short review of Mother's Day cruise

[luvtojump]

Hello fellow cruisers,

My mother and I just returned from our "Queen for a Day" cruise. Here is a short review starting with the good and moving on from there.

Good-cabins are beautiful. The ship is burled wood EVERYWHERE. Very tastefully done. Fellow passengers are well traveled. Saw many men checking in with coats and ties. Not stuffy, just proper. The shops were great. Hermes, Stern, Harrods etc. Lots of history on this ship. Great bars and alternative restaurants. A fun pub, champagne bar, lots of places to hang and sip. At night you can eat in the main dining room or choose a restaurant in the Kings Court. This is their buffet during the day and changes into sit down dining at night. Choices are Asian, Italian or Carvery. Very nice with linens, candles and china. Todd English is their surcharge restaurant. $30 per person and well worth it. Definitely a highlight!! There is a promenade around most of the decks. I loved this. Lots of big teak chairs to take a nap on. Golden Door Spa was super. My treatment room was as big as my cabin. Had a great reflexology. Went to the show on the 2nd night. It was "Rock at the Opera". Fabulous with incredible costumes.

Fair- the casino was average sized. could have been bigger. same with the gym. nice equipment with individual tv monitors but just average size. Was not crowded while I was there though. food in main dining room was fair. had one dinner in there and two lunches. service was hit and miss but always very polite. pools are small and spread out. cannot say if this is good or bad since we did not have the opportunity to lay out. not sure if you will see many calypso (sp?) bands out there if that is what you're looking for.

Bad-encountered some long lines. One on the first night at dinner. Had the late seating (8:30) and was not allowed to enter the dining room until 9:05. Evidentally the early diners were late getting to their seating because they were on deck watching us pass under the bridge and watching the Statue of Liberty. This was tough with hundreds of people standing for a long time in their nice clothes. It stated in the daily announcements that dinner began at 6:30 with the last order taken at 7. They must not have enforced this on that night. Other lines were at lunch in the main dining room. Had to wait 15 minutes to be seated both days. Would have headed elsewhere but mom wanted to eat there. Smoking is allowed in the cabins, bars and pub. Smoking sections seemed larger than the non smoking sections. Never smelled smoke in our cabin but lounges for sure.

Would I travel on her again?? yes. It really is a piece of history. I had read on cruise critic that she needed to iron some things out. Thought they should have done that in the 4 months. A little surprised Cunard caters to the upscale crowd and is taking so long to figure this ship out. She is SOOO LARGE you really can't imagine.

I have never been on a vacation where I wouldn't have changed something. In most cases it is not enough to keep me at home. Cruising is what you make of it and about meeting fun, interesting people. That I did.

Thank you for reading and I hope this helps someone.

Lisa

[mufi]

Lisa - thank you for your review, and so good to hear the, in your view, good and fair as you saw it. These sort of reports are so much more realistic than the loved it/hated it ones. But a piece of history? She has only been in service for a month.
David.

[luvtojump]

David,
Thank you. I try to be fair with my comments on these boards because it is only from my set of eyes. I could never speak for anyone but myself.

I see the ship as a part of history with it's rich background, not just the hype of it's size and inaugural season. Everywhere you looked on the ship there was a painting, portrait or photo of some Cunard sailing along with a full description and story. I learned more from my 3 days on her than a semester of social studies in school. (OK, so I didn't always apply myself in class....)

This to me is history.

Regards,
Lisa

[Terrence Richards]

Lisa, thanks for the review of your recent Queen Mary 2 cruise. My wife and I are counting the days to our September New England/Canada cruise on the QM2. We are booked in a Premium balcony cabin on Four Deck.

One question, where did you go from Friday to Sunday on the big ship? The QM2 brochure states: "New York Waterways" for the Mother's Day cruise.

Terrence

[luvtojump]

Hi Terrence,

According to the captain, we cruised south about 500 nautical miles and turned back north late Saturday.

We had beautiful weather on Friday in NY. Saturday was pleasant on deck. Many people relaxing on the sunny side of the promenade with light jackets. Sunday was extremely foggy and misty. Too cold to hang out outside. Hearing the fog whistle blow all day was incredible. Thought for a minute we were in London.

I hope you have a wonderful time..

Lisa

[Terrence Richards]

Lisa, thanks for the response. A quess Cunard considers that "New York Waterways" extends 500 nautical miles south.

I wonder where the QM2 will go on the July 4 cruise that is referred to in the brochure as "Cruising the Long Island Coast"?

By the way, while exploring the QM2, did you get a chance to see the Launderettes on Four, Five, and Six Decks. My wife and I always found the Launderette on Three Deck on the QE2 very handy.

Terrence

[luvtojump]

Terrence,

Unfortunately I did not check out the launderettes. Sorry.

Lisa

[imacruizer]

We used the laundrette on Deck 6. It was very handy. There were four washers and four dryers. There were also two ironing boards and irons. The washers and dryers are complementary (no charge) but there was a charge for the detergent which they requested you use. However, during our cruise the detergent dispenser was broken so there was a large tub of detergent that was also complementary. Many passengers seemed to be using the launderette but we never had to wait. There were always one or two machines available. Certainly helps with packing to know that you can wash a few things during the trip.

[LORIA]

lisa- thank you for your wonderful review! at the alternative resaurants, do you have to pay to eat in the kings court, and do you need reservations for these places? i am traveling from london to ny, cross transatlantic on july 22, and trying to learn about the ship as much as possible!! also, how early did they let you board the ship! thanks!

[luvtojump]

Loria,
You do not pay an additional fee for eating in the 3 King's Court restaurants. We made reservations for the italian one Saturday morning and ate there Sat. night. The cruise director and some friends were at the table next to ours. It was lovely. I heard nice things about the Asian one also. Only having 3 nights for dinner, we tried Britannia, Kings Court and Todd English. If you would like to eat at TE, I would recommend you make a reservation as soon as you board. I was lucky enough to get through on the phone in my cabin.

We arrived at the port of NY around 12:30. By the time we went through security, had our pictures taken and waited for our group (we were in group 3) to be called, it was about 1:15.

I hope this helps. Have a wonderful time.

Lisa

[LORIA]

lisa- thanks for your information- i will try to get to the dock by noon- i am staying in london for a pre stay!!

[Winchester]

LAUNDRY
I used several during trip #2 in Feb. All worked OK. I worked my way up from 4 deck to find a machine that was available. THE SOAP MACHINE IS NEVER GOING TO WORK (in my opinion). Soap was in a bucket on the floor on trip 2, and before that on QE2.

By the way, you meet the nicest people in the laundries. In fact, i met 1 lady on QE2 and only saw her in the laundry - 2 years in a row! Had to go on Serenade of the Seas to see her LIVE outside of there. We still trade E-mail, occasionally.

QE2 1969 x2, 1978 x2, 2001 x2 1 trip in 1991, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003
SS France 1972 x2 and 1974 x1 SS Raffaello 1974 & 1975
Sea Venture 1974 to Bermuda SS Rotterdam 1976 & 1977 Nassau & Bermuda
Noordam 1992 & 94/95 Statendam 1993
Horizon 1996
Galaxy 1997 - trip #3 ??
Windward (Now Norwegian Wind) 1997 3 trips before lengthening
Ryndam 1999 Amsterdam - New Years 02/03 Serenade Of The Seas 2003 trip #7
QM2 trip 2 1/31/04
Single since 1991 except Serenade.

QM2 11/6/04 & keeping an open mind for others.
Queen Victoria - Maiden year?

[afjag]

If the launderettes are busy on the common decks,go to the one on deck 11.It is not busy (at least not until now)as the swells on that deck don't launder there own clothes.

[afjag]

'Their own clothes' sorry!