QE Princess Grill Nov 2015 & new menus

We have just returned from a 10 night cruise on Queen Elizabeth. We sailed in a P2 suite (4096). Great position on the ship with larger balcony so would recommend the cabin and that next to it (4094). There is a crew access point to deck 4 opposite 4098 so would avoid that one. Link below shows a video of 4096 and then also the Grills Terrace.

https://youtu.be/mxxc4_iaTGA

There has been recent comment re the new PG menus that were recently launched on QE. These are not yet on QM2 or QV. Firstly can I say that we had a fantastic PG experience the service and food hit the mark for us - we travelled as a party of 6 with a fantastic window table. It reminded us of the things that we came to expect on our first few cruises some 16 yrs ago on the small P&O ships Oriana / Aurora. Naturally all that time ago we were paying some £2,000+ per person for a balcony prior to the industry wide discounting and service / quality cuts that are a natural consequence.

I managed to scan many of the menus for evening dinner. These can be viewed via the link below. There is also a copy of one of the two A la Carte menus. These rotate each week. Food is always subjective so they will work for some people and not for others. For us and our party they did. Breakfast and lunch menus are as they have been for many years so no real changes there - still excellant.

https://app.box.com/s/ey73o2zzyft8wpj58znz2cqja5uf25vl

The biggest difference in the new menu is the significant deteriation in the A la Carte offering. That said on each evening (except formal nights where there are stronger menus) there is a Cunard Signature Classic offered. These are in essence the favourites from the old A la Carte and include Dover Sole, Beef Wellington, Lemon Sole, Gressingham Duck, Rack of Lamb etc. There is no A la Carte desert menu and the cheese trolley remains. For me two real omissions were no Lobster Bisque or Escargots on the PG menu. Perhaps they are on a 14 day cycle? It was strange that Escargots were on the Britannia menu. That said the Maitre D' managed to organise both for us - so off-menu is possible but defiantly not encouraged in PG.

Whilst off-menu ordering is not encouraged the mixing of courses - mains as smaller portion starters, multiple starters, lunch menu items to be served in the evening (with advance notice) and additional choices of vegetables were all easily arranged. The latter was needed as virtually every night asparagus featured. Personal views of our party was also that beef featured too much on the menu (very good quality) at the expense of chicken and pork.

Several dishes are prepared tableside. Others are just finished off by the Head Waiter or Maitre D' essentially to get the correct dish finish - well done, medium well etc. At other times the flambe trolleys are used to warm plates and sauces.

Breakfast and lunch are as we remember form QE2 and QM2 over the last 10 yrs as is afternoon tea. We took this several times in the Grills Lounge and also on deck. We had not experienced this before on deck so that was a treat and surprise - with the waiters bringing the afternoon tea trolley around both Grills Terrace decks. Also worth of note is that coffee and tea are available at no cost in the Grills Lounge - nice coffee it is too! Complimentary orange juice and iced water is available on deck 12 also.

For UK travellers there are no tea / coffee making facilities in the PG suite - however room service is free and punctual. Plugs in the suite were one UK 3 pin and 2 USA 2 pin is I remember correctly.

Hope that helps with the current changes I will try to respond to any questions. We certainly found a significant differance to Britannia (better) where we completed a QM2 transatlantic in July this year.

Thank you for your comprehensive dining report. It's good to know that Cunard has maintained the "signature classics" that are seldom found even in land based restaurants.

Many thanks for your report, we are pondering a return to cruising after an absence of 3 years. Lots of useful information and links helping us to make up our minds, its looking like a Princess Grills suite on QE would be a good choice for us.

First, My mouth is watering and I feel my waistline expanding after reviewing the menus.

Second, the menus continue to be heavily influenced by classic continental cuisine with an almost exclusive emphasis on French technique. It's lovely to see these skills practiced. While the technique is sound, it shows a lack of innovation. We no longer eat exclusively regionally.

While I love the classics and will be availing myself of them, the trend is toward lighter, brighter technique. I found the menus to be heavy, too much butter and cream. I realize there are limitations given we are aboard a ship and can't pop out to the local market for the latest fresh items. But, there are ways to accommodate these limitations. The ships have freezers and food doesn't have to be covered in gravies, sauces and cream to hide the lack of refrigeration.

Personally, I would have liked to seen more of an emphasis of various world cuisines. That's part of our journey. I saw no African, South American, Central American, or Indian influence. And, there were limited American, Asian, or Mediterranean elements.

The chefs on board are amazing. I know they are multi-cultural. But, they can only prepare what is provided. Cunard needs to hire a few more development chefs that are not exclusively classically trained.

My two cents. For what it's worth.

P.S. I'm a classically trained chef, too.

Thank you for your review.

Keith

First, My mouth is watering and I feel my waistline expanding after reviewing the menus.

 

Second, the menus continue to be heavily influenced by classic continental cuisine with an almost exclusive emphasis on French technique. It's lovely to see these skills practiced. While the technique is sound, it shows a lack of innovation. We no longer eat exclusively regionally.

 

While I love the classics and will be availing myself of them, the trend is toward lighter, brighter technique. I found the menus to be heavy, too much butter and cream. I realize there are limitations given we are aboard a ship and can't pop out to the local market for the latest fresh items. But, there are ways to accommodate these limitations. The ships have freezers and food doesn't have to be covered in gravies, sauces and cream to hide the lack of refrigeration.

 

Personally, I would have liked to seen more of an emphasis of various world cuisines. That's part of our journey. I saw no African, South American, Central American, or Indian influence. And, there were limited American, Asian, or Mediterranean elements.

 

The chefs on board are amazing. I know they are multi-cultural. But, they can only prepare what is provided. Cunard needs to hire a few more development chefs that are not exclusively classically trained.

 

My two cents. For what it's worth.

 

P.S. I'm a classically trained chef, too.

Wow, I couldn't agree more. But I fear that this is just a dream for most cruise lines. One nice exception is the pop-up restaurants that Cunard does in Kings Court on most nights. The food is good...note that one has to ask for spice on the Asian and Indian nights. And the atmosphere is still the dreadful KC, as much as they try to dress it up, still a high school cafeteria. But the cuisine quality pushes the international level up a bit. We enjoy this option a lot...but have to ask for spice.

Thank you for reporting back and taking the time to scan the menus, it all looks pretty good to me.

Thanks for the menus, it looks like there is less choice of mains than there use to be.

I will find out for sure on the 12th December and report back with my thoughts and hopefully copy menus for Britannia.