Live from…. Victoria, Cunard Vs Celebrity, Grills Vs the Retreat

[North West Newbie]

3 minutes ago, chemmo said:

What is ‘a shortie’?

 

A short cruise i.e., less than a week, typically 3 or 4 nights.

[Victoria2]

swjumboand chemmo

There will be no wrath heaped on anyone and the heavens will not fall. Personally, I would say a polo shirt will be pushing the dress code on non formal nights in the restaurants but an open necked shirt will be fine. Trousers of course would be an added advantage for entry into the venues, any actually! 🙂

 

Ladies, unless you intend to dine in jeans or your swimwear, I would imagine you'd dress within the very broad remit.

 

QE/QV might lack the variety of dining venues Celebrity would appear to offer but don't forget, in QG you can order what you want  with the usual mantra 'as long as the ingredients are on the ship' so variety of food will not be in question.

 

QG might have the 'fine dining' rep but that does not mean stuffy or pretentious.. We find it all very relaxing.

Steak and a salad?  No problem. A great Italian meal or a basic spag bol? No problem. An Indian banquet? No problem. Just don't forget to ask and order in advance.

 

I must add, my experiences are all on QE/QV.

 

I don't particularly like QM2 as a ship  so can't say how stuffy or not QG is as I haven't tried it and don't intend to.

Edited October 25, 2022 by Victoria2

[chemmo]

1 hour ago, North West Newbie said:

 

A short cruise i.e., less than a week, typically 3 or 4 nights.

Thank you!

[chemmo]

51 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

swjumboand chemmo

There will be no wrath heaped on anyone and the heavens will not fall. Personally, I would say a polo shirt will be pushing the dress code on non formal nights in the restaurants but an open necked shirt will be fine. Trousers of course would be an added advantage for entry into the venues, any actually! 🙂

 

Ladies, unless you intend to dine in jeans or your swimwear, I would imagine you'd dress within the very broad remit.

 

QE/QV might lack the variety of dining venues Celebrity would appear to offer but don't forget, in QG you can order what you want  with the usual mantra 'as long as the ingredients are on the ship' so variety of food will not be in question.

 

QG might have the 'fine dining' rep but that does not mean stuffy or pretentious.. We find it all very relaxing.

Steak and a salad?  No problem. A great Italian meal or a basic spag bol? No problem. An Indian banquet? No problem. Just don't forget to ask and order in advance.

 

I must add, my experiences are all on QE/QV.

 

I don't particularly like QM2 as a ship  so can't say how stuffy or not QG is as I haven't tried it and don't intend to.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. Much appreciated…

 

Looking forward to following swjumbo’s adventures in a few weeks…

[exlondoner]

1 hour ago, Victoria2 said:

swjumboand chemmo

There will be no wrath heaped on anyone and the heavens will not fall. Personally, I would say a polo shirt will be pushing the dress code on non formal nights in the restaurants but an open necked shirt will be fine. Trousers of course would be an added advantage for entry into the venues, any actually! 🙂

 

Ladies, unless you intend to dine in jeans or your swimwear, I would imagine you'd dress within the very broad remit.

 

QE/QV might lack the variety of dining venues Celebrity would appear to offer but don't forget, in QG you can order what you want  with the usual mantra 'as long as the ingredients are on the ship' so variety of food will not be in question.

 

QG might have the 'fine dining' rep but that does not mean stuffy or pretentious.. We find it all very relaxing.

Steak and a salad?  No problem. A great Italian meal or a basic spag bol? No problem. An Indian banquet? No problem. Just don't forget to ask and order in advance.

 

I must add, my experiences are all on QE/QV.

 

I don't particularly like QM2 as a ship  so can't say how stuffy or not QG is as I haven't tried it and don't intend to.

QM2 QG wasn’t at all stuffy in July, though, alas, as it turned out, rather snuffly. 😀

[chemmo]

17 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

QM2 QG wasn’t at all stuffy in July, though, alas, as it turned out, rather snuffly. 😀

A sense of humour does help us get through difficult times.

 

I don’t think I am afraid any of the Queens QG will be too stuffy, more that even if they cook me anything I want I will still be dining in the same restaurant with the same ambiance every night. 
 

You never know, we may love it. As I said in a previous post, sometimes you just need to give something a go…Booked up for next year on X so plenty of time to do some research.

 

What would (space wise) be equivalent to a Celebrity PH?

 

Is there one of the ships regular Cunard cruisers would recommend/not recommend?

[exlondoner]

Well, there are advantages to the same restaurant. You get the same lovely staff, who cherish you and know your preferences, you get to know the fellow passengers nearby who are often (not always) fun too chat to. You don’t have to book or wait for a time. And the ambience is quite a lot different on Gala nights from on informal nights, and obviously from lunch time.

 

[BigMac1953]

QV/QE?

 

To quote the late, great, Murray Walker (racing commentator): "the car leading the race is absolutely unique, apart from the one behind which is identical"

 

Both great cruising ships. If you know your way around one then you will have no problem on the other.

 

QM2 is an ocean liner and totally different but incredibly stable. Not an ideal cruise ship but still comfortable and elegant and never crowded. The ONLY way to cross the Pond.

[chemmo]

6 minutes ago, BigMac1953 said:

QV/QE?

 

To quote the late, great, Murray Walker (racing commentator): "the car leading the race is absolutely unique, apart from the one behind which is identical"

 

Both great cruising ships. If you know your way around one then you will have no problem on the other.

 

QM2 is an ocean liner and totally different but incredibly stable. Not an ideal cruise ship but still comfortable and elegant and never crowded. The ONLY way to cross the Pond.

Thanks for that! I wondered why QM2 was seen as different….You can tell I am a total newcomer to this board. It is only after following Groryjm’s post I have started to become a bit interested…

[chemmo]

11 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Well, there are advantages to the same restaurant. You get the same lovely staff, who cherish you and know your preferences, you get to know the fellow passengers nearby who are often (not always) fun too chat to. You don’t have to book or wait for a time. And the ambience is quite a lot different on Gala nights from on informal nights, and obviously from lunch time.

 

I can see that and do value all the things about having the same table, staff etc. I guess I am thinking multiple nights of excellence could be too much of a good thing! I did some initial browsing of a 26 night Caribbean cruise, however, I think it would be wiser to look at shorter but not ‘shortie’ options in the first instance (7-14 nights).

[exlondoner]

Just now, chemmo said:

I can see that and do value all the things about having the same table, staff etc. I guess I am thinking multiple nights of excellence could be too much of a good thing! I did some initial browsing of a 26 night Caribbean cruise, however, I think it would be wiser to look at shorter but not ‘shortie’ options in the first instance (7-14 nights).

Yes, 26 nights seems quite long to me, and not just because of the restaurant. The other fun thing about the QG is the flambé dishes, which are as much a spectator sport as a gastronomic experience. And there’s always room service or the buffet if you want less dressing up.

[chemmo]

46 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Yes, 26 nights seems quite long to me, and not just because of the restaurant. The other fun thing about the QG is the flambé dishes, which are as much a spectator sport as a gastronomic experience. And there’s always room service or the buffet if you want less dressing up.

Thank you for the responses…
 

CC really is a great way to find out ‘a feel’ for a ship. Thanks to all who have responded to my queries…

[swjumbo]

Chemmo, I don’t suppose you live in Newcastle or Wales do you? If so then we might know each other!

I’ve got large shoes to fill when I’m on my cruise as the OP has done an amazing job with this thread.

Strange that Celebrity fans are now looking at Cunard. 
Why are we doing so? 
We’re happy with the Silhouette in the U.K. and hate the faff of flying to Miami the day before the cruise and kicking our heels all day in Miami for the night flight back. 

We’re trying a Celebrity Cruise from LA in April to see if that’s better but there’s nothing can compare to driving to Southampton and leaving the car next to the ship.

Maybe we’ll love Cunard but is Cunard ready for an influx of Celebrity guests the same way that Carnival guests are creeping onto Celebrity?!

Edited October 25, 2022 by swjumbo

[groryjm]

Before I go onto the next topic of my review, food, I want to briefly go back to the room and in particular beds.

 

On a celebrity cruise the one thing we have always had is a good night’s sleep and have found the mattresses particularly comfortable. Celebrity even goes as far as to advertise their bedding for sale in the States under the brand eXhale (https://celebritybedcollection.com/).

 

Now as I am, apparently, a somewhat prolific snorer, after more than thirty years we find that one of the secrets to a happy marriage is a good night’s sleep and a bed in a spare room does control my noise levels. This is one of the reasons we always book suites where there is a door rather than curtain between the bedroom and sofa bed. As a result I have much experience sleeping on sofa beds and I have to say that the one on Cunard is the most uncomfortable I have slept on.  But on Celebrity I have found all the sofa beds extremely conducive to a good night’s sleep.

 

 

My Gastrognome also sleeps well on Celebrity’s beds and we have also never had a problem getting a mattress topper on Celebrity which she finds improves the bed even more. On this trip we failed to get such a topper and both suffered with our backs.

 

The pillow menu while in theory looks similar to Xs did not match in actuality and my Gastrognome failed to get a decent firm pillow but only managed a thin memory foam one.

 

[groryjm]

So now to the food….

 

One thing I have seen many times on these boards is how good the food is especially in the grills but also how subjective the topic can be. Ones tastes are very personal and this is written from my view point. We are however also on this cruise with some friends also from the same sleepy village just south of London. Our horses were stabled on the same livery yard a mile away but while we are in a Q2 they are in insides and had a late sitting in Britannia. We have kept in contact throughout the cruise meeting up in the Commodore’s Club or our Balcony and have been getting their feedback on the ship and food as well so I hope you won’t mind if I include some of their views too.

 

We ate predominately in the Queens Grill and I have to say that the quality of the meals we ate in there was far in excess of Celebrity’s Luminae offering (the dedicated restaurant for suites on Celebrity). We have eaten in Luminae since its inception in 2015 and very much enjoyed it when it opened over the MDR experiences we had previously been offered.

 

There are two grills restaurants side by side on deck 11 either side of the grills lounge. Both have wonderful sea views and the best tables by the windows appear to be assigned by rank of suite and loyalty status. We have no status as this was our first time on Cunard but being in a Q2 got us an excellent window table and the view is far better I felt than the tinted wake views in the Tuscan Grill or window tables in Luminae on Celebrity. The windows in Grills are floor to ceiling and let in a lot of light.

 

 

Queens Grill is nearest to Celebrity’s Retreat suites with 66 cabins in each line. Princess grill probably equates better in cabin size to Aqua with 61 Princess suites to 130 Aqua suites on Celebrity Silhouette. Princess grill I feel would knock Blu into a cocked hat. We did have occasion to take high tea in Princess Grill so had a chance to view the restaurant’s layout if not the food. The PG is slightly larger than QG but there are slightly more tables so it feels they are a bit closer together... but nothing like as close as Blu

 

 

One huge advantage over celebrity is that in both grills one is assigned a table for the entire cruise and can turn up at any time while the restaurant is serving. The menus, along with the daily and breakfast hanger and newspaper are delivered each night to our suite for the next day’s service.

 

 

With the way British politics was evolving last week it was quite intriguing to have a daily paper of British news intended for reading with breakfast that was completely out of date by the morning 🙂

 

The daily’s give restaurant opening times on the reverse along the very few alternative dining venue times. The Lido buffet does have a separate section in the evening for their themed “Dinner at the Lido” which is an upcharge of $25 pp. On three or four consecutive nights the themes were Bamboo – Pan Asian Cuisine, Nordly’s – Norwegian Cuisine and Coriander – Indian Cuisine. We didn’t personally try any of these but our friends did and reported back that the two they tried Bamboo and Nordly’s were excellent.

 

We did, on a couple of occasions, visit the Lido buffet ourselves and I’m afraid that while the food was good the choices seemed minimal. To clarify, the one breakfast we had there was a very similar standard to Celebrity and the couple of lunches we tried we found the food good but choices less. But at other times, like returning late from a tour after lunch or after dinner there seem very little choice.

 

The menus at the Golden lion pub looked good and again we didn’t try but our friends did and reported back that the food was good and particularly the fish and chips. The food there was included and no up charge.

 

There is a steak house and while the menu looked good we didn’t try it as we were reluctant to pay $45 pp when we felt we could have probably ordered similar at QG if we had wanted.

Edited October 25, 2022 by groryjm

[groryjm]

Now back to the reason the menus are given out in advance. Looking at PG and QG the menus seem fairly similar with only one or two omissions from the PG offering but there is an additional a la cart menu in QG that has some items that need to be ordered by lunchtime for the evening

 

Menus and my food from 13^th

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our A La Carte choices on various occasions included the Dover sole, the Duck a l’orange and the Beef Wellington. All were excellent and we choose them on days the main choices didn’t seem as good. These all came with table side service which while fun it does seem a bit out of the 1970s. Although to be fair the same happens in Murano on Celebrity. The food despite the tableside flair was excellent

 

My Gastrognome also tried the Lobster Thermidore on one day and was not as impressed as with the other dishes we tried throughout our cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 25, 2022 by groryjm

[groryjm]

There is also the opportunity to order completely off menu, but you need to give 24 hours notice, and on one night we ordered an Indian banquet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is one appetiser not mentioned but well worth asking for is we did on a couple of nights - Caviar. I also asked are sommelier Stalin for a Vodka to accompany it 😊

 

 

 

 

 

Over all the food in QG was excellent and there is always the opportunity to order whatever you fancy be it a simple steak or spaghetti and meatballs or something more exotic. There is a thread on these boards with some of the off book offerings others have requested and the list is endless

[groryjm]

 

As I eat my single poached egg on carbohydrate free bread I have realised I haven’t mentioned breakfasts yet but here are a few pics. The one omission is the easy mention of alcohol at breakfast as it seems the nearest open bar in the morning is 8 decks down. But after I had arrived on a couple of mornings with a bloody mary I had collected myself they did start to offer to get them for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did discover late in the cruise the Lido Grill which has a slightly more extensive menu than the Mast Grill on Celebrity.

 

[exlondoner]

11 minutes ago, groryjm said:

Before I go onto the next topic of my review, food, I want to briefly go back to the room and in particular beds.

 

On a celebrity cruise the one thing we have always had is a good night’s sleep and have found the mattresses particularly comfortable. Celebrity even goes as far as to advertise their bedding for sale in the States under the brand eXhale (https://celebritybedcollection.com/).

 

Now as I am, apparently, a somewhat prolific snorer, after more than thirty years we find that one of the secrets to a happy marriage is a good night’s sleep and a bed in a spare room does control my noise levels. This is one of the reasons we always book suites where there is a door rather than curtain between the bedroom and sofa bed. As a result I have much experience sleeping on sofa beds and I have to say that the one on Cunard is the most uncomfortable I have slept on.  But on Celebrity I have found all the sofa beds extremely conducive to a good night’s sleep.

 

 

My Gastrognome also sleeps well on Celebrity’s beds and we have also never had a problem getting a mattress topper on Celebrity which she finds improves the bed even more. On this trip we failed to get such a topper and both suffered with our backs.

 

The pillow menu while in theory looks similar to Xs did not match in actuality and my Gastrognome failed to get a decent firm pillow but only managed a thin memory foam one.

 

This is the first comment I have ever read which is not impressed by Cunard’s proper beds, which I believe are purchasable, as with Celebrity. Not in the least surprised about the sofabed. I don’t find the sofas that comfortable even to sit on.

Anyway, my commiserations to you both .

[groryjm]

3 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

This is the first comment I have ever read which is not impressed by Cunard’s proper beds, which I believe are purchasable, as with Celebrity. Not in the least surprised about the sofabed. I don’t find the sofas that comfortable even to sit on.

Anyway, my commiserations to you both .

The beds are I beleive the Sealy "Cunarder" but it may be the one in our suite was older than prehaps it should be?

[exlondoner]

18 minutes ago, groryjm said:

The beds are I beleive the Sealy "Cunarder" but it may be the one in our suite was older than prehaps it should be?

In a Q2?  That would be shocking. I must say I think they are the most comfortable beds I’ve slept in, once I’ve got them to take the overhot duvet away and bring a blanket.

[Victoria2]

I think you have given an excellent flavour of QG.

 

My only reservation would be the bed [bedroom, I haven't yet kicked my husband out for snoring or vice versa]  and pillows.

We  find the beds [Carpathia this time] incredibly comfortable and have always managed to source  decent pillows.

[Windsurfboy]

Given your snoring and sleeping arrangements did you every consider two connected Q4/5/6.

 

Two proper beds, two bathrooms , two toilets

[Victoria2]

8 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

Given your snoring and sleeping arrangements did you every consider two connected Q4/5/6.

 

Two proper beds, two bathrooms , two toilets

Nice idea but you miss out on the spacious areas,  the dining table, the bathroom big enough to hold its own soiree etc.🙂

Edited October 25, 2022 by Victoria2

[Victoria2]

2 hours ago, swjumbo said:

 

...Maybe we’ll love Cunard but is Cunard ready for an influx of Celebrity guests the same way that Carnival guests are creeping onto Celebrity?!

An influx of newbies would certainly help keep the bean counters happy, and me too if it means Cunard stays a going concern! 🙂