Quick Queen Anne overview after 10th May cruise

[Victoria2]

Plus points

The Staff.

Every single person [well most,we  had an issue with assistance but that was a personal issue and not applicable to others] we interacted with was lovely, from deck hands to senior officers. Didn't bother to meet the Captain but I'm assured she's lovely too.

 

The food.

Great in the QG restaurant although my husband said some of his meals should have been hotter.

 

QG restaurant

Great if you're in certain areas...we were and had a marvellous table. Amazingly, the ['armless'] chairs are very comfortable. Didn't bother to ask for one with trad armrests.

 

Our cabin

Smaller than its equivalents on the Vistas but it would be churlish of me to 'moan' on that score.

 

The Theatre

Great line of sight and good acoustics

 

The ship

Vivid colour schemes grow on you. Lots of areas to sit and the chairs aren't as bad as I had imagined. The Pavilion screen is a great addition of an evening. All in all, not bad.

 

The Library

Great selection of new books and very current publications.

 

Deck 11

The Grills sundeck will be great when the weather is set fair

 

Passengers

So helpful to the point of exiting lifts to allow a wheelchair in and 'holding' lifts for the less able

 

Artisan Food Hall or The Lido as we called it

Sneeze shields  and mostly served; excellent hot food selections; plenty of seating

 

Negatives

The ship. 

Some ridicules pinch points for general passenger movements never mind for wheelchairs.Corridors seemed narrower and very difficult/impossible to get through if service carts are outside cabins. Goodness knows how bariatric chairs will cope

The lifts I could bang on about for ages but I'll just say  size, speed of door closures, too small, over used by staff em/debarking and that will do as I think the gist has been spelt out many times now.

 

My husband likened the ship to a show house where smaller furniture is used to make the rooms look bigger.

He reckons the corridors are narrower than the Vistas and the ceilings generally around the ship, are lower.

 

The Library

Five books per passenger on a 3000 passenger ship?

Purleeeeze...daft

 

The Grills deck

Staff are already aware non Grills passengers are using deck 11. They  are looking into it. 

There are rules governing the deck eg reserving loungers, no bottles in the hot tub etc. Well there's no use having rules if staff aren't there to implement them. No use and not fair asking deck hands to confront passengers especially rude ones and yes, there were some unpleasant characters [not Grills guests in this instance] onboard. I can categorically say, that is definitely  in hand and on a 'to do' list.

 

The Theatre

Not enough wheelchair spaces  and not enough signage to say 'reserved for wheelchair users and their companions  although this is a very personal observation and won't be applicable to the vast majority of passengers.

 

Passengers

For the first time, I witnessed really unpleasant interactions from two passengers who swore at staff for what turned out to be really minor issues. One had an absolute tantrum and really showed himself up

 

 Artisan Food Hall or the Lido as we called it

Not enough staff, poor selection of cold salads, menu selection too small to read until you were on top of them so might have been queuing for nothing. There are going to be a few changes implemented so it will be interesting to compare for our next trip in later this year.

 

QG restaurant

Great in areas, not so in others although the banquette folk seemed to be coping but I'll leave that to my fellow Griller, exlondoner

................................

So that's it folks. A very quick resume.

We booked thinking after a couple of months, the ship will have settled down. Well it hasn't, quite. For all intents and services, this was a longer shakedown cruise.

There are definite areas which need addressing [sadly, the lift doors situation will not be changing] but to be fair, most issues are being looked at.

 

What I can't emphasise enough is how wonderful [with an exception surrounding an issue we had which was resolved by the wonderful, amazing Grills concierge- the best and most proactive, Joy] the staff are. They are aware 'things' need to settle and are doing their damndest to look after passengers

 

Main gripe for me?

Five library books per passenger makes for very depleted library shelves! Go back to two please😀

 

Edit.

Would we choose QA over The Vistas?

Not a chance but like hundreds of others, we have no choice if we wish to avoid Mary and continue to cruise with Cunard at the moment.

 

Is QA as bad as we were worried about? No. She's OK which is good as we have cruises into '26 booked on her.

Edited May 26 by Victoria2

[Glenndale]

Thank you for your blog and review.

We have 4 future QA cruises booked, 3 in QG and 1 in PG.

We don't fly and at the moment it seems this leaves us with QA or QM2.

I hope they sort out the interlopers on the Grills deck, this should have been foreseen and dealt with in the design stage.

We prefer the smaller ships but our choice is limited, we also cruise with Saga.

[exlondoner]

I was about to write mine, and saw you have written this, so I put off reading yours until I had done mine. I think we mainly agree. I actually liked the restaurant as such, because it was so wonderfully light, and every table got a view. I was reconciled to ours, when my husband said it didn’t make any difference to his hearing which way round we sat, so I only had to look at the wall every other meal. This cheered me up enormously. I still think it needs reorganising though.

 

[Stu UK]

Did they give any indication of how or when they would resolve access to Grills deck?

[Victoria2]

31 minutes ago, Glenndale said:

Thank you for your blog and review.

We have 4 future QA cruises booked, 3 in QG and 1 in PG.

We don't fly and at the moment it seems this leaves us with QA or QM2.

I hope they sort out the interlopers on the Grills deck, this should have been foreseen and dealt with in the design stage.

We prefer the smaller ships but our choice is limited, we also cruise with Saga.

To be very fair, I only knew of one  non Grill group, once, and staff knew who they were.

 

Staff are very aware of the potential problem [apparently it's been flagged up by passengers] and I don't think it will be an issue, any more than it is on QV as long as it's 'dealt' with.

So, no worries.

[Victoria2]

Just now, Stu UK said:

Did they give any indication of how or when they would resolve access to Grills deck?

Joy had already been proactive in putting signage up and she was visible walking around the deck.

QV had non Grills guests sneaking onto the decks so this is nothing new and once staff gets to grips and 'handle' the access, I don't foresee the problem some think it is.

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, Victoria2 said:

Joy had already been proactive in putting signage up and she was visible walking around the deck.

QV had non Grills guests sneaking onto the decks so this is nothing new and once staff gets to grips and 'handle' the access, I don't foresee the problem some think it is.

Until she goes somewhere warm, this is not going to be much of an issue. Then…we’ll have to see. But the only person I saw walking through the door into the Grills area was…me. If a few people use it as a short cut, it is no big deal. If interlopers with glasses occupy the little pools, that might be. But I have great faith in the excellent Joy to sort it.

[Windsurfboy]

I see you were very circumspect about the grills deck. 

 

I find it very strange that the grills deck is in the middle of the ship. Other cruise lines with "private/restricted access" decks have them at the front or back of the ship or on another level like the Vistas. Having it in the middle is just asking for people to use it as a walk way and some to decide that seat looks nice.

 

I  don’t think card controlled doors will work. The British are too polite and will keep door open for anyone walking  behind them. The only solution is a one person at a time system,  ugly turnstiles,  perhaps not. Or simply no access from rest of the deck , glass doors that are locked and only opened by staff in emergency. 

[exlondoner]

30 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

I see you were very circumspect about the grills deck. 

 

I find it very strange that the grills deck is in the middle of the ship. Other cruise lines with "private/restricted access" decks have them at the front or back of the ship or on another level like the Vistas. Having it in the middle is just asking for people to use it as a walk way and some to decide that seat looks nice.

 

I  don’t think card controlled doors will work. The British are too polite and will keep door open for anyone walking  behind them. The only solution is a one person at a time system,  ugly turnstiles,  perhaps not. Or simply no access from rest of the deck , glass doors that are locked and only opened by staff in emergency. 

The Grills Deck is great with lots of space and lots of shade. If only we had had more sun. There are lots of people wandering about anyway, so, if a few people use it as a through route, I would not find it a problem at all. However,  I don’t see why it should particularly attract interlopers, unless class warriors(!), because there are so many other lovely places to sit outside. A few checks on the first hot day of a cruise would probably solve any problem. But I agree it is a silly arrangement.