Cunard vs. Celebrity - a mini review

[yhz123]

After a number of years of being spoiled on Celebrity Cruises, we thought we would give Cunard a try after a long absence. In April we did an 11 day Southern Caribbean itinerary with Celebrity, and we have just disembarked from the Queen Mary 2 on a two week westbound itinerary that included Liverpool, Reykjavík, Corner Brook and Halifax. This was our fourth cruise on the QM2, although its been a number of years since we last sailed with her.

 

I know that comparing the two is much like comparing apples and oranges, but there are things that one does better than the other.

Embarkation: From Southampton, Cunard, and specifically the QM2 was the absolute worst in over two dozen cruises in the past fifteen years. Celebrity – 40 minutes from taxi drop off to walking on board. QM2 – July 14th… two and a half hours from taxi to boarding. Cunard staff do not know how to handle volumes of people. There was no place for people to sit, you just got in a line and stood and waited. Occasionally, Cunard staff would move the line away from the wall, then away from the fence and then back to the wall. Given the demographic of the typical Cunard passenger, a lot of elderly people had to stand for hours.

 

One woman keeled over into some rocks and gravel. I tried to get a staff members attention, however he repeatedly ignored my calls in order to assist a premium loyalty passenger. The woman was mostly assisted by those others standing in line. And speaking of premium passengers…I understand that loyalty should be rewarded, however…just bringing them to the front of the queue and having them butt in front of everyone else who have been in line for over two hours is not the answer. A separate check in desk for gold, platinum, etc. is required, otherwise you’re making already unhappy people, unhappier.

 

The check in process was undoubtably the most unorganized, inefficient and chaotic one ever experienced in almost two decades of cruising.

I was prepared to check this off as simply Cunard having a bad day. Until embarkation at Reykjavik. Returning to the ship, we encountered a 45 minute wait to board. They had two gangways open, but one was for the exclusive use of mobility impaired passengers, forcing the hundreds of guests to use a single gangway. The captain, in an announcement, did acknowledge the extremely long wait, attributing it to the fact that they didn’t realize that the tide was going to change, and therefore the ship was either higher (or lower) in the water than they had expected. Again, poor people management from Cunard.

 

Buffet: Celebrity and QM2 both equal here. Oceanview café vs. kings Court. A little more variety would be nice from day to day, but otherwise good. Lots of seating available on both ships. I must say though that QM2 does excel at the quality of the vending machine orange juice. Celebrity dispenses orange flavoured water, but QM2 seems to dispense actual orange juice and lemonade. Far superior to Celebrity.

 

Main dining: I know it’s the luck of the draw but our servers on the Queen Mary 2 were polite, professional and courteous, but not overly friendly. They were good but it seemed like they were all business. The head waiter, a woman from Poland who’s name I forget, was very pleasant and checked in on us each evening. Cunard, please take a lesson from Celebrity. Just leave the bread basket. The whole thing. Just put the basket on the table and walk away. I’m grateful for the single piece you offer as you rush past the table, but please, just leave the basket. Otherwise I need to bug the waiter for another piece after they’ve already moved on from bread mode to appetizer mode. It’s a hassle for them and us both. Just leave the whole basket.

 

Re: dining room at breakfast. I enjoy going to the restaurant for breakfast to avoid the chaos and mayhem of the buffet, however my food was always cold. Well, cold food was cold as expected, but so was the hot food. Not once, in two weeks, did I every manage to get a single piece of hot toast at breakfast. The butter wouldn’t even melt. Pancakes? Cold. QM2…you can do better.

 

Otherwise main dining was good in Britannia. Always lots of options for fussy eaters, although we did tend to feel rushed as we were at the early seating. But we understand that we need to be out in time for the late sitting.

 

Laundry: QM2 is the winner. I heard people in the laundry room complaining about the lack of self-service laundry facilities. If they only knew! Celebrity has none. Need a shirt ironed? You have to send it out. If you’re lucky you might even get it back the same day. I am so grateful on the QM2 that I can just go down the hall and do a laundry. It means that I only need to pack half as many clothes if I’m able to do a laundry halfway through the cruise.

 

Internet: QM2, if you’re listening, your internet sucks! It was non-existent in our cabin unless you literally stood with your back to the cabin door. Celebrity…free unlimited internet. Ok, maybe not free but it was included in our package. I’m not sure of the cost but the perk probably added a couple hundred dollars to the cost of the cruise. But it was awesome. Fast and unlimited. QM2 I had to purchase my minutes. I think it was about $90 for two hours if I recall. This for expensive and slow to no internet. There were days that it didn’t work at all, even at the internet stations. And of course you need to log on and off. I forgot to log off once, so I lost two hours of internet time. And the only thing you can do at the computer kiosks, is browse the internet. There are no applications to draft emails and then connect to send them, which means you are paying for internet time, even though you’re not using it, while you are writing emails.

 

And Celebrity’s phone app is awesome! The daily programme, your restaurant and activity reservations, everything is right there on your phone. No need to carry a programme with you all day. QM2…four people in a room? You get a single printed program to share amongst you, with no smartphone app. Cunard is SO behind the times. And as an aside, the Cunard web site is the worst. Just to log in…first name, last name, booking reference, birthday…ugh! I think last name and booking reference should suffice!

 

Kids: Both Celebrity and Cunard have excellent kids programming within the kids clubs, however I was surprised at the QM2’s lack of family entertainment outside of the clubs. Given that it’s summer time and that there were more children on board, I don’t think there was a single daily movie, performance or lecture that would appeal to kids of any age. I know that the Cunard demographic skews towards the geriatric, but Celebrity is the clear winner here when it comes to families with kids.

 

Lectures and performances: Apples and oranges, but Cunard trends more cultural and less family friendly entertainment as one would probably expect.

 

Royal Court Theatre: Now in addition to Cunard, we have only sailed Princess, Celebrity and Disney, but I would arguably suggest that the RCT is quite possibly the worst theatre at sea. There are no chairs, only benches. Which means no armrests. Which means no place to put my drink. Yes, there are a smattering of small tables downstairs (and none upstairs) but they are few and far between and their sole purpose seems to only to impede the flow of traffic along the aisle. With no arm rests to support yourself in the rocking seas of the North Atlantic, and one hand committed to holding onto your drink, I can only imagine that this venue is a nightmare for anyone with balance issues.

 

Illuminations: Planetarium at sea. Cool! Plus, much better seats than the RCT, although they still don’t have drink holders in the arm rests. There is some sort of table contraption though built within the seat.

 

Shore excursions: I can’t compare Celebrity with QM2 as we did our own excursions on the Caribbean cruise. However, those on Cunard seemed to be very good, catering to those who wanted different activity levels. I am genuinely surprised though at the markup imposed by the cruise lines. For example, the hop on hop off bus tour in Halifax. Do it yourself for CAN$35 (US$25). Purchase the exact same thing on board from the tour desk and it’s US$66 ($CAN $80). There is no value added by Cunard at all. That being said we did a very good shore excursion in Iceland (the Golden Circle) that we purchased through Cunard and we felt it was a good value.

 

Cabins: Veranda/balcony cabins on both cruises. Similar size and amenities. TV’s had a similar choice of international channels to choose from. On QM2, the only US news channel was Fox news, disappointing many on board, although I think that MSNBC was also available. There were also a number of movie channels although again surprising that no movies catered to children given the summer holiday season. Although cabin bathrooms were similar inside, I think we preferred the glass shower doors in Celebrity vs. the shower curtain aboard QM2. It at least gave the illusion of a larger shower.

 

Upcharges: there was a time when everything was included on a cruise. Those days are long gone. Now, you can’t even get a coke without having a drink package or paying US$4 every time. It’s difficult to compare Celebrity vs. Cunard on this one, as the drink package was included with our fare on Celebrity and we didn’t buy one on Cunard. But of course, there are charges for everything else too, not just drinks. Photos, specialty dining, shore excursions, bingo, gratuities, etc.

Speaking of specialty dining, we tried it on both ships, and I think the winner goes to QM2. As much as I gripe about having to pay a surcharge for specialty dining, I don’t really mind as long as I feel I’m getting a good value. We did the Smokehouse once and thought it was excellent. We tried the Verandah and liked it so much that we went back a second time. The food was excellent and you never felt rushed.

 

Fitness Centres: Can’t compare. Never used them. Was too busy eating.

 

Inclusivity: If it’s inclusivity that you’re looking for, the QM2 is not for you. If traveling steerage class like the bulk of the passengers, you will be excluded from the Britannia Club dining room, the Queen’s Grill dining room, the Princess Grill dining room, the Grills lounge, the Grills sundeck, and probably a host of other secret locations that I’m not privy to.

Sommelier: We found our dining room sommelier on Celebrity to be very high pressure when it came to buying wine. QM2 – no pressure at all. Same as well when it came to servers in the bars. Cunard wins this one.

 

Trivia: I suck at ship board trivia. Enough said.

 

Dress Code: Cunard as expected is much more formal. I don’t mind getting dressed up for dinner, but after a couple of weeks on board it would be nice to just not have to wear a jacket for dinner. Formal I get it, but do I really need to wear a dinner jacket on casual night? I know some will disagree with me, but in my opinion, Celebrity strikes the proper balance when it comes to dinner attire on casual nights. Dress shirt and pants for gentlemen, but jacket is optional.

 

Library: QM2. Best library at sea. Period.

 

Summary: So, in conclusion, I know that it’s difficult to directly compare two different cruise lines and two different itineraries. However, based on similar category cabins and cruise durations and similar price, I’d have to give the winner to Celebrity. It just seemed to be a much better value. For the same price as a cruise on the QM2, our Celebrity cruise also included free gratuities, the drink package and free unlimited internet. That being said, we still enjoy sailing on the QM2 and will sail on her again in the future. Just look for me. I’ll be the one falling over on the benches in the Royal Court Theatre.

Edited July 28, 2019 by yhz123
typo

[Host Hattie]

Thanks for reporting back, Celebrity is on our list to try but they seem expensive from the UK so we've not got there yet.

[CruisinGirl777]

Very thorough and detailed review. Thanks for sharing. We like Celebrity too. But did enjoy our time on QE. 

[capegirl]

Interesting review.  A good idea is to post it on www.feefo.com/en-GB/reviews/cunard-line - Cunard look at these reviews.

[Solent Richard]

Having  sailed many times on both cruise lines I'm of the opinion you can't really compare fairly unless the positions one comes from are exactly the same.

 

For instance, as a Diamond Cunard World Club member  we have priority boarding and more 'internet' free time than we could handle.

 

One of the worse embarkation experiences we have had was with Celebrity in Buenos Aires yet I thoroughly enjoy the cruise.

 

Personally I'd never do a comparison and particularly in order to knock one particular line.

 

Chalk and Cheese comes to mind.

[T5LHR]

I often wonder, and this is not directed specifically at the OP in response to his review, but when people find so many things that they dislike about a cruise line/airline/hotel/restaurant, they still say "I will sail/fly/stay/eat there again though...".

 

Why? 

 

If there are so many things dislikes about a service or provision of hard product or food etc. why pay money to just be disappointed again? And, if you were to approach your experience with that line/airline/hotel/restaurant again, immediately you will be comparing it to last time and almost poised to pounce on something as soon as it happens. 

 

I used to have this discussion with some passengers on BA, who would start an interaction with "I never fly BA because its so awful..." and I just stood there taking the bashing, thinking to myself... If we are so awful, why are you here having paid money to be on this plane? 

 

I just don't understand it. Give your money to a company who you think are better and prefer being with. 

[LadyL1]

I read your review, but the two cruise lines are really so different and appeal to different markets, that if you know both, it is a case of accept what you get and pay for.

I have to agree with you about boarding, especially at Southampton. Cunard have dug themselves into a hole, with far too many priority boarders, from an outdated Worldclub system.

It seems you take exception to the Grills dining on Cunard, but is this not the case now for suite passengers on Celebrity having a dedicated dining room? Other lines including NCL and MSC have “no go areas” for the masses. Why worry about it? If you are concerned with separation do you never fly on a major carrier, with 3\4 “classes” of seats?

I am glad you basically enjoyed your holiday with Cunard, but for the public, I think it is good that the cruise lines remain different in their ways; at least we then get a good choice of cruise holidays available.

[shipgeeks]

My thoughts about the waiters being "not overly friendly":  When we first sailed on Cunard we felt that our waiter was "invisible", and yet every need was taken care of.  In retrospect, I would call that "unobtrusive".  We much prefer that to the other extreme, in which waiters joke, do magic tricks, parade around the dining room, etc.  I think Celebrity strikes a nice balance between the two.

[Solent Richard]

3 hours ago, T5LHR said:

I often wonder, and this is not directed specifically at the OP in response to his review, but when people find so many things that they dislike about a cruise line/airline/hotel/restaurant, they still say "I will sail/fly/stay/eat there again though...".

 

Why? 

 

If there are so many things dislikes about a service or provision of hard product or food etc. why pay money to just be disappointed again? And, if you were to approach your experience with that line/airline/hotel/restaurant again, immediately you will be comparing it to last time and almost poised to pounce on something as soon as it happens. 

 

I used to have this discussion with some passengers on BA, who would start an interaction with "I never fly BA because its so awful..." and I just stood there taking the bashing, thinking to myself... If we are so awful, why are you here having paid money to be on this plane? 

 

I just don't understand it. Give your money to a company who you think are better and prefer being with. 

 

Your tale of BA made me smile.

 

Bell Boy, when he spots this, will certainly be on our side. 

 

😀

[Solent Richard]

3 hours ago, LadyL1 said:

 

It seems you take exception to the Grills dining on Cunard, but is this not the case now for suite passengers on Celebrity having a dedicated dining room?

 

Not to mention deck space and theatre seat reservations.

[Windsurfboy]

I wonder how many of the Embarkation issues are to do with people arriving earlier than instructed. 

 

When we arrived at Southampton two weeks ago, at 1200 as instructed the terminal was full, Cunard was boarding everyone so as to clear terminal. Creating problems for priority boarders arriving on time,  who got no priority for QG at security.  But if Cunard had turned away early arrivals they would be slated for that.  Can't win.

[exlondoner]

Whenever there are embarkation problems at Southampton or anywhere else, Cunard are criticised. However, I assume, even at Southampton, the people running it are port employees, who are doing Cunard one day, and, say, RCI the next.  I wonder if Cunard are always to blame.

[frankp01]

Both of the following took place in Brooklyn, not Southampton. That said:

 

> > I wonder how many of the Embarkation issues are to do with people arriving earlier than instructed. 

on one trip we arrived at noon, two hours before our scheduled boarding. There was not one soul in line. Literally no one!

Our last trip was a month ago. We arrived when scheduled: at 2. I didn't time how long we were in line. It felt like over an hour, but may only have been 30-45 minutes. Regardless, given that we only had to present our credit cards and have a photo taken, it seemed to be a very tedious process.

 

>> the people running it are port employees, who are doing Cunard one day, and, say, RCI the next.  I wonder if Cunard are always to blame.

 

That was the side I used to be on. However, posts from those who've sailed extensively in addition to Cunard (I can only claim Cunard experience, I have no interest in any of the other lines) seem to think that it's not an issue with the port workers. I raised that as a possible explanation for the Brooklyn boarding debacle. I think some of the other lines have either automated more of the boarding process, or allowed passengers to coplete some of the tasks online. 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 29, 2019 by frankp01

[exlondoner]

The thing is the actual check in hardly takes any time at all - three minutes, perhaps for two of us. I should hate to have to do it on line, equally I should hate to have to queue for two hours.

[Jack E Dawson]

yhz123,

Thank you for your detailed review comparing and contrasting Cunard and Celebrity. Its greatly appreciated. My wife and I are still very much novice cruisers, with only two QM2 crossings under our belts and a third voyage on the QV booked (Ft. Lauderdale to San Francisco vis Panama Canal). While we have been very pleased with Cunard, I'm sure that at some point we will expand our horizons and sail on another line offering different experiences. With so many cruise lines out there, your report, along with reviews from other cruisers, gives us a good first step in narrowing down the list. 

Well done.

Jack

[puppycanducruise]

Thank you for taking the time to post your comparisons.

Very interesting.

[loerie]

Having done many many cruises on both cruise lines -I thought this was very fair and very accurate indeed.I still do both liners depending on the time and itenary .Well said and thank you.

[MarkBearSF]

6 hours ago, Jack E Dawson said:

While we have been very pleased with Cunard, I'm sure that at some point we will expand our horizons and sail on another line offering different experiences. With so many cruise lines out there, your report, along with reviews from other cruisers, gives us a good first step in narrowing down the list.

 

Agreed - thanks for the comparison. We had a somewhat problematic S. America cruise on the Infinity in 2015 and am happy to read more positive reports on the line.
Jack - We have a great love of the QM2 and crossings in particular, but also enjoy cruises on her US-based competitors Celebrity, Princess, and HAL. Each line has its own personality, strengths and weaknesses, but we've been most satisfied with those lines.

 

Edited July 30, 2019 by MarkBearSF

[yhz123]

The queue to reboard in Iceland. Notice it extends through two buildings. It was much longer at one point but had dwindled by the time I took the photo.

[Tonopah]

Holy smokes! Glad it wasn’t raining.

[ConnMom]

Thank you for your review.  I appreciate the detailed explanations that led to your assessments as well as your fairness to both lines.   I found your thoughts most  interesting because in two weeks my husband and I will be doing a westbound crossing on QM2, followed by a Norwegian Fjord cruise on Celebrity's Silhouette.  We have cruised many times with Celebrity and have reached enough "status" with the line to enjoy perks which bring additional pleasure our cruising experience.  This will be just my second time with Cunard, and the first was so long ago that this will be like a first experience for me, and I suppose the absence of loyalty or class perks will reinforce that feeling.  But we understand all that, and are looking forward to both cruises. We know what to expect with Celebrity and are looking forward to the new experiences that QM2  does particularly well, such as afternoon tea and the onboard lecturers.  

  

    

[Solent Richard]

15 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

I wonder how many of the Embarkation issues are to do with people arriving earlier than instructed. 

 

When we arrived at Southampton two weeks ago, at 1200 as instructed the terminal was full, Cunard was boarding everyone so as to clear terminal. Creating problems for priority boarders arriving on time,  who got no priority for QG at security.  But if Cunard had turned away early arrivals they would be slated for that.  Can't win.

Spot on.

 

No matter where you now look on the internet there are folk exhorting others to arrive early.

 

It has it's knock on effect.

 

And then there's my favourite pet hate: those who reach the security scanners and haven't yet emptied their pockets in anticipation.

 

Grrrrrrrrrr.

 

😈😈

[thames_side]

I have sailed on Cunard and Celebrity. We were put off Celebrity by the loud music everywhere. The only place you could escape it was back in the cabin. Otherwise we enjoyed Celebrity. I wonder if it is any quieter now.

The Grills on Cunard are a haven of peace and quiet.

[exlondoner]

54 minutes ago, Solent Richard said:

 

 

And then there's my favourite pet hate: those who reach the security scanners and haven't yet emptied their pockets in anticipation.

 

Grrrrrrrrrr.

 

😈😈

 

And they still do this at the sixth port of the voyage.

[baldercash]

Just finished our first Cunard QE2 sailing, a crossing from Brooklyn to Southampton.

We are Elite Plus X cruisers and found your comparison accurate and fair but as some have commented it is difficult to compare the two lines.

 

We enjoyed and attended the afternoon tea each day but by day four we were sharing one scone between the two of us but we still insisted  on our own quenelle of clotted cream. We enjoyed listening to the band and a having a few dances.

We were in agreement that they should enforce some level of dress code. It is disappointing when some take the time to change into a dress and men put on a jacket and others show up in flipflops, shorts and tee shirts and women in spandex gym attire.

 

The pub lunch was very nice and I enjoyed the battered Cod and chips, tikka masala with apint was nice as well.

 

The shows were smaller and more low keyed then on X but we enjoyed them and liked the theater which easily accommodated the attendees. It felt intimate and suited the venue.

 

Watching movies in the Planetarium was a nice plus, and the beautiful library was also a very nice bonus as we seldom bother with wifi while at sea.

 

The gym facilities were small but never very busy so a fair trade.

 

We original booked a inside cabin but were offered a very reasonable upgrade price to a balcony. I joked with my wife that I would pack bolt cutters in case the ship went down and we were locked in steerage.

We often travel Aqua class on X but were using the QE2 as a simple transfer to get to the UK to spend 5 weeks traveling England and Scotland. We never felt second class or denied of anything on the ship and found staff and crew friendly and open to conversation.

It was a rather sedate crossing but we expected that on a seven day sea voyage.

 

We spent 4 days in Brooklyn before embarkation and yes the boarding was very slow, however the plus was the disembarkation in Southampton.

Our plan was to disembark and catch a train to Oxford to tour the town, stay the night there then start our travels. I hesitated to purchase tickets in advance as I could not get clarity on what time we would disembark and how long it would take. I did learn Cunard offered a pass that allowed early walk off with ones luggage.

It was a very pleasant surprise to learn once on the ship that we were cleared by customs during the crossing and that with a special disembarkation card in hand they allowed us to walk off the ship at 7:10am. They reclaim the card at the gangway.

I am pleased to say we were on the train and pulling out of the Southampton station by 7:40am, one of our easiest disembarkation's in over fifty cruises.

 

We enjoyed our cruise and thought it great value, and we would do the crossing again. We plan on traveling Ireland for a few weeks next year and may use QE2 to return home, why fly when one can cruise.

Our longest cruise has been 32 days we are uncertain if we would undertake a sailing of that length on Cunard but one never knows.

We have learned over the years that travel is what you make of it and we felt we made the most of our QE2 sailing and thoroughly enjoyed our time.