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Panama Canal & Central America

Europe - British Isles & Western

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Average

Queen Elizabeth

Queen Victoria

Elba

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.

Pacific Crossing Old School Way

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.

Not as expected

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