This week I was lucky enough to be invited down to Southampton to spend a couple of nights onboard Cunards Queen Mary 2. So, here's the verdict!
I was extremely excited about travelling on such a legendary liner, and although I have visited for a brief tour of the QM2 before, the idea of actually sailing feels like a different experience entirely! I must admit I had very high expectations of Cunard as they are a very prestigious 5* line but I found there were certain areas where I came away feeling a little disappointed, which I will detail in this review.
We headed down to Southampton early afternoon and expected to be boarding pretty swiftly, however, due to adverse weather conditions that had occurred the night before, P&Os Artemis had docked in the terminal we were supposed to be travelling from, and consequently, the QM2 was docked in the old Queen Elizabeth terminal which meant we were to be shuttled across by bus. Unfortunately, we were left with a long wait and a lack of communication meant some disgruntled passengers.
However, as soon as I stepped onboard, all the waiting around was forgotten, I headed to my cabin, a sheltered balcony mid ships on deck 6, and took a look around. The cabin was spacious, as was the bathroom, and the storage was adequate too. One observation I later made about the bathroom was that the shower was disappointing, it was such a pathetic little shower head that I had to hold it in place as it kept swinging off to one side or the other!
I dared to head out to the balcony - it was still pretty windy! - and was relived I had the extra protection from the wind from the sheltered balcony. Often my customers aren't keen on the idea of these types of balconies, but I think they are so practical, and unless I was sailing around the Caribbean or perhaps the Norwegian Fjords, I would opt for these every time.
I dropped off my bags and headed to find some food in the Kings Court buffet. There are four different areas within the Kings Court, the Lotus for Asian cuisine, The Carvery, for British style roasts, La Piazza for Italian themed food and Chefs Galley where you can watch as chefs prepare your food. I opted for the Lotus and had a delicious sweet and sour dish with cashew nut rice.
After a wander around the ship to get our bearings, we headed back to our cabins to start getting ready for the evening. We dined in the Britannia Restaurant on both evenings, I found the service was good, but there was a real lack of personal touch that I have found on other cruise lines which surprised me. The food itself was good, but again not quite as good as I was expecting from Cunard.
After dinner we headed to the night club G32 - yes Cunard do have one! They had a fantastic live band playing and we found there was plenty of space to both dance or just to sit and enjoy the music. It was around this time we started feeling quite a bit of motion from the sea - this was actually the first time I had experienced this and when combined with alcohol - it was not a nice feeling! Luckily I had a nice big comfortable bed to sleep in that night so I did manage to drift off to sleep, despite the rolling feeling.
Hello Cherbourg, Goodbye Cherbourg!
I will be honest here, we got off, walked to a local supermarket, found the prices were just the same as they are at home, and headed back onboard! On this occasion I felt the QM2 had more to offer than the shops of Cherbourg and we really wanted to make the most of our time onboard.
So, on such a wet and windy day, what better place to end up than a nice warm pub? The Golden Lion is the perfect place to relax, play darts or take part in a pub quiz whilst enjoying some good traditional pub food in an authentic setting. The novelty of getting "free" food hadn't worn off so we sampled the lunch menu that was really very good.
There are a lot of really nice, cosy public areas on the QM2, it is one of the things I liked the most about her, I even thought what an ideal choice she would be for those travelling alone, I could just picture finding a nice quiet spot for a coffee or to catch up on a good book and losing track of time!
Another really nice touch is the afternoon tea served in the Queens Room, along with a harpist to really set the mood.
Once we had set sail that evening we got ready for the formal evening and then headed to the Casino for a pre dinner flutter. I had a great time, although I did come away at a loss.
I could go on and on, there was a lot more to see and do including the theatre, planetarium, spa, kids facilities and shops, but it would turn this into a very long review! Although certain aspects were a little disappointing to me, overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time onboard, I loved the public areas onboard and the feeling you get as you walk around the ship of, as they say in the brochures, timeless elegance. This is what REAL cruising feels like.
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