capacity

[bluemarble]

2 hours ago, North West Newbie said:

The crew number seems significantly lower than previously.

 

Unfortunately I don't have all the raw numbers any more for some of the recent departures, but here is what I have been able to find in my notes. The crew numbers have indeed been decreasing lately. Crew numbers still appear to be reasonably close to the levels other sites indicate as appropriate for the ships when they were operating at full capacity (and covid-free).

 

QE
Feb 13, 2022: 1378 pax, 982 crew; pax/crew: 1.40
Mar 18, 2022: 1385 pax, 911 crew; pax/crew: 1.52
Mar 30, 2022: 1396 pax, 894 crew; pax/crew: 1.56

 

QM2
Feb 15, 2022: 1473 pax, 1232 crew; pax/crew: 1.20
Mar 15, 2022: 1772 pax, 1208 crew; pax/crew: 1.47
Mar 20, 2022: 1477 pax, 1200 crew; pax/crew: 1.23

[bluemarble]

I haven't been able to report the capacities for the last few departures from Southampton because of garbled VTS radio reception. But I heard the counts for QM2's departure this evening.

 

QM2 - Apr 24, 2022: 1609 pax, 1203 crew; pax/crew: 1.34

 

That works out to ≈60% passenger capacity.

Edited April 24, 2022 by bluemarble

[exlondoner]

On QE on the 3-15 cruise, I overheard a conversation (not in any way private) to the effect that the Grills were pretty much full, Britannia about 75%. Don't know about staff, but they certainly couldn't open the Veranda because of lack of staff.

[cpc3639]

4 hours ago, exlondoner said:

On QE on the 3-15 cruise, I overheard a conversation (not in any way private) to the effect that the Grills were pretty much full, Britannia about 75%. Don't know about staff, but they certainly couldn't open the Veranda because of lack of staff.

I think Cunard need to consider the offer they are providing. I appreciate it’s difficult with Covid but how many events/facilities can be cancelled and it still be a special experience. 

[exlondoner]

I'm not sure what 'consider the offer they are providing' might mean. Certainly my latest cruise was no less enjoyable than previous ones, and the restrictions and constrains I imposed on myself were considerably more onerous than those imposed by Cunard.

[cpc3639]

14 hours ago, exlondoner said:

I'm not sure what 'consider the offer they are providing' might mean. Certainly my latest cruise was no less enjoyable than previous ones, and the restrictions and constrains I imposed on myself were considerably more onerous than those imposed by Cunard.

I was referring to your comment about the Verandah not being open and other comments from other posters with reference to laundrette, nightclub, world club parties ……..

[exlondoner]

9 hours ago, cpc3639 said:

I was referring to your comment about the Verandah not being open and other comments from other posters with reference to laundrette, nightclub, world club parties ……..

 

I understand what you are referring too, but did not understand your comment, as it seems unlikely Cunard have made any of these changes without suitable consideration, don't you think?

[3rdGenCunarder]

2 hours ago, exlondoner said:

 

I understand what you are referring too, but did not understand your comment, as it seems unlikely Cunard have made any of these changes without suitable consideration, don't you think?

 

The aspects of a cruise they are stopping/limiting are disappointing, but not things that they promote or advertise--I've never seen "Sail with Cunard and do your laundry!." So I don't see that it's a big change in the "offer they are providing."

 

Sadly, we have to accept that travel isn't what it was because of Covid precautions and staffing issues. Amtrak is cancelling trains on short notice due to staff shortages. Airlines change/combine/cancel flights. Hotels curtail food service, with some stopping room service altogether. 

Edited April 26, 2022 by 3rdGenCunarder

[exlondoner]

2 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

The aspects of a cruise they are stopping/limiting are disappointing, but not things that they promote or advertise--I've never seen "Sail with Cunard and do your laundry!." So I don't see that it's a big change in the "offer they are providing."

r. 

 

I think that would be a quite splendid idea. With copy to the effect that, if the theatre was insufficiently dramatic, passengers should see what was going on in the launderette. One of the launderettes was near our cabin on our recent voyage, but, whenever I stuck my head in, hoping to witness amusing confrontations, it was alas entirely empty and the machines were idle. No fun at all.

Edited April 26, 2022 by exlondoner
Spelling

[3rdGenCunarder]

3 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

 

I think that would be a quite splendid idea. With copy to the effect that, if the theatre was insufficiently drmamtic, passengers should see what was going on in the launderette. One of the launderettes was near our cabin on our recent voyage, but, whenever I stuck my head in, hoping to witness amusing confrontations, it was alas entirely empty and the machines were idle. No fun at all.

 

Now that Cunard ships have multiple launderettes, there are fewer interesting interactions. QE2 had only one, and there were times it got heated--and not just from the machinery.

[exlondoner]

Ah, the good old days. 😀 I think savagery was the word I remember.

[BigMac1953]

The laundry problem is always the tumble driers. People leave their clothes in it and go away. The next person opens the drier to see what's inside. In doing so, it swtches off, so when they close the door nothing happens.

 

The nest person then does the same, but as it is not operating and has wet clothes inside, they remove the contents. Enter the original washing person. Light blue touch paper and stand back.

Edited April 26, 2022 by BigMac1953
missing letter

[3rdGenCunarder]

5 hours ago, BigMac1953 said:

The laundry problem is always the tumble driers. People leave their clothes in it and go away. The next person opens the drier to see what's inside. In doing so, it swtches off, so when they close the door nothing happens.

 

The nest person then does the same, but as it is not operating and has wet clothes inside, they remove the contents. Enter the original washing person. Light blue touch paper and stand back.

 

Yes, I've had that done to my laundry. I arrived to find my very wet clothing in a laundry basket. Somebody must have moved my clothes a few minutes after I put them in the dryer because I knew better than to be away for long. I got back right around when my clothes should have been dry. I wanted to dump THEIR clothes on the floor and put mine back in the dryer. Fortunately, another dryer had become empty, so I finished drying my clothes and didn't retaliate. 

[bluemarble]

Once again the reception over VTS radio was difficult to make out for QE's departure this evening from Southampton on her repositioning cruise to Vancouver. I thought I heard 1370 pax, 896 crew. The admin on the Solent Ships YouTube channel heard 1309 pax, 896 crew.

[Kristal Blade]

20 hours ago, bluemarble said:

Once again the reception over VTS radio was difficult to make out for QE's departure this evening from Southampton on her repositioning cruise to Vancouver. I thought I heard 1370 pax, 896 crew. The admin on the Solent Ships YouTube channel heard 1309 pax, 896 crew.

Is that about 2/3 full? We have a friend on board and it will be fun to contact her when she reaches Vigo and tell her about capacity!

[bluemarble]

1 hour ago, Kristal Blade said:

Is that about 2/3 full? We have a friend on board and it will be fun to contact her when she reaches Vigo and tell her about capacity!

 

If it's 1370 passengers, that's ≈65% of her 2092 lower berth passenger capacity.

If it's 1309 passengers, that's ≈63% capacity.

 

Either way, that's close to 2/3 full.

 

Perhaps your friend could report back what she might have heard for the number of passengers on board. They used to announce those figures at one of the captain's receptions, but I guess they aren't having those receptions these days.

[Kristal Blade]

48 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

 

If it's 1370 passengers, that's ≈65% of her 2092 lower berth passenger capacity.

If it's 1309 passengers, that's ≈63% capacity.

 

Either way, that's close to 2/3 full.

 

Perhaps your friend could report back what she might have heard for the number of passengers on board. They used to announce those figures at one of the captain's receptions, but I guess they aren't having those receptions these days.

Your wish is my command Bluemarble,

no promises, but I will do my best.

[Kristal Blade]

Sorry, bluemarble. I asked the question but got an “I don’t know” response. I don’t think the captain has made any comment about it, plus people are jumping on and off at different points.

Maybe someone else can chime in?

[bluemarble]

15 minutes ago, Kristal Blade said:

Sorry, bluemarble. I asked the question but got an “I don’t know” response. I don’t think the captain has made any comment about it, plus people are jumping on and off at different points.

Maybe someone else can chime in?

 

No problem. I wasn't really expecting to hear a firm number from a passenger on board. From other voyages recently I've only read general estimates such as "about 1400" or "about 2/3 full" from passengers. Thanks for asking though. Thought it might be worth a try.

[mcloaked]

During a QE voyage in late March, upon asking about the passengers on board, it was around 3/4 full in relation to the stateroom overall capacity, but we were also told at the time, that Cunard had made the decision to keep around 550 beds unavailable for sale on that voyage, specifically to have accommodation available on the ship for possible isolation rooms (for both passengers and crew), but that of those rooms that were made available for sale, every room was sold on that voyage. So of those staterooms that were available they were all 'sold out'.  Given the numbers quoted in this thread, it is entirely possible that they are now keeping a third of rooms available for possible isolation, given the numbers of passengers who have been in need to isolate on some recent voyages. Hence also the ship may currently be only 2/3 full, and it is also possible that all available rooms were indeed sold out ahead of departure in the same way as for the March voyage I referred to above.

Edited May 4, 2022 by mcloaked
Add missing sentence

[jimbo1683]

On 4/26/2022 at 9:56 PM, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Yes, I've had that done to my laundry. I arrived to find my very wet clothing in a laundry basket. Somebody must have moved my clothes a few minutes after I put them in the dryer because I knew better than to be away for long. I got back right around when my clothes should have been dry. I wanted to dump THEIR clothes on the floor and put mine back in the dryer. Fortunately, another dryer had become empty, so I finished drying my clothes and didn't retaliate. 

Why would you leave it in the first place

[3rdGenCunarder]

5 hours ago, jimbo1683 said:

Why would you leave it in the first place

 

because I know how long it takes to dry a load of wash, and I return about 5 minutes before then. The only other option is to sit on the floor in the hallway. 

[bluemarble]

21 hours ago, mcloaked said:

During a QE voyage in late March, upon asking about the passengers on board, it was around 3/4 full in relation to the stateroom overall capacity, but we were also told at the time, that Cunard had made the decision to keep around 550 beds unavailable for sale on that voyage, specifically to have accommodation available on the ship for possible isolation rooms (for both passengers and crew), but that of those rooms that were made available for sale, every room was sold on that voyage. So of those staterooms that were available they were all 'sold out'.  Given the numbers quoted in this thread, it is entirely possible that they are now keeping a third of rooms available for possible isolation, given the numbers of passengers who have been in need to isolate on some recent voyages. Hence also the ship may currently be only 2/3 full, and it is also possible that all available rooms were indeed sold out ahead of departure in the same way as for the March voyage I referred to above.

 

Thank you very much for those details, @mcloaked. I find the comment about your March 18th Northern Lights voyage being 3/4 full particularly interesting. The figures I've been reporting from February into May (including March 18th) have pretty consistently shown QE has been sailing 2/3 full.

 

For the March 18th departure, the number of passengers on board QE was 1385. That works out to 66% of her 2092 lower berth capacity.

 

Now the 550 berths that were being reserved for possible isolation requirements means there would have been 1542 berths available for passengers to occupy (74% of the lower berth capacity).

 

So how do we account for the difference between the 1542 berths that could have been occupied based on the voyage being sold out and the 1385 berths that were occupied? Two possibilities come to mind.

 

The first possibility would be late cancellations, no-shows or passengers denied boarding.

 

The second possibility would be single travelers in double-occupancy cabins. To account for the entire difference in occupancy rates (with zero cancellations/no-shows/denied boarding), that means there would have been 157 travelers sailing solo in double-occupancy cabins. I don't know if that's a reasonable figure for the number of solo travelers or not. And that calculation doesn't account for any cabins occupied by more than two passengers.

 

Fodder for possible further discussion anyway as it seems we might be seeing differences in calculating percent full figures based on the number of cabins sold versus berths actually occupied.

[mcloaked]

Yes interesting thoughts about how the figures arose - also some of the staterooms were being used for senior crew members (not isolating) and indeed along the corridor outside our room a number of doors had a set of hangars with neatly laundered white shirts and some officer jackets - and occasionally going down the corridor a smart crew member would offer a 'good morning' as he or she emerged from their room - rooms which would have been passenger staterooms prior to the pandemic. So that might account for some of the numbers in your speculation.

[3rdGenCunarder]

On 5/5/2022 at 4:21 PM, mcloaked said:

Yes interesting thoughts about how the figures arose - also some of the staterooms were being used for senior crew members (not isolating) and indeed along the corridor outside our room a number of doors had a set of hangars with neatly laundered white shirts and some officer jackets - and occasionally going down the corridor a smart crew member would offer a 'good morning' as he or she emerged from their room - rooms which would have been passenger staterooms prior to the pandemic. So that might account for some of the numbers in your speculation.

 

Remembering that QM2 was stalled in the Caribbean waiting for "essential personnel" (I think that's how they phrased it), I wonder if ships are carrying extra bridge staff to make sure they're covered in case of some cases or positive tests among officers.