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QM2 Refit? Refresh?

Mudhen

By Mudhen,
in Cunard Line

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Luv2Crus40

Luv2Crus40

Posted
Posted

We're  spoiled because we had 6 wonderful cruises on QM2 during her first 8 years at sea when she was at her most glorious, elegance and exceptional quality of service and food in MDR and buffet.  We were shocked at the changes on our July 2022 cruise. Service and food definately not up to QM2 old standards. But we feel the same has changed on other cruise lines we've been sailing on since 2010, except for Celebrity which has maintained excellence in service and food for our cruises since 2010.  We've been sailing on the Celebrity Summit out of Bayonne because we found same quality as QM2 for less money (meaning more cruises for us) and the convenience of sailing out of Bayonne as we only live 45 minutes from that port.  We love the QM2 but sad of her decline.   Guests who sailed on her in her glory days notice it the most.  We read about the refit so we've tentatively booked for November 2024 because we love going to the Caribbean on the QM2 and hoping that the reviews will show that service and food have improved, in addition to getting that awful rust off the balconies and elsewhere.  Also from reviews and our experience, too, embarkation out of Red Hook Brooklyn has been disastrous since 2019.  Seems to be the only port with hours of waiting to board with nowhere to sit and people passing out from standing so long.  

Still, the QM2 is a beautiful and unique ocean liner and would hope many will enjoy having a chance to sail on her.

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moses0

moses0

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Crossed both ways recently and loved it.  The rust on the balcony comes mostly from the chase that carries the electric cables. It runs down from that. Hopefully they will replace it, other wise it will do the same again pretty soon if all they do is paint over it. 

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exlondoner

exlondoner

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15 hours ago, Luv2Crus40 said:

We're  spoiled because we had 6 wonderful cruises on QM2 during her first 8 years at sea when she was at her most glorious, elegance and exceptional quality of service and food in MDR and buffet.  We were shocked at the changes on our July 2022 cruise. Service and food definately not up to QM2 old standards. But we feel the same has changed on other cruise lines we've been sailing on since 2010, except for Celebrity which has maintained excellence in service and food for our cruises since 2010.  We've been sailing on the Celebrity Summit out of Bayonne because we found same quality as QM2 for less money (meaning more cruises for us) and the convenience of sailing out of Bayonne as we only live 45 minutes from that port.  We love the QM2 but sad of her decline.   Guests who sailed on her in her glory days notice it the most.  We read about the refit so we've tentatively booked for November 2024 because we love going to the Caribbean on the QM2 and hoping that the reviews will show that service and food have improved, in addition to getting that awful rust off the balconies and elsewhere.  Also from reviews and our experience, too, embarkation out of Red Hook Brooklyn has been disastrous since 2019.  Seems to be the only port with hours of waiting to board with nowhere to sit and people passing out from standing so long.  

Still, the QM2 is a beautiful and unique ocean liner and would hope many will enjoy having a chance to sail on her.


I too travelled on her in July 2022, having first used her in 2006 and a few times in between. I didn’t really feel any major changes, certainly not ones that shocked me by being so much worse. Perhaps I am just unobservant. What I have observed is how much nicer the Grills facilities (not the cabins) are on the Vistas, but that has always been the case.

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david,Mississauga

david,Mississauga

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3 hours ago, exlondoner said:


I too travelled on her in July 2022, having first used her in 2006 and a few times in between. I didn’t really feel any major changes, certainly not ones that shocked me by being so much worse. Perhaps I am just unobservant. What I have observed is how much nicer the Grills facilities (not the cabins) are on the Vistas, but that has always been the case.

 

I think most of us would agree that the Grills facilities on the Vistas are considerably better than on the QM2.  As well, most agree that the PG staterooms on the QM2 are better than those on the Vistas. As for QG, even the cheapest accommodation on the Vistas have a separate shower. On the QM2 we would have to pay thousands more for one of the few suites that have that amenity. (My wife's ability to climb into a tub is not getting any easier.) 

 

After having been overjoyed with our recent QG experience on the QE, we have decided we will never again pay for the Grills on the QM2. Our next two QM2 voyages have been booked in the Britannia Club. 

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NE John Great Review Rare

NE John

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, exlondoner said:


I too travelled on her in July 2022, having first used her in 2006 and a few times in between. I didn’t really feel any major changes, certainly not ones that shocked me by being so much worse. Perhaps I am just unobservant. What I have observed is how much nicer the Grills facilities (not the cabins) are on the Vistas, but that has always been the case.

I agree. My first time onboard was a 2008 Crossing and I didn’t see anything to detract from my QM2 experience (physical space) during this summer’s TA. Maybe the ugly corridor rugs could be changed? I ignore the rust on the outside hull as I don’t see it once onboard. 
The bigger change is the dress code from back then…Jackets and ties for “semi-formal” nights vs the ever changing code nowadays. 

Edited by NE John
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BlueRiband

BlueRiband

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According to the Port of Rotterdam website, the refit is thus described: "This concerns an operational 'refit'; both technical maintenance and renovation of carpets and staterooms." (Machine translated from Dutch.)

The Damen Verolme Rotterdam dock 7 is their largest: maximum of 405m length, 90m beam and 11.6m draft.  I'm hoping that once she arrives some images will show up on social media. 

 

There are not too many drydocks in the world that can accomodate her.  On the US east coast Newport News - which builds aircraft carriers - appears to be the only place if she ran into serious trouble on this side of the Atlantic.

 

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bluemarble

bluemarble

Posted
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1 hour ago, OceanLinerGeek24 said:

Do we think QM2's livery and font will be updated/changed during this refit to match Queen Anne's?

 

That's an interesting question. There was some previous discussion about this early last year on the "New Ship" thread. One school of thought was that Cunard might roll out the new livery on the current ships during their scheduled drydocks prior to QA's debut. That didn't happen with QV's drydock in Belfast during May 2022 which is understandable since the emphasis then was to get QV back into service. Perhaps more significantly that didn't happen with QE during her more recent drydock in Singapore this past March.

 

Now QM2's current drydock is both longer than the others and closer to QA's debut, so I suppose it's possible they could update her livery to match Queen Anne's. I haven't read anything specifically mentioning QM2's livery will be updated during the current drydock. My guess is no it won't. Perhaps I'll be surprised.

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Underwatr

Underwatr

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Posted
1 hour ago, OceanLinerGeek24 said:

Do we think QM2's livery and font will be updated/changed during this refit to match Queen Anne's?

I believe the letters themselves are actually welded onto the face of the prow (and then painted a contrasting color). They could be ground off but I don't think they'd just paint the new font over the old metal,

(I'm struggling to remember what they did when the rear changed from SOUTHAMPTON to HAMILTON - just paint or metalwork.)

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bluemarble

bluemarble

Posted
Posted (edited)
17 minutes ago, Underwatr said:

Back around April 1 there were photos of QM2 painted Caronia green. 🙂

 

Yes, indeed. I remember that well. That was April 1, 2016 just prior to QM2's 2016 remastering. Here's a link to the full post from Cunard's facebook page.

 

https://www.facebook.com/cunard/photos/a.149158368222/10154140278573223

Edited by bluemarble
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Germancruiser Great Review Rare

Germancruiser

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I just dissembarked QM2 last Sunday. I had a wonderful voage- from Quebec to Hamburg. Yes- Mary needs the current refit- badly- the hull - all chairs in QR and Britannia- most all carpets are worn out.

Did that disturb my voyage- experience- NO IT DID NOT!

QM2 is such a comfortable- cosy- yet elegant ship that those signs of wear and tear are not that significant- well at least not for me.

I had a nice talk ( I mentioned that on another thread already) with the Hotel Manager during the Senior Officers cocktail party. All carpets will be redone, all chairs upholsterd, all lighting renewed, the parket floor in QR completely redone. All cabins will get better wifi signals.

So we may see Mary again in a different colour sheme ( inside) . Can´t wait to see the first pictures.

Mid voyage they closed up part of Deck 8, including the laundry room. When we docked in New York- all the debris from those cabins where offloaded- so I expect the cabins- well some of them at least will be redone. So in other words they started to dismantel on the way.

3,5 weeks are not that long- so not everyhting can be taken care of. Anyway- they embarked part of the 700 contractors already in NY. I am also sure all cabins get new USB electric outlets. Very dated in the Britannia cabins, except for those cabins installed in the 2016 refit.

Food and Service - well nothing to complain about- except for the last dinner in Britannia- that service really was almost catasrophic. I had some stern, but polite words with the Maitre after dinner.

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Petulia

Petulia

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7 hours ago, Underwatr said:

I get the feeling that we've given up on Cunard ever repairing the reclining seats in Illuminations (or have they been fixed??).

On our voyage in Oct 2006 OH’s seat was broken, hope it’s been fixed since then 😯

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sogne

sogne

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There was a recent post that indicated that the seats would be repaired. The original manufacturer is no longer in business and like many other things today the problem has been finding a company who can make them to a somewhat unique specification.

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TheOldBear

TheOldBear

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3 hours ago, sogne said:

There was a recent post that indicated that the seats would be repaired. The original manufacturer is no longer in business and like many other things today the problem has been finding a company who can make them to a somewhat unique specification.

I was told [November 2022] that the work was originally planned for an availability scheduled [2020?] during what turned into the COVID lockdown - and since that availability was canceled, the selected vendor went out of business.  I believe that all Illuminations seats are to be replaced - not just the reclining planetarium seats.

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