Desperate Housewife needs Transatlantic Advise- NYC to Southampton

My husband and I (in our late 50's) are taking our first journey across the sea on the QM2 in January and need advise on several subjects. First, seating time, 6:00 or 8:30? What are the pro's and con's. We don't want to miss out on seeing NYC and going under the Verrazano Bridge. Second, on Black and White Ball night what time does the dancing start? Third, What to pack? How much luggage is typical for this crossing? We are trying to figure out all the formal clothes needed and feel like we will need to hire a couple Sherpa's to get it to the ship.

Any suggestions to help make our first crossing memorable would be appreciated.

You may want to ask on the Cunard forum

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=54

My husband and I (in our late 50's) are taking our first journey across the sea on the QM2 in January and need advise on several subjects. First, seating time, 6:00 or 8:30? What are the pro's and con's. We don't want to miss out on seeing NYC and going under the Verrazano Bridge. Second, on Black and White Ball night what time does the dancing start? Third, What to pack? How much luggage is typical for this crossing? We are trying to figure out all the formal clothes needed and feel like we will need to hire a couple Sherpa's to get it to the ship.

 

Any suggestions to help make our first crossing memorable would be appreciated.

Dinner seating - what time do you like to eat at home? Our preference is early seating, but others swear by late. It's really up to you.

What to pack - welllll, there are some who travel with 3 bags each. Others just have a carry on. For us personally, depending on the length of the cruise, 1 bag for both of us, or one bag each. As you can re-wear clothes, it's really not necessary to bring separate outfits for each day. Or 2 for each day. And formal nights - you can just get by with only one or two outfits (I take my formal dress and one pair of dress black slacks with one or two sparkly tops). Different accessories changes the look, but the dress is still the same.

Most prefer early seating so they can attend, participate or catch up on ship’s activities. Others prefer late seating since they would not want to be rushed for dinner after coming from an shore excursion, especially port intensive itineraries

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Remember that the seating time is when the doors to the dining room open. You will be seated, given menus, read them a few minutes, then order. Your meal will be served in courses. Often you will not finish until 7:30-8p. Shows are timed for each seating to be able to see them.

We have traveled with multiple cases, but now do carryon only. Cunard ships have free self service laundry, including detergent. If you have been touring in NYC before the cruise you will be able to wash and rewear. You won't need many shoes: a pair for evenings, both smart and formal, and one for daytime.

By the time you leave Brooklyn, it will be getting dark. Twilight under the bridge. They will forgive a late arrival to dinner the first night. EM

Your husband only needs one formal outfit (unless he's a messy eater ;)) because men don't have this need to look different every night, as if someone was looking at them ;). As for how much to pack, it's the same as for any other holiday of similar lenght but with the extra formal stuff on top.

Also consider on a TA you will being going through time zones daily, if this will 8mpact your dinner time choice. We travel quite light, this is not a hot, humid cruise so you can likely rewear bottoms while changing tops but I keep to a color palette to minimize sweater needs.

It usually takes about 30-40 min to get to the Verazzano....once you start pulling away from pier. The best view, as you leave Red Hook is on the Starboard (right) side of the ship. But in January it does get dark pretty early so you would likely pass under the bridge in the dark...which is still pretty neat since you do see the lights. As to your sitting, if you do want to do the Fixed Seating you simply have to choose whichever works best for your own style. The pro for dining early is you have more opportunity to take advantage of multiple evening shows and activities, If you dine later, you have more opportunity to relax before dinner and perhaps enjoy cocktails in a very leisurely fashion. These days, earlier dining is more popular (I am a late diner guy). And advantage to dining later is that things are less crowded. As to dress, the Queen is about the most formal ship in the world...although not as formal as in years past. Men are fine in a dark suit...but there will be quite a few (including me) wearing a Tux on formal nights. On Semi Formal nights I prefer a blazer. There will also be plenty of passengers who don't dress-up. We have not been on the Queen for a few years..so not sure if they still enforce the dress codes in the dining rooms and Ballroom.. It doesnt take a lot of close for a crossing. When you do a 30, 60 or even a 100 day cruise...that is when packing is a real issue.

Hank

Most prefer early seating so they can attend, participate or catch up on ship’s activities. Others prefer late seating since they would not want to be rushed for dinner after coming from an shore excursion, especially port intensive itineraries

 

 

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Can't help mentioning the lack of port calls on a QM2 TA.

The dress code is still pretty much adhered to - so it is tough to travel light. Men can get by with a dark suit - women with one or two dressy skirts with mix-and-match tops.

By 6:00 or 6:15 you should be well out of visible landmarks, so you should pick the dining time which best fits you - remembering that you will be losing an hour five of the seven days, so your internal clock will have to adjust in any case.

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions and info. I can't wait for my first crossing. After hearing from you all it sounds like this will probably not be my last.

I have done this sailing it is wonderful.

Even though you did get answers here I learned so much by reading posts on the Cunard board and time to time asking some questions.

We enjoyed the ship. There is lots to do and there is an amazing history that you can read about as you walk the decks and view all of the photos on the deck walls.

Keith

I should have added that doing a crossing on the "Queen" is something special. We have crossed the big pond more than 2 dozen times, but only done it once on the Queen....and it just felt different. Sea days are full of activities, many of them unique to Cunard and that ship. For example, we loved the Planetarium show (done during the daytime) on a ship that has a true star projector. And this ship carries its own Shakespeare company and puts on truncated Shakespeare performances during the afternoon (go see it...even if you are not a Shakespeare fan).

This is also the perfect cruise//ship for those who enjoy real Ballroom dancing....that is done in a Ballroom with a big band orchestra.

Hank

We chose early dinner seating as were were traveling with our three kids. However, we did find this meant we felt there wasn’t enough time between meals - especially on days that we went to afternoon tea.