We decided to book a mini cruise to try out Cunard as we have previously only been with Fred Olsen. We got the mini cruise at a reduced price at last minute and booked Princess grade cabin.
Check in at Southampton was done quickly and efficiently (faster boarding in Princess class) and we found our cabin on our own with no directions or help or offers of help from the many staff milling around, this was not our experience with Fred Olsen. The service and food in our restaurant on deck 11 was faultless if a little "stiff" but on retiring for our first night we found that our so called high grade cabin was located directly under the Lido restaurant and to make matters worse under the tiled floor of their trolley store. The was the sound of large moving furniture until 2 in the morning and by the next day I was exhausted. We had been up graded from a P4 cabin to P8 and had to suffer this noise as a result, I complained and the complaint was dealt sympathetically with but there was no opportunity to change cabins as the ship was full. They laid temporary matting over the tiled area above us and asked the staff to take care to be quiet after the buffet was closed this worked for one night but on our last night they reverted to loud noises of moving furniture until very late and as a result on our three night trip I only slept well for one night. I shall be taking this up directly with Cunard.
The Lido restaurant for breakfast one morning was a ghastly endless queue with us walking up and down the length of the place 3 times before finding anywhere to sit and then joining queues for everything including tea and coffee, I think this should be served at the table. Also that tables should be found for passengers before allowing them all in to the buffet to wander about aimlessly hoping someone will vacate a table so they can sit down. The buffet is not clearly laid out and we never set foot in it again choosing the second day to have breakfast in our cabin.