Other than the amount of emails sent before the voyage which left me wondering what I should do before embarking, the trip just got worse as the days went by. The cabin was small, lack of wardrobe space and a poky shower room. The toiletries provided were of poor quality, forcing me to buy a decent hair shampoo as soon I could get to some shops.

But the most visible shortcomings were the total lack of any senior staff (officers) around the ship, the guest experience was in the hands of the staff, some of whom were very good (in the bars) but some who were dissatisfied with their conditions (in the restaurant). In the Britannia Restaurant I witnessed bullying of staff by their white superiors and I was under the impression that racism was rife throughout the ship. However the main criticism was the food served nightly in the Britannia; it was appalling, my partner telling the head waiter on one evening that the food in her mum’s aged care facility was better than on Cunard.

The communication was generally poor, eg on boarding in Barcelona the information in the cabin stated the next call would be Toulon - really? I took up some issues with a junior purser’s officer, but nothing was resolved as he said I would be contacted by ground staff after arriving in Sydney. That hasn’t happened (after 45 days). Read more