Welcome home QM2 March 24 cruisers!

[lansonlady]

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.

 

 

Thankyou for your reply Shyhunk.

 

I recognise the waitress that you describe and she certainly didn't look happy in her work when I saw her! There are no excuses for dirty crockery or rude waiting staff. I know sometimes its easier just to walk away but I agree that perhaps it would have been better to complain. The service you describe is not falling short of white star service, its actually poor service.

 

I didn't think the food was very good in the Golden Lion. Paul had curry in there on one of the first sea days and it looked like it had been plated up earlier in the day and then warmed up on the plate before serving. It had a dried tide mark round the curry. I only ate in the Golden Lion once - fish and chips. The fish was fresh cooked and quite nice but the chips were'nt brilliant and mushy peas only vaguely resembled mushy peas:confused: I didn't eat in there again but visited there most days to meet my husband after the quiz in the afternoon and for a drink and a sing along later in the evening. We met the funniest waiter on the ship in there. He was from Romania and he managed to keep us in tucks of laughter while he proceeded to insult us all - he was hysterical :D

 

I too liked the selection and quality of food in the Kings Court. Even after 13 days I still got a bit confused about what was where especially when I had made arrangements to meet someone :confused: . I received the best service of the cruise in there. Paul and I met our Brittania waiter, Ronnie, from two years ago at the first breakfast and believe it or not he remembered us and asked about the kids! The same morning we were approached by another waiter from New Deli, Karesh,and these two waiters looked after us everyday thereafter. They found us a table each morning, carried my tray and brought our drinks every day. They asked at every meal if everything was perfect and got upset if we wouldn't let them fetch and carry for us - My daughter came down late one morning as the station was closing and Karesh went away and brought her a feast on two trays...She couldn't possibly eat everything he brought her and because she felt it was bad manners to leave the food she bribed us all to help her out with eating it...Thats White Star Service.

 

I'm sorry you experienced poor service and I hope it didn't spoil your holiday too much. I hope you commented appropriately on the feedback forms at the end of the cruise - good and bad - I did :)

 

Jackie x

[lansonlady]

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

 

Hello Teresa,

 

I pleased I'm not the only one who is feeling dopey! I seem to be taking forever to recover!

 

We would really like to try Regent but we have to have two cabins and therefore the price is prohibative at the moment! I will have to wait until my kids don't want to cruise with us anymore - although both of them enjoy the finer things in life so I'm not sure when that will be.

 

I am very interested to hear about your experience in booking your cruise with an American TA. I know you can't mention TAs by name on the boards but I'll post my email address if you would let me know who you have used.

 

I have been considering using an American TA for a couple of years now but I've lost my nerve thinking that we might run into trouble and lose our deposit which adds up to quite a bit for two cabins.

 

I think that you can cancel right up to final payment date with American TAs which puts the power in the consumers hands for getting the best price when the cruise companies start to reduce prices. Have you any experience of this?

 

We have Abta - do the amercans have something similar to protect consumers or did you just pay by credit card and hope for the best?

 

I have seen some real bargains on American sites but just not had the courage to go for them.

 

I'd be very interested to learn from you - and I imagine there will be a lot of other Brits who would be interested too and will be grateful if you would share your experience with us.

 

My email address is yipidido@aol.com if you would email the name of the TAyou used.

 

Jackie x

 

PS I haven't posted a picture of us on the Roll Call as we have been using a new camera and cc won't accept the picture as it is too big:confused: I'll sort it out when I feel less dopey!

[shyhunk]

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!

 

 

Since QM2 serves typical British food in the pub, I wanted to try what a typical British lunch would be like. The dishes all sounded so different so I wanted to try. I couldn't get that food at the King's court so I had to endure unsmiling, rude, limping and slightly plump waiters who served not so good pub food on caked-on dirty dishes.

[shyhunk]

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"?

 

What I meant was "vibration". I'm sorry for my english, it isn't my first language. Come to think of it, may be that was the reason why the plump brunette waitress and the Geert Wilders lookalike were rude and arrogant?

[shyhunk]

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.

 

 

The aft is where the Britannia is?

[shyhunk]

Thankyou for your reply Shyhunk.

 

I recognise the waitress that you describe and she certainly didn't look happy in her work when I saw her! There are no excuses for dirty crockery or rude waiting staff. I know sometimes its easier just to walk away but I agree that perhaps it would have been better to complain. The service you describe is not falling short of white star service, its actually poor service.

 

I didn't think the food was very good in the Golden Lion. Paul had curry in there on one of the first sea days and it looked like it had been plated up earlier in the day and then warmed up on the plate before serving. It had a dried tide mark round the curry. I only ate in the Golden Lion once - fish and chips. The fish was fresh cooked and quite nice but the chips were'nt brilliant and mushy peas only vaguely resembled mushy peas:confused: I didn't eat in there again but visited there most days to meet my husband after the quiz in the afternoon and for a drink and a sing along later in the evening. We met the funniest waiter on the ship in there. He was from Romania and he managed to keep us in tucks of laughter while he proceeded to insult us all - he was hysterical :D

 

I too liked the selection and quality of food in the Kings Court. Even after 13 days I still got a bit confused about what was where especially when I had made arrangements to meet someone :confused: . I received the best service of the cruise in there. Paul and I met our Brittania waiter, Ronnie, from two years ago at the first breakfast and believe it or not he remembered us and asked about the kids! The same morning we were approached by another waiter from New Deli, Karesh,and these two waiters looked after us everyday thereafter. They found us a table each morning, carried my tray and brought our drinks every day. They asked at every meal if everything was perfect and got upset if we wouldn't let them fetch and carry for us - My daughter came down late one morning as the station was closing and Karesh went away and brought her a feast on two trays...She couldn't possibly eat everything he brought her and because she felt it was bad manners to leave the food she bribed us all to help her out with eating it...Thats White Star Service.

 

I'm sorry you experienced poor service and I hope it didn't spoil your holiday too much. I hope you commented appropriately on the feedback forms at the end of the cruise - good and bad - I did :)

 

Jackie x

 

 

You know those cards with "You are a star". I was really at point of writing a "not" between the "are" and "a" just to put down the names of the few people who's work wasn't Cunard worthy.

 

Golden Lion is good when you order things that are prepared in the oven because they remain hotter longer. I think that everything is prepared at level 7 and it comes down by a small elevator shaft or so. So if it has been waiting too long before going down the elevator or it has been in the elevator too long, the quality will be less. Sometimes one side of the fish is dry and crunchy while the bottom side is all wet and soggy, quite frustrating.

[shyhunk]

Thankyou for your reply Shyhunk.

 

I recognise the waitress that you describe and she certainly didn't look happy in her work when I saw her! There are no excuses for dirty crockery or rude waiting staff. I know sometimes its easier just to walk away but I agree that perhaps it would have been better to complain. The service you describe is not falling short of white star service, its actually poor service.

 

I didn't think the food was very good in the Golden Lion. Paul had curry in there on one of the first sea days and it looked like it had been plated up earlier in the day and then warmed up on the plate before serving. It had a dried tide mark round the curry. I only ate in the Golden Lion once - fish and chips. The fish was fresh cooked and quite nice but the chips were'nt brilliant and mushy peas only vaguely resembled mushy peas:confused: I didn't eat in there again but visited there most days to meet my husband after the quiz in the afternoon and for a drink and a sing along later in the evening. We met the funniest waiter on the ship in there. He was from Romania and he managed to keep us in tucks of laughter while he proceeded to insult us all - he was hysterical :D

 

I too liked the selection and quality of food in the Kings Court. Even after 13 days I still got a bit confused about what was where especially when I had made arrangements to meet someone :confused: . I received the best service of the cruise in there. Paul and I met our Brittania waiter, Ronnie, from two years ago at the first breakfast and believe it or not he remembered us and asked about the kids! The same morning we were approached by another waiter from New Deli, Karesh,and these two waiters looked after us everyday thereafter. They found us a table each morning, carried my tray and brought our drinks every day. They asked at every meal if everything was perfect and got upset if we wouldn't let them fetch and carry for us - My daughter came down late one morning as the station was closing and Karesh went away and brought her a feast on two trays...She couldn't possibly eat everything he brought her and because she felt it was bad manners to leave the food she bribed us all to help her out with eating it...Thats White Star Service.

 

I'm sorry you experienced poor service and I hope it didn't spoil your holiday too much. I hope you commented appropriately on the feedback forms at the end of the cruise - good and bad - I did :)

 

Jackie x

 

It didn't spoil my holiday at all. I just didn''t expect bad service when promised white star service. I did appropiate ratings on the feedback form.

 

Did you see the Tillman show at 20:45. A pity the crowd gave him such a hard time. Felt a bit sorry for that guy!

[The Real PM]

Shyhunk,

 

There was a lovely place to have lunch only one deck up at Sir Samuels. Very different sandwiches and wonderful atmosphere. Next time try that.

[lansonlady]

Shyhunk,

 

There was a lovely place to have lunch only one deck up at Sir Samuels. Very different sandwiches and wonderful atmosphere. Next time try that.

 

Twice on the ship and I sill haven't had lunch in Sir Samuels - ah well I'll just have to book another cruise...:D

 

Jackie x

[lansonlady]

It didn't spoil my holiday at all. I just didn''t expect bad service when promised white star service. I did appropiate ratings on the feedback form.

 

Did you see the Tillman show at 20:45. A pity the crowd gave him such a hard time. Felt a bit sorry for that guy!

 

We did see Tillman but we saw the second show - and we missed the begining (too much chatting over dinner) - I thought he was good - what happened during the first show?

 

Jx

[The Real PM]

Jackie,

 

I e-mailed you with information about the TA we used, but for some reason the e-mail will not deliver to you. Is that your correct e-mail address?

[inai]

We ate in the Golden Lion Pub twice for lunch (once while in port and once at sea). It was not crowded, the service was excellent as well as the food.

[lansonlady]

Jackie,

 

I e-mailed you with information about the TA we used, but for some reason the e-mail will not deliver to you. Is that your correct e-mail address?

 

Thankyou Gail - Sorry, I missed a 'o' from the address.

 

yipididoo@aol.com Would you try again please - :)

 

I can't stop shivering here, its very cold and overcast and thoroughly depressing - I sure am missing that beautiful sunshine...

 

Jackie xx

[shyhunk]

We ate in the Golden Lion Pub twice for lunch (once while in port and once at sea). It was not crowded, the service was excellent as well as the food.

 

I too had a few lunches there where everything were fine.

[shyhunk]

We did see Tillman but we saw the second show - and we missed the begining (too much chatting over dinner) - I thought he was good - what happened during the first show?

 

Jx

 

the crowd kept quiet and didn't seem to warm up to Tillman while he was really putting in all his effort to whip up the audience. He even went around asking what people liked to hear and the crowd was loudest when he suggested country. So poor afro american Tillman put on a cowboy hat to sing and dance a western song. He really did his best but I found it quite humilitating.

 

Almost towards the end of the show, when he was talking about sammy davis juniori I really wished he would sing Mr Bojangles...and that's exactly what his last song was....Could that be the much hyped about "white star service"?? ;)

[lansonlady]

the crowd kept quiet and didn't seem to warm up to Tillman while he was really putting in all his effort to whip up the audience. He even went around asking what people liked to hear and the crowd was loudest when he suggested country. So poor afro american Tillman put on a cowboy hat to sing and dance a western song. He really did his best but I found it quite humilitating.

 

Almost towards the end of the show, when he was talking about sammy davis juniori I really wished he would sing Mr Bojangles...and that's exactly what his last song was....Could that be the much hyped about "white star service"?? ;)

 

I'd like to think so Shyhunk:D

 

Jackie xx

 

PS I love your screen name!

[shyhunk]

I'd like to think so Shyhunk:D

 

Jackie xx

 

PS I love your screen name!

 

 

Great name! There is a thought behind it though...someone who is shy wouldn't call himself a hunk! It is a contradicting name I thought up 13 years ago.

 

Anyways, I see that I registered April 2004. I should've used another name by then already. Meanwhile, I will reregister with another name soon as I am 31, happily married and have 2 beautiful children.

[lansonlady]

Great name! There is a thought behind it though...someone who is shy wouldn't call himself a hunk! It is a contradicting name I thought up 13 years ago.

 

Anyways, I see that I registered April 2004. I should've used another name by then already. Meanwhile, I will reregister with another name soon as I am 31, happily married and have 2 beautiful children.

 

Thats Cheating - we won't know who you are if you re-register!

 

Anyway - your wife fell in love with her Shyhunk...you shouldn't change your name :)

 

keep everyone on here guessing as to the answer to your puzzling name...

 

Shy or a Hunk...MMmmm?????;)

 

Jackie x

[The Real PM]

Dear Shyhunk,

 

May I ask what country you are from? I assume you are not from the US or England with English as your second language. And by the way you can very well be a shy hunk. Shyness is about your personality , while hunk is referring to your looks. So please keep your name.