Anonymous

Cruise Line: Cunard Line
Ship: Queen Mary 2
Itinerary: Cruise to Nowhere  

Note:  We’re not travel agents, we don’t work for the travel industry, and we don’t have any financial interest in any other cruise line.  We are a mid 30’s educated and professional couple who has caught the cruise bug.

During this review you’ll note we may compare the QM2 to Celebrity’s Constellation.  This is because we just cruised the Southern Caribbean on Constellation in January and enjoyed the cruise and the ship.  We thought it would be a good comparison.

Booking and Itinerary

We decided that since the QM2 was going to be in NY and doing a short 3 day cruise, aka, the Mothers Day Cruise to No Where, what better way to see and feel Cunard’s most grand ship.  We booked the smallest inside cabin for two.  The price was about equal to the same price as a seven day Caribbean cruise 7 days on any of major cruise line for an outside cabin.  However, kudo’s to M. Burdick at Cunard for getting us the room.  The ship was effectively sold out and we didn’t want to spend thousands more for a suite. The plan was to spend three nights at sea, cruising up and down the NY water ways. 

Embarkation:
 

I don’t know if it was because we had the lowest category of cabin, but the documents said do not arrive at New York City Passenger Terminal before 4pm.  When we did, it was empty.  We’ve heard horror stories about the New York terminal but when we arrived it was empty.  We were checked in and in our room within 15 minutes.  In fact we found out later that people boarded the ship at 1pm, and most boarded by 3pm. 

Cabin:

As mentioned we booked the smallest inside cabin.  Though small, it was bigger then other inside cabins on other cruise ships we’ve been on.  It was 194Sq St, and well designed.  Cunard did a good job of getting as much storage as possible into the rooms.  They were nicely appointed, had two closets, two end tables and a tiled bathroom.  They provide robes, slippers, and toiletries as well.  The TV showed repeats of movies and some sitcoms, as well as providing a selection of pay per view movies.   A neat feature was the ability to create music play lists off a large list of music titles. Though cumbersome to figure out, once you did, you could create a few hours worth of music and play it through the TV.  We both enjoy back ground music, and this was a nice touch.

The big complaint we had was that we booked the room as a queen bed.  On Celebrity and other ships, when they make two beds into one, there’s an insert they put on or on top of the beds so there is no crevice.  On the QM2, there was a pronounced separation so when you’re lying next to your loved one, someone is lying on top of this “line.”  Neither of us could get comfortable and when we asked, we were told that’s how it is. 
 

Food:

The two primary reasons we decided to book this cruise was to test out Cunard’s service and food.  When we left port on Friday afternoon, we left at 6pm.  Therefore many of the folks booked for the early dinner were late.  By the time we went downstairs to eat at 8:30pm, the line to get into the Britannia Restaurant ran the length of the hallway entrance.  They didn’t start to let people in until 9:10pm!!! We gave up and went upstairs to the King’s Court Restaurants.  Though reservations are recommended, we sat with no wait.  This is where we got our first hint of the lack of service on this ship.  The service was slow and not friendly.  We chalked it up to the late departure of the ship and hoped for a better meal on Saturday. 

Saturday morning rose but we didn’t.  This was the first time we didn’t have a balcony or window and with no alarm clock in the room, we had not idea what time it was.  Once up we went down to Kings Court to get some food.  What a mess.  The QM2 is laid out differently than other ships we’ve been on.  The food buffets run along the walkways along the 7^th deck. There were crowds, disorganization, and limited locations to sit.  The food was basic breakfast fair, which is ok.  When I read up on the ship I should have realized that they designed it as an ocean liner and one that is more formal. Food selection was limited in locations away from the restaurant, and the buffets were not any better than other cruise lines and in many cases worse.  I was told that Cunard expects people to eat in the restaurant more on longer voyages. 

On Saturday afternoon we decided to eat at the Britania Restaurant and joined some fellow cruisers at lunch as it was open seating.  Another disorganized mess is the only way to put it.  It took an hour to get our lunch, they got most meals wrong or didn’t get our requests right.  On other lines someone always seems to be hovering over you, here we couldn’t get the time of day.  Though the food was decent, we, as well as the four people we ate with were extremely disappointed.  That evening we went back to Kings Court instead of eating at Britania.  On Sunday more of the same crowd and disorganization at the buffets.  Sunday we decided to eat at Britania and were awarded with a timely and decent meal.  It was the best meal of the entire cruise.  Sad to say that we had one really good meal on a ship such as the QM2. 

On the Constellation it seemed they fed you because they really wanted to, and went out of their way to do so in an orderly fashion.  On the QM2, it seemed they fed you because they had to, so order and timeliness was less important than just getting it down and over with. 

I can sum it up this way.  On Saturday I wanted ice cream but there were no cones left.  I asked two staff members about finding some.  They both said ok and disappeared, never to be seen again.

Ports:

Only 1, New York.  We’re from the area so we didn’t  arrive early or stay an extra day for ship arranged activities.

The Ship or “Vessel”

What more can you say than big.  However, that’s not ½ the story. We read reviews before we sailed the QM2 that said they couldn’t see all the ship in 7 days. Hogwash!!! We saw the entire ship the first night.  It’s big, but not much more daunting than any of the new super cruise ships we’ve sailed on.  In fact Cunard’s use of space was again something we think was poorly designed.  We know that we’re not expert ship builders, and we read about how this ship had to be designed differently due to it’s mission of crossing the Atlantic in bad weather.  That being said, the library was to small, the food courts to small and jammed, and there was very little quiet space.  I don’t get how you build a library on a ship that will sit about 20 people when you expect to be at sea with an older crowd for multiple days.  The library on this cruise was packed every day with limited seating availability.  We tried to escape and find quiet areas and on this huge ship but we ended up back at our room.  Very sad.  We do have to note that the weather wasn’t great and we all were for the most part stuck inside. Isn’t that how they will cross the Atlantic though? 

The Canyon Ranch Spa was another disappointment.  Though it was very busy, and we understood why, it was a mess, with towels strewn everywhere and one of the steam rooms not working right.  On the Constellation, the Aqua Spa was spotless and well organized and never looked in disarray.  We bought a pass to the Canyon Spa on the QM2 and found it very very disappointing and not worth the money.  They need to do a better job of maintaining the spa. 

The overall impression of the ship is that it’s big but it’s use of space seemed to be dominated by it’s foyer and large entrance and hallway.  Everything else seemed squeezed in. 

Debarkation:

We utilized the self carry out service that Cunard had.  Basically if you could carry out your own bags, you could leave the ship within an hour of docking.  We were off the ship at 7am!!! No lines, no hassle.  However again more disorganization.  They didn’t have our bill!!! We have no idea what are our final charges are going to be. When we called today they said they’ll let us know in a few days.  When I inquired why no bill there was no answer given.  We had to be off the ship early to get to work, so we forgot all about it, but we always get our bill in the middle of the night before. 

Final thoughts:

Everyone we spoke with had the same thoughts.  They all mentioned how disorganized the food courts, the restaurants, and the staff were.  There were a few staff members that were excellent, and we rewarded them, but generally we found most didn’t really have any sense of urgency.  We believe that this may be due to the fact that tips are added to your bill automatically. With no incentive for a better tip, maybe there’s less to worry about.  We found on Celebrity that almost all staff were excellent and helpful and will go out of their way to help.  We often tipped above the recommended tipping level for outstanding service.  There was one gentleman who spoke very highly of his dinner and meals.  When pressed we found out he ate at the Queens Grill.  A restaurant for people staying in an upper level price cabin.  We joked for the rest of the cruise that I guess we hadn’t earned that level of service.  Again on Celebrity there was never that separation.

Overall we give the QM2 a C-.  They don’t get a D because the ship itself is new and nicely decorated. 

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