We chose a 3 night Sydney - Burnie - Melbourne cruise as a sampler and introduction to Cunard cruising. Embarkation was reasonably painless. We arrived a little earlier than the allocated boarding time and was told to board anyway. We dropped off bags, queued for about 15 minutes and then found ourselves on-board. Finding our cabin was easy as we were escorted by our cabin steward who did a good job of explaining our cabin facilities. The cabin was comfortable and clean, though no larger than what we've previously experienced. Power is via British and American sockets, which is no problem, but there were no USB sockets. The bathroom was small but everything worked as expected. The bed was comfortable, but I found the pillows too soft. A nice touch was a complimentary bottle of sparkling wine on ice in the cabin. As a tip for Cunard though, next time source a wine that is drinkable. Two lunches and breakfasts were in the Lido buffet. As a buffet, the food was reasonable quality with a good variety. Shouldn't have to pay extra for espresso style coffees though. One lunch and dinners were in the Britannia Restaurant. This was disappointing. The food was no better than a reasonable RSL club bistro. The service was reasonably attentive though a little hit and miss. After our first night's dinning I found myself with someone else's keycard. This was quickly fixed up at the purser's office and provided a lesson to check the card after purchases. A highlight of the food experience was the high tea, which we experienced on our second day. Being our only day at sea, it was very popular and the overflow ended up in the Britannia Restaurant. The tea (or coffee) was plentiful and hot, the food, sandwiches, scones and sweets, were spot on and the service was attentive. Drink prices were on the expensive side, especially once you remembered to convert from USD and add the gratuity. Being Australian, gratuities, and tipping in general is a pain. If it is part of the standard or expected cost, just roll it into the overall price and be done with it. Then we can decide to tip if we feel the service deserves it. Overall though, the service was good. We didn't take in a show but did experience some of open the entertainment on other nights. The bands were what you would expect and reasonably entertaining. We took in a talk by a historical expert regarding WWII Japanese hold-outs (refusing to surrender after the war) in the Pacific. I found this interesting as I enjoy the historical aspect, but it wasn't to my wife's taste. My wife though did sample the shopping, fortunately without much success. Our one port day was in Burnie, Tasmania. This a good, honest working town, but not a very inspiring cruise destination, especially as it was a public holiday and would have been completely dead if it weren't for hundreds of cruise passengers wandering around looking for something to do. There were very few cafes and you couldn't even have a beer and lunch in a pub as they were all closed. At least the mayor was there to greet us when we came down the gangway. We didn't do any organised shore excursions, but my sister, who was part of our cruise group, did, and enjoyed the Cradle Mountain excursion. Overall, the ship had a decor in keeping with it's image and wasn't overcrowded. We weren't disappointed, but now feel we've done the Cunard experience and probably won't be sampling it again. We are going on a longer Oceania Mediterranean cruise later this year. It will be interesting to compare that experience. Read Less

We chose this review to celebrate a milestone birthday with family. Food was very average to say the least. Had better food in on our Royal Caribbean cruises and better service too. Everything seemed to be an extra cost plus 15%. Wine was very expensive. Got a suprise of $US 34.50 for each person on our bill. $US30 to play bingo? Had 8.30 seating for dinner which meant the plays were at 10.30 what a joke. Perhaps they should do what other cruises do so if you have 6.30 dinner you do 8.30 show and vise versa. First & second night entertainment was dismal. Last nights comediam was excellent. Highlight was Burnie where we organized our own amazing tour. So unbelievably disappointed would never go again! Oh I divot to say that afternoon tea was so packed people started trying to get a seat at 2 for 3.30 afternoon tea! Something is so wrong with the coordination of this cruise. Read Less

Queen Elizabeth is beautiful. The ship is incredibly elegant as it's namesake allows it to be. But unfortunately when the surface is scratched there are many imperfections that simply are a bit of a let down. Food... We were not impressed by the food in the buffet area, Brittania dining room or specialty dining. It all tasted bland or the same - but it really did look great, so I guess that was the disappointment. Cabin... Our cabin was nice, but the bathroom extremely small, smaller than on other ships we've been on. One thing we noted was our television service was intermittent & the English speaking channels didn't show any of the movies being shown in the foreign languages which was weird. Service... We did not encounter many staff but those we did seemed to have very high expectations of the passengers. Our room attendant made mention that we should put the make my room up sign out because otherwise he didn't know, which is fair enough - but he went in our room anyway so.... We could not get a drink in Lido to save ourselves, it was almost if they avoided eye contact. In the main dining rooms service was far too slow with our drinks arriving at the end of our mains or dessert. Simply by being efficient they could have sold extra beverages so I thought they would be on top of it. Entertainment... There just wasn't enough, but this was only a small voyage. We have sailed Cunard in the past, and I really want to stress that despite my disappoints the ship was beautifully appointed - it really could be something remarkable with a few adjustments. Read Less

Having cruised on other cruise lines we thought why not go upmarket with the Cunard QE. Our great expectations did not materialize, from embarkment at Sydney at 1.00pm an untrained lass was totally lost doing the paperwork constantly requiring supervisor assistance for 30 minutes with no seating for semi-disabled senior passenger doing the procedure. On way to ship entry no Cunard photographer or photo opportunity for souvenir. Balcony cabin was ready and comparable with other lines, however the cabin steward never introduced him/her self during entire cruise. Half bottle of sparkling wine in bucket of ice was appreciated and a thoughtful touch. Unfortunately, sleeping at night was difficult as other passengers seem to enjoy slamming cabin doors plus our cabin door was directly opposite cabin steward's kitchen with much banging and clattering of metal seemingly oblivious of passengers comfort. First night main restaurant dining at 8.30pm (we had no choice) no "my-time dining". Sat down at table for two and waited 25 minutes for waiter to notice our presence. Took our order which came after 30 minutes further wait. During this time we did not sight a drink waiter, nor during the entire meal so that was a saving no less. The second night was "Gala" night, formal black tie. Service was better , main course had choice of lobster that my wife and self selected. My lobster came but not my wife's. She did not want to cause a scene so declined to complain and missed out. The idea of semi-formal attire after 6.00pm was to be commended for such a ship but in reality it was somewhat of a joke to see what some people considered this dress code to be and was rather comical. We ate mostly in the Lido buffet, rather than otherwise at 9.00pm, and the food here we found limited and not overly impressive. Roasts were disappointing, one night only one roast meat on offer, lamb, undercooked and so trough was 'rubbery"and inedible. Other cruises always offer a choice of three roasts each night... why not Cunard.It's not as if we aren't paying for it big-time. Much of the upper decks and restaurants are verboten to the lesser guests putting us well and truly in our place.... perhaps that is where the good service is found. One person on board needs an attitude make-over and she is a young "lady" in the purser's office front counter. For someone being one on one with the public she seems to have a big "chip" on her shoulder. She continually and rudely insisted that my partner and I were entitled to $75.00 each on-board spending money only for us to find on departure that this was not the case, naturally after we had in fact spent the $150.00 on useless overpriced souvenirs. Is this the face of Cunard? Read Less

Went on a three day Melbourne - Burnie - Sydney cruise and having been on QM2 in 2017, we were really looking forward to a great time as we had on QM2. I have to agree with others, the embarkation was messy. The ships decor is beautiful and very impressive. The ship is also better laid out than QM2. We decided to pay a little more for the Britannia Balcony Club which simply gives you your own restaurant. We arrived, the manager introduced himself, walked us to our table and as I was sitting, preceded to tell me in front of other passengers that my dress was acceptable tonight but tomorrow I should were a jacket (no formal night this night), despite me wearing a sleeveless frock coat. Short story, complained, Maitre D apologised and stated that I was a good example for the ship to accept more modern dress modes - the main issue was the public berating, I could have been asked quietly as I entered. Dinner at the Veranda Restaurant was spectacular, the food totally amazing with great service and atmosphere. Our cabin steward was brilliant. Generally, staff need better training, when used asked them simple questions we were referred to the Purser's Desk or told to listen for announcements, bit much when you only wanted to know what timer the shops opened or directions to an activity. All staff on QM2 knew their drill. I found the ship dancers somewhat tardy and lack lustre compared to QM2. Maybe Cunard is struggling to adapt to Australian passengers. Personally, for the money, I was somewhat disappointed. Read Less

This was our first cruise - three nights Melbourne-Burnie-Sydney. Unfortunately the first impression was a negative one of just over an hour in the queue to board. Apparently everyone (several hundred people) had been told to arrive at the same time of 12 noon. We were standing in a slow moving queue like cattle. Very poorly organised and managed. Once on board we were seriously impressed by the beautiful decor and high quality throughout the ship. Our Balcony Stateroom (category BA) was more than we had expected. Our Stateroom 5110 was a disabled accessible cabin with far more space than the regular ones in this category. Our balcony was large enough to hold two banana lounges and two chairs! Meals were generally high quality with plenty of choices, especially in the Britannia restaurant where we took dinner each night (early sitting). Service in that area was a bit hit and miss however. On one occasion the next table had their second course before we got our first. On another night we had to ask twice for the wine list. We enjoyed lunch in the Golden Lion pub and had two other lunches at the Lido buffet. The Lido was just ok, salads in particular were extremely plain and unimaginative. Room service breakfast was mixed - lovely scrambled eggs with sausage and hash browns but a really basic and tasteless fruit salad. Toast was also tasteless. I suspect the sliced bread had been frozen but rolls and scones seemed to have been freshly baked. Breakfast in Britannia was excellent however, although on the sea day with everyone on board it was rather slow. The Royal Court Theatre put on two good shows (the house singers/dancers plus a Beatles tribute band) but you had to be early to get seats, especially if you wanted to sit with friends. We really enjoyed an art lecture and a talk by a cinematographer about the Titanic. Drink prices were on the high side of reasonable but internet pricing was extortionate. At about A$1 per minute we decided to go without, which did us no harm but meant we had a pile of emails and texts when we docked in Sydney. No tissues in our stateroom. As first time cruisers we were very surprised that we had to put our luggage outside our room the night before arrival. Had we known this we would have taken an airline carry on bag for use in the morning. Overall a terrific experience but with a few shortcomings that would not be hard for Cunard to address. Read Less

Ok after the last 2 disappointing cruises with princess we thought we'd give cunard a go.Def aimed at.a diff market. .only one child on board for first half of cruise (poor bugger was lonely in kids club) The average age was older and this changed down to around 55 after melb. Embarkation and disembarking was brilliant.so much more efficient.Food was.great 8 out of 10 the ship was immaculate no leaking roofs and the carpet was stain free and trip over buckets or carpet dryers. The rooms were very good. The mens change room had a sauna which looked out over the sea...didnt have to pay for the expensive spa suite..9/10 and no one used it most of the time i was the only person there. The only downfall was the way they bill you in us dollars and charge your account. Drinks were expensive . Our semillionier in the Britannia dining room was Mysdrago from serbia who was so charming you could take him home. The only other issue was dining in the buffet for lunch or breakfast as there were not enough seating for everyone inside. The entertainment was very good. This cruise was not a booze cruise with everyone just having a nice time relaxing. Its not carnival or princess and doesnt cater for that market. We enjoyed dressing for dinner and whilst some standards were enforced (No swimmers.in buffet ) most of the time everyone dressed accordingly..had a great cruise definitely a much better standard for me anyway. Read Less

Being Cunard we expected something better that Holland, Princess and Royal Caribbean but we were disappointed. We booked some months in advance and requested the early dining @ 6pm but found we had been allocated 8:30pm. No good for me with gastric reflux issues. We saw the Maitre D' who was disinterested but put us on a waitlist of 2 pages of other people. This meant we ate in the Lido Buffet for the first two nights - the food was typical cafeteria food and nothing special. After 2 night of poor food we complained to the Purser that we didn't book the QE for poor quality food. Next day we were given the early dining. We joined in Adelaide but 2 people on our table joined in Melbourne and had only booked 3 days before and were given early dining - pathetic. TV picture quality in Balcony room 6119 was poor, given that we were cruising in Australian waters there were no Australian channels for news. At the time we had bush fires in TAS, NSW and floods in QLD and parliamentary chaos federally and in NSW so news would have been nice to hear. The shows were excessively loud, even with ear plugs and pretty boring. Service in the main Dining room was very good once we got access to it. Service in the Lido buffet was not good, especially if you were old and with a walker (not us). We helped an old lady get a glass of water because none of the staff would and she said she had to get only a half-full glass because it would spill carrying it back on her walker. A couple of the lectures were interesting 1. Lowry the painter and his stick people paintings; 2. RAF pilot and his experience of being shot down in the 1st Gulf War and being captured. In addition there were water colour painting classes which were very helpful. On shore tours were the usual price of most cruises but there were some interesting ones. Read Less

Just spent 7 magnificent and relaxing days on the Queen Elizabeth,our group of 12 were spoilt by a band and classy singers that kept our dancers very satisfied.the selection of music and songs were perfect for us to dance to.you can’t find many cruise liners that can do what this band did in the queens room.they guaranteed many more visits with a much bigger audience once we tell our dance groups about it all. The service and food was second to none.so happy you are catering for us downounder.well more often.The ship was always clean and staff were always available to assist.the quality of food was 1st class and very good value for money.if you want a cruise to be spoilt and dine with real quality food and excellent entertainment.....you must try this cruise ship.....the staff make this all possible...see you all again real soon!! Ps...we all danced so much that we are nursing so feet and that has not happened for some time....thanks again BiG Band! Read Less

Last year we really enjoyed a 14 night Baltic cruise on Queen Elizabeth in a Princess Grill room. Decided to try the Queens Grill on this short cruise and regretted the decision to move up from the Princess Grill. The Queens Grill room was larger but didn’t provide a significant upgrade over the Princess Grill. The Queens and Princess restaurants have the same menu and waiting staff rotate through the range of restaurants so there was no upgrade there. The menu in the Grills restaurants is very conservative and quite bland but the waiting staff were excellent and dealt very well with some very rude passengers. The singers and dancers currently on the Queen Elizabeth are much better than the previous group and the entertainment was really good on this cruise. The room staff, waiting staff and other service staff were very good but the security staff who manage the port disembarkation/embarkation were awful and on a number of occasions were rude and overly officious with passengers attempting to get on or off. The things that annoyed us with the earlier Cunard cruise, very expensive Internet and the gratuity/service charge gouging, haven’t changed and we’ve decided we won’t travel with them again until this is improved or they are offering free gratuities and Internet. Read Less