A few thought about the Double- Transatlantic June 9th to June 15th. Soto- NY- Soto

[Germancruiser]

After reading the wonderful report of Miss G- thank you by the way for letting us taking part of your voyage, I thought I write a bit about my- our experience. We decided on a Sheltered balcony cabin on Deck 6.

Wrong decision- nobody is to blame but myself- lol- I overlooked the fact that the cabin ( 6262) is very close to the children area. So a nap in the afternoon was almost not  possible- for some reason exactly then it felt like a 100 kids running wild on the corridor. I do not blame the kids- just my own decision. Well- lesson learned.

After 30 years of cruising I am more than happy to only have sea days- which is why Transatlantic voyages - preferably on board my favorite ship out there- QM2 - are now the thing for me.

There is really no ship that compares with QM2- she is unique- I can only agree to all Miss G  wrote about the ship itself. There never seems to be crowded lounges- so many wonderful nooks and crannies to read or watch the sea go by.

I only found the service this time very very slow at times- esp. in the Carinthia Lounge or Sir Samules. Britannia was really a hit and miss this time- we had Anytime Dinning-which worked perfect on my other voyages ( this my 6th TA and my second Double TA) !

Breakfast in Britannia was sometimes downright catastrophic- mixed up orders- forgotten orders- long waits for coffee or tea refils - no one came round with pastries and such. So we ended up mostly in either Kings Court or Carinthia- both very good- and I usual avoid Buffets.

After the refit earlier this year that magnificent ship was in wonderful shape- great new upholstery in both Carinthia Lougne and esp. in the Commodore Club. All new ( and much much better) chairs in Britannia. Complete new deck chairs around deck 7 including the cushions.

The first leg to New York we called our " Fog voyage" almost 4 days fog in a row- which bothered me not in the least. Also the emergency in the first night and the drifting for 8 hours in the midst of the Northatlantic. The second leg- wonderful weather- almost every day.

The highlight- entering New York in broad daylight- and not having to get up in the middle of the night. I felt sorry, though for those with onwards arrangements. All in all another wonderful voyage.

[*Miss G*]

It’s so nice to read of the voyage and gain some insight through another person’s experienced eyes!  Thank you, @Germancruiser, and thank you for your kind words.  

 

Did the second leg take the southern route?  I am now beginning to think that the first leg — June 9th-15th — took the Grand Circle route due to the short amount of days.  (Which, of course, I was jealous that the eastbound return stole my 7th day to make it an 8-day crossing!) I am glad to hear that the weather was nice on that leg.

[Germancruiser]

Thank you Miss G- at the westbound leg of our voyage we had 5 sea days- so Mary had to speed up a bit- and I am sure we took the exact route you mentioned. The second leg took 7 sea days- I presume they arranged it that way, because of the " Theater and Musiccal - themed second leg- to give them more time for all the shows and lectures and such. Many promminent entertainers and actors on board for the eastbound leg. Wonderful entertainment all around on this second leg. ( The first was totaly fine, too- of course)

I did one HAL cruise so I can not compare HAL with Cunard, I sailed mostly with Celebrity, in the food and service compartment both are very similar. NOT shipwise, though. LOL.

 

[Pushpit]

6 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

Wrong decision- nobody is to blame but myself- lol- I overlooked the fact that the cabin ( 6262) is very close to the children area. So a nap in the afternoon was almost not  possible- for some reason exactly then it felt like a 100 kids running wild on the corridor. I do not blame the kids- just my own decision. Well- lesson learned.

 

I was in 6243 on that December 2023 Crossing that I reported on elsewhere on this Board, so that's the starboard near-equivalent as a sheltered balcony. I had to look up on the deck plan to even understand your comment, and yes, The Play Zone and Kids Zone is at the end of the corridor. I was totally unaware of this during the crossing and my stateroom was very quiet, with QG directly above and no seating on the open deck.  But of course the clue was "December", there were very few children on board and certainly not enough to make a noise. I'm not an afternoon nap person, too many things to do, but I think you were unfortunate to have so many little Cunarders onboard.

 

The upside of the sheltered balconies in that area is that you are close to an external exit door near the stern of deck 6, which connects up and down to decks 5 and 7. So great for getting out and and about outdoors.

 

Thanks for the report, it was interesting to read your impressions.

[*Miss G*]

9 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

because of the " Theater and Musiccal - themed second leg- to give them more time for all the shows and lectures and such. Many promminent entertainers and actors on board for the eastbound leg. Wonderful entertainment all around on this second leg

 

Oh my.  It sounds like I missed a great crossing all around!  I had no idea the return leg was themed.  I wonder who the prominent entertainers and actors were.  Anyone or anything stand out to you in particular?

[Germancruiser]

Oh dear I am far from good with names- Patricia Hodge and Steve Edge come to mind - there more of course - very well known to the British lol! 

[Jack E Dawson]

12 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

The first leg to New York we called our " Fog voyage" almost 4 days fog in a row- which bothered me not in the least. Also the emergency in the first night and the drifting for 8 hours in the midst of the Northatlantic. The second leg- wonderful weather- almost every day.

Germancruiser,

We were on the "Fog voyage" leg with you. Our experience was very similar to yours and Miss G's. We have never done an east bound crossing and wonder if you would mind comparing/contrasting the experience of losing an hour at noon verses gaining an hour at 2:00AM. This has been our big block in doing an east bound Crossing on the QM2. 

Thanks

Jack

[*Miss G*]

4 minutes ago, Jack E Dawson said:

Germancruiser,

We were on the "Fog voyage" leg with you. Our experience was very similar to yours and Miss G's. We have never done an east bound crossing and wonder if you would mind comparing/contrasting the experience of losing an hour at noon verses gaining an hour at 2:00AM. This has been our big block in doing an east bound Crossing on the QM2. 

Thanks

Jack

 

Not @Germancruiser but I will comment, if I may. I dislike losing the hours going eastbound. It is much like losing the hour in the Spring for daylight savings, but compounded. It comes at you so often that you reach the point of “Oh no. Not again!”

 

The upside to this is that I arrive in Europe already acclimatized to the time change, without experiencing the horrendous jet lag when I fly.

[Kordy]

I think if the TA crossing on Cunard is similar price to the plane (or not that much more!), and if you do have the extra time vacation (or are retired), it's always a better way to cross, than flying !

 

Why not make a vacation out of it.... and arrive in style? :)

Edited Saturday at 03:09 PM by Kordy

[Germancruiser]

Well on the westbound  leg I would have prefered the hour to gain at midday - and on the eastbound the change at night! To put the clocks forward at 12 always seemed to shorten the day lol! We are early risers - so we have been always to early for breakfast and such on the westbound leg ! It lay be different for those who like to sleep in! 

[D&N]

2 minutes ago, Germancruiser said:

Well on the westbound  leg I would have prefered the hour to gain at midday - and on the eastbound the change at night! To put the clocks forward at 12 always seemed to shorten the day lol! We are early risers - so we have been always to early for breakfast and such on the westbound leg ! It lay be different for those who like to sleep in! 

Don't agree.

That would mean the crew would need to work an extra hour westbound and would lose an hour's sleep eastbound. Do you think that's fair, or in some cases safe?

To be fair to you; you may not be thinking in terms of crew rosters. It was a responsibility for much of my career.

 

I'm an early riser, my wife would probably sleep until disturbed. In the absence of cat alarms she might sleep all day! 🐈

We think we may have a solution to the breakfast issue anyway. We keep our eating window to a minimum. Next time we plan to miss on breakfast other than some orange juice for the vitamin C. Our first food will be at elevenses with a small pastry, and hopefully have dinner finished by 8pm. That takes our eating window to eleven hours westbound and ten eastbound. Our norm at home is between five and seven hours except Saturdays, which is probably the main reason neither of us has a weight problem now.

[Germancruiser]

I agree only thought about it from the passengers Point of view! That was the question asked! For the crew it is really better the other way around- as it is in fact!  

[nybumpkin]

8 hours ago, Kordy said:

I think if the TA crossing on Cunard is similar price to the plane (or not that much more!), and if you do have the extra time vacation (or are retired), it's always a better way to cross, than flying !

 

Why not make a vacation out of it.... and arrive in style? 🙂

The first TA we booked was a 2019 two-week crossing from Southampton to NYC, with stops at Liverpool, Iceland, Newfoundland and Halifax. When we started looking at flights (we would have included an overnight in Southampton), we found that it would be cheaper for us to sail EB the week before. We had the time, so we decided to sail instead of fly. Three weeks on QM2 - an unbelievable trip.

[Germancruiser]

Oh I so wish they- Cunard- would have to two TA- Liners - so I could go over with the ship- stay - maybe a week or a few days in NYC and then go right back to Europe.

[D&N]

12 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

Oh I so wish they- Cunard- would have to two TA- Liners - so I could go over with the ship- stay - maybe a week or a few days in NYC and then go right back to Europe.

That can usually be done using the July 4th Cruise. It was our original intention, then having had that cancelled twice we decided to do the round trip and fly to/from New York. We've done that now and only interested in round trips.

[Pushpit]

Yes, there the New England and Caribbean tag-on trips. So one option, for example, is arriving in New York on 21 December 2024 and leaving back to Europe on 3 January. That's nearly 2 weeks, but it is an option.