Girl Power - Queen Elizabeth to Hamburg

[Quizzical Bob]

Other sticking your spouse's wet fingers in the sockets to see how brightly their eyes light up, how would you know which is the "always on" socket?

As Gill said, leaving chargers on overnight or when out is not allowed anymore.

These chargers are a notorious cause of fires.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Okay, so it seems that has changed. Fair enough. But my point was one shouldn't attempt to defeat the system designed to turn off power when one goes out. Apart from the waste of power if lights are left on in an empty cabin, there is a risk of far worse than a charger being left on accidentally. For example hair straighteners or an illicit travel iron. Just to add, when there was an 'always on' socket they were labelled, but presumably no longer.

[Solent Richard]

Interesting walk round the ship, not a bit like Arcadia considering its the same basic HAL Vista platform, the atrium totally outshines Arcadia's, but I'm not sure I like all that wood panelling.
The 2 smaller Queens do appear to have much bigger accessible cabins staterooms according to the deck plans so perhaps we should put them on our list for Southampton round trip cruises.

Good afternoon Towny.

They most certainly do and in all categories right up to the Grills.

What is so much better is the Grills restaurants and private deck - accessed by specific key cards and not overlooked.

Do look at my review...

http://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/201 ... en-season/

Having said that QM2 is unique and remains my favourite ship.

I'm looking forward to July and seeing what the makeover has achieved.

[Solent Richard]

Interesting walk round the ship, not a bit like Arcadia considering its the same basic HAL Vista platform, the atrium totally outshines Arcadia's, but I'm not sure I like all that wood panelling.
The 2 smaller Queens do appear to have much bigger accessible cabins staterooms according to the deck plans so perhaps we should put them on our list for Southampton round trip cruises.

There certainly is a difference in stateroom size, as there is in the price paid.

[Boris+]

It's a fair enough comment that on first impression the Grills decks are not overlooked, and that there are separate restaurants for QG and PG.

The last couple of cruises we had with Cunard, any man and his dog could simply access the Grills Decks by walking ..... either up the stairs inside the ship, or by using the stairways outside. There was (at that time) nothing to stop any man and his dog from accessing those areas - other than a notice saying that the area was for 'Grills Passengers Only'. So don't for one moment think that there will always be a lounger etc for you - there are always passengers invading and grabbing seating (and goodies) which they simply are not entitled to.

Similarly, the Grills Concierge Lounge on QM2 (which always used to be stocked with goodies) is easily accessible to people who shouldn't be there, and it's not always manned - QED, don't rely on those goodies being there ....... again, any man and his dog can simply walk in there and have a nice time! Do the staff do anything about the situation - nah, it's beneath them!

[Silver_Shiney]

I must admit that we snuck past the "no entry" sign purely in the interest of seeing what was up there, but wouldn't dream of helping ourselves to any facilities or goodies that we weren't entitled to.

We were told, on the ship's visit in December, that if we had wandered into the "exclusive" lounge for a drink, we'd be served but discretely asked to leave.

[GillD46]

Indeed. On QV recently, we saw an elderly couple get out of the lift behind some other passengers who were going into dinner. The couple walked into the Grill's Lounge, sat at the next table to us and mentioned to the waiter that they hadn't "found" this particular bar before. The waiter took their order, served them and quietly explained the bar was for Grill's passengers, so they apologised, drank their drinks and left.

Very respectfully done.

[Boris+]

I am not being a grumpy old tart - but I've had cruises when getting a lounger on the Grills decks has been difficult because of 'free loaders', and that also includes 'goodies' being in short supply for the same reason. We've also seen 'free loaders' being so determined to get onto the Grills Terrace and occupy loungers that they had to use blankets and towels from the deck store cupboards as the stewards had started to clear away ready for bad weather! However, we did have a balcony (to die for!), but minus the lovely stewards with goodies!

We also got a bit fed up with the same monotonous menu - to the extent that we always knew exactly what was going to be offered for embarkation lunch!

Oh well - variety is (as they say) the spice of life!

[Silver_Shiney]

Just to get back on topic, I hadn't realised that there are two cruise terminals in Hamburg - the Altona (where we docked) and the Centre Hafencity, which is much closer to the city centre

[Boris+]

Just to get back on topic, I hadn't realised that there are two cruise terminals in Hamburg - the Altona (where we docked) and the Centre Hafencity, which is much closer to the city centre

Yes, indeed - and we've done both (several times), but on the basis that lots of clouds have a silver lining, if you berth at Altona when the street market is running, it can be very entertaining and colourful, and the walk along into town can be quite pleasant (well at least as far as the Michelkirk).

We thought that the walk in from the Hafencity berth was quite gloomy with all those old converted warehouses.

Hope you had a good time.

[Silver_Shiney]

Each to his or her own, Em, I spent ages wandering round those old warehouses a couple of years ago when I went to the model railway in one of them. It was a lovely area in the early summer. The waste ground between them and the terminal is being redeveloped. Conversely, I thought the area around Altona very run down, but it was winter and a lot of snow and ice - I'm sure a market would change the atmosphere! We're thinking about driving back there for a few days next week - can't see a cruise on the agenda for a little while!