Thoughts from a Short trip on QM2 from Hamburg to Southampton

We have not cruised with Cunard in the last 3 years because we have discovered our love for Tahitian Treasure cruises (Honolulu to Sydney) on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity.

Everyone that we've met on the "alternative" lines, we where speaking how good QM2 is and we just realized how much we have missed being back on her.

Due to the lack of vacation time during summer, we just came back from a short trip on QM2 from Hamburg to Southampton (2 nights).

We are now Platinum Members, and embarkation at 14:00 was fast, after 15 minutes, we have been on the ship.

However, there where very long lines for "normal" passengers and we heard that some of them had to line up for 2 hours.

Hamburg Steinwerder Terminal is simply awful to reach and it's really beyond us, why Cunard are not using the terminal in the City Center anymore!

They do serve lunch in Golden Lion on port days!

We immediately went to Golden Lion and where pleasantly surprised that they do serve lunch, so our first food on her was Fish and Chips and Steak & Mushroom Pie.

Renovated cabin on deck 4!

Our stateroom was 4125 and it had been refinished, with slightly new colours, carpet and furniture. The desk in the living room remained the same,. same closet and same bathroom interior..

Have the knobs on the closets always been like that?? It's very hard to grab them and to push back the magnet-secured doors.

And we had a full 0,75 bottle of Pol Acker and DW says, that it's become slightly better - I think, that her memory is just playing tricks!

Britannia is wonderful!

After having seen other dining rooms on other ships, it's simply breathtaking how Britannia is set up. The atmosphere is not comparable to anything else and we can understand Grills passengers placing requests to be seated there.

Food was solid - nothing really fancy - but very well prepared and simply very good.

We couldn't have been happier!

Showtime!!

We attended both shows. First night it was a mix - Band playing with one of the Queens room singers, the dance hosts presented 2 dances and there was a funny juggler. So show was ok - nothing more

Second night was a 50's boyband "Walk like a Man" who really rocked the theater. We've never seen more people dancing in the audience - a very entertaining night.

What I particularly noticed was, how good the seats are in Royal Theater. On the 2 other ships, we had folding seats that where sat flat and you sit rather cramped.

Buffet

We went to the buffets several times and really are not able to understand people that complain. Food is plenty, many coices and always tastes very good.

Annoying was that some fellow passengers don't care about hygene at all!

We've seen several times, that people take glasses and return them to the trays. We even saw someone grabbing (and burning himself on the hot cover) for the big knife where the meat is cut. Amazing how aggressive people react, when being told what they do.

Lectures

It was a very pleasant surprise to see that Dr. Panye was on board and held the "Genesis of a Queen" in the Royal Court on the one seaday. We've seen if before, also on youtube - but never get tired of it and him.

To DW's annoyance, the german programme did not give a hint that this was a programme point, the german programme in general lacks a lot of things that may be interesting if you speak a little english.

Assuming that german guests are only interested in german points, is just wrong.

We can only advise to anyone to demand the english programme in order to get full information.

Commodore Club

After having been on other ship bars, it was soo good to return to Commodore Club.

The entire atmosphere, the floating lines everywhere is simply unique! Piano player was phantastic and the ordered drinks more than worth the money!

To our surprise, Dr. Panye sat dowwn with his mother next to us. I needed to ask him for a pic with me and they where inviting us to their table which we happily did.

We had some very nice chat about cruising in general, Hamburg and other stuff and I totally forgot to ask him all the "specific" questions that I still have about QM2.

I went to bed like a happy child on Christmas Eve!

Summary

Our far too short stay was a pleasant one, it was just like returning back home and nothing has changed in the positive sense.

Staff is still working their butts off to make the stay as enjoyable as possible.

Special mention goes to our old friend Attila, Maitre d' and in charge for deck 7 restaurants during our stay. I fail for words to describe how much this man gives to EVERY passenger, no matter what booking class, no matter if friendly or not - he's just amazing.

If we where to nitpick, we have 2 points:

Breakfast on first morning MDR: After 1 hour, we still did not get anything to eat, so we left and went to King's Court

Golden Lion: We don't like the new carpet which looks much older than the one that was there before the refit.

And the Hamburg Steinwerder Terminal is just annoying! Lines are not shorter than anywhere else and the location is so far off from the heart of the City.

We opted to use the bus shuttle from Hauptbahnhof which was US$ 7,-- each.

If you have any further questions, please ask.

Thank you very much for posting, it's good to hear that you had such a good (if too short) trip.

We haven't been on QM2 for 3 years, she never seems to be going anywhere we want to go these days. I think I am going to have to do another short cruise just to get back onboard.

We were also on this short trip and enjoyed it.

We arrived at 12.30 and queued for about 45 minutes in the priority line and felt so sorry for the people in the normal line who waited for a couple of hours.

The weather was gorgeous as we embarked and many people were on the outside decks. If we had left on time, we would have had a wonderful sailaway, but we left late when a thunderstorm (which was forecast for earlier in the day) happened. It is a shame we had to leave the aft decks at about 6.30 as we wanted to get ready for the evening. The rain was so heavy, despite this, people were still waving from the shore.

We had a balcony cabin on deck 11 which was switched from an accessible cabin on deck 8 a couple of days before in the same grade. All the paperwork was in German and we were given half bottle of Pol Acker. The steward quickly changed everything for us, including giving us a full bottle of Pol Acker.

We had the worst muster drill ever - crammed into the Kings Court in a tiny corridor between 2 cooking areas. It was so hot, I nearly passed out.

Having caught up with my favourite bartender in the Commodore Club, she advised me there were only 600 continuing on to New York, therefore 2,200 were doing just the two nights.

Dinner in Britannia on the first night was really nice and we could not fault the service. The sommelier was very stretched but managed admirably. We had done a recce of our table in the afternoon and was shown by the head waiter to it. However, someone was sat there already and had already started eating bread rolls. We said we didn't mind moving if there was another table for two, but they moved the couple into Britannia Club. I think they were the couple who had our room beforehand and must have been upgraded to Club, that's how our cabin became free.

After dinner we were in a very quiet casino and stayed until 2am when it closed around us.

The next morning, despite putting our breakfast card outside the room very late we still had breakfast delivered on time. We were not sure if it would arrive, but it did, so we were very pleased.

We had a mooch around the shops in the day, drinks in the champagne bar and saw Dr Payne's lecture which was excellent.

Following more drinks pre-dinner in Commodore Club sitting at the bar and chatting to Alex, we went to dinner where they served a huge lamb shank portion. We had a lovely chat with our table neighbours, 2 German couples who were flying straight back home after disembarkation and the other side a couple from Manchester whose flight got cancelled, so they didn't get the night in Hamburg they had planned before embarking (instead staying in a Manchester hotel) and flew in the next morning via Zurich at their own expense. We didn't see them the first night as they were so shattered after the flight issues and late arrival. The LHR Eurowings flight leaving on the morning of 1 June was cancelled too and people arrived into Hamburg via Frankfurt. I am so pleased we flew the day before from London where we only had a 1 hour delay and a lovely night in the Steigenbert hotel before boarding.

We had another good night in the casino - again staying until it closed. It is a pity we missed the show as I thought it was just the orchestra playing various Motown songs, not male singers, which I would have liked to have seen. Oh well, I am sure there will be another time.

We woke up to a fabulous sunny morning in Southampton with P&O Britannia following us in.

We went down at 6.30am for breakfast in the Britannia dining room, quickly shown to a table for 2 and had very fast service whilst there. We left our cabin at 8.15 and disembarked straight away, with my nieces chauffeur driving us home.

All in a all, a wonderful trip albeit short.

I understand about 1200-1400 Aussies were boarding for New York on the final leg of a trip on the 3 Queens. Here's hoping they have a great time on board.

Good to hear from you Lynnewob, I'm glad you enjoyed this short trip as well.

I'm beginning to think I should have booked this one !

I am still amazed that after all these years, how much love there still is for QM2 in Hamburg.

Though there was a thunderstorm on the way and it had started raining, the river sides where packed with people who where just there to see the ship. We saw lots of waving and heard lots of whoos and cheers, it was great fun!

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for sharing your experiences.

We´ll be travelling on this short cruise too in August and already very excited.

Just wanted to ask for your advice: I understand that departing in Hamburg is always a big spectable so we wouldn´t want to miss it.

I guess in this case, one shouldn´t go to the late seating at 20:30?

Also, is there also any ballroom dancing on this short cruise?

Thanks a lot!

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for sharing your experiences.

We´ll be travelling on this short cruise too in August and already very excited.

 

Just wanted to ask for your advice: I understand that departing in Hamburg is always a big spectable so we wouldn´t want to miss it.

I guess in this case, one shouldn´t go to the late seating at 20:30?

 

Also, is there also any ballroom dancing on this short cruise?

 

Thanks a lot!

You wil travel up the Elbe, which will provide for an interesting scenery until late night.

If the Ship leaves at 2000 try to get a table in the early seating. If the ship leaves earlier (1700), go for the second seating.

I was so pleased to see this thread. We are embarking in Hamburg and continuing to NY. I had no idea so many would take the two-day trip to Southampton. Glad to be forewarned of the long embarkation since we do not have any status having only one prior crossing on the QE2 22 years ago.

I think we will opt for the shuttle from the Hauptbanhof. How does one find information on this service?

Since our trip is in mid-October I expect we will have darkness or near was we sail away. I can't seem to find departure time as yet.