Is the dining on the Queen Mary 2 really as bad as the recent reviews state?

We're thinking of taking a Caribbean cruise on QM2 in 2019. We haven't been on that ship in about 6 years or so (been sailing mostly on Celebrity for convenience of Bayonne departures and we love the Summit). We noticed on our last cruise that Carnival had cut back on some of the niceties we used to receive. We don't mind the little idolsyncrasies of the QM2 but we always loved the dining. Has the dining experience deteriorated as much as they say in the reviews?

Are you asking about the MDR or Queens Grill?

MDR and Kings Court.

Sorry I didn't specify.

We've just come off the QM2 having done Dubai to Southampton, this was our 5th Cunard cruise and the 2nd on QM2 we won't be to rushing back any time soon. Cunard is now overpriced especially alcohol and lacked the White Star Service

We love the formal nights which were fantastic and I would say at least 80% of the passengers dressed appropriately on these nights, there is always someone who tries to push the recommended dress code but they were quite rightly turned away from the restaurant.

To answer your question, the food in the Brittania restaurant was a hit or miss, not bad but not great, it was always hot and presented nicely but not inspiring, we were never served undercooked food. The King's Court food we thought was always good, excellent selection at breakfast, lunch and we had dinner there a couple of nights for a change and the food was always good, no complaints with the evening buffet which was popular as it was more casual dress.

Part of the Kings Court is used as alternative dining in the evening and there were 5 different themed menus which changed every week, Mexican, Asian, American, Italian and Indian the cover charge for this was $19.50 each.

The Verandah Restaurant was a nice change but charging $49 each was a bit over the top and although good, in my opinion wasn't worth paying the extra money for.

Enjoy your cruise.

Thanks for your thoughts. Much better than many of the reviews I have read where the food is under/overcooked and service has severely declined. Of course, food is always subjective. We noticed on our last cruise that QM2/Cunard wasn't quite the treat to sail on as it had been before it was sold to Carnival. We changed to Celebrity Cruises because we received almost the same food and service quality as we had previously received on QM2 without the higher price. We have also met chefs, entertainers, etc. on our Celebrity Summit cruises that we had remembered from QM2 and they told us they had switched to work for Celebrity because they were treated better. We're still going to put a deposit on our booking on QM2 but will also book on Celebrity and decide next year which cruise to take.

"We noticed on our last cruise that QM2/Cunard wasn't quite the treat to sail on as it had been before it was sold to Carnival."

You are aware that carnival took over in 1998, 20 years ago? The cruise industry changed a lot since then

"We noticed on our last cruise that QM2/Cunard wasn't quite the treat to sail on as it had been before it was sold to Carnival."

 

 

You are aware that carnival took over in 1998, 20 years ago? The cruise industry changed a lot since then

IMO I believe Cunard would now be out of business if Carnival

had not purchased it 20 years ago with the $$$ to build all new ships .

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We've crossed the Atlantic on the QM2 many times over the past 8 years, last time in October, 2017. The food in Kings Court has been consistent over all that time, just not good. It hasn't deteriorated, but sadly has not improved.

One bright spot in Kings Court is the pop-up specialty restaurants that they set up in the evening, especially the Indian one. Always spice-challenged, but pretty good and worth the up-charge.

On the other hand, the Britannia food has also not changed much, but will probably please you enough. Still hit-and-miss and good enough. Cruise ship food. So really not bad at all, but don't expect the quality that you find in a big city restaurant. And sometimes you will be very happy.

If you are from Poundland then the drinks may seem overpriced. This is because of the current GBP/USD exchange rate.

If you are from Dollartown, however, the prices are not much higher than they were a few years ago. In my opinion the bars offer a good value. The cheapest wines in the MDR are overpriced ($30 for a Mateus!), the slightly pricier ones offer better value. The wine list is extensive and I'd recommend you to order a wine you can't get at home. They have wines from India, Brazil or even the UK.

Has the dining experience deteriorated as much as they say in the reviews?

Nope, not a bit. Just bear in mind the meals are massed produced in order to feed 1200+ people at a time. An amazing feat in itself not exclusive to Cunard. Keep your expectations in line with reality and you will have an amazing time not to mention delicious food. Cheers!

Thanks for your thoughts. Much better than many of the reviews I have read where the food is under/overcooked and service has severely declined. Of course, food is always subjective. We noticed on our last cruise that QM2/Cunard wasn't quite the treat to sail on as it had been before it was sold to Carnival. We changed to Celebrity Cruises because we received almost the same food and service quality as we had previously received on QM2 without the higher price. We have also met chefs, entertainers, etc. on our Celebrity Summit cruises that we had remembered from QM2 and they told us they had switched to work for Celebrity because they were treated better. We're still going to put a deposit on our booking on QM2 but will also book on Celebrity and decide next year which cruise to take.

If you were satisfied with the food on Celebrity in their MDR, you would certainly be satisfied with Cunard. We also liked the Pub on Cunard, a no extra cost venue.

However, you will be expected to dress for dinner on Cunard. Celebrity is way more casual, sloppy for dinner.

If you travel in Suites, Celebrity is not as elegant and it is more difficult or impossible to special order foods.

I have been sailing on Cunard for the last 12 years with one or more trips per year with side excursions on NCL, Princess and Carnival. Even in the suite/elite classes those companies cannot hold a candle to Cunard for accommodations, food or service. On Cunard one might occasionally hit a speed bump in food or service, but even then, it's head and shoulders above the competition. Over the years, I have found Cunard's foods and service have improved, not declined.

Cuisine on ships (or restaurants or hotels) is simply too subjective to be judged by anyone other than the person eating it. Personally, the only times I was disappointed with the cuisine on Cunard was in 1977 and 1979, Tourist Class, RMS QUEEN ELIZABETH 2. Some of the best overall food and service I've experienced was aboard CARONIA, the grills in QE2 and QM2 and yes, last August in QE.. Britannia Restaurant. It was consistently satisfactory in every sense of the word and abetted by attentive, personable service.. throughout. And that includes open sitting breakfast and luncheon, too.

There's lots that I would improve or tweak with Cunard (most certainly the deck service or lack thereof and the general appearance of the open decks) but my personal experience with it over the years has been overall entirely positive, regardless of the owners. Indeed, it was at its nadir I think in the waning days of Trafalgar House.

We have just completed our first transatlantic cruise and didn’t think that the food on the Britannia restaurant was any better or worse the any other cruise ship catering en masse. However we were disappointed with the offering in the Kings Court, which was not as extensive as we have experienced on other lines, in particular, we found the fresh salad offering to be meagre and uninspiring.

What I will say is that we we not impressed with the standard of service on the dining room and we really disliked being located upstairs with no open views to the outside. There were a lot of empty tables on late dinner, we were ourselves on a table for 6, but the other guests never turned up, so we sat alone, which was particularly dispiriting. I believe that a number of people were moved on to first sitting which was completely full and the one night we went to the Kings Court, that was much busier than we had expected. Despite booking early for our return cruise and paying the full Cunard fare, I see from our voyage personalised that we have been waitlisted again for first. I am not looking forward to the repeat performance.

The other irritatation is that if you wish to try and change your dinner sitting onboard, the maitre d is only available from 1pm until 3pm. CUNARD board the ship from the highest deck numbers downward, so if you are booked on a lower deck, the boarding times is 3.30pm, so you are unfairly penalised,as you cannot try to change the dinner sitting when you embark.

 

...

 

There were a lot of empty tables on late dinner, we were ourselves on a table for 6, but the other guests never turned up, so we sat alone, which was particularly dispiriting.

 

... Despite booking early for our return cruise and paying the full Cunard fare, I see from our voyage personalised that we have been waitlisted again for first. I am not looking forward to the repeat performance.

The other irritatation is that if you wish to try and change your dinner sitting onboard, the maitre d is only available from 1pm until 3pm. CUNARD board the ship from the highest deck numbers downward, so if you are booked on a lower deck, the boarding times is 3.30pm, so you are unfairly penalised,as you cannot try to change the dinner sitting when you embark.

If you were disappointed with your table location, table mates or lack of them, you could easily have asked the Maite D' to switch your table after the first night.

We have often switched the second or even 5th night of a cruise and always been accommodated by the friendly Cunard staff.

Jonathan

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Thanks for all the input. We decided to go ahead and book a cruise on the QM2 for late next year.

We just returned from the World Voyage on the Queen Elizabeth, and a westbound crossing on the QM2.

Food is so subjective. We thought the food in Brittania was generally better on the QM2,

The Lido on the QE is much easier to navigate and much more comfortable, despite the improvements to Kings Court. There was a much greater variety in the King's Court on the QM2, including a lovely cheese station, with a crew member hand slicing from a large selection of cheese and accompaniments. The QE had a selection of 3 or 4 pre-sliced cheese. Sadly for our waistlines, the breakfast pastries were much better on the QM2 ( luckily it was only 7 days,)

However, Veranda was much better on the QE. We didn’t try the pop up restaurants on the QM2, but enjoyed La Piazza, the Italian, and Coriander, the Indian one, several times on the QE.

I’m certain there are others who had opposite opinions, it is really what you enjoy.

Service was excellent on both, with a shout out to our Headwaiter Ionel on the QE and Abdul on the QM2, as well as an excellent Waitstaff Rochelle and Paola on the QE!

Ricki

Just disembarked QM2 in Hamburg and although only on board for 3 nights dining in the Britannia restaurant for dinner I was pleasantly surprised at the standard of the food.

However, I will qualify that by saying that the starters were ok, the salads unimaginative, but the main courses great compared to those served on 4 other lines we’ve sailed on.

Desserts a mixed bag, but the cheese plate is a joke.

The Kings Court has a good selection for breakfast and lunch, although for me, the layout needs some getting used to, but I did like the beverage service at breakfast. The Chefs Galley area for freshly made burgers etc was a nice touch.

Breakfast in Britannia, again good service, (huge pot of tea) but nothing special for my choice of food, but my choice is very straightforward.

Wasn’t able to experience afternoon tea due to the short sailing, but the late night buffet was welcomed.

Thanks for your thoughts. Much better than many of the reviews I have read where the food is under/overcooked and service has severely declined. Of course, food is always subjective. We noticed on our last cruise that QM2/Cunard wasn't quite the treat to sail on as it had been before it was sold to Carnival. We changed to Celebrity Cruises because we received almost the same food and service quality as we had previously received on QM2 without the higher price. We have also met chefs, entertainers, etc. on our Celebrity Summit cruises that we had remembered from QM2 and they told us they had switched to work for Celebrity because they were treated better. We're still going to put a deposit on our booking on QM2 but will also book on Celebrity and decide next year which cruise to take.

Do remember that Cunard WAS sold to Carnivore before the QM2 was built!

We have just completed our first transatlantic cruise and didn’t think that the food on the Britannia restaurant was any better or worse the any other cruise ship catering en masse. However we were disappointed with the offering in the Kings Court, which was not as extensive as we have experienced on other lines, in particular, we found the fresh salad offering to be meagre and uninspiring.

 

What I will say is that we we not impressed with the standard of service on the dining room and we really disliked being located upstairs with no open views to the outside. There were a lot of empty tables on late dinner, we were ourselves on a table for 6, but the other guests never turned up, so we sat alone, which was particularly dispiriting. I believe that a number of people were moved on to first sitting which was completely full and the one night we went to the Kings Court, that was much busier than we had expected. Despite booking early for our return cruise and paying the full Cunard fare, I see from our voyage personalised that we have been waitlisted again for first. I am not looking forward to the repeat performance.

The other irritatation is that if you wish to try and change your dinner sitting onboard, the maitre d is only available from 1pm until 3pm. CUNARD board the ship from the highest deck numbers downward, so if you are booked on a lower deck, the boarding times is 3.30pm, so you are unfairly penalised,as you cannot try to change the dinner sitting when you embark.

We never had trouble finding the Maître D outside the hours you specified. Sounds like you really didn't try too hard to rectify your situation. We prefer early seating & were nearly always waitlisted. Usually we got hold of the Maître D & he always got us our table for 2 & mostly where we wanted to be. The first night might not have worked for us, but afterwards it was always fine. If you can't be more flexible, perhaps you may need to look at another line.

We're thinking of taking a Caribbean cruise on QM2 in 2019. We haven't been on that ship in about 6 years or so (been sailing mostly on Celebrity for convenience of Bayonne departures and we love the Summit). We noticed on our last cruise that Carnival had cut back on some of the niceties we used to receive. We don't mind the little idolsyncrasies of the QM2 but we always loved the dining. Has the dining experience deteriorated as much as they say in the reviews?

I was ***** the QM2 last year for the Caribbean cruise and also booked again for this year as a solo traveller I pay 75% more for the fare but here I am doing it again. I enjoyed the dining everything was great with an exception of that horrible stuff they call coffee in your room. Lesson learnt bring my own coffee for making in the cabin. Room service coffee was okay but that instant was disgusting....I would say go for it and if you are not too happy with the dining room food then eat in the Kings Court the food was excellent.

It is never bad. Don't listen to what the naysayers say. I have sailed on QM 2 in every category. All is well

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As to earlier comments on the price of liquor, we have sailed both Cunard and Celebrity and find the Cunard prices to be much lower (in USD). I attribute that, in part, to Celebrity having drink packages and the higher prices per drink make the packages look more attractive. I would liken Cunard prices to a decent bar while Celebrity is like drinking in an expensive hotel.

Sailed 1/2 of the world cruise on QM2, starting in Hong Kong, 3/31/18 and ending in Southampton 5/10/18... so with this recent experience... here Goes..... drinks are so watered down, and expensive that we hardly drank at all. We were pleased with both the Kings Court food(s) and also Britannia foods ( early seating.) We found the attitudes of the staff to be consistently very friendly + kindly.

We just came back from a short cruise on QM2 and we can assure you, that the food in Britannia is still very good and that we have not noticed any downfalls in quality since our first trip on her in 2013.

Additionally, to our opinion, food in King's court has gotten significantly better since the refit.

We have been recently cruising with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity (Aqua) and can assure you that the food on QM2 is significantly better!

Drinks are not watered down and prices are still modest compared to what you are paying on other cruiselines or good hotels on land.