May 29th sailing of the Queen Victoria from Southampton to the Norwegian fjords for seven days. Some aspects of this cruise were a bit challenging; and we were interested to see if others had the same experience, or if we are just expecting too much from the cruise experience in these days of cutbacks and mass-management of passengers. In the past we had been regulars on Cunard, with a couple of side-trips to Regent. However, due to some family health issues this was our first cruise in four years. Our last cruise was on the QM2---which was a top-notch experience.We had been particularly leery of taking this cruise, having read a large number of reviews bemoaning the "Carnivalization" of Cunard. In general, however, we still found much to like on this cruise. And, while we were ready to expect certain differences in service---our voyage on the QM2 was in Princess Grill, while this voyage on the QV was in Britannia---most of our comments concerned services in the common areas, which would have been the same regardless of class of service. Overall, we found the ship beautiful and well-maintained---as had been usual for Cunard. Embarkation/debarkation was flawless---very quick and efficient. Our stateroom had lots of storage space---almost as much as the QM2 in the P Category, though perhaps not as conveniently designed. The biggest downside to the cabin was the small shower stall---we haven't seen anything this small since the little Crown Dynasty years ago. Neither of us is very large, however, so we soon got used to maneuvering in the limited space. Cabin steward was friendly and attentive...although his English was a bit limited. Though the common areas can get crowded on an inclement sea day when no one ventures outside, there still seemed to be enough space to manage the full number of passengers aboard. Again, spaces were lovely and well-maintained. The Lido on this ship was a particularly welcome environment. On days when one just doesn't feel like dealing with the traditional Cunard dining experience, the Lido was a warm and inviting space---a thousand times better than the King's Court on the QM2. The food was very good for a cafeteria-type of environment...and we noticed a lot of folks spending a lot of time there. Elsewhere on the ship, evidence of the little Cunard touches seemed to remain---perhaps in spite of Carnival management. In this regard, we were still satisfied with the Cunard experience.Where the whole thing seemed to fall apart was the general attitude of the crew and staff. Unlike past Cunard experiences, we found most of the crew and staff on this voyage to be very unfriendly and uncaring: they did what they needed to do, but no more. We seldom saw any crew members in the public areas---very unlike past Cunard voyages---and, when we did, they never returned a smile or hello. The Captain's messages were infrequent and rather cold. The staff in the shops was equally as stiff, as was much of the staff in the lounges. Particularly unenthusiastic---as well as somewhat confused about what they were doing---was the Tour Staff. Surprisingly, the most helpful and friendly folks were at the Purser's Desk. In the past, this had always been a challenging area on Cunard to deal with. On this trip, they turned out to be extremely courteous and helpful. The Britannia restaurant, where we expected to find most of the problems based on previous reviews, was much better than we expected. No, it is not intimate...and the service isn't as attentive as in the Grill restaurants or on a small luxury ship. We weren't expecting it to be. Nevertheless, the food was generally very good (if sometimes blandly seasoned); the selection changed enough on a day-to-day basis to keep it interesting; and we didn't really feel "rushed" during the early seating. Again, though, the staff (with the exception of our sommelier) seemed to be very distant and uninvolved. The food got to the table with a nice presentation, but there was absolutely none of the previous excitement that we used to get in dining on Cunard. The exception to this was the Todd English restaurant---there, the staff was like Cunard of old. And, this was very odd considering that some of them also worked in other facets of the shipboard experience---one of them even delivered our room service breakfast one morning. We are not particularly demanding people. And, in these days of mass travel, we have come to expect that even the most costly of experiences is going to fall down in some areas. For ourselves, we just try to press on and still have a good time. Overall, from a service process perspective, Cunard has not turned into the Carnival that we had feared...with maybe the exception of the ubiquitous photographers. But, certainly, the excitement on this ship was sadly lacking. We have experienced previously that the passenger mix can sometimes make or break a cruise, and that in those cases the crew usually tries valiantly to turn the experience around. In this case, we really don't think it was the passenger mix or the dreary weather at the beginning of the cruise. Here, we just had the feeling that most of the crew and staff was just there to do a job. For us, we don't expect or want our waiters to show us how to make origami table napkins, or have the staff be "onstage" at every turn---we can go to Royal Caribbean for that. What we do expect is for folks to smile back at us, and remember what we asked for, and generally care that we are enjoying ourselves. That appeared to be missing on this ship this time. At first, we thought maybe we had over-reacted; that having not cruised for some time we were remembering only the good things from past voyages. However, our original feelings were confirmed when we stayed for an evening at the Hilton at Heathrow Airport for our flight home. The staff there could not have been more helpful, friendly, and accommodating. It seems strange that a one-off experience at an airport hotel could have been more interpersonally rewarding than a seven-day cruise. Is this now how Cunard as a whole operates, or is it just this particular ship? Maybe the crew is not particularly happy there; or maybe there is a bigger language barrier than there used to be with much of the staff. Or maybe one is just more willing to overlook things when in a Grill cabin. Whatever. We did put an open deposit down for a future cruise on Cunard, but we are having second thoughts. As a note, we mentioned all this on the Cunard assessment at the end of the voyage, but wonder if they will consider it just rubbish.