Queen Elizabeth Review
Rating by category
Additional details
I've sailed with Cunard before, but always on Queen Mary 2, so this cruise was an opportunity to experience one of the other two Cunard ships. The cruise was 42 nights long including transiting the Panama Canal and stops in Fort Lauderdale, Aruba, Limón, Puntarenas, San Francisco, Hawaii, American Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand. Embarkation was in New York and disembarkation was in Sydney.
Embarkation: In a word… shambolic. I've experience Cunard embarkations in Southampton, Singapore and Sydney and each one of those ports managed to process passengers through security and onto the ship without the terminal staff displaying an almost hilarious inability to communicate with personnel on the ship and each other. Announcements that should have been made on a loud speaker weren't. Terminal staff weren't aware (or didn't care) about priority embarkation for Grills passengers as passengers in wheelchairs were boarded ahead of priority guests.
The whole thing took much longer than it needed to, with terminal staff unable to make up their mind when to start the embarkation process. At one point they let about 15 people through security then decided to halt the process leaving the 15 people standing in a no-mans land between the security scanners and the check-in counters. The remainder of the guests waiting to board were kept back behind the security scanners. This lasted for about 15 minutes. Nobody knew why, least of all the terminal staff... I'm guessing. This shameful exercise in ineptitude was capped off by the check-in staff member incorrectly swiping my credit card details. I know this because each sector I had to go down to the Purser's office and have them swipe the card again.
Cabin Review
The suite is large with extremely generous wardrobe space and plenty of amenities. The view from the stern is simply awe-inspiring and I particularly enjoyed hearing the gentle roar of ocean and watching the wake from the stern. The bathroom is large with a full sized spa bath and separate shower with glass door. The shower is generously proportioned with room for two people to shower together (if so inclined to do so). The shower and bath area are separate to the toilet and vanity area (there is however a connecting door) which is handy as it enables two people to use the facilities at the same time. The bed was very comfortable and the sheets are very soft. I particularly liked the large three seater sofa with two accompanying single chairs. You can have quite a number of fellow guests for drinks and not feel crowded at all. This suite is practically perfect, if you're looking at one of the stern suites than look no further than this one. Be warned though, the suites at either side of the ship (with the wraparound balconies) are much smaller on the inside than the three middle suites as the space for the side balcony is at the expense of inside space. This only applies to decks, four, five and eight as decks six and seven are the Q1 suites. You should also be aware that the interior of the middle stern suite is slightly different to the suites on either side, they have a long bench under the window which the middle suite doesn't have. Any of the three middle Q6 suites on deck 5 would be fine, do not let them upgrade you to a Q5 with the wraparound balconies, you will be disappointed with the lack of space inside those suites. You've been warned.