Our QM2 Norwegian Cruise

[sandramerle]

We have just returned from June 15th Norwegian Cruise which was 11 days and then we stayed aboard the ship and did the Trans Atalantic back to New York.

Our boarding in Southampton went really smoothly. Cunard have this down to a professional fine art. White gloved stewards were impressively standing in the magnificent foyer and eager to escourt us to our cabins. We sailed on this beautiful liner last year on one of the Mediteranean Cruises and were able to make a comparison of the huge differences in the ship between this cruise and a year ago.I would like to congratulate Cunard ( or shall I say Princess) on improving in every aspect. Although Princess have been instrumental in the huge changes, I would say they have made this into a Cunard product, which it certainly was not last year.

The Britannia was outstandingly managed by three very capable maitre d's under Benjamino who is the head maitre'd, they all came from Princess and the transformation in the Britannia , thanks to these capable men was extremely noticeable. Infact I am led to believe that they are getting higher reviews than the grills. I personally choose not to be in the grills as I love the grandness of the Britannia. My husband and I always request a table for 2 . We had a wonderful table downstairs next to a window, which is exactly what we wanted. The service and food was exceptional. We ate at Tod English three times in 17 days, and this is an outstanding food experience. The chocolate fallen cake is incredible. For those of you who do not know, he is a celebrity chef in New York and at 30 dollars a person on the the ship, this is excellent value, compared to the extremely high prices in his restaurant in New York.

We were invited to a small private cocktail party with Commadore Warrick on the Norway Cruise. His wife is lovely and has a great personality, I guess she makes up for him, he is really does not say much. I had a photo taken with him.

In Southampton Captain Warner took over from the Commadore. We were invited to the Captains table with six other couples for dinner. This was his first sailing on this ship. He really is very personable, and has a great personality, very different to the Commadore. We enjoyed his company immensely. Also had photos taken with him, usually on other cruise lines if you have dinner with the captain, these are sent to your cabin the next day- complimentary. This was not the case, we had to buy them, which was just fine. He really goes out of his way to talk to all the passengers. I believe that Captain Wright will be alternating with the Commadore and Captain Warner on this ship, and that he is currently on the Princess line.

The fjords were magnificent, we chose not to get off the ship and do the Grainger overland, and we were pleased we decided to stay on the ship as they gave a magnificently narrated informative talk, over the microphone as we went through the fjords. we were lucky it did not rain that day, we lay on the deck, on the lovely teak deck chairs, covered in blankets provided on the deck, drinking hot chocolate and listenning to the guided tour through the breath takinginly magnificent scenery.

They are strict in the grills and Britannia in enforcing the dress codes which maintains the formalness of this ship.

All in all I could not fault this cruise in 17 days and compliment Princess on do.ing a magnificent job of transforming this beautiful ship. I would like to re itterate, they have not made it a Princess product, only brought there expertise on board.

The Canyon Spa, so extremely effeciently run by Daryl Leyman who is the manager is a wonderful way to end a day before dinner. Darryl has also done a good job of keeping this spa at a high standard. We bought the pass for 17 days to use all the facilities. My husband and I exercised religously everyday and although we really ate alot of food, kept our weight close to normal. I would recommmend at least one day using the fine luxurious ammenities of this spa. We had the Thai massages, personally, I did not love the massage, I felt like it never really began.Jane who does the Swedish massage is wonderful, she is from South Africa, as is most the staff in the spa.

Arriving in New York was magnificent, the sky line was spectacular, everyone was up an on the deck at 4 am in the morning.

We had our wonderful driver Johnny, I mentioned in a previous article pick us up and take us to JFK. Anyone who did not read my previous article and would like a highly recommended reliable driver in New York his phone number is 9175607571- just tell him Sandra recommended him.

[guernseyguy]

Sandramerle,

 

Thankyou for taking the time to post your thoughtful, balanced observations - as someone who has seen both 'before' and 'after' you are well placed to discuss the influence of Princess.

 

Peter

[guernseyguy]

Posted in error

[Paul NH]

Sandra, thanks for the review. They are my favorite part of this board. Paul

[seacruise9]

Thanks for your detailed review. I am glad to hear that the QM2 has improved since last year. In May 2004, we did an eight-day Caribbean cruise on the QM2. Although I was impressed with the design and appearance of the ship, I was disappointed in the food and service in the dining room. After reading about how the ship has been greatly improved, I was inspired to book another cruise on the QM2 for next year. Also, I liked Cunard's incentive of offering a $25 to $100 per person daily shipboard credit (depending on stateroom category) to people who sailed aboard the QM2 during its inaugural year. This is a nice incentive to try the ship again.

 

I hope that the information that I sent to you about the Norwegian ports from our QE2 cruise was helpful.

[islandsailing]

Sounds like you had an incredible adventure. We will be sailing on the Mediterranean cruise and was wondering if you have any recommendations on the offered excursions since you travelled the route last year. We'd like to do the Total Riviera Experience and A Day at The Vatican but 9 hour excursions seem very long. Any recommendations would be sincerely appreciated.

[Zipper25]

Islandsailing, we have just received confirmation that the coach is running from London to Southampton so we are relieved about that. We will be taking the Total Riviera Experience but probably going into Rome on the train as we know our way around Rome pretty well. I would be very happy to hear any news re the Med cruise.

 

Thanks, All. (Three weeks minus 4 hours till the plane takes off for Singapore en route to Old Blighty and the QM2!. Not that I'm counting you understand ...)

[whylion]

We did the day at the Vatican last summer and I wouldn't recommend it. We thought that maybe since it was all booked ahead of time we could somehow avoid the queue, but that wasn't the case at all -- the bus just unloaded us at the end of the line. We had to wait at least 1.5 hours and it was hot in the sun. Once we got inside it was extremely crowded and hot (no airconditioning in most of the museum). We saw only the Sistine chapel after a long wait in a line inside the museum. It was so crowded it was hard to really appreciate it. THen the guide takes you through the cathedral and the square -- a lot of the older people in the group were very uncomfortable due to the heat and standing in line. Lunch was good, though. Then back to the ship. A long day to see very little. We wished that we'd taken the shuttle and wandered around the city instead.