A Platinum Carnivore Sails on ... Cunard

[nybumpkin]

A bit of explanation to start. DH and I are both boat nerds, and I got hooked on passenger ships when I was about 7 years old and watched "A Night to Remember" with my dad. I read lots of books on ocean liners, visited the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA and always said to myself that someday I'd do a Transatlantic crossing. However, life got in the way - college, law school, marriage, kids, etc. We took our first cruise, a 5-day on Carnival Victory, with our 3 sons (then 13, 8 and 4) in 2004. The kids came with us on our cruises until last year (oldest stopped sailing with us when he went to college in 2009), and we amassed 24 Carnival cruises, all of which we loved. The youngest is now 19.

 

What drew us to the Transatlantic now was timing and itinerary. Cunard had a 14-day crossing on the Queen Mary 2 leaving Southampton on 7/14/19, calling on Liverpool, Reykjavik (overnight), Corner Brook Newfoundland, and Halifax Nova Scotia, arriving in Brooklyn on 7/28. The timing was perfect for us - our vacation time is pretty much limited to July and the first two weeks of August. Aside from QM2, there aren't many opportunities for sailing a Transatlantic in that time frame, so we booked a balcony cabin. Our plan was to fly into Heathrow  early,  spend a few days in Winchester not far from Southampton, and then take the train into Southampton on sailing day. However, when we started pricing flights and hotels we realized that we could book an inside cabin on the 7/7 Brooklyn-Southampton crossing for less money and I would only be out two extra vacation days. We went for it. In all, the trip was 21 days; the longest prior sailing we had done was a 13-day Baltic sailing on Carnival Legend out of Dover in 2013.

 

I don't intend to compare Carnival to Cunard - it would be apples to oranges. And most Cunard sailings wouldn't fit well with  most Carnival passengers' travel plans - I know I won't be sailing the Far East anytime soon. However, as one of the lecturers on our trip commented, it's nice that there are so many options for different types of cruisers. And as many long-time Cunard passengers commented, if it wasn't for Mickey Arison and Carnival Corporation there  would be no Cunard and no QM2. If you find a Cunard voyage that fits your schedule, I'd encourage you to try it,.

 

Having said all that, here goes:

 

Demographics:The passengers on our sailings definitely were older, in their 60s and 70s. We had a ten-top for dinner on both sailings, and except for the 19 YO granddaughter of one of our tablemates on the second crossing, DH and I (58 and 59 respectively) were the youngest at the table. There were kids and younger families, though - just not nearly as many as you'd see on a Carnival cruise in the summer.

 

Entertainment: There were plenty of entertainment venues. The Royal Court Theatre offered shows every night, including the ship's theater troupe and orchestra, guest performers and musicians. There was a jazz combo, a string trio, and an acoustic guitar duo in some of the lounges. Another orchestra provided music for ballroom dancing in the Queens Room, billed as the largest ballroom on a ship. (We went one night - there are people who sail this ship for the dancing, and the serious dancers scared the daylights out of us. We decided to opt for jazz in a lounge.) And there is G32, the disco with a live band or a deejay. The younger set seemed happy.

 

A couple of more unique options during to day. Cunard has its "Insights" program, a series of presentations by lecturers on different topics. There was one "celebrity" presenter for each week along with about four other presenters, each of whom gave four lectures on varying topics - pirates, art, entertainment figure, maritime history, etc. We went to a number of them and the speakers were excellent. QM2 also has a guest choir that meets on sea days to rehearse and presents a 20-minute concert on the last sea day. DH tried that on the second crossing; like him, most of the participants were church choir singers. There were about 80 people in his choir.

 

Food: A very subjective subject. All meals are available in the dining room, but with the exception of one lunch we had breakfast and lunch in the buffet - we just didn't have time for the dining room, between the Insights programs and DH's choir practices. The buffet was fine - just fine. Nothing spectacular. I missed my Guy's Burger. The buffet is also very hectic and very noisy, but the servers are very attentive at clearing tables and, at breakfast, pouring coffee and tea. We had dinner in the buffet twice during our 21 days, and it was so-so. Unlike Carnival, they do not have items from the MDR menu available for dinner at the buffet.

 

However, the MDR food was excellent overall, with a good variety available. Two of our tablemates had food allergies and the staff was very good at providing them with menus teh day before so they could have their meals ready.

 

Service: Excellent. You will be referred to as "Mr.' and "Mrs." and servers try to be unobtrusive as possible.. There is not nearly as much "selling" going on., and the photographers are in fewer locations. Having said that, the staff knows that it is in the  business of making money - "inch of gold" is available, as are regular sales in the shops. I will say that we spent much less on photos on this trip than on any of our Carnival cruises.

 

We're back on Carnival in two weeks on Carnival Sunrise, However, we are looking at other opportunities to sail Cunard again. I'd be happy to add  any details folks would like or answer any questions.

[sanmarcosman]

10 hours ago, nybumpkin said:

A bit of explanation to start. DH and I are both boat nerds, and I got hooked on passenger ships when I was about 7 years old and watched "A Night to Remember" with my dad. I read lots of books on ocean liners, visited the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA and always said to myself that someday I'd do a Transatlantic crossing. 

This sounds like my story. A Night to Remember was my favorite book as a boy. I crossed westbound on QE2 in First in May of 1988. In 1992 I was invited by Walter Lord to his Park Avenue apartment to chat about his newest book at that time The Night Lives On.

 

Thanks for sharing your crossing with us.

 

[BeachLoverstoo]

Was there overlap time between the cruises? We were looking at a couple that gave us as little as four days to 28. Looking for a happy medium, maybe a week.

[Jamman54]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. 😎

[Tcas1]

I was on the NCL Escape coming into NYC on 7/28. I saw your ship and have pictures when we passed each other. Two ships that passed in the night (or early morning).

 

[nybumpkin]

On 8/1/2019 at 9:00 AM, fyree39 said:

I'm curious about the dress code at dinner and how you handled that.  I understand Cunard is a wee bit more formal than Carnival and the passengers tend to respect Cunard's dress code. Did you find this to be true?  

Cunard does have a dress code, but it's not as strict as some "purists" would like. There are two types of dress: "gala," which calls for men wearing tux, dinner jacket or dark suit, and women wearing a gown, cocktail dress or pantsuit; and "smart attire," which calls for men wearing slacks/jacket and women wearing dress, skirt/blouse, or slacks. On the gala nights, I saw a lot of men in dark suits and women in cocktail dresses. There's no dress code during the day. I brought two cocktail dresses that I bought years ago when Carnival had "formal" night, some long skirts, and several tunic tops. DH has a tuxedo that also has a dinner jacket, so he was all set. 

 

There are people who don't want to dress up, so they have dinner in the buffet. I met one man who said the only time he would go to the dining room was for lunch; he ordered room service for breakfast and went to the buffet for dinner.

[nybumpkin]

On 8/1/2019 at 12:24 PM, BeachLoverstoo said:

Was there overlap time between the cruises? We were looking at a couple that gave us as little as four days to 28. Looking for a happy medium, maybe a week.

This was back-to-back: Leave NYC on 7/7, arrive Southampton 7/14 early, leave Southampton 7/14 before dinner, arrive NYC 7/28. I know they have some crossings that go at Southampton, then go to Hamburg, return to Southampton, then to NYC. That gives four days between a NYC-Southampton crossing and the return Southampton-NYC crossing.

 

[nybumpkin]

On 8/1/2019 at 9:11 AM, sanmarcosman said:

This sounds like my story. A Night to Remember was my favorite book as a boy. I crossed westbound on QE2 in First in May of 1988. In 1992 I was invited by Walter Lord to his Park Avenue apartment to chat about his newest book at that time The Night Lives On.

 

Thanks for sharing your crossing with us.

 

You'd appreciate that Bill Miller, "Mr. Ocean Liner," was one of the lecturers on our 7/14 crossing. One of our dinner tablemates is good friends with him, so he came over one evening and I had a chance to talk to him. He seems to have groupies that follow him - they must check his website for his sailings and book their travel accordingly.

 

My original copy of A Night to Remember was a paperback from the late 60s and finally gave up the ghost.

Edited August 2, 2019 by nybumpkin

[nybumpkin]

On 8/1/2019 at 1:16 PM, Jamman54 said:

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. 😎

Thanks for reading, Jeff! Hopefully this weekend I'll have photos organized enough to start a review and I'll put a link to it on this thread.

[sanmarcosman]

56 minutes ago, nybumpkin said:

You'd appreciate that Bill Miller, "Mr. Ocean Liner," was one of the lecturers on our 7/14 crossing. One of our dinner tablemates is good friends with him, so he came over one evening and I had a chance to talk to him. He seems to have groupies that follow him - they must check his website for his sailings and book their travel accordingly.

 

My original copy of A Night to Remember was a paperback from the late 60s and finally gave up the ghost.

We've never sailed with Bill but our mutual friends in Seattle are the parents of the actor Brendan Fraser and we met Bill at their son's wedding. We knew of Bill through his books naturally and enjoyed his company. Bill's passion was as a high school teacher in New Jersey so it comes as no surprise he and his S.O. Abe sail the ships with their fans and hold seminars at sea.

 

For decades the liner author and historian John Maxtone-Graham gave fascinating seminars at sea on Cunard and he spoke highly of Carnival's founders the Arisons and Carnival Corporation and how their business genius has kept crossing and cruising the vibrant industry we see today. 

 

We're enjoying your review and hope it will pique the interest of some members here on the Carnival board to give Cunard a try. Everyone should make at least one traditional liner crossing as only Cunard can deliver.

 

 

 

 

[nybumpkin]

28 minutes ago, sanmarcosman said:

We've never sailed with Bill but our mutual friends in Seattle are the parents of the actor Brendan Fraser and we met Bill at their son's wedding. We knew of Bill through his books naturally and enjoyed his company. Bill's passion was as a high school teacher in New Jersey so it comes as no surprise he and his S.O. Abe sail the ships with their fans and hold seminars at sea.

 

For decades the liner author and historian John Maxtone-Graham gave fascinating seminars at sea on Cunard and he spoke highly of Carnival's founders the Arisons and Carnival Corporation and how their business genius has kept crossing and cruising the vibrant industry we see today. 

 

We're enjoying your review and hope it will pique the interest of some members here on the Carnival board to give Cunard a try. Everyone should make at least one traditional liner crossing as only Cunard can deliver.

 

 

 

 

Bill talked about his teacher career - once he had a student who needed major surgery and didn't have the money, and Bill wrote to Frank Sinatra (a fellow native of Hoboken) and, a few weeks later, he received a check from Sinatra - no note, just a check. Bill is very down to earth - one couple seemed to want to impress him with their interest in expensive cars and expensive New York restaurants, and Bill observed that he drove a Nissan and that the day after disembarking, he and Abe would head out to Wal-Mart to buy groceries. 😉

 

My dad bought me "The Only Way to Cross" in 1972 when it was first published. I still have it, minus the dust cover, and still regret that I lost the dust cover somewhere along the way. I always wish I had been able to hear Maxtone-Graham in person.

 

Of my 24 (soon to be 25) Carnival cruises, about half have been from NYC. The sailaway experience on Carnival is much better, sailing from Manhattan instead of Brooklyn, but the Transatlantic  is a fantastic experience.

Edited August 2, 2019 by nybumpkin