Queen Victoria World Cruise 2015 almost live!

[Bell Boy]

Ha Ha ! maggiemou, hope you never bothered to wear them again ...Hope you've put them in a glass frame ...You never know, she could be Queen one day ..;)

:)

[Pennbank]

No has mentioned about the ship stopping mid atlantic the other morning due to a pod problem , spooky as in fog ! Obviously no danger as controlled stop

[Host Hattie]

[quote name='Pennbank']No has mentioned about the ship stopping mid atlantic the other morning due to a pod problem , spooky as in fog ! Obviously no danger as controlled stop[/quote]

Rob kept us updated on his thread [URL="http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2201244"]here[/URL]

[jo-b]

Well it is all over, I am hoping to post a few overview thoughts in a day or two, washing permitting:)

We are currently 45 minutes behind schedule for disembarking but it has now started at least!!

Thanks to all for the kind comments left on the blog

[Host Hattie]

Welcome home, thank you for letting us travel with you.

[Oahucruiser]

We thoroughly enjoyed all of your posts and would welcome your final thoughts about the ship and the voyage. Next year is our turn to do the QV's world cruise again.

[jo-b]

So here are my musings about our first world cruise all views my own and others will have had a completely different experience!!

So our Big Adventure is over and time to pause and look back over the past few months at sea
[B]
PREPARATIONS [/B]

First off there was all the planning ahead of time, and yes it was worth it!

Insurance both household and travel and to be investigated. Once over 90 days duration both policies brought in exclusions and extra charges. For the travel insurance the cancellation cost and duration both played parts in increasing the premiums, as of course did our advancing years!!!

Visas were easy for this cruise, only electronic ones for Australia and no charge for us Brits ..as long as you get the right website! And of course ESTAs for the USA.
[URL="http://images.travelpod.com/users/jobloor/20.1430611200.and-so-we-are-home.jpg"] [IMG]http://images.travelpod.com/users/jobloor/thumbnail.xlarge.20.1430611200.and-so-we-are-home.jpg?1432036176[/IMG] and so we are home!!
[/URL]


Medical matters....prescription meds had to be ordered ahead of time allowing extras, just in case! Then there were all the " what if we get" stuff! we catered for coughs, colds, digestive related :-), plasters, blister plasters, insect repellent,sunscreen, antiseptic creams, headache tablets, antacid, mouth ulcer cream and anything else we thought of! We were lucky but the Cunard Cough saw all our cough and cold remedies and inhalants used up by our companions!

Other items we found useful were some we always take and others suggested on Cruise Critic and added into a list on our roll call. These included magnets to hold calendars and maps on the wall, magnetic hooks, over door hangers for additions hanging space, plastic storage boxes for the bathroom under sink shelf. Also thin plastic hangers,and metal hangers that you hang one off another. To save space our cabin stewardess removed the big wooden ones for us.

Tour planning for each port was a long job, helped by CC and Tripadvisor etc, and also other passengers who had visited previously. It is really useful having information about availability of taxis, proximity to town etc


[B]THE SHIP[/B]

Was as we expected from having been on Queen Elizabeth, kept spotlessly clean, a never ending round of dusting, polishing vacuuming to the extent of cleaners with toothbrushes cleaning metal strips on floors and furniture.

Our cabin was fine, we were glad we had opted for a balcony with so many sea days it was used often. The storage was adequate, I personally would have appreciated more shelf space, but we used two cases under the bed as storage so managed quite well. If we do a long voyage again nearer the laundry would be better to save the long walk just to find all the machines in use!

The public rooms are a good size and nicely decorated, we never felt crowded. There were issues with air conditioning, in the Golden Lion all voyage it was either dripping condensation or the air con seemed to be off so it got stuffy. Elsewhere there were cold areas and more temperate zones.

But what a quiet ship, rarely could we hear noise in our cabin, we were right next to the rear elevator and occasionally heard good-nights, mainly on the last night of a leg, but otherwise very peaceful.



[B]THE PEOPLE[/B]

Staff


The staff individually were overwhelmingly pleasant and helpful, however, it seems that their freedom to act has been severely curtailed. For instance our waiter could only obtain "off menu" items that were held in the Britannia galley. If you asked for berries or prawns for example they were in the Grills restaurants only and we were once awarded 12 blueberries when our Head Waiter approached the Grill's Maitre'd personally!

Also the Purser's Office was unable to provide a different cabin for passengers who had serious noise problems because there were none vacant of the same grade and they couldn't ( wouldn't ?? ) provide one a grade up.

These examples and others all seem to be based on cost management from higher up, a downside of cruising now being such a reasonably costed holiday.

There were also one or two examples of poor coordination and planning, for example, disembarkation and tendering were shambolic on more than one occasion. It isn't as if this activity is a new one but lack of attention to detail tripped them up time and again. It is not enough to send someone along "when there is some news" if there are delays, people need to be kept informed of what is happening even if it is nothing!

However, the overall feeling on the ship was of friendly attentive service.

PASSENGERS

An evenish split most of the time between Americans and Brits for the biggest groups usually around 4/500, then Germans & French then a real mixed bag of around 30 nationalities. Because of the nature of the cruise the demographic was towards the older end of the spectrum. On the shorter legs there were a few children but never very many.
We met some lovely people and only a handful of the other sort!!

FOOD



We were in the Britannia and ate here mainly as we don't like buffets and although not bad as buffets go the Lido was not above average, lots to learn from ,say ,Oceania cruises!!

The quality in the restaurant was excellent, the menus were not repetitive, some items obviously came round more than once but not in the same combination. Meat quality, in particular the beef, was very good, but also the fish and shellfish. Although I must say the fresh Blue Marlin taken on for Valentines Day was outstanding! The presentation was generally excellent and considering the numbers of meals provided every day it was amazing.

We ate once in the Verandah and tried three. of the alternative Lido offerings, Bamboo, Prime and Assado. The Verandah was excellent, great bread imaginative food beautifully presented and served; the Lido alternatives were good for the price and made a change.

We had thought that we would use the alternatives more often, but we enjoyed our table so much that when we did go we went as a table.

Room service we only used for breakfast which was good, hot and prompt, but I have never seen so much room service on any other ship! Possibly because it was free??

We never made it to afternoon tea but and good reports and bad reports so we will have to try it for ourselves another time.


ENTERTAINMENT

We are not great show goers and the second show being at 10.30 ruled it out even more. We did suggest once or twice that they could do a pre dinner show instead which was tried but then other people complained that there was nothing to do after dinner!

The shows we did see at the earlier time were fine, a couple of good comedians, magicians and an aerialist duo. Other people said they were good " cruise ship shows " .

We were, however, extremely impressed with the live music on board. There were two resident bands in the theatre and in the Queen's Room, a party band, a string quartet, a harpist and two pianists. And also a DJ in the nightclub which was WAY too late for us! Every evening all over the ship there was live music it was wonderful.

Also there were classical artists each leg, they gave an afternoon concert in the Queen's Room, all were good but there were some stand outs. Huw Wiggins a young British saxophonist is a future star, Gordana Kostíc an opera singer from Serbia was excellent. And Carlos Bonell, the guitarist, is a known master of his instrument; which was beautiful by the way! And the concerts were mainly very well attended, even on sunny afternoons in the Tropics! We really enjoy the opportunity to see musicians perform at such close quarters it seems to enhance their skill and talent somehow.

MISC

Drink Prices
Are high, an average quality large glass of Merlot was $20, so Cunard did our livers a favour, but it did mean the bars were quiet until the last two shorter legs when people came aboard who were on holiday! A couple of legs there was a happy hour 25% off from 4-6pm, not really happy just mildly amused, but bar profits were increased which should tell Cunard something??


ITINERARY

We chose the cruise for the itinerary having been fortunate enough to have "done" Asia, Africa etc on other cruises. We liked the sea days and the lack of visa and medical requirements. It was odd however, the changes to ambience as at each leg end there was a change of about 50% of the passengers which according to more experienced worldies doesn't happen on "proper" world cruises.



SPECIAL MENTIONS

Rosario our waiter was exemplary, we were a noisy, cheeky lot and he put up with all the jokes and weird requests professionally, and bent over backwards to cater for our every whim. Enrico our wine steward who was chatty and friendly every day despite our abstemiousness, and Carlo our second waiter who was a hoot. Edna our room steward was charming, a giggler who had the most winning smile and blush.

Cordelia on the Ents team was a real superstar, her chairobics class was so popular people waited for half an hour ahead of time to be sure of a place, and she was a bundle of energy all over the ship. Also she was Cunard through and through, never bad mouthing company or colleagues, a real credit.

Dave and his group and Lorraine & Sid from Cruise Critic for all the amazing work they did ahead of time and on the cruise organising tours and meetings.

Our table companions for the long haul ,you know who you were, thanks for putting up with us for so long you were bootiful! And to our peripatetic twosomes who made up our table for 6 thanks for your company, we had a ball.

Would we do it again, yes despite the sorting out and work before and after. Maybe not the whole world but never say never!!!

[Sandra Smudger]

Thank you so much for this posting. We're thinking of a world cruise and prefer Cunard to other ships so the information you've given has been very helpful.

[socim]

We enjoyed reading your exploits on Queen Victoria especially as we were to join for the trip home at Fort Lauderdale. Than you so much. Here's to the next time. In our case that's Friday when we rejoin QV for the Liverpool Salute. ::) Edited May 19, 2015 by socim

[jo-b]

[quote name='socim']We enjoyed reading your exploits on Queen Victoria especially as we were to join for the trip home at Fort Lauderdale. Than you so much. Here's to the next time. In our case that's Friday when we rejoin QV for the Liverpool Salute. ::)[/quote]


We will be watching from the other side of the river! Or on the webcam if it's pouring down:)