All About Cunard

Cunard's Queen Mary 2 Refit Video: Part 2

2011-12-10T10:31:00.000Z

More photos of the Queen Mary 2 refit underway

2011-12-07T13:32:00.001Z

Cunard has posted more photos of the Queen Mary 2 refit underway. For more visit their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/cunard

Cunard's Queen Mary 2 Refit: Entertainment Director of Queen Mary 2, Paul O' Loughlin, takes viewers through key areas in the first stages of the Hamb

2011-12-02T16:21:00.000Z

Entertainment Director of Queen Mary 2, Paul O' Loughlin, takes viewers through key areas in the first stages of the Hamburg refit 28 - 30 November 2011.

Cunard posts pictures of Queen Mary 2 refit underway in Germany

2011-11-27T09:25:00.001Z

Cunard has started posting pictures of the refit of the Queen Mary 2 on their Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/cunard

Here are some of them:

entering dry dock

Queen Mary 2 Commodore Lounge

Queen Mary 2Red Lion Pub

Queen Mary 2 Spa

Cunard no longer registering ships in the Uk. Big outcry!

2011-11-02T10:33:00.001Z

Much has been written about the decision by Cunard to no longer register ships in the UK, and to have them registered (like many other lines) in tax havens and where rules and regulations are different

The excellent LateCruiseNews.com covered the news as follows:

After a month of public speculation, Cunard Line announced that it would transfer all three of its Queens to the Bermudian register. That the first ship is being transferred was immediately transferred (Queen Elizabeth), however, was unexpected. Behind the move, many suspect that the official reason for this, being able to offer weddings at sea, is just a cover to help Cunard to remove its ships from under the mess that is the UK’s Equality Act 2010, legislation from the last Labour government that came into effect this summer.

The new Equality Act will adversely affect UK shipping by doing away with differential pay, whereby foreign nationals hired from abroad have been paid less than UK nationals. The fact that two ships are changing registry immediately – the Queen Elizabeth today and the Queen Victoria on Thursday, with the Queen Mary 2 to follow in five weeks – leads to this suspicion, especially as no weddings will be on offer before April 2012, and details of these packages will not even be announced until November.

Re-fit of the Cunard Queen Mary 2: details

2011-11-01T16:34:00.000Z

The We are Cunard Blog wrote about the up-coming refit and update of the Queen Mary 2 ship happening in November 2011.

This is what they reported:

In January 2012 Queen Mary 2 will celebrate her 8th birthday. She is recognised in the new 2012 Berlitz Cruise Guide as the top large resort ship in the world. I was looking through our guest questionnaires recently and when we ask our guests to rate ‘Appearance of Stateroom’ and ‘Condition and Cleanliness of Public Rooms’ they have been averaging around 95% which is a good score. We have through every year of her life continued to invest in her upkeep and I have always been especially impressed by how well the Deck Department have looked after the extensive teak decks and outside areas.

Well in late November Queen Mary 2 will be taken out of service, and out of the water, for a planned refit in Hamburg, Germany. She will be out of service for 14 days. I have had a number of questions on the blog as to what we plan to do during that time.

Staterooms – We will refurbish every stateroom on board Queen Mary 2 – all 1,310 of them. Each of the Queen’s Grill Grand Duplex, Master and Penthouse Suites will receive a fresh individual design. All of our Queen’s Grill Suites, Princess Grill and Britannia Staterooms will receive new carpets, curtains, bedcovers, linen and some will also see new soft furnishings. The designs will be very much in keeping with the current designs and with the overall ship – but with a fresh look. I am really pleased with how they will look and our returning loyal guests will I am sure be delighted. I have always recognised just how important it is to feel comfortable in your stateroom – a home from home. The designs on Queen Mary 2 are very enduring and when the ship returns to service in December her staterooms will be more appealing and comfortable than ever.

Golden Lion Pub – our guests have worn the Pub out. The Pub lunches are more popular than ever, the bar area is always busy and sport and musical events are increasingly popular. So we have completely redesigned this room. Below are a couple of shots of how the new Pub will look. It recreates the best of British Pubs as well as the comfortable American Country Club feel. We will achieve more comfortable seats and more of them. We will have new and improved screens for sporting events and we will still be able to have our famous Jazz evenings and daytime activities.

Canyon Ranch – goes from strength to strength on Queen Mary 2. One of the highlights of our Canyon Ranch is the wet area and Spa Pool. Well we are completely refurbishing the teak surrounds of the pool and doing a lot of work in other areas of the spa. We will have a range of new exercise machines in the gym area and some new and improved features in the salon. Canyon ranch are one of our most prized partnerships – when it comes to health, relaxation, exercise and wellness – they are the real thing and I am so pleased we are investing in further improving the facilities.

Commodore Club – one of the most iconic bar locations at sea up on deck 9 forward. No radical changes here – but we are investing in new carpets and refurbishing and adding to our beautiful white leather furniture.

Children’s Club – one of Cunard’s best keep secrets. We have excellent facilities – but although they were industry leading in 2004 it is time for us to invest further in the facilities. We will refurbish the area, including the very latest in electronic gaming and entertainment – I am looking forward to trying them out for myself.

Sir Samuel’s – Originally designed when the ship came into service as a venue to offer the very best in classic wines. The advent of Cappuccinos, Lattes and Espresso has changed our approach and the room is very busy day and night. So time for new carpets and some new chair covers which will give the room a real lift.

Grill Restaurants – We will lay down a new carpet design for both the Queen’s Grill and Princess Grill Restaurants. These will be very much in keeping with the overall design but I think will give a lighter feel to both restaurants – which remain amongst the best restaurants at sea or on land.

Carpets – We will be refreshing the carpets in many areas of decks 2 and 3 both in public rooms and through our wonderful central walkways and landings. In one or two areas – and our guests have mentioned this on the blog – we have some wear and tear of the flooring under the carpet. We refurbished much of this in the last refit and will complete the work this time round.

What are we not doing – One area that I have received questions on is Kings Court – the equivalent to The Lido area on Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria. Given it’s location, and the fact that it covers such a large area with many sections – some of our guests have in the past found the area can be quite confusing – especially the first time you visit it. To make significant changes to the actual structure of this area would be very difficult and prohibitively expensive given it’s scale. So we have been tackling this in different ways. We have been looking carefully at customer flow, our food and beverage offering and in particular how we best manage the service in Kings Court. We have plans to increase the alternative dining opportunities and themed evenings, and removing possible confusion by not having too many different serving stations at breakfast. This has significantly improved the situation and we will continue to focus here and make sure we create the appropriate experience for our guests.

By the way and a small tip – when I travel on our ships I always choose to have breakfast in the Britannia Restaurant. It is a lovely place to eat, the service is impeccable, you have a wide choice, you don’t help yourself so the portions are smaller and better for you, you sit up straight, you can converse with our wonderful staff and the whole experience is a lot more relaxing. I normally have Grapefruit Juice, Bircher Muesli (nobody does it like Cunard), Scrambled Egg with American Bacon (yes some of us Brits do prefer the crispy American bacon) and a toasted English muffin (worth asking for it to go through the toaster twice) and fresh coffee. Marvelous.

Down Below – as ever we will take the opportunity to complete the regulatory and necessary checks and works below deck and that program is in place. Interestingly part of the technical work will be to add a Skycon to the ship. What is a Skycon I hear you say? You may have seen them on other ships but surprisingly Queen Mary 2 did not have this feature. It is a small rail that goes round the higher decks of the ship, to which you add a cage for the deck crew to clean and maintain many of the external railings and windows. When in port you will often see Cherry Pickers around Queen Mary 2 – tall extended cage like cranes to reach those parts that man simply cannot reach. With the addition of a Skycon we will be better able to maintain these areas of the ship and not have the expense of Cherry Pickers in port, so there you have it – some inside knowledge on what we have to do to make the ship look as she does.

To make this happen we will be adding enough carpet to cover 10 football pitches. We will be adding 18 miles of fabric – and we will have a team of thousands of workers to make it happen.

In these tough economic times it remains very important for us to continue to invest in both the technical and hotel areas of our ships. With Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth we are fortunate to have two very young ships that provide a fabulous experience for our guests. In Queen Mary 2 we have something very special, the most famous ocean liner in the world and a ship that still turns heads everywhere she goes – she is unquestionably the pride of our fleet. And that is why we will be investing in the ship and in our future guests experience through the upcoming refit.

Cunard's Queen Elizabeth: 1st Anniversary

2011-10-11T14:03:00.000Z

QE2's final transatlantic crossing, early evening

2011-09-23T09:10:00.000Z

Cunard - Queen Elizabeth

2011-09-21T14:27:00.000Z

Queen Mary 2 arrives in Cobh

2011-09-17T14:18:00.000Z

Do you have any thoughts, tips of comments? Leave a comment on the blog. Where you will also find details of how to subscribe for email updates, follow me on Twitter and Facebook, or subscribe for the free podcast.

Queen Mary 2's 20th Call to Hamburg, Germany - Cunard

2011-08-22T17:17:00.000Z

Cunard Line presents debut season of the Cunard Songwriting Programme

2011-07-29T09:49:00.000Z

Cunard Line has enhanced its popular Insights Programme with new and exciting interactive activities for guests onboard Queen Mary 2!

In 2011, on select Transatlantic voyages on flagship Queen Mary 2, Cunard Line presents the Cunard Songwriters Programme, an interactive opportunity for guests to explore the world of writing music.

The Programme is presented by singer/songwriter Chris Difford, perhaps best known as one of the founding members of the rock 'n' roll super band, The Who.

Assisted by a number of professional singers and musicians, Difford walks Cunard guests through the songwriting process, from the kernel of a song idea, chorus or lyrics to the recording and performance of a song.

For more information about the Cunard Songwriters Programme: www.cunard.com/songwriting

Cunard Queen Elizabeth Ship: my review, video and photos

2011-06-04T05:29:00.002Z

Queen Elizabeth docked in Zeebrugge

We went on a short 5-night cruise out of Southampton round Europe on the newest of the Cunard Fleet, the Queen Elizabeth. The trip went to Amsterdam, Zeebrugge and Le Havre, and was one of a series of identical trips that they did to let people try out and see the new ship.

I had mixed views about the ship before going on her, as we had been on the Queen Victoria and this ship is pretty much the same ship and layout - and we had thought the Queen Victoria was okay - but had not blown us away. For the review I did on the Queen Victoria: click here.

I had also read very mixed reviews about the Queen Elizabeth, mostly related to the food and the service. It is always exciting though to go on a new ship, and of course even more so when one of the famous Cunard ones.

In the end, we loved the ship. It has great looking decor, very stylish and very Cunard. The service was outstanding across all areas of the ship. The food we had in Queens Grill was amazing. The ship, although has a stern like a block of apartments rather than the staggered back of the Queen Victoria and looks a bit blocky, looks great overall. Though, of course, it is a Vista Class style ship and so looks like many other ships. This is such a pity that no longer Cunard ships are one off and unique.

The ship was launched in October 2010, and has 1034 cabins and takes 2068 passengers in total, with a crew of 1005. On our trip there were 2009 passengers, and almost all from the UK as one would expect.

Here are my other observations and thoughts on the ship:

1: As mentioned, the design and look of the ship is very classy. It has an art deco feel, and is classy and rich looking. It is done with style. The grand lobby, for example, is very grand and has a "wow" factor. The Royal Arcade with the shops, grand staircase and casino is also grand. The carpets through out are very striking and worth paying some attention to! I do not usually note carpets but these are worth checking out!

2: Some of the other rooms and areas that were good include:

The Royal Court Theatre. This is a large room on 2 levels, and they have boxes along the side that for the production shows can be booked for $50 and you get finger desserts, champagne and a signed photograph of the cast.

Royal Arcade Shops. There is a good selection and the addition of a Fortnum and Masons is a nice touch. You can make and order hampers that they will deliver to your home address if you want. There is a large art shop and exhibition ares run by Claredon Art. There is a large casino with machines, including popular 1c and 2c ones.

Garden Lounge. This was not one of the areas I was impressed with, but the large room with glass roof was popular with many and was always busy. I thought it lacked some class and style, but clearly others liked it!

Apple iRange/ iStudy. Throughout the ship they use Apple, and they have a shop where they sell various Apple PCs, iPads and iPods and all the internet computers are Apple.

Commodore Lounge. This is a great bar and room right at the front of the ship with panoramic views. This is a great place to sit during the day, and great for evening drinks. In here are also the old QE2 bell and the bell from the original QE, as well as models of the Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria. Opposite is also the Yacht Club where they have a disco and band at night.

We made a video of much of the interior rooms, and another one of the exterior and decks, both of which can be watched below or on my YouTube Channel.

3: Queens Grill. We stayed in Queens Grill. On Cunard the type of cabin you stay in determines the restaurant that you eat in. There is the Brittannia Grill, the largest and on 2 levels. There there are the "Grills" with Princess and Queens. For those in Grills, the 2 restaurants are on 11 deck which is accessed via a card in the elevator. On the Grills area there is a lounge, the 2 restaurants and then an alfresco dining area and 2 large decks with very comfortable loungers.

We were in a very nice suite which was a Q3 Penthouse Suite. It is an unusual shape, as the video I made shows. It had a very comfortable Sealey bed, seating area, bar area, bathroom and shower and separate basin and toilet. There are huge amounts of storage space. You get canapes each evening and a bar with soft drinks, and the choice of 2 bottles of spirits.

As mentioned, the food in Queens Grill is excellent and there is huge choice, including both a set menu choice and an a la carte at dinner.

See all my photos of the ship: click here

Watch the video of our room a Q3 Penthouse Suite 5103

Watch the video we made touring around the interior of the ship and all the main rooms:

Watch the video we made of the exteriors of the ship and the decks:

Grand Lobby on Queen Elizabeth

Queens Room on Queen Elizabeth

Brittannia Restaurant on Queen Elizabeth

Garden Lounge on Queen Elizabeth

Queens Grill Restaurant on Queen Elizabeth

Royal Arcade on Queen Elizabeth

Her Majesty The Queen Tours & Names Cunard Line's New Ship, Queen Elizabeth

2011-06-04T05:26:00.001Z

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Cunard Queen Elizabeth Queens Grill Q3 Penthouse Suite 5103

2011-06-03T11:28:00.001Z

Cunard Queen Elizabeth Ship: tour of the decks and exterior

2011-06-03T11:27:00.002Z

Cunard Queen Elizabeth Ship : a tour of the interiors and main rooms

2011-06-03T11:27:00.000Z

Cunard Queen Elizabeth Queens Grill Q3 Penthouse Suite 5103

2011-05-31T15:00:00.000Z

QM2 A2 cabin tour and captain's noon announcement.wmv

2011-05-24T09:00:00.001Z

QM2 A2 cabin tour and captain's noon announcement.wmv

2011-05-24T09:00:00.000Z

Exterior shots of the Queen Mary 2

2011-05-24T08:59:00.001Z

sailing into new york on Queen Mary 2: 17 May 2011

2011-05-24T08:59:00.000Z

Cunard QE2 Queen Elizabeth sailing into and docking in New York

2011-05-22T17:34:00.000Z

Cunard QE2 Queen Elizabeth 2: Tour Part 2 (on the decks at sea)

2011-05-21T12:38:00.000Z

Cunard QE2 Queen Elizabeth 2: Tour Part 1 (inside the ship)

2011-05-20T06:41:00.000Z

This is a video we made on a crossing on the QE2 in December 2004. It takes you round the inside of the ship. Another video to follow of the decks and rough seas!