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Cunard Line

Queen Mary 2

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Steven P.
# previous cruises: 2
Date of Trip: April 20, 2004
Itinerary: Transatlantic

The April crossing (westbound) was the first of four trips that I have taken aboard QM2 between that month and January 2005. Already you may be thinking to yourselves, this reader loves this ship. I wish I could write that as I so wanted to love this ship. And I did indeed love my crossing, finding the activities more varied and when there are no ports for 6 days its nice to have a lot of walking around room. A trans-Atlantic crossing (which is really not a cruise but a trip) is one of the greatest escapes on this earth, and I would still recommend QM2 for this but never for a cruise. Why? Its too much of a hassle getting off the big boat by tender in every port and I was angry that on my last cruise one of our two port stops was changed from Puerto Rico to a British Virgin Island with one road and two shops. I know cruise ships reserve the right to change ports, but I never was given notice, and they knew weeks before that it was not possible. Normally who cares, one is just swimming and shopping and all the islands are similar BUT it so happened that my travel mates and I were meeting the Chief Justice for a ceremony to dedicate courthouse chambers in memory of the father of two of my closest friends and fellow passengers. The purser's office lectured me and engineering issues and the their right to cancel and not one person beyond the concierge who looked into a flight out and back (which did not work out) seemed to care about the issue and not one person from the captain's staff or purser's office even had enough decency to apologize to my fellow-passengers for at least the lack of communication. They all just hid in back officers even when asked if we could speak with a senior officer. So if Cunard wants to behave like Carnival as far as level of service now that they are owned by Carnival, then I just intend to sail past Cunard.

There are numerous public rooms and they are well described by others on this and other sites. I will only say that the retro-deco and other references to the past (such as the moldings and curved staircases in the lobby) are so obviously made of fiberglass and painted plastics rather than wood and brass as to be bordering on tacky. I understand the latest fire regulations for new vessels make it impossible to use the materials found in the grand liners of the 20's and 30's, but then I would tick to a more modern, contemporary or cutting edge design, steering clear of the Vegas glitz of some of the newest ships. The most attractive and inviting public rooms in my opinion is the Commodore Lounge on Deck 9, the relaxation lounge in the Canyon Ranch Spa and the Queen's Room, where the 5-8 piece dance orchestra plays on beautifully. Avoid the G32 nightclub--its tacky and the casino noisy and smoky and UNFORTUNATELY there is not a single no smoking bar on the ship and there are at least 7 or 8 bars--there are non-smoking area but if you like to actually sit at the bar instead of at a table, you are always in a smoking zone.

On the crossing, I dined as usual in the Princess Grill dining room. I say as usual because that's where we always dined on the QE2 and that's where I have dined now three out of 4 times on this ship. (For the mother's day cruise I treated my parents to we all dined in Queen's Grill - not worth the extra money unless you really want a cabin that has more than 500 sq. ft.) The service is impeccable, especially if the ship is not over-crowded as it was for one of my four cruises, but even when crowded they work very hard to make you happy. Tables are very well spaced and assigned at the start of the cruise--I like this arrangement as you know your table is always waiting and your waiters come to learn your habits and preferences during the cruise and its like having brought one of your own kitchen household servants along (that is if one has kitchen household servants - I seemed to have misplaced mine).

Actually every table had two waiters and a busboy assigned to them (although on the last cruise we had 3 waiters) and as they only had just 4 or 5 other small tables the service is the very best dining service you will find at sea and its even hard to match on land. Food was very well prepared, there were excellent choices including items from the Canyon Ranch Spa menu so not every meal was a weight gainer. On could order off the menu (I ordered Dover sole for dinner one night when it was not on the menu) and the quality of ingredients and freshness was very above average and on occasions even gourmet, which I do not expect on any cruise ship when you are serving approximately 300 people from the same kitchen (the two grill dining rooms share the same kitchen). Best of all, Princess Grill dining room comes with a very capable and highly experienced maître d'hôtel, Arjan Scheepers, who keeps his staff and two assistant maître d'hôtel working efficiently and yet always cheerfully. It's truly a first class operation.

I only add that I did dine twice in the Britannia dining room on my Iberian cruise (once at the invitation of friends and once at the invitation of a ship's officer, and while the dining room itself is very attractive and does not allow you to think there could be something better, its impossible to serve anything but average, passable food in an efficient, polite but distant and mechanical manner when filling 1000 orders in a single seating with all orders required to be placed in a single half hour at the start of each of the two seatings. And the quality of the ingredients is lower, the choices fewer and the portions (in some cases or on some days) smaller - to the point where you want to hold up the porridge bowl and say "please sir may I have some more?" Not liking my life as an orphan, it took just those two meals to make me know I will never wonder from my home in Princess Grill ever again.

Princess Grill Cabins are over 380 sq. ft. with floor to ceiling windows giving onto a 75 sq. ft. balcony (that's part of the 380 total) large bath with full tub and spacious enough for two to maneuver in at the same time, a separate seating area, a walk-in closet plus two additional closets, at least 10 dresser drawers and shelf storage of not less than 5 shelves in both the hall closet and walk-in closet. And there's more storage in the bar area, to the sides of the dressing table and under the bed. The room is very tastefully done, although lighting is unbearably bright and stupidly designed such that a single switch turns all overhead lights on, from the front foyer as you come in late to directly over your spouse or cabin mates head who has gone to bed early and is wondering how the night went so fast and it could be day---you see the one switch turns on not less than 9 high hat halogen lights (something like 12 plus wall sconces if you are in Queen's Grill). In fact for such a large cabin, except for storage, the space is not wisely laid out. More privacy between the sitting and sleeping area should have been provided so that a couple is not forced to be on identical schedules, especially when the only way to come in late and not bang into something is to turn on all the lights other than the night stand lamp! And the dressing table's tight location dictates that the woman must sleep on that side of the bed, which I suppose is better than Queens Grill where the table is so badly placed as to block passage to the bathroom if seated at the table.

I attended lectures given by professors from Oxford (supposedly). They were good in concept but in one case for sure the professor was on vacation, even when speaking to the class. The wine tastings and wine experts they had on board for my May Iberian cruise were excellent. The shows are totally done by, and presented for amateurs. There are few outside entertainers brought on for shows and some of the shows that were on my Jan. 3, 2005 cruise were performed on May early May crossing, again on the Mother's Day cruise, again on the Iberian 12 day cruise in late May and still again in January. AND THEY WERE NOT GOOD THE FIRST TIME TO EVER WANT A REPEAT. I also found it CHEAP on Cunard's part that they charge for first run movies on the television, show recent but not first run movies in the theater and then at times which are impossible--1 in the afternoon (Grill lunch is 12:30-2) 6:30 in the evening (for the benefit of those in 2nd seating in the Britannia and won't dine until 9) and then again at 10:30 at night so one would have to wait 1.5 hours following dinner and then stay up till at least 12:30 or 1 as many of the films chosen were over two hours. AND NO ONE OTHER THAN MY MOTHER COULD ANSWER WHY THEY STOPPED QE2's tradition of a showing classic old films both in the theater and on the ship's closed circuit TV. What did my mother think (I had her and Dad on as guests of mine for a Mother's Day cruise)? So you will pay for the first run picture rather than opt for an available old one for free. I believe she is right.

I spent quiet times reading, writing and relaxing with good friends as well as exercising in the spa and enjoying the solitude of my balcony instead of the crush of the hoi polloi on the promenade deck or gathered around the Deck 8 pool. (Deck 6 pool less crowded but it's the kids play area, so I recommend the more quiet pool on deck 12.)

You will find everyone from famous to the infamous, from the educated to the stupid, seniors as well as families with babies, those who count pennies and those who count on their trust accounts to carry them. On one trip my cabin mate even managed to run into a pick pocket in the Casino who saved him the trouble of losing money by gambling. It's always interesting but in the end Grill Class passengers are going to feel overwhelmed when compared to the more balanced QE2 set up. On QE2 besides Grill Class there was the first class single seating Coronia Dining Room passengers as well as those traveling tourist class in the two seating Mauritania dining room and cabins. On QM2 you have just 300 or 325 grill class passengers and 2300 or so traveling in Britannia. This makes for a very busy, never ending meal service for breakfast and lunch in the ships cafeteria style dining rooms on deck 7, the same deck that has the promenade and health spa. It makes the ship at times feel like a mall with a 24/7 food court serving American, Asian, Italian and fast food selections. Who really likes malls with food courts?