We chose this review to celebrate a milestone birthday with family. Food was very average to say the least. Had better food in on our Royal Caribbean cruises and better service too. Everything seemed to be an extra cost plus 15%. Wine was very expensive. Got a suprise of $US 34.50 for each person on our bill. $US30 to play bingo? Had 8.30 seating for dinner which meant the plays were at 10.30 what a joke. Perhaps they should do what other cruises do so if you have 6.30 dinner you do 8.30 show and vise versa. First & second night entertainment was dismal. Last nights comediam was excellent. Highlight was Burnie where we organized our own amazing tour. So unbelievably disappointed would never go again! Oh I divot to say that afternoon tea was so packed people started trying to get a seat at 2 for 3.30 afternoon tea! Something is so wrong with the coordination of this cruise. Read Less

Visiting norway and iceland Again Queen Elizabeth has technical problems : can‘ t therefore landing in Isjafordur. Excursions are cancelled; yesterday night the ship could‘t drive all the time with her max. speed, so we had a delay in Akureyi. I remember my cruising by QE 2 years ago: in St. Petersburg we could‘t depart; by the way: it has been the same captain Why cunard is not able to remove the known technical problems? I hope they will solve theses problems to the next cruise we have booked with Queen Elizabeth in may 2019: from yokohama towards alaska and to vancouver. I ithink cunard requires too much of this ship. Captain says that we shall have understanding for her decision. This will be difficult because things repeat. Summery: crew- specially in restaurants, bars, on deck and the butler in the staterooms is very courteous and friendly. The german hostess sometimes was arrogant and complacent. The (english) travel tours hostess rattled off the explanation of the trips. Dining in Queens Grill had been excellent; cabin was luxurious and calm. We will return and hope that technical problems will be solved. Read Less

This was our 4th cruise with Cunard our preferred cruise line, our party consisted of myself, my husband, my daughter aged 23 and my son aged 25. We go on holiday together as a family every year as we lead busy lives and it gives us time to relax and catch up. We booked the cruise approximately 6 weeks before departure and we were happy we were allocated rooms next to each other as we were advised this may not be the case. We had not travelled on the Queen Elizabeth before but soon realised it was almost identical to her sister ship the Queen Victoria and the itinerary was very much the same. I am not the sort of person to sit around all day and I love to take part in all the sporting activities which happen throughout the day. It is a good way of meeting other people and forming friendships whilst on board. When on a sea day it is a good way of breaking up the day, but I feel more time could be taken to plan the activities better so there is no overlap and you are able to take part in all activities on offer. The entertainment staff on board were excellent, they made activities fun and worked very hard at making sure everyone involved had a good time. Since going on the QM2 five years ago we have noticed standards in the restaurants have fallen year on year. It is certainly not fine dining any more with poor quality food and a limited choice. Our waiter this year was rude, when a fellow diner on our table was not ready to order the waiter retorted 'and', this resulted in some bad feeling between the guest and the waiter for the rest of their trip. The same waiter also resorted to dressing down another waitress in front of other diners in the restaurant. This year we found that the strict dress code was not enforced and one diner turned up in a pair of jeans and an anorak to a formal night in the Britannia Restaurant. On another occasion when ordering drinks at the bar, the barman asked my daughter for ID. I explained that she was 23, but she showed him her ID card whereby the barman insinuated it was mine. I was taken a back that not only did the barman not believe me when I told him my daughters age but then went on to insinuate that I would give her my own ID card. We were due to arrive in the port of Athens the next day so we went to the information desk to get details of how best to travel to Athens on our own. We were assured that there would be a shuttle bus to the end of the port and then there would be a 15 minute walk to catch the Metro. However there was no shuttle bus and we still had not reached the Metro 50 minutes later, we had to get a taxi had we known this we had got a taxi at the port. The evening entertainment this year was disappointing with not enough variety, each night there would be an all singing and dancing extravaganza but it was very repetitive and some evenings we would give it a miss. We spent most of our evenings in the Golden Lion Pub where there was a nightly quiz which proved very popular with a lot of guests. On our day of disembarkation we were told to vacate our rooms by 8.15 and be in the Britannia Restaurant by 8.30. There seemed to be a mix up with the colour of our disembarkation tags and we didn't seem to be on any list to leave the ship, but we were put onto a coach anyway and taken to the airport 7 hours before our flight. There was not seats to sit on in the airport and we were pushed from pillar to post by airport staff. This was a very disappointing end to our holiday as we felt Cunard just couldn't wait to get us off the ship even though there had been a huge communication break down regarding when we should have disembarked. Overall the holiday had its good and bad points, but the poor food and lack of respect by some members of staff has left us wondering if we should travel with Cunard again. Read Less

Having cruised many times before with Princess, P&O and more latterly Celebrity we decided to try out the 'elite' end of the Carnival fleet, with a view to booking a longer journey if we liked it. We thought that the service would be excellent but were not too sure that the cultural difference that we expected from Cunard would be entirely to our liking. However, the service was appalling. Bar waiting staff were uninterested and complacent - we sat in the Yatch Lounge for 2 hours one afternoon before we finally beckoned a waitress to serve us. No bath robes or slippers in our stateroom as promised - they appeared on the morning of disembarkation ready for the next passengers - who were taking a world cruise! Food was bland and unexciting compared to other cruise lines. Cabin was similar to those on other Carnival ships we have cruised on (Princess and P&O). We were expecting something a little more exciting of Cunard but Carnival have obviously stamped their corporate stamp on the whole of their fleet. That being said, the cabin was clean, comfortable and perfectly acceptable. Shame the promised robes and slippers did not appear. We were left feeling that Cunard do not really care about their short term cruise passengers, just wanted to get the money from us whilst time was filled in until the world cruise commenced. They will not get any more custom from our party of four. Read Less

Just as we got off the ship, we realised that I had left my diamond engagement ring on the ship. We were on the cruise to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. We knew exactly were it was in the cabin and tried to ring the terminal. They said that no one had a piece of paper to write down my name or number and to ring the lost property line. This was an automated message asking us to leave a message and to wait for up to 3 weeks for a reply. It was not as though I had left a bottle of shampoo so I rang back to the terminal and I was put through to a lady who replied that no one could go and look if it was in the cabin as they were "up to their necks in it" and new guests were probably already in the cabin but they would not check the paperwork to see if my cabin was now occupied or not. I insisted it was important to look before they were put in obviously. After two hours of calling different numbers and speaking to various people, they finally agreed to go and look in the cabin but I had made at least 10 calls by then. They just kept saying that they were too busy except for one male at the terminal who said that someone simply had to radio across to the room attendant. Finally I persuaded a staff member to go and look. They refused to check the hoover in case it had been knocked onto the floor because there were 'hundreds of hoovers on board.' So after the cabin had been left open for over 2 hours and me begging, pleading and crying to the staff, it was concluded it was in fact me who was mistaken and I had lost my ring myself. It was shocking how open they were about how little they cared about my engagement ring. The staff were not quizzed and no investigation took place. I've now had to pay 200 pound excess to cover the insurance but looks like I'll never see my ring again because of the negligence and inconsiderate response. They simply don't care once they have your money. Incidentally there were extra charges on my card that I have to claim back from the credit card company because they tried to overcharge us also!! Not impressed. There were many lovely things about the cruise but the kids club was not one of them. There were two ladies in charge - one called Rihanna and they were so rude to my 7 year old and openly said he was not mature enough to be left with them and should be in the room with the babies and embarrassed him. Ironically, all the same children played by the pool each day and got on brilliantly, but when they got to the kids club, apparently our little boy was not mature enough dispite being the same age as 2 of the other children. They made him cry repeatedly and we had to come and collect him any time we left him. After he got so upset because of the staff, we did not take him anymore and subsequently we had no alone time whatsoever. It was a family holiday; however, we did envisage some alone time and the odd meal on our own. The waiters and kitchen staff were lovely and the meals were good. The journey was very bumpy and the first half of the cruise was spent by many of the people onboard being sick. There was a rush to the shop to buy sickness tablets. Overall, I would not sail again with Cunard because I know they only care about your money. Once you're off the ship, good luck to you in getting any type of service at all! Read Less

Voyage Number Q201 Queen Elizabeth Dec 20Th 2011 to Jan 5Th 2012,A Christmas and New Years Cruise, Main complaint about this cruise was the LOW very LOW standard of so called entertainment.My age is 79 80 in AUG 2012.wife Margaret 75. iT TOOK 10 DAYS YES 10 DAYS BEFORE WE GOT A LAUGH,THEY THRN MANAGED TO GET MICK MILLER WHO USED TO BE ON TV WITH THE COMEDIANS,THE THEATRE WAS IN UPROAR THEY LOVED HIM.. One night we had two 25 minutes of The Odd Couple.the Planet Spirit,we wondered what we were looking at,quite a lot of guests walked out. Another night,Introduction of entertainment staff,after 10 minutes we were left there nothing else happened, We had a horrid Welsh singer,we had violin scratching,OK for one night BUT not for two. Ships pantomime,stage props consisted of one settee,one armchair. Ships dancers came on one night,good dancing BUT stage props consisted of something for the dancer to cock their legs on and ond held a sword really pathetic. Communion service,Priest had to ask for a pianist,also someone to help with the chalice. Ship had NO HAIR SPRAY FOR SALE IN THE SHOP OR IN THE spar,WIFE BOUGHT SOME IN Madeira PRICE EURO 18, NO SHOWER CAPS ON THE SHIP. Britannia restaurant poor menu,foreign gentleman keep looking at me saying poor.Lido restaurant self service good BUT would be difficult on a round the world cruise.. I have written to Mr Peter Shanks president of CUNARD UK Hope I get a reply, The entertainment director on board was a AMANDA REID I dare not repeat what was said about her.I did wite out a complaint and about two days later she spoke to me on the phone,but no face to face contact ALL she could talk about was how wonderful thing were going to get,they didn't. Singer on stage informing us she was a grandmother,so was 80% of the guests. Entertainment staff would all the time praise each other up. IT WAS THE WORST ENTERTAINMENT WE HAVE EVER HAD.P&O wonderful shows,beautiful costumes. This cruise was not value for money.I really think Cunard knew they had a boat load of pensioners and give them everything CHEAP.it was a great disappointment to us. Almost got run over with a heavy man in a motorised wheelchair coming out f the Internet centre at full speed,remember people have been killed by these thins at speeds of 8 MPH.Almost crushed in the lift by an elderly lady who had little or no control of her wheel chair.. Shows at night,information about the use of cameras and video was mentioned 4 times,almost every show there was flashing cameras. I could go on BUT TO CONCLUD WE BOTH WERE VERY DISAPOINTED WITH QUEEN ELIZEBTH Read Less

The Queen Elizabeth is basically identical to the Queen Victoria, same size, same layout same venues. The ship lacked vitality and excitement. It was boring and Cunard made no effort to make our holiday experience anything better than staying in a good quality hotel for a few days. The attitude was simply "you should be honoured to sail with us" The truth was very different. The entertainment programme was very poor save for the one excellent Act and the in-cabin entertainment was poor and depressingly repetative.The ship had no buzz about it. Everybody looked fed up! The great standards of past Cunard Cuisine were not apparent. Cunard has lost its way. It does not seem to know what product to serve up. Striving to maintain old world class mixed with a modern cruise holiday experience does not work. We all agreed that we would not return. Sad really, because I have always looked up to Cunard as the leader of cruise excellence. Not anymore. The ship is beautiful but there are few venues to enjoy. Inside bars are few, no signiture restaurants and the queens room is totally under used. One solo musician actually held a concert when no one at all was present. Now that is what I call out of touch. Sad really. Gordon Stead, EXPERIENCED CRUISER Read Less