The Cunarder

[Fifer]

The latest edition of the magazine "exclusively for Cunard World Club members" arrived on my doormat this morning. There is lots on the QV - and an accompanying DVD which tours the ship - and the usual miscellany of items.

 

I was interested to note that the new brochure will "go on sale" exclusively to World Club members on 1 April. I do hope it is the voyages which go on sale and not the brochure itself, but with Carnival you can never be sure!

 

Gavin

[Toffeegirl68]

Thanks for the tip-off.

 

Just found it on-line...

 

http://www.cunard.co.uk/images/Content/CN1106FinalCunarder.pdf

[Dorchester]

The latest edition of the magazine "exclusively for Cunard World Club members" arrived on my doormat this morning. There is lots on the QV - and an accompanying DVD which tours the ship - and the usual miscellany of items.

 

I was interested to note that the new brochure will "go on sale" exclusively to World Club members on 1 April. I do hope it is the voyages which go on sale and not the brochure itself, but with Carnival you can never be sure!

 

Gavin

 

Gavin,

 

I too was a little dismayed when I first read the above, until I realised that Carnival had written it in American instead of English! Roughly translated they mean that the offers contained within the brochure will go on sale - not the brochure iteslf.

 

David

[Jim Avery]

Have not had a Cunarder in years. What do they look like? Cunard cant seem to get one to my address.

[cunardqueen]

The latest edition of the magazine "exclusively for Cunard World Club members" arrived on my doormat this morning.

 

Like wise mine arrived today, l was surprised to hear of the new Commodore, wasnt that kept quiet! Commodore Warner, somehow l thought Paul Wright would have made top of this list.He has more Cunard history doesnt he? and what of the other Captain David Christie, l wonder when he last saw the sea:rolleyes:

Interesting to see that we will be receiving a copy of the Cunard Voyage guide when we book out next cunard cruise! l already have one, its quite an informative guide book, though with its presentation this looks like the end of the voyage information booklet,all that infor is already online to see and book etc, where as this guide book is quite indepth 50 pages, full dress code details !:eek: who to phone if your delayed on sailing day and a section on etiquette!!!:rolleyes:

cheers

Myles

[Oahucruiser]

Have not had a Cunarder in years. What do they look like? Cunard cant seem to get one to my address.

 

I can't get one either though I have phoned twice asking to be on the list and when I booked onboard once, they promised to get my name listed. Never happened.

[pepperrn]

I received my copy of The Cunarder today with the enclosed DVD promo disc for the new Queen Victoria.

 

I'm surprised that Cunard didn't take the opportunity to show all three ships on one DVD (on a recent P&O DVD you were shown around the fleet). Here, we are shown a very few quick shots of the Caronia and Britannia Restaurants and the Queens Room on QM2. OK, the first part of the disc could concentrate on the new Queen, but as each ship is quite unlike the other two, I would have thought they would want to advertise and show off all three. Instead, we get a CGI QV without a passenger to be seen! A few shots from her building or float-out would have added interest. Shots of the interiors of QM2 and QE2, the facilities, places the ships have visited etc would have grabbed the attention of those who've yet to take a Cunard voyage.

 

And if I hear the words "Classic Cunarder" (three times in six minutes) once more, I'll throw something!

 

We've enjoyed the Cunard experience, we know what to expect. Cunard had the chance here to send out discs that we would have shown to family and friends "this is the Queen Mary 2" "look at the Queen Elizabeth 2". Instead, they are preaching to the converted. An opportunity wasted.

[cunardqueen]

And if I hear the words "Classic Cunarder" (three times in six minutes) once more, I'll throw something!

 

Yes quite indeed, we wait ages for news and they send THIS !!!! Yet again the Cunard PR department goes into overdrive:rolleyes: ! mindyou lm not surprised, a presentation last month only added news of QV as an afterthought... The whole presentation was like a fairy tale...... GRIMM :eek: :eek:

 

Meanwhile over at P&O.........

[guernseyguy]

And if I hear the words "Classic Cunarder" (three times in six minutes) once more, I'll throw something!

 

'Iconic' does it for me! I guess 'Iconic classic Cunarder' cannot be far off. But there also seems to be a bit of schizophrenia in how Cunard are using 'Cunarder' - sometimes its us - sometimes its a ship (the original usage). Just as long as nobody starts referring to my Gross Tonnage I don't much mind....

 

Peter

[cunardqueen]

'Iconic' does it for me! I guess 'Iconic classic Cunarder' cannot be far off. But there also seems to be a bit of schizophrenia in how Cunard are using 'Cunarder' - sometimes its us - sometimes its a ship (the original usage). Just as long as nobody starts referring to my Gross Tonnage I don't much mind....

 

Peter

 

Now if only Mrs Marlow could give us a presentation, there would be so much spin everybody would be positively dizzy at the end !!!:eek:

[pnhmrk]

It is a very good DVD. It shows exactly what Cunard are selling - a cruise ship and not a liner.

[guernseyguy]

It is a very good DVD. It shows exactly what Cunard are selling - a cruise ship and not a liner.

 

Which do they call it?

 

Peter

[mufi]

Which do they call it?

 

Peter

 

Neither, she is refered to throughout as a Cunarder.

 

And the bored sounding voice over guy didn't seem to be too keen on the whole thing either.

 

David.

[KenC]

Neither, she is refered to throughout as a Cunarder.

 

And the bored sounding voice over guy didn't seem to be too keen on the whole thing either.

 

David.

 

I thought he sounded quite authoritative :D

 

I like the DVD - it is supposed to be about the QV so why go overboard on the other two??? These new images are a huge improvement on the earlier presentation material and I think this ship will have an admirable character all of her own - a classic Cunarder if ever I saw one ;)

 

Ken

[pnhmrk]

It is supposed to be about the QV so why go overboard on the other two?

 

Cunard are trying to persuade that the QV is an equal to either the QE2 or the QM2 in every way. She is not. Cunard are the people who have mentioned QE2 and QM2. The QV looks like she is going to be a glamorous cruise ship. Why call her Queen anything - had they picked another Cunard name ending ia I don't think there would have been anything like the resentment towards her.

 

These new images are a huge improvement on the earlier presentation material

 

There wasn't much until this video was there?

 

I think this ship will have an admirable character all of her own - a classic Cunarder if ever I saw one ;)

 

Agreed, though as a cruise ship and not a liner. In the current economic climate there is no need for large passenger carrying vessels that are capable of speed however there is a great demand for luxury vessels that stay out of bad weather. Cunard have built a good ship but not another Queen - why did they call her one?

[KenC]

Cunard are trying to persuade that the QV is an equal to either the QE2 or the QM2 in every way. She is not. Cunard are the people who have mentioned QE2 and QM2. The QV looks like she is going to be a glamorous cruise ship. Why call her Queen anything - had they picked another Cunard name ending ia I don't think there would have been anything like the resentment towards her.

 

I don't think anyone on this Board would argue about the choice of name - but what's done is done. We conducted a poll on this Board at the time just before the name was first announced and, interestingly, plain 'Victoria' came out top above all the Aquitanias and Mauretanias etc. Apart from a very few 'rivet' counters (as we ship fans are sometimes called) I don't think there is much 'resentment' to her or her name - especially beyond this Board???

 

There wasn't much until this video was there?

 

There have been CGI's available for some time now and they don't do the interiors any favours - but then in my opinion CGI's are too harshly real and 'unromantic' to convey the feel of an interior. Call me old fashioned but artists impressions from the 20's and 30's actually made some of the elegant liners of the time look even better than they were in the flesh (or the photographs)

 

Agreed, though as a cruise ship and not a liner. In the current economic climate there is no need for large passenger carrying vessels that are capable of speed however there is a great demand for luxury vessels that stay out of bad weather. Cunard have built a good ship but not another Queen - why did they call her one?

 

I don't think Cunard are too worried about the semantics of what makes a cruise ship a liner. It's all in the image as far as Joe Public is concerned. And ... are you saying that there is no need for QE2 anymore ??? ;)

 

Ken

[pnhmrk]

I don't think there is much 'resentment' to her or her name - especially beyond this Board???

 

You mean there's life beyond this board:eek:

 

There have been CGI's available for some time now and they don't do the interiors any favours - but then in my opinion CGI's are too harshly real and 'unromantic' to convey the feel of an interior. Call me old fashioned but artists impressions from the 20's and 30's actually made some of the elegant liners of the time look even better than they were in the flesh (or the photographs)

 

The video is still only CGI. The images of her interior are still few and far between. All the video and those CGIs show is that she will have a lavish looking interior.

 

I don't think Cunard are too worried about the semantics of what makes a cruise ship a liner. It's all in the image as far as Joe Public is concerned.

 

Maybe they aren't too worried, but I think they should be. I doubt that the British Cunard would have called her a Queen but now those upstarts (:p ) across the pond have got Cunard anything goes.

 

Are you saying that there is no need for QE2 anymore ??? ;)

 

I'm not commenting about the QE2

[KenC]

You mean there's life beyond this board:eek:

 

Quite! ;)

 

Maybe they aren't too worried, but I think they should be. I doubt that the British Cunard would have called her a Queen but now those upstarts (:p ) across the pond have got Cunard anything goes.

 

Well, if it wasn't for those upstarts there probably wouldn't be a Cunard and definitely wouldn't be a QE2 (think I read somewhere that she was loosing money hand over fist in the mid 90's!!)

 

I'm not commenting about the QE2

 

But I thought you said "In the current economic climate there is no need for large passenger carrying vessels that are capable of speed" ??

 

Ken

[pnhmrk]

Well, if it wasn't for those upstarts there probably wouldn't be a Cunard and definitely wouldn't be a QE2 (think I read somewhere that she was loosing money hand over fist in the mid 90's!!)

 

She was loosing money but she was a fun ship to be on - the food, the parties, the drinks:)

 

The QE2 might now be called something like Caribbean Fiesta and be painted bright orange but under that camouflage she'd still be QE2 to her fans.

 

But I thought you said "In the current economic climate there is no need for large passenger carrying vessels that are capable of speed" ?

 

I did and there isn't but Cunard still built the Mary recently (and look at the problems they're having filling her). They had already inherited the QE2 and, now she's making money, there is no reason to get rid of her just for the sake of it.

 

Cunard are building a new ship - the problem is that she has the title Queen.

[travel-to-go]

Maybe it's the mood I'm in. Maybe it's that extra hour of daylight we 'Muricans have tonight, or the hour we lost in the morning. I don't know. But I just have to stir up the pot here.

 

I really do not think the opinions of 10 or 15 people here on the Cruise Critic Cunard Board are going to sway Cunard or CCL a whole lot, or make Mickey Arison (or Carol Marlow, for that matter) toss and turn at night.

 

CRUISE LINES are minting money. They have a license to print the currency of whatever realm they are registered in/cruising under the flag of. takingon passengers from, or they wouldn't be building new and greater megaships as fast as Fincantierri and Alstom Chantieres can pump them out!

 

I don't think they give a fig whether we have declared the "queen" nomenclature a sacred goose that can only be used to describe a certain type of ship, just because 4 of them, all very different, have been built to resemble a certain style. I was not on here when the QM2 was being built, but I bet it would not be a stretch to say that there are those on this board who were HORRIFED :eek: that they DARED to call her a liner and a Queen.

In fact, it would not be a lie to say that there are those on this board TODAY that claim that the QM2 does not have the right to call herself a liner and a Queen Although I daresay the Queen herself (the two legged Royal one) does not have a problem with it. I am guessing the Royal Family was also consulted (respectfully) before the naming of the Victoria. I am guessing they had no objection whatsoever and were thrilled that the honor was being bestowed.

I also suspect, being a troglodyte and moron when it come to shipbuilding terms and their proper use, that I might be hard-pressed to find an exact definition of "liner" other than a ship belonging to a shipping line, a ship of the line, or a ship which makes line voyages. If the latter is true, then I guess the QE2 is no longer a "liner" by definition, so we will have to take to calling her a CRUISE SHIP! :p since she cruises around, stopping at various ports in a lazy round-about way, instead of being the shortest and quickest means of getting from point A to Point B. After all, a liner, by any of these definitions is a very utilitarian "boat" akin to a ferry with sleeping and eating quarters. Well, at least the one about making Line Voyages.

Mind you, I haven't looked up any definitions. So I am just conjecturing.

Anyway, I'll also wager that at the time each of these ships was conceived, planned, announced, and brought forth, there were those who tsk-tsk'd saying that she wasn't a REAL liner/Queen/Cunarder/what-have-you and didn't deserve to bear the name....No doubt they resented and regretted the catastrophic thought that each of these should dare to compare herself to her predecessor(s) and it is those evil marketing folks (Trafalgar, whoever) trying to make a buck and calling this new pretender something she is not.

 

I suspect as Carnival PLC LLC and Cunard PLC rake in the money on their new mega CRUISELINER (Why yes, they ARE called CRUISELINERS, aren't they! And the companies are called CRUISE LINES. They sell a LINE of ship voyages, just like Manolo Blahnik sells a LINE of shoes!) they really won't give a whit what a few old timers trapped in the Golden Age of Daisy and the Great Gatsy stick their noses up in the air and sigh about. "Oh Dahling. She's just so...so NOT OUR KIND, Deah! So...COMMON, so....PLEBIAN...<sniff>"

 

Yep, They'll be crying all the way to the bank. Regardless of what we have to say!

 

Karie,

who loves history and the golden age, but likes her ship to come with ghosts AND balconies; wood paneling AND a modern swimming pool and Jacuzzi; history AND modernity. I do not relish going back to the time of no air conditioning, real, heavy, breath-stealing and filthy soot coming from the stack, men perishing or sustaining heinous injuries in boiler mishaps on an all too regular basis, a p!$$ pot and bowl and pitcher of tepid water at best for my hygiene, and beds without the modern luxurious bedding we all enjoy -no scratchy wool blankets- (pillow concierge, indeed!)

 

FLAME ON, BOYS! I CAN TAKE IT!:cool:

[highcbob]

Pardom me boys, I had to use the restroom after the first sentence... did I miss anything?

[travel-to-go]

Pardom me boys, I had to use the restroom after the first sentence... did I miss anything?

 

Well, yeah, but we had to delete the good parts.

Sorry,. Can't put them back up, as we'd be kicked off the boards.

 

Was it good for you? :p

 

Karie,

who tries not to let her personal hygiene needs usurp her Cruise Critic time. Of course it's awfully miserable carrying that CPU and monitor in there with me. Do you suppose I should get a lap top?

[KenC]

.....I really do not think the opinions of 10 or 15 people here on the Cruise Critic Cunard Board are going to sway Cunard or CCL a whole lot, or make Mickey Arison (or Carol Marlow, for that matter) toss and turn at night.......

 

Karie,

who loves history and the golden age, but likes her ship to come with ghosts AND balconies; wood paneling AND a modern swimming pool and Jacuzzi; history AND modernity. I do not relish going back to the time of no air conditioning, real, heavy, breath-stealing and filthy soot coming from the stack, men perishing or sustaining heinous injuries in boiler mishaps on an all too regular basis, a p!$$ pot and bowl and pitcher of tepid water at best for my hygiene, and beds without the modern luxurious bedding we all enjoy -no scratchy wool blankets- (pillow concierge, indeed!)

 

FLAME ON, BOYS! I CAN TAKE IT!:cool:

 

Exactly Karie ..... exactly!!! :D

 

Ken

[pnhmrk]

FLAME ON, BOYS! I CAN TAKE IT!:cool:

 

WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BOY?:mad: (:D )

 

I really do not think the opinions of 10 or 15 people here on the Cruise Critic Cunard Board are going to sway Cunard or CCL a whole lot, or make Mickey Arison (or Carol Marlow, for that matter) toss and turn at night.

 

I don't think they will have any effect either. It is possible that someone may look here and comment about the feelings on the board and, in turn have a slight influence on Cunard policy, but I doubt it (how could you measure that influence anyway?). The discussion id only a way of passing the time and enjoying ourselves.:)

[guernseyguy]

Exactly Karie ..... exactly!!! :D

Ken

 

Just as well! As you'd have had the QE2 scrapped years ago! No, fortunately Cunard listen to the bottom line - if people are willing to sail, and they can make money, they will.

 

On 'Do Cunard read these boards' I think it depends - if they are smart, they will be interested in what savvy travellers have to say - but I expect they'll be much more concerned about criticisms of service than the musings of the rivet counters over what their ships should be called. In any case, Cunard business strategy is set by Carnival via Princess - and in that portfolio they have a specific, niche role. They are a 'British' cruise line, aimed at North Americans (first) and Brits (second). When they crossed the Atlantic it was thus - so it is part of their 'heritage'. Their 'USP' (Unique Selling Proposition) is:

 

The Most Famous Ocean Liners in the World

 

So frankly if they launch a rowing boat they are going to call it an 'ocean liner'. They also have to focus their marketing message and as the QE2 is rightly 'the most famous ocean liner in the world', the QM2 'the largest ocean liner' in the world, whatever ship they did next was going to be called 'Queen'. As for the decoration, they are going back to, if not surpassing the Aquitania's trick of ransacking the style kit box - though its not clear to me what style is intended in Todd English or Cafe Carinthia.....shopping mall blandly inoffensive from the DVD, it would appear.

 

I have heard that certain Captains keep a weather eye on Cruise Critic, and one thing I've noticed, when the QV was first announced her speed was described at 18 knots....on the DVD cover they now quote her max speed of 23.7 knots....couldn't possibly have anything to do with the rivet counters muttering of course.....but if only once, some marketing muppet in Cunard decides to check a fact, or read a bit more about Cunard's glorious heritage....then our ramblings may not have been totally in vain.

 

Peter