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...Norwegian Cruise Line celebrated the debut of the all-new Norwegian Aqua to Port Canaveral, Fla. on Saturday, April 26, 2025, where she commenced her inaugural season of round-trip Caribbean cruises as the newest ship in port. This past weekend, approximately 3,700 guests embarked on Norwegian Aqua's first week-long voyage to the Caribbean from Port Canaveral, Fla., her initial homeport ...
Latest News...Royal Caribbean Group (NYSE: RCL) today reported first quarter Earnings per Share ("EPS") of $2.70 and Adjusted EPS of $2.71. These results were better than the company's guidance due to stronger than expected pricing on close-in demand and lower costs mainly due to timing. Royal Caribbean said that it is increasing its full year 2025 Adjusted EPS guidance to $14.55 to $15.55...
Latest News...Holland America Line announced itineraries for its two Grand Voyages sailing in 2027, offering guests the choice to embark on an ambitious 129-day circumnavigation of the globe on the 2027 Grand World Voyage or a 70-day, region-specific in-depth exploration on the Grand South America & Antarctica Voyage. As revealed today by the cruise line's president Beth Bodensteiner to guests on board...
Pam
quote:Originally posted by PamM:Have you got a passport yet? Pam
No, I haven't been able to for many reasons, but I am going to get it very soon. I will just have to get it rushed.
quote:Originally posted by Cunard Fan:No, I haven't been able to for many reasons, but I am going to get it very soon. I will just have to get it rushed.
Some people who post here like to share their travel plans in advance, some not and some people might not be able or do not want to go on a cruise at all - and that is of course perfectly fine. However, your postings on that matter are becoming a bit odd now.
quote:Originally posted by Ernst:Some people who post here like to share their travel plans in advance, some not and some people might not be able or do not want to go on a cruise at all - and that is of course perfectly fine. However, your postings on that matter are becoming a bit odd now.
I know I sound really stupid but trust me I am not as stupid as I sound. My life right now is very unusual and prevents me from doing somehings like getting my passport. Its very complicated so I won't even try to explain. I have been very busy lately but hopefully I will be able to find time to get my passport. It would be nice to do the crossing. I might actually be somewhere else durring that time though so I might not be able to do QV, but if I could I would like to.
quote:Originally posted by Cunard Fan:I know I sound really stupid but trust me I am not as stupid as I sound. My life right now is very unusual and prevents me from doing somehings like getting my passport. Its very complicated so I won't even try to explain. I have been very busy lately but hopefully I will be able to find time to get my passport. It would be nice to do the crossing. I might actually be somewhere else durring that time though so I might not be able to do QV, but if I could I would like to.
Well, it indeed does sounds stupid. If it is always so uncertain whether you can go or not you might want to consider not to post on that matter, especially since you do not want to explain the circumstances - which is understandable but why then posting firstplace?
.I know I sound really stupid but trust me I am not as stupid as I sound. My life right now is very unusual and prevents me from doing somehings like getting my passport. Its very complicated so I won't even try to explain. I have been very busy lately but hopefully I will be able to find time to get my passport. It would be nice to do the crossing. I might actually be somewhere else durring that time though so I might not be able to do QV, but if I could I would like to.
well trust me i really am stupid. my life right now is not very unusual and doesn't prevent me from doing anything i don't want to, like finding my passport. its not very complicated so i will explain. i am just very lazy. i won't be anywhere else on that date and would really love to do QV, but really stupid me hasn't got enough money.
[ 11-19-2008: Message edited by: gaz hants ]
quote:Originally posted by greybeard:Maybe CunardFan is an abbreviation for CunardFantasist
indeed, most fans worship from afar, destined never to meet the heroes of their dreams.
whereas me, i once met the krankies, so my fan thing was well satisfied.
quote:Originally posted by Ernst:Well, it indeed does sounds stupid. If it is always so uncertain whether you can go or not you might want to consider not to post on that matter, especially since you do not want to explain the circumstances - which is understandable but why then posting firstplace?
I admit it does sound stupid.
I don't see why I shouldn't post about a cruise I am thinking of doing. True I am not sure if I will be able to go but I don't see why that means I should not say I am at least considering it on here.
There is a real chance of me going so I figured I might as well post about it. I actually had 3 cruises in January that I wanted to do (of course I would only be able to do one). I have been looking at a QM2 cruise (it un-likely I would do that one though), the QV crossing or a cruise on the Regal Empress (which would probably be my first choice as it would be my only chance to sail on her).
I do intend to start cruising as soon as I possibly can but I do have several things which are higher on my priority list. One thing for example, is, I am helping with the production of a movie, in Louisiana, which takes up a lot of my time, among other things.
quote:Originally posted by Cunard Fan:I was thinking about trying for this one. But I might be on vacation with my family so I am not sure yet. Cunard sent me a offer for $690, which seems really low for them and especially for the QV.
Perhaps they are offering lower prices for QV due to her Atlantic sea-keeping capabilities as witnessed (eg: she didn't ride the weather as well as the other Queens would have) in last year's Tandem Crossing? Perhaps customer feedback warranted discounts? I assume this is starting price for Inside Cabin + EBS? Plus all this talk of economic downturn probably will encourage discounting of certain services.
Chris.
[ 11-23-2008: Message edited by: Chris ]
quote:Originally posted by Chris:Perhaps they are offering lower prices for QV due to her Atlantic sea-keeping capabilities as witnessed in last year's Tandem Crossing? [...]
Perhaps they are offering lower prices for QV due to her Atlantic sea-keeping capabilities as witnessed in last year's Tandem Crossing? [...]
And what would that be that has been 'witnessed'?
quote:Originally posted by Chris:Perhaps they are offering lower prices for QV due to her Atlantic sea-keeping capabilities as witnessed in last year's Tandem Crossing? Perhaps customer feedback warranted discounts?
Low last-minute pricing is pretty routine for Cunard winter crossings. The '06 QE2 winter crossing also started at $699, with air NYC-LON included! The comparatively expensive '08 crossing was the exception since it was "special". I paid roughly twice what I did in '08 as I did '06.
Now, of course QV will have less appeal to most prospective January crossers than QE2 did (and QM2 will in 2010, probably) and also the eight-night crossing might put some people off but nevertheless I hardly thing the fares are cheap because of any kind of poor performance on the part of QV this past January.
quote:Originally posted by dougnewman:I'm not sure what makes you think anything bad happened on the Tandem Crossing last year. QV handled the rough seas perfectly well...no damage to the ship, no damage to the passengers and she arrived in New York on time so what exactly is there to complain about?
My brother and his wife sailed the Eurodam clone and extolled the sea-keeping. Stephen Payne did a good job on the Vista/Spirit engineering. They are not QM2, but far less expensive and complex to build.
I have yet to sail a Vista/spirit, but have seen one up close and noted a sharp bow, especially compared to the Princess Grand in the next berth.
From reading reviews and talk from people I trust note that the hardware itself is excellent. Problem is that Carnival overused Vista/Spirit throughout many brands with lack of differentiation.
quote:Originally posted by Chris:Perhaps they are offering lower prices for QV due to her Atlantic sea-keeping capabilities as witnessed in last year's Tandem Crossing? Perhaps customer feedback warranted discounts? I assume this is starting price for Inside Cabin + EBS? Plus all this talk of economic downturn probably will encourage discounting of certain services.Chris.
Perhaps they are offering lower prices for QV due to her Atlantic sea-keeping capabilities as witnessed in last year's Tandem Crossing? Perhaps customer feedback warranted discounts? I assume this is starting price for Inside Cabin + EBS? Plus all this talk of economic downturn probably will encourage discounting of certain services.
I was onboard the QV for her tandem crossing. I do suspect that I might of got a slightly smoother ride onboard the QE2, but she was pitching and rolling too! Both ships had there fair share of seasick passengers.
Winter crossing are never going to have mass-market appeal.
quote:Originally posted by Chris:I was merely referring to the fact that QV did not ride the weather quite as smoothly as QE2 or QM2 would have. [....]
And why do you think that this is a 'fact'?
Cheers.
quote:Originally posted by Chris:I was merely referring to the fact that QV did not ride the weather quite as smoothly as QE2 or QM2 would have. As finer Vista design as she is, that ship was never designed to transit the North Atlantic in the same manner as the previous Queens.
If QV was her price tag would be 2x to build what she was. Remember QM2 was 2x the price of the similar size Voyager class so QM2 could be winter North Atlantic.
quote:Originally posted by DougNewman: I hardly thing the fares are cheap because of any kind of poor performance on the part of QV this past January.
With the economy in the tank I believe fares will be slashed all around to fill the ships
quote:Originally posted by desirod7:If QV was her price tag would be 2x to build what she was. Remember QM2 was 2x the price of the similar size Voyager class so QM2 could be winter North Atlantic.
Don't forget that QM2 is quite a bit faster than e.g. a Voyager class ship.
Question - is the 8-night crossing for QV simply because she is not as fast, or is it also an allowance for her being slowed further by bad weather and losing time that she couldn't make up (eg: the other Queens could speed up to over 30 knots to make up time if needed)?
[ 11-23-2008: Message edited by: Ernst ]
I think there is a misconception that QM2 was designed to simply be as good as QE2 but in fact in Carnival's view QE2 left a good deal to be desired. I think from the day one Carnival realized that it wanted a ship that would far surpass the capabilities of QE2 (except in speed). Indeed it would have been rather embarrassing if 35 years later Carnival couldn't build a ship with significantly better performance than QE2's. If Carnival merely wanted a ship that would be a direct replacement for QE2, it could have saved an awful lot of money.
I have often heard QE2 described as "the last real North Atlantic liner" and the like but frankly this is absolute nonsense. QM2 has been designed to take the very worst the Atlantic can dish out and then some (to the point that years of weather studies were used to "design" the absolute worst conditions she might encounter, and the ship designed to withstand that and more) and according to all the tank tests and computer simulations she is the strongest and most stable ocean liner ever.
Whatever one thinks of her aesthetics or the like, QM2 is simply an awesome ship from a technical standpoint and has no peers...not QE2, not anything else.
As for QV, of course she is not in the same league as QM2. If she were, QM2 would be a giant rip-off. How she compares to QE2 is another story entirely and as I have not seen or heard anything definitive on that front, it would be pointless to speculate. What I do know is that everyone at Carnival seems to be extremely happy with the new ship, including the way she performed last January while crossing the North Atlantic in bad weather.
quote:Originally posted by Chris: Question - is the 8-night crossing for QV simply because she is not as fast, or is it also an allowance for her being slowed further by bad weather and losing time that she couldn't make up (eg: the other Queens could speed up to over 30 knots to make up time if needed)?
All the above, but more than anything I think fuel cost. Sail slower and save fuel.
Ernie
Ultimate Bulletin BoardTM 6.1.0.3
More Vacation & Cruise Specials...