We embarked on the Queen Victoria in Venice after spending a few days of our honeymoon in a delightful little hotel. What annoyed us the most about the embarkation process was the fact that there was absolutely no communication, help or advice from Cunard about how we should find the ship! We saw a Cunard tender boat and assumed we could hop on and board ship this way, but we were told we had to get the water bus to the port. After three very hot and tiring hours dragging our luggage up and down steps, on and off boats and across cobbles in scorching temperatures, we eventually found the ship ( following another very long walk, miles from customs, with no bus provided). The Cunard staff were less than helpful, preferring to chat and laugh together about last night's activities and chat away on their 'phones than help out the exhausted passenger.

We did have a lovely honeymoon despite the fact that Cunard overcharge for everything. It is a beautiful ship, there is no doubt about that, but standards appear to be slipping. For example, we noticed on more than one occasion, buckets of dirty cleaning water and dirty cloths left near to where food was being prepared and eaten. On four nights, in the Britannia restaurant, we ordered a very highly overpriced bottle of wine to drink with our meal, but were appalled to see that it was placed in an ice bucket with three other bottles of wine and a half drunk bottle of Grolsch lying on top of it! There was also a hard sell, from our waiter, of a wine tasting experience, at the end of one evening, which really put paid to any romance! Not the right time to do this, Cunard! Overall, it seems that Cunard is all about the dollar - this company (Carnival) is using the name of Cunard just to make shed loads of money!! It is morally wrong to call this cruise company Cunard, any more! Many fellow passengers (all experienced cruisers) told us their experiences on other cruise ships (for half the cost) were just as good (and the drinks were normal prices).

If we do go on another cruise, it will be with a different company.