MrsPeel55

reading your blog made me even more tempted to want to book a short one before the year ends..... wont be able to hold until the one we have booked (end of 24).... too many months until then.... now, how do I convince my daughter that Rotterdam and Bruges can be great in December?

oh yes to the reflexology! If I am remembering well you had issues with your disc? the whole massage we had was SO great! as for the looks... we ll talk about its when my mind is less blurred, but will sure do!!!!! Queen Victoria again, 12 nights, Lisbon, Madeira & Canaries for Christmas 🙂 but open to find some offers in between! OH so so glad you liked it, I was feeling maybe it was a bit too long...but that's the way I talk (sometimes too much LOL) thanks once again!!!!!!

Thank you so much all for your kinds words! I do understand that people who have been with Cunard for many years can feel some differences in the budget being tighter, but friends of ours who have done and then again after COVID say it is only normal as ALL lines are tightening the budget,. For us it has been an incredible trip, as I said, better then we expected.... And as for Cruise Critic Community here....my daughter thought I was obsessive and shouldn't hang around the forum so much then.... but during the whole trip she kept counting the blessing that I actually did! We ended up not taking any jeans, also, of course, over packing LOL Only went to the buffet as we wanted to try every nook and corner of the ship..., didn't go for anything other than a couple of breakfasts and my daughter brought me coffee & tea (and ice cream for herself!!!!) when we were smoking on deck 10. After the Vigo port, which was so extremely hilly and my poor child pushed that wheelchair up and down, I suggested more room service or even the buffet so she didn't have to make an effort.... Her answer was : "Are you MAD????? with all the beautiful outfits we brought, I wanna wear them!!!!" LOL Covid is slowly getting better, I have the advantage of some tablets called zopiclone, which I usually make a 28 tablets last 6 months, but had a couple last night meaning I had a good sleep, temperature is slowly going down 🙂 I do not blame Cunard AT ALL, I knew there was a possibility, and I am SOOOOOOO lucky it only hit me the last evening!!!! ❤️ be back in a second try answer the questions 🙂

same here....

wonderful! enjoy and keep ups informed, we are thinking on taking one that does Amsterdam and Bruges.... Have a great time!!!!

Honestly? reading people complaining about the service feels like they were in another planet. We knew we were going to love cruising with Cunard, but Queen Victoria's experience for 7 days, plus the pre cruise couple of nights in Rome arranged by Cunard were absolutely amazing. The only thing we would have loved to know before hand was that the cruise started a week prior in Southampton, we would have much preferred doing the port to port, but easily fixed that by booking our next one Southampton to Southampton. The flight Cunard arranged for us to Rome was a wonderful price and fabulous British Airways service, even got a birthday card from all the flight attendants! The day in Rome was great, my Italian was good enough to communicate , and, thanks to all the fabulous recommendations from the Cruise Critic community, we booked Rome Cabs private car service. The airport wheelchair assistance lady was so kind, came with us all the way to where the car was parked! the Rome Cabs lady driver found us before we even started to look, as soon as we cross the arrivals gates, the car was fabulous, we got a free upgrade to a bigger vehicle, perfect height so I could sit without effort, her English was great, she even gave us a mini tour telling us historical facts, perfect service. Another gentleman from Rome Cabs came to pick us up at the hotel, again, cannot express how grateful I am for Cruise Critic Community recommendation, we would have been in trouble if we did what we thought, which was taking the train to Civitavecchia. Wonderful driver, again, great car (again a free upgrade) great English, friendly, very kind. The embarkation process was seamless, wheelchair assistance from Cunard great, we were in the ship in no time and from then on, a heart full of happiness. Cabin was even better than what we saw in videos or photos, beautiful balcony (we only saw extremely minimum rust in parts which you would expect to see, to us, the ship is inn great shape) vey clean and all over spacious. The amount of storage , the wardrobes, the desk and bed side tables with multiple drawers, so elegant design, our luggage came extremely fast, our cabin Stewart, Arthur, was a smiley wonderful guy who kept our space immaculate al day. Pillows and mattress....!!!!!! we want them at home!!!!! the bedding also soft, great quality and elegance. The pillow chocolates not very nice, but who is paying attention to little chocs when the rest of food quality is the best? The bathroom was great, I had heard bad things about the shower curtain...ours was extremely clean, even though the actual shower cubicle is tiny, water pressure and temperature I was able to adjust to perfection, didn't even need my daughter's help. We didn't get an accessible cabin but the size and comfort were perfect for my transit, small collapsible wheelchair, had this idea that accessible would be a lot more expensive, well, it turns out it isn't! We are booked in an accessible for next trip, the price is the same we would have payed for the non accessible in that level.(deck 6 balcony again) The only thing that does not make sense is that the TV in the accessible is tiny, but we only turned it on a few times this trip to listen to the captain and laughed at Downtown Abbey in Spanish! thank you so so much to Julietta who guided us through the choosing our next sailing (and here to the Cruise Critic Community people who alerted us too the advantages to booking on board!!!) We were so tired, decided to have room service which was so amazing! A few days after, my daughter came back from a few drinks at The Commodore Club and got a bowl of pasta at 03:00am! Another advantage to which we were alerted by the Cruise Critic threads! Had a tour booked for the morning after, so we ordered room service breakfast, wonderful. Ended up cancelling the tour as I was drained of energy, we just relaxed in our cabin until lunch time, when we made our way to the Main dinning room. We chose open dinning, but lucky for us, we were seated in the same area each & every time, meaning we kept every time our Maitre D' Luca, Sommelier Sojen, waiters Abi & Romeo, the whole staff who gave us attention and treated us like queens. I thought maybe (as I had read something along those lines) staff would be more attentious to people in the Grills (higher class booking) but with our balcony booking we were treated wonderfully, every one we crossed had a smile, had great lunch and dinner companions! We only had breakfast at the MDR twice, once in the beginning and the last day, again. all staff were great, especially Renato who went above and beyond, but as I said, each and everyone was smiling and kind, great manners and always willing to help. The one thing we learned was that for next time we will get the soft drinks package, we had a few bottles of wine (would never though German wine was so tasty!) at very good price, worth paying individually. There was one thing that had me confused, it was about the gratuities/service charge. I had this idea that we would be charged the gratuities as a whole in the final bill, but every time we got a coffee, soft drinks or cocktails , we signed the ticket and it said : gratuity- with a space to write down your amount (or not, I imagine) I was confused, but given the first class attention we were having, I gave a bit over 10% each time, with pleasure! To my surprise, the service charge in the final bill was considerably lower than I thought it would be! we were so happy, delighted and impressed by the whole experience, we even gave cash tips the last day to the staff who had worked so hard to make it the best. The quality and variety of the MDR was excellent, we never had to wait to get seated, also, they realised I didn't want to sit in my wheelchair so every time they took it away and let me walk to the table and sit in the proper chair. Every day delightful options, lunch and dinner were a total experience not just for taste buds, made us feel in an Agatha Christie's book. I had mentioned to my daughter another thing I learned from you all at Cruise Critic about the off menu options but until one of the last days there was no need. Then one day, before we even looked at the menu, our Maitre D' Luca, who had obviously clocked by observing what our taste was, mentioned we may not enjoy very much the day offers, told us what off menu options were, which we took and were perfect. The meat was always perfectly cooked for both of us, my daughter does medium rare, myself medium to well done, the fish options each and everyone of them were fabulous, I was specially happy with the starters, some combinations I had never heard of, the portions delicate to leave space for the main dish, which were huge portions. Deserts were marvellous too, my daughter decided to be cheeky and ask for additional ice cream...she had it from then on every day without having to ask! The Lido buffet surprised us, we thought it wouldn't be great after reading some reviews and some threads here, but we found it great for breakfast. Only managed to do afternoon tea on the day before last, absolutely amazing experience!!!!!!!!!!!! Love seeing the couples that went for ballroom dancing (we didn't see any professionals?) sat on the balcony overlooking the Queens Room delighted by these awesome couples! There was so much to see, so many incredible rooms with amazing decorations, fresh flowers everywhere, the music all around the ship awesome, We only got to the theatre (absolutely gorgeous!!!!!!!) once to see a couple of acrobats, it was a nice show, didn't get to see much more of anything else as this was my 65th birthday and after lunch and dinner with wonderful wines, I was ready for bed, but my daughter enjoyed the folk duo and each and every bar after she left me in bed in our cabin. I was a bit worried my daughter, who is 27, would get a bit bored as not many people her age (if any at all?) .....absolutely not! she had a wonderful time, we made amazing friendships, the whole experience (once again) beyond perfect. Next trip would love to make it to the quizzes! @Lanky Lad I'm sure joining forces we maybe able to win one! Wonderful meeting you in the ship! Last day we saw the Passengers Choir who was excellent paired with a director with the best sense of humour! Dress code was upheld in the most marvellous manner, we kept being wowed by ladies and gentlemen with impressive fashion sense! Another FABULOUS experience was the Mareel Spa : @NE John (I think I got the right person?) remember your recommendation and took advantage of one of the daily offers: we had massages that were the best we had in years, including scalp and reflexology, shame we couldn't go back as we mis-calculated the time we needed in the last couple of days, but we know now, will get back in the next sailing. There is a bit of a pushy sales tactic to go for products, but they understand if you say no. I have to admit I was tempted as Elemis is a great brand, but a bit on the expensive side for us right now, but ended up doing some shopping at the Cunard shop.... got the notebook/diary (thanks @3rdGenCunarder as I think it was you who asked about it) a few bits and pieces, we thought the QV magnet was steep at US$16.50 but was so well done, we bought it anyway, and a mega fabulous Ted Baker crocodile lime green bag, also well over what we would normally pay, but hey, we only live once! Bought a beach embroidered tunic at a great price. One of the very, very few things we could fault : One was regarding the air conditioning that was full on, but had such nice weather all through, we know now for next time to get a bit more clothing to deal with it. The other I know is a controversial one: the smoking areas. It took as a VERY long walk all over the ship until we found the areas, starboard deck 3 and deck 10, this one even has a few tables and chairs with ashtrays... and we were LOTS of us getting together there, so in the end we categorise it as a good thing, we met delightful people ..,.,and some not so. On the whole, there were only two or three sets of people who looked at us funny, gave us intense looks without saying a word and tried to make us feel...whatever...we are used to it, so we kept the intense look back and ended up having a laugh with the rest of the people who were marvellous. My daughter kept being amazed by how accessible the ship is in general, we met other people with mobility issues and made great friendships, funnily enough, 80% of the time it wasn't us who started conversations (you here know I talk a lot!) not just people with impairments but the whole ship is always willing to get to know other passengers. Something I would suggest is to take covid precautions all through your trip. I was doing it the first 4 days, being attentive and washing my hands thoroughly before touching my face/eyes/nose/mouth, then relaxed as I saw everyone was so well, but last night in the ship and on the way home yesterday was feeling temperature rising, tested positive but managed to lower temperature with Paracetamol Fast Action +, 4 am this morning was 38.5, keeping it on the 37s today until half hour ago, went a bit up, I guess need to be patient, gonna take it easy this weekend. One BIG THANK YOU to all people on the Cunard Line forum, our sailing and time in Rome has been perfect thanks to all info and recommendations so many people here (and in the Rome Port of Call (thanks @Host Hattie for calling my attention to those areas of the board) and Southampton transfers area of Cruise Critic too! I found cruise critic without looking for anything specific, what a blessing! @Victoria2 we feel your love for the Queen Vic, so much the idea was to book transatlantic QM2, but fell in love with QV...had to book it again! In not so many words? Cunard promises a luxury experience and, most certainly, delivers! Can't wait for our next sailing back on Queen Victoria 2024! Will show you later some photos from the professional photographers and some form my daughter's phone, next sailing we will be brining our DSLRs Forgot to say: Internet was ok in general, when a couple of days was failing, my daughter called the pursers desk and they logged her back on, so if you have trouble, checked the system has not logged you out 🙂 Apologies for typos/grammar/repetitive wording, my brain is a bit blurry with fever but wanted to do this whilst fresh in memory and also to distract from the general body feeling right now 🙂

Will come back with a proper review. Everything was beyond perfect, only fault we could find was the air con was full on and we were not prepared, but had fabulous weather, fell in love with Queen Victoria, (w definitely know how you feel @Victoria2 !!!!! ) already booked for next year a bit of a longer sailing, thank you to all of you who alerted us to the advantages of booking on board and all details that made our cruising perfect. @PORT ROYAL & @Pushpit we made full use of your recommendations, thanks so very much! @Lanky Lad wonderful to meet you guys, hope we will cross path ion another sailing! Right now: I was very, very careful the first 4 days, using my own antibacterial and taking all the precautions, the past couple of days I relaxed as everyone seemed well and we were having a great time.... arrived home, started feeling unwell, tested positive for Covid. Not feeling terrible but after almost 10 years of not even a cold, is a bit frustrating. I got down temperature (which didn't even get to 38) with some Paracetamol Fast Action +, also I have my own painkillers so taking it easy now, with a heart full of happiness that at least it only hit me when we were near home. Thanks once again to all of you who patiently recommended and gave us the info we needed to have a fabulous trip 🙂

thanks everyone for your recommendations! I looked all up, but special thank you @irisbax3 , called Jewels which was the price we could afford, spoke to a marvellous guy, booked the pick up and today he communicated with us as soon as we were outside the cruise terminal, we get wheelchair assistance (which was great too) and had lots of luggage, the driver was amazing, great car, wonderful drive. So thank you so so much for the recommendation. Cruise Critic in general has been beyond valuable in making our trip experience a brilliant one, thanks everyone.

So lovely to meet you!!!!!! Same here don’t want to go home!!! Will come back when I’m in a device easier to type but the whole trip exeeded expectations, we already book next trip. Thanks to all of you who have critical info and recommendations, made the trip so much easier and enjoyable ❤️

Couldn’t get to any of the quiz but have been around a lot, if you spot us my daughter is the tall ginger girl pushing the red hair in the wheelchair , give us a shout , we are having an amazing time 😛

@ Queen Victoria in Vigo

@Crown Vic thanks!!!

@irisbax3 thanks 🙂 will look them up too.

@njkruzer thanks! will google it see if I can find them 🙂

Thanks 🙂 Actually, we live in London, I'm looking for info for when we get back, we are boarding in Italy, when we get back, we are thinking maybe paying a private car from port (Southampton) to our place in London will end up cheaper than anything else.... Train would be great, but too much luggage, next option are the `national Express buses, which have a stop relatively near us, but depending on how far away from the Port the National Express buses are, we will have to pay a cab to the bus, then arriving here we'll need to get a taxi home, which wouldn't be a problem if we didn't have the huge amount of luggage, I am in a wheelchair which my daughter pushes as is only a transit one (4 small wheels instead of the two big ones) would like to know about prices of transfers, is Medway a car company?

hi everyone, a couple of questions : Do any of you know how far the National Express stop is from Southampton Port (buses to London)? & if you have used private car service which will pick you up at the port... do you have any company you recommend? Thanks in advance for any info 🙂

hey. @Desert Cruisers thanks for the explanation 🙂 ... I understand, and yes, agree, Cunard's overall promise is of a higher class of treatment/experience. About the beers (and the whole list of drinks in the bars we looked up online on My Cunard) also agree. So much that we had thought about going alcohol free for the duration, the drinks package would get lost on us because I can't drink that much with all medication I take, but precisely because the prices are good we decided to visit the bars as many as we can in the week we'll be on board. I know we live in central London (and in one of the supposed to be upper class area, so drinks tend to be more expensive) but not only the prices aren't too high for us...we have family & friends in Nottingham, Sheffield, Shrewsbury and Leeds, they agree that Cunard's prices are not too expensive, if we consider that they (once again) promise a luxury experience... Anyway, so looking forward to step into the Cunard world this week...!!!

oh I have. no issue either, was just curious and that was first thing that came to mind.

We found one, booked, will come back to comment in a couple of weeks after we have actually been there and experienced, wow are sailing this week. I'm not sure if I got its wrong posting this separately, I have some neurological issues which make reading at times very difficult if more than short paragraphs, so instead of having to read through the whole Food and Wine thread, I thought I post separately, apologies if I should have posted in the other thread. My daughter did help me now and we made note of most recommendations, so thanks again to all of you who shared 🙂

@richstowe one more show of gratitude for your great post/review. We will be boarding Queen Victoria this week, can't wait!

curious about this too... you mean when waiters come to the table and announce the dish expecting the person who ordered to confirm it is to go to their place on the table?

@Essiesmom glad to hear, stay safe 🙂 @Lanky Lad yay!!!! enjoy! see you next week 🙂

agree 100%, that's why I said I'm glad to hear laundry prices are accessible, but we wont be dressed in silk all day 🙂 my daughter said it worked in a couple of trousers and one of her skirts for day use, lets hope we wont need any 🙂

@Host Hattie thanks! most definitely useful for using it for our crossing !

@Victoria2 thanks again 🙂 I didn't read it through (have some neurological impairments, side effects of 20 years of medication, most of times need help to read properly if the paragraph has more than a few lines, plus my sight) We bought some Dr Bekmann little tubs that have some "on the spot" wipes, apparently if you use them as soon as the stain drops in your clothes, it is extremely effective.... guess I will only know in the next couple of weeks 🙂 Great to know the prices are accessible, we thought about buying a wrinkle decreaser, we have a Lenor one at home but isn't effective in good quality items, I may go for the ones most of our friends recommended, they sell on Amazon, but seeing the prices of pressing, it makes more sense to send them to press in the ship. My daughter insists we only need to hang them in the bathroom when having hot showers..but....by the number of reviews I have read about the bathrooms, even though I know these may not be the norm, I'm not inclined to do that with our best evening wear 🙂 We are really excited now, leaving next week 🙂