QA Canaries 10 May Comments

[S1971]

19 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I’ve never understood why you can’t order what you like and just pay the additional cost over and above any price cap. To make people pay the full price (as I believe happens) seems outrageous to me, and results in either restricted choice or effectively paying twice. 

 

Totally agree, charge the difference fair enough, but the full price less 20% as @david63 stated is very underhand, more especially if your normal drink is unavailable.

Edited May 30 by S1971

[S1971]

2 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Thanks for clarifying. I still think they should only charge the additional cost above the price cap though.

Yet another irritant is both occupants having to buy the package, which is an issue when one barely drinks any alcohol!

 

Yes, you'd think by now you could have one drink package per cabin, once the limit is reached then normal purchases apply.

 

In all honesty they'd probably sell more packages that way, I believe Virgin Voyages do something similar.

[david63]

2 minutes ago, S1971 said:

 

Totally agree, charge the difference fair enough, but the full price less 20% as @david63 stated is very underhand, more especially if you normal drink is unavailable.

As an aside - Princess only charge the difference (plus service charge on the difference).

 

One would think that all Carnival brands would use the same system - but I suppose that would be too simple as the passenger might know what was going on.

[renji]

On 5/28/2024 at 2:16 PM, Selbourne said:

An excellent and balanced review. Thanks for taking the time to write it. We can relate to many of your comments as we are currently on board QA, although our challenges have been more to do with accessibility issues (my wife is a full time wheelchair user). 

Hi—was with mom in a wheelchair and might I advise that for disembarkation, you ignore the stated time to arrive at Golden Lion and check in early for assistance?  Our stated time to arrive was 8:50 for a 9:10 disembarkation. We were not helped off the ship until after 11.  

[renji]

1 hour ago, Bell Boy said:

Not only that , this drinks package malarkey is a hassle if one ( like me) enjoys a couple (or more) glasses of wine with dinner and trying to flag down a sommelier. You could probably have finished your main course before that second glass of wine is delivered, due to the sommelier who has to keep disappearing into the galley bar dispensary to pick up orders. 

In the mean time those of us who have purchased wine by the bottle - which is probably only an arms length away in the ice bucket (or on the table) end up serving our self whilst this cycle of the sommelier/s are back and forth to the galley and out of view.     

Also the pours on a glass are so stingy, whether on or off the package, I would always get a bottle from now on.

[Clewgarnet]

19 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Yet another irritant is both occupants having to buy the package, which is an issue when one barely drinks any alcohol!

I shared a table with a couple who had that issue - one was teetotal and the other wasn't. (Then again, even paying for the package twice, he got his money's worth. I don't think I ever saw him sober.)

[renji]

30 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Whilst we would never buy a drinks package, as it just wouldn’t be even remotely cost effective for us, I would also find all the restrictions to be infuriating, especially as many of the drinks we’d like are invariably excluded. However, for those who do buy them, I’ve never understood why you can’t order what you like and just pay the additional cost over and above any price cap. To make people pay the full price (as I believe happens) seems outrageous to me, and results in either restricted choice or effectively paying twice. 

I loved not having the package. I felt like I had $72 a day pp (we were 3 people) to spend on actually good wine and never came close to hitting the cost of the package.  But we drink primarily water/ sparkling water and fine wine, not too many cocktails…

[Selbourne]

6 minutes ago, renji said:

Hi—was with mom in a wheelchair and might I advise that for disembarkation, you ignore the stated time to arrive at Golden Lion and check in early for assistance?  Our stated time to arrive was 8:50 for a 9:10 disembarkation. We were not helped off the ship until after 11.  

I must confess that whilst we always register for assistance, I tend not to use it, particularly with disembarkation, as it really irritates me how many people who have coped perfectly adequately around the ship and in ports all cruise suddenly need a wheelchair when they perceive that there is some time advantage to be gained by doing so. As a result, it causes long delays for those who genuinely need it. 
 

We are never in a rush to get off, but I tend to just push my wife off when our time comes (or after if we are still having breakfast) and then grab a porter to assist in the luggage hall. 
 

Hopefully the disembarkation process will be better this cruise than yours, but if the luggage distribution on the day that we embarked was anything to go by, perhaps it won’t!

[Winifred 22]

18 minutes ago, S1971 said:

 

Yes, you'd think by now you could have one drink package per cabin, once the limit is reached then normal purchases apply.

 

In all honesty they'd probably sell more packages that way, I believe Virgin Voyages do something similar.

I don’t believe Virgin offer drinks

packages . You can purchase a bar tab as individuals.

 

[renji]

24 minutes ago, S1971 said:

 

Totally agree, charge the difference fair enough, but the full price less 20% as @david63 stated is very underhand, more especially if your normal drink is unavailable.

I love this feature on virtually all other cruise lines. I actually spend much more because I’ll happily pay the difference to try better wines by the glass and have less of a commitment to a bottle. Cunard moved many wines to costing more than the package by vastly overpricing them. ($14.50 a glass for a $27 dollar bottle wine). So I find that so disingenuous, I would rather drink less on Cunard.   

[NE John]

37 minutes ago, david63 said:

I believe that there is a discount (20%?)

 

One other things that annoy me is that if you have a drinks package then each passenger has to order their own drink - unlike Princess where the Medallion sorts it out.

The 20% discount is nullified when they then add the 15% service charge on each drink. 
Some have mentioned Virgin’s “Bar Tab” policy and I like that idea. Gives more flexibility to pax who don’t drink alcohol (or as much as the other in a cabin) and makes the server’s job easier. 
Cunard needs to change their outdated drinks package programs: for both full paying pax and the now useless US Grills “promo”. 

[Victoria2]

24 minutes ago, renji said:

Hi—was with mom in a wheelchair and might I advise that for disembarkation, you ignore the stated time to arrive at Golden Lion and check in early for assistance?  Our stated time to arrive was 8:50 for a 9:10 disembarkation. We were not helped off the ship until after 11.  

You can arrive in the Golden Lion whatever time you like but assistance disembarkation now goes strictly by the order of passenger disembarkation, the list which the office has supplied to the assistance personnel in the Golden Lion.

[renji]

11 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

You can arrive in the Golden Lion whatever time you like but assistance disembarkation now goes strictly by the order of passenger disembarkation, the list which the office has supplied to the assistance personnel in the Golden Lion.

Interesting. On May 24 they went strictly by arrival time at the Golden Lion, ignoring entirely the staggered time people were given to arrive. Hence the over two hour wait.  

[Victoria2]

12 minutes ago, renji said:

Interesting. On May 24 they went strictly by arrival time at the Golden Lion, ignoring entirely the staggered time people were given to arrive. Hence the over two hour wait.  

That IS interesting.

 

 I questioned the list on arrival at the pub,  I was told no deviation will be allowed from the list order.

 

I think some explanation is required and when we join QA again, I will be questioning early on as I don't want to experience a shambolic disembarkation.

 

edit

I must say though, this was at 7.40 am so have no idea if things went by the list but went toes up by the time you got there an hour later.

 

Edited May 30 by Victoria2

[WantedOnVoyage]

29 minutes ago, NE John said:

The 20% discount is nullified when they then add the 15% service charge on each drink. 
Some have mentioned Virgin’s “Bar Tab” policy and I like that idea. Gives more flexibility to pax who don’t drink alcohol (or as much as the other in a cabin) and makes the server’s job easier. 
Cunard needs to change their outdated drinks package programs: for both full paying pax and the now useless US Grills “promo”. 

On QV over the last three weeks (before the new list came into effect 27 May), the Grills "drink package" still worked but only thanks to staff as fed up with Carnival's gaming passengers who drink as we are,  by outgaming them. 

 

Preferring not to wade through the deliberately arcane chicanery of "list" prices vs. "packages", I found it easier to simply inform the steward of my $12 limit and let them tell me what I could have. It worked well enough. In Grills territory better than elsewhere on the ship. And we rewarded our enablers liberally at the end of the cruise, too.  Post the 27th, I would imagine the Grill $12 package will be 95 per cent useless on paper and 90 per cent even with creative steward accounting.  

 

You might argue that relentless cutbacks, economies and deliberately conceived to confuse and hedge "packages" are a good business practice in a discretionary consumer product like cruising.  But chances are you are not a cruise passenger of late, especially aboard a Carnival owned vessel. 

Edited May 30 by WantedOnVoyage

[S1971]

42 minutes ago, Winifred 22 said:

I don’t believe Virgin offer drinks

packages . You can purchase a bar tab as individuals.

 

 

What's the benefit of purchasing Bar Tab?
It pays to pre-pay! Boost your experience with a pre-purchased $100, $200, or $300 Bar Tab and score bonus onboard credit for extra rounds on us throughout your voyage. So feel free to order that extra drink - and don't be afraid to Shake for Champagne.
 

$100 Bar Tab: an extra $10 to spend and a total of $110 in drinks to share
$200 Bar Tab: an extra $25 to spend and a total of $225 in drinks to share
$300 Bar Tab: an extra $50 to spend and a total of $350 in drinks to share

 

By purchasing this you can buy drinks for anyone.

 

Makes a lot more sense than having to buy two packages and more Cost effective.

 

[renji]

24 minutes ago, S1971 said:

 

What's the benefit of purchasing Bar Tab?
It pays to pre-pay! Boost your experience with a pre-purchased $100, $200, or $300 Bar Tab and score bonus onboard credit for extra rounds on us throughout your voyage. So feel free to order that extra drink - and don't be afraid to Shake for Champagne.
 

$100 Bar Tab: an extra $10 to spend and a total of $110 in drinks to share
$200 Bar Tab: an extra $25 to spend and a total of $225 in drinks to share
$300 Bar Tab: an extra $50 to spend and a total of $350 in drinks to share

 

By purchasing this you can buy drinks for anyone.

 

Makes a lot more sense than having to buy two packages and more Cost effective.

 

I would do the $300 tab in a heartbeat.  Norwegian is my least favorite cruise line but I used to love their premium package (included great bottles of wine, truly premium liquor and Starbucks). But then they got rid of the Moet so it became less appealing…and I’d still prefer Princess, Celebrity, Crystal, even Royal Caribbean. And believe it or not, I’d still prefer Cunard over all others with the unusable drinks package. 

[S1971]

39 minutes ago, renji said:

I would do the $300 tab in a heartbeat

 

Me too, it totally eliminates the needless expense of two drink packages and makes perfect sense, it also gives one freedom of choice, unlike the Cunard one which limits the choice by price.

[Megabear2]

3 hours ago, S1971 said:

 

Glad to hear that MB2, I guess everyone has different tastes, tolerances and overall drink preferences.

 

I'm just of the opinion that if people are buying a package all the drinks within that package should be readily available across all bars, if not available then a satisfactory alternative should be offered even if it crosses the cost threshold.

I would agree.  The lack of wine choice could be very annoying for some but I did do my homework before letting my OH part with his cash.  The coffees, teas, water and Fentimans and Fever Tree swing it very much in my favour but I appreciate many would want the alcohol offertory be better.

 

Commodore Club on menu is particularly testing for package, but they get round it for me - I smile nicely you see!

[Megabear2]

2 hours ago, renji said:

Also the pours on a glass are so stingy, whether on or off the package, I would always get a bottle from now on.

Crikey, I find my gin very large and strong. I doubt I could handle it bigger.

[exlondoner]

For anyone who might be interested, my review has appeared, though it says very little that is not somewhere on this thread.

[Host Hattie]

8 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

For anyone who might be interested, my review has appeared, though it says very little that is not somewhere on this thread.

Thank you, here's a link

Queen Anne Review

 

 

[buchanan101]

29 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

For anyone who might be interested, my review has appeared, though it says very little that is not somewhere on this thread.

Not sure given what is going on in the world that describing the Grills Lounge as a "hell hole" is quite appropriate!

 

What was actually wrong with it? Must be better than QM2 concierge, and the Grills Lounge on QM2 is just dull...

 

(Though I did smile at bananas not appearing until half way through the voyage... maybe they were not ripe? Maybe they didn't put All Bran out at all because they were worried about the ships waste systems?)

[Victoria2]

1 minute ago, buchanan101 said:

Not sure given what is going on in the world that describing the Grills Lounge as a "hell hole" is quite appropriate!

 

What was actually wrong with it? Must be better than QM2 concierge, and the Grills Lounge on QM2 is just dull...

 

(Though I did smile at bananas not appearing until half way through the voyage... maybe they were not ripe? Maybe they didn't put All Bran out at all because they were worried about the ships waste systems?)

We had bananas no problem, which along with the bed mats seem to be a bit of a speciality.

 

Rooibos Tea was almost a  currency on a world cruise years ago. Maybe moving with the times, bananas are the short term post Covid replacement!

 

I could mention the fact blueberries didn't last the whole two weeks but then we did do our best to decimate  the supply so shouldn't moan really!  😄

[Victoria2]

5 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

Not sure given what is going on in the world that describing the Grills Lounge as a "hell hole" is quite appropriate!

 

What was actually wrong with it? Must be better than QM2 concierge, and the Grills Lounge on QM2 is just dull...

 

(Though I did smile at bananas not appearing until half way through the voyage... maybe they were not ripe? Maybe they didn't put All Bran out at all because they were worried about the ships waste systems?)

The lounge was very much a Marmite area. It was very popular for pre lunch and dinner drinks but I think those who love the Vistas lounge would be a tad disappointed. We didn't stop for coffee or drinks very often whereas QV's lounge was very much 'our' lounge!