Underwatr Posted March 11, 2014 #51 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Unless you have more information than that in the tables above, Cunard doesn't claim that the Deck 8 staterooms behind the lifeboats are unobstructed. Some fore and aft staterooms on Deck 8 do not have lifeboats obstructing the view. The "D" class balcony staterooms are those that are considered obstructed and the "B" class staterooms on 8 are the unobstructed ones. You can confirm that now by trial booking any QM2 cruise and looking at the available balcony categories and cabins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salacia Posted March 11, 2014 Author #52 Share Posted March 11, 2014 (edited) Unless you have more information than that in the tables above, Cunard doesn't claim that the Deck 8 staterooms behind the lifeboats are unobstructed. Some fore and aft staterooms on Deck 8 do not have lifeboats obstructing the view. The "D" class balcony staterooms are those that are considered obstructed and the "B" class staterooms on 8 are the unobstructed ones. You can confirm that now by trial booking any QM2 cruise and looking at the available balcony categories and cabins. Underwatr, yes, I know, and I thought I was quite specific in my use of the term "unobstructed balcony". Have you ever been in an "unobstructed balcony cabin" on deck 8? I have, and the view was very much obstructed by cranes and the canisters (life rafts?) for use by crew member in the event of emergency. I spent considerable hours while sitting on my balcony, staring at the view in front of me, thinking about how evacuation would work for crew members, but I digress...the view from my balcony was like the view from a cargo vessel. But that was only looking straight ahead, to look to one side, the view of the ocean was obscured by the Big Oranges, and to look at the other direction, there is no view other than that of the ship structure. Look straight down, and all you see is Deck 7 where the lights never go off... you can neither see nor hear the sea. Underwatr, if you have a different experience of having an unobstructed balcony cabin on Deck 8 on QM2, please share your experience. Thanks -S. Edited March 11, 2014 by Salacia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salacia Posted March 11, 2014 Author #53 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Quoted from Cunard webpage http://www.cunard.com/cruise-ships/queen-mary-2/ "Download this deck plan if your Queen Mary 2 cruise departs before 16 May 2014 Download this deck plan if your Queen Mary 2 cruise departs 16 May 2014 onwards" Reports of additional changes in deck plans planned for 2015 are not currently shown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Host Hattie Posted March 11, 2014 #54 Share Posted March 11, 2014 (edited) Have you ever been in an "unobstructed balcony cabin" on deck 8? I have, I can't remember the number but it was Deck 8 aft - one of the old A3 category. No obstructions as far as we were concerned. Edited March 11, 2014 by hattie the cattie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salacia Posted March 11, 2014 Author #55 Share Posted March 11, 2014 (edited) I have, I can't remember the number but it was Deck 8 aft - one of the old A3 category.No obstructions as far as we were concerned. A3 on Deck 8, QM2 ? I didn't know that...thanks for the correction - I thought the A categories were decks 11 and/or Britannia Club, Deck 12. Last September, I was surprised to learn that there was at least one Princess Grill cabin on Deck 8 aft, starboard. I have some photos taken from a Deck 8 aft balcony during that cruise which I will try and locate & post. Edited March 11, 2014 by Salacia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al54 Posted March 11, 2014 #56 Share Posted March 11, 2014 I feel concerned by "the return of the single cabins" on QE. Wonder if it is a good or a bad new : good new because it seems that Cunard finally remembers that a lot of passengers were travelling in single cabins in the good old days (funny thing : they took back the letters K and L which designed the single cabins on the Vistafjord in the 90s!), bad new because on some cruiselines those cabins (worst location), are the only cabins accessible to single booking : wonder if it will be the same on Cunard? Envoyé de mon iPad à l'aide de Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmb1 Posted March 11, 2014 #57 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Some "obstructed view" cabins on QM2 Deck 8 are less obstructed than others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Host Hattie Posted March 11, 2014 #58 Share Posted March 11, 2014 (edited) If this works properly (I've never added a photograph before) this should be the aft end of deck 8 showing the unobstructed balcony cabins. Edited March 11, 2014 by hattie the cattie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynnewob Posted March 11, 2014 #59 Share Posted March 11, 2014 I'm intrigued as to where they're going to put the single cabins on the QE. At the moment, there's not a solitary cabin on deck 2, so it will be interesting to see where they go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al54 Posted March 11, 2014 #60 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Looking at the actual decks plans, I think the single cabins will be on deck 1.......no place for cabins on actual deck 2, you're right. Maybe deck 1 will also be "recategorized" in deck 2? Envoyé de mon iPad à l'aide de Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOldBear Posted March 11, 2014 #61 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Have you ever been in an "unobstructed balcony cabin" on deck 8? I have, and the view was very much obstructed by cranes and the canisters (life rafts?) for use by crew member in the event of emergency. I spent considerable hours while sitting on my balcony, staring at the view in front of me, thinking about how evacuation would work for crew members, but I digress...the view from my balcony was like the view from a cargo vessel. But that was only looking straight ahead, to look to one side, the view of the ocean was obscured by the Big Oranges, and to look at the other direction, there is no view other than that of the ship structure. Look straight down, and all you see is Deck 7 where the lights never go off... you can neither see nor hear the sea. Underwatr, if you have a different experience of having an unobstructed balcony cabin on Deck 8 on QM2, please share your experience. Thanks -S. My last cruise we had cabin 8005 - three doors from the Library, starboard side. You could see lifeboats when standing on the balcony, but not from inside the room. [This was an 'upgrade' from our usual deck 4 location near the 'C' stairs] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salacia Posted March 11, 2014 Author #62 Share Posted March 11, 2014 If this works properly (I've never added a photograph before) this should be the aft end of deck 8 showing the unobstructed balcony cabins. Thanks for posting that photo, hattie. It shows what I was trying to explain about the the "unobstructed view" cabin I had on deck 8. When sitting on the balcony, the view to the left was the row of orange tenders, the view straight ahead was the davits and canisters which hold the inflatable life rafts for the crew, and to the right was the structure of the ship that jutted out. I understand that these cabins are classified as "unobstructed". It is only my personal opinion, but I don't consider the view from the balcony as I described it, to be unobstructed, especially when compared to all the other Britannia Category Unobstructed View cabins. -S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Host Hattie Posted March 12, 2014 #63 Share Posted March 12, 2014 I'm intrigued as to where they're going to put the single cabins on the QE. At the moment, there's not a solitary cabin on deck 2, so it will be interesting to see where they go. This is from the World Cruise thread - One of the ladies at my dinner table ate with the captain last week. He said that the QE was getting single staterooms at the next drydock. When I asked Janice (the social hostess) about this, she said she thought that single rooms were going to be added for the entertainers. She said she did not know anything about passenger single staterooms. Also, something was going to be done to the casino in relation to these staterooms (maybe moving the casino to make room for them). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alibabacruisers Posted March 13, 2014 #64 Share Posted March 13, 2014 (edited) I just looked at the Cunard website and for QM2, the before 16 May 2014 and after 16 May 2014, deck plans are the same. Why would they put the same thing twice instead of the "new" categories? Maybe they will add the new ones later, I guess. QM2, QE and QV deck plans are the same in both brochures from (1) Apr 2013-May 2014 and (2) Apr 2014-May 2015. Edited March 13, 2014 by alibabacruisers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemarble Posted March 13, 2014 #65 Share Posted March 13, 2014 I just looked at the Cunard website and for QM2, the before 16 May 2014 and after 16 May 2014, deck plans are the same. Why would they put the same thing twice instead of the "new" categories? Maybe they will add the new ones later, I guess. QM2, QE and QV deck plans are the same in both brochures from (1) Apr 2013-May 2014 and (2) Apr 2014-May 2015. The two sets of deck plans for QM2 on the Cunard website are not identical, but admittedly the difference between the two is subtle. That difference is the swapping of the BB and BC stateroom categories which prompted Salacia to start this thread last June. The May 2013-May 2014 deck plans for QM2 show the forward balcony staterooms on decks 8, 11, and 12 as category BC and the midships sheltered balconies on decks 4, 5, and 6 as category BB. The May 2014-2015 deck plans for QM2 show those two categories reversed. The forward balcony staterooms on decks 8, 11, and 12 are now category BB and the midships sheltered balconies on decks 4, 5, and 6 are now category BC. Hopefully Cunard will add new deck plans for May 2015 onwards before too much longer -- perhaps in conjunction with their announcement of the full 2015 voyage schedule. Regards, John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alibabacruisers Posted March 13, 2014 #66 Share Posted March 13, 2014 Thanks John for that information! I will have to pull them out and look again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salacia Posted March 17, 2014 Author #67 Share Posted March 17, 2014 (edited) The two sets of deck plans for QM2 on the Cunard website are not identical, but admittedly the difference between the two is subtle. That difference is the swapping of the BB and BC stateroom categories which prompted Salacia to start this thread last June. The May 2013-May 2014 deck plans for QM2 show the forward balcony staterooms on decks 8, 11, and 12 as category BC and the midships sheltered balconies on decks 4, 5, and 6 as category BB. The May 2014-2015 deck plans for QM2 show those two categories reversed. The forward balcony staterooms on decks 8, 11, and 12 are now category BB and the midships sheltered balconies on decks 4, 5, and 6 are now category BC. Hopefully Cunard will add new deck plans for May 2015 onwards before too much longer -- perhaps in conjunction with their announcement of the full 2015 voyage schedule. Regards, John. Just to add, as I read the QM2 deck plans for 2014-2015, the midships balconies on Deck 8 are Category BA, as are the balcony cabins on Deck 11. Please correct me if I read the deck plans incorrectly. In my personal opinion, the balcony cabins on Deck 11 are a vast improvement over the "unobstructed view" balcony cabins on Deck 8, but then again, so are the in-hull balconies in Category BC and BD. Even the category BB cabins are better on Deck 8 because your view facing forward from your balcony will be of the deck, not the davits etc that you would see in a midships BA Deck 8 cabin. So why are Deck 8 midships cabins classified as BA Category? Deck 8 'unobstructed view cabins', from what I've been told by fellow passengers, are often used as an 'upgrade' from lower categories. Just a heads up - if you book a guarantee cabin in any Category BA or lower, you could be assigned an 'unobstructed view' cabin on Deck 8. -That might be a good thing. Or maybe not. For Cunard to classify Deck 8 midships balcony cabins as Category BA is - to say the least, questionable. Edited March 17, 2014 by Salacia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salacia Posted March 18, 2014 Author #68 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Just to add, as I read the QM2 deck plans for 2014-2015, the midships balconies on Deck 8 are Category BA, as are the balcony cabins on Deck 11. Please correct me if I read the deck plans incorrectly. In my personal opinion, the balcony cabins on Deck 11 are a vast improvement over the "unobstructed view" balcony cabins on Deck 8, but then again, so are the in-hull balconies in Category BC and BD. Even the category BB cabins are better on Deck 8 because your view facing forward from your balcony will be of the deck, not the davits etc that you would see in a midships BA Deck 8 cabin. So why are Deck 8 midships cabins classified as BA Category? Deck 8 'unobstructed view cabins', from what I've been told by fellow passengers, are often used as an 'upgrade' from lower categories. Just a heads up - if you book a guarantee cabin in any Category BA or lower, you could be assigned an 'unobstructed view' cabin on Deck 8. -That might be a good thing. Or maybe not. For Cunard to classify Deck 8 midships balcony cabins as Category BA is - to say the least, questionable. UPDATE: According to the newly released QM2 Deck plans in effect from 10 May 2015 to 3 January 2016, Deck 8 midships balcony cabins will be changed to Category BC. -S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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