I took the Los Angeles-to-Sydney segment of Queen Elizabeth's inaugural world cruise, January 29 to February 22.

Communications were bad, beginning with Cunard's Website. I could book excursions but neither review nor modify or cancel my selections. Cunard's telephone Help Desk, with its jarringly ungrammatical ("Your call will be answered in the order it was received") was no help at all. Operators had plummy, fake-posh English accents (I am a Brit). At one point I was transferred to Princess Cruises. On-board messages were often misworded, as in "Captain James Cook chartered the two main islands [of New Zealand] in 1760."

Embarkation in Los Angeles was chaotic; no one was in charge; no-one to help; no signs; no advice; no information. People arriving by cab had their bags put onto porters' carts ahead of people who had been waiting for half an hour. Read more