Mini Cruising

[Millieloulou]

We are not new to Cunard voyages,and have booked a short cruise to Rotherham in August as we wanted to try out Queen Anne.I am sure we will be blown away by  looking at the forth coming reviews.Has any one had experience of what a short cruise is like? A friend is already tutting and saying we have booked a booze cruise.That would be the worst experience I can imagine,as all the voyages we have taken so far have been memorable.We do have another voyage for this year and several for 2025.

[Ray66]

I take it you mean Rotterdam, not Rotherham 🙂

 

I've been on a few 4 day Cunard cruises and they weren't booze cruises. Maybe more apt to other cruise lines.

[Pushpit]

Rotherham? I wonder if she will go up the Don or the Rother? I suspect it's the more boring option of Rotterdam.

 

I am a lifelong non drinker, and been on many 2, 3 and 4 night sailings (as well as longer trips) and yes there is a bit of a heavy drinking crowd, particularly if there is a weekend involved, but that's firmly in a minority and you will only see it if you are looking for it. So the Golden Lion will have quite a few people in it at midnight, but if you're in Commodore at 9pm you won't really notice the difference. In my opinion it's absolutely not a reason to be discouraged. The main downside to the shorties is that you don't really get into the sailing swing, it all ends so quickly.

[Millieloulou]

Thankyou so much for your reply’s.Yes I did mean Rotterdam! We travel mainly on our favotorite ship Queen Mary2 and yes we are always in the Commodore Club by 9am.There were several things that I am unsure of on Queen Anne , one being the promenade deck.So the only way to find out is to sail and see.

[D&N]

I've seen lots of YouTube videos of these short cruises. The vloggers tend to be those trying out QM2 for the first time without committing to the time/cost of a Transatlantic. So they do attract many first timers but I haven't seen any signs of unruly or drunken behaviour.

They all seem to make an attempt to dress appropriately for gala nights as well, although some perhaps look a little outside their comfort zones.

[exlondoner]

9 minutes ago, D&N said:

I've seen lots of YouTube videos of these short cruises. The vloggers tend to be those trying out QM2 for the first time without committing to the time/cost of a Transatlantic. So they do attract many first timers but I haven't seen any signs of unruly or drunken behaviour.

They all seem to make an attempt to dress appropriately for gala nights as well, although some perhaps look a little outside their comfort zones.

The shortest cruise I’ve been on was a five-nighter, but I’ve been on a couple of cruises that encompassed two-nighters to/from Hamburg. In all cases there was no sign of unruliness. Whatever keen consumption of alcohol there was seems to have been well within the perpetrators’ capacity.

[Millieloulou]

Thankyou once again for your comments.I hope I am not giving the impression that we do not enjoy a drink or two.We have never found any of the bars on Queen Mary 2 rowdy,even to add that our table in the Commadore with our American friends always sounded as if we were having a great time.

Perhaps the friend who made the comment thought we were travelling on another cruise ship .

 

[exlondoner]

13 minutes ago, Millieloulou said:

Thankyou once again for your comments.I hope I am not giving the impression that we do not enjoy a drink or two.We have never found any of the bars on Queen Mary 2 rowdy,even to add that our table in the Commadore with our American friends always sounded as if we were having a great time.

Perhaps the friend who made the comment thought we were travelling on another cruise ship .

 

You did not give that impression. Enjoying a drink or two and upsetting other passengers by rowdy and uncontrolled behaviour are two completely different things, not even two versions of the same thing.

[Millieloulou]

Thankyou! Just about to open a very good bottle of Corbierres as its Friday.

Will drink your health !,

[Winifred 22]

As I live very close to Southampton I love to fit in several a year . Never seen any problems just lots of people enjoying themselves. There is a higher proportion of first timers than usual but that is too be expected. We were all first timers once.  I have never found any difference in service or offerings to usual 7 or 14 night trips. I think you will enjoy it.  

[D&N]

Bad or drunken behaviour is fortunately very rare on any of these short cruises.

The very cheapest lines and Mini-Cruises on North Sea ferry routes sometimes attract stag or hen party type groups that can be a bit noisy. But even Cunard's shortest trips would generally be more expensive than most of those groups would want to pay.

Very rarely there is a news report of an incident resulting in passengers being arrested at a port or on return. I think the last I recall several years ago was on a P&O cruise to Norway, which wasn't a mini cruise. Nothing to do with the cost or length of the cruise, just idiots that couldn't control themselves.

But so rare that nobody should be put off booking because of the chance.

[Craigrlewis]

Been on a fair few of these short ones and no its not a booze cruise atmosphere.

 

Crew member once told me that P&O short cruises are best avoided as they can have a more booze cruise feel.

 

As Pushpit says you may find the Golden Lion more lively later than it usually is.

 

 

 

[showingdiva]

I only ever do short cruises on Cunard.   I am also a life long non-alcohol drinker.    To be fair, can anyone actually afford to get really drunk on a Cunard ship?  🤣

 

However    I had a bad experience on QM2 in 2022, where a group who had clearly had too much too much to drink ran amok in the 3L single cabin corridor.   Banged on all the doors, scattered the daily programs etc out of the holders all over the floor and ran up and down the corridor.   I called security, who to their credit were very quick and dealt with the situation very professionally.    I reported to Cunard on my return, who had already heard from the ship.    It hasn't put me off either the ship or these great 3L cabins, but I do wish a compromise could be struck between that corridor only been accessible to the six cabin occupants and staff and that there are obvious safety access elements

[Victoria2]

13 hours ago, Craigrlewis said:

Been on a fair few of these short ones and no its not a booze cruise atmosphere.

 

Crew member once told me that P&O short cruises are best avoided as they can have a more booze cruise feel.

 

As Pushpit says you may find the Golden Lion more lively later than it usually is.

 

 

 

We have inadvertently been on mini cruises when our main trip has had shorties either end. Whilst in no way have we experienced a booze cruise, the atmosphere of the ship can be quite different on the short legs. I would say more lively, for want of a better term and that's not necessarily a bad thing,  just different.

[rakkor]

I blogged about our Amsterdam short cruise from last September Link.... It was nice to be back on Queen Victoria, but I won't be rushing back to do another short cruise,