QA British Isles Voyage

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, Selbourne said:

Well we paid top dollar and didn’t expect a gift, although the souvenir programme was sort of one!

But you might reasonably have expected a more helpful cabin than you have.

[Victoria2]

Just now, exlondoner said:

What I haven’t really figured out is what there that makes people say QA is so different from the other Cunarders? 

I have been asked a few times what I think of the new ship and my reply is she is definitely Cunard but also not, in a [on my one and only foray onto that cruise line] Celebrity way.

That's not a bad thing, just a bit different.

[Megabear2]

11 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Perhaps you’ve been unlucky MB. We’ve not encountered any of that. Thought of you this morning when I went to the Pursers desk to get some envelopes for end of cruise tips. There was a couple sat nearby with an officer. Both wearing face masks. I wondered if it was the offending couple from yesterday. 

I sat at a table of 6 for breakfast, all complaining.  Sat through two talks in the theatre, two different people sat next to me, both unhappy with the Godparent and telling me this isn't a real Chnard ship.  Well the outside paint job and the Cunard name emblazoned on her seems to indicate they may just be a little misguided in their belief ...

 

Even queuing to buy Celia Imrie's book someone announced we'll.no doubt she has to earn her goodie bag.  Goodness me, perhaps the late night has made them so grumpy but really ...

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, Victoria2 said:

I have been asked a few times what I think of the new ship and my reply is she is definitely Cunard but also not, in a [on my one and only foray onto that cruise line] Celebrity way.

That's not a bad thing, just a bit different.

Never been on Celebrity, so can’t compare. The same with P&O which seems another object of comparison. Don’t they tend to play a lot of loud artificial music on Celebrity?

 

Incidentally don’t you think the dress of the five Liverpudlian women yesterday, (which was criticised by many) was in part chosen to reflect the Cunard colours?

[Host Hattie]

5 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I sat at a table of 6 for breakfast, all complaining.  Sat through two talks in the theatre, two different people sat next to me, both unhappy with the Godparent and telling me this isn't a real Chnard ship.  Well the outside paint job and the Cunard name emblazoned on her seems to indicate they may just be a little misguided in their belief ...

 

Even queuing to buy Celia Imrie's book someone announced we'll.no doubt she has to earn her goodie bag.  Goodness me, perhaps the late night has made them so grumpy but really ...

I love the fact that people book a ship that's been well advertised will be different and then complain when it is in fact different!

I hope you can find some more positive company for the rest of the say.

Thanks again for all your photos and commentary yesterday. 

[Selbourne]

4 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

But you might reasonably have expected a more helpful cabin than you have.

True, and it would have been nice had Cunard delivered the itinerary that was advertised, with Friday being the promised “Scenic Scottish Isles Cruising” rather than a sea day where we didn’t see a speck of land all day! These are the two major disappointments for us and, in truth, we expected better in both respects. 
 

However, promenade deck aside, we really like the ship. We think she is classy and upmarket, and if my wife was able bodied I think she’d become a favourite for us. Service has been excellent and food has, in the main, been very good. We have really enjoyed Britannia Club and would recommend it. The staff and managers have all been superb. 
 

Whilst we’ve had mixed weather, we have been blessed with calm seas and we haven’t felt an inch of movement from the ship the whole cruise. We have some white caps today for the first time and she’s still completely stable. 
 

Anyone who is able bodied and gets the itinerary that was sold to them would have a superb experience IMHO. 

[exlondoner]

4 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

I love the fact that people book a ship that's been well advertised will be different and then complain when it is in fact different!

I hope you can find some more positive company for the rest of the say.

Thanks again for all your photos and commentary yesterday. 

The other amusing thing is how often the people who spend their time complaining about the many iniquities of the ship then sidle off to the Booking Office and book a couple more cruises. This happens on all the Cunard ships, not just QA.

Edited June 4 by exlondoner

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

True, and it would have been nice had Cunard delivered the itinerary that was advertised, with Friday being the promised “Scenic Scottish Isles Cruising” rather than a sea day where we didn’t see a speck of land all day! These are the two major disappointments for us and, in truth, we expected better in both respects. 
 

However, promenade deck aside, we really like the ship. We think she is classy and upmarket, and if my wife was able bodied I think she’d become a favourite for us. Service has been excellent and food has, in the main, been very good. We have really enjoyed Britannia Club and would recommend it. The staff and managers have all been superb. 
 

Whilst we’ve had mixed weather, we have been blessed with calm seas and we haven’t felt an inch of movement from the ship the whole cruise. We have some white caps today for the first time and she’s still completely stable. 
 

Anyone who is able bodied and gets the itinerary that was sold to them would have a superb experience IMHO. 

I would hope that the failure of the accessible cabin to be properly accessible is something they can remedy fairly rapidly. Remember they spent QV’s first world cruise, which was about her second voyage, retrofitting drawers into most of the cabins. So proper rails in a comparatively few cabins really shouldn’t be beyond them.

[Victoria2]

8 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Never been on Celebrity, so can’t compare. The same with P&O which seems another object of comparison. Don’t they tend to play a lot of loud artificial music on Celebrity?

 

Incidentally don’t you think the dress of the five Liverpudlian women yesterday, (which was criticised by many) was in part chosen to reflect the Cunard colours?

Loud music? Not the parts of the ship I was in.

No, I'm talking the bright  and general ambiance in places although the food hall is nowhere near as good as the one I experience on Eclipse.

 

Didn't equate the colours of the 'ambassadors of Liverpool' with Cunard but I guess the red and black could be Cunard'ish.

 

 

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, Victoria2 said:

Loud music? Not the parts of the ship I was in.

No, I'm talking the bright  and general ambiance in places although the food hall is nowhere near as good as the one I experience on Eclipse.

 

Didn't equate the colours of the 'ambassadors of Liverpool' with Cunard but I guess the red and black could be Cunard'ish.

 

 

At the risk of emulating the arch complainers, I am included to say ‘Food Hall, pah. Call it the Lido’. As in fact everyone seemed to, including a couple of crew, one of whom corrected herself with rolling eyes. 😀

[MylesS]

47 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

It very humbling to receive profuse thanks for something as simple as a handful of photographs of the occasion

We're really lucky to do as many cruises on Cunard as we do, especially for our age. But whether we're having a good time or not (rarely the case that we're not), I always have tried to be humble.

For some people, its a once in a lifetime trip, or something one can only dream of doing. In my opinion, it's those people who won't have a problem with the small things that set some loyal Cunard customers off - and if it doesn't upset them, then why should it upset me?

[ace2542]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

Well the mood on here is very down.  Virtually everyone I've spoken to today is moaning about something!  Very tiring after the long day and night just past.

 

After being up from 5.00am yesterday to see the sail in, wandering the steets of Liverpool, being escorted round a fascinating vessel called The Danny and then standing through the ceremony and back onboard at 8.25pm I'm not really in the mood for all the doom and gloom so have retired with a good book to a chair away from everyone after watching the lovely Celia Imrie In the theatre.

 

My opinion only. The send-off was lovely, the people of Liverpool very welcoming and I didn’t go to bed until 2.00am so the party must have been good.

You guys got treated to a show last night. Craig Charles DJing you out to fireworks after him DJing with the royal liverpool philarmonic playing with him. Incredible. I will remember last night for the rest of my life. I work close by and I am so glad I went I wasn't gonna go but I changed my mind during the day

 

I think my sailway on QM2 out of Brooklyn even for the 400th TA is gonna suck by comparison.

Edited June 4 by ace2542

[new to cuising]

16 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

True, and it would have been nice had Cunard delivered the itinerary that was advertised, with Friday being the promised “Scenic Scottish Isles Cruising” rather than a sea day where we didn’t see a speck of land all day! These are the two major disappointments for us and, in truth, we expected better in both respects. 
 

However, promenade deck aside, we really like the ship. We think she is classy and upmarket, and if my wife was able bodied I think she’d become a favourite for us. Service has been excellent and food has, in the main, been very good. We have really enjoyed Britannia Club and would recommend it. The staff and managers have all been superb. 
 

Whilst we’ve had mixed weather, we have been blessed with calm seas and we haven’t felt an inch of movement from the ship the whole cruise. We have some white caps today for the first time and she’s still completely stable. 
 

Anyone who is able bodied and gets the itinerary that was sold to them would have a superb experience IMHO. 

Judging by the online mapping QA appeared very close to some of the Scottish Islands especially on the starboard side. Obviously some of these charts may not be as accurate as can be expected, but equally shipping channels must be adhered to. Could it be that people were looking out of the wrong side! We did a round Britain in 2009 on QM2 and someone tried to tell me they hadn’t seen the land. They were rather surprised when I showed them photos of the vast numbers of cars and people on the Yorkshire coast! Yes my fellow passengers had been looking towards Norway!

[new to cuising]

Just a few of the many photos I took yesterday. 

[Mareblu]

43 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Well the mood on here is very down.  Virtually everyone I've spoken to today is moaning about something!  Very tiring after the long day and night just past.

 

After being up from 5.00am yesterday to see the sail in, wandering the steets of Liverpool, being escorted round a fascinating vessel called The Danny and then standing through the ceremony and back onboard at 8.25pm I'm not really in the mood for all the doom and gloom so have retired with a good book to a chair away from everyone after watching the lovely Celia Imrie In the theatre.

 

My opinion only. The send-off was lovely, the people of Liverpool very welcoming and I didn’t go to bed until 2.00am so the party must have been good.

 

A large number were enjoying the Pavillion, still going strong at 11.30pm when I decanted to The Bright Lights with my table companions.  We enjoyed the day enormously and no matter what you make of some of the decisions it was a unique and memorable occasion that I for one am very glad I had the opportunity to enjoy. 

 

I've even made a new friend, a lady I met ashore last night who does three jobs as a cleaner and bar person who wanted to know all about cruise ships and travelling around the world seeing sites she said she could only dream of.  She's 73 and our conversations made me appreciate even more how very lucky I am to be travelling on this lovely ship no matter who her Godparent is or how she compares to her predecessors. It very humbling to receive profuse thanks for something as simple as a handful of photographs of the occasion.

 

 

We were looking forward very much, after learning before embarkation that Ms Imrie would be appearing “in conversation” (an excellent format for career insights) to attending her event.  Now, the reason we definitely did not attend today needs to be couched in somewhat delicate terms:

Our section of the QG restaurant was treated last night to quite the diva performance, apparently.  
 

We’ve grown to respect and enjoy our dining companions at tables nearby, so we don’t doubt for a moment the exact same tale they all related both last night as we bumped into one lovely lady returning to her cabin as we did, nor the other couples today.  It was the first evening dining we’ve missed, as we realised the fireworks pontoon was to be positioned only yards from our aft balcony.  We opted for a quick bite in Artisan, which was very pleasant, and back to the balcony with a wee after-dinner dram.  I digress to say we feel we had the best view in Liverpool or on The Mersey itself.  We felt so lucky as the sky and water merged so spectacularly before our eyes.

 

Demanding to be moved to a window table and addressing, in a prolonged tirade, our wonderful, caring QG staff in a loud and rude manner can only be ascribed to delusions of grandeur, and renders the offending perpetrator not worthy of an audience, we decided by joint agreement this morning.  As you would all expect, they attempted to diffuse the situation and manage it with the utmost discretion and respect, and if this we have absolutely no doubt.
 

I haven’t been as delicate ad I initially intended, but my illusion of this incredibly talented actress has been shattered, and I am incredibly disappointed.  An unworthy performance indeed.

[exlondoner]

3 minutes ago, new to cuising said:

Just a few of the many photos I took yesterday. 

There is a splendid picture in the paper of QA passing the Perch Rock lighthouse, as she arrived.

[Host Hattie]

@new to cuising gorgeous photos, thank you very much for sharing them. 

@Mareblu wow, I don't quite know what to say. Hopefully things are calmer this evening. 

[exlondoner]

4 minutes ago, Mareblu said:

We were looking forward very much, after learning before embarkation that Ms Imrie would be appearing “in conversation” (an excellent format for career insights) to attending her event.  Now, the reason we definitely did not attend today needs to be couched in somewhat delicate terms:

Our section of the QG restaurant was treated last night to quite the diva performance, apparently.  
 

We’ve grown to respect and enjoy our dining companions at tables nearby, so we don’t doubt for a moment the exact same tale they all related both last night as we bumped into one lovely lady returning to her cabin as we did, nor the other couples today.  It was the first evening dining we’ve missed, as we realised the fireworks pontoon was to be positioned only yards from our aft balcony.  We opted for a quick bite in Artisan, which was very pleasant, and back to the balcony with a wee after-dinner dram.  I digress to say we feel we had the best view in Liverpool or on The Mersey itself.  We felt so lucky as the sky and water merged so spectacularly before our eyes.

 

Demanding to be moved to a window table and addressing, in a prolonged tirade, our wonderful, caring QG staff in a loud and rude manner can only be ascribed to delusions of grandeur, and renders the offending perpetrator not worthy of an audience, we decided by joint agreement this morning.  As you would all expect, they attempted to diffuse the situation and manage it with the utmost discretion and respect, and if this we have absolutely no doubt.
 

I haven’t been as delicate ad I initially intended, but my illusion of this incredibly talented actress has been shattered, and I am incredibly disappointed.  An unworthy performance indeed.

l thought the celebrity speaker on our cruise who appeared to be the only person in QG without a tie on formal night was showing very bad form, but this is far, far worse. Really unspeakably vulgar.

[Megabear2]

11 minutes ago, Mareblu said:

We were looking forward very much, after learning before embarkation that Ms Imrie would be appearing “in conversation” (an excellent format for career insights) to attending her event.  Now, the reason we definitely did not attend today needs to be couched in somewhat delicate terms:

Our section of the QG restaurant was treated last night to quite the diva performance, apparently.  
 

We’ve grown to respect and enjoy our dining companions at tables nearby, so we don’t doubt for a moment the exact same tale they all related both last night as we bumped into one lovely lady returning to her cabin as we did, nor the other couples today.  It was the first evening dining we’ve missed, as we realised the fireworks pontoon was to be positioned only yards from our aft balcony.  We opted for a quick bite in Artisan, which was very pleasant, and back to the balcony with a wee after-dinner dram.  I digress to say we feel we had the best view in Liverpool or on The Mersey itself.  We felt so lucky as the sky and water merged so spectacularly before our eyes.

 

Demanding to be moved to a window table and addressing, in a prolonged tirade, our wonderful, caring QG staff in a loud and rude manner can only be ascribed to delusions of grandeur, and renders the offending perpetrator not worthy of an audience, we decided by joint agreement this morning.  As you would all expect, they attempted to diffuse the situation and manage it with the utmost discretion and respect, and if this we have absolutely no doubt.
 

I haven’t been as delicate ad I initially intended, but my illusion of this incredibly talented actress has been shattered, and I am incredibly disappointed.  An unworthy performance indeed.

I am not in any way surprised.  I once met her in London after she had an encounter with a bus driver who closed the doors after she'd run for it.  She spent 10 minutes turning the air blue at the audacity of him not opening the doors for her and I did get the impression of "don't you know who I am".

 

I did however enjoy the talk, although there was an air to the first part of me, me, me.

Edited June 4 by Megabear2

[exlondoner]

Just now, exlondoner said:

l thought the celebrity speaker on our cruise who appeared to be the only person in QG without a tie on formal night was showing very bad form, but this is far, far worse. Really unspeakably vulgar.

Sorry I meant only man. I don’t know what came over me. 

[Cruise Puss]

43 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Never been on Celebrity, so can’t compare. The same with P&O which seems another object of comparison. Don’t they tend to play a lot of loud artificial music on Celebrity?

 

Incidentally don’t you think the dress of the five Liverpudlian women yesterday, (which was criticised by many) was in part chosen to reflect the Cunard colours?

Having cruised on P&O for 20 yrs, until recently, I can tell you that Cunard is superior in every way. The staff used to be on a parr, but the staff who have been with P&O for years are not happy bunnies, and the younger staff go around with faces like a wet week (this is obviously a generalisation, some are great). 

We are not returning to P&O in the foreseeable future, and are cruising with Cunard, Princess, Celebrity and, when we can get the courage up to fly again (we haven't flown since 2006!) we will be going on Silverseas and Seabourn.

I'm not quite sure how anyone can compare Cunard with P&O IMHO. ☺️

[Victoria2]

I wonder Mareblu , where this person was seated. On our cruise, the celebrity speakers were seated at the same tables/next to each other as you entered the restaurant left, consecutively obviously, and the table/s were sort of out of the way and definitely not very sea view'ish.

 

If the same or similar tables, maybe 'out of the way' was too, out of the way. I would prefer the banquettes to those.

 

The staff go above and beyond in their care and attentiveness and for anyone to subject any to an even minute tirade, is unforgivable.

 

Edited June 4 by Victoria2

[Megabear2]

I was on deck 9 enjoying some peace and quiet enjoying the fresh air despite the stiff breeze and decided or the first time this voyage I to have afternoon tea as it's the tea dance with the Orchestra.  Imagine my surprise when the lift doors opened on deck 8 to reveal  ... the covid twins smiling happily. No they didn't join me but I did see them wander in here shortly after me. 

Edited June 4 by Megabear2

[GeorgianGal100]

2 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I was on deck 9 enjoying some peace and quiet enjoying the fresh air despite the stuff breeze and decided or the first time this voyage I to have afternoon tea as it's the tea dance with the Orchestra.  Imagine my surprise when the lift doors opened on deck 8 to reveal  ... the covid twins smiling happily. No they didn't join me but I did see them wander in here shortly after me. 

Were they coughing or has it all been a ploy?

[Mareblu]

5 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I was on deck 9 enjoying some peace and quiet enjoying the fresh air despite the stuff breeze and decided or the first time this voyage I to have afternoon tea as it's the tea dance with the Orchestra.  Imagine my surprise when the lift doors opened on deck 8 to reveal  ... the covid twins smiling happily. No they didn't join me but I did see them wander in here shortly after me. 

I’m sure they’re exceedingly happy now.