We have just returned from a short, 5 night cruise visiting Amsterdam, Zeebrugge and Le Havre on the Queen Victoria, our first cruise on this ship. Embarkation was fairly easy although there was a wait to go through security clearance. Once on board we went directly to our cabin and was very impressed to find our luggage there waiting. We had a midship balcony cabin on Deck 5 and feel we made a good choice. The cabin was quiet and during bad weather it felt stable, although it did creak. The bed was very comfortable and the stateroom fairly spacious.

Our dining room was the Britannia Restaurant and we were seated on a table for six. The service was very efficient and unobtrusive. Overall we felt the food was very good although the puddings were too sweet for our palates so we generally gave them a miss. We ate lunch in The Lido and found the food there varied and well cooked. It was usually easy to locate a free table and there were no long queues. We did not partake of afternoon tea so cannot comment on that.

The entertainment on the first night in the Royal Court Theatre was the Cunard Singers and Dancers (not brilliant I'm afraid) and a violinist but as this genre of music is not really to our taste we gave that a miss, the second night was a comedian but we decided to go elsewhere. We did watch Dance Passion featuring the Cunard Singers and Dancers and this was the best show we saw on board. The show on the final evening was supposed to feature a tribute to Sting followed by the violinist and the comedian. I don't know if we missed the tribute to Sting but we didn't see it but we did see both the violinist who was extremely accomplished playing the music to Schindler's List and a medley from West Side Story. The comedian's jokes were nothing new. Overall, the entertainment was not that great and I wonder if this was due to us being on a short cruise so not all the stops were pulled out. Read more