Tell me all about Cunard please

A friend is planning a celebration and part of it will involve a Cunard cruise which I'll be joining too.

He's currently choosing between two cruises and unfortunately QG is not available on either, although Princess is.

As an adult I've only cruised with Seabourn and Silversea, so I really don't know where to peg my expectations on this.

I'd like to know what Seabourn cruisers who've also sailed with Cunard thought of the experience.

The experience will depend on which Cunard ship you mean. PG on QM2 is about the same size as a V grade on Seabourn but not necessarily on the other 2. The QM2 is also very impressive in the tradition of the QM with its sheer size and heritage walk while the other 2 ships are less so as they are pretty much the same layouts with Cunard embellishments as Holland America's vista class ships.

Back to your question: Seabourn is more informal whereas Cunard means what it says when it gives dress guidelines for the public and dining rooms in the evening. So Cunard guests, as you would expect, do like to dress up on formal nights. You are expected to eat most or all of your meals in your assigned dining room with your assigned table mates - unless you go to a surcharge specialty restaurant (reservations only) or "down" from PG to the Kings Court cafeteria. And there is no outdoor eating of meals apart from maybe from a hotdog or snacks somewhere.

Summary: Enjoy your cruise! And maybe next time encourage your friends to go on Seabourn which we find less expensive than PG considering Seabourn's open bars and cafes, no tipping, caviar services and all that "open ship" luxury and smaller ship convenience with far fewer queuing.

Happy and healthy sailing!

If you are used to Seabourn and Silversea one thing to remember is that on a cruise with many ports there will be several thousand people disembarking and reembarking at each one. Not quite has hassle free as the small luxury lines. That is why I would never sail QM2 on anything other than a TA. I wouldn't sail the other Cunard ships period, But that's just me.

We take the QM2 a couple of times a year to cross the Atlantic, and have done a 68-day cruise across the Pacific (plus) on Seabourn. We've traveled all classes on the QM2. At the upper end (Princess and Queens Grill), the staterooms and dining experiences are somewhat comparable to Seabourn, but the prices are quite high, and you don't have the gratuities and alcohol/wine included. So at the high end, Seabourn is probably a better buy. On the other hand, the QM2 is a huge elegant ship and we adore the grand public rooms, which one cannot find on Seabourn. And there is a lot going on on the QM2 (lectures, jazz in the Chart Room, planetarium, informal concerts, etc.) that cannot be supported on a small ship like on the Seabourn line. Finally we've had a lot of trips on Cunard, and they seem to not be able to get their embarkation/disembark act together...lines, chaos, stress. Not a good way to start or end your adventure. We have 2 more crossings booked on the QM2, both Princess, and we are looking forward to them. We would love to return to Seabourn, but have yet to find the right itinerary. My recommendation in the end is to give Cunard a try, but to not expect luxury or anything like you see in the brochures. And on Cunard avoid the buffet if you can!

the drinks and wines are expensive on Cunard and you have to pay 15 % service on those and if you embark in Spain 10 % Spanish VAT - sales tax as well.

Expect to queue in all the ports for leaving and boarding and even for embarkation despite a QG or PG degree ( nearly an hour in Barcelona as QG pax )

Also nearly every day you will receive publicity for all the "specials" in the spa, hairdresser , fancy events in the casino and various shops on board.

Pressure from sommeliers can be irritating : if you want a 70 $ bottle , some are trying to sell you a 95 $ one and mineral water is not free.

Thanks all for your valuable input, all comments appreciated and helpful.

I should have said in my first post, one cruise is a transatlantic B2B on QM2, the other is a European itinerary on Queen Victoria.

I hadn't realised the differences between the PG suites on the two ships, having only looked at QM2 on the website, so thanks for pointing that out.

I think I'll only consider this trip, even though it means letting a friend down, if it's going to be the transatlantic on QM2 as that's been on my bucket list for quite some time although I'm not sure how much I'd enjoy a B2B as much as I do like sea days.

Like tv24 we very much enjoy the transatlantics on QM2 and its ambiance. It's partially due to fond memories of QE2 when I was quite a bit younger - although the 2 ships don't have much in common apart from their respective iconic ocean crossings in their respective eras.

Seemingly endless days with nothing but ocean are now 7 night affairs. And walking on QM2's teak open deck which is wide and long at 3 times for more than a mile. And it's very grand and so impressive indoors. And the only inconveniences with crowds and queuing are the embarkation and disembarkation processes. Oh well... at least you are spared much of that on a crossing versus a cruise where this on/off business.

Have a great crossing!

 

And walking on QM2's teak open deck which is wide and long at 3 times for more than a mile.

 

 

Now this has very much sparked a little more enthusiasm !

I'm a cruiser who misses the sea when I'm not on it. It's been 6 months or so and the thought of being mid north Atlantic with a proper promenade deck to use when the weather is co-operating is very appealing just now. As is the prospect of not having to travel through an airport.

I need to convince my friend that the crossing is the one to choose.

You want enthusiasm for a QM2 crossing? Here's what does it for me:

Dressing for dinner in the PG (or anywhere else for that matter) with cocktails in the Chart Room or maybe the Commodore Bar before and after, interesting conversation, and some sophisticated, live background music. So you will run up a tab - so brace yourself. That's the tradition. And these rooms, grand in the QM Art Deco 1930s way, charming and beautiful. They set the standard for Cunard while their smaller imitators are just that on the other 2 ships. True elegance on QM2!

Happy and healthy sailing!

You want enthusiasm for a QM2 crossing? Here's what does it for me:

 

Dressing for dinner in the PG (or anywhere else for that matter) with cocktails in the Chart Room or maybe the Commodore Bar before and after, interesting conversation, and some sophisticated, live background music. So you will run up a tab - so brace yourself. That's the tradition. And these rooms, grand in the QM Art Deco 1930s way, charming and beautiful. They set the standard for Cunard while their smaller imitators are just that on the other 2 ships. True elegance on QM2!

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

My feeling exactly. The QM2 is truly an extraordinary and unique ship and, in many ways, a throwback to the golden days of cruising of the 40's and 50's. I found the other "Queens" not much different than the mainstream lines.

You want enthusiasm for a QM2 crossing? Here's what does it for me:

 

Dressing for dinner in the PG (or anywhere else for that matter) with cocktails in the Chart Room or maybe the Commodore Bar before and after, interesting conversation, and some sophisticated, live background music. So you will run up a tab - so brace yourself. That's the tradition. And these rooms, grand in the QM Art Deco 1930s way, charming and beautiful. They set the standard for Cunard while their smaller imitators are just that on the other 2 ships. True elegance on QM2!

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

We did a crossing on the QM2 last year in the Queens Grill, and although we thought the suite, butler and the Queens Grill restaurant excellent that was about all we liked. Every evening we went to the Grill lounge for cocktails and thought it pretty dire, perhaps we should have gone to the Chart Room instead and enjoyed it more, well you live and learn!

We went on the QM2 for a crossing and had Queens Grill. It was a nice experience. We wouldn't take the ship on anything other then a crossing for a few reasons including too many people for one that has ports and we would get tired of eating at the same restaurant after several days; more on that in a moment.

For one cruise it was quite nice. We like to walk and the ship was large and each day we could enjoy long walks and Cunard is big on history and there is so much to look at and read on the walls on several decks related to the history of the Queen Mary and Cunard.

The Planetarium was very interesting and unique and we went to a few of its showings as they had different ones. Very well done.

The Queens Grill (Princess Grill would be similar) was the finest dining room we have experienced at sea in terms of one dining room to enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was your table for the entire evening. With that said, nothing compared to it and we wouldn't dine at the other restaurants as they would not be special compared to that one which is why I mentioned we wouldn't take a long cruise with them because as much as we enjoyed the Queens Grill (Princes Grill is same menu except you can do more special types of orders in Queens Grill) after awhile we would get tired of having all our meals there.

Entertainment and enrichment was terrific.

Since we were on board they refurbished the suites in their recent dry dock which is good as they looked too old.

We found the butler to be a butler in name only. Basically a senior room attendant.

We did like their lounge for the Queens Grill and Princess Grill guests. Very attentive people. With that said they had several lounges that looked quite appealing but we liked this one because it was quiet.

Overall a very nice experience and it was what we were looking for.

Yes your drinks are not included but the price is not what you pay on Seabourn either. Avoid their Cunard Brands. In the suite they provided Cunard brands of wine and at least for me and my wife they were undrinkable. That was one of my comments on the survey which is for a few more dollars provide something nicer.

The butler was weak as I said. Maybe we just didn't get a good one. He did one disturbing thing. We had to be out of our room at x time. I can't remember but let's say 8:00 AM. We get a knock on the door at 7:00 AM asking if he can come in and start preparing our room for the next cruise. We asked him in a nice way to come back 15 minutes before we had to be out because we would be out by then. Believe it or not he came by again 20 minutes later. Not a good way to end the cruise with him trying to push us out early.

They have a very large buffet area. Never ate there although a few mornings I went up there for coffee. It just looked dirty. A lot of people feel the same way so I understand they redid that in the recent dry dock.

Anyway, would we do a crossing again? Yes. On the QM2 would we do anything other then a crossing? No.

Remember once you get out of the suite or the Princess Grill you are with a vast number of passengers on a very large ship so the experience will be completely different then sailing on a much smaller ship. I am not saying that is bad. I am just saying that for that portion of the experience it will be different.

Keith

I wanted to let contributors know that I'm still reading. Everyone has been very helpful.

The trip that was originally discussed, the plans have fallen through for now, but we very much hope to take a TA on QM2 during summer 2019. I've noticed that Grills suites at both levels do tend to sell out very quickly.

Thank you for all your continued contributions, as I said in my first post on the thread, having only experience of Silversea and Seabourn it's good to be aware of some of the pros and cons to taking a QM2 TA.