Welcome home QM2 March 24 cruisers!

[lkmamom]

I was just thinking about all of you today. I hope that all of you had a wonderful cruise and safe travels home to all!

Linda

[lkmamom]

Okay, maybe you all had such a great time that you stayed onboard for another week, totally understandable;)

Linda

[inai]

Thank you.

Just returned yesterday. I think we all had a great time:)

[moffist]

Great time is an understatement. Celebrated our 25th anniversary onboard and it couldn't have got any better

 

Jayne

[Jimsgirl]

Hullo Jayne,

 

I join with you , had a good time, trust you had a good trip home, it was good to meet you both.

 

yours

 

Lynn

[moffist]

Hi Lynn,

 

Yes we had a long day as our flight didn't leave Newark until 403pm but it left on time and we made it home by 815pm so not too bad. I was sorry to hear about your trip home!!!! What a nightmare.

 

I wanted to contact you via email but I don't have your email address. Maybe you could send me an email? You can contact us through our website at the end of this email.

 

Hope your Med cruise goes well. Ian and I really enjoyed your company!!!

 

Regards

 

Jayne

[Teresa Price]

Yes we had a great time - Ed organised us well and we even met the commodore at our meet and greet,

cheers Teresa

[lkmamom]

Glad that all of you had a great time. Happy 25th Anniversary Jayne! What a wonderful way to celebrate your anniversary!! DH and I have about 4 more years to get to our 25th but I am going to point this out to him so that he can take note;)

 

We actually kept in contact with our room stewardess. We loved her, she was the best that we have ever had. She told us that those in the rooms that she was taking care of on your cruise were all so nice. She had a difficult four days on our cruise, there were many very little children and many time consuming hours cleaning their rooms. She never once complained, always a smile and so kind.

 

You were all such a fantastic group and Ed especially, so helpful. I wish that we could have cruised with you. I am so glad that you all had a great time.

 

Linda

[shyhunk]

I have been reading this forum for quite a few years now and my conclusion is that the ppl who read the posts BEFORE they go on their own cruise have a huge tendency to hunt for positive reviews and comments because they are afraid that their upcoming cruise may turn into a disappointment. People who write negative reviews and comments will likely be shrugged off as "negative people". In a way I can understand that, because a Cunard cruise is one of the more expensive ones and cruises are something almost all can only afford to do once a year.

 

I was on the 24th March cruise too but I am not as happy and cheery as the posts above me. The cruise was alright. Cunard is more expensive so I expected more than other lines. In 2005 I was on the Celebrity Summit and Cunard I don't find Cunard better. A shame because QM2 has this image of "above the rest" while she just doesn't deliver.

[lkmamom]

Shyhunk,

Believe it or not, I do agree with you. My cheeriness is directed mostly at the "group" that went on your cruise. They all seemed like such nice and fun people, and they helped a lot with my "newbie" questions. A part of the fun that our family has had on our previous cruises was getting to know and meet new people from well, all over the world through cruise critic.

 

And you are right, a lot of people, including myself, do read the boards to prepare for their cruises. Personally, I read the bad reviews with interest. The things that people complain about I file in the back of my mind and go from there.Sometimes I agree and sometimes not.

 

We have cruised a lot but mostly on two lines. We wanted to see what QM2 was like before we invested a large sum into a longer cruise. I am not sure if the four day cruise was a good sample of what the QM2 truly has to offer. The ship itself was absolutely wonderful and beautiful. Honestly, we did feel that the food and shows are better on Princess and HAL. But, maybe, once again that was because of the shorter cruise.

 

I would really be interested in reading your review of your cruise.

Linda

[shyhunk]

4 days?

 

24th of March 2008 was a 14 day cruise right? I mean, I didn't get thrown overboard after the 29th of March :)

[shyhunk]

Review?

 

I'm not good in writing reviews....I was hoping someone else would write about the 14 days cruise and I would just comment on it.

 

But is this the right topic? Are you talking about the 4 days cruise before the 24th? Or the one starting on the 24th?

[moffist]

I think when you take a cruise it is an individual experience. I read good and bad reviews and then experienced it myself. A lot of my excitement came from the fact that it was my first cruise so I have absolutely nothing else to compare it with. However I have travelled a lot too.

 

My husband and I were celebrating our 25th Anniversary and we were in Princess Grill. I say again we had a fantastic time. The CCers travelling with us were a great bunch of people. Our Room stewerd and our waiters couldn't have been more friendly or helpful. There were some experiences that were less than perfect BUT taken as a whole MY experience (and I say again it is a matter of perception) was a wonderful one.

 

Jayne

[shyhunk]

I'm just disappointed to have experienced some negative things on the ship that shouldn't have happened and didn't even happen on a lesser quality ship a few years back.

 

I think it is quite humorous that a cruise line offers a so called "white star service" while the majority personel working are from Philipenes, Ukraine and Poland just like other cruise lines. So what makes Cunards' Philipenos, Ukraines and Polish people better than on the other cruiselines? My cabin stewardess never smiled and didn't vacuum clean properly while my parents' cabin stewardess was very friendly and helpful all the time. So is this "white star service" only person related?

 

There were good staff just well as bad staff on the ship. It is a shame that it was so noticeable to me.

[Jimsgirl]

Moffist (Jayne)

 

I could not seem to access your web page, but then I am very poor with this machine.

 

My E mail address is rafex1@earthlink.net (what else !!!)

 

I would like to hear from you Sent a note of thanks to Ed,

 

Lynn

[lansonlady]

I'm just disappointed to have experienced some negative things on the ship that shouldn't have happened and didn't even happen on a lesser quality ship a few years back.

 

I think it is quite humorous that a cruise line offers a so called "white star service" while the majority personel working are from Philipenes, Ukraine and Poland just like other cruise lines. So what makes Cunards' Philipenos, Ukraines and Polish people better than on the other cruiselines? My cabin stewardess never smiled and didn't vacuum clean properly while my parents' cabin stewardess was very friendly and helpful all the time. So is this "white star service" only person related?

 

There were good staff just well as bad staff on the ship. It is a shame that it was so noticeable to me.

 

Hello Shyhunk,

 

I would be interested to know was it just the cabin staff service that disappointed you? I too have cruised on Celebrity, on the Millenium, and I enjoyed it very much but it just didn't have the panache of cruising on the QM2.

 

I am not one of of the posters who tread these boards who won't hear any critisism of cunard. I think the tag of 'white star service' raises peoples expectations to an unrealistic level, and everyone will have their own interpretation of 'white star'. My interpretation - leans very close to perfection and I know that perfection for all passengers is impossible for cunard to achieve as my perfection will most likely be different to yours.

 

I was told by friends that there were people in Brittania on their table on the 24 march voyage complaining because their dining chair wasn't a comfortable height??????? As far as I could see the chairs were of a standard height:confused: What 'white star' service were they expecting?:)

 

I won't be writing a review either but somehow our 24 march cruise didn't feel quite as 'white star' as we experienced before on the QM2. That said we - would book another cruise on her in a heartbeat! and if my kids have anything to do with it - we will be cruising on her again very soon!

 

Jackie x

[flag fan]

Shyhunk -- I don't know why you equate nationality with the level of service. I assume the quality of the service from staff members is based on what training they receive, whether good service is rewarded and poor service corrected, and whether a sufficient number of staff persons is provided for the number of passengers being served. If Cunard did not meet your expectations, fine--that's a legitimate basis for criticism, but I don't think it you should assume that just because crew members from one line are the same nationality as those on another line, they are automatically providing the same level of service.

[shyhunk]

Hello Shyhunk,

 

I would be interested to know was it just the cabin staff service that disappointed you? I too have cruised on Celebrity, on the Millenium, and I enjoyed it very much but it just didn't have the panache of cruising on the QM2.

 

I am not one of of the posters who tread these boards who won't hear any critisism of cunard. I think the tag of 'white star service' raises peoples expectations to an unrealistic level, and everyone will have their own interpretation of 'white star'. My interpretation - leans very close to perfection and I know that perfection for all passengers is impossible for cunard to achieve as my perfection will most likely be different to yours.

 

I was told by friends that there were people in Brittania on their table on the 24 march voyage complaining because their dining chair wasn't a comfortable height??????? As far as I could see the chairs were of a standard height:confused: What 'white star' service were they expecting?:)

 

I won't be writing a review either but somehow our 24 march cruise didn't feel quite as 'white star' as we experienced before on the QM2. That said we - would book another cruise on her in a heartbeat! and if my kids have anything to do with it - we will be cruising on her again very soon!

 

Jackie x

 

It wasn't just the cabin staff but also 2 waiters at Golden Lion Pub. One short male with a slight limp who looks like Geert Wilders was quite arrogant. He never smiles.

 

Then a brunette waitress, a bit plump was rather rude. I'll tell you what happened. I was there once for my afternoon lunch. Ordered fish and chips. Normally it takes 3 minutes before they give you the cutleries and within 7 minutes you get the food. This time it took over 15 minutes and still nothing happened while other tables who arrived 10 mintues after me already did get their cutleries. So I asked her, whether she remembered my order. She quickly said "no, no, no, dun worry, dun worry, dun worry." I thought to myself, why would she even use any of her time and energy to be in my shoes and think I may start to feel worried? She should use all her time and energy to get me the cutleries and food. 2 minutes later I got my cutleries and soon after that the food. Now after eating at the Golden Lion pub for 8 days and trying out EVERYTHING on the menu, I knew the Fish and chips consist of a fried fish fillet on top of a serving of fries (which make the fries awfully soggy if it has been waiting to be served out in the kitchen too long, which happened half of the time. I still don't why they put the fish on top of the fries in the first place!?!?!?), a small bowl of tartar sauce and mashes peas. When she came with my plate, I saw that the insides of the bowl of tartar sauce had yellow crusts, probably they didn't clean the bowl before they put in the new sauce. The outside of the bowl had dried mashes peas on it....while I didn't have any mashes green peas on my plate ( the kitchen must've forgotten that) so this probably means that I was using a dirty sauce bowl. I took a few bites of the fish and left. I didn't go to the Pub for lunch anymore after that.

 

Some here may say, why didn't I complain? All I can say is that, sometimes when you reach of peak of disappointment, you can either react in a loud and clear way or just walk away. I chose the latter this time. My apologies for that.

 

Lunch in the King's Court was good! Especially at this seperate station where they one day have freshly tossed salad, one day fresh sandwiches, one day freshly prepared pasta. The people working there were very friendly and helpful. There is also an older chef walking around that station who likes to chat with you, making you feel at home and very welcome.

[shyhunk]

Shyhunk -- I don't know why you equate nationality with the level of service. I assume the quality of the service from staff members is based on what training they receive, whether good service is rewarded and poor service corrected, and whether a sufficient number of staff persons is provided for the number of passengers being served. If Cunard did not meet your expectations, fine--that's a legitimate basis for criticism, but I don't think it you should assume that just because crew members from one line are the same nationality as those on another line, they are automatically providing the same level of service.

 

When Cunard started hundreds of years ago, I think all people working on the ship were british? Anyway, now all cruise lines get people from the same sources/countries. Cunard provides white star service. What does white start service mean? Is it topclass service by british high class butlers like in the old days/time? How is that possible when these staff nowadays aren't british and their service level not better than Celebrity and sometimes even less than Celebrity?

[Teresa Price]

Hi shyhunk,

sorry you didn't join our roll call it was a great group of people and we had many laughs. Now we have travelled with P & O, Princess, NCL, HAL, Marco Polo, Swan Hellenic and Regent. No one [amongst these], including Cunard, comes up to the Regent standard in my opinion. However Regent have hiked their prices in the last two years and [if we want to cruise more than once a year] so we are not comparing like with like. We booked this cruise through a good TA in the states [online] and it was a real bargain.

 

As to 'white star service' I agree it is a bit of hyp really. However, our room steward was the best we have ever had on a ship [over 20 cruises] our waiters in the Brittania club restaurant were excellent. The only place I met indifference was the tour desk and that girl in the pub you mentioned. The ship herself I warmed to but don't like the king's court in the middle like that - why isn't it higher up like most ship's casual restaurants? We loved her stability and would go again at the right price.

 

Hope the other returners are well - I'm still dopey with jetlag and trying to get back to some school work [with little success]

 

cheers Teresa

[shyhunk]

Hi shyhunk,

sorry you didn't join our roll call it was a great group of people and we had many laughs. Now we have travelled with P & O, Princess, NCL, HAL, Marco Polo, Swan Hellenic and Regent. No one [amongst these], including Cunard, comes up to the Regent standard in my opinion. However Regent have hiked their prices in the last two years and [if we want to cruise more than once a year] so we are not comparing like with like. We booked this cruise through a good TA in the states [online] and it was a real bargain.

 

As to 'white star service' I agree it is a bit of hyp really. However, our room steward was the best we have ever had on a ship [over 20 cruises] our waiters in the Brittania club restaurant were excellent. The only place I met indifference was the tour desk and that girl in the pub you mentioned. The ship herself I warmed to but don't like the king's court in the middle like that - why isn't it higher up like most ship's casual restaurants? We loved her stability and would go again at the right price.

 

Hope the other returners are well - I'm still dopey with jetlag and trying to get back to some school work [with little success]

 

cheers Teresa

 

I too got my QM2 for a pleasant price and I agree that I may cruise with the QM2 again if I can get it at a bargain. Our waiters too were fine.

You mean King's Court should be higher than level 7? The higher you go, the less stable it gets right? The ship was stable but I did feel a constant "quiver" when dining at the Britania. The internet was rather slow and offline quite a few times....at an average of 47 usd cents per minute.

[The Real PM]

It wasn't just the cabin staff but also 2 waiters at Golden Lion Pub. One short male with a slight limp who looks like Geert Wilders was quite arrogant. He never smiles.

 

Now after eating at the Golden Lion pub for 8 days and trying out EVERYTHING on the menu, I knew the Fish and chips consist of a fried fish fillet on top of a serving of fries (which make the fries awfully soggy if it has been waiting to be served out in the kitchen too long, which happened half of the time. I still don't why they put the fish on top of the fries in the first place!?!?!?), a small bowl of tartar sauce and mashes peas. When she came with my plate, I saw that the insides of the bowl of tartar sauce had yellow crusts, probably they didn't clean the bowl before they put in the new sauce. The outside of the bowl had dried mashes peas on it....while I didn't have any mashes green peas on my plate ( the kitchen must've forgotten that) so this probably means that I was using a dirty sauce bowl. I took a few bites of the fish and left. I didn't go to the Pub for lunch anymore after that.

 

Dear Shyhunk,

 

One question--just why on earth would you continue to eat every day, for eight days, at a place that has soggy fries and arrogant staff??? We after all had only thirteen days in all and on the first and last days lunch was not served in the Golden Lion Pub. That means that all but three days you endured unsmiling, rude, limping and slightly plump waiters who served not so good pub food on caked-on dirty dishes. How awful!

[RobertGraves]

You mean King's Court should be higher than level 7? The higher you go, the less stable it gets right? The ship was stable but I did feel a constant "quiver" when dining at the Britania.

 

The King's Court is in a nice location -midships and relatively low at the ship -compared to most other liners-, so it avoids excessive rolling/pitching.

 

What it lacks in comparison to other cruise ships, among others, is direct access to the sea, making eating there less dramatic. You always see railings, deck chairs, sometimes zodiac equipment, and people walking at the promenade deck. Certainly not such a disaster, but...

 

Actually, the ship designer's choice to put the casual restaurant there seems more an economic necessity than a specific care for the restaurant itself. Places with direct access to the sea were much needed for balcony cabins. And the space surrounded by the wrap-around promenade had few other possibilities for use, after the three lower passenger decks had been abudantly used by lounges/bars/theatres and restaurants - and rightly so in a transatlantic liner, being in the constant fear of excessive rolling and pitching.

 

The necessity of this choice dictates also that you cannot take your tray and conveniently eat outside or by the pool, as happens with the majority of other cruise ships. There are no tables outside the King's Court (they cannot be protected efficiently by the wind) and both the domed and the aft pools are not conveniently accessed from it.

 

On the other hand, we had not any problems eating there, like other people in this forum (although admittedly we ate here only once or twice, as we love the Britannia restaurant). The food was nice and the crew was helpful. Of course our habit that one of us sits at a table and the other brings food helped us a lot to avoid searching for an empty table with full trays at our hands.

 

Generally, I feel that the ship's designer did the best he could about this restaurant, given the overall design of the ship and her specific need to face difficult climatic conditions. And I like the idea that it transforms to four separate restaurants at night. But unfortunately the complaints here and elsewhere make it rather improbable that the King's Court will remain exactly as it is...

 

As to the 'quiver' on the Britannia, perhaps it had more to do with engine vibration than sea conditions. Generally, the stability of this ship, compared to others that we have travelled, makes us more inclined to use it for longer cruises in the future.

[The Real PM]

I The ship was stable but I did feel a constant "quiver" when dining at the Britania.

 

Did we eat at the same Brittania Restaurant? I never felt any quivering what so ever. Are you sure the quiver you felt wasn't your own body shaking in anticipation of whether or not you would receive the proper "white star service"?

[rebeccalouise]

We got a great deal on a balcony cabin on deck 4 aft in February. I don't recommend this location. There was alot of vibration.

 

Last month my son and I had an inside on deck 6 aft and it was smooth sailing.