QUEEN VICTORIA "Central Mediterranean Cruise" 1-20 October 2023 impressions

[exlondoner]

Always nice to have a positive outlook. I’ve certainly much enjoyed both our voyages this year, apart from getting Covid on the first.

[Pear Carr]

I am struggling to see the drastic decline in service/food choices etc., between June and October - do you think they have cut back/laid off staff in the last 3 months? We had an amazing time with top service and food.

[ballroom-cruisers]

2 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Always nice to have a positive outlook. I’ve certainly much enjoyed both our voyages this year, apart from getting Covid on the first.

 

Shame you had Covid on one voyage.  According to discussions with crew on the Greek Islands voyage only one person had known Covid, and was isolated, Nobody else was known to have got it - which is so good compared to last year - one out of about 2000 passengers in nearly three weeks.

[Winifred 22]

I am certainly enjoying my cruising. Have two short ones left to go this year and looking forward to Queen Anne next year plus returns to old favourites. I am not interested in a land based holiday and have no intention of trying one any time soon. My daughter lives right by the sea in a small Devonshire seaside town so I can get a  land based holiday vibe any time I want, all be it like stepping back to the 60’s 

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, ballroom-cruisers said:

 

Shame you had Covid on one voyage.  According to discussions with crew on the Greek Islands voyage only one person had known Covid, and was isolated, Nobody else was known to have got it - which is so good compared to last year - one out of about 2000 passengers in nearly three weeks.

Yes, I got the impression few people knowingly had it on my cruise. There didn’t seem to be gaps in the restaurant or corridors full of trays. I was unlucky and in a small minority.

[Victoria2]

5 minutes ago, Pear Carr said:

I am struggling to see the drastic decline in service/food choices etc., between June and October - do you think they have cut back/laid off staff in the last 3 months? We had an amazing time with top service and food.

As did we.

We spent four weeks on QV this year. Wonderful holidays.

[exlondoner]

3 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

As did we.

We spent four weeks on QV this year. Wonderful holidays.

We had a lovely time in August.

[ballroom-cruisers]

There will always be some who will look for every problem and fault - and others who will enjoy the good things, and soft focus the less than ideal meals, and experiences - the latter get the best out of life and cruises.

[WantedOnVoyage]

Nothing wrong with the Art of Positive Thinking... but cruising is a product not an art, and the customer pays for what he or she either got in the past (and very recent past, too) or is promised in the banalities of the brochure. 

 

QV this last cruise was largely delightful.  Indeed, better than in May in many aspects.  But it is not down to "positive thinking" or lack thereof, to face the reality: since mid summer, Cunard-Carnival have  severely reduced the staff, especially in the galley and bars and it shows.  One diner in Princess Grill confronted the maitre d' and said he came from a catering background and there was simply no excuse to wait 30 mins. for a starter and this in the second best restaurant in the ship. There are other cutbacks apparent in the variety and quality of the entertainment, although as I said that in Queen's Room was vastly improved.  The Commodore Club was the opposite.  

 

We, too, suspected some Covid outbreak among the crew but instead it was the classic shipboard cold (our steward had it and I came down with it the last day and still have it) and the even more classic Cunard Cough.  Sometimes it sounded like a TB ward.  But I doubt this was responsible for one... repeat one... steward working the Grill Lounge and one, repeat one, bar tender, at peak cocktail time.  They were named Ricky and Ricardo respectively and you can make of that what you will. 

[exlondoner]

I’m glad you did find it mainly delightful. Your first report gave rather the opposite impression.

[NE John]

There is also cost cutting on: airlines, hotels, resorts, tours…Everything!
The problem with cruises is that the lines received little to no Covid government bailout money and are straddled with even more debt now. 
The fact that more cruise lines didn’t fold is amazing. Crystal, as we know, was resurrected. 
However, since cruise biz has been picking up a lot there should be less excuses from the cruise co’s about cost cutting. 
I didn’t see any major cost cutting that adversely affected my TA on Cunard this summer. 

[ballroom-cruisers]

I guess it is possible to see two people in the dining room - and both waiting the same 30 minutes for a starter - one gets on with social chat while waiting, and is smiling and making the most of it. The second spends the half hour complaining about the half hour wait.  We too had some meals where there were long waits for and between courses, and possibly due to problems with the production lines in the kitchens and staffing or technical unseen problems out of sight such as a slip up with dropping some food and needing to clean up, or an issue with an oven and so on - but we found ways to keep smiling and accepted we would be later out of dinner to get to the Queens Room to start dancing. It's life and losing half an hour of dancing as a result is not the end of the world.

[Host Hattie]

1 hour ago, QuestionEverything said:

More cut cutting. Very sad.

No wonder I have cut back on cruising and moved to escorted land based tours with private guides and vehicle.

Cruising on all lines is a slow death from the past. 

Were you on this cruise?

[Winifred 22]

31 minutes ago, NE John said:

There is also cost cutting on: airlines, hotels, resorts, tours…Everything!
The problem with cruises is that the lines received little to no Covid government bailout money and are straddled with even more debt now. 
The fact that more cruise lines didn’t fold is amazing. Crystal, as we know, was resurrected. 
However, since cruise biz has been picking up a lot there should be less excuses from the cruise co’s about cost cutting. 
I didn’t see any major cost cutting that adversely affected my TA on Cunard this summer. 

In the U K they received no government funding or support whatsoever. 

[Electra 7]

1 minute ago, Electra 7 said:

 

Having been onboard same cruise as you it was a wonderful cruise with amazing weather except Lisbon

I have to say I did think the standard of dress was very good seeing long dresses and full sequin dresses on all evenings !!! it was wonderful to see especially on 20s night 

the captain really was delight 

keep up the traditions on Cunard

[Poole Boy]

13 hours ago, NE John said:

There is also cost cutting on: airlines, hotels, resorts, tours…Everything!
The problem with cruises is that the lines received little to no Covid government bailout money and are straddled with even more debt now. 
The fact that more cruise lines didn’t fold is amazing. Crystal, as we know, was resurrected. 
However, since cruise biz has been picking up a lot there should be less excuses from the cruise co’s about cost cutting. 
I didn’t see any major cost cutting that adversely affected my TA on Cunard this summer. 

Interesting you say the Cruise lines received little bail out money, you are correct, but this was due to many cruise lines being registered in Tax havens, so why should the US or UK governments bail them out, when they don't pay US or UK tax on the majority of their previous profits

[Poole Boy]

13 hours ago, Winifred 22 said:

In the U K they received no government funding or support whatsoever. 

Why should they, the ships are not UK registered, why should I as a UK tax payer bail out a non UK company

[Winifred 22]

11 minutes ago, Poole Boy said:

Why should they, the ships are not UK registered, why should I as a UK tax payer bail out a non UK company

I never said they should or passed a

personal opinion I merely stated a fact. In fact Britannia Iona and Arvia are U K registered. 

[exlondoner]

7 minutes ago, Winifred 22 said:

I never said they should or passed a

personal opinion I merely stated a fact. In fact Britannia Iona and Arvia are U K registered. 

Carnival employs quite a number of people in Southampton. Were they not eligible for the furlough scheme. Did BA get money? They are Spanish owned.

[Host Hattie]

I would think they had money for UK based employees who were furloughed. Lots of us work for foreign owned companies. 

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

I would think they had money for UK based employees who were furloughed. Lots of us work for foreign owned companies. 

Precisely. So I’m not really sure the flagging of the ships is relevant.

[Winifred 22]

29 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Precisely. So I’m not really sure the flagging of the ships is relevant.

I was just mentioning that not all CUK  ships are flagged elsewhere as the original poster implied. It has no relevance I agree but I was just pointing out that currently 3 ships are registered to Southampton so UK flagged. 

[Bell Boy]

18 hours ago, ballroom-cruisers said:

 

Everyone has their own view - but a lot of people continue to enjoy the current offerings - and bookings seem to be pretty buoyant for most voyages we have been on. The QV Greek Islands voyage was sold out as far as I know.

Sold out  It certainly was !  I was also on this cruise and have to say this was one of the best cruises I've experience in 54 cruises taken with Cunard . I expect this was down to an interesting itinerary and the warm weather conditions, not only that,  but to the wonderful  demographic of our fellow guests.  As I understand it from speaking with voyage sales there were almost 1,450 Diamond guests plus the platinum and other repeat guests , so much so the Senior Officers party had to be rescheduled to an evening event 5.15pm & 17.15pm .

Every evening onboard was a sense of occasion,  with smart and formal attire being adhered to. The Commodore Bar and the Chart Room was a wonderful sight to behold,  not a polo shirt in sight 😉 certainly no long waiting to be served, twelve waiters + five bar staff dispensing the drinks  every evening in the commodore bar between 7pm & 8.30pm .

No complaints from me with the food or the entertainment, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the cruise and didn't want to get off. 

I've said so many times on here before - " There is Life outside the Grills "

    

Edited October 23, 2023 by Bell Boy

[NE John]

3 hours ago, Poole Boy said:

Interesting you say the Cruise lines received little bail out money, you are correct, but this was due to many cruise lines being registered in Tax havens, so why should the US or UK governments bail them out, when they don't pay US or UK tax on the majority of their previous profits

You are correct and they received no sympathy or $$$/£££/€€€ because of that. 

[MrsPeel55]

We too had an amazing time sailing 7 nights QV in September as first time Cunarders, amazing to the point that not only we booked another slightly longer sailing for Christmas next year but are also looking to see if we can book another cruise for April, May or beginning of June next year with Cunard too.

I keep seeing VERY cheap cruises for what is left of this year and January & February plus some summer 24 much cheaper than the Cunard ones BUT...all of them are in the huge cruise ships which are most definitely not what we like, especially now that we have tried Cunard... even though we were not in the Grills, just a balcony cabin that we were able to choose ourselves, we did not encounter any of the negatives I had read about in the boards before sailing or after.... I may agree with some stuff, but it isn't enough to make me feel negative.

 

To us the Cunard experience was marvellous, and, even though I can see the cuts affect every industry,  overall I can say that the only negative thing was me getting Covid in the end of the trip, but even that I count as a positive as we were able to enjoy every minute of the whole week, I didn't feel unwell until the very last night on board, still didn't have temperature until late at night the day we arrived home, we got a private car service to get us home in London (I will be eternally grateful to these boards for enlighten me on the benefits of using this kind of service!) way before 13:00 hs, so, still in love with Cunard and QV and, health and financials providing, will sail many more times with the line. 🙂 

 

also @QuestionEverything 

were you in this same cruise?

Most of people I hear or read talking about not just Cunard but all cruise lines are seeing the cuts but 98% think the good outnumbers the bad....?

Also, we love land holidays too, but I wouldn't compare to the point of doing it instead of a cruise...the cruising to us is the ship experience much, much more than the ports, maybe because of my age and health and the kind of travel we have done since my daughter was very young, a short day in a port can be a delight, but FOR US (this is very much a personal opinion) the way we love knowing a city, a cruising Port stop is kind of a sample to see if we would like to come back there on land holiday, have at least 4 or 5 days to get to experience local cuisine, history and architecture and all the discoveries, little adventures one can have...one can most definitely not compare cruising with land holidays......