Notes from Queen Mary 2 to the Med (& back)

[Windsurfboy]

8 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Why would QG come from Deck 9?

 

I don’t think making people wait is very good customer relations, and could be dangerous if it led to more blockages.

 

Because on QM2 deck 9 is purely  QG and is 90%+ of the QG cabins.

 

If  people come early then if you not make them wait or ideally send them back, then allocated times mean nothing,  you get queue  not fair on those who stick to the allocated times.

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

Because on QM2 deck 9 is purely  QG and is 90%+ of the QG cabins.

 

If  people come early then if you not make them wait or ideally send them back, then allocated times mean nothing,  you get queue  not fair on those who stick to the allocated times.

True, it is not fair. Equally, however, it is not school where you punish people for transgressions. And it is not a universal problem. Others say the difficulty

 was caused by those with mobility difficulties being slow (which should have been factored in to the disembarkation plan). On our disembarkation from QV a few weeks ago, when we arrived a few (less than five) minutes early, there was nobody about. They had started embarkation a bit early, but people were keeping to their times. So don’t assume that lots of passengers are going to transgress.

 

 

[Host Hattie]

I'm so glad I posted the photo to settle the tables discussion 🤦‍♀️.

Just in front of us a couple were stopped because there seemed to be a problem with their passports. There had been a few announcements about an Immigration inspection this morning. 

As they went to different machines it brought the queue to a brief standstill. 

We had purple 5 colour tags and there were very few cases left in that section so it made it easier to find ours.

[exlondoner]

10 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

I'm so glad I posted the photo to settle the tables discussion 🤦‍♀️.

Just in front of us a couple were stopped because there seemed to be a problem with their passports. There had been a few announcements about an Immigration inspection this morning. 

As they went to different machines it brought the queue to a brief standstill. 

We had purple 5 colour tags and there were very few cases left in that section so it made it easier to find ours.

Crikey. And was the Border Force out in force?

[Host Hattie]

The inspection was in the Britannia restaurant, we didn't have to attend. I didn't notice anyone being pulled over in the terminal. 

[majortom10]

3 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

The inspection was in the Britannia restaurant, we didn't have to attend. I didn't notice anyone being pulled over in the terminal. 

On our return to Southampton on roundtrip TA everyone had to go to customs officer in Britannia restaurant to have your passport checked even if British. Times were announced in daily programme with appropriate times.

 

 

[Host Hattie]

1 minute ago, majortom10 said:

On our return to Southampton on roundtrip TA everyone had to go to customs officer in Britannia restaurant to have your passport checked even if British. Times were announced in daily programme with appropriate times.

 

 

That's been the normal process for years on a TA.

[Windsurfboy]

7 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

That's been the normal process for years on a TA.

 

10 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

On our return to Southampton on roundtrip TA everyone had to go to customs officer in Britannia restaurant to have your passport checked even if British. Times were announced in daily programme with appropriate times.

 

 

 

It was the same coming from  Capetown,  so I expect that mandatory passport checks are normal for any cruise that has been outside Europe. 

[Windsurfboy]

1 hour ago, exlondoner said:

True, it is not fair. Equally, however, it is not school where you punish people for transgressions. And it is not a universal problem. Others say the difficulty

 was caused by those with mobility difficulties being slow (which should have been factored in to the disembarkation plan). On our disembarkation from QV a few weeks ago, when we arrived a few (less than five) minutes early, there was nobody about. They had started embarkation a bit early, but people were keeping to their times. So don’t assume that lots of passengers are going to transgress.

 

 

 

If everyone keeps to their allocated time then you can factor in the normal impact if those with mobility difficulties. The number of people disembarkating at any one time will allow for this and things should run smoothly.  If more people turn up you rapidly get  queues . The way queues form it will superficially appear that those with mobility difficulties are the problem as the queue will be behind them. However the fundamental issue is more people trying to disembark than was allowed for.

 

We are talking about QM2 that has nearly twice the passengers than the other ships and therefore twice as many per hour. The more people you are trying to disembark per hour through basically the same gangway and corridors the more critical keeping to right numbers becomes. 

 

Telling people to stick to times and sending them back is not punishment. 

[Victoria2]

14 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

If everyone keeps to their allocated time then you can factor in the normal impact if those with mobility difficulties. The number of people disembarkating at any one time will allow for this and things should run smoothly.  If more people turn up you rapidly get  queues . The way queues form it will superficially appear that those with mobility difficulties are the problem as the queue will be behind them. However the fundamental issue is more people trying to disembark than was allowed for.

 

We are talking about QM2 that has nearly twice the passengers than the other ships and therefore twice as many per hour. The more people you are trying to disembark per hour through basically the same gangway and corridors the more critical keeping to right numbers becomes. 

 

Telling people to stick to times and sending them back is not punishment. 

I read somewhere ages ago when a similar subject cropped up, technically, no-one can stop anyone disembarking when they want to at the end of the cruise.

 

Their bags might not be in the baggage hall and eager beavers might create a bottleneck but it would be interesting to know if  staff can't actually bar anyone from getting off the ship.

 

A few years ago, a bottleneck happened for us. Folk disembarked ahead of their slot and their bags hadn't been put out and far from letting passengers through who had  bags already out for collection, it seemed a personal affront to some that others would  actually want to push their way through and some physically tried to stop us getting through thus creating even more of a bottleneck.

 

Only happened once but it was definitely a H&S issue for some frail passengers trying to get to their bags.

 

 

 

 

[ballroom-cruisers]

45 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

We are talking about QM2 that has nearly twice the passengers than the other ships and therefore twice as many per hour. The more people you are trying to disembark per hour through basically the same gangway and corridors the more critical keeping to right numbers becomes. 

 

 

QM2 has around 2500 passengers whereas QE and QV about 2000 so it is not double the number of passengers on QM2.

[Sdancer]

QM2 - 3064 passengers

QE - 2116

QV - 2014

[D&N]

9 minutes ago, Sdancer said:

QM2 - 3064 passengers

QE - 2116

QV - 2014

It's my bedtime so I'm not about to look anything up. Do you have a source for the QM2 number?

I don't even know why the numbers have been quoted?

It doesn't ring any bells with me. I'm sure someone with time on their hands will be along any minute!

[Host Hattie]

I'm not sure where those figures came from but these are from the Cunard website 

 

[exlondoner]

I think all those numbers might be upped slightly with extra children, but certainly one of the joys of QM2 is that she carries so few passengers for her size, and definitely not twice the number of the Vistas.
 

I can certainly see the comical aspect of trying to persuade a couple of rather frail and perhaps slightly deaf passengers to return to their cabins, because they were half an hour early. They would be so pleased to stumble with their several pieces of hand luggage back towards the lifts, which are always crowded on the last morning, even, for some reason, the ones going up. It would be almost as much fun for the hard pressed staff, trying to persuade them, and causing even greater delays while the discussion took place.

 

I totlally agree it is cheating for people to come down early, and I also think most people don’t. But I don’t realistically see what can be done. Perhaps any one coming down more than 15 minutes early should be disembarked from the opposite side of the ship. That would show them.  🙂

[LargeNegroni]

On 6/10/2023 at 6:49 PM, Host Hattie said:

At sea June 10th

We'd ordered room service breakfast and I was fast asleep when it arrived. 

We managed to get organised and to The Royal Court theatre for the 11am lecture/sales pitch on the Royal Navy. 

We went to the Britannia restaurant for lunch, table for 2, no queue and then back to the cabin for what Mr HH had promised was sun on the balcony! The clouds had other ideas so we watched a film then I had a nap and he booked himself into the planetarium via My Voyage.

We're sharing a 24hr essentials package via Bluetooth from my phone and have been able to read emails, WhatsApp messages and post to social media. 

We're getting ready for Black and White night.

 

 

 

Great selection of insight talks. Certainly more than we recently experienced on our recent 12 nt trip on QV.

[alc13]

1 hour ago, LargeNegroni said:

Great selection of insight talks. Certainly more than we recently experienced on our recent 12 nt trip on QV.

Totally agree, better than what we were offered on QE in April.  Really trivial topics (royal family gossip was one of them and the other was even sillier).

[delgirl]

What happened to where you were allocated to disembark, ie, theatre, queens room. Then someone would come in to say when that particular colour or time you could go

[Host Hattie]

You wait in your cabin and leave at an allocated time. 

[exlondoner]

4 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

You wait in your cabin and leave at an allocated time. 

And they don’t call you like they did in the weeks/months after Covid. You just look at your watch and go. Presumably at some point they come and check that nobody is hiding behind their sofa, hoping to stay on for the next voyage. 🙂

[Splice the mainbrace]

We were on QV last month and staying in our cabin before disembarkation was convenient, however what they didn’t say was that there wouldn’t be any announcements to call the different colour groups. Disembarkation was ahead of schedule so we would have been waiting unnecessarily if I hadn’t gone to see where they were up to.

[Pushpit]

I think if you had the TV on to channel 48 you do get some announcements on that. It's not unusual for disembarkation to run early. But after the first hour or so if the exit scan point isn't looking busy they don't seem to mind if you decide to leave at that point, or later, so long as it's before about 10 am.

[Host Hattie]

Final thoughts as promised 
Cabin

We had 8009, good for access to the Commodore Club🤣, Carinthia Lounge and the theatre and Illuminations. I was a bit worried about noise from the Promenade Deck but apart from our neighbours practising for a Door Slamming contest it was very quiet. There was the added bonus of people watching as well as the sea views. Not much of a view backwards and the Seas were very calm so no movement.
Food and Drinks 
We didn't make it to breakfast in the Britannia restaurant, any meals in Kings Court or afternoon tea.  
We had room service breakfast every morning, either yoghurt, fruit and pastries or scrambled egg with or without smoked salmon. I tried the Cumberland Sausage but wasn't impressed. Mr HH enjoyed the Black Pudding. 
We enjoyed the Carinthia Lounge lunch, there's a much wider choice than the Chart Room on QV/QE with hot dishes as well as the cold platters and a nice choice of desserts. 
Mr HH enjoyed the variety of beer available, although Speckled Hen comes in cans, the others in bottles or draught.
Itinerary 
This was a nice mix of port and sea days, with several new ports for us. We didn't have any early starts but there were no problems getting off the ship or back on.
Dress Code
There were lots of Jackets worn on Smart Attire nights and most men wore collared shirts with only a couple of polo shirts. 
Internet
I used my phone's data in port and we shared our allowances via Bluetooth which worked well until the last sea day when MrHH's phone decided it didn't want to share 😀.

[exlondoner]

1 hour ago, Pushpit said:

I think if you had the TV on to channel 48 you do get some announcements on that. It's not unusual for disembarkation to run early. But after the first hour or so if the exit scan point isn't looking busy they don't seem to mind if you decide to leave at that point, or later, so long as it's before about 10 am.

Thank you. It is helpful to know about Ch. 48.

[Host Hattie]

And just a thank you to everyone who contributed your own experiences of the cruise. It sounds like you all had a good time.

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