Having only cruised before on very small ships (e.g. Wind Star, Seabourn) we decided to test the waters of a large ship by taking a short cruise up and down the English Channel. We chose the Cunard Queen Mary 2 as it was being billed as the most luxurious ship on the seas, the height of luxury and elegance, make-you-feel-special atmosphere etc. What a disappointment it proved to be - on several counts:

1. Firstly the concept of imposing a $11.90pp per day tip, then find when presented with a bill that there was an additional 12.5% 'service charge' and a space for an extra 'gratuity' which was markedly pointed out, grates.

2. Embarkation: quite smooth until we eventually got aboard (no fault of Cunard that we had a massive traffic jam for the last 500m of our journey, which took us over 2 hours). Then the grinning double line of crew members greeting us could only offer a trite 'Welcome aboard'. Information as where to proceed next, what lunch arrangements were available, whether our cabin was ready etc had to be extracted like teeth. Read more