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Cunard: 8 Things You Didn’t Know You Needed To Know!
4K views
Jan 28, 2025
I discuss the things about Cunard Cruise Line that I kept finding people misunderstand, or do not realise about the cruise line. There are many cruising myths about Cunard among cruise passengers that I discuss, dispel, or explain why they may be only partly right. Cunard is not what most people think it is. I discuss topics including why despite being a very British line they use the US dollar and not the British Pound. Find out why and 7 other things you didn't know you needed to know. GET EXCLUSIVE PERKS LIKE MEMBER-ONLY BONUS VIDEOS BY BECOMING A CHANNEL MEMBER: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Links mentioned in the videos: Why they're called Princess and Queens Grill: https://youtu.be/CTjHIu4eVX4 BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTS ———————————————— * Check out my T-Shirt range at https://tipsfortravellers.myspreadshop.com , http://bit.ly/TFTStore or https://tips-for-travellers.creator-spring.com SUPPORT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS ————————————————————— * Become a Channel Member and get perks: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/Join * Become a Patron on Patreon and get perks: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * Make a donation: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=V9STJGYSEMGLJ * Buy my book “Cruise Traveler’s Handbook: USA Amazon https://amzn.to/2YVFmG4 and https://amzn.to/3tzIxBn UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3oXbzYc and https://amzn.to/3qawqIQ
View Video Transcript
0:00
here's one of the most puzzling things
0:02
about Cunard these American dollars
0:05
they're the onboard currency on Cunard a
0:08
line that makes much of its roots and
0:10
Heritage in Britain it names its ships
0:12
after British Queens it serves up
0:13
British Fair British entertainment and
0:15
even has traditional British pubs on
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board welcome aboard I'm Gary bembridge
0:20
you're about to discover why they use
0:22
American dollars and seven other
0:24
interesting things about Cunard although
0:27
Cunard originated in Britain it's lost a
0:29
lot of that in many ways it's been owned
0:32
by the U.S Carnival Corporation since
0:35
the late 1990s so that means it sits
0:37
alongside other of their Cruise Lines
0:39
including Holland America princess
0:41
Seabourn and many others on board I'm
0:45
always struck by how few of the crew are
0:48
actually from the UK now while some of
0:50
the senior officers are often British
0:52
that's not true across the board even
0:55
with the senior crew plus most other
0:58
crew members are from countries is like
1:00
India Indonesia South America and the
1:03
Philippines just like on pretty much
1:05
every other Cruise Line
1:07
the US dollar is used on board because
1:09
of course it's a Carnival
1:11
corporation-owned Cruise Line very U.S
1:13
Centric the passenger nationality on
1:15
board though is very mixed and they sail
1:18
very International itineraries more on
1:21
that later because that's important the
1:23
overall program though I do find to be
1:25
very British and even the spelling in
1:28
the daily program is UK English the
1:30
guest entertainers are British and
1:33
there's usually a variety of other
1:34
things like afternoon tea on board that
1:37
again are uniquely British unlike other
1:39
lines which are British based though
1:41
cunardo found is way easier for
1:44
international travelers to book if you
1:46
look at some other UK based lines like
1:48
Saga Pinot cruises and Fred Olsen it's
1:51
almost impossible as a non-citizen to
1:55
book those cruises Q naught on the other
1:57
hand has International sales offices
1:58
around the world and actively promotes
2:02
itself to Travelers from countries like
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the United States Canada Japan Germany
2:07
Australia and on and on now building on
2:11
that something I really like and you
2:13
need to know about Cunard is they offer
2:15
a slightly different approach on
2:16
itineraries compared to most other
2:19
cruise lines and they have two unique
2:22
key features first of all Q naught is
2:25
the only Cruise Line in the world that
2:27
has a scheduled transatic service which
2:30
runs roughly from April to October
2:32
that's on board the Queen Mary 2 between
2:34
Southampton and New York a fantastic
2:37
trip I love doing it they also offer a
2:39
variety of longer World Voyage sailings
2:42
including total World circumnavigations
2:45
cuno by the way first ever World Cruise
2:48
was aboard Laconia in 1922 and that
2:51
setting was really instrumental in how
2:53
the line still thinks exotic and Global
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to this very day now for example I
2:58
recently got off Queen Elizabeth and it
3:00
was heading down after my cruise to
3:02
offer cruises all around Australia Japan
3:04
then heading on to Alaska before
3:06
returning to the UK
3:07
so aside from world cruises these kind
3:09
of world voyages are a key part of
3:11
Cunard another thing I find most people
3:13
get confused by and don't understand is
3:16
the class system now I believe cunot is
3:19
not nearly as class driven as people
3:21
think it is let me explain so I'm too
3:24
not there's four grades of cabins
3:26
Britannia which includes inside Ocean
3:28
View and balcony cabins Britannia club
3:31
which is a premium or kind of elevated
3:33
balcony cabin then there's princess
3:36
Grill which are kind of mini suites and
3:39
then there's Queens Grill which are the
3:41
more premium suite experiences now the
3:44
gray determines which restaurant you eat
3:46
in the grill
3:47
restaurants are very fancy you can order
3:50
a la carte but you can also order exotic
3:52
things like Dover soil and chatterbrian
3:54
to order you can order off menu and you
3:57
can even have caviar however there are
4:00
very few venues beyond the restaurants
4:02
that those grills passengers have as a
4:05
perk that other passengers on board
4:07
can't also use for example there's a
4:10
small Lounge a deck not a particularly
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big one it's a concierge and there's
4:15
priority and location to some vocation
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that is it this is very different to the
4:20
likes of celebrity MSC and Norwegian
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which have huge ships within ships for
4:26
their sweet guests this is not the case
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on two note I'd say pretty much about 95
4:32
percent or more of the ship is open to
4:35
everybody by the way if you want to know
4:38
why it's called Princess Grill and
4:40
queen's Grill you could watch this video
4:42
it's a members only bonus video so but
4:44
by becoming a member you could find out
4:46
that another thing I think you probably
4:48
should know about Cunard is that the
4:50
perception largely driven by the
4:52
original QE2 and now the queen married
4:54
to is that Q not have one-of-a-kind
4:57
ships
4:58
it's just not true unfortunately the
5:01
Queen Mary 2 is unique though she's a
5:03
one-off she's the only true ocean liner
5:06
that's selling today however
5:08
Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria are
5:11
Vista class ships and this class of ship
5:14
pops up on many other cruise lines in
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the carnival group including Carnival
5:18
itself piano cruises and 100 America
5:21
cunard's new ship Queen Anne is a
5:25
pinnacle-class ship and this is based on
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Holland America's conning's Dam
5:30
there is though one aspect of Cunard
5:33
that makes it one of a kind and that is
5:36
that all the Lion's ships have been
5:38
named by the royal family including the
5:40
late Queen Elizabeth and now the queen
5:43
consult Camilla another thing I think
5:45
you need to know about Cunard pertains
5:49
to the ship's iconic features so this
5:51
includes the Majestic Grand Lobby that
5:54
exists across all of the fleet the
5:57
Queen's room which is the ship's
5:58
Ballroom this is a large spectacular
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space it's on every ship and is home to
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key on board events including dancing
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and afternoon tea for example
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You'll Always Find a magnificent
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two-level Britannia restaurant which is
6:13
the main dining room where about 80 to
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85 percent of passengers eat it's Grand
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it's Art Deco inspired it has big murals
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it really has a wow factor and I really
6:22
do love that room the library is also an
6:25
important feature of Canard ships the
6:27
one I'll be married to for example has
6:29
over 10 000 books and the others have
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around 6 000 books hugely impressive I
6:35
love these libraries they're all called
6:37
theater is another key venue which on
6:40
the Elizabeth and the Victoria feature
6:42
traditional theater boxes I also love a
6:45
couple of other iconic venues like the
6:48
golden line Pub the Corinthia Cafe
6:51
Lounge The Veranda grills restaurant the
6:54
only specially dining restaurant on
6:56
board kunant ships Cunard also has a few
6:59
iconic events in the daily program that
7:02
are fundamental to the line
7:04
these are actually the reasons that I
7:06
always have a great time on board I love
7:07
these first of all it's all about
7:09
dancing and you'll find dancing classes
7:13
during the day in the evening you'll
7:14
find a live Orchestra performing in the
7:16
Queen's room for ballroom dancing
7:20
there are even gentlemen hosts for those
7:23
passengers who want to do ballroom
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dancing and don't have a partner and
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during a cruise you can also expect
7:28
things like a black and white board a
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roaring 20s ball which focuses here in
7:33
the Queen's room by the way there's also
7:35
a Royal Court theater band that supports
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theatrical performances so there's a lot
7:39
of musicians on board the second big
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thing is afternoon tea every day
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hundreds of people go to the Queen's
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room in the afternoon for this event it
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really is quite spectacular I'm always
7:49
Blown Away by it and I love it the third
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thing that they have is inside lectures
7:55
on every single cruise they normally
7:57
have three speakers so for example on my
8:02
recent cruise on Queen Elizabeth they
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had a past press secretary to the late
8:06
Queen Elizabeth a former Concord pilot
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and an English historian I've also been
8:12
on trips with famous actresses and
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authors and even a police detective who
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caught a renowned British serial killer
8:19
the other thing that people think they
8:21
know about Cunard but they don't is the
8:24
dress code now personally I found the
8:26
dress code is not nearly as stuffy as it
8:29
was but they do still have some elements
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of a dress code and do enforce it so
8:33
most nights are smart attire so men can
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wear trousers it can even be smart jeans
8:38
and a colored shirt which could be a
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short sleeve one ladies can then wear
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blouses skirts stylish trousers or
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dresses
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Gala evening which used to be called
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formal night encourages all of us when
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we're on board to dress to impress men
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dinner jackets tuxedo dark suit and tie
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a bow tie ladies evening or cocktail
8:58
dresses formal separates as I believe
9:00
they're called however what's important
9:03
to know is unlike other cruise lines to
9:05
get into your main dining room on Gola
9:07
night you have to follow that dress code
9:10
they are really strict on Gola night so
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on those nights in fact on any nights
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when the ship turns into this
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magnificent event with everyone dressed
9:17
up it's really special but if you want
9:20
to sit on qnot and not dress up you can
9:22
still do that as I'm asked as often if
9:25
you do want to dress very casually
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including shorts you can go in the
9:29
evenings to the little buffet restaurant
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The Golden Lion Pub the casino Cafe
9:34
Corinthia and the yacht club which is
9:36
the nightclub by the way
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so there's quite a few places you can go
9:40
and not follow the dress code the other
9:42
thing you may not know about Cunard is
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they are incredibly good at dealing with
9:46
three very specific different types of
9:49
traveler groups that people are
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surprised about I'm often asked about
9:52
these groups and if they're suitable for
9:54
q9 so I did want to talk about them so
9:57
first of all for decades Q naught has
9:59
been a great choice for solo Travelers
10:01
they have Solo Traveler meetups on board
10:03
because so many solar guests cruise with
10:06
Cunard me included sometimes
10:09
they have some sort of cabins which
10:12
means you can avoid a large surcharge
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this is open to not a slightly younger
10:17
audience but they're not very many of
10:18
them and you do have to plan far ahead
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the second thing is there is a
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perception that Q naught is very
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conservative and that they are not
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welcoming of gay lesbian bisexual or
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transgender Travelers this is not at all
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true based on what I've seen and
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observed Cunard attracts a large number
10:38
of LGBT Travelers in fact the LGBT
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Meetup which is held every day has more
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people attending than on any other
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Cruise Line I have ever seen it's
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actually a pretty big event now the
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third area is around kids and Families
10:52
Two nod ships do have kids clubs they're
10:56
not particularly expansive and they tend
10:58
to focus and be most active within very
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specific holiday periods school vacation
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Christmas and so on so for example I've
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been on the Queen Mary 2 to the
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Caribbean at Christmas and they've been
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probably up up to 300 kids on board but
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because they ramp up the kids areas I
11:13
didn't really notice just the number of
11:14
kids on board however in my opinion
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Cunard still is not the best choice of
11:19
line for kids it's so focused on
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enrichment afternoon tea and all those
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kind of activities in my view it's not
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the best kid environment now if you want
11:28
to know more about Cunard and
11:29
particularly the transatlantic crossings
11:31
watch this video where I talk about
11:33
Queen Mary 2 and the things that
11:36
everybody should know starting with the
11:39
thing that will transform your
11:41
transatlantic Cruise as it did for mine
11:43
see you over there
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