you haven't seen this, and if it helps your decision any, here is what the view looks like from 8106.

I stick to sheltered balconies myself, so I'm afraid I can't give any first-hand advice to aid your decision.

Hello Schattenfell,

if you want to, please give me a call

Grüße aus Hamburg

In case you haven't seen this, and if it helps your decision any, here is what the view looks like from 8106.

 

 

I stick to sheltered balconies myself, so I'm afraid I can't give any first-hand advice to aid your decision.

Thanks for this picture. Decision made. This will not be my cabin and I guess i can and will not drink that much for the drinking offer.

The servers gather round and sing for me.....please not. :o

For a surprising experience like this, the most venerable RMS. ST.HELENA would have been the vessel of choice.

A ship where the birthday cake (for the ladies) or a bottle of bubbly (for the gentlemen) was a real gift from the line and not part of some cheesy package. In my experience singing was optional, but when it was done, it was performed by the whole dining room. :cool:

That said: Late sitting recommended. If this is your first cruise, try not to get a table for two but a table for about 8-10 close to the captain's table on the lower level (have a word with the Maitre D' in the afternoon). From personal experience I can tell that a British table will be more cheerful than a German one, where usually zeitgeisty weltschmerz prevails. American tables are so-so.

If you order a wine, I'd recommend you to get something that would be difficult to obtain at home. I like the Canadian Pinot Noir, for instance. Wine list (will download a pdf)

Before dinner, you should definitely go for a drink. I like the Commodore Club best, but the Golden Lion has Cask Ales which are hard to get in Germany. Commodore Club Menu (will download a pdf)

An inside cabin will leave you without a sofa. This means that having breakfast in your cabin is a difficult, if not impossible operation. I never missed that on short trips. IMHO Deck 5 is a good location, the QM2 is a very stable vessel, so I don't mind having a forward or aft cabin.

Also, have a look at the daily programmes, linked here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/showthread.php?t=2453285

http://beyondships.com/QM2-dailyprograms.html

The sheltered balconies on four and fifth decks do not have any obstructions. They are like large open windows. When you stand at the edge you can feel the breeze and smell the ocean.

I would be interested in hearing your experience at the Westin Hamburg Elbphilharmonie. I am considering it for my one night in Hamburg. I stayed at the Vier Jahreseiten last year and it was gracious, lovely, and centrally located for a three day stay. This time I will be flying over from London the day before embarkation and want something a bit more interesting.

Thanks again for all of your help and sorry for all my questions. There are so many pros and cons and I guess it is typical German to think about all of these. They will made me an offer for a sheltered balconie soon.....hahahahaha....it is not over yet.

Of course I will let you know about the Elbphilharmonie Hotel. All I can say right now is that there is an offer for a special hotel room rate if you are staying before or after a cruise. Ask them for that....the room will be cheaper.

They have sent me the offer for a sheltered balcony with the "drinks on us" offer. It would be $1426 per person which would cost more than 671,- € or $770 than my offer here in Germany (inside cabin) without "free drinks" but two wine tastings on board.

I never can drink for $770 so I will book the offer here in Germany tomorrow.

I´ve just booked my first cruise with the QM2 and I can not believe that my dream will come true.

My wife will be so excited and it is sad that I have to wait 10 month to tell her about it. Two birthdays on board.

Thanks all for your help and sorry for all my asking.

No need to apologise, that's what the board is for!

Have a great trip

Congratulations on your first Cunard booking!

I've found it's difficult to convince oneself to "downgrade" from the stateroom category one's first cruise was booked in. I think an inside stateroom can make a good first booking.

One comment on the obscured balcony view - that's a lifeboat as opposed to a tender in the photo (tenders are taller). I'm about 6 feet (180 cm) tall when I'm standing up I can just see the horizon over the top of the tender. My wife is about a foot shorter and we both thought the obstructed category was less of an issue than we were expecting. The lifeboats and tenders aren't very close to the balcony -they're at least 2 or 3 meters away.

The taller tenders in particular do obstruct more of your view and the reflected light casts an orange tone into your room.

I am so happy with my booking and can not wait to suprise my wife. After all I think that an inside cabin will be the right choise for a first cruise and the offer with the hotel in Hamburg and 2 wine tastings on board was too good.

I already have a booking number but I can not lock in at the Cunard website to see my dates. Is this ok and when will it available?

I am so happy with my booking and can not wait to suprise my wife. After all I think that an inside cabin will be the right choise for a first cruise and the offer with the hotel in Hamburg and 2 wine tastings on board was too good.

 

I already have a booking number but I can not lock in at the Cunard website to see my dates. Is this ok and when will it available?

I can't say for sure how it works for a booking made in Germany, but for a US booking, it can take up to 24 hours to be able to retrieve a booking in the Voyage Personaliser. Since it looks like it has been about 24 hours for you based on your previous posts, maybe something else is going on.

When you try to retrieve your booking in the Voyage Personliser, does it tell you your booking is in being prepared, or does it simply say it can't find your booking? In the latter case, there might be an issue with how your name or birthdate is recorded on the booking.

Or maybe it is an issue with which version of the Voyage Personaliser you are using. A booking made in the US cannot be retrieved in the UK version of the Voyage Personliser and vice versa. Assuming you have a booking made in Germany (not one made through a travel agent outside Germany), are you using the German version of Voyage Personaliser (vp.cunard.de)?

It says "Your entered data could not be found. Please try again"

The German travel agent made my booking today so I guess I have to wait and try tomorrow.

It says "Your entered data could not be found. Please try again"

 

The German travel agent made my booking today so I guess I have to wait and try tomorrow.

OK, yes, give it some more time then.

In the past in the US, once a booking is in Cunard's system, I initially have received the message "We are currently preparing your Voyage Personaliser, please allow 24 hours after booking to access your voyage information." But the system might be different in Germany.

If you still can't access your booking in a few more days, I'd suggest getting in touch with your travel agent for further assistance.

I´m in now. It was only a matter of time.

So excited.....

Excellent! Thanks for letting us know that you are now able to retrieve your booking in the voyage personaliser. Yes, now the excitement can truly start to build. Have a great voyage!

It is so hard for me that I have to wait 10 month to tell my wife about it.

It is so hard for me that I have to wait 10 month to tell my wife about it.