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Maderia:

The ship is great. Absolutely a liner feeling onboard...grand spaces, space being the overriding sensation vs. any other ship I've been on. Take the Chart Room Bar or Golden Lion on the QE2 and multiply it 6x in size, but only 20% more tables and chairs. THAT's how much room there is on this ship.

The dining room (Britannia) is beautifully done. Only minor negative detail comments (ie: top of the columns looking phony - the columns not passing the "column" test- rapping ones knuckles only to hear a hollow sound...)Overall the room works wonderfully. The food - if you can believe it - is light years ahead of Mauretania. Tonight though, was the topper: Dinner at Todd English. Had a table for 10 (in the dining room we're a table for 6 and a table for 4, adjacent to each other) - and the food was in a word: magnificient, again! Steak tasty as hell and cooked to perfection! I'd be hard pressed to find something better in NY. Dinners are stretching into 2 1/2-3 hour social events.

Attended only briefly the one day delayed Shirley Bassey - pardon me, the "Dame" Shirley Bassey opening performance. We had a force 7-8 first 36-48 hours. Ship handled beautifully. Nice easy roller, no snapping back, very little pitching. The Deck 2 windows gave great views of the swirling sea only some 20 feet below, many of which crashed against the reinforced panes.

Haven't had a chance to attend the Illuminations, as yet. We did enjoy that space listening to a John Maxtone-Graham lecture on Violet Jessop which was outstanding, as he usually is. No Oprah Winfrey, no Mel Gibson onboard. Only rumors, I'm afraid.

Cabin wise*....it's been very tight. You need to be something of a contortionist to avoid digging an elbow into someone as you're dressing for dinner but we're all getting along quite well.

Alan

(Alan is sharing an inside cabin with three guys - two upper and two lower berths!)

Some web cam images and a variation of this report can be found: Here

[ 01-27-2004: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

quote:

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
- the columns not passing the "column" test- rapping ones knuckles only to hear a hollow sound...)Overall the room works wonderfully. The food - if you can believe it - is light years ahead of Mauretania.

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LOL... I wonder how many people have been going around tapping the columns. I do too Glad to hear the food is OK.

quote:

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Originally posted by PamM:
I wonder how many people have been going around tapping the columns. I do too

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Of course marble is not always a great thing on a ship so they may well be using fake stuff for reasons other than cheapness...

1) There are technical E-mail/Internet problems onboard.

2) The E-mail onboard is incredibly expensive

[ 01-20-2004: Message edited by: bmajor ]

Ted Scull Report Part 1.

Ted Scull Report Part 2.

I hear that Shirley Bassey will shortly depart and Tom Jones will join - another top turn!

[ 01-20-2004: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

wrote: I had received your note pleading for something to the list after my original post. I sat at the Connections Terminal and dutifully typed a sound disertation of my opinions, etal. Would've
been a 20 minute read. [snip]ing AOL wouldn't send it - too many bytes, nor could I clip or print it to resend in parts. So I lost the whole frigging thing! I will write my review when back. For your information:

1) The ship, crew (except dining room staff), facilities, are
FANTASTIC!
2) I do not believe the ship is too big. It's big enough that there are
0 lines. There are lovely public rooms and plenty of spots for quiet
gatherings. The Atlantic & Commodore Bar are spectacular! Even the Canyon
Ranch complex is superb.
3) The food is excellent, Todd English is out of this world. The Kings
Court experiment is a success.
4) The deck space is huge and superb.
5) The internal "flow" of the ship is great, large walking galleries,
very well laid out.
6) The Royal Court is so-so. Wintergarden...."ok", ceiling too low.
Internal ships clocks, great. Outside clocks all have different times. No
biggie! All others great: Planetarium fantastic, Bars superb. Britannic
Dining Room - excellent (except for some service glitches). Did I
mention Todd English is out of this world?
7) Almost 100% of crew has been super friendly, all smiles, all hello's
(genuinely delivered). Much better than QE2 crews I've experienced.
8) The passageways are verrrrrry LONG. One should familiarize one's
self with the ship prior to boarding which will save lots of time.

Will end now for fear of making it too long to send. Feel free to share!

Best,
Alan

Four adults in this trype of cabin was bound to be a squeeze, but I do know that they still had a great cruise!

(And probably more disposable cash to spend in the bar?)

[ 01-28-2004: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

quote:

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Originally posted by cruiseny:
Well, I have to say QM2's standard cabin does not look any worse than any other four-berth standard I can think of. Indeed at 194 sq feet it is downright generous in comparision with some ships' miniscule closets.

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One thing I heard from a couple different people is that while QM2's standard cabins are 194 sq feet, they are poorly designed and nothing very special. I don't have anymore details, but I guess I will have to check that out for myself.

quote:

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Originally posted by eroller:
One thing I heard from a couple different people is that while QM2's standard cabins are 194 sq feet, they are poorly designed

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Check out this standard cabin on the Sea Cloud II

Sea Cloud II Cabin

[ 01-28-2004: Message edited by: Thad ]