Have you ever "strayed from/skipped" Cunard...?

[Sikwemu]

Great muse. We stray to P&O sporadically when our T/A sends a fantastic offer and we happen to have nothing else booked with Cunard. Had a great cabin on Azura but hated the ship. Trying Oceana again next year. Would like to try some of the 6 star lines but never have enough money in the bank...it's gone on Cunard

[keithm]

This is more of a curiosity question on my part due to my own recent changes in travel plans, but I find myself with no Cunard voyage booked for the next year and a half. Why did you "stray"? ;)

What brought you back and how did the um, "mistress" compare?:rolleyes:

 

I have booked two Disney voyages (their service, cabins & entertainment were so amazing - mainly their service was the best I have seen)

I booked HAL because they go to Alaska and Cunard won't :mad:

 

I am wondering how much I will miss my QM2 - I haven't missed a year since she was launched, and sometimes went twice a year! But I could not get over the service on the other line so I booked 2 voyages, and I just want to see Alaska very badly, and someone told me HAL was "Cunard Lite". I hope so!!

Happy Sailing!

We've done 6 Cunard trips. Then we've switched to the Celebrity Eclipse for their 14 day Caribbean trips. Dress codes & pax were very similar to Cunard(many do both lines)Last Feb, due to a scheduling issue, we did a 14 day B2B on the Regal Princess. Ship overall was nice, the staff outstanding & the food decent(not as good as Cunard/Celebrity)The first leg of the trip was during Super Bowl week. I've never seen more trashy/rude /drunk pax in my life. The second week was far better! I'd do Princess again, but would avoid the time around the big game. Our first Celebrity cruise was during Super Bowl week & there were NO issues. We probably will do Cunard again, but are waiting for more Caribbean trips. Most are during Thanksgiving week & the holidays. Being in the food industry(catering)it's way too busy for me to take the time off. As a cruise line Cunard is still our favorite.

[axelskater]

This has been very interesting and in adding everything up - the largest percentage of people stray due to itinerary, many when not doing TA. A few are straying TO Cunard instead of away, so you all may find yourselves addicted also!!;)

 

I am nearing 15 QM2 voyages, and we used to say, well if Cunard doesn't go there, we will skip it...but wanting to see Alaska won out. I am looking forward to HAL - with an open mind of course.

 

I am not sure where Disney came from...booked a concierge stateroom on a whim, and their suites, ship interiors, and alternative dining areas were so amazing, I became hooked. There are a ton of kids on there, but I only see them when I go to a show, so about an hour a day. I am sure this is blasphemy :eek: but, the concierge service & alt. dining on Disney blew away the Grills on Cunard. But what absolutely cracked me up was that on the last day, they escort you off the ship and your luggage is in a separate area. And the concierge host hugged my mom and I goodbye. I said, "oh okay, you guys HUG?!" And he said - "well of course you are like family when you are on board" (he meant it in a good way;) ). I replied - well I guess I am used to Cunard....It's British!:D But we both laughed at that.

 

One thing I noticed - as soon as I canceled Cunard a month ago and re-deposited my FCC, I immediately started receiving mail and email every day with different deals to lure us back! Of course I will return eventually but maybe they don't know that!

[axelskater]

We've done 6 Cunard trips. Then we've switched to the Celebrity Eclipse for their 14 day Caribbean trips. Dress codes & pax were very similar to Cunard(many do both lines)Last Feb, due to a scheduling issue, we did a 14 day B2B on the Regal Princess. Ship overall was nice, the staff outstanding & the food decent(not as good as Cunard/Celebrity)The first leg of the trip was during Super Bowl week. I've never seen more trashy/rude /drunk pax in my life. The second week was far better! I'd do Princess again, but would avoid the time around the big game. Our first Celebrity cruise was during Super Bowl week & there were NO issues. We probably will do Cunard again, but are waiting for more Caribbean trips. Most are during Thanksgiving week & the holidays. Being in the food industry(catering)it's way too busy for me to take the time off. As a cruise line Cunard is still our favorite.

 

Was it the Eagles :eek:

I hear their fans are something else! Then again, my husband and I don't care about football, except me loving Florida State, where I went for my Master's degree

 

Celebrity sounds interesting and it came down to HAL/Celebrity for Alaska, and in the end HAL had the better itinerary

[canoncruiser]

I cruise for the itinerary and for that reason I was on Prinsendam around SAmerica last year-;the ship was perfect for the 68 days and the days in the Antarctic; the tours were very well done, esp. Machu Picchu. There were some odd clothing choices in the restaurant, but ‘now’t’s as queer as folk’ ! I’m booked on HA for Indonesia for the same reason-the itinerary; Cunard doesn’t go there much. I was on the entire QE World Cruise this year ,again because of the Far Eastern ports-really superb! I hope to do Oceania who have a great East African itinerary -when I can put the coins together!;)

Alas,once I accepted an offer from Princess to do a TA on Caribbean Princess in March on a re-positioning trip via Halifax; I was up-graded to a small suite-nice. Our next stop was supposed to be Dublin; the ship’s power and structural limitations had us “banging”-literally- across at reduced speed, we were surrounded by announcements and various kinds of “music” -the service was-‘meh'-and we got to Dublin so late we had one hour ashore before we had to sail for Southampton.

I have learned my lesson-Cunard TA from then,now and always.:D

[rrunner]

Try Oceania, Lynne, we haven't travelled to Alaska with them, but the cruises we have taken with them have been great.

 

Same here. We are diamond members with Cunard but loved Oceania. Great food on Oceania. We will continue to cross the Atlantic with Cunard but will cruise with Oceania in the future.

[MarkBearSF]

We've cruised on many other lines. The most direct comparisons are probably to HAL - I agree on the "Cunard lite" description. I always feel at home on their ships. Less formal, a bit less refinement, but eager service and a sense of grace and history.

 

I was a bit disappointed by our recent Celebrity cruise. I found the food to be less impressive than promoted and the service to be hampered by understaffing. Still, a premium experience.

 

I've recommended Princess to many others. They provide a no surprises product. I keep thinking of the prime rib I had on a recent repo cruise. It looked perfect. Medium-rare. Just the right amount of marbling. It nicely filled 2/3 of the plate with a nice dollop of horseradish sauce to one side and a mound of mashed potatoes to the other.

Yet - the meat had no flavor whatsoever. It was tender, it looked beautiful and tasted like ...nothing. I've always thought of Princess as the "beige" line.

 

When you get to the luxury lines, it's another situation entirely. I treasure our experience on Crystal five years ago, but now the new owners are throwing money at anything that moves and I have no idea how things are now.

[pkpon]

My last cruise was on P&O's Britannia. Good but definitely not Cunard.

 

It's good to stray occasionally as it makes you appreciate Cunard even more.

 

 

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[Host Hattie]

My last cruise was on P&O's Britannia. Good but definitely not Cunard.

 

It's good to stray occasionally as it makes you appreciate Cunard even more.

 

 

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Very true!

[AllieBallie]

I've got my eye on a future cruise to the Baltic. P&O offers a much better itinerary with more stops and some better stops and at the moment that will be the one.

 

We've done P&O once before (Norwegian fjords on Arcadia) and really enjoyed it but Cunard quality is just that little bit better :) if the itinerary was the same then it'd be Cunard.

 

The only other thing that would sway me would be a great deal on price or on board spend etc.

 

 

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[Alibobs]

Our very first cruise was with Fred Olsen, appalling weather through the Bay of Biscay, I don't think I am exaggerating when I say I estimate 60% of the passengers were ill.

My husband said he wouldn't ever go on such a small ship again.......

Our next trip was a transatlantic on the QM2 and we fell in love with the Cunard brand....it took a while to persuade hubby to try the QV as he considers the QM2 to be a proper ship but now loves

The sad thing is that friends we did the FO trip with remember it as such a ghastly experience that they would not consider cruising again.

I really think a lot of what makes a good cruise is not necessarily the ship you are on but other extenuating circumstances.......a Southampton to Southampton Canaries cruise is perhaps likely to attract a more older British clientele than a fly cruise or a trans Atlantic .........neither is right or wrong but the atmosphere we found very different.....pros and cons for both.

That's one of the joys for me - knowing what I can expect for the basic service but not knowing how each day will pan out

[Coolgran]

I went with Fred Olsen once to try to see the Northern Lights and a solar eclipse. I saw neither of these and did not think much of Braemar either.

 

Despite this I am trying to see the Northern Lights again in February 2017 but this time with P&O.

 

If Cunard did North Light trips I would have stuck with them.

 

I too have strayed to Princess since QE2 gave up sailing. I remember you and your Mum from QE2's 40th Anniversary cruise in particular. Had good experiences on the Grand, Emerald and Caribbean all very different to Cunard

and we are returning to Cunard in 2017.

Coolgran

[seacruise9]

Hi,

 

I am a big fan of Cunard who is looking forward to boarding the QM2 later this month. This will be my 16th sailing with Cunard and my fifth time on the QM2. I really enjoy the sense of tradition and the ocean liner atmosphere. Due to the fact that many of the cruise lines are departing from tradition and building floating resorts that no longer feel like ships, I appreciate Cunard even more.

 

However, as mentioned above, Cunard has fewer itinerary choices than many other lines because it only has three ships. I also enjoy cruising with other lines. Most recently, I have taken some very enjoyable cruises with Princess to a wide variety of destinations.

 

Chuck

Edited September 14, 2016 by seacruise9

[Mbett1]

We enjoyed a Celebrity Transatlantic on Eclipse in a Sky Suite - and hated P&O Oceana also in a suite.

Neither beats the Cunard Grills experience!

[Lakesregion]

Did two repositioning cruises out of Charleston to Boston on NCL before wearing a nice pair of slacks and a blazer was considered "putting on Airs" by the rest of the passengers. Then did several enrichment cruises as a presenter with NCL again before they eliminated anything more enriching than a hairy leg contest. After coming off the final enrichment cruise I vowed that I would never sail NCL even if the cruise was 100% free.

 

I am not a big "where is the ship going" type customer. My main quest is ship board life and Cunard has it all in that category in my opinion. To date I can find no other ship that comes close.

[les641]

We've mainly cruised P&O. P&O has gone downhill in the time we have sailed their ships 2002-2012. I do like the size and design of Aurora - didn't like Ventura and Azura as much and don't even want to go on Britannia. Overcrowded - doubled the amount of passengers but not doubled the facilities. They also seem to penny pinch more so now - no ice-cream at 11am like there used to be, some of room service is now chargeable, no fillet of beef on the menu - not even once on a 3 week cruise.

 

We tried HAL on Ryndham and thought it was a beautiful ship, food was more varied than P&O, entertainment was sparse, but itinerary sailing the Norwegian Fjords was fantastic.

 

This will be our first trip with Cunard - we are so looking forward to it. :)

[fantasy51]

Like Lakesregion, I am more interested in the ship than the destination.

 

My first three sailings were with Princess and seemed wonderful to me - though I have heard they have gone downhill since then. After a Cunard cruise I was hooked, though I have strayed a few times. A few years ago I sailed MSC with friends, as that was the only ship available when both sets of friends were in Europe. Never again! This year I have been on two Celebrity cruises and am looking forward to booking a cruise on Cunard again, hopefully later this year. Celebrity is nice but it's not what I want in a cruise.

[keithm]

Was it the Eagles :eek:

I hear their fans are something else! Then again, my husband and I don't care about football, except me loving Florida State, where I went for my Master's degree

 

Celebrity sounds interesting and it came down to HAL/Celebrity for Alaska, and in the end HAL had the better itinerary

Sorry this is a late response. We found the fans from both teams to be a rather rude vulgar lot. I'm sure those who complain about my response are likely the group I just mentioned!

[MarkBearSF]

...The first leg of the trip was during Super Bowl week. I've never seen more trashy/rude /drunk pax in my life...

 

Not relating to the atmosphere aboard, but I can't help but remember the one and only time the QM2 visited San Francisco in 2007. I was part of a hardy group waiting in the cold drizzle the first Sunday morning in February when she came into view. I was dumbfounded and told my husband that by the end of the next year, we'd be on her.

 

She docked on the Embarcadero of SF and spent the night. Traffic was at a crawl anywhere near the ship. She was all over the news and what everyone talked about.

 

Oh - there was another notable event that Sunday. The Super Bowl. (Of course, if the 49ers were playing, I'm sure the game would have a different emphasis in SF.)

Edited September 17, 2016 by MarkBearSF

[Classiccruiser777]

Why did you "stray"? ;)

What brought you back and how did the um, "mistress" compare?:rolleyes:

We are "diamond" on Cunard and have cruised a few times on HAL due to the value/itineraries. Recently we tried Oceania and it will be difficult to go back to Cunard. Why?

 

 

• Oceania has four "R" class ships that carry a maximum of 684 passengers. Oceania's two larger ships have about 1,200 passengers. This means less tendering, not as crowded, more intimate settings on board, greater accessibility to interesting ports.
  
• The food is consistently the best I've had, all fresh, "top shelf" ingredients. No up-charge for the specialty restaurants, all beverages included except for alcohol. Lobster everyday, all you want.
  
• The beds are fabulous, even for the inside cabins.
  

Oceania tends to be more expensive than Cunard but by cruising in November and April we have taken wonderful cruises that have cost about the same as taking HAL and less than Cunard.

 

 

Every time I've been on board Cunard I have always suggested adding a smaller ship to the fleet. I wish Cunard would.

 

 

As of right now we have three Oceania cruises booked, (Western Caribbean, Bermuda and Alaska) but none on Cunard though the QV British Isles cruise has our interest.