Food in Britannia has improved, at least for 12 days in October

[LongTimeTvlr]

We just returned from a 12 day New England cruise on QM2. We have sailed with Cunard 9 times and this was our 4th time on QM2. I was very pleasantly surprised by the food in the main dining room. After reading reviews here on Cruise Critic before we left, our expectations were not high. But we had lobster tail twice, beef wellington once, sirloin steak twice and several other lamb and pork dishes in addition to the fish they normally do well. All were prepared and served very well and as we requested.

 

I don't know if there is a new gallery staff. We generally are pleased with the food on Cunard but in this case it was at a whole new and better level.

 

Given the often negative tone on this board I thought I would share this good news for whatever it is worth.

 

Also - We found the ship to be in very good shape. There were the spots of unevenness in the floor in many locations as has been often mentioned here, and it was mildly annoying. That being said it was not a serious issue for us and I did not see anyone that had difficulties with the floor while we were on board.

 

All in all it was a great cruise on a great ship.

[SEFlyer]

Thanks for your review. I agree with you 100%.

 

We spent 14 nights on QM2 last fall and another 25 nights in January this year and the food and service in the Britannia Room were consistently excellent.:)

[balf]

I may be wrong but I wonder if the food is matched with the cruise.

 

We found the food on QE quite poor earlier in the year. Beef Wellington that you mention, grey meat wrapped in soggy pastry, and steaks quite poor. But this was what I call a Cunard "fly cruise" where the ship is permanently based in the Med, generally very different clientele, and very different than your New England one.

 

The only time I got a decent steak was after having a quiet word with the waiter, who could see iwas not a happy bunny food wise.it was really very good and obviously individually cooked.

 

Mind you I then asked for the cheese board!!!

 

David.

[axelskater]

I didn't dine in the Britannia but the quality of the food which I did eat was excellent everywhere, except one place, and that was the Pub, where things seem to have gone a bit downhill. It may be because I was used to the steal and mushroom pie, and the Bangers and Mash done a certain way and they changed it, but overall the QM2 was delicious, from breakfast to afternoon tea, to late night dessert.

[maina]

We were on the westbound transatlantic immediately preceding the New England-Canada trip, and found the food in Britannia to be overall as good as it was 2 years ago. Early on we had one very poor quality cut of roast beef, and we stayed away from the beef dishes (steak, etc.) for a few meals. However, our table companions had beef at several later meals which they pronounced to be excelllent, so we tried again with the beef Wellington. That was a very well cooked and a high quality piece of meat. Soups were somewhat of a disappointment, as there seemed to be a few basic cream-type stocks with various flavors wafting through; e.g., the leek version hardly tasted of leeks at all. Our recollection is that soups were better 2 years ago. Fish, although frozen I'm sure, was uniformly well-prepared and well-seasoned. Vegetables and starches accompanying the protein part of the diners were also well-prepared, as were the vegetarian meals, according to one of our table companions who had these some of the time. We ate in Britannia every night, for half the lunches, and breakfast a couple of times. We used Kings Court more than we did on our earlier crossing, but that was more for speed and convenience than because we didn't care for Britannia food, and never felt the need to pay extra for any specialty dining.

[bob brown]

We were also on that cruise, and our first time on the QM2. We were generally pleased with our meals. Since my mother has to have a low-sodium diet, we ordered the next days meal at the conclusion of our dinner each night, and were very impressed in how well they accommodated us.

And unlike other ships's I have recently sailed on, they did not seem to have any problem in fulfilling our special requests, one of which was a shrimp cocktail appetizer to start each meal.

 

We enjoyed the beef wellington, the prime rib, and the filet mignon very much.

The only beef dish that was sub-par, was an alternate sirloin one evening that seemed very tough, even the waiter had trouble trying to cut it for my elderly mom, but it was quickly replaced with a much better cut. Most of the fish and lobster dishes were very satisfactory, as well.

 

We have very simple "meat and potatoes" taste, so instead of some of the fancy salad offerings, they provided us with a requested simple wedge of iceburg lettuce and tomatoes, with vinaigrette dressing.

 

The service provided to us couldn't have been better.:)

[BlueRiband]

I may be wrong but I wonder if the food is matched with the cruise...

 

It is. The menus vary according to the nationalities of the passenger mix. In this case British and American passengers predominated so the menus reflected those cultural preferences. (Such as kippers on the PG breakfast menu.)

 

I was surprised to see a full breakfast menu in PG on disembarkation morning. In the past it's been a limited menu without the more elaborate choices like Eggs Benedict.

[Underwatr]

In addition, I've heard (around here, no doubt) that the daily food budget is calculated based on the average fare paid in a given sailing.

[seacruise9]

Hi,

 

It is good to read the recent favorable comments concerning the food on the Queen Mary 2. I will be boarding the ship in Southampton on November 12 for a transatlantic crossing.

 

Chuck

[turquoise 6]

In addition, I've heard (around here, no doubt) that the daily food budget is calculated based on the average fare paid in a given sailing.

. Good impulse Input , :D

:)

[Taz_1]

My wife and I recently travelled on the QV to St Petersburgh. We are both of the opinion that the Britannia food was not quite as good as the food we experienced on a Norway trip (same ship) last year. On top of that, there seemed a huge difference in the dining room service offered. Apart from lemon on fish, gravy/sauce etc. everything came already plated up. Last year there was full silver service with vegetables etc. also being served at the table. At the time, we just felt that the level of service was quite what we previously had.

 

Not sure if it was because of this, but we did use Coriander, Bamboo and The Verandah this year. Previously we were so impressed with our dining experience we didn't want to eat elsewhere.

[Underwatr]

I've never seen full silver service on Cunard Britannia class. Maybe it varies by waiter team but it's not the standard.

[balf]

Surprised to hear re silver service in Britania, P&O hung on to it for a long time but even there it has gone.

 

Silver service always says "wedding breakfasts" to me.

 

David.