Queen Victoria Review

4.0 / 5.0
582 reviews

Queen Victoria

Review for the British Isles & Western Europe Cruise on Queen Victoria

Rating by category

Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Service
Cabin

Additional details

Sail Date: Jul 2008

Here are our experiences on the Jewels of the Med cruise. There is relevant info within for disabled passengers which Carnival Cunard should tell you but don't!

The Good: Upon embarkation you enter through a very grand opulent lobby which looks fabulous. Our balcony stateroom on deck 8 starboard rear, was very well appointed with mini bar (non complimentary) and a sizeable private balcony area. Complimentary dressing gown and slippers are waiting for you and the air conditioning is very efficient. The bed is huge and the most comfortable I have ever slept in. I even checked out the Italian manufacturer as I want one! Breakfast can be delivered to your stateroom at no extra charge but the choice is fairly limited. Some of our waiters in the Britannia were not so experienced and some only had basic English language skills, but what they lacked in these areas were more than made up for in enthusiasm. The Royal Court theatre is exactly like a Victorian west end theatre with dark corridors to the boxes and the production shows were of the highest quality. It's like a mini Palladium. We found the food excellent, lots of veggie options and diabetics are catered for. Not all passengers we spoke to agreed with us about the food quality however. The Bad: The welcome card said: "Congratulations Mr and Mrs Wright on your anniversary, welcome back!" This would have been fine but our name is Newhouse we were on honeymoon and it was our first time on the Vic. Such things don't bother me, but the new Mrs Newhouse was a bit put off. On our deck there was one laundry with 2 washers and 2 dryers for the whole deck. This means long queues and whilst maximizing passenger stateroom availability for Cunard to sell and forcing people to use the expensive cabin laundry service, you have the sight of improvised washing lines hanging from stateroom balconies! The fake painted on teak decking must have taken ages for somebody with a felt tip and ruler to do and this completely covers the open decks. This spoils the illusion that you might be somewhere very special and inevitably draws your attention to the faux Victoriana and fake plastic wood. Eventually I started to feel I was in some MDF Victorian theme park. The staterooms whilst well appointed are much smaller in real life than they appear on the internet. The bathrooms are tiny and about the same size you would get on a ferry or in some well appointed caravans. Charges - Cunard don't make it clear that you can opt out once on board from paying the $11 a day gratuities. We didn't find this out until the last day at which time it was too late, and had additionally tipped the staff we thought deserved it. Go to the pursers office on arrival and opt out if you don't agree with this policy. You will pay 15% service charge on all drinks. Tea and coffee is only free in The Lido buffet restaurant (which at times can be a bun fight) and afternoon tea in the Queens Room. There are no tea and coffee facilities in the cabins. We were charged $49 each to send our luggage to our hotel in Venice and a 2 day tender ticket through Cunard cost $25. You could get a return ticket yourself for 11 euros and pay only 3 euros for luggage at a kiosk 100 yards from the ship. Oh and if you want to complain in writing and use the facilities in the onboard computer room - you will be charged for the privilege. The Ugly: On day one at the late sitting (8.30pm) in the Britannia we found ourselves at the end of a queue of several hundred people facing the closed doors to the restaurant which stretched back half way through the ship. We went for a drink until the queue died down. At 9pm we entered and were shown to our table which was already fully occupied. We were left for several minutes with our wheelchair blocking the restaurant until an alternative temporary table was found. I asked the Spanish Maitre'd why we had no table and was told "you were two minutes late. It is your fault I gave your table away". The next morning I complained to the Pursers office and later received a begrudged apology and token bottle of wine from the same Maitre'd with the words "if you continue to be late I will still keep a table for you". At this point our party decided to get off the ship in Gibraltar if things did not improve. Thankfully in the restaurant they did and his waiting staff made up for his failings.

Having put this incident behind us we then went on a very nice excursion to Rome which was only spoiled by a cold lunch with terrible service in the Jolly Hotel. Having paid $189 each my partner only thought it fair to ask the tour office if she could be reimbursed for the lunch part as she had had no lunch as a result. Unfortunately the very horrible Suzanna told her quite coldly "it is your decision whether you eat the food or not" Needless to say, we got no refund. The Tour Office Manager Mr Parker must have also gone to the same charm school as we had the misfortune to run into him whilst disembarking at the wrong stairway "we would like to get off" said I, "not here you're not" said he. "Go back upstairs and go along to the next stairway. This chap thought it was in the interests of the hundreds of passengers coming down the stairwell to force us to fight our way back up through them, rather than letting us walk the 20 paces more off the ship with everybody else. He then continued to bark orders at the crew and talk to the passengers like sheep.

Cabin Review

Cabin Bal
previous reviewnext review

Find a Queen Victoria Cruise from $319

Any Month

Get special cruise deals, expert advice, insider tips and more.By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

© 1995—2024, The Independent Traveler, Inc.