Queen Elizabeth Reviews

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A time to relax,chill and be cosseted in best Cunard style after a long hard winter. The food in the Britannia,be it QM2,Victoria or Elizabeth, has always been better than any place I have eaten in in London both in terms of presentation and taste. It is a huge surprise to read some of the reviews of this little rest break cruise where there are complaints about the food, the staff, the entertainments etc, etc. One fellow cruiser was complaining about the food on a day when I had the shrimp in brioche,a beautiful rocket salad followed by a tournedos steak perfectly cooked and so tender as to be cuttable with a fish knife-which my companion did to enjoy a taster of the meal. On another occasion we both had the liver and bacon which was melt in the mouth perfect.Lobster,rib of beef,steak,wonderful fish-cod, haddock and good vegetarian options. I begin to wonder if some of my fellow cruisers live in a strange parallel universe. All the staff we met from arrival to departure we gracious, helpful and very hard working be they clearing dishes in the Lido or cooking me a perfect ham omelette for breakfast (my idea of luxury!)Afternoon tea in the Queens room, better than in most London hotels, wonderful- a chance to chat with fellow passengers or just sit and sip.Yet there were those who were not prepared to wait 20 or 30 minutes for a seat if they arrived after tea has started. What is their problem? they are on holiday!!! Jo Jo our room steward,like me ,goes back to the old QE2/Caronia days wonderfully and quietly efficient. The link with the later Beatles tribute band was fun and indeed we went to all their performances both Theatre and for dancing. The Nat King Cole lecture was good (as I am sure the Sinatra one was)but we were either in the library or listening to the string quartet. No trip is without incident however and to listen to a woman, clearly drunk, shouting at counter staff at the midnight snack bar because the pizza's were not ready (they were in the ovens with the timers showing some 9 minutes to go)spoke volumes about her particularly as the staff can't answer back. The perfect example of drinking and swearing going togeteher.No doubt it was the bar staffs fault for making her drink booze! On another occasion one fellow guest was having apoplexy over a piece of breakfast toast that had an air hole in it,actually shaking and complaining that 'its not good enough'. Its bread for gods sake that's how it comes. The other bone of contention seemed to be luggage arrival as in '....and by 6pm it still hadn't arrived' Do they not have spare shirts,socks etc in their carry on bags? Its only a 5 day cruise - how much luggage do they need. Our cabin was excellent-actually bigger than my little studio flat-and better laid out.Then I notice a comment like'..the bathroom is not impressive'- its a bathroom where I shave,shower and....Is there something I'm missing here am I missing black marble highlights and a place to put the champagne bottle? Well I'm sorry for anyone who didn't enjoy this little taster cruise Hamburg was full of surprises, the marathon was on, I took some wonderful photos of the statues and fittings at the rathaus and through serendipity a little bridge covered in padlocks with sweetheart motifs - do locals go back there and remember when or who their padlock was for. In le Havre a beautiful tea and coffee shop for little pressies of tea and honey pots and a delightful bric a brac shop where I bought Christofle flatware and a 19th century WMF crystal and plate scent bottle-charming. Our table staff were charming and Yulia our table steward was,kind,beautiful and funny. The ships faux Art Deco interior works really well and the Britannia Restaurant has a genuine wow factor with the staircase and murals-a great visual. Great ship, great trip.

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This was our first Cunard experience, we have cruised many times before on various lines, although our favourites are Celebrity and RCI. Boarding was a bit chaotic but this was entirely down to the disorganised staff in the Ocean terminal. They started to call people for check in starting with Priority red cards A. This person then wandered off as a couple of coach loads of people turned up, many of which had red cards going right through to G but they all just went up and started queuing as no one was there to tell them they had only called A. Anyway, all in all it took an hour and a half from arriving to boarding which is quite slow, however, when we got on board our cabins were ready. We were very lucky and had been upgraded to a balcony on deck 5 and is was lovely, really tastefully done with plenty of storage. The bathroom was small compared to the S-Class Celebrity ships (the shower was small and the curtain annoying) but it was clean and well fitted out. The ship is simply beautiful, we had seen photo's and it all looked a bit 'brown' and dark but it wasn't at all. It was stylish and extremely tastefully done. We never found anywhere to be busy or overcrowded on the wet / rough sea day or the sunny warm sea day. Everyone just seemed to spread out nicely. We had a nice table for 2 in the main dining room 2nd sitting. The first couple of nights the attention to detail was lacking, we were not offered horseradish with the beef and not always offered extra bread which would have been nice with the soup and our water was not topped up. Things did improve as the cruise went on, we did hear that there was quite a few new staff taken on in Southampton following the world cruise, perhaps they were just bedding in. Food in both the Main dining room and the Lido was very good, not a massive selection but what was there was done very well. The afternoon tea selection in the Lido was a bit limited, it was only available at one counter where there was nearly always a queue and there was not much, a limited selection of sandwiches (which were a bit dry on the edges) and scones -- which in contrast were lovely. I thought this could have been expanded onto a couple more serving stations and maybe small rolls and savoury wraps offered -- just my thoughts!! There seemed to be a good mix of entertainment around the ship in the evening. Quizzes in the Golden Lion, Ballroom dancing etc. We especially enjoyed the Abba night in the Yacht Club which was really good fun and very popular. Drinks were quite expensive and the ran out of draught Bass on the 2nd night and the only lager they have on draught is Export strength. We missed our Celebrity drinks package!! Hamburg was a lovely city to visit, really nice to wander around, the parks were beautiful with all the water features. We used the free shuttle bus as we had not been there before and not sure where things were, but there really was no need - the port is very close to the main city centre. Sailaway was a real experience with all the people lined up waving us off all the way down the river. We have visited Le Havre on many occasions and always enjoy a walk to the gardens in front of the Town Hall. Most things were closed but it was a nice sunny day to wander around. Overall we really enjoyed our cruise and we were impressed with Cunard, I was always a bit put off by the whole 'class' system but you really didn't notice it at all and I thought it might be a bit 'old and stuffy' but it wasn't. Everything they did was done well, all very refined and very 'nice. Leaving the ship (or "debarking" which it appears to be called these days and I'm not convinced is a real word!!) was all very efficient, we were due off at 9.30am but we were called about 9.15 after waiting a short while in the ballroom and just walked off and collected our bags. We would most definitely cruise with Cunard again -- hopefully very soon... It's an impressive, well organised, refined cruise product.

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Having travelled on and enjoyed the Queen Mary 2, decided to try the Queen Elizabeth, we were a little apprehensive after reading some of the reviews! however after some 22 nights on board, we left the ship totally satisfied! Our Balcony stateroom was very clean, bright, and indeed very pleasant, our Steward could not have been more helpful, in fact we found all the crew and officers with just a couple of exceptions, to be most friendly and helpful, always very courteous and offered a genuine smile... The exception being the staff in the Verandah restaurant, who we found to be very surely and patronising to say the least, the food was perfectly fine but the whole service was dreadful, but we did not allow this to spoil our overall cruise experience. We really liked the Britannia restaurant, and also enjoyed the Lido Restaurant which we used occasionally for breakfast or lunch, we enjoy a bottle of wine with our evening meals and found that the Cunard 'House Wine' was very acceptable and represented good value (e29.75) compared to the other vast choice on offer, sadly the 15% service charge did not really please us! The lectures were really first class, as was most of the evening entertainment, we found some of the tours on offer were a little too expensive and not value for money. To end this review, we say - Well Done Cunard, we are looking forward to our next cruise on one of The Queens! - However, we would like a 'guarantee' that we will be assured of a table for TWO, and not just hope that one will be available, after all, if you dine in a top hotel you are not expected to share a table, and it is our choice not to do so on a ship!

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After a 60 minute wait we boarded the ship at 1pm, dropped off our luggage at the cabin, and had a quick lunch at the Lido buffet. We enjoyed everything about our cruise, especially eating in the Britania Club restaurant, most of our meals were taken there, we were looked after most royaly by our waiters Emmanual and Dennis. Nothing was too much trouble for them, eg. extra sauces, extra vegetables. A bonus of eating in this restaurant was having the freedom to eat when we chose, without the cost of the grills. We ate fish and chips at the Golden Lion one lunchtime, always very popular,and sometimes hard to get a table. We had afternoon tea most days in the Lido buffet as there were long queues at the Queens room, and we had previously enjoyed this experience on the Queen Victoria. Ditno, out cabin steward soon knew our routine, and our cabin was always cleaned on our return from breakfast, he also regularaly checked if there was anything else we needed. We had a wonderful sailaway from Hamburg on the Sunday,the marathon had been held earlier in the day, and crowds lined the banks to wave us off. I have read previous reviews of this cruise, and I can only comment on our experiences. We had a wonderful cruise, we were treated with respect and friendliness by all,and we are counting the days for our next cruise on the Queen Mary for the Queens Jubilee.

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We have traveled transatlantic both ways on QM2,loved every minute of it and therefore decided to take this opportunity to try out the QE. Embarkation was a little slow but not too bad. The ship itself felt smaller and less "spectacular" than we had expected. Our initial lunch at the Lido buffet was quite enjoyable but in all honesty we found that the selection seemed a little limited. For five days it was fine but we certainly wouldn't want to be on this ship for more than a week. Some of the decor was lovely (the glass panels and lighting for example) but some things were just really tacky. There were strange plasticky models on the tops of the buffet stations which looked very odd indeed. Our cabin was absolutely fine and we slept very well indeed. The bathroom was pretty basic though and did not impress. Our cabin steward Fidel was excellent. The Britannia restaurant was the main disappointment. Service was rushed. We had just sat down when a menu was thrust into our hands. We had barely time to read it before they wanted to take our order. As one plate was removed, the next course arrived straight away - it was not a relaxing way to dine. The food on the first two nights was substandard (it was the last two nights of the world cruise). We were asked what we felt about the food and gave our honest opinion. The food improved on the third night but went downhill a little again on the fourth night. On the fifth night we dined in the Verandah Restaurant and had a lovely meal and a wonderful dining experience. The staff in general seemed subdued and on one occasion downright miserable. Our sommelier in Britannia and Pilar who served us pre-dinner drinks in the Midships bar were the exception to the rule with cheerful and efficient service. Entertainment - the ships singers were not up to the job, the dancers weren't too bad. We very much enjoyed two piano recitals, a Beatles tribute band and a lecture on Nat King Cole. The entertainment director seems out of her depth. She struggled to get any reaction from the audience. All in all we did not feel that this was a "higher end" cruise. We had expected more following our time on the QM2. Our last cruise was on the Celebrity Eclipse and it may be that the food and service on that boat has raised our expectations to unreasonable levels. Nonetheless we are of the opinion that Cunard believes itself to be a superior brand and, on this experience, we cannot agree.

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