Live: Queen Anne Maiden Voyage.

[Colin_Cameron]

Very steady most of the time. An odd shimmy and shudder as we crossed the Bay of Biscay but very little pitch and roll.

 

Still getting used to things,  as are the crew. I thought the Britannia galley problems were fixed as we had no problems yesterday but then we started hearing some horror stories, and then this morning's breakfast took a couple of minutes under two hours.  It was just as well we had a good table and everyone was happily getting along. If we'd had a table of moaners we would probably have left. Tables around us that arrived after us, ordered, were served, ate, left, and the tables were being refilled and we were still waiting. According to the waiter all the delays are with orders for large tables. I also note that they have either given up on the iPad ordering, or that system has stopped working. 

 

Things are not helped when passengers are shown to a table and as soon as the waiter has left, move somewhere else. I saw this at lunch and last night we had a gent moved to a spare seat at our table because others had parked themselves at his table. I know BellBoy has had the same problem.

 

Other than these problems I do like the dining room. It reminds me quite a bit of Vistafjord/Caronia's dining room. 

[bluemarble]

Queen Anne departing A Coruña, Spain this evening. This is a capture from the "A Coruña (móbil)" webcam found on the CRTVG "g24.gal" website. Looks like she had a fireboat water display to accompany her departure.

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

18 minutes ago, Colin_Cameron said:

Things are not helped when passengers are shown to a table and as soon as the waiter has left, move somewhere else. I saw this at lunch and last night we had a gent moved to a spare seat at our table because others had parked themselves at his table. I know BellBoy has had the same problem.

 

How rude!!! I've had my table hijacked in the buffet, but never the dining room.

 

If someone has a fixed dining table assigned and someone else just sits there, the waiter should say "Pardon me, but are you sure you're at the right table?" (Well, really, the waiter should say "This is NOT YOUR TABLE. Sit where you're supposed to be." But they have to be polite.) I suppose early on in the cruise, the waiters don't know their assigned customers yet, but supervisors need to tell them to "defend" their tables. 

Edited May 5 by 3rdGenCunarder

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

How rude!!! I've had my table hijacked in the buffet, but never the dining room.

 

If someone has a fixed dining table assigned and someone else just sits there, the waiter should say "Pardon me, but are you sure you're at the right table?" (Well, really, the waiter should say "This is NOT YOUR TABLE. Sit where you're supposed to be." But they have to be polite.) I suppose early on in the cruise, the waiters don't know their assigned customers yet, but supervisors need to tell them to "defend" their tables. 

I thought it was random seating at breakfast.

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 minute ago, exlondoner said:

I thought it was random seating at breakfast.

 

It is, but you're given a table, not just told to sit anywhere. I think people are assigned a table from the computer, so that waiter stations can be balanced to avoid overloading. (Or am I remembering that from HAL?)

 

One of the instances quoted above was dinner. With some tables being open seating, people may assume that being seated somewhere doesn't mean they have to stay there. But even so, it's rude and entitled. Who does that in a shoreside restaurant where they're shown to a table?

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

It is, but you're given a table, not just told to sit anywhere. I think people are assigned a table from the computer, so that waiter stations can be balanced to avoid overloading. (Or am I remembering that from HAL?)

 

One of the instances quoted above was dinner. With some tables being open seating, people may assume that being seated somewhere doesn't mean they have to stay there. But even so, it's rude and entitled. Who does that in a shoreside restaurant where they're shown to a table?

Well, I have asked to be moved, particularly in the days of smoking, but that is rather different.

[Colin_Cameron]

5 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

I thought it was random seating at breakfast.

Not quite random.  Tables are assigned by the maitre d' at the door. But when people move after being shown to a table, and then other people are shown to a table that 'should ' be empty it slows everything down.

[3rdGenCunarder]

Just now, exlondoner said:

Well, I have asked to be moved, particularly in the days of smoking, but that is rather different.

 

We asked to be moved in one of the PG restaurants on QE2 because we were at the edge of the "smoking section" (no divider, just an imaginary boundary). Several heavy smokers made it a miserable dinner. One couple smoked constantly. I don't know how they managed to get in a meal, too. 

 

And to go back to the banquette discussion, didn't one of the PG restaurants on QEs have a row of banquettes? I have a vague memory of that being the smoking area.

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

We asked to be moved in one of the PG restaurants on QE2 because we were at the edge of the "smoking section" (no divider, just an imaginary boundary). Several heavy smokers made it a miserable dinner. One couple smoked constantly. I don't know how they managed to get in a meal, too. 

 

And to go back to the banquette discussion, didn't one of the PG restaurants on QEs have a row of banquettes? I have a vague memory of that being the smoking area.

Never went in PG on QE2, but I’ll tell you one place that did have banquettes, which was the estimable M. Roux’s Le Gavroche, though the ones there enabled both of you to face the room. Maybe it is his fault.

[exlondoner]

Just out of interest, how is it going to take you nearly two days to get to Lisbon?

[Pear Carr]

35 minutes ago, Colin_Cameron said:

Things are not helped when passengers are shown to a table and as soon as the waiter has left, move somewhere else. I saw this at lunch and last night we had a gent moved to a spare seat at our table because others had parked themselves at his table.

Totally unacceptable and confusing for staff given table will have been allocated for a reason re: staffing/station.  Selfish and not in the spirit of Cunard.

[addo]

Iwould be interested to know if the rails in the wardrobes can be removed so the hotel hangers can be taken off/. We are booked on the World Voyage so need all the space we can possibly achieve/

[Colin_Cameron]

While we're on the restaurant, the spiral staircase between the two levels is so narrow that it serves no practical purpose.

 

So I like the restaurant,  I like the cabin, I liked The Bright Lights Society (although until they change the show it will be a one off novelty). The theatre, while not a patch on QE or QV, is much, MUCH better than it appeared in the renderings and early photos. It's wider than it looked and it's not the same slope the whole way back. As you move back the seats are on a steeper rake,  improving the view.

[Colin_Cameron]

4 minutes ago, addo said:

Iwould be interested to know if the rails in the wardrobes can be removed so the hotel hangers can be taken off/.

In a word, yes.

[MylesS]

17 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Just out of interest, how is it going to take you nearly two days to get to Lisbon?

I believe we’ll be going at a snails pace. 

[Colin_Cameron]

51 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

Queen Anne departing A Coruña ... Looks like she had a fireboat water display to accompany her departure.

 

Along with liberal use of the ship's whistle!

[3rdGenCunarder]

37 minutes ago, Colin_Cameron said:

While we're on the restaurant, the spiral staircase between the two levels is so narrow that it serves no practical purpose.

 

So I like the restaurant,  I like the cabin, I liked The Bright Lights Society (although until they change the show it will be a one off novelty). The theatre, while not a patch on QE or QV, is much, MUCH better than it appeared in the renderings and early photos. It's wider than it looked and it's not the same slope the whole way back. As you move back the seats are on a steeper rake,  improving the view.

 

Good news that the theater is better "in person."

[D&N]

2 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Just out of interest, how is it going to take you nearly two days to get to Lisbon?

 

1 hour ago, MylesS said:

I believe we’ll be going at a snails pace. 

Just do what they do in the Med. Cannes to Monaco should take about two hours, but some ships sail out to sea and go round in circles for a while.

[tacticalbanjo]

5 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Yes, I had assumed the same, but pointing to the lift is not unhelpful. Has the ship felt steady so far?

The carpets/lift areas are also colour coded. Forward stairwell is blue, mid is yellow, aft is red. So you know where in the ship you are headed towards/away from by the colour of the carpet. It sounds a bit complicated but it’s actually quite helpful. 

[Colin_Cameron]

And then there's the bad news.

 

The Queen's Room.

 

A "Grand Ballroom", it is not. It's not just the dance floor, though that's bad enough. It's the whole room. It feels like a hotel function suite. I had written 'corporate hotel', but it doesn't even aspire to that. Think cheap wedding venue. When you walk in from the aft end the first thing you see is the bar (which does have bar seating!), it's the focal point of the room. And the size! A quick scan around today at afternoon tea, a port day and overflowing,  suggests it has maybe a bit more than half the seats of QE or QV. On a ship that has 50% more passengers.

 

I've tried taking some photos to illustrate but none of them really show the true picture.  I'll keep trying.

[Lakesregion]

1 hour ago, Colin_Cameron said:

And then there's the bad news.

 

The Queen's Room.

 

A "Grand Ballroom", it is not. It's not just the dance floor, though that's bad enough. It's the whole room. It feels like a hotel function suite. I had written 'corporate hotel', but it doesn't even aspire to that. Think cheap wedding venue. When you walk in from the aft end the first thing you see is the bar (which does have bar seating!), it's the focal point of the room. And the size! A quick scan around today at afternoon tea, a port day and overflowing,  suggests it has maybe a bit more than half the seats of QE or QV. On a ship that has 50% more passengers.

 

I've tried taking some photos to illustrate but none of them really show the true picture.  I'll keep trying.

Beginning to wish I had waited to book my 17 days from NYC to SF in Janaury until the reviews were in. But such is life and I look forward to a full day in SF as I have never been there and then a restful ride back home on the train. I am far from Cunard's target market at the age of 85 so maybe the ride will be geat or maybe it will be a final episode in an otherwise wonderful number of experiences on the QE2 and the QM2 and let it go at that.

[reeves35]

5 hours ago, Pear Carr said:

Totally unacceptable and confusing for staff given table will have been allocated for a reason re: staffing/station.  Selfish and not in the spirit of Cunard.

Nothing to do with the "spirit of Cunard";  It is rude anywhere.  You have been assigned a seat.  If, for some reason, you want to move, you should ask the wait staff to move you but doing it unilaterally is impolite on Carnival just as it is on Cunard.

 

Edited May 5 by reeves35

[foodsvcmgr]

The Queens Room is so stark and sparsely decorated and furnished that it will be easily improved if Cunard chooses to respond to the concerns.

Not so much in need of “redecorating” as merely decorating to the standard of the rest of the ship.

[Solent Richard]

On 5/6/2024 at 1:19 AM, foodsvcmgr said:

The Queens Room is so stark and sparsely decorated and furnished that it will be easily improved if Cunard chooses to respond to the concerns.

Not so much in need of “redecorating” as merely decorating to the standard of the rest of the ship.

I very much doubt any changes will take place in this area: this is the ‘new’ Cunard and it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.

 

With Queen Anne’s larger ship capacity the Queens Room has taken on an additional function- hosting a second entertainer each evening….

 

 

…as last night…

 

[tacticalbanjo]

I watched Georgina Jackson in the Queens Room last night and quite enjoyed myself. A big downside is that there are pillars everywhere which block the view. The room has a retro vibe that wouldn’t miss a bit of Perspex!
 

I can see myself using the room a lot more than I even did before. I know that the changes will upset the dancers but probably not the beancounters because there were plenty of people buying drinks.