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Hi Jim
I think your mate may have been mistaking Dollars with pounds on the QM2
I have my bar bill in front of me now, A pint of Boddingtons draft Bitterwas $6 us.
A bottle of wine in the restaraunt was $15 us, the cheapest one.
It was $2 to the pound in 2008 so the pint was £3 and the Bottle of wine £7.50 cheaper than a shoreside restaraunt.
A little dearer now the pound has fallen but not that much.
Hi Captain,I suggested to him what you said,he said it definitely was Sterling.I was talking to one of my neighbours who has just come back off a cruise on the Victoria,she said the price of the drinks was unbelievable.In this case she was talking $US and a glass of wine was $16US whats that about £11.00.
Things must've change a lot
Regards.
Jim.B.
Yes they must have changed, the last time I was there was two years ago on QE2 final world cruise, 2008, I always found that they were quite reasonable prices. I will have to have second thoughts if I go again.
They are either greedy or dont want any drunks on board.
It seems they only want passengers who are of a certain financial standard.money no object.
The time will come when there are more cruise berths than people and they will have to lower prices to atract the people.
I sailed back from Australia in 2005, Fremantle to Liverpool, on a Portugese ship, Funchal, I had met an old shipmate, Joe Finnegan, from 1955 on the Empress of Scotland and the old Franconia, he was living there, I cancelled our flight home and sailed back with him and 400 other Liverpool expats. The bar on there was very cheap, cheaper than shore prices. also we brought our own bar on board,several boxes of wine and bottles of gin and whisky. We had a session in the cabin before going to dinner to give us that golden glow. At the dinner table we always got one glass of wine off the waitress, with it. but with a little charm and flattery Joe Finnegan and I always had at least four glasses free.
We stopped at Goa and there we bought several bottles of Chivas Regal Whisky for the equiv of £3 a litre to keep us going.
So it is cheaper to take your own bar with you.
Hi Capt. the woman that sailed on the Victoria said that passenger bringing booze aboard had it confiscated and given it back at the end of the trip.
Regards.
Jim.B.
P.S.
she also said there was one part of the ship where you had to pay for coffee.
I must admit it never happened to me or anyone else at the time. But in the last 18 months they have had a change of management, maybe that is the reason.
I have heard of them taking bottles off people until docking day. but how can they justify doing that?. If I check into a hotel , no one questions you if you have a bottle or not. A cruise ship is only a hotel that moves from port to port, so what does it matter. I heard of one of Carnival`s ships sailing out of Tampa and when they started to take bottles of the American passengers there was a near riot. they had to stop doing it.
Carnival are the owners of Cunard. so maybe the British Passengers are not as vocal as the Americans and so the Company thinks it can get away with it here. But how can they justify it, I wonder if anyone has made an Official Complaint using the law.
What needs to be remembered is that when a person steps aboard a vessel you are stepping on to the soil of the flag state irrespective of what the port state is. In other words a Panamanian flag vessel is under Panamanian law whichever port it is in.
Anyone venturing on to Panamanian soil deserves all they get. I have had to do it but I was paid and had a warrant of GovUK.
regards
jimmy
Whatever Country you are in you accept their law,that is why you fly the courtesy flag on the for mast.
Regards.
Jim.B.
During my service with a Miami based cruise line from 1984 - 2000 passengers were not allowed to bring their own liquor on board and if they attempted to do so, it was confiscated and returned at th end of the cruise. I sailed out of Tampa, Port Everglades, Port Canaveral, Miami, San Diego, Texas, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Singapore.
Even back in 2000 the drinks were expensive.
I would think it would be in the conditions issued with the ticket that alcohol would not be allowed in the cabins and that baggage and passengers may be checked for same. To much alcohol in the cabins could be a fire risk.
In UK, any crew member of or a passenger on a foreign flag ship would be removed from the ship and charged on UK soil if he had breached UK criminal and sometimes civil law. There is no requirement for him or anyone else to accept it, it is done under warrant. The flag flying from any mast is not a consideration.
regards
jimmy
I have here in front of me a receipt of a round of drinks from last week on the QM2.
1GL250CN Merlot 9.75.
1BoddingtonBitt 4.95.
Gratuity 2.21.
Total 16.91.
These figures are Sterling,the tips are automaticaly added whether you like it or not.My mate asked various questions about conditions but never asked about what wage they were on.His waiter said he does 9 months on and goes home for 2 months.he said things have got worse since Carnival took over.
Regards.
Jim.B.