Welcome to Cruise Talk the Internet's most popular discussion forum dedicated to cruising. Stop by Cruise Talk anytime to post a message or find out what your fellow passengers and industry insiders are saying about a particular ship, cruise line or destination.
>>> Reader Reviews >>> CruisePage.com Photo Gallery >>> Join Our Cruise Club.
Latest News...As it continues to unveil its 2027/28 lineup, Carnival Cruise Line today announced plans for three homeports as it opened new sailings in Long Beach, Calif., Norfolk, Va. and Baltimore, Md. With seasonal cruises on Carnival Legend in Long Beach, Carnival will launch its first-ever dedicated series of Hawaii cruises. Carnival is also repositioning Carnival Freedom to Norfolk and extending Carnival Pride’s...
Latest News...Oceania Cruises, the world's leading culinary- and destination-focused luxury cruise line, presents more than 230 thoughtfully curated voyages, each offering immersive experiences in some of the world's most alluring and desirable destinations. Encompassing more than a year of itineraries across seven intimate, luxurious ships, sailings range from 7 to 96 days across all seven continents...
Latest News...Today, Holland America Line announced its 2027 Canada & New England season, featuring a collection of cruises designed to showcase the region's storied national parks and rich heritage — as well as a new itinerary dedicated to the area's iconic lighthouses. In addition to exploring UNESCO World Heritage sites and vibrant cities, guests can expect a front-row seat to the region's stunning scenery...
My uncle reports that their friends old him they liked the ship but there were staffing problems, though 70% were purportedly from QE2. Apparently many of the new hires were leaving or being sacked! Adding to the woes was a rough crossing of the Bay of Biscay.
quote:Originally posted by empressport:I notice we still only have one QM2 review. Has anybody heard any first hand reports?My uncle reports that their friends old him they liked the ship but there were staffing problems, though 70% were purportedly from QE2. Apparently many of the new hires were leaving or being sacked! Adding to the woes was a rough crossing of the Bay of Biscay.
We had a number of CruiseTalkers on the maiden voyage and the press overnight. I am expecting additional reviews shortly.
Elizabeth was on the maiden voyage and has shared her experiences on this board. Maybe she will comment on your observations.
Joe at TravelPage.com
I have not written a review as yet but as Joe mentioned I have commented on the maiden voyage in other posts.
Indeed in the Bay of Biscay we were told that the ship was weathering force 8 conditions. This surprised us as the there was very little movement. As I said in another post, she is twice as stable as the QE2 and that certainlty seemed the case.
I would be surprised if 70% of the crew came from the QE2. We have sailed on the QE2 a number of times and we did not recognise a lot of staff. We also asked a number of crew what ships they had come from and were surprised by the "low number" of staff from QE2. There were a number of crew that had never sailed before (a couple of these were from Australia).
One thing that did surprise us was that Cunard was starting staff rotation after the maiden voyage. Of course it makes sense but we had not thought about the problems associated with most of the staff starting their contracts at the same time. I do not know if people have mistaken the staff rotation with crew resigning or not. I could understand if some staff, especially those in the Britannia restaurant, were finding their job very difficult. The crew also had to deal with luggage for 2600 passengers and this caused a lot of problems.The day we disembarked we were one of a large number of passengers who were not able to disembark till 2.15pm! Even female crew members seemed to be helping with the luggage.
I am sure that this was just a maiden voyage teething problem and that Cunard would have overcome this hiccup, but it certainly would have added pressure to the crew.
Ultimate Bulletin BoardTM 6.1.0.3
More Vacation & Cruise Specials...