We had a embarkation time of 3 pm but we were on the ship by 1.15pm only took 15 mins to board. We did not book this cruise till November and we took a fare that allowed Cunard to allocate our cabin. We had a outside restrictive view which was no problem. The cabin was clean and had plenty of space, loads of hanging space, nice bathroom nice big bed.
We were on second sitting dinning which we had asked for the dinning room is so lovely and well set out. My husband is a Coeliac and we had no problems with the food we mainly ate in the Britannia restaurant and the staff were excellent they brought Gluten Free bread/toast every meal without us asking. At the end of the evening meal he also got GF cheese and crackers and GF petite fours. We had no problem with the food we even had a meal in the buffet and this was fine with GF desserts on display on there own section.
We took afternoon tea two days this was amazing my husband got sandwiches, cakes and scones with cream, this was a first for us and most places cannot supply and gluten free afternoon tea.
Nice size clean and comfortable every thing we wished for. We had a view of a lifeboat but this was no problem plenty of light still entered the room.
Hamburg in winter can be a bit bleak but it should not stop you from visiting it.Just walking buy the river/docks is very interesting lots to see.