Questions about QM2 World cruises

[tgetz]

We sailed on the QM2 about 15 years ago and were underwhelmed, but we understand a lot of the issues we had were straightened out shortly after that. We have taken many cruises since then but none on Cunard. We did the Holland world cruise in 2018 but we are seriously considering the QM2 2023 World cruise but I have a lot of questions and I know some of you all will have all my answers. I love cruise critic.

First, can you bring on as much wine as you wish? is there a corking fee? If you go to a winery on a shore excursion, can you purchase wine and bring it on board?

We will sail in a Queens grill cabin. Does the lounge serve wine at night before dinner? We cannot remember. IS it free or do you pay? I know we would get some wine free for being in a grill suite.

Does your world club status change during the world cruise, or only at the end like on regular voyages?

Are there movies most days? Are there bridge instructions on sea days? Is there organized duplicate bridge on Sea days?

Are there many special dinners, for a fee of course, that include wine pairings or perhaps a special theme? Holland had many and even some murder mystery dinners and we loved those.

I have seen many people complain about the many people that sail segments, and say it disrupts the world cruise. Are most people in the suites on for the full cruise usually. Even in any cabin, did you feel the segments were disruptive?

How many gala nights each week were there typically?

What were some of the on shore memorable events offered on other Cunard  world cruises?

Will the room steward store your luggage for you?

I know the lecturers are considered some of the best on the seas. Do they have potato chips anywhere on the ship?. I know that is not a British thing and Viking has none, but Celebrity does.

That is all my questions for now.. 

Thanks so much for any information or any comments comparing the QM2 to Holland. Of course, at this point none of us knows if what we are accustomed to will remain the same when cruising begins again.

 

 

[lissie]

I don't know many of the answers having never done a world cruise and have no interest in paying for grills. But yes there are chips on board - they put them around some nights in the Commodore Club - and the Hope & Glory cocktail includes a small serving! (which you can get filled up if you  ask nicely) 

[Lakesregion]

22 minutes ago, tgetz said:

We sailed on the QM2 about 15 years ago and were underwhelmed, but we understand a lot of the issues we had were straightened out shortly after that. We have taken many cruises since then but none on Cunard. We did the Holland world cruise in 2018 but we are seriously considering the QM2 2023 World cruise but I have a lot of questions and I know some of you all will have all my answers. I love cruise critic.

First, can you bring on as much wine as you wish? is there a corking fee? If you go to a winery on a shore excursion, can you purchase wine and bring it on board?

We will sail in a Queens grill cabin. Does the lounge serve wine at night before dinner? We cannot remember. IS it free or do you pay? I know we would get some wine free for being in a grill suite.

Does your world club status change during the world cruise, or only at the end like on regular voyages?

Are there movies most days? Are there bridge instructions on sea days? Is there organized duplicate bridge on Sea days?

Are there many special dinners, for a fee of course, that include wine pairings or perhaps a special theme? Holland had many and even some murder mystery dinners and we loved those.

I have seen many people complain about the many people that sail segments, and say it disrupts the world cruise. Are most people in the suites on for the full cruise usually. Even in any cabin, did you feel the segments were disruptive?

How many gala nights each week were there typically?

What were some of the on shore memorable events offered on other Cunard  world cruises?

Will the room steward store your luggage for you?

I know the lecturers are considered some of the best on the seas. Do they have potato chips anywhere on the ship?. I know that is not a British thing and Viking has none, but Celebrity does.

That is all my questions for now.. 

Thanks so much for any information or any comments comparing the QM2 to Holland. Of course, at this point none of us knows if what we are accustomed to will remain the same when cruising begins again.

 

 

Lots of questions that one might expect from a Britannia passenger not a griller but let's see if we can get the answered. 

 

Remember that Cunard has been off the cruise market for almost two years now, so some of the perks may change when they resume "normal" sailings.

1. There is a corkage charge for your own wine. they used to allow unlimited wine being brought on board but I believe that has been modified after all they are in the business of making money.

2. The Grills Lounge does serve wine before, during and after dinner and there will be a fee. You can purchase a drinks package and there will be a 6 bottle free package for Cabin consumption.

3. World Club status used to change when you earned the required days or number of cruises with each segment of the world cruise counting as a cruise. If that is still in force any changes in status occur at the end of the segment not in the middle.

4. Your cabin TV offers movies pretty much 24/7 and if the theater is not being used for live entertainment or lectures, there is usually a movie there.

5. Thee is bridge instruction. Organized bridge play and tournaments depends on the on-board instructor and the number of players interested in such things. If you have booked the full world cruise, you may use the world cruise passenger lunge and the concierge in charge will be happy to try to line up bridge games for you.

6. In addition to your included exceptional Queens Grill restaurant for which you will not be charged, the QM2 offers the Veranda restaurant for a fee and the Kings Court has a section that is converted each evening to a linen table top restaurant with one night American BBQ, another Italian and a third Oriental fare. There is a fee for each of these. Also, the Pub is now offering an evening meal at a fee. All of the alternate venues require a reservation. No mystery dinners.

7. Different segments yield different passenger mixes. In our opinion, this adds rather than subtracts from the interest on a 117 day cruise as you get to meet a wider range of people. Our favorite is when the Australians arrive in number as they love to party. The nice thing about the ship is it is large enough that should you find any group or individual person offensive, you can easily avoid them. Also being a Queens Grill passenger, you can be rather secluded if you wish and rarely venture out where the rest of the passengers congregate.

8. Sadly, Cunard has reduced the number of gala (read formal) evenings. Last time w sailed a full world cruise, every sea day was formal and we loved it. However, if you find formal to be not your thing, Cunard has expanded the areas where casual attire is acceptable in the evening. The Casino the pub and of course the Kings Court and the adjacent lounge which offers entertainment.

9. This being the 100th anniversary world cruise we might expect Cunard to pull out all the stops on celebrations. However, in any case there will be an on-shore gala evening for only full world passengers. It is usually held on the last overnight port of the journey so unless the schedule of ports changes it will be in Dubai.

10. Your Queens Grill Cabin should be more than large enough to store all of your luggage out of sight. The ship does not have a dedicated baggage room as the QE2 had but room Stewards have been known to be able to make luggage disappear if asked. 

11. Lectures are generally excellent. As it the Sunday service done by the Ship's Captain. The port lectures are not to be missed.

12. If "Potato Chips" are your thing, you might consider brining a few bags along for en-suite use. Generally one finds more up scale appetizers offered in the various lounges to go with cocktails and wine.

 

Hope that helps with your questions.

[tgetz]

Lakesregion,  thanks so very much for all your answers.12. I can certainly do without potato chips but i do occasionally like to splurge and have some with a sandwich at lunch. I never eat French fries, though. I know I am odd. Once on a Celebrity cruise when we had the penthouse, I asked the butler for a few chips and he came back with a huge family style size of chips like you find at Costco. No way could we finish that but what a nice gesture.

11.The great lectures are very appealing.

10. So it sounds like with a little tip the steward can find a spot for some empty luggage. On our last world cruise luggage, shipping was free both directions so we were very generous with what we packed and we had a total of 16 or 17 bags, I think. 

9. The shore event sounds like it will be memorable.

8.We enjoy gala nights but there will be 76 sea days on this cruise and that might get old near the end of the cruise so hopefully, it wont be quite that many. 

7. The new mix of people sounds great to us, and like you, we thoroughly enjoy the Australians. Always good for laughter.

6. We so enjoyed the various 'specialty dinners' on Holland . Always a reason to dress a little nicer, have some better wines and dine.  If memory serves me, the grill dinners are all great. I think on Holland we needed the special dinners because there wasn't as much variety available. 

 

5. If I  am understanding correctly there may or perhaps may not be organized duplicate bridge on a segment, depending on the passengers.?? We do love to play bridge and watch the world float by and so having organized bridge on sea days is a big factor for us.  

4. Movies on tv is ok, but I was really more wondering if there were newer movies shown on a large screen. Holland seems to choose movies that are filmed in an area we are headed to and sometimes they are really really old movies 🙂.

3. As you said, who knows what the new requirements will be for a World Club status change, but I was just wondering if by the last segment, we might have some free Wi-Fifi. Again, definitely not a deal maker or breaker. I just like pointing out to my husband positive differences in HAL and Cunard. 

2. I thought the lounge served wine but couldn't remember if the it was free. It is free on Celebrity in the club for suites, but not on Holland in their suite lounge.

1.My husband has a walk in wine cellar at home so we shipped 18 bottles  of wine I think on the airplane for our last world cruise. He has some really nice bottles and he prefers to share them with friends with a nice meal.  ON HAL we pay a corkage fee and never mind doing so. We also will probably go to some wineries on some private tours  on this cruise in Australia and in South Africa and wondered if we could purchase wine and bring it back on board.

 

Thanks again for all your time in giving such explicit answers. I will pass on all this information to my husband and we will make a decision by Thursday. We have a cabin being held but have not put the money down yet. We already  have money on the HAL 2023 World cruise.

Again thanks...

[Elephant1151]

You can take wine onboard and also bring it on in ports.  We were on the South America cruise last year and so bought local wines as we went round. Corkage is $25.  There will be the opportunity whilst  onboard to buy some spirits  duty free for cabin consumption.

 

The Captain and Commodore wine packages are good value when you consider the corkage fee above, 

 

We take a few  mixers and soft drinks for our cabin as do many passengers, and replenish as required.

[DeeDee Groff]

On 3/22/2021 at 10:28 PM, Lakesregion said:

Lots of questions that one might expect from a Britannia passenger not a griller but let's see if we can get the answered. 

 

Remember that Cunard has been off the cruise market for almost two years now, so some of the perks may change when they resume "normal" sailings.

1. There is a corkage charge for your own wine. they used to allow unlimited wine being brought on board but I believe that has been modified after all they are in the business of making money.

2. The Grills Lounge does serve wine before, during and after dinner and there will be a fee. You can purchase a drinks package and there will be a 6 bottle free package for Cabin consumption.

3. World Club status used to change when you earned the required days or number of cruises with each segment of the world cruise counting as a cruise. If that is still in force any changes in status occur at the end of the segment not in the middle.

4. Your cabin TV offers movies pretty much 24/7 and if the theater is not being used for live entertainment or lectures, there is usually a movie there.

5. Thee is bridge instruction. Organized bridge play and tournaments depends on the on-board instructor and the number of players interested in such things. If you have booked the full world cruise, you may use the world cruise passenger lunge and the concierge in charge will be happy to try to line up bridge games for you.

6. In addition to your included exceptional Queens Grill restaurant for which you will not be charged, the QM2 offers the Veranda restaurant for a fee and the Kings Court has a section that is converted each evening to a linen table top restaurant with one night American BBQ, another Italian and a third Oriental fare. There is a fee for each of these. Also, the Pub is now offering an evening meal at a fee. All of the alternate venues require a reservation. No mystery dinners.

7. Different segments yield different passenger mixes. In our opinion, this adds rather than subtracts from the interest on a 117 day cruise as you get to meet a wider range of people. Our favorite is when the Australians arrive in number as they love to party. The nice thing about the ship is it is large enough that should you find any group or individual person offensive, you can easily avoid them. Also being a Queens Grill passenger, you can be rather secluded if you wish and rarely venture out where the rest of the passengers congregate.

8. Sadly, Cunard has reduced the number of gala (read formal) evenings. Last time w sailed a full world cruise, every sea day was formal and we loved it. However, if you find formal to be not your thing, Cunard has expanded the areas where casual attire is acceptable in the evening. The Casino the pub and of course the Kings Court and the adjacent lounge which offers entertainment.

9. This being the 100th anniversary world cruise we might expect Cunard to pull out all the stops on celebrations. However, in any case there will be an on-shore gala evening for only full world passengers. It is usually held on the last overnight port of the journey so unless the schedule of ports changes it will be in Dubai.

10. Your Queens Grill Cabin should be more than large enough to store all of your luggage out of sight. The ship does not have a dedicated baggage room as the QE2 had but room Stewards have been known to be able to make luggage disappear if asked. 

11. Lectures are generally excellent. As it the Sunday service done by the Ship's Captain. The port lectures are not to be missed.

12. If "Potato Chips" are your thing, you might consider brining a few bags along for en-suite use. Generally one finds more up scale appetizers offered in the various lounges to go with cocktails and wine.

 

Hope that helps with your questions.

 

Booked my first Cunard cruise on Thursday afternoon (a six-week segment of the 2023 WC), looked into this forum for the first time hoping to find some answers to my questions about a Cunard WC (have had experience on HAL), found your post, read it avidly, and then noticed you are from my little corner of the world.  Hope I have the opportunity to meet you on a future Cunard cruise!

 

Be well and continue to stay safe,

Deb

[LewiLewi]

We have sailed on Grand Voyages and World Cruises on both HAL and Cunard many times. We prefer Cunard for many reasons. I love to play bridge. There is always a bridge director and lessons every sea day on Cunard. Also an organized duplicate bridge game every afternoon. The lectures are generally wonderful; several in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon. Tea in the afternoon in the Queens Room served by white gloved waiters is very special with musical accompaniment. Over the last few years, I have been disappointed by HAL’s evening entertainment, or lack thereof. Cunard’s evening shows are real performances in a beautiful theater. The Neptune suite on HAL is lovely, but extremely costly for a World Cruise. When we compare the cost of a Verandah cabin on HAL to a Verandah cabin on Cunard for a 100 day cruise, Cunard is much less expensive. We feel we get a lot more for our money on Cunard. Also, having been on all three ships, the Queen Victoria is our favorite for a full World Cruise. It is much easier to navigate than the Queen Mary. One other point, the general card room on the Queen Mary for large duplicate bridge games is located in a windowless series of rooms; you will not be able to watch the world go by as you play cards. The Queen Victoria and Elizabeth’s card rooms are in a beautiful windowed area of the ship next to a very well stocked two story library complete with a librarian. Something not offered on HAL.

[tgetz]

Thank you LewiLewi for your opinions. The only time we did a world on Holland, the afternoon bridge was in the foyer area of the upstairs dining room. Very crowded and you were very far away from any of the windows, so since we are booked on the QM2 for this  world cruise we will have to 'suffer' with the windowless rooms for bridge. 🙂 I agree that the other two Cunard ships seem to have nicer card rooms, but for this itinerary, we are pleased to sail on the QM2. I really appreciate your comments comparing the two because we definitely wanted to be sure we could play duplicate often in the afternoons. Our last cruise on HAL we were so disillusioned in all the cuts we swore we would never sail on Holland again. Then when Orlando was 'fired' we thought we might try it again. Now who knows what will happen on any of the cruise lines. They are going to have to make money to stay alive, but hoping they will not cut all the things we love so much. 

[Lakesregion]

9 hours ago, tgetz said:

Thank you LewiLewi for your opinions. The only time we did a world on Holland, the afternoon bridge was in the foyer area of the upstairs dining room. Very crowded and you were very far away from any of the windows, so since we are booked on the QM2 for this  world cruise we will have to 'suffer' with the windowless rooms for bridge. 🙂 I agree that the other two Cunard ships seem to have nicer card rooms, but for this itinerary, we are pleased to sail on the QM2. I really appreciate your comments comparing the two because we definitely wanted to be sure we could play duplicate often in the afternoons. Our last cruise on HAL we were so disillusioned in all the cuts we swore we would never sail on Holland again. Then when Orlando was 'fired' we thought we might try it again. Now who knows what will happen on any of the cruise lines. They are going to have to make money to stay alive, but hoping they will not cut all the things we love so much. 

It has been a while since our last world cruise and after the two year layoff who really knows what awaits the passenger. However, world cruises tend to be much different than transatlantic or other short cruises because the passenger is on for a very long time and the last thing Cunard wants is disgruntled people on board for long periods of time. If they are going to do any shorting at all (and I doubt they will) it would be on the shorter cruises. 

[tgetz]

One more question for you Cunarders. Is there somewhere on board that we can exchange currencies for the ones we might need in ports? Thanks 

[Elephant1151]

The Pursers will exchange US $ into local currencies.  Please note I stated US $, So any other currencies are converted into US $ then into local currencies.  We usualy take a small amount of those we require on board with us and loads of US $. Credit cards which do not make a charge for foreign transactions ar ehandy as well.

 

[PORT ROYAL]

3 hours ago, tgetz said:

One more question for you Cunarders. Is there somewhere on board that we can exchange currencies for the ones we might need in ports? Thanks 

Yes, but the ship will shave approximately 15% for each transaction.

Example.  £ into Euros

Working Transaction 1: £ into USD

Then Transaction 2: USD into Euros.

Best to take USD then Change on ship.  But most Countries accept payments in USD, but in new notes.  Old notes are not always welcomed and sometimes declined.

 

[Windsurfboy]

Given the trend for people to shy away from touching money, which seems to be  world wide ,  then as said above by elephant1151 a contactless credit card with no foreign transaction charges will be accepted 99.9% of the time, plus some small denomination US dollars for emergencies.  No real need to keep changing money at all. The ship will take a big commission both as you change it and then change unwanted money back.

[LewiLewi]

We usually take small amounts of currency in the local ports that we will visit, if possible. Our local bank, given enough time, will convert money for us at a fee. If not, when ashore, our local guide will take us to a money exchanger and we will convert US dollars into local currency. We have found that credit cards are widely accepted in most ports that we visit.

[lissie]

On 4/5/2021 at 9:12 AM, PORT ROYAL said:

 

Best to take USD then Change on ship.  But most Countries accept payments in USD, but in new notes.  Old notes are not always welcomed and sometimes declined.

 

Most countries accept their own currencies not US$ - they will happily pad the price though - I watched a local take away accept A$ for NZ$ in my home country - she made about 20% on the transaction LOL 

 

Most countries have ATMs and they all dispense local currency at good rates 

[Underwatr]

On QM2 there is a movie every night in Illuminations (the planetarium/lecture hall). Usually shown repeatedly from about 5 PM on and then the same film will be available the next day on in-room televisions (my experience isn't with world cruises but I don't know why that would affect this). Believe it or not, Illuminations is probably the best movie theatre I've been on at land or sea, including provision for 3D projection, etc.

 

Franklly, if my only prior QM2 experience was less than satisfactory I'd be planning a shorter taster cruise before booking a WC in Queens Grill.

Edited April 6, 2021 by Underwatr

[Windsurfboy]

3 hours ago, lissie said:

Most countries accept their own currencies not US$ - they will happily pad the price though - I watched a local take away accept A$ for NZ$ in my home country - she made about 20% on the transaction LOL 

 

Most countries have ATMs and they all dispense local currency at good rates 

 

Countries like NZ with strong currencies and economies are as you say reluctant to take other currencies,  but they are the type of places that credit cards are universal. 

 

Yes I've paid over the odds using US dollars to buy a coffee in some places especially  Africa and  S America  , only place in Africa that wont take Dollars is South Africa, but even shabeens take credit cards. Mobile payments are also becoming extremely common. The extra cost of an odd little item , is worth it to save the bother and much larger cost of changing currency and not using it and changing back.

 

Clearly worth getting Australia dollars as there are so many stops, and Euros can be used again. But for countries QM2 is going to with one stop, credit card acceptance is so ubiquitous. 

[Lesanne]

I have a multi currency pre load card for A$ US$ and GB£ that we used on the last world cruise with no issues. It has a mobile app so you can see transactions and easy top up.

[tgetz]

underwatr,

I understand your observation about taking a shorter cruise on Cunard before booking a world cruise if  we were unhappy with our last Cunard. I would always recommend to anyone to take a least a one week cruise on a line before embarking on a really long cruise and especially a world cruise. I guess I should explain. We  were not that unhappy with Cunard, just underwhelmed. We were in a queens suite and our balcony view was somewhat marred by the tenders on deck  8, this time i very carefully chose a cabin back behind the tenders. We were so surprised that a ship that had so many formal nights did not have a full length mirror in the room. Now they do. We had previously sailed on Holland and in the Neptune suites their little dressing room had a small sink. I loved that and our queens' grill didn't even have a dressing area at that time.  Now there is a lovely dressing area. We were not that impressed with Todd English and that has been removed. We were very disappointed, that when i asked for decaf coffee, I was given hot water and a jar of decaf to make my own.  Now there is a coffee machine in the room. We sailed in 2005 and there were definitely some weaknesses in the staff. But the ship, we loved. I have kept up with the QM2 since then and so many things seem to have been 'fixed' that we didn't like and now Holland seems to have done away with a lot of the things we previously liked about Holland. They have removed that extra little sink in the class of ship they use for the world cruise, there are not nearly as many flowers as there previously was, and way less music on board. Who knows what will change for all the cruise line when they do finally get to sail. So i think we are making the decision that will work for us. I am not thrilled with going East first and loosing all those hours, 🙂 but we really prefer the itinerary on Cunard's  2023 World over Hollands. But thanks for your tip. I do appreciate it.

[BigMac1953]

Never heard of any alcohol policy being "modified". It's the same as usual. Bring what you want. We always take 6 x Veuve for 2 weeks. Now a $20 corkage charge in public areas (unless you are quite well known). You can have 2 x litres of any spirits of your choosing and they will be replaced when consumed. It's worth "greasing the wheels", the service gets quicker and better.

 

Your butler will supply as much chips (crisps) and nuts as you can eat, so don't buy any. If you have a cocktail party  (or two) the butler will supply canapes, chips, nuts, cheese & biscuits etc., and extra glasses and extra chairs if required.

 

Hot canapes are available in the QG lounge prior to dinner, but you may have to ask. Watch out for exclusive QG Lounge concerts that are not advertised, other than on your table.

 

Films are shown on sea days.

 

A maximum of three Gala/Formal nights per week.

 

If you purchase a wine package, either Captain's or Commodore's, you can only access it during restaurant hours, albeit in other parts of the ship.

 

From time to time, the Verandah will offer tasting and pairing dinners. Usually about $125 ea.

 

Don't forget the Concierge Lounge. Always a good spot for a read of the papers and a coffee with a fresh Danish. They'll also book any events for you while you're there.

 

Have fun!

 

Stewart

 

 

[tgetz]

thanks Stewart for your answers