Queen Mary 2 last minute port cancellations

[Eddie99]

Brisk wind, coming from somewhere chilly, but really it is very warm, verging on hot, so unless you chose to stay in a shady, windy, spot, it should be perfectly comfortable

I don’t know if they’ve got a shuttle going into Dorchester - some lines do.  If so, those who don’t fancy a seaside day can go in and get some Hardy or dinosaur culture, or look at the shops, or whatever, and the sea breeze won’t be a factor

[Winifred 22]

Going to post a quick summary tomorrow but have to say today was a fabulous one in Weymouth. I can honestly say enjoyed today probably more than Zeebrugge and can always go there another day.

[Eddie99]

What time are you leaving?

[Winifred 22]

19 minutes ago, Eddie99 said:

What time are you leaving?

All aboard is 6 30 . There was a free port shuttle to Portland Castle / Weymouth. Port security very tight and only options to leave port area was on free shuttle or Cunard excursion. 

[Eddie99]

The port is very “closed off”.

Shame, because there are places of interest within a few steps

[Winifred 22]

So back from this 3 nighter. I had an enjoyable time in  spite of the drastically changed itinerary with less than 24 hours notice. Cherbourg was very pleasant and I enjoyed wandering around and even managed to pick up some goodies from Carrefour. There were no shuttles but everywhere was nearby. Some folk saw the Olympic flame but I was off too late for that. Weymouth was also a delight reliving childhood memories. There was a folk festival taking place so many interesting stalls to look at on the way to the Town Centre and Beach. 
QM2 just looked the same as she did after her dry dock but I did  notice some new extra chairs around the pool on deck 8 and 7. The chairs  with cushions and a padded foot stool were a comfortable and had a small table to match. There were also new sun loungers. The good old wooden ones with the padded cushions were still there as were the steamers around deck 7. 
The one negative was the service in Britannia was very slow. They were prompt at taking your order but the wait for the food to arrive was longer than I have ever experienced before. The food when it arrived was always hot so not as if it had been hanging around. The waiters were pleasant enough but just seemed lost. Some of their English wasn’t that good either. I always have a table on my own and usually in the past my food has been ordered and arrived on my own time scale.Last summer I could reckon on being finished by  9 40 at the latest.This time  I just about made it to the shows and retuning back to my cabin just gone 11 you could see people still there. It seemed to be that everyone was being served their same course at the same time so I was waiting for the tables around me to finish whatever they were having which has never happened before. Another twist was that the breakfast in Britannia as it was a short cruise was the express menu version with no poached eggs, Eggs Benedict or avocado  toast. That was disappointing and different since November. 
There were obviously a lot of first timers onboard as there were red cards everywhere. There were lots of groups as is expected and quite a lot  of children as it was the end of half term. I thought the atmosphere was very pleasant and it was lovely to see people obviously enjoying themselves. Queues buying the drinks packages were busy so no shortages of takers it seems. 
I don’t frequent the bars except Golden Lion to eat so can make no comment on the service in the bars. I have to say on embarkation day in the Golden Lion, it was slow and that was around 1  with not many folk about. 
Embarkation was quick and slick and was in my cabin before 1. There were queues outside as  they were checking arrival times and asking some to wait outside. 
Disembarkation was easy I had 9 40 and there was only a small amount of luggage left in the hall when I got there.  I kept away earlier so no idea if it was congested or chaotic. 
All in all a very pleasant enjoyable  3 nights. It will be interesting to see in September if there any improvements with the speed of the service in Britannia. 
The WiFi was brilliant but interestingly instead of your normal Diamond or Platinum allowance you just had enough to cover the basic one device whole voyage package - 54$ and to be fair they did state that in the daily programme. 

Edited June 2 by Winifred 22

[exlondoner]

What a lovely half term treat for the children.

[Pushpit]

4 minutes ago, Winifred 22 said:

The WiFi was brilliant but interestingly instead of your normal Diamond or Platinum allowance you just had enough to cover the basic one device whole voyage package - 54$ and to be fair they did state that in the daily programme. 

Diamonds normally have a $135 allowance, so well over the Premium rate x 3 nights = $72, and Platinums have $80, also well under. So am I reading this that it changed on your sailing to the Essential rate only? 

[Winifred 22]

38 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

Diamonds normally have a $135 allowance, so well over the Premium rate x 3 nights = $72, and Platinums have $80, also well under. So am I reading this that it changed on your sailing to the Essential rate only? 

Yes 

[Winifred 22]

Just now, Winifred 22 said:

Yes 

Yes it was just 1 device whole voyage Essential package. 

[Pushpit]

1 minute ago, Winifred 22 said:

Yes 

 

Goodness, I've been on plenty of short services and I've not seen that before, quite disappointing. That said, the speed of Essentials seems very similar to Premium, other than Essentials blocks / reduces streaming. Given it was short, and presumably in range of cellphones maybe it's less of an imposition, but still.....

[Winifred 22]

Just now, Pushpit said:

Goodness, I've been on plenty of short services and I've not seen that before, quite disappointing. That said, the speed of Essentials seems very similar to Premium, other than Essentials blocks / reduces streaming. Given it was short, and presumably in range of cellphones maybe it's less of an imposition, but still.....

I’ve just looked back it was the same on the 3 nighter in November on QM2 

[Pushpit]

1 minute ago, Winifred 22 said:

I’ve just looked back it was the same on the 3 nighter in November on QM2 

I'm thinking this maybe the difference with a short Southampton to Southampton sailing. My shorties are Southampton to Hamburg (or vv) or Sydney to Melbourne, and so part of a longer trip for many/most passengers.

[Winifred 22]

Just now, Pushpit said:

I'm thinking this maybe the difference with a short Southampton to Southampton sailing. My shorties are Southampton to Hamburg (or vv) or Sydney to Melbourne, and so part of a longer trip for many/most passengers.

Yes could be I hadn’t really noticed in November but yes probably it’s because it’s a voyage in its own right. Because my return T A last summer had a 14 night  crossing reference I only got 1 allowance and 1 card. 

[Sue-B]

On 6/2/2024 at 4:04 PM, Winifred 22 said:

Yes 

I didn’t even spot this reference on the daily programme.  I booked 2 devices on the premium internet for whole voyage and got $135 credited back to my on board account as normal (so was charged $1.60 or something similar).  Either I got lucky or operationally the system just automatically credits the $135 for diamond despite what they advertise…