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Cunard Line

Queen Mary 2

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: R. Hart
# previous cruises: 5
Date of Trip: November 23, 2005
Itinerary: Transatlantic

This was my 3rd Cunard crossing, but the first on QM2. I was impressed with the ship and service, but she's missing that certain something that QE2 has.

The QM2 is very much her designers' interpretation of what the public expects a grand liner of the golden age to be. Sometimes it comes off a bit Disneyesque but on the whole Cunard has been successful. The public spaces are large and at no time did I feel crowded by the other 2300+ pax on board.

The biggest design flaws I felt was a lack of indoor space for sitting and reading during a transatlantic crossing. Had the Winter Garden not been junked up the by the egregious art auction, it would have dealt with this problem. Other flaws were: inaccessibility from the Deck 8 stern areas to inside the ship (blocked by Todd English); the accessing of G32 through the Queens Room (loud thumping music carries). As a planetarium, Illuminations seemed a lightly used gimmick. Its unfortunate that Commodore Club and Library (my 2 favourite rooms) are so far forward. The slightest swell got them bobbing in a sick-making motion!

Service and food in the Britannia dining room was good, on par with Caronia on QE2. The room itself was stunning and never seemed to be too large, despite its size. Despite requesting our own table (3 of us) we were 1st assigned to a 6, but it was changed with no problem. Food service was attentive at dinner, even if some small cues were not picked up on by staff until well into the voyage (ie. not wanting coffee after dinner etc.) The sommelier was knowledgeable , friendly and made good recommendations. I didn't find Kings Court confusing for breakfast for lunch as others have mentioned and finding a table was not a problem.

For 3 sharing a cabin the QM2 is not as good as QE2. Ours was a B3 category, #6193. The cabins on QM2 are all virtually identical and this merely had a fold out sofa for the third person. It was hard to get around the room when it was folded out. QE2 has so many different sizes (which many feel is a drawback) and seems better for accommodating those who aren't "twos". QM2 has deck after deck of look-a-like cabins, not a plus in my book. We were at first concerned that the cabin was so close to the elevators, but noise wasn't a problem. Could hear some noise through the connecting door (avoid if you can). Balcony was large but nearly useless for this type of voyage.

The lectures were good. I skipped the shows but I heard they were fine. For a winter crossing I expected a bit more programming. Why don't they post the winner of the Quiz on QM2? Took some of the fun out of it.

Embarkation in Southampton was a breeze. No wait and very efficient. Disembarking in NYC was another story. Long line- up for self-disembarking, not good monitoring of the queues by staff, long lines at US immigration plus the shoddy old NYPT! I could almost welcome Cunard's move to Brooklyn (but not quite).

A very interesting assortment of pax: Brits, followed by US residents, Germans, then Spanish and Mexicans! The last two groups seemed to be enjoying themselves and really dressed for dinner. Indeed, I'd say the level of formal on formal nights was greater than I'd seen on QE2 which is great! Its nice to get away from the casual "freestyle" crowd. Also, there were 4 formal nights not 2 as I'd heard. the average age also had to be a good 10-15 years younger than I'd experienced on QE2. Cunard seems to be attracting a new clientele. Perhaps there was heavy discounting in some markets to attract an off-season crowd, but we enjoyed smooth seas and 15 C temps for the first few days. Many were on deck in their shirt sleeves! In November!