Loyal to Celebrity but thinking about Cunard

[radsailor]

We are loyal to Celebrity, but are thinking about trying Cunard. We are in our mid 40's and usually book the CS. Any thoughts on the 2? Pros/cons? From what I am reading it looks like you get a lot bigger cabins for the price on Celebrity and that Cunard has a very quiet crowd:)

[wallie5446]

Come back and tell us how it was. We have friends that did it, said it was ok, but were ready to sail Celebrity again.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

My understanding is that you have to dress for dinner every night. I'm not dragging that much formal wear anywhere!

 

[radsailor]

Ha. I have heard that too Happy Cruiser. I don't mind dressing up, but not formal every night.

[Scrapnana]

Cunard...

 

It is NOT formal every night. On average there are 2-3 formal nights per week depending on the cruise. TAs tend to have more formal nights.

 

Evening dress code for the MDR requires men to wear a jacket (tie not required) on informal nights. Blue or worn denim and shorts are not allowed for dinner in the MDR or public areas (other than the buffet and adjoining bar/lounge) after 6p.m.

Edited August 22, 2014 by Scrapnana

[radsailor]

Thanks Scrapnana. What is the evening entertainment music like? Live band that plays variety or mostly classical/ballroom?

[Artemis]

If you are used to CS, then you will want to look at Princes or Queens Grill on QM2 for an "apples to apples" comparison regarding cabins and dining. We have only booked Britannia class, and inside to balc cabin sizes are more or less the same as those on X, and Britannia dining is not as good as X (in my opinion, of course! Queens class reviews seem consistently very positive). Regardless of class, there is only one true specialty restaurant, Todd English, and it's fine, but doesn't wow (again, IMO!)--when on QM2, I do miss all the X specialty options.

 

With that said, for us, and I think for many loyals (the percentage of repeaters is high), the Cunard experience is not as much about the cabins and dining as it is about trying to recreate the tradition of ocean liner travel and the ambiance created by passengers (mix of nationalities, most well-traveled, most lifelong learners), programming (several lectures daily, lots of classical and jazz music, ballroom dancing, conversation over cocktails, etc.) and dress (daytime casual, but nights enthusiastically dressy--formal means formal, and the only other option, informal, means coat no tie for men + cocktail for women). Yes, there's bingo and gold-by-the-inch, but no sexy leg contests or pub crawls. All in all, we like the spirit--enough to have done two crossings, and I'm sure we'll repeat. Yet there are many things about the execution that are dated, so much so that as both traveler and shareholder, I wonder about the sustainability of the product. You know the lively discussions here about X getting more edgy; Cunard needs to tread into more contemporary waters, and fast, as it's not doing enough to attract and retain pax of your age and younger to replace the current demographic!

 

If you're somewhat attracted and have an open mind and a bit of a old soul, you should give it a try. You never know! We've always combined a crossing with Euro land trips, as it is a fabulous de-stressor before or after, and it sure beats jet lag!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[radsailor]

Thanks Artemis! Appreciate your comments. I am not for hairy leg contests or belly flop contests and that is why we love Celebrity. However......I do like a good social crowd:) Dressing up isn't a big deal to me. We have done some European land tours and love them as well. I am a bit spoiled by the CS and I am comfortable with Celebrity and I guess that is why I hesitate on changing. We have met some great friends on Celebrity. Thanks ago an for your comments.

[pris993]

We are elite on Princess, elite on X, 2 star on HAL, cruised two years ago on Cunard, the Queen Victoria. Found a unique crossing from Florida to Ireland, Scotland and England with stops the Azores, Lisbon and La Harve, 14 days.

 

Book a mini suite type cabin. Found the cabin very similar to other lines.

 

In general, we were very impressed with the service in the cabin, MDR and entertainment on board. We especially liked the ballroom with live band nightly all evening every night and the theater events were top notice. Recognizing London is a theatre town no surprise.

 

We enjoyed it so much, we booked the QV again, 6 months later in the Mediterranean. The repeat was just as good.

 

The pluses for us, Cunard is a more traditional cruise... we enjoy the more formal atmosphere... we had 4 formal nights, the rest of the cruise was informal... which we understood meant men were required to wear a jacket and tie. Cunards idea of casual was a jacket and no tie. We had 2 casual nights, the first and last night of the cruise. As I say we enjoyed it.. we typically pack even on Princess, Celebrity and HAL in a similar way.

 

We have been cruising for years... over 50 cruises, we are not loyal to any line.

 

We especially liked that in the MDR we were able to order off menu which we do as well on Princess and HAL easily. We don't find X deals with special requests in the MDR very well. We even tried BLU once, just did not seem to fit are needs. We typically stick with the buffet on X ships as a result. There we can pick and choose items that fit with our dietary preferences.

[Pushka]

Celebrity and Cunard are chalk and cheese and I like them both.

 

There is no need to book Princess or Queens to get the similar dining experience. The Britannia restaurant is very nice and I found it very much comparable to Celebrity Equinox. The food - there are some lovely Cunard dishes comparable to Celebrity and both restaurants served up some less appetising meals. You do not have to don the tiara tux to eat there but formal wear is required on formal nights. And they mean, true formal.

 

There is no charge for many of the Cunard exercise classes. There are charges for Celebrity classes. The gym is better on Celebrity ships.

 

The buffet on QM2 is not as good as Celebrity buffet.

 

The entertainment. Hmm, neither is particularly good.

 

The crew - Celebrity crew are excellent. Many of the Cunard crew are excellent.

 

I will book again on Cunard and will certainly book again on Celebrity. Some people dislike Cunard - it isn't a typical "fun filled cruise experience".

[cruisead]

We found the breakfast and lunch buffets on QM2 to be nearly inedible. We also found the cleanliness in parts of the ship to be quite poor, especially in the buffet area. Tables were not wiped after someone used it, causing dirty and sticky tables. Same for the floor as there always seemed to be dried, sticky juice and general foodstuffs on the floor. The layout of the QM2 is also strange---you have to go up a deck or two to access areas on the same deck. For instance, if you want to go from a forward venue to an aft venue on the same deck as the MDR, they won't let you cut through the MDR, so you need to go up or down a couple of decks

[gek]

Cunard...

 

It is NOT formal every night. On average there are 2-3 formal nights per week depending on the cruise. TAs tend to have more formal nights.

 

Evening dress code for the MDR requires men to wear a jacket (tie not required) on informal nights. Blue or worn denim and shorts are not allowed for dinner in the MDR or public areas (other than the buffet and adjoining bar/lounge) after 6p.m.

 

Good to see they have lifted their blanket ban on jeans and ties aren't required. Nevertheless it all sounds far to restrictive to me so I'll continue to give Cunard a miss.

[Scrapnana]

Thanks Scrapnana. What is the evening entertainment music like? Live band that plays variety or mostly classical/ballroom?

 

Most nights had music and dancing in two venues. The larger band and singer played more traditional music for ballroom and Latin dancing. In the other venue the " party band" alternated with the DJ with more current music and dance styles.

[upwarduk]

We are loyal to Celebrity, but are thinking about trying Cunard. We are in our mid 40's and usually book the CS. Any thoughts on the 2? Pros/cons? From what I am reading it looks like you get a lot bigger cabins for the price on Celebrity and that Cunard has a very quiet crowd:)

 

Have you asked the same question on the Cunard board?

I know cruisers who have sailed both, but as I haven't I'm not going to comment!

[Keith1010]

Just took our first Cunard Cruise this past May.

 

We sailed the QM2.

 

It was a very nice experience.

 

I always think it's nice to try different cruise lines if the right itinerary comes up so you can figure out which one(s) work best for you.

 

In the end you have to decide yourself.

 

Keith

[Pushka]

I cannot agree the breakfasts and lunches on QM2 were inedible.

[beentothere]

We are loyal to Celebrity, but are thinking about trying Cunard. We are in our mid 40's and usually book the CS. Any thoughts on the 2? Pros/cons? From what I am reading it looks like you get a lot bigger cabins for the price on Celebrity and that Cunard has a very quiet crowd:)

 

Sailed the qm2. one of the worst cruises we have ever had. for example

on return, all luggage was put in one huge pile. took hours to find. when asked, they said that it was a new ship, I asked about the thousands of cunard and carnival sailings.....just one example of arrogance that pervaded the whole cruise.

[Pushka]

Honestly, the luggage on disembarkation has nothing to do with the shipping line and everything to do with the harbour master.

[phoebecat]

We were very loyal to Cunard for five years, taking 10+ cruises and gaining Platinum status. We even renewed our wedding vows onboard QV in 2011, and it was quite simply the best and happiest day of our lives.

 

But we tried Celebrity in 2012, and whilst the itinerary and the ship, Constellation, didn't overly wow us, we very much liked the ambience and the choices we just didn't get on a Cunard. For example, far more bars, restaurant choice, select dining, speciality restaurant etc. We enjoyed the younger vibe onboard and the fact the ship wasn't dead at 11 pm, as was often the case on Cunard!

 

Of course not everything about Celebrity appealed to us, and we know that in all lines, economies are made and service suffers. But we liked it enough to rebook to go on Eclipse in two weeks time. We've also done P and O and whilst it is far too 'British' for us, if the price was right, we would grab a bargain and sale with them again.

 

As for Cunard ...I think give it a try. But do the iconic transatlantic crossing, back to back if you can. It's the essence of what the ocean liner is all about, and whilst QM2 is showing her age a little, and needs a good refit, the whole dressing for dinner, cocktails, champagne bar and ballroom dancing seems to work the best on this sailing. And there is nothing, in the world, that can top, sailing into manhattan in the early morning light. It is one of my abiding memories and I'm so grateful I got to experience it. Pure magic.

[lara68]

We are also loyal Celebrity cruisers and love the line. We did, however, do 2 cruises on the QM2 which we really enjoyed. One trip was a TA and the other, the New England cruise. It is really a completely different experience from Celebrity. Cunard was a much more old world type of cruise and steeped in British tradition. It is definitely a more formal cruise and even when it wasn't a "formal" night, people were dressed up. There were community "sings" in the main lobby, and High tea with dancing in a ballroom was so much fun to see. They had Male escorts to dance with the ladies and had very serious dance instructions to prepare for some of the classic types of dance. There is also a planetarium on board with different shows. Lectures are also prominent. On the TA there were "themed" balls. There is a historical record of the Cunard line displayed in one of the hallways.

 

Since it is an "ocean liner" and not a cruise ship, the balconies, for the most part, were sheltered ones. We didn't care for that, as we love the regular open balconies on Celebrity. The food was fine and the regular dining room lovely.

 

We always return to celebrity but for an entirely different experience Cunard was wonderful.

[BosoxI]

If I had to limit myself to only one ship, it would be the QM2, just a magnificent experience. We were lucky to be upgraded to a cabin which gave us access to a more private dining room, and the food and service were excellent. Our friends on the same ship ate in the regular dining room and were less impressed, as it was a bit noisy with a lesser quality food. But since that trip, they have taken at least 4 more cruises on Cunard, so their experience overall seems to have been a good one. I don't know if I would have enjoyed the trip nas much without the upgrade, but I do know the QM2 is absolutely the best ship I have been on in morethan 40 cruises. Just beautiful and a real ocean going vessel, not a cruise ship. BTW the entertainment was also outstanding, not just a bunch of 20 somethings running around screaming bad music.

Edited August 22, 2014 by BosoxI

[Ontario Cruiser]

We are also Elite on Celebrity & Princess and 3 Star Mariner on Holland America and going to sail the Queen Victoria in February from San Francisco to Sydney. I am looking forward to this cruise as I know it will be very different. I did cross the North Atlantic on Canadian Pacific ships in the late 50's with my father which were also traditional ocean liners. We are doing the crossing on the Infinity (B2B)in October as well as the Caribbean on the Summit (B2B) in January. Celebrity is our favourite line

Ontario Cruiser

[bphman]

These 2 lines are vastly different. We are Elite and have sailed all ship classes on Celebrity up to suite level and like them very much. I find them the best of the mass market lines. We have sailed QM2 twice in PG and it is a totally different experience. Since you are experienced Celebrity cruisers, I will just discuss Cunard. She is a different type of vessel. She is built for transatlantic travel so she rides very comfortably. If you want to have a butler, you will need to book Q6 or higher.As far as dress code, the least dressy is jacket with no tie for men at dinner. Our food in PG was wonderful and special requests were not a problem. We requested Filipino food one night, Indian another and were very pleased. Service is truly special. Never ate in Brittania so I can't comment. I will say that their equivalent to Lido was a big disappointment. Food was not good and only did it once to try it. Never felt crowds on the QM2 despite being sold out since the ship is huge but there are 60% fewer passengers on board. Daytime activities are lacking but that doesn't bother me. There are good lecturers, the Planetarium is interesting, and the evening shows are adequate at best. It sounds like I am complaining but I am not. I totally enjoyed the QM2 and would sail her again. I just need to find a convenient itinerary at a good price.

Edited August 22, 2014 by bphman

[Germancruiser]

I sailed both X and Cunard- more X than Cunard though. I like the Cunard experience. I love their QM 2 - feels like a real ocean liner! For me the most elegant ship afloat- but that is just MY personal opinion. YES it is MUCH more quite on board Cunard Ships- NO constand background music. High tea and the whole Queens Room expierience is not to be missed!

Food and service are NOT better then on board X- ships! NOT AT ALL! Equal I should think! Only thing that keeps me from sailing Cunard constantly is their pricing- ridiculous. One get´s definatley more seas days for the price payed with X then with Cunard!