Please share your experience on Queen Anne. Also need transfer and hotel information. Thank you.

[gam888]

We have read some negative reviews on Queen Anne regarding they seem to be not offering Ballroom music for all the sets in the Queen's Room. Could anyone who have just sailed with her please share your experience. Apart from the Queen's Room, is there another lounge that has a dance floor that is used as a dance venue? I noticed that the lounge on the top deck has a piano but no dance floor. The other Cunard ships always have 2 dance venues, the Queen's Room and the Yacht Club. Do you feel that there is enough ballroom dancing time or the band is playing too many "pop music" sets? We plan to go this November. I read on some reviews that there were a lot of young children on some of the sailings, which is something we have never encountered on Cunard before. Please also suggest a hotel in Southampton, and the best way to get from Heathrow airport to Southampton. We have used private transfer before, we will consider it again, but would also consider taking a train or a bus this time. Thank you in advance. 

[exlondoner]

1. Bright Lights is used as a night club after the show.

2. Depends how much you want to pay. Southampton Harbour Hotel probably the nicest, but Premier Inns always good.

3. National Express coach.

 

Incidentally, while I don’t know about dancing, ignore most of the negatives in the reviews, QA is very nice.

[Host Hattie]

We've been told there are 3 children on the current cruise including the Captain's grandson. One little girl was dancing in the Queens Room last night as we walked through. 

[ShipboardSteve]

In Bright Lights Society for late night disco if there are three couples on the floor you have a chance to move two or three steps in one direction or the other but not to or from the tiny stage. Any more people than that and all you can do is more or less stand in one spot and wiggle to the music so it is way smaller than the Yacht Club floor.  The floor in the Queens Room is an unusual crescent shape, but it is fine for ballroom and Latin dancing, provided you are there at those times when they play decent appropriate music. The problem is they won't announce any specific dance, so all 'styles' are welcome - so if you want to do a waltz or foxtrot you have to negotiate a bunch of people doing Night Club Two-step, modern jive, general disco dancing, and a few trying to move around with waltz or foxtrot - Latin is a little easier unless the floor is very packed. So you can dance but takes a bit more effort than on the other Cunard ships.

[TouchstoneFeste]

1 hour ago, gam888 said:

Please also suggest a hotel in Southampton, and the best way to get from Heathrow airport to Southampton.

The British Isles forum has extensive discussions of hotels and transportation

British Isles/Western Europe - Cruise Critic Community

 

[gam888]

Thank you everyone for replying my post. Just wondering if we take the National Express coach. Once we get to the Southampton terminal, are there any taxi available that we can take to our hotel? I googled the location and I can see a tiny building where the bus stop is, but I can't see any sign of a taxi stand being there. It also does not seem like there is a local bus route that goes there that would go towards the town center either. Please advise.

[exlondoner]

3 minutes ago, gam888 said:

Thank you everyone for replying my post. Just wondering if we take the National Express coach. Once we get to the Southampton terminal, are there any taxi available that we can take to our hotel? I googled the location and I can see a tiny building where the bus stop is, but I can't see any sign of a taxi stand being there. It also does not seem like there is a local bus route that goes there that would go towards the town center either. Please advise.

It looks as if there is a cab rank just outside on Western Esplanade.

[alc13]

1 hour ago, gam888 said:

Thank you everyone for replying my post. Just wondering if we take the National Express coach. Once we get to the Southampton terminal, are there any taxi available that we can take to our hotel? I googled the location and I can see a tiny building where the bus stop is, but I can't see any sign of a taxi stand being there. It also does not seem like there is a local bus route that goes there that would go towards the town center either. Please advise.

We plan to take the Natl Express coach to Southampton next month for the first time.  If we encounter any problems, I'll report back.

[*Miss G*]

2 hours ago, gam888 said:

Thank you everyone for replying my post. Just wondering if we take the National Express coach. Once we get to the Southampton terminal, are there any taxi available that we can take to our hotel? I googled the location and I can see a tiny building where the bus stop is, but I can't see any sign of a taxi stand being there. It also does not seem like there is a local bus route that goes there that would go towards the town center either. Please advise.

 

My sister does the reverse.  She drives to Southampton, parks the car, then calls a taxi from the car park to the bus station to catch the National Express to LHR.  (This is for when she flies to FLL to meet us for a TA.  That way, her car is already there when we arrive.)

 

She says she does not recall if there is a taxi stand at the bus station but finds it hard to believe that there isn’t one.  She uses Southampton Taxi:

 

LINK: Southampton Taxi

[jrmende63]

I can confirm there was a taxi stand at the bus terminal in Southampton. We walked to our hotel so I can’t confirm pricing. Bus was easy and convenient. We had pre bought our bus ticket and it was a nice ride to Southampton. 

[Lakesregion]

Started to read the QA reviews on CC yesterday and got through around 35 of the 63 posted. Not what one would hope for if one was Cuard management. That many bad reviews in one place would put a smaller busines out of business in short order. However, one must parse the reviews to see what are the issues. Many are not happy with the design of the ship and that is not something that can be remedied easily. When the ship has its first dry dock, they shuld be able to rip out the terrible clothes storage areas in the cabins and replace them with something useable but until then plan accordingly. As to lifts, that is not possible to solve except to remove the sofas that are acting as football linemen preventing easy cross lobby dashes for closing doors and extend the door closing times. And maybe get different luggage carts that can fit around the corners and into the service lifts. If you are sailing steerage you can ignore the grill reviews of which of late seem to be the majority of Cunard CC posts as they will not affect your trip. Best way to naviagte the small menu signage and lines in the buffet is to make a visit during a slow time (Not to eat but to inspect) learn where the stations are and what they offer and scope out where to place your book, jacket etc before heading to the food lines so you will have a table to return to with your full plates. As most of the reviews are from early sails, one can hope that by 2025 most of the Bitannia dining room issues will have been solved. Entertainment is personal, as to sun lounger hogs, just sit in one that is empty until the hog shows up and then rise and smile and move to the next empty but reserved one.And above all do not do the "do you know who I am" routine but do be asertive when you need an issue solved and the staff is trying to put you off. Overall, it would appear the QA is something of a mystery to even Cunard as they try to thread their way from a traditional luxury line with old fashioned standards to this new "modern" world. Even the  venerable St Regis hotel in NYC has basically for this traditionalist trashed their iconic Astor Court restaurant done away with their exceptional afternon tea and made the dining room into a "Lounge" with small plate servings. After years of trying to fight the holding pattern at the age of 85 I have given up. I dress in my finest even if my tablemates are in lesser garb, seek the best that I can afford and smile at what is left knowing that I will enjoy while the newbies are trying to figureout what it is all about.

Edited 1 hour ago by Lakesregion