Queen Mary 2 to NY, anyone done it?

bcl999

You come off the ship into the Customs/immigration building which is a large hall. collect your luggage (there are porters if you want them), go through Immigration and then the taxi rank/limo rank is just outside the building. Not sure how far in total but seemed like less than the distance you normally have to go at a large airport like H'row (i.e. from arrival gate to airprot exit). One thing - the queues for the taxis are horrendous - we waited 45minutes. There are companies who do limo transfers (they call them that but they are not limos as such, just large 4-dr cars) which you can book to collect you. We didn't use them but I think I might if I ever do the sea crossing again. They are not much more expensive than a cab and you would avoid the queues. Don't know if they would have room for a wheelchair as well as all the luggage though - that goes for the usual yellow cab as well. I can't remember any of the nams of the limo firms but I found them via Google.

You asked me some questions before & I didn't answer.
1. Can't remember if there was tea/coffee making in the cabin - sorry - but there is 24hr room service and I think tea/coffee is avaialble at all times in the Kings Court which is the buffet retaurant.
2.Yes , the tips are added automatically but you can adjust this via the Pursers office if you want to give more/less.
3. To my recollection, which differs to franklally, there are 3 formal black-tie nights, 2 smart, 1 informal - 6 in all.
4.The Kings Court is the palce to avoid the dress codes. It is a buffet restauarant with, I thionk, 4 different menu themes each night. As I said we didn't get there for dinner but had breakfast and a lunch there. It gets very busy for lunch. My friend preferred it as she could just pick whatever she fancied. I preferred the the calm of the Britannia for lunch. The KIngs Court was just a bit too much of a free-for-all for me.
4.Don't know about your account question.
5.Again my recollection differs from franklally, soft drinks are chargeable (and I should know as I was addicted to PepsiMax then). You can get tea, coffee, water, juice and iced tea at the machines in the Kings Court but at the bars and coffee shop, you pay for whatever you get.

Sorry for delay in answering but have been looking for all the bumpff from this cruise to help answer your questions and I can't find it.

Encantador

Thanks again, very useful info.

The best deal has been achieved by `unbundling` it, by the TA booking the cruise, hotel and return flight sepearately. Although about £300 (total) cheaper than the closest `bundled` offer, it means no transfers and only 1 case pp (2 with the bundled deal) and slightly less luggage allowance (20kg instead of 23).

Don`t want to take more than 3 cases (where would you store them all), but the extra 9kg and transfers would be handy. Not sure it`s worth £300 though.

Spoke to Cunard about the tips, there is also 15% added on at the bar, plus $11 a day per person added to your bill, but this can be cancelled by a visit to the pursers office apparently.

Thanks for taking the time.

getmore4less

bcl999 wrote: »

4.Don't know about your account question.

Most cruise ships work a cash free system where you just put stuff on an account QM2 will be like this.

It is best to just register a CC at the start of the cruise, charge everything, check the bill at the end and if nothing wrong thats it.
If there are errors you need to go to reception to get them sorted, for a long cruise we often do a mid cruise check of the account but for 6 nights I would just do it at the end. (QM2 may have in cabin accounts on the TV which makes it easy to check)

You can check/pay the account with cash at any time during the cruise at reception, if you don't want to use a CC then you normaly need to leave a deposit which can be quite large(a few hundred $)

Most ships use the room card(like a CC) as the charge card so it is easy.
On most trips that is all I have on me when going around the ship don't need anything else.

You can set up different accounts for different people in the same cabin if you want or have them all go to the same account.

(note not done the QM2 yet but have been on Cunard ships and others and it is usualy the similar enough to be the same)

getmore4less

Encantador wrote: »

Spoke to Cunard about the tips, there is also 15% added on at the bar, plus $11 a day per person added to your bill, but this can be cancelled by a visit to the pursers office apparently.

Thanks for taking the time.

The 15% is on the prices you will see on the bar lists, not sure of Cunards current prices but they were OK last time we did one, a bit cheaper than the other US ships but a bit more than P&O and the budget UK lines.

The $11 is to the cabin stewards and waiters who usualy do a great job and well deserve there tips/pay, unless there are service reason to remove them they should stay and in many cases increased.

The regular tips should be considered as part of the cost of cruising and budgeted for.

No shore excursions on a TA so the only extra costs will be the tips and drinks, unless you do shopping or gamble.

bcl999

We did independent booking too but we still got the 2 case trans-Atlantic baggage allowance coming back on Aer Lingus (could only find them & Virgin giving a reasonable US-UK one-way at the time). A 20kg allowance is a bit of a limit if you want to dress up for the ship. We booked the ship through cruisevaluecenter - I think they are in Florida. I've since heard that Cunard has joined the growing number of cruise companies who do not allow UK residents to book via US but don't know if this is true. I booked the hotel via a Travelzoo offer - 5 nights, Affinia Manhattan - a one-bedroom suite with 2 bathrooms and a kitchenette. Bliss after sharing on the ship.

Would go again to NYC like a shot but don't think I'd cross by sea.

bcl999

getmore4less
OP asked about a shipboard account with money in it - I imagine it is an on-board credit bonus but as I didn't get any, I couldn't answer. I imagine he already knows that an account is set up for incidentals - just like charging to your room in an hotel.

Jacquiesce

My boyfriend has suggested we do this trip as he doesn't like flying but would like to visit New York as he has never been and I would love to go back.
Does anyone know how long we would be able to have in NY if we did a return TA cruise ?
Or any other TA cruises back from the anywhere in the US, we could maybe sail into NY, travel a bit then sail back into the UK.

bcl999

Well, if you want to do it all on the QM2, you are going to have either less than one day (arrive a.m. & depart p.m) or else about a fortnight i.e. wait for her to make the next return transatlantic trip. Don't think there are any other regular crossings so it will be a question of searching for maybe a ship repositioning from US to UK to come back on. That does happen but I think most of them depart either Florida or elsewhere in Caribbean. Maybe a good travel agent could advise/arrange? The QM2 does do some very good prices for the 12night round trip but you'd only have a few hours ashore.

getmore4less

bcl999 wrote: »

getmore4less
OP asked about a shipboard account with money in it - I imagine it is an on-board credit bonus but as I didn't get any, I couldn't answer. I imagine he already knows that an account is set up for incidentals - just like charging to your room in an hotel.

The OP would need to check with the TA if there is any onboard credit deal they are quite common.

franklally

[5.Again my recollection differs from franklally, soft drinks are chargeable (and I should know as I was addicted to PepsiMax then).

Sorry we're not fizzy drink fans but I would assume it would be chargeable - just water free then.