On board QV now 3rd July 22

[Victoria2]

2 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

 

 I'm afraid the same thing seems to have happened to newspapers on Cunard. There was the time when the port agent supplied a selection for the library when the ship was in port. There was a notice asking passengers not to remove them, and people didn't, then they started doing so, and now they don't get the papers.

Were they on racks [on the wooden 'poles'] or just on tables. Poles would be harder to 'borrow'.

[exlondoner]

4 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Were they on racks [on the wooden 'poles'] or just on tables. Poles would be harder to 'borrow'.

 

The last I remember is that they were spread around on the big table in the library on one of the Vistas.

[escrick]

Regarding large groups on board:  I was on a Holland America Alaska cruise with  over six hundred Evangelicals.  The Neptune concierge lounge was often jammed; not so the bars.  Our dining time, however, was changed from late seating to early.  As we dined, this large group was having a rousing rally in the theatre.  It would have been good to be notified of large groups before final payment was due.

[Benpointer]

Hi there, we were also on this cruise, Britannia club.  A few thoughts:

 

• This was our first Cunard cruise (we've done just four P&O cruises before, so we're not really experts).
• The cabin, bar and restaurant staff were great - very helpful and friendly.  We did wonder if the numbers of available staff declined during the week (covid cases?).
• There was no push to wear masks, although some passengers were and the all the crew were.  I think the approach of 'monitor cases and introduce compulsory mask-wearing if the numbers increase during the cruise' seems sensible to us.
• The ship is very clean and feels fresh and well-cared for, although the decor is clearly of certain style and age (faux 1930s Art Deco).
• We noticed the large Mexican contingent but they didn't trouble us too much.  Cunard have to sell tickets where they can.
• The Britannia Club food was ok at best I'd say, no better than standard P&O fare though.
• We used the Lido buffet a couple of times and it was better than the P&O equivalent.
• Afternoon tea was very good.
• The Verandah restaurant never seemed to be open, and the pub wasn't serving food, so we didn't have the choices we were expecting.
• Entertainment was poor overall - mainly due to no proper shows.  These are something we look forward to and their absence was disappointing.  
• There was a comedian who was ok but struggled a bit to engage the audience, a soprano who had a good voice but her choice of songs was a bit 'meh' in our opinion (personal preferences, I accept that).
• The best act were the Beatles Experience who were very good.  They were (I assume) roped into doing a 2nd night in the Queens ballroom on the last night and got everyone dancing there.
• Also roped into doing more than they bargained for were an Irish folk duo (Cula?) who were good but probably not ideal for the big theatre.
• The talks were very good - Dr Becky Smethwick, astrophysicist, and Lord Dannatt, former army chief of staff, plus a woman talking about Norwegian Resistance who was apparently excellent but whom we missed, having already sat through two talks that morning...
• ...which highlights a bit of a problem with the talks - they were all crammed in to the the two sea days, rather than being paced out.
• Boarding and disembarkation were very smooth.
• The scenery was brilliant of course, the weather was a bit disappointing but not Cunard's fault of course, and actually the fjords look rather spectacular in moody misty weather.
• The last port of call was Haugesund, which really doesn't have a lot to recommend it.
• I am a wheelchair user and the cabin (8092) was excellent - couldn't fault it.  The ship access is great too.
• However the wheelchair accessible trip options were extremely limited and many times more expensive than their able-bodied equivalents.  I understand that not all trips are going to be accessible but in this day and age of wheelchair friendly buses, I find it odd that so much use is made of inaccessible coaches for trips that would otherwise be fine for a wheelchair user.  (Sorry pet gripe - not just aimed at Cunard!)  We did a trip from a dockside operator at Olden - much cheaper than the Cunard equivalent, and they SO helpful and friendly - even running the trip even though there were only four of us in total.
• One other pet gripe: The sales pitches masquerading as art, jewellery or watch lectures.  If I wanted to buy art, jewellery or watches, I'd go to the West End shops, not come on a cruise!  
• Sorry that's enough rants now! 😉 

 

Overall, if this had been my first cruise I don't think we'd be doing another one.  Maybe it's largely down to covid but the cruise companies are going to have to find a way of managing this better.

 

We won't be booking Cunard again in the near future.  Next year we are looking at two options for 19 night cruises to the Greek Islands:  Cunard Club Balcony versus P&O Balcony + freedom dining.  P&O works out at 25% cheaper (and includes tips).

 

That's it from me.  Sorry if it's a bit negative - the ship, crew, scenery and fellow passengers made it an enjoyable experience overall but not as good as our pre-covid cruises.

 

Benpointer

 

 

[Benpointer]

Sorry, I did that previous post as bullets but the the bullet point marks haven't appeared so it looks a bit like a stream of consciousness.

 

Hopefully it's decipherable to anyone who is interested.

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, Benpointer said:

Sorry, I did that previous post as bullets but the the bullet point marks haven't appeared so it looks a bit like a stream of consciousness.

 

Hopefully it's decipherable to anyone who is interested.

 

I've got bullets. Thanks for your thoughtful comments.

[Benpointer]

2 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

 

I've got bullets. Thanks for your thoughtful comments.

Ah, it must be my browser then (Safari).

 

Re-reading my comments, I fear I have focused on the negative a bit too much.  We are not going to be complaining, we were happy to leave the added tips and an extra tip for the cabin steward.  

 

It's still tough time for the cruise companies - I hope they manage to work through it. 

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, Benpointer said:

Ah, it must be my browser then (Safari).

 

Re-reading my comments, I fear I have focused on the negative a bit too much.  We are not going to be complaining, we were happy to leave the added tips and an extra tip for the cabin steward.  

 

It's still tough time for the cruise companies - I hope they manage to work through it. 

 

How strange. I'm using Safari on an iPad so old it would have white hair and two artificial hips if it were human.

[Host Hattie]

I've got bullets as well, thanks for your very thorough feedback. It's good to hear that embarkation was smooth as there have been a lot of complaints about it recently.

[cook68]

Benpointer

You have summed it up perfectly. I agree with everything you have said. We did have a good time and like someone else said the staff were all really very good, very polite and we did receive good service, 90% of the time. Managers need to do more though and they really need to pay their staff more or they really will be in trouble as clearly, so many have found work else ware. 

 

*apologies, I have no idea why my text is in bold 

Edited July 11, 2022 by cook68

[exlondoner]

90% seems rather good. I would be very happy with 75%.

 

I think you are right about paying the staff more, which of course will make cruises dearer for us all, but may be that is for the best.

[schattenfell71]

Hi again!

Perfect timing...just back from London and I am Covid19 positive.

My trip report will come later.

[exlondoner]

19 minutes ago, schattenfell71 said:

Hi again!

Perfect timing...just back from London and I am Covid19 positive.

My trip report will come later.

 

Poor you. Hope you're not feeling too bad.

[cook68]

14 hours ago, schattenfell71 said:

Hi again!

Perfect timing...just back from London and I am Covid19 positive.

My trip report will come later.

Sorry to hear this, we tested on the morning we left on the 10th and all ok. Hope it's not bad and you recover fast.

[schattenfell71]

Thanks to you all.

 

I am feeling ok. The first 3 days were hard but now its getting better.

 

Trio report will come as soon as possible.

[NewForestBob]

We were on this cruise and it's but us right off Cunard as they appear to show no thought for loyal customers at all.  The large Mexican group were a total nighmare....everywhere we went, large groups of them were gathered, they followed no social distancing rules at all and I didnt see one of them ever use a sanitiser.  Their presence seemed to sum up Cunards attitude on this cruise.

 

Other examples....people wearing white trainers into the formal gala evenings, no Sat TV, no proper evening shows at all, no port guides produced, no access to your on board account, painting our balcony with high VOC paint which made it unusable etc, etc.

 

When we raised issues with the so called Customer Services manager on board, he was totally dismissive.....he seemed genuinely surprised that people wanted to maintain dress codes for at least a couple of nights and felt the Mexican group added colour.

 

The junior staff, waiters, stewards etc were all brilliant as usual, we thought the food was lovely and the QV is such a beautiful way to travel.  But Cunard's senior management need to go.  In the mean time, we have cancelled our next cruise....whether we ever get our money back is another question given the state of the companies cash flow problems.

 

p.s. on our return we both went down with Covid, which an insider has now told me was rife on board....to the extent that half the Bridge crew were in isolation.  

 

[Victoria2]

Large parties of people, not always a good idea.

We were staying in a 4* hotel 'somewhere in the UK' many years ago for a long weekend and a national company held it's 'reward' weekend there.

Friday night was a total disaster. They kept most of the other hotel residents awake 'til around 4am and a room was trashed.

The other residents kept the general manager and his staff awake too!!

 

Luckily for the rest of us, the party  animals were  'asked' to leave.

 

I have no problem with large parties but if they or anyone for that matter  disregards the basic dress code requests or make life 'unpleasant' for the rest of the ship's passengers, then they should be asked to toe the line or disembark.

[carlmm]

3 hours ago, NewForestBob said:

 

When we raised issues with the so called Customer Services manager on board, he was totally dismissive.....he seemed genuinely surprised that people wanted to maintain dress codes for at least a couple of nights 

Unfortunately I experienced exactly this behaviour and attitude already before covid.

On all jind of manangement positions there appear to be people with no idea about Cunard as Cunard.  

[carlmm]

On 7/15/2022 at 7:41 AM, schattenfell71 said:

Hi again!

Perfect timing...just back from London and I am Covid19 positive.

My trip report will come later.

Gerade erst gelesen:

Gute Besserung!

[Bell Boy]

19th July ;  Masks have now been reintroduced on Q. Victoria  according to a friend onboard at the moment . 🙁

 

[schattenfell71]

Hello again!

I am back from a Covid infection which was not so heavy due to my fully vaccination I guess. Everything is fine now so I would like to share my thoughts about the Norwegian Cruise from Kiel to Southampton.

I would devine this cruise in two parts. The first part was the trip from Kiel to Southampton. It was very quite on board and we have had the feeling to be alone on the ship. We always found some places where we were alone and it was such a dream to feel the QV.

The stuff was brilliant. Very friendly and everyone seems glad to be back. Our cabin stuart John was awesome and I have to say that we became a little bit of friends during the cruise. We had our Cunard teddy with us and every evening it was a „battle“ beetween the two of us to put teddy in a funny situation for each other. We put him in front of the window or as the sea became rougher infront of a bag with the sign “Seasick“ on it.

When we came back, John always places teddy in another situation  for example on the couch with the remote control in teddys hands watching the TV (which he left on working). It was so much fun !!

We had a great table for the two of us in the britannia restaurant by the window and the crew there was great also.

The second part of our cruise begins at Southampton where the Mexican people came on board. I fully agree with the others here that they were everywhere and as long as the cruise went, they get looser. No dress code and chaotic inside the Britannia restaurant. Cunard for me is a quality standard. It is another world which may be outdated today but which we really like and looking after. The Cunard feeling was gone after Southampton.

 

I really want to say that they were not rude or something like that but everywhere we went, they were there already in large groups.

 

We spoke to a German crew member and the said to us on the first evening in Southampton these worlds „Now it is a party cruise“. She was not very happy about it.

 

It was a great cruise for us after all because we did the best for us out of it but the Cunard feeling was gone a lot of times.

 

Back at Southampton Gunwharf Executive Travel brings us very reliable to our hotel in London. This private shuttle service is definitly a tip.

We stayed for two more day in London and we had a great time (Abba Voyage is fantastic).

 

One word about wearing masks on the ship: No one was wearing masks on the QV except the crew and us.

 

We are looking forward to our first TA in October and I hope that there will be no large groups.

[Host Hattie]

Thank you for reporting back and it's good to hear you're recovered.

[cook68]

Thank you  Schattenfell for reporting back. Pleased, you are not feeling better. Just to add as soon as we got back we emailed Cunard with pout feelings and concerns regarding this conference and if it was going to become a more regular sight to be sharing our space with extremely large groups. We have had no reply back. I think 3 weeks is long enough to at leat acknowledge us. We did feel safe on board not wearing masks but actually wore them more outside on coaches or crowded places due to the fact we had no idea who we were mixing with, at least on board we had all started relatively covid free. 

[schattenfell71]

Thanks for your reply. I am really feeling better and back at my office again.

 

Cunard is a company like all the others. They have to sell cruises so I do not blame them for selling a cruise to a large number of groups.

 

I really believe it depends on the group itself. I guess if we would charter a cruise with all of the people here on the board the feeling would be another.

 

It would be easier for us to do a cruise on other ships like "Aida" or "Mein Schiff" which are German and speaking German but it would be not the same for us. We do not need 15 restaurants on board or different types of water slides. For us travelling means seeing the world in an now old fashioned way. Cunard represent a sort of style ( I know we can discuss about it if they will do it at the moment) which we really love.

 

The service....the afternoon tea....the British style....you have to love and feel it.

 

Some groups did not feel it and want to sit for hours in the whirlpools, drinking cocktails there (which is not allowed by the way....no crew reaction) and making the best out of the drinking package.