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Cruising at Christmas

catzgirl

By catzgirl,
in Cunard Line

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Salacia

Salacia

Posted
Posted
Hi,

 

We are considering a Christmas cruise this year, but are reading very mixed reviews about these... anyone on here been on board Christmas day?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Hi catzgirl. Yes, my husband and I have been on board QM2 on Christmas Day. It is the only time we have been away from home/family/neighbors during the Christmas season.

 

While I understand that it is a very popular cruise, with many repeat customers, I guess the only way to know for sure if it is for you is to try it.

 

We don't plan on repeating the experience: truth be told, like many of the crew, we were homesick - as unusual as that might sound. Several things we witnessed were very sad, so it's not all tinsel and joy on board.

 

Just a dissenting opinion - please don't shoot the messenger. -Salacia

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turnip eater

turnip eater

Posted
Posted (edited)

We sailed on the QE for Christmas and New Year.

 

Several of the officers had their families on board.

 

It has a very British atmosphere.

 

Carols on Christmas Eve, Church services on Christmas Day. Father Christmas gave out gifts for the children. Goose for lunch and Turkey in the evening. Pantomime on Boxing Day (Dec 26th).

 

The atmosphere on board was very good.

Edited by turnip eater
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Salacia

Salacia

Posted
Posted
"Several things we witnessed were very sad," :confused:

 

paulista, sorry, I'm afraid I will have to leave it at that. I don't want to cause any potential problems for staff or violate fellow passengers privacy so I can't go into detail, and if try to blur details, it just sounds like fiction. I hope you understand. Thanks. -S.

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paulista1950

paulista1950

Posted
Posted
paulista, sorry, I'm afraid I will have to leave it at that. I don't want to cause any potential problems for staff or violate fellow passengers privacy so I can't go into detail, and if try to blur details, it just sounds like fiction. I hope you understand. Thanks. -S.

 

Not a problem, and tks for the attention.

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Lakesregion

Lakesregion

Posted
Posted
How might the demographic be different on QM2? More American because it leaves from New York?

 

I would think not. I am booked on the back to back TA just before the Christmas cruise on the QM2 and while the east bound leg is still wide open cabin space wise, the west bound leg, those coming from England and the continent for the Christmas cruise have bought out most of the grills and the better placed cabins in all other classes.

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Salacia

Salacia

Posted
Posted
I would think not. I am booked on the back to back TA just before the Christmas cruise on the QM2 and while the east bound leg is still wide open cabin space wise, the west bound leg, those coming from England and the continent for the Christmas cruise have bought out most of the grills and the better placed cabins in all other classes.

 

 

 

Lakesregion, you must be very well placed indeed to know the details of other passenger's bookings, especially "most of the grills and the better placed cabins in all other classes". Thanks for sharing :) -Salacia

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Lakesregion

Lakesregion

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Posted
Lakesregion, you must be very well placed indeed to know the details of other passenger's bookings, especially "most of the grills and the better placed cabins in all other classes". Thanks for sharing :) -Salacia

 

Better than you might imagine. But that aside, all one has to do is take the two 7 day TA's and look at the bookings on line and one can easily see that the NYC to Soton is light while the return leg is heavily booked as that is the beginning of the Christmas cruise for the Brits and those from the continent. Not rocket science.

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Salacia

Salacia

Posted
Posted
Better than you might imagine. But that aside, all one has to do is take the two 7 day TA's and look at the bookings on line and one can easily see that the NYC to Soton is light while the return leg is heavily booked as that is the beginning of the Christmas cruise for the Brits and those from the continent. Not rocket science.

 

Right, it's not rocket science.

You wrote: "I would think not. I am booked on the back to back TA just before the Christmas cruise on the QM2 and while the east bound leg is still wide open cabin space wise, the west bound leg, those coming from England and the continent for the Christmas cruise have bought out most of the grills and the better placed cabins in all other classes".

 

I don't know how you would know who booked the "better placed cabins", but I accept the statement which supports other posts indicating that this a cruise best suited to UK passengers - as it should be because as you write, they are paying the higher fares for a the better placed cabins.

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Host Hattie

Host Hattie

Posted
Posted (edited)
How might the demographic be different on QM2? More American because it leaves from New York?

 

Yes, our Christmas trip was a mix of Americans and Europeans who had either flown or sailed over.

 

I can't imagine too many Americans would fly over at that time of year to sail from Southampton on QE or QV.

Edited by Host Hattie
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3rdGenCunarder "Live from...." Rare

3rdGenCunarder

Posted
Posted
Better than you might imagine. But that aside, all one has to do is take the two 7 day TA's and look at the bookings on line and one can easily see that the NYC to Soton is light while the return leg is heavily booked as that is the beginning of the Christmas cruise for the Brits and those from the continent. Not rocket science.

 

I did a lot of poking around the website, and the wb TA combined with the 12-day Caribbean is heavily sold. But here's a strange thing. For the NY-NY 12-day, all grills are sold out. But for the wbTA + NY-NY, they show some availability in PG. And the Soton-Soton 26-day cruise shows only the Club balconies sold out. How is this possible? If the grills are sold out for the middle part of the 26-day cruise, how can there be availability in the full 26-day cruise? Do they hold back some cabins in each category for the longer voyages?

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Lakesregion

Lakesregion

Posted
Posted
I did a lot of poking around the website, and the wb TA combined with the 12-day Caribbean is heavily sold. But here's a strange thing. For the NY-NY 12-day, all grills are sold out. But for the wbTA + NY-NY, they show some availability in PG. And the Soton-Soton 26-day cruise shows only the Club balconies sold out. How is this possible? If the grills are sold out for the middle part of the 26-day cruise, how can there be availability in the full 26-day cruise? Do they hold back some cabins in each category for the longer voyages?

 

Only Cunard marketing has the true answer to their Rubrics Cube puzzle of what is sold out and what is available on a daily basis. Or maybe it is their computer program that really holds the answers.

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Andiamo

Andiamo

Posted
Posted
I'm pretty sure they hold back inventory for specific port-pair itineraries, and the allocation among the sub-itineraries is shifted over time according to yield management algorithms.

 

Makes sense to me P. Hope DW is doing well.

 

BTW, e/m exchange in Dec.

 

Regards,

 

Jeanne

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Underwatr

Underwatr

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Thank you, Jeanne. She's mending quite well but still has some negative associations with cruising given how she ended the last one (I think this may pass with time). There are still several months until final payment for Christmas so I'm remaining low key aside from occasionally reminding her that we do have a booking again for this year.

 

She needs a bit of surgery unrelated to last Christmas's issues so we've canceled a Paris week in June and a Transatlantic crossing that would have gotten us there. We've had little trouble finding other interesting things to do with the money so it's not as disappointing as it might seem.

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Andiamo

Andiamo

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Posted
Thank you, Jeanne. She's mending quite well but still has some negative associations with cruising given how she ended the last one (I think this may pass with time). There are still several months until final payment for Christmas so I'm remaining low key aside from occasionally reminding her that we do have a booking again for this year.

 

She needs a bit of surgery unrelated to last Christmas's issues so we've canceled a Paris week in June and a Transatlantic crossing that would have gotten us there. We've had little trouble finding other interesting things to do with the money so it's not as disappointing as it might seem.

 

Fingers crossed I see you ten months from today. Good luck with the surgery. There will always be Paris.

 

J

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