I flew from Washington,DC. to London with Virgin Atlantic Upper Class and stayed at the Crown Plaza St.James over the weekend prior to sailing. We (my darling Aunt and I)have made our own arrangements for this.On Monday the 30th of October we set off from London Waterloo on Southwest Trains at 10.39am enroute to Southampton where we arrived at 12.15pm. From Southampton central station we took a taxi to the Mayflower terminal (this was a short notice change from Cunard)where we checked in after an approximate 30 minute wait in line.We were greeted by the staff on deck three and escorted to our stateroom 5230, to our super surprise this was an outside cabin with balcony (we actually had booked a inside). Our Cabin Steward Eric was already waiting for us, as was our luggage and several bottles of Champagne,Sparkling Wine and Wine. After getting over the excitement of the cabin, we wanted to first check our restaurant seating and went straight to the Britannia Dining Room.We had requested a table for 2 for the early seating at 6pm, however I noticed that we were to sit on a table for 8. After speaking to the Maitre D' this was quickly changed and we were assigned table 52 on deck 2. Now it was time to book a table for Todd English as everyone had advised me to do as early as possible, so we opted to dine there on the "informal" night on Thursday. I also booked Spa treatments for my Aunt and myself for the following days. After all the arranging it was time for some refreshments and as our charming and very efficient cabin steward Eric had told us we went to deck 7,the Kings Court for some light refreshments. After unpacking and changing it was time at 5pm for the emergency drill and after this we set sail promptly at 6pm. We did not attend the cocktail party on deck 12 but opted to enjoy a few glasses of champagne before taking our seats for dinner. To not stretch this review to long I will now give an overview of our experiences: Britannia Dining Room Table 52: Our Waiter Nened, Junior Waiter Jason and Sommelier Pol were at all times extremely courteous,accommodating and helpful.We dined at the Britannia every evening with the exception of Thursday when we dined at Todd English. The food for Dinner in general and I say this from a hoteliers background was,just as I expected it, standard banquet food but nothing special and on several occasions it lacked taste,finesse and the portions (especially the main course) should be smaller. Also one normally one would not hurry 3 or 4 courses in 45 minutes.As I said before I did NOT expect any superlative dishes, however more consistency and flavor would help. Breakfast and Lunch in the Britannia is a different experience as one has not the usual table. Staff seem totally de-motivated, coffee tastes awful, and again on several occasions tasteless food and extremely slow service. Todd English: As I mentioned earlier,I had made bookings immediately as I was advised that it would be booked quickly.We arrived at 6.30pm and were greeted by the Maitre D', the restaurant was at this time only used by two other couples and it did not fill to more then 8 tables throughout the evening. Our waitress Anneke was delightful and very knowledgeable about the menu. I can highly recommend the Potatoe Love Letters (if you love truffles), this dish actually gave me goose bumps because of it's delightful taste!For desert the Fallen Chocolate Cake was Divine! Again even here all dishes are supersized and I think less is more. Overall it was a wonderful experience and the $30.00 surcharge is rectified.

Kings Court Lunch: This area leaves a lot to be desired, but not the food but the organization (if you don't like to wait in line I advise to go at 11am or later after 2pm). The Carvery offers delicious meats, Lotus tasty stir fry's and La Piazza Italian dishes and deserts.Chefs Galley does delectable sandwiches and fresh burgers.I very much enjoyed taking Breakfast there as one has a choice and doesn't need to take full sizes of everything, although on several occasions the "regular" coffee machines did not work.

If you are looking for a midnight snack,BAD LUCK unless you count Hot Dogs,Burgers and Frozen Pizza as your staple foods!This needs strong improvement! Read more