The Queen Victoria is a wonderful ship. The cruise to Hawaii had a total of eight sea days and only four ports in Hawaii and one final port, Ensenada. We enjoy the atmosphere aboard ship and the sea days were nice, but the weather was surprisingly cold. So for most of the trip you couldn't use the pool. We have traveled on the Queen Victoria before and find the staff outstanding.

We have taken many cruises with Cunard, on all of their ships, and find the tour office really lacking in proper tours. What they advertise and promote as Cunard tours and at an expensive price, are not in reality the tours you get. I have found that if you go ashore and find your own guide for a tour, you save almost 75% of what Cunard charges and you get a much better tour. Cunard also nickles and dimes you with fees and charges. $2.00 for a bottle of water + 15%, 15% gratuity on anything you purchase on board including, corking charges for wine, the wine at meals and the carefully measured cocktails are not cheap with the added 15%. At the first Hawaiian port hundreds of people were purchasing sodas and liquor to bring back on board. And this happened all additional ports too. Forget the ship's laundry service, $4.00 to clean a shirt.

So if you can get a good discount on a Cunard cruise to places you wish to visit and can avoid their lousy tour office recommendations and avoid the bar purchases and extras, the ship itself and the staff are wonderful.