Cruise 2024

[egor110]

dunkind said:

surveyor said:

A little story on our last MSC cruise we were Asked by some Germans enviously who were sharing our table how long it had taken to get our top tier ‘black’ status. I explained it was a blue card not black and our first MSC cruise. It amused us all.

By the way why would you share your dining table, unless you were invited or they invited you?

Maybe there was a wait for a 2 seat table but no wait if you'd share ?

[dunkind]

This thread still makes me laugh out loud,

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/3006468-br...

Especially this post, poor husband with a herniated disk carry a case of sparkling water (along with luggage) on board. 40 minutes queuing with it?? What does a bottle of sparkling water cost? You are on holiday.


camella
826
April 10, 2001
Miami, Florida

1. 8

Posted May 3
As long as you aren't sailing out of Sydney you should be ok. I recently left from there and like in the states I was going to send a packaged case of sparkling water and they literally started screaming that they would confiscate it if I sent it through the luggage. I told them it was WATER and you could clearly see it was and they still said if you give it to us it will be confiscated! So then we had to keep one of our roller boards so that we could balance the thing. My husband has a herniated disk and we were forced to carry this while in a huge line for about 40 minutes! Ridiculous. Good luck!

[Silverage]

We’ve just finished a 15-nighter with MSC. We (2 people) were allocated to a table of 6 for dinner in the MDR, with two American couples. We all got on really well and we looked forward to exchanging stories each day.

We went to the MDR for lunch a couple of times and that was pot luck who you got. Once it was with a racist South African woman who spend the entire meal interrogating a couple of Polish guys about the outcome of the second world war.

[dunkind]

Silverage said:

We’ve just finished a 15-nighter with MSC. We (2 people) were allocated to a table of 6 for dinner in the MDR, with two American couples. We all got on really well and we looked forward to exchanging stories each day.

We went to the MDR for lunch a couple of times and that was pot luck who you got. Once it was with a racist South African woman who spend the entire meal interrogating a couple of Polish guys about the outcome of the second world war.

You couldn't have a table for two?
What did you say to the racist woman?

[Deep Thought]

surveyor said:

All cruisers like the opportunity to look down on others. We see it on this thread also.

Rubbish line, newbie, not in a suite etc.

A little story on our last MSC cruise we were Asked by some Germans enviously who were sharing our table how long it had taken to get our top tier ‘black’ status. I explained it was a blue card not black and our first MSC cruise. It amused us all.

Indeed.

Every cruise line has its merits and sweet spot. Research is important.

I wouldn't knock any line. They all have strengths and weaknesses. Some suit us some dont.

Edited by Deep Thought on Saturday 11th May 12:41

[Deep Thought]

dunkind said:

No queuing though. Very decent food and service and as much champagne as I could drink and for a functioning alcoholic that ain’t bad.

I've never queued for anything on MSC and you can get as much champagne as you like on the drinks package for £29 a day.

[dunkind]

Double post for some reason

Edited by dunkind on Saturday 11th May 16:31

[Silverage]

dunkind said:

You couldn't have a table for two?
What did you say to the racist woman?

We could have waited for a table, but we didn’t mind meeting other people over a meal.

I don’t think the SA woman realised she was making anyone uncomfortable. In the end I jumped in and changed the subject.

[surveyor]

egor110 said:

dunkind said:

surveyor said:

A little story on our last MSC cruise we were Asked by some Germans enviously who were sharing our table how long it had taken to get our top tier ‘black’ status. I explained it was a blue card not black and our first MSC cruise. It amused us all.

By the way why would you share your dining table, unless you were invited or they invited you?

Maybe there was a wait for a 2 seat table but no wait if you'd share ?

This was in the Carousel Bar when the big band were about to perform. We have a 4 person table, they asked politely, why would I say no?

For dinner we were out on a table of 8, all English. Met some people I would not have done otherwise….

[3454.5]

[quote=surveyor
For dinner we were out on a table of 8, all English. Met some people I would not have done otherwise….

[/quote]

This is part of the joy of cruising, meeting people from all over who you wouldn't otherwise have met.
It helps to get others' views, experiences and opinions to expand one's understanding of this world and the people in it.

[bad company]

While we’re talking about meeting people on cruises. We did our first on Seabourn in 2010 (I think) and met a fellow passenger called Stirling Moss. What a nice unassuming gentleman he was.

[paulguitar]

bad company said:

While we’re talking about meeting people on cruises. We did our first on Seabourn in 2010 (I think) and met a fellow passenger called Stirling Moss. What a nice unassuming gentleman he was.

I met him too. Proper gentleman.

[Deep Thought]

paulguitar said:

I met him too. Proper gentleman.

You weren't wrong about Copenhagen prices. Crazy expensive! Glad we're only here a couple of days

[paulguitar]

Deep Thought said:

paulguitar said:

I met him too. Proper gentleman.

You weren't wrong about Copenhagen prices. Crazy expensive! Glad we're only here a couple of days

Yes, it's a very expensive place!

Luckily for me, the gigs I did there usually included dinner and one drink per set. So no exaggeration to say that was probably worth an extra £60-80ish quid per evening...

[Deep Thought]

paulguitar said:

Yes, it's a very expensive place!

Luckily for me, the gigs I did there usually included dinner and one drink per set. So no exaggeration to say that was probably worth an extra £60-80ish quid per evening...

I'd well believe it!

[Ynox]

Back from the Queen Anne maiden here.

Overall, a great trip. I love the ship - it's significantly more modern than the other Cunard ships (I've sailed on all other 3 multiple times). Service was shocking initially but this was acknowledged and it improved during the voyage.

Stateroom storage isn't the best, but it's offset by a great bathroom.

Kids club is brilliant with spectacular views. My daughter went 3 times a day - at the end she would race off there for their sessions. One evening she was sick and chucked up over a staff member, we had her clothes laundered for free and she was also cleared by the medical team to go back as long as there was a 12 hour gap. This I thought was a *very* fair policy - her usual nursery would have a 48 hour exclusion on this.

MDR food was great, but it's a maiden, so I'd expect that (heard suggestions that Britannia restaurant had a similar / same menu as Princess grill on formal nights). Buffet, the new Artisans' Food Hall has me conflicted. What I had there was pretty good, but the selection wasn't huge compared to a normal buffet and sometimes you needed to queue. This might be a view shared by other people as we never struggled to get a table for here - on the QV and QE it's normally a scrum at breakfast / lunch in comparison.

The bars are pretty good. I spent a lot of time in the pub on board (as usual). Show wise we only went to the Bright Lights Society to see Noir - incredible show. Loved it and I'm not usually a fan of shows.

Ship had a fair number of influencers / YouTubers on board. Ended up meeting Paul and Carole from https://paulandcarolelovetotravel.com in the pub. Nice people.

I'm back on the Queen Anne in November 2025. In the meantime I'm on the QV in October (Istanbul to Southampton) and the QE in June 2025 (Alaska). Toying with booking the QV for a 4 nighter English Channel bobbing around sojourn in December also, but need to think about it.

In conclusion, there are some great deals at present on the Queen Anne. It's a great ship. Book it.

[Tim the pool man]

3454.5 said:

surveyor said:

For dinner we were out on a table of 8, all English. Met some people I would not have done otherwise….

This is part of the joy of cruising, meeting people from all over who you wouldn't otherwise have met.
It helps to get others' views, experiences and opinions to expand one's understanding of this world and the people in it.

I've had some great experiences with shared dining tables on cruises, like you, meeting new people and interesting conversations. The last long cruise I did we ended up with 2 adjacent tables of 8 where we would mix and match (no pineapples lol) between the 2 groups, we were possible very lucky with our table mates. (Brisbane/NZ return cruise, Princess)

[romft123]

on our table were 4 ladies and me, the sole male. A whack job yank on her 3rd husband. Divorced the 1st, shot and killed the 2nd and the 3rd just gave her fun money to go cruising and gamble the night away. 2nd lady an elderly woman in a wheelchair that was funny....the 3rd an argentinian that didnt speak a word of english and since the Falklands war I despise them.....and my Missus. Was a fun evening!

[PRTVR]

Tim the pool man said:

3454.5 said:

surveyor said:

For dinner we were out on a table of 8, all English. Met some people I would not have done otherwise….

This is part of the joy of cruising, meeting people from all over who you wouldn't otherwise have met.
It helps to get others' views, experiences and opinions to expand one's understanding of this world and the people in it.

I've had some great experiences with shared dining tables on cruises, like you, meeting new people and interesting conversations. The last long cruise I did we ended up with 2 adjacent tables of 8 where we would mix and match (no pineapples lol) between the 2 groups, we were possible very lucky with our table mates. (Brisbane/NZ return cruise, Princess)

We always have a table for two, basically I am antisocial, but the tables are so close together we usually end up chatting with like minded people as they have also chosen a table for two also, the way I look at it is like speed dating for conversations,with a limited time period, most times are good unless they want to talk about football, which I have no interest in, I also enjoy the mix of people (especially on P&O)

[bad company]

We’re boarding in Greenwich in about an hour.