Review: QM2 with a baby

[Sumple]

Hi,

 

I've been registered for a while but haven't posted on the boards before, but I have benefited hugely from all the helpful posts, so thought I would add to that bank of knowledge with some thoughts from our recent short cruise onboard the QM2 with a baby. We weren't sure about taking an 18-month-old toddler on a cruise, especially the QM2, but ended up having a great time (in spite of a few wriggles here and there), so thought we would share the experience. I've done it as a Q&A format, and hope that this will answer some questions for any visitor (or regular) thinking about a family holiday with a baby with Cunard. Further questions and/or thoughts welcome!

 

How long was the trip and where did you go? 

 

We sailed on a 5-night cruise onboard the QM2 in May 2019 (voyage no. M912). The itinerary was Southampton -> sea day -> Zeebrugge (Bruges) -> sea day (South Cornwall sail-by) -> Guernsey -> Southampton. The ship docked in Zeebrugge but Guernsey was an anchor port (i.e. going ashore by tender), so we were able to try out the full range of different kinds of days onboard.

 

How easy was it to book a cabin with a baby?

 

Babies have to be at least 6 months to travel, but between 6 months and 2 years they sail for free if they travel as the third or fourth passenger in a cabin. What I hadn't realised before  booking was that, although every stateroom can fit a cot, because of (what Cunard said was) safety regulations a baby in a cot counts as a passenger for capacity purposes. This means if you are travelling as two adults plus a baby (as we were) in the same cabin, your choice of cabins is limited to 3 or 4 people cabins. You can check where these are on the deck plans (https://www.cunard.com/content/dam/cunard/inventory-assets/ships/QM/9/qm2-deck-plans.pdf ), but the key point is that your choices of cabin grades / location are a bit limited. There are, for example, no three-person Britannia Club Balcony staterooms. When we booked, the only three- or four-person staterooms left were a few Sheltered Balcony Britannia staterooms on the lower decks, Princess Grill or Queens Grill. We opted for a midships Sheltered Balcony stateroom on Deck 4. I booked over the phone, the process was smooth and the booking line staff are perfectly happy to give any amount of detail you ask for, but I found it helpful to have the deck plan in front of me so that I could see where the available cabins were.

 

Does Cunard provide baby equipment?

 

The FAQ on the Cunard website lists quite a comprehensive list of baby equipment that the ship carries - e.g. bottle sterilisers. I was able to request a baby cot ahead of time by phone, but was told that everything else should be requested onboard. We didn't end up asking for any other equpiment (we carried our own collapsible baby bath, and by the time we travelled our baby was off bottles so we didn't need a steriliser).

 

How was embarking and disembarking?

 

Our theoretical allocated boarding time was very late due to the low deck we were booked on, but Cunard helpfully marked our e-ticket so we got priority embarkation at Southampton. We took a morning train from London and went straight to the dock by taxi, joined the priority check-in queue immediately, and were through security and on board - all within half an hour of getting off the train, in time for lunch in the Kings Court buffet and then to watch the ship pull away while lounging on a deckchair on the promenade deck. Great start to the holiday!

 

We asked and were told there was no priority disembarkation for us. Again, due to the low deck our disembarkation time was quite late. That was fine - we had to be out of the room by 8am but then had a leisurely breakfast, and took one last walk around. We went to the allocated disembarkation gathering point (Queens Room ballrom) before the scheduled time, but just as we got in we heard the announcement that anyone who was still here were now free to disembark. So no waiting around for us, just straight to the queue to disemark, pick up luggage (which was already in the luggage hall), and we were at the station in no time.

 

How was having a baby in the cabin?

 

We all fit in the Sheltered Balcony stateroom fine. The cot took up most of the spare space between the sofa and the desk. This obviously restricts how much use you can get out of the sofa and desk/chair, but there was enough room for us to get between the bed and the balcony. There was also enough room in the bathroom for us to bathe the baby in the shower cubicle. Our 18-month old loved bouncing on the big bed. The only slight disappointment was that the cot had a segmented base, which our baby didn't like to sleep on (and it didn't look very comfortable either). The first night we padded it up with some towels, and the next day asked our steward for more towels - which were promptly provided.  

 

What about food?

 

How you get the baby fed onboard will depend on the baby and the schedule they are used to, but there are enough baby-friendly choices to suit most needs. Cunard provides baby food jars (see Cunard FAQ for a detailed list). For older babies and kids, there are a few possibilities. The main restaurants and the Kings Court buffet all have high chairs. The main restaurants have a specific kids menu. One corner of the buffet does a "children's tea" just before dinner time. The idea I suppose is that you could feed the kids, send them to the kids' club / night nursery, then have a grown-up evening. This just didn't work for our usual schedule (see below re the night nursery), so we took our baby with us to all the dinners. We had our breakfasts in the buffet, lunch on sea days in the buffet or the Britannia Restaurant, and dinners in the Britannia Restaurant, including one formal night.

 

Our allocated table for dinner at the Britannia Restaurant was a table for two, on the lower level by the grand staircase. The ledge under the staircase was great for putting down all the baby paraphrenalia, and it was sufficiently tucked away that it wouldn't have been too disturbing had the baby been upset. Our table wasn't great in terms of views and we had to ask a few times on the first night to get a visit from the sommelier. Other than that all the meals were fine - we found enough choices on the kids menu. Our baby didn't get upset, but did get impatient during dinner and wanted to run around - and found walking up and down the grand staircase quite fun. However we liked lunch in the Britannia Restaurant better than dinner. It was less crowded, you can ask where to sit (we sat by the window), and service was just as impeccable.

 

We took some food from the afternoon tea spread on sea days to have on deckchairs on the promenade deck - our baby loved the scones!

 

How did the staff and other guests react to the baby?

 

The staff were incredible! The wait staff in the Britannia Restaurant were completely unfazed with dealing with a toddler and made a valiant effort to give us (as far as humanly possible) an elegant ocean liner dining experience - even bringing linen between mains and dessert to cover up the spag bol sauce our baby had spread on the tablecloth. We also bonded with some other staff over parenthood - many of them do long stints away from home, leaving their children at home for months at a time.

 

I had read some opposing views on the boards about the presence of babies on ships. On our trip most other passengers were very sweet about the baby. Mostly we got compliments. One lady stopped to tell our toddler "you are so young to be on a cruise, aren't you so lucky", which I wasn't sure how to take. But if anyone disapproved of seeing a baby on the ship, they were polite enough not to say so! Of course, as always, when travelling with a baby being sensible and considerate of other passengers is important for ensuring that everyone enjoys their trip.

 

Were you able to use the nursery?

 

We really liked the nursery, which is all the way aft on deck 6. It was comforting to see what was basically a familiar, typical British nursery staffed by British-trained nannies. Older kids can be dropped off in the evening (and at certain other times), but our 18-month-old wasn't old enough for that. For under 2's, during the day they can play in the baby room (but parents have to be there). We did this once and it was fun - there were two other kids when we were there, and there were plenty of toys, books and play equipment to occupy them. At night the baby room turns into the night nursery. Babies have to be asleep or ready to fall asleep when you bring them (you can't settle them there).

 

The night nursery is open between 6pm and 11pm. The Man in Seat 61 (the train guru) said on this subject that he and his wife found it difficult to find a schedule that worked. We also found scheduling to be difficult, because our normal nighttime routine is a bit late. For most of the trip the ship's clocks were an hour ahead, which didn't help. On most nights, we took our baby to dinner (early sitting starting at 6pm), then (after night time routine of bath and book etc) got the baby to sleep in the cabin by around 9.30pm. Luckily, our baby slept soundly enough to be carried up two decks and half way down the ship to get to the night nursery. Because the night nursery closed at 11pm, that left us with about an hour to grab a grown-up drink (mostly at the fantastic Commodre Club) before we had to get back there. The night nursery has a capacity limit but it only had one or two other kids on the nights we used it, so there was certainly no issue with space.

 

If you have an under-2, it seems that quite a lot of thought (and a fortuitous nighttime schedule) is needed to make the best use of the night nursery and get yourself a child-free night. We know other parents on the same voyage managed to do it better than us, but we enjoyed even the one hour we did get.

 

What else did you do on the ship?

 

Just exploring the ship and walking on deck on the promenade deck and the high decks was fun with a toddler. When the baby napped we liked reading or writing in the library - which is an amazing space and at the front of the ship, so you can also just sit and watch the ship cutting through the waves. We also saw a day time planetarium show.

 

How was going ashore with a baby?

 

We enjoyed both shore days. Going ashore at Zeebrugge was quite civilised. Down the gangway, then onto a free shuttle bus that took us to Blankenberge (a town down the coast that had a direct train to Bruges). Other shuttle buses went to the port terminal building for those taking taxis. We didn't book a excursion, so just spent the day in Bruges. It wasn't our first time, so we just took a pleasant walk around and a leisurely lunch. On the way back, the shuttle bus stopped at the port terminal buidling where we had to walk through the building (there was a spot check of passports) and then back on a different shuttle back to the ship.

 

Going ashore in Guernsey required a tender. It felt a little hairy stepping aboard a bobbing tender carrying a baby, but there were enough staff around to give you a hand. There were multiple babies on our particular tender. One of the babies wasn't happy, but ours was fine with it. There was enough room to bring an umbrella stroller. Again, we didn't book an excursion, so just took a walk to see some bluebells, then came back to St Peter Port and had a leisurely lunch.

 

Overall, would you recommend taking a baby on the QM2?

 

Taking a toddler on an ocean liner is not effortless (but neither is taking a toddler anywhere). But it certainly works as a family holiday, and despite the difficulties it is still a great option for a family holiday. If you want to do a voyage on the QM2 but hesitate because you would need to bring your toddler, I say do it!

 

[Tonopah]

Thank you for this comprehensive review. I’m happy your experience was so positive. 

[longton]

I don't have a toddler but I really enjoyed reading your review and I liked the Q and A format. Thanks for taking the time and effort to  write the review.

[Host Hattie]

Great report, thank you very much for posting.

[Kangakid]

Thanks for the thorough review.  Save to say we would probably now feel more comfortable taking our GC on Cunard than we previously would.

[CruisinGirl777]

 Very nice detailed review. Thank you. 

[Charmaineluvsu]

Thank you for posting, we’re heading onto the Queen Victoria with our little one in Dec who will be 23 months old by then and there has been so little guidance or help given by Cunard even when requested. For example we didn’t really know what the night nursery was nor do they expand on the website, everything is just quite generic so thank you for the detail. Ours is quite a light sleeper so not sure we will be able to transport him to the night nursery if our cabin is far away (as this is currently unallocated as yet). How did you transport him? In a pram, in your arms or a baby carrier?

 

I know you mentioned there were only a certain amount of balconies available for 3 or 4 persons, can you tell me which specific rooms these were if you know.

 

Thanks,

Charmaine

[Host Hattie]

This is a more recent thread which might help 

 

 

[wolfie789]

We took a 20-month-old on the QE in August for a five-night cruise and meant to write up a full review but never got round to it. We were in QG and were rather nervous having been in the Grills six or so times as a couple without kids and having seen how few children were typically in the Grills specifically or on the ship more generally for some sailings.

 

We worried a lot about the night nursery but needn't have in general. The first curveball happened on the first night - with no warning we were informed it would not run, so having got our little one's bedtime perfectly aligned with the night nursery time, we ended up having her with us at dinner. From then on, it worked pretty well. We were very lucky in that no other parents made use of the night nursery during our trip. This meant we were able to carry her in her pyjamas from our cabin and settle her there. I honestly don't know how it would have worked otherwise.

 

Other aspects of the trip worked really well for us. The restaurant staff could not do enough to look after our daughter and spoilt her rotten. Room service, which we hadn't made much use of before, is suddenly a God-send when you have a toddler requiring snacks at all hours of the day.

 

I agree entirely than Cunard could do a lot more to improve their communication in this area. While we know they are not a family-centred line, they do accept toddlers on board and it is nerve-racking for parents to have so little information.

[Charmaineluvsu]

Thanks @Host Hattie lots of good useful insight gathered!

 

@wolfie789 re night nursery thanks for the potential heads up as need to manage my expectations. Glad everything else went well though!

[NE John]

There’s a very cute toddler on this TA and she seems to be smiling a lot.