Queen Anne Grills Terrace access

[david63]

Am I unique in not really liking window tables?

[exlondoner]

10 minutes ago, david63 said:

Am I unique in not really liking window tables?

Possibly. And are you often seated next to the window?

[buchanan101]

11 minutes ago, david63 said:

Am I unique in not really liking window tables?

Can't think of a better place in Grills in any but QM2

 

Thinking back...leaving Southampton, just in to the Solent, having dinner, Americans on table behind us - "oh that's France over there"

 

It was the Isle of Wight

[majortom10]

3 hours ago, buchanan101 said:

Can't think of a better place in Grills in any but QM2

 

Thinking back...leaving Southampton, just in to the Solent, having dinner, Americans on table behind us - "oh that's France over there"

 

It was the Isle of Wight

Why does that not surprise me 😂.

[alc13]

Ahem 

[3rdGenCunarder]

50 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Why does that not surprise me 😂.

 

Sadly, geography seems to be missing from most US curricula. 

 

I call tourist mistakes like that the "DUH of the day." A tourist in Old Salem, NC asking where the witch museum is. (Salem Mass, of course!) One of my favorites was a woman in the gift shop area of Old North Church in Boston, where there is Grant Wood's painting (or a copy of it) of Paul Revere on his horse, galloping out of Boston on his famous ride. A woman said to her husband, "Oh, look! the headless horseman." 

[exlondoner]

5 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Sadly, geography seems to be missing from most US curricula. 

 

I call tourist mistakes like that the "DUH of the day." A tourist in Old Salem, NC asking where the witch museum is. (Salem Mass, of course!) One of my favorites was a woman in the gift shop area of Old North Church in Boston, where there is Grant Wood's painting (or a copy of it) of Paul Revere on his horse, galloping out of Boston on his famous ride. A woman said to her husband, "Oh, look! the headless horseman." 

I don’t think it is only US children. The ones I taught never knew where anywhere was. They knew Deva was the Roman equivalent of Chester, but then I had to show them where Chester was.

[NE John]

Wait until the Brits come here and think they can see Russia from Alaska…👀
Im a geography geek and was upset when last plane flight had no map showing where we are. I even read that some cruise ships don’t have navigational updates. What’s up with that? 
 

 

Edited September 3 by NE John

[WantedOnVoyage]

True. Americans did not know where France was... until they landed there on 6 June 1944 and 4,414 of them died on its beaches. 

 

I might suggest ignorance of geography is not a national trait.  Even among those who presumed to rule over 1/5th of the earth's surface 80 years ago. 

 

And why they need to put the atlases back in Princess Grill cabins, too. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

5 hours ago, NE John said:

Wait until the Brits come here and think they can see Russia from Alaska…👀

 

What???? You mean we can't??? Not even from the governor's mansion?????

 

5 hours ago, NE John said:

Im a geography geek and was upset when last plane flight had no map showing where we are. I even read that some cruise ships don’t have navigational updates. What’s up with that? 

 

I love the flight map on a plane. Every time we flew to London, DH would watch for us to cross the Mid Atlantic Ridge. He was fascinated by plate tectonics.

 

Navigation info on QA is pretty thin.

 

Edited September 4 by 3rdGenCunarder

[exlondoner]

10 hours ago, NE John said:

Wait until the Brits come here and think they can see Russia from Alaska…👀
Im a geography geek and was upset when last plane flight had no map showing where we are. I even read that some cruise ships don’t have navigational updates. What’s up with that? 
 

 

You mean Alaska is no longer part of Russia? When did that happen? I’m shocked.

[rog747]

Slight drift, but please indulge me re QA Dining...

I agree the Club dining room on QA is large and not like the more intimate QE and QV rooms.
I personally was not that keen on the BC dining room on  QA, nor did I like the location, nor the low ceilings. 

I would not book it...

I was in PG on my recent 2 week cruise and there are some real howlers of dining tables, both large and small ones.
The back area of the PG is undesirable, there also many partitions and you may end up next to one; I honestly preferred the much more open plan Queens Grill dining room which was rather lovely and very light.

If I were ever to go Grills on QA again then it would only be in QG.
I also was not a huge fan of the PG Suites, sorry!

Stanley, (my PG Maître 'D) kindly, after the dreadful embarkation lunch, relocated me at dinner to a nice '2' just one row back and facing the window.
I much preferred this table to the larger '6', often left half empty, by the 'bins' (at the back of the restaurant, right next to the galley service door, crashing and banging with lots of foot traffic). 
I would rather now dine alone on this nicer '2' looking out to sea than sit on the other one.

My new table mates all around me were simply delightful, the tables being close enough to be almost 'seated together'.

I had booked last minute, so I can see why I first got a naff table (I had requested to be on a '4') and both Stanley and other MD's I knew, and chatted to later during the cruise, all mentioned that table allocation priority is now much to do with the date of booking your cruise and the type of fare you paid.

The Britannia MDR is impressive, and has some lovely tables.
I am thinking of joining my old friend on QA in NOV to Spain, she is in Britannia, booked in second sitting.
The M'D in Britannia (on the upper level, Open seating) who I knew, said to me, ''When you come on the ship again, don't do open seating, you won't like it, and it's too chaotic''.
OK, so this was almost a month ago, and I gather the open-seating situation may be improving, somewhat, but I will not be ever doing it.

Hope this helps.

 
 

Edited September 4 by rog747

[buchanan101]

@rog747 explains everything. Booked Cunard Fare on day of release for the QA cruise. Got window. Maybe P1 > P2 helps. Quite happy if that’s the rules as I plan and book early.
 

Agreed - some not very nice seats in PG on QA - right by entrance just over the barrier - eating in full view of all comers and goers and quite dark too. Even though the restaurant is much longer than QE/QV they’ve more than doubled the numbers - and PG has 2x QG numbers now when they are roughly equal on all other Queens. PG and BC really must be Cunard’s cash cow, and QA may be their cash  cow ship if they fill it. Obvious in hindsight why they went for that class (and extended it v the others in its class)
 

Quite liked the cabin, but the only really decent PG is QM2 where it’s 1.5 x wider than normal rather than 1.25 (or whatever) longer. At least they didn’t waste much space on the bathroom. Very bijou…

[Victoria2]

Cabin grade is the first priority for the top grades as far as choice of restaurant location is concerned as is booking date but as I have said before, like it or lump it, being known to staff who are aware of your preferences, helps.

Edited September 4 by Victoria2

[buchanan101]

14 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Cabin grade is the first priority for the top grades as far as choice of restaurant location is concerned as is booking date but as I have said before, like it or lump it, being known to staff who are aware of your preferences, helps.

Not sure most of us are as well travelled as you Victoria!

 

Important to go to boarding day lunch to secure your allocated table as otherwise someone else may be along persuading M'D to give them your allocated table...

[Planning to cruise]

15 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

Important to go to boarding day lunch to secure your allocated table as otherwise someone else may be along persuading M'D to give them your allocated table...

We have learned to do so by experience.  

We once had the worst table in QM2 BC and couldnt get moved.  Our fault for not checking first and probably getting bumped down.

 

On QM2 as frequent flyers we ask for and usually get the front section of Britannia between the doors and the mural.  In the "good old days" it was where officers sometimes hosted some large tables.      

 

Another input into the tabe allocation algorithms is length of time on board.  The longer your journey the better your table.  World cruisers trump those on segments.  If there is an embarkation / disembarkation day on your cruise you may be asked if you wish to have a different table on changeover - the wonderful Stanley again who works various dining rooms on the ships.    

[exlondoner]

54 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Cabin grade is the first priority for the top grades as far as choice of restaurant location is concerned as is booking date but as I have said before, like it or lump it, being known to staff who are aware of your preferences, helps.

I think that may be my problem. I haven’t made enough polite fuss. Only once have I asked for another table, when on QM2 they seated me at exactly the same horrible table as I’d had a couple of years before. I hadn’t asked to be moved then, but had said I didn’t like it much. Perhaps the second time they thought I liked it. Anyway, they did move us that time. 

[exlondoner]

1 hour ago, rog747 said:

Slight drift, but please indulge me re QA Dining...

I agree the Club dining room on QA is large and not like the more intimate QE and QV rooms.
I personally was not that keen on the BC dining room on  QA, nor did I like the location, nor the low ceilings. 

I would not book it...

I was in PG on my recent 2 week cruise and there are some real howlers of dining tables, both large and small ones.
The back area of the PG is undesirable, there also many partitions and you may end up next to one; I honestly preferred the much more open plan Queens Grill dining room which was rather lovely and very light.

If I were ever to go Grills on QA again then it would only be in QG.
I also was not a huge fan of the PG Suites, sorry!

Stanley, (my PG Maître 'D) kindly, after the dreadful embarkation lunch, relocated me at dinner to a nice '2' just one row back and facing the window.
I much preferred this table to the larger '6', often left half empty, by the 'bins' (at the back of the restaurant, right next to the galley service door, crashing and banging with lots of foot traffic). 
I would rather now dine alone on this nicer '2' looking out to sea than sit on the other one.

My new table mates all around me were simply delightful, the tables being close enough to be almost 'seated together'.

I had booked last minute, so I can see why I first got a naff table (I had requested to be on a '4') and both Stanley and other MD's I knew, and chatted to later during the cruise, all mentioned that table allocation priority is now much to do with the date of booking your cruise and the type of fare you paid.

The Britannia MDR is impressive, and has some lovely tables.
I am thinking of joining my old friend on QA in NOV to Spain, she is in Britannia, booked in second sitting.
The M'D in Britannia (on the upper level, Open seating) who I knew, said to me, ''When you come on the ship again, don't do open seating, you won't like it, and it's too chaotic''.
OK, so this was almost a month ago, and I gather the open-seating situation may be improving, somewhat, but I will not be ever doing it.

Hope this helps.

 
 

I agree the QG is a lovely light room. But those banquettes are very inflexible and mean a lot of passengers spend their voyage looking at a wall. Luckily my husband agreed to alternate or that would have been me. I hope they will eventually find a better way to arrange it.

[Victoria2]

3 hours ago, exlondoner said:

I think that may be my problem. I haven’t made enough polite fuss. Only once have I asked for another table, when on QM2 they seated me at exactly the same horrible table as I’d had a couple of years before. I hadn’t asked to be moved then, but had said I didn’t like it much. Perhaps the second time they thought I liked it. Anyway, they did move us that time. 

No fuss required.

The first time on QV, we were in the boondocks on an eight top with, surprisingly, a couple in a Q1. Luckily, it was so congenial they didn't ask to move.

The next time we linked bookings and we got the biggie in the bubble which became our new home. Each cruise we asked for that on our next trip  and continued, even on some [not all as some two tops were there occasionally] ] worldie segments, until Covid.

Now on two tops but the cabin denotes the table and we don't have to ask now although I did make sure we had the same table July as we had in May as I thought  it a great table...and it was near you both so we could chat!

[3rdGenCunarder]

3 hours ago, exlondoner said:

I agree the QG is a lovely light room. But those banquettes are very inflexible and mean a lot of passengers spend their voyage looking at a wall. Luckily my husband agreed to alternate or that would have been me. I hope they will eventually find a better way to arrange it.

 

Those banquettes are odd. They look like they're about 1.5 person's wide, and they have two pillows, as if they were meant for two people. If they were wider, people could sit side by side and both would have a nice view. It also would make the long walkways better. I chatted with a woman who was in QG at one of those tables and she said there was constant waiter traffic, and the aisle was too narrow for the flambe cart.

 

Because of the shape, with the dividers, this would mean they would have to be rebuilt. It would also mean that fewer people could be seated there--is there enough slack in the seating to make that workable? 

[WantedOnVoyage]

Sounds like QUEEN ANNE could spend many weeks being rebuilt and reconfigured after reading all of these comments. But, of course, she will not. Pity... almost all of these issues were noted and commented upon on these very pages when the very first deck plans were released. If some of us could see the potential problems, why could not the people paid to design her? Here, the real issue is that QA is far more of a modestly retooled PINNACLE-class Holland America ship than QV/QE are VISTAS.  Or indeed, a VISTA is just a better platform all round.   Just is.

 

[david63]

6 minutes ago, WantedOnVoyage said:

why could not the people paid to design her?

Because they never go on cruises and use the ships in the same way as actual passengers do.

[buchanan101]

4 minutes ago, WantedOnVoyage said:

Sounds like QUEEN ANNE could spend many weeks being rebuilt and reconfigured after reading all of these comments. But, of course, she will not. Pity... almost all of these issues were noted and commented upon on these very pages when the very first deck plans were released. If some of us could see the potential problems, why could not the people paid to design her? Here, the real issue is that QA is far more of a modestly retooled PINNACLE-class Holland America ship than QV/QE are VISTAS.  Or indeed, a VISTA is just a better platform all round.   Just is.

 

Except the Grills Deck is better on QA (for Grills passengers) isn't it (it's great, apart from being near the funnel). Grills Lounge is a bit rubbish.  The QG banquettes seem to be a way to increase seating capacity a bit and/or the wish of an interior designer. PG restaurant issues are only because of the vastly increased size... how to HAL restaurants compare?

 

They are all fairly minor first world issues though.

 

No one has mentioned theatres recently.. a rather strange one on QA. Or Promenade Decks...

 

I bet QA is a lot more profitable than QE/QV, if they can fill it - and even more than HAL Pinnacles because the increased length

[buchanan101]

3 minutes ago, david63 said:

Because they never go on cruises and use the ships in the same way as actual passengers do.

I'd willingly go on cruises to advise them... if they paid...

[Planning to cruise]

2 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

the Grills Deck is better on QA (for Grills passengers) isn't it

..... but not for non Grills passengers, the majority