The Queen Mary is divine! We are in our sixties and have been on many other cruises. This one was special. The ship is beautiful. We were advised to book a veranda cabin that has glass surround rather than the ones within the hull of the ship. It was great because you can see the ocean without standing up. It was, however, much more expensive and I'm not sure we'd bother to spend the extra money again because the staterooms with verandas are all fine and all identical except for the veranda...............Because this was a holiday cruise the activities were geared to Xmas and New Years. Cunard did a fabulous job....Christmas Carols sung in the main lobby.....New Years parties all over the ship.....gorgeous decorations throughout, etc. etc....The service was fine except for the deck chairs and lack of them during days at sea. Since the Queen Mary II is not really built as a cruise ship but rather an ocean liner, they are not prepared to accomodate 2000 passengers around the swimming pools. They did run out of deck chairs on a few occasions. That being said, it was a small complaint during an otherwise wonderful trip.....FOOD!....The Britannia dining room is just fine. Lots of people find fault with little things. We did not. All the food was more than fine and so was the service. The Lido buffet is divided into sections that can be a little confusing, but so what! There was plenty to eat and plenty of choices were available. Cunard does tea in the late afternoon not to be missed. How elegant!!! ACTIVITIES....The main activity is BEING on this special ship. If you are interested in wet tee shirt contests and rock climbing this is NOT for you. If you like elegance and dressing to the nines for dinner, then you chose the right ship. People watching is half the fun. The various bars on board are each different and wonderful just to sit there...The shows are typical ship-board stuff but fun if you like that sort of thing.--------All in all, the Queen Mary II is a must experience!