The positive first: Service remains superb. It's Cunard's strongest selling point. Room stewards, bar and Britannia staff, purser's office personnel -- all were cheerful and competent. From a p.r. point of view, the captain was a definite improvement over the captain we sailed with in May 2012. Although perhaps not up to the commodore of 2011 (who was straight out of Central Casting), he carried himself with some dignity and presence. Our stateroom was comfortable and spacious; the bars and lounges (especially the Commodore) were pleasant; the Britannia dining room, the Queen's Room, and the theatres were grand.

Now the criticism: The standard of food in the Britannia had noticeably declined from 2011. There were more stews and braised meat, more steamed vegetables, more "schoolboy food." Even that was not always well prepared: We had pudding and souffles overcooked to the point of toughness and an undercooked "Monte Cristo" sandwich (with no cheese). Moreover, several items were not as listed on the menu: a curry "with mango chutney and poppadums" came with no chutney and one-half of a poppadum, and a "sticky toffee pudding with ice cream" had no ice cream. (Both the curry and the pudding were very tasty, though.)

We noticed an increase from previous voyages in a sort of Home Shopping Network or QVC atmosphere (the word "exclusive" should be banned in Cunard's promotional literature). There seemed incessant hectoring to buy things, and it is annoying to have to run a gauntlet of photographers to get to supper. Read more