BOOKED THE QM2 TODAY

im excited, im nervous, im stressed, but its all good!!!!!! booked my cruise for nov 1st 2010...........me and my two chihuahuas are finally moving to the UK.......yipee!!!!!!!!!

Have fun.  We loved our passage.     Did you get a nice cabin?

well i got a nice and cheap one....lol......glad to hear that you enjoyed your trip over....ive never been on a big cruise ship so im a bit nervous

We hadn't either.  It's not exactly cruise-like.  There isn't really a lot of the things you find on cruises, but we were never bored.  We had a cheap cabin as well, but even the smallest ones are rather big. 

I hope you have a good time.

yea from looking at all the info i dont think there is alot of fun stuff to do......as long as i can swim and watch movies i will be okay.........doing this strictly for the sake of my dogs.....well and maybe the fact that there is no limit on luggage......how many suitcases did you bring.......im limiting mine to 15-20.....how does one limit a shoe collection.....lol

Well, if you have a "stateroom" the same size as ours, 15-20 suitcases might be a bit difficult.  There are no limits to the amount of luggage you can bring on except the size of your room.  We had the smallest room because we booked about 4 months before we sailed.  The storage consisted of a built in wardrobe, a small built in dresser, a built in desk, and I think what you could stow under the bed.  Between the two of us, we had 5 cases (large) and carry on.  I shipped the majority of the stuff I was sending over and could live without for a while.

Honestly, at a push I would say if you're travelling with someone, 8 would be the limit.  Keep in mind, you will have to be able to manoeuvre your stuff through customs in South Hampton, which is extremely disorganized compared to embarking in Brooklyn (and I heard the same is true going the other way).  I would really suggest looking at some cheap shipping options for some of it.  In the bigger staterooms there might be more room for stuff, but trust me, we were pushed to the limit disembarking with what we had, and we didn't have any animals with us.  They do transport your luggage to a place to pick it up in the port, but it still is a bit crazy trying to get through the masses of people.

There is at least one indoor pool, but I never saw anyone in it.  There are films, a planetarium, RADA productions, a library, a pub (with karaoke, quizes and so on), lectures, a cyber cafe (although we never used it), a game room/hallway thing, a casino, a night club, a wine bar...  It sounds a bit stodgeyish, but we had a lot of fun.  Make sure you get tickets for things like the planetarium as soon as they are available or wait until later in the trip to see them.  There aren't a tonne of films shown, but IIRC, they played two different ones in the evening and a classic one that was a subject of one of the lectures given.  You can also bring films on your laptop, but really, we always found stuff to do, and I was a lot less bored than I thought I would be.  And we had a huge storm at sea, so we couldn't do what I envisioned the crossing to be like: days spent on a lounger under a blanket with a book.

thanks for all the info.......yep i got the smallest room but its only me in the room......guess im gonna have to struggle with the luggage because i just cant afford any more spending.....another couple i met on here said they had 16 pieces.....im gonna take your advice though and try to cut it down......im glad to hear that they have an indoor pool......i love the water.....did you take dogs with you too?

...In the bigger staterooms there might be more room for stuff, but trust me, we were pushed to the limit disembarking with what we had, and we didn't have any animals with us...

Yep, we didn't have our cat with us at that time.  Is someone going to be able to pick you up from Southhampton?

Well, if you have a "stateroom" the same size as ours, 15-20 suitcases might be a bit difficult.  There are no limits to the amount of luggage you can bring on except the size of your room.  We had the smallest room because we booked about 4 months before we sailed.  The storage consisted of a built in wardrobe, a small built in dresser, a built in desk, and I think what you could stow under the bed.  Between the two of us, we had 5 cases (large) and carry on.  I shipped the majority of the stuff I was sending over and could live without for a while.

Honestly, at a push I would say if you're travelling with someone, 8 would be the limit.

We also just moved over via QM2 in September and had the smallest available inside stateroom.  We were trying not to ship anything, so brought a *lot* of stuff on board with us.  I think altogether we had 18 pieces of luggage.  That included two big duffel bags, three suitcases, four of those plastic tubs from Target, but also a lot of smaller backpacks and overnight bags.  We were really worried about fitting everything in our room, but the two closets were pretty roomy, plus you can fit stuff under the bed.  Also, even though they claim that everything has to fit in your room, our steward took some of our bulkier pieces and stored them in a locker somewhere so our room wouldn't be so crowded.  I don't know if that's just not something they advertise, or if he was doing us a favor, but it definitely helped.

I agree with Legs Akimbo that disembarking was chaotic.  We were traveling with our cat too, so that added to the stress.  There are porters in Southampton though who can help you with all of your stuff.  If you're traveling by yourself, it may be best to limit yourself a bit, as we found ourselves doing a lot of tag-teaming who was going to stay with the cat while the other found a porter, got the rental car, etc.  I imagine handling everything by yourself would make it more difficult.

I'm also not a big cruise person, and the weather on our crossing was pretty miserable, but I never found myself bored or lacking something to do.  There are lots of quiet nooks on-board where you can read, do a puzzle, or just hang out if you're not into the planned activities.  There were also plenty of people using the indoor pool on our voyage, although we never used it ourselves.

Have fun!  I'm jealous - despite all the stress with the cat and our bags and everything, I'd actually love to do it again.

What if you were making the trip alone? Can you rent cargo vans to transport your stuff from the terminal to your final destination? Can you hire a moving service to help you?

I guess it's possible.  We had pretty big cases...pretty much the biggest we could find.  We also used part of our wardrobe for what we were wearing.  I suppose that if we hadn't, we would have more room.  You know, if you can find some steamer trunks, I bet you could fit a lot in those and arrange them at the foot of the bed.  Or ask them to arrange the bed into bunks so you can use one as a shelf (since it is just you).

Another problem is getting to the the port.  We had to take Amtrak, and they were a bit unhappy about the amount we had.  We had business class seats in an almost empty compartment, so they didn't complain too much.  If we had more, I could see them totally putting their foot down.  Planes, of course, would not allow the baggage.  Is someone driving you to port?

Another problem is getting to the the port.  We had to take Amtrak, and they were a bit unhappy about the amount we had.  We had business class seats in an almost empty compartment, so they didn't complain too much.  If we had more, I could see them totally putting their foot down.  Planes, of course, would not allow the baggage.  Is someone driving you to port?

This is definitely a huge consideration.  We had a car service take us to Brooklyn in a van with the seats removed.  I can't imagine having had to wrangle everything - plus cat - on a train.  Also worth thinking about how you'll be getting from Southampton to your new place.

Yep that is what we ended up doing from our hotel on the Upper Westside to Brooklyn.  We had a great hotel (cheap too) who arranged for the car for us.

You should be fine with planning, but with the amount you are planning to take +dogs, you will need to plan ahead. 

Steffunny, since you'll be sailing alone, were you charged double for your room? Most cruise ships do that.

I haven't even made plans to move yet. I'm just putting out feelers and thinking of options for a single person with a dog who may not have any help upon arrival in the UK.