Okay, so we decided not to fly for this cruise because who likes to go through security all the time and then sit on a plane? So we took this from New York(Brooklyn really although cruise critic doesn't have that for a choice) and went to the North Cape of Norway by way of Southampton(UK) and Hamburg(Germany).

The weather was terrible on the first crossing: foggy and cold. Why doesn't Cunard use the southern route in June? Who knows. We (my mother and I) had last sailed on the QM2 2 years ago to Canada. There were some strange potholes outside the restaurant, in the lobby and in the casino. They were still there. Let me say too, I am a Platinum Cunard member and my mother is a Diamond member and Cunard's reward program is pretty chintzy. The ship needed painting. Our cabin smelled of smoke although all cabins are supposedly non-smoking.

Service in the dining room was slow and no one refilled the water glasses. The food was bland or worse. No one helped carry trays in the King's Court(the Lido area on most ships) even for my mother who uses a walker. The lecturers were, as is usual on Cunard, a high point. Read more