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Queen Victoria

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Queen Mary 2 (QM2)

LA to Barcelona 

The QM2 is a very interesting and rewarding experience.  Unlike today's contemporary cruise lines which are trending toward Las Vegas in their look and feel, the QM2 hues to a more subdued approach where old-world elegance is more valued that surface gloss.     
The weak point of the experience was boarding the ship in Los Angeles when 1800 new travelers came aboard.  For the fortunate, it took only an hour to board.  For the later arrivals, it took up to 3.  Unlike the Crystal line, where each on coming guest is escorted to their room, Cunard simply takes your mug shot for their computer, a welcome aboard photo to sell later and let's you find your own way around.  Our room, a premium balcony on the 12th floor, was average for contemporary cruise lines.  Materials were solid, space was sufficient for our two week jaunt and the glass walled balcony was just roomy enough, with its two chairs and single table, to allow the door to be opened even while one was on the balcony.  But the suite lacked the latest amenities such as basin sinks as found on the Crystal Symphony and there was no flat panel TV. Just an old fashioned Philips CRT.     
Our fellow travelers, as we later learned, included 320 folks who were going all the way around (the world), 365 Americans, 350 Brits and 1200 Aussies along with representatives from various other countries.  Total passenger count was just below 2500. One of our fellow passengers guessed that the average age on the ship was 75.  It may not have been quite that high, but I felt I was in the bottom quarter and I'm 63.     
Happily we were assigned to the Brittania Grill.  Nestled into a back corner of the huge Brittania dining room, it offered us our own table for the evening with no restrictions for late/early seating.  We liked the flexibility to eat when we chose as it allowed us to mix the early and late show entertainment depending on our own degree of fatigue.     
Days are well spent on the QM2.  With compelling enrichment lecturers, trivia contests, dance and bridge lessons, afternoon tea, 2 golf simulators and 5 swimming pools, we were never bored and always had something to do.  Of particular note is the planetarium where 150 could be shown one of 4 shows about the cosmos.     
Food on the QM2 is interesting and varied.  On arrival to the ship we signed up for 5 specialty events:  two in the Chef's Galley where around 40 of us received menus, a cooking demonstration and compelling food; one each in two of the "specialty" buffet areas that become upscale restaurants at dinner and one in Todd English.  While the food in the dining rooms is very good, Meg and I thought it was just a cut below that available on the Crystal Symphony, the specialty dinners in the buffet area were perhaps slightly better and were more varied due to their ethnic focus, Todd English served the best food we've ever had on a cruise ship.  In my opinion, their regular menu is approaching a Michelin 2-star experience and their deserts have already made it to 3 stars.  I should also add that the beef served in the Brittania was superb.     
Service on the ship is personable and one does not get the feeling that the crew's main purpose is to extract extra money from the guest's pockets but it falls a little short of the very warm experience we've had on Crystal.  For a simple illustration, at a Crystal buffet, guests are not expected to find their own table or even to carry their own tray. A crew member does bothand for every guest.  On the QM2, guests find their own table and carry their own tray.     
Other features on the QM2 were exemplary.  Ball room dancing on the ship is second to none with live and recorded dance music every evening.  In fact, the overall level of musicianship on the cruise was the best I've experienced.  The library is tremendous.  Two hall ways are filled with board games and the tables and chairs on which to play them.  Beyond the main theater which seats 1100 and could be crowded after early seating, no area of the ship seemed crowded.  The bars and lounges were inviting and their always seemed to be space for the next arrivals.  The exercise area was ample with plenty of treadmills, stair climbers, etc.  The extra cost "water spa" experience was very enjoyable and probably worth the extra cost even to a cheapskate like me.  The promenade path on Deck 7 was sheltered from the wind at the ship's bow.  For an understanding of its size, 3 laps of the deck covered 1.1 miles.   Entertainment on the ship was a bit of a mixed bag with classical or near classical musicians, comedians, a magician, singers and large shows.  One even had a 22 piece orchestra.  It must have included nearly every musician on the vessel.  While the main shows lacked the integration of singers and dancers that seems common on most cruises, the dancers12 Russians with 6 boys and 6 girls were clearly the best we've seen on any cruise. The 4 singers were merely OK.    
WiFi internet is available in all areas of the ship.  I purchased 4 hours of access for about $180.00 and although it was more like dial-up than broad-band, I was able to keep up with the main issues at work while I was gone     
The ship made only 4 stops:  Honolulu, Pago Pago in American Samoa; Auckland, New Zealand and final departure in Sydney.  The available excursions, although they are probably typical of all cruise lines, were not the best we've had and one QM2 policy defied explanation.  In both Hawaii and New Zealand we took 5 1/2 hour tours that did not include lunch.  Instead of real sustenance, we got a bottle of water and a Nutrigrain bar.  The odd part:  both tour operator's told us that the tour usually included lunch but that Cunard had asked them to omit it.     
We finished the cruise with two great days in Sydney.  We walked the old section of town (the Rocks) and took a ferry to Manley Beach on our first day. The second day we went to a wildlife "zoo", petted Koalas, fed the kangaroos, etc and then toured the Blue Mountains.  It was a day well spent.  On our return, our biz class upgrades on United finally came through at the airport and we discovered that seating from Sydney had been revamped and now included chairs that became completely flat beds.  We liked it and jet lag has been the least we've experienced when returning from such a long trip.     
All in all, it was a great trip.  Although not quite up to our Crystal experience, the lower cost gave our trip good value.  And finally, 6 formal nights for a guy who owns three tuxedosheaven.  

QM2 joining the world cruise from LA to Australia

BACKGROUND. 
My wife and I decided on three segments of the inaugural Queen Victoria world cruise, namely Los Angeles to Sydney, Sydney to Singapore and Singapore to Dubai, as an early retirement present to ourselves being aged 61 and 59. We have lived in both the U.K. and Cape Town, are well travelled and are not new to cruising and modern day ships. 
PRE-CRUISE. 
We flew into Los Angeles airport in January this year and apart from a distasteful comment from the U.S. immigration official regarding "You Brits..." we arrived at the old Queen Mary hotel in Long Beach without incident. We spent a pleasant night on board this old Cunarder pending our embarkation the next day on the new Queen Victoria. It was interesting to compare the width of the corridors on the old Queen compared to today's more compact construction. 
Embarkation was smooth and efficient, having completed all our personal information on the internet prior to arrival, and we were soon comfortably settled in our (soon to be changed )stateroom no 8062 on deck 8. The room was more than adequate for size, however there was a noticeable lack of drawer space, a comment echoed by most of our fellow guests. Also the shower cubicle was small and if you are taller than 1.75 metres you will have to duck under the showerhead to wash your hair. 
THE SHIP. 
For a virtually brand new ship, one expects a few faults, however I am amazed that Cunard took delivery of such a poorly finished vessel. The initial look around no doubt creates a good impression with a very effective layout of public rooms and connecting passageways. It is very tastefully finished, but on closer inspection most finishes are poor with joins in the paneling and laminated finishes not meeting correctly, glue having oozed out of these joins and ceiling panels not fitting flush. In some areas such as the Lido restaurant, the spotlights in the ceiling are not even aligned properly. The maintenance staff are continually working on problems. We saw them re-glueing chrome handrail finishes onto the woodwork, repairing light fittings in the library, a single fire sprinkler that just activated itself,non-flushing toilets,automatic door closers,deck chairs,problems with the swimming pool machinery to name just a few. The plastic coating on the tables in the Lido is already cracking and peeling off and with it no doubt harboring germs. 
We were forced to request an alternative cabin after about 3 nights as we discovered that the pool filtration system and steam heating valves and pipes are situated on the same deck as we were assigned and were in close proximity to our cabin. This meant that we were treated to the sound of these valves opening and closing all through the night and we were deprived of sleep. In fact it was so bad that the technical crew concerned then had to turn off the heating system at night until an alternative stateroom no 1016 became available in Sydney. This, however, was not before the outer door on our bar fridge fell off when the screws came completely away from the chipboard to which it was attached. The automatic door closer on the stateroom door also parted company with the wall when the screws sheered off due to poor fitment. Upon moving we had a problem with the door closer on the new stateroom. 
For a new ship, it has a lot of vibrations and noises and an excessive roll in high seas which I have not encountered before on Princess, Carnival or Royal Caribbean in similar sea conditions. The decks are not finished in wood but are covered with a plastic coating with simulated deck stripes which gets terribly hot and on which some person suffered serious burns to the soles of their feet. 
My overall impression is that whilst the layout is good the ship has been poorly finished with cheap materials which are already starting to fray around the edges. This also appeared to be the opinion of the technical staff I questioned about all the faults. According to some of the crew, the electricity supply has not been completed to all of their cabins and I was informed by an internet cafe supervisor that the satellite for the internet was placed so close to the funnel that the signal is lost when steering in a South-westerly direction. 
The Britannia dining room experience was acceptable if not of a particularly high standard one would expect of a "Queen". The portions were well presented but were small in comparison to say Princess Cruises and were not always hot. The menu seemed to repeat itself after about 4 weeks. Staff were attentive and polite and the service provided was excellent but having said that a couple of men at our table were "hit-on" by a certain male waiter, not very pleasant and reported to the Maitre D. I understand that the best staff were "cherry picked" from other vessels to create a good impression on this new ship. 
Bearing in mind the age group, the activities on board would appear to cater for most, however it was interesting to see passengers opting to play cards on the ship's computers instead of enjoying the decks and pools. There is a children's club but again due to the age group and nature of the cruise, it was not utilized when I visited the facility. 
Live entertainment was limited to say the least. One had the option of listening to a pianist or another pianist or a classical pianist in the public rooms or a lady playing a harp or a classical string quartet. Apart from the odd comedian and dance routine the theatre at night time again featured the same classical overtones and "Singing stars" ( read has - beens )that no one had ever even heard about. 
The piped music that was played during meal times and in the onboard cafes was depressing to say the least and reminded me of BBC Radio 4, whilst the TV repeated the films ad nauseam. One would have thought a new supply could have been obtained in port. 
Quite frankly when the more modern music was played in the Queen's Room such as a 1970's night, the dance floor was well populated. 
Shore excursions were, in the main, most enjoyable and catered for all tastes however in my opinion were rather expensive at an average of USD79 for around a 3-4 hour coach trip especially in the cheaper ports in Vietnam, Thailand and India where coaches were not quite up to first class standards. 
Disembarkation was not a problem and went very smoothly. 
SUMMARY 
An enjoyable cruise, spoilt by a lack of variety in live entertainment and styles of music and too many formal nights ( 3 each week ). Probably best suited to those in their late 70's or 80's as one has to contend with many "senior moments" during the course of the day. The ship is nice but poorly finished and has a "plasticky" feel. 
Cunard is obviously trying to re-create the grand old days but I'm afraid the guests on board are not up to this standard. Many men do not appear to know about the use of deodorants, whilst others do not understand the dress code or perhaps ignore it, as it is too restrictive when you are on holiday. According to Cunard, a man must wear a jacket every night in the public rooms. 
One final tip. Do not obtain a stateroom near the self-service launderettes situated on the 4th, 5th, 6th ,7th and 8th decks. They are filled with noisy and aggressive people. 


Queen Victoria doesn't reign

QM2 Voyage of Magellan Critique March 8-April 15, 2006, LA-NYC around SA. 
The most important thing to be aware of is that the QM2 is an OCEAN LINER, not a CRUISE SHIP. The QM2 is a beautiful large ship. You barely notice a rough sea, and therein is the main advantage. The disadvantages are many as will be noted below; the fact that it is such a large ship: length 1132 ft, width 148 ft. (much too large for the Panama Canal) GRT 148528 tonnes, total height above water line 204 ft (10 to spare under the Verrazano Bridge), maximum draft 33 10. Three times around deck 7 is 1.1 miles. It is powered by four pods in the rear of the ship, the two rearmost pods can turn 360 degrees, obviating the need for a rudder. Maximum speed, 29.5 knots. Unfortunately, two months before our cruise, she hit something leaving Ft. Lauderdale FL, damaging the port forward pod, causing a displacement of a little over 1 in it, but enough to put that motor out of service. (It will not be repaired until November 2006). 
One of the greatest disadvantages to an OCEAN LINER is that its depth is too large for a great many ports so that it is necessary to tender in to these ports. This is an inconvenience (2500 passengers are aboard and most would like at least to see what is ashore). This also is a severe disadvantage for the handicapped, since it is a requirement that they must walk onto the tender. This is not a frivolous requirement since many times the tender is rocking severely and unless one is fairly agile, there is a possibility of being injured. (In one of our ports of call, Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica, the swells were so severe that the Captain would not permit tendering in, so we missed that port.) 
The QM2 has two venues for group attendance. The Royal Court Theatre, accessible at decks 2 and 3 and seating (my estimate) about 1200, and Illuminations on deck 3 seating 150 for the 4 Planetarium shows and about 600 for lectures and movies. Illuminations has theatre type seats which recline for the Planetarium shows and because of the limited visibility only the central 150 seats can be used. Admission is by ticket (no charge) for each 25 minute session. Seating in the Royal Court is on alternate continuous sofas or swivel seats. Unfortunately the swivel seats are so close together it is difficult to squeeze between them. It is impossible to walk in front of them since they are located so near the sofa in front and there are small heavy pedestal tables located at each fourth seat. (Queer planning- possibly they are providing a place to store your drinks). Wheelchairs are confined to the rear of both areas since there are several steps to the closer seats. 
Our cruise from LA to NYC was actually divided into 3 partial cruises for those who might not be interested in the full trip, LA-Valparaiso-Rio de Janiero- NYC. This resulted in three Captains Cocktail Parties, and three times the menu offered escargot (appetizer), lobster tail or filet mignon (entrEe) and baked Alaska (dessert). However, shrimp cocktail was never offered. Also, for all the elegance, rolls and bread selections, while tasty, were not heated, and were generally offered only once at the beginning of the meal by the busboy. If you wished additional breads, you had to ask for them, although once in a great while the busboy would offer an additional sample. We found the food to be so-so, without much flavor. Considering that the head chef was Italian we found the Italian dishes to be poor. In general, the food was tolerable, lacking taste, although it was presented beautifully. 
Our cabin was an in-hull verandah; therefore we were not permitted to use the Queens Room (reserved for the suite members), so we cannot comment on that restaurant. We could have all three meals in the Britannia Restaurant or the Kings Court, as well as lunch in several of the pubs, although reservations are required for dinner in the Kings Court and there is a $20 charge for lunch and $30 for dinner in Todd English. (We did not try it.) Tea in the Queens Room is very nice, with a selection of goodies which you dont need at 3:30 PM. 
The Kings Court (think Lido on other ships) is a disaster. There are four areas to obtain food, however they vary in opening times. There are hand sanitizers located in several places in this area (but, except for the spa and in the tendering area, nowhere else in the ship). The problem with the Kings Court is many-fold. The passageways entering the food areas are only 5 wide. Given a line which does not maintain single file together with the help moving carts in and out of a doorway where the line is, and others trying to get past in either direction, there is generally a bottleneck. Since the area where one would slide a tray is so short, and interrupted with a large container of napkin-utensil units, the line does not stay close to the food area. The location for hamburgers and hot dogs is also the sandwich-to-order spot with a tray area only 8 long. 
The help, besides rolling their cards full of noisy dishes through the area, seems to try to make as much noise as possible collecting used dishes. Compared to other ships we have been on, the help is less than helpful. Handicapped persons must find someone to carry their tray, whereas on other ships we have found it difficult to carry your own tray, the help is right there, almost taking it out of your hand. 
Drinks, coffee, juices iced tea and water are available in several locations, but not always at the same time. 
We noticed, unfortunately, for the last leg of the trip, the housekeeping left something to be desired. Locations ran short of napkins, cups, glasses and stations ran out of coffee and drinks much more often than in the first two legs. Waffles and omelets (chefs selection) are pre-made and kept on warming trays. We like mango chutney with our stir fry. On several occasions we requested the chutney, but by the time the server returned with a sample, we were through with our meal. 
A few words about the in-hull veranda: The veranda was approximately 8x10 (there were two plastic deck chairs and a small table in this area). The outside wall is the hull of the ship with a 3-1/2x6 opening starting about 3 off the ground. Standing up at the rail you can see about 160 degrees (if you lean out a bit, 180 degrees) in the deck chair you can only see the sky. In our case it was almost moot since for most of the days, the floor was so wet you didnt feel like soaking your shoes for the view. We had the water vacuumed out several times. Our complaints resulted in an offer of another in-hull veranda. We turned it down since we found from others in the same type cabin that wet verandas were common. We also found that the more expensive glassed-in verandas had the same problem. Just outside the veranda door is a perforated metal cover over a drain channel. We spoke with an engineer who came to examine our situation. He admitted that the original design did not provide for proper drainage of this channel, so the water builds up and just stayed there until it overflowed. Where the water comes from, we never found out. It might be a result of the crew washing down the upper decks. He said they were going to have to work on this problem!! 
The cabin itself was smaller than we have been familiar with; 248 sq. ft. vs. 292 sq. ft. for the Holland America Amsterdam, but it was acceptable. There was also one less closet. What was not acceptable, and a cause for excessive profanity was the hanger arrangement in the small 18x22 closet. (The larger closet 18x40 was acceptable. The first problem in the small closet was that there were only 4 hangars, and the room steward could not find any more. The second problem was that the hangers were arranged front to back, not side to side, making it necessary to remove everything in front of the hanger having the item desired. The third problem was that the hangars were of a special design (which explains why more were not available) having a 3/8 button on the top which fits in a track; this resulted in a delicate balance such that if you tried to slide an item off a rear hanger without removing those in front, the tilt of the hanger(s) would make them pop out of the slot and all hangers so tilted would fall on the floor (omitted are several expletives). Another feature of the cabin was the duvet which took the place of an upper sheet and blanket. Actually the upper sheet has a pocket in which the blanket fits. A nice idea  maybe  fine if you remember to turn down the heat on going to bed, otherwise you wake up very warm and cannot toss off the blanket and use only the sheet, since they are together. I wonder, had we asked for an additional top sheet whether we could have had one. The passageways are just 4 wide and the two times, morning and evening when the cabins are being made up, each room steward has his own large container for fresh linens, a trash can, a dirty linen container, an ice bucket, cleaning supplies and a vacuum lined up in the passageway. We also had an electric cart in front of an adjacent cabin. Somehow this did not seem fitting for such a classy ship. In other ships, the room steward picked up the necessary linens from a nearby storage area, and never left any bulky items in the passageway. 
It was also interesting to note that the promenade deck, (the exercise walking deck), is also used for jogging 8AM to 8PM. This could be a bit dangerous since in the area where the Kings Court (also on this deck) juts out there is no more than 5 clearance between its wall and the deck chairs. At the rear of the ship deck chairs are in general disarray, being moved by the sunbathers, so that there is often less than a one foot passageway between chairs. To make things more interesting, walkers (and runners) go in both directions rather than the normal counter-clockwise. 
The spa seemed well equipped and well attended. There are 4 pools, including a splash pool and a minnows pool for children, the other 2 pools, one which can be enclosed, were only about 20x20, quite small for a ship of this size, however there was a sizable area with deck chairs for sunning. Canyon Ranch provided beauty treatments, massage and supervised exercise facilities for a fee. We did not use these facilities but noted that others who did were satisfied with the service. There was no charge for the use of the exercise machines. 
During the first two segments of the cruise,the lectures and evening shows were outstanding. Two of the most memorable groups were The Westsiders, a sextet performing show tunes (including an outstanding group of selections from Les Miserables) and Frazier and Garry who presented four skits, one of them giving background information, and the other singing appropriate numbers. Dont miss either of these groups. 
During the last trip segment, the QM2 Dance Group repeated the some of the numbers they had performed on the earlier segments, even though they were billed as all new, and the other entertainment was a cut below that for the first two segments. While there were movies shown in the Illuminations theatre, it was not possible to see both the movie and the stage show because of the manner in which they were scheduled (movies were shown on the room TV during the day, however-in German and French as well as English). 
One rather odd thing regarding general notices, including disembarking information. The only way to hear such messages was to turn the TV on to channel 39. You could hear noise through the cabin door, but to understand the message it was necessary to turn on the TV or open the cabin door. 
Bridge lessons were available for beginners as well as advanced, and duplicate as well as party bridge sessions were available while at sea. The casino seemed to do a fairly good business (if you could tolerate the smoke). Smoking seemed to be permitted in more locations than on other ships, a practice we did not appreciate. It would seem that foreigners are more tolerant of second hand smoke than Americans. 
As noted above, the QM2 had only 3 0f the 4 motors available. As a result, she could not maintain the speed necessary to adhere to the original schedule. As noted above, the visit to Puerto Caldera was scrubbed because of high seas, visits at several other ports were either shortened or skipped completely. We were supposed to stay overnight at Montevideo, but because we could not travel fast enough with only three motors we only stayed from 12 noon to 11 PM. This eliminated the possibility of taking a tour to Iguassu Falls or Buenos Aires, Argentina. Many passengers were annoyed at this change in schedule. The port Salvador de Bahia, Brazil was omitted. Although the fine print in the cruise contract states that the cruise line may change the itinerary, we felt that inasmuch as the management was acutely aware that after the accident in January, it would be necessary to make changes in the itinerary, we were only informed that the ship would not return to Ft. Lauderdale. FL, but instead, we could at no extra charge continue to NYC or else leave the ship at St. Thomas and be flown home from there. (We were lucky that we had not booked our own air as we had originally booked to Ft. Lauderdale. We felt, as many others did, that Cunard deceived us, knowing full well that changes were planned early on in the itinerary, and purposely waited until we were well into the cruise before notifying us what the changes would be. The notification came in the daily program with no advance notice. 
Since we had been around South America before, we took very few tours on this cruise. Our main reason for taking this cruise was to go to Machu Picchu. We felt that tours on other lines (Holland America , Celebrity) were better handled. Probably because they have had more experience. There was a change in the itinerary- instead of leaving the ship at Esmerelda, we left for Machu Picchu at Manta. We had to take a plane to Lima, then change to another plane to Cuzco. The second plane was delayed so our tour of Cuzco (a very interesting place) was curtailed from the expected 4-1/2-5 hours to less than two hours. To aggravate the situation we had a poor guide. In spite of everything, our next day in Machu Picchu was delightful, even in the rain. We enjoyed the trip, but wonder if we might have done better to fly from home and take a several day guided tour. The $2200 each we spent for the two day tour should go a long way in paying for the more thorough visit. 
Overall we enjoyed the cruise, found the lectures and entertainment enjoyable, thought the QM2 was indeed a beauty, but would not recommend the ship for anything other than a trip from the states to Europe. 

We chose this cruise because of the itinerary. The first 3 days were very windy and cold....in turn the ship was rocking a tremendous amount. We were sea sick for 3 days, as were many other passengers. The return from Hawaii was good weather, flat seas, but the ship still had a lot of rocking (no sick days though). 
We will never chose the QM2 again for a few reasons. The food didn't seem exceptional as we had hoped for being an upscale cruise line. The King's Court buffet was (as most people report), confusing the first few days and then we kept thinking "why did they design this like they did????"....There were long lines at the hamburger/omelet/deli station, so often we did not eat what we would have been our first choice. 
The dining room staff was inattentive, we were never introduced to our asst waiter (who was hardly ever around), and had to pour our own wine due to a inattentive wine steward. 
Our hull balcony cabin 5205 was adequate. Our room steward was fine, but we had to ask for several things along the way that should've been there already. 
Friendly service doesn't seem to be a priority. Several of the service staff don't look at you in the eye. Also, they walk by without saying good morning..etc. We attributed the lack of detailed attention and friendliness to the automatic tip system....They have nothing to strive for. 
Overall, we expected exceptional food, service and pampering on our first Cunard cruise....it wasn't even close. We will NEVER take another Cunard cruise, we will stick with our old favorites, RCCL and Celebrity! 
Please feel free to email me if you have any questions. cschafte@hotmail.com 

Queen Mary 2 (QM2) - Hawaii

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