We joined QM2 at Singapore on a section of her world voyage. Embarkcation was reasonable enough and were soon at the Kings Court for a light lunch. Our cabin was an obstructed balcony on deck 7 - a spacious cabin well turned out although we did have a problem with a leaking toilet for 2 days at the start of the cruise. Our cabin stewardess from South Africa was excellent - nothing was too much trouble. Food in the Britannia Restaurant was very good ( much better than our Celebrity Cruise last year ) the waiters were attentive and catered for our likes. However, the price of drinks/wine on board was eyewateringly expensive so only glasses of wine were sometimes consumed at dinner. The food at the Kings Court self-service restaurant was very good but finding a table was like being in a motorway service café! The entertainment onboard was mixed but special mention of a guest speaker - Malcolm Nelson, a retired Senior Customs Officers at London Heathrow Airport. His seven talks were unmissable and this was evident by the number of people attending in the Royal Court Theatre. We booked five Cunard excursions pre cruise - generally good but some days tiring! Dress code was mostly adhered to but come on Cunard - surely a jacket every evening for dinner is a little outdated! compared to P & O, Princess & Celebrity. Read Less

This was our fifth cruise on Oceania and our second on the Nautica. It is beginning to look a little worn, but that should be addressed with the scheduled makeover. The service and food remain impeccable. In every restaurant and bar you are greeted cordially and made to feel special. We never had a bad meal. Our cabin attendant and her assistant took great care of us. The cabins provide plenty of storage space and are well laid out. If the bed frame were just an inch higher it would make storage of suitcases much easier. The bathroom in anything but the suites, to put it mildly, is compact but functional. The shower is especially tiny and is our only major complaint. The guest lecturer was excellent giving insight into the history and attractions of the area and the ports we were visiting. We were disappointed that Nagasaki was substituted for Incheon on our itinerary but understand that this was something beyond the control of Oceania. Read Less

The crew were for the most part pleasant and accommodating. Food was above average and the pastry chef was particularly good. Themed dinners were okay but too much Thai. Food not always available but 24 room service was pretty good. The tours were conducted by good English speaking instructors (Dalian to Lushun prison and Beijing to Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square). Internet was spotty. Room 6004 was a good size, beds comfortable with lovely sheets but the whole ship needs renovation. Do not reserve this cabin if you have any issue with motion sickness. It is in the forward part of the ship and it was awful in rough seas. It was also very noisy when the entertainment in the lounge was going on. Overall a good trip. The port agent in Kobe did a good job helping us to get back to the ship on time on one precarious occasion. The age range though really is 65-80. Read Less

Had been with Oceania in 2011 and thoroughly enjoyed it. That cruise was a comfortable, fairly sophisticated experience, and was always was keen to repeat the experience. The company brochure is now really misleading. It shows elegant well dressed people, where in actual fact on this trip the majority of people were dressed in baseball caps, T shirts and dad trainers. We are in out late 60's and were very much at younger end of the guest age range. There are good dining rooms and a very good choice of menus but most seemed to eat in the café. Picked this cruise because of the itinerary 16 days in the South Pacific. There was some attractive offers namely 400 dollars ship credit free internet and cabin upgrades. I now know why. The ship was about two thirds full and mainly elderly Americans, with a few Canadians and fewer Europeans. The ship itself is fairly shabby, stained and worn furnishings and carpet throughout The dining rooms are excellent although in a sort of Disney/ Las Vegas way. The Grand Dining room is an enormous space decorated in a sort of Las Vegas Baroque. On our cruise it was largely empty few people using it. The speciality dining rooms also serve excellent food, although in Red Ginger blonde east European waitress in a sort of oriental costume add to the Disneyesque experience. There is a degree of pretension in Red Ginger and Toscana. Being offered a choice of colour of chop sticks is surprising and have not see that in Asia. In Toscana being offered a huge choice of olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip your bread in is unlikely to be replicated in Tuscany. The Polo Grill and Jacques were a bit more realistic. However in Jacques there was a window in to the kitchen where you could see "Out of Order" notices on ovens. The window had a curtain but it was kept open. Why? Breakfast buffet was more or less standard, of course there was no back bacon only pork belly done to a crisp. Entertainment was not bad except that most of the shows were on in the late afternoon. Maybe because of the elderly clientele. It meant that there was not much in the way of things to do in the evening. Martinis should be a nice place to have a drink. However its use seems to be for party games such as quizzes and indoor putting. Happy hour is somewhat strange as in the main lounge the band don't start till after happy hour. Not many people actually came. The quietest place on the ship is the grand bar which usually had people sleeping or reading in it. A very good string quartet did play there though. The library has a lot of foot traffic going to the speciality coffee shop. There is good coffee although the place can be a hang out for ships staff in coveralls. Several times there was crew in boiler suits leaning against the bar. The library has a couple of once beautiful ship models now largely falling to pieces. The models are not encased and no doubt have been frequently prodded. It all sort of points to the general air of neglect. The free internet was also not much use as it was off for several consecutive days because of "local interference". In general however the staff are excellent. Except for Destination Services and Reception. They are supercilious bunch who don't listen. Only asked one thing from reception and was haughtily told that they could deal with it. They got it wrong. It took three visits to destination services to get my disembarkation correct. It would appear that they don't read the forms they ask you to fill in. All in all Oceania for all its pretentions seems to have become just a mass market cruiser albeit with very good food and mainly good service. However as a premium brand it seems have lost its way. Read Less

We chose the cruise for the itinerary and the fact that we had been on the Mariner before and had liked it. This time however we were sorely disappointed. The captain seemed to have difficulty communicating with the passengers and any major announcements were handled by the cruise director. There was no warning that we would be without internet or communication the last half of the cruise. The itinerary was poorly planned and the Easter Island draw had been been promoted on the ship as being a pretty sure thing, was a great disappointment to all. Even though it wasn't the fault of the ship that we did not get to go to Easter Island, it was misrepresented as 80% chance by their enrichment speaker and the staff. The food was off and on with some excellent nights and some nights we couldn't find anything desirable to eat. This is amazing on a ship with so many nice restaurants. Surprisingly the buffet turn out to be our best option several days. The exit off the ship was extremely and unnecessarily chaotic. The disembarkation problems could have easily been avoided since the cruise line knew our flight time and the conditions at the airport and Cruise dock , but insisted on holding us back from leaving until after all of their tours left before us. Therefore those with flights from Lima had to wait too long and therefore get in last at the airport lines and almost missed flights. Even with all this time we had the buses were still not ready when they told us to leave. Combine this with the fact that they did not service their printers or computers to print boarding passes Etc the days before we had to disembark, seem to convey they we're focused on getting their excursions going to Lima rather than on the needs of the passengers who were still on board. Read Less

We chose this cruise based on itinerary, since we wanted to visit several islands. I had read rave reviews of the food, but that’s so subjective I didn’t have real expectations. The food was very inconsistent; great in day and not so great the next. The fish was awful - other than the tuna, I found bones in EVERY fish dish I ordered. We ignored the entertainment, as it just wasn’t for us. The staff are for the most part their bright spot - they learn your name immediately and make you feel very at home. I wish they didn’t try to sell you so many extras - one day we had 5 different staff members try to get us to sign up for a wine tasting within 30 minutes!!! Clearly there is a commission/bonus involved. Our butler was overworked and it showed - I think he had at least 10 staterooms he was attending to, if not far more. Our stewardess was an absolute gem!!! The cruise director, some guy named Shawn, needs improvement! Tendering was a mess - I’ll leave the details out but it was super disorganized. We were constantly late to port. I guess when they say “in port at 0800” they mean entering the harbor then. So when you see the times in port when booking your cruise, subtract at least 2 hours. Spa services were inconsistent, with one masseuse good and another terrible. We enjoyed meeting so many wonderful people, as the smaller size of the ship facilitates meeting and interacting with other guests. In a nutshell, Oceania isn’t for us. Read Less

Embarkation and disembarkation was relatively smooth. Don’t expect much hospitality. Employees are not excited about their jobs so don’t expect many smiles either. We spent much extra to stay in a (PHS) Penthouse Suite and was advertised our own personal Butler, (which was shared by many other suites so personalized is the farthest from the truth.) He is given too many rooms to service. We also understood we would have preferred tendering, (which we were first to get tickets, but told we would be last. Yep, last to tender.) We almosted missed our excursion. Does the ship care? Nope! If you book through them then you are first to tender. *Know b4 you go! Next the food. Why does everyone rave about the food? Ugg! My wife got sick on the fish. It was not cooked though enough. The Caesar salad is soaked in dressing every time! It was gross! Our friends lobster was over cooked. The buffet breakfast is pretty good but basic. We ordered room service breakfast. The scrambled eggs were runny, boiled eggs inconsistent. The fruit was mushy & over ripe most of the time. If you wear a hat to dinner, be prepared to be kicked out!! We were late for almost every port with little time anyway. Then paying extra to be in a PHS and having to be last to tender. What a slap in the face. Bottom line: a PHS gives you nothing extra really! The laundry service is terrible it took four days to get 20 items back! Four tiny washer & dryers for the whole boat so get ready to stand in line!! Now Entertainment: (———.) that describes it. VERY limited, basically nothing. The butler &/or staff is always pressuring you to buy something like an excursion or wine tasting or martini tasting (they must be getting a commission!) It just sucks!!! The rooms are small and closets are too. We have sailed other cruise lines and not had such a terrible experience. Oceania is not for me. Read Less

We are in our early 60's and fit and healthy. The Cunard line represented to us elegance, fine dining and an association with the Grand Queens of the Sea. Though there were some good points to the ship including the Common Areas, the Afternoon Tea, Library and some entertainment, the rest of the experience left a lot to be desired. We were in Cabin 6123 Starboard with balcony. We were assigned Britannia early seating. The main food options available are the Britannia Restaurant on Decks 2 and 3 and the Lido Restaurant on Deck 9 which is the main outdoor activity Deck on the ship. The Lido has very poor quality food - think Cafeteria style - with little flavour and no fresh produce, only cold storage items. The Lido restaurant itself looks like an Aged Care Facility with boring pastel shades and Ikea style furniture. The Grill bar out near the pool area again has no decor - just a plain service counter with precooked burgers and battered fish, but mainly batter, available in hamburger buns - just awful. The Britannia Restaurant is the formal dining offering where jackets for men at Dinner are mandatory and where waiters and a Sommelier in attendance. The menu changes daily but hardly any of the dishes were recognisable as chef quality. Some of the dishes were a mystery with the most ridiculous additions that did nothing for the hero of the plate - either fish, lamb or beef. What is the Head Chef thinking? We brought on board our own wine from Australia as we had the foresight to check out the wine prior to boarding. This was a good move, and though we paid $20 US for every bottle opened, at least we got to drink good wine at a reasonable cost. Our sommelier, Roberto was excellent and had a thorough knowledge of wine and his service was impeccable - thank you Roberto. All drinks are expensive on board the ship and you pay in US dollars - add to that a 15% surcharge plus gratuities every day. We did eat at The Golden Lion a few times, and the pub meals were good and at a standard of most pubs in England. The Daily Programme was nothing short of tedious and repeats of the same thing every two or three days. Think trivia challenges. The Gala Evenings (7 in 24 days) were of no consequence. We all put on our finery, went to dinner, went to the show, then came back to the Queen's room and watched a dozen or so of people on the ship who could ball room dance - there was no allowance for any type of other dancing as the floor was taken with Fox Trot, Samba etc. with couples swirling around the whole dance floor. Why have a Ball? Nothing was done to include the 90% of guests in more modern dancing or being part of a 'ball atmosphere". There was dancing in the Yacht club. However, this venue was as dead as a door on the few occasions we visited. 'Under 30's' are scheduled for 10.30 pm (the only under 30's on board are crew) and there's a disco on from mid-night. A 'Beatles' band joined the ship for the remaining 4 nights with the band playing in the Queens Room on the last night and everyone got up and danced and had a great time - the only one night throughout the duration of the 24 days. The lectures - some were interesting and others were terrible - a right royal buffeting of Princess Anne, and World War II British lectures on how the war was won (don't mention the war!) with over 350 Germans on board - goodness know how well that went down with the Germans.... The ship has apparently had an upgrade, but you were hard pressed to tell. We spent a large amount of time on the back verandah near the swimming pool and the condition of the decks, pool surrounds, and rusty areas needs to be attended to immediately. At times, the belching of the smoke from the funnels created great piles of soot deposits which spoilt our clothes and left us covered in black spots - unhealthy to be inhaling too... The windows on the ship always seemed to be dirty so if you were sitting in the Britannia looking out to sea, there were rust and salt encrusted streaks in your vision. The Tender service process was terrible. We managed to finally get ashore at the Whitsundays at quarter to twelve after having milled about in the Queens room with hundreds of people waiting to be called for the Tender. People who had booked tours that day, ended up not doing a different tour because of time constraints. The same process for every Tender port ensued and although there was some improvement in the process, the queues and delays were very frustrating. Oh, and to top it off, and notwithstanding the crew's best efforts with hand sanitisers, a flu like bug went through the ship which had people coughing incessantly. Difficult to stop once it starts. Perhaps food handling in the kitchens needs tighter control given we observed on one occasion when the kitchen doors were open one of the 'chefs' coughing into his hands then handling food without washing and sanitising his hands. Read Less

The cabin D7017 is small and poorly appointed with a small dressing table, minimum storage facilities, particularly if a long voyage. The bathroom small but manageable however the shower cubicle is pokey! Television channels are extremely limited and there is no interactive channel. Frankly it looked rather 'tired'. Room service is available but our experience has been that nothing arrived 'hot'. Lukewarm seems to have been the best that could be managed. Public areas of Queen Victoria are comfortable and the waiter service excellent. Dining is tedious with a two seating arrangement at 18.00hrs and 20.00hrs. 18.00 rather too early especially if returning from shore excursions. The shopping on board was as appears to be the case with most cruise ships directed toward high end buying with selections of 'watches and jewellery' endlessly tedious. Bar prices are definitely high. Personally I wouldn't choose a Cunard ship again...there's far better value for my hard earned cash out there. Read Less

We were on the 21-day crossing of the Pacific from San Francisco to Sydney. We have been on 32 cruises on various lines and have sailed with Cunard many times before. We chose this crossing as a way to get us to our 2-month adventure in Australia. We were very happy with the transportation, but not too thrilled with the Queen Victoria nor the cruise ship features of this crossing. While we found the Victoria to have a lovely interior design, we couldn't help but compare her to the Queen Mary 2, which we prefer for her spaciousness and a couple of grand public rooms, like the Chart Room. The Victoria was very crowded with long waits for elevators and to disembark at ports. The activities and entertainment were aimed directly at most of the passengers who were very old retirees. There were almost no young people on board which is probably a good thing since they might have been quite bored. The most popular activities were ballroom dancing, dance lessons, and chair aerobics. Everyone was in bed by 11:00. Cunard, and especially the Queen Victoria, have defined their niche as nostalgia for the features of ocean-liner travel from decades ago. Thus lots of formal nights with a dress code strictly enforced, and very subdued entertainment. The food? Well it was cruise ship food with lots of dishes, like steak Diane, which pretty much don't exist on land anymore. We dined in the Princess Grill, which was OK, but I have a very hard time remembering any dinners in particular. Just dull. We tried the Lido buffet a few times but found the food like a school cafeteria. No complaints about the service. We were happy to reach Australia safely and without jet lag. But we were also happy to leave the ship and move on to our next adventure. We will return to Cunard and the Queen Mary in September for an Atlantic crossing, which will be fine since it's not a cruise, but I doubt if we will return to the Queen Victoria and the cruise ship style of Cunard. Finally I want to state that we did not get value for money. This cruise was very expensive, maybe because it was a segment of the popular World Cruise. We have traveled on a couple of luxury lines at much lower per person per day rates and received much more in various features. Still it was probably cheaper than flying first class to Australia. Read Less