QM2 Queen's Grill

[curiouscruiser]

You all have been so kind about answering questions I hope you don't mind a few more.

 

Are soft drinks or beer restocked in your room for free or is there a charge?

Can you request whatever kind of beer you want?

How does the food court (I forget the name) work?

Any other perks for QG?

 

And last - is Cunard ever flexible about the single supplement?

 

We are looking at one of the shorter cruises up the East Coast to try this line out - I hope the issues reported from this year's memorial day cruise are worked out.

 

Thanks for your replies!

[2moose]

You all have been so kind about answering questions I hope you don't mind a few more.

 

Are soft drinks or beer restocked in your room for free or is there a charge?

Can you request whatever kind of beer you want?

How does the food court (I forget the name) work?

Any other perks for QG?

 

And last - is Cunard ever flexible about the single supplement?

 

We are looking at one of the shorter cruises up the East Coast to try this line out - I hope the issues reported from this year's memorial day cruise are worked out.

 

Thanks for your replies!

 

beer. soda.juices are restocked as needed , one bottle of liquor and one bottle of wine is stocked and we were told additional bottles would be on a cost basis but we were never charged for extra bottles and there was several of each> ,In addition to the room steward you will also have a butler . The butler just cant do enough for you. each evening prior to dinner we would have a few invited guests to our suite and the butler would provide caviar et al for the guests and there was never a charge for same. we were very generous to the staff. On deck 9 there is a concierge great for tickets and reservations either by phone or in person and for confirming air travel flights and limo service. the concierge even provided my wife with sea sick pills no charge., Also a private sundeck above the pool. We sailed cunard 4 times 2 times in the princess grill and 2 times in the queens grill both are well worth the xtra $$$. And of course there is the quenns grill cocktail lounge a very nice quiet place to relax. sounds great i wish we were going with you bon voyage jim from new jersey

[Wadadli1]

You all have been so kind about answering questions I hope you don't mind a few more.

 

Are soft drinks or beer restocked in your room for free or is there a charge?

Can you request whatever kind of beer you want?

How does the food court (I forget the name) work?

Any other perks for QG?

 

And last - is Cunard ever flexible about the single supplement?

 

We are looking at one of the shorter cruises up the East Coast to try this line out - I hope the issues reported from this year's memorial day cruise are worked out.

 

Thanks for your replies!

 

Good evening! From what I've heard, the Memorial Day cruise problems were unique to that particular trip. We are going on the Labor Day to Halifax and don't expect a repeat. We're QG then, so if you decide on that one, we'll see you there. :)

[msk68]

Are soft drinks or beer restocked in your room for free or is there a charge? Free in the Queen's Grill - Princess...not so much :(

 

Can you request whatever kind of beer you want? I think there is a list but it is not whatever you want. Seems like I remember Heinekein, Bud and a couple others (we never drank it so it wasn't an issue). Also, you get your choice of spirits. It is 2 of anything on their list and they were standard fare - vodka (absolut and something else) whiskey, gin, scotch and pretty much what you see on the gift wine list) They don't offer everything - I wanted Jamisons and that was not available. But you can get 2 spirits or 2 wines or a combo - whatever you choose as long as it adds up to 2.

How does the food court (I forget the name) work? If you are talking about the King's Court - it is just like one massive cafeteria split off into 4 sections. Confusing and a total turn off for me, we either ate room service or went to the Grill for meals. Worst case you can call the Grill and they will send you anything off their menu during meal time if you can't make it down there.

 

Any other perks for QG? Separate queue for boarding, priority disembarkation. If you are going to ports, priority there too and also on the tenders (Q1-Q4). As mentioned above, the sundeck is nice and having tea in the Queen's Grill Lounge is also nice. I think one of the things I like the most about Deck 9 is that it is so close to the Commodore Club :p On my last crossing I only had to stumble about 10 steps each night to my stateroom - niiiiiiice!

Oh yeah and the sail-away spirit is Perrier Jouet, not Pol Acker ;)

And last - is Cunard ever flexible about the single supplement? No idea.

 

We are looking at one of the shorter cruises up the East Coast to try this line out - I hope the issues reported from this year's memorial day cruise are worked out. Bear in mind that the shorter cruises are usually filled to capacity and are cruises, not crossings. There is a difference. IMO if you really want to test the QM2s mettle - you'll need to do a crossing. I didn't care for the shorter 'party' cruises myself but that may just be picky ole me!

[sullaRaffaello]

The answers above are accurate. I was in the Queens Grill on the April 18th crossing and it was fantastic. I had Mihaela as my butler and she could not do enough for me. She asked me if Heineken was all right, and I said yes. As a single, I wasn't going to spend all that much time in the suite. (To answer your question about the charge for singles, I paid 2 full adult fares.) Anytime I drank one, within a half day or so it was replaced. There were always around 4 cans there. The same goes for the cans of Canada Dry seltzer. In the six day crossing, I went through about 2/3 of a bottle of Stolichnaya vodka, and about 2 glases of an Australian merlot, so the issue of restocking never came up. Since I was using the vodka to make bloody Marys and screwdrivers, she would always have orange and tomato juice replenished. Another perk is the personalized stationery. I would second msk68's comments about the King's Court. This just shouldn't exist on a great liner. If you go there and you've spent the money on the Queens Grill, you've wasted your money. The only people who should be carrying trays on an ocean liner are the waiters. The main perk to me about the Queens Grill category is the dining room itself. All that opulent food and service! I had one lunch in Todd English out of curiosity, and I'm not sorry that I went, but I don't think Todd English is worth missing a meal in the Queens Grill. One of the great perks about the Queens Grill lounge, is that they serve the afternoon tea in there. I went one afternoon to the Queens Room where the Brittania passengers go, and the service, while not bad, was markedly inferior to that in the Queens Grill lounge. In the Queens Grill lounge, you can have the sandwiches on small rolls that I happen to like, as well as on the regular bread with the crusts removed. This was not available in the Queens Room. Have a great time.

[HeelMD]

Can the concierge services help with spa/restaurant reservations?

[K.sailaway]

Can the concierge services help with spa/restaurant reservations?

 

Yes they can.

 

K.

[curiouscruiser]

Do any of the Q4-Q7 suites on deck 9 accomodate a 3rd person? From the deck plans it appears they do not, but that doesn't make sense to me.

[Nobbi]

I was on the May 29yh crossing, the RSVP charter, so there were a few differences, but it mainly had to do with more open seating and a laxer dress code. We stayed in a Q5 suite right across from the concierge lounge on the same deck as the Commodores club.

 

We had our fridge restocked with beer/sodas. I never asked for alternate beers. We had a choice of 2 bottles (as described above) of spirits or wine. The wine was "house wine", so Ipassed even though that's my main beverage.

 

The Queens Grill restaurant was very pleasant. Service was good but not special; no warmth or engagement. We had one somellier (Steven L from South Africa) who was excellent, the others mediocre.

 

The QG Lounge ok, empty, service was fair.

 

We went to Todd English for lunch on my birthday. The service was the worst of all the restaurants. I did not like the food. (I am a foodie.)

 

The Kings Court is the buffet place for lunch. We never went since we had lunch at the QG. At night it gets divided into different specialty restaurants. One night we went to the Chef's Galley where they have theme nights. We had the Indian night. The Chef was Malay! Very pleasant. The first course was the best item I had all week: an Indian style spicy cold tomato soup. After that it was down hill.

 

My best meal was the same times 2 at Lotus, one of those King's Court divisions at dinner. It was the same food both nights. We liked the first so much I decided to have my birthday dinner there. The waitresses remebered me, remembered my birthday. My favorite waitress was the assistant waitress there from the Ukraine. Genuinely warm, caring, really the only one there who seemed to really care. It made my birthday special. All tips had been included in something we paid, so there was no official tipping. I brought her a $50 tip cause she was so great and gave our somellier $20. I assumed that all the others got their share of the tips we pre-paid.

 

As an aside: I was trying to assess the quality and cost of this cruise versus the 2 others I have taken. My main comparison is a 7 day Disney cruise I took with my partner in February. No kids, 2 guys. This QM2 crossing was a gay charter. (He couldn't go, so I took my straight married nephew who did enjoy everything, as did I.)

 

The service on the Disney Magic was far superior. The staff was just great. The food was at least as good as the QM2 food. (I found out that the Grills get the same food as Britannia.) And the disney ship is actually way more spectacular than the inside of the QM2 where nothing seems WOW.

 

The QM2 is fine. I liked it. I would sail it again. But I paid 4 times the rate I paid for the Disney ship. And even if thr prices were the same, Disney would win. The one thing that was superior was the cabin. Ours had the size of a large hotel room with a good size bath room. But the Disney cabin we had was a balcony regular room larger than an average balcony room on most lines.

 

EDited to say: We had a very pleasant concierge for the QG. He was German and we spoke German together as I was born there. On embarkation day early I asked him to make reservations for us at Todd English for my birthday dinner, the last day of the cruise/ That evening around 7 pm I got a voice mail from him saying all evenings were already full but that I could call them directly for possible lunches. I found this strange since we had put in the request quite early (1 pm on embarkation day). I finally got reservations for lunch on my birthday by myself. On the QM2 they deliver reservation confirmation cards on the day or day prior to the reservations. I got 2 Todd English reservation cards: one for lunch, one for dinner (at the time I originally requested from the German concierge). I did inquire about this but he had no explanation!

[HeelMD]

Interesting post. We have sailed Disney twice and Royal Caribbean twice. DCL was far superior to RCCL and I am interested to see how QM2 compares.

[sullaRaffaello]

On the QM2 they deliver reservation confirmation cards on the day or day prior to the reservations.

 

This is interesting. When I booked lunch in Todd English 3 days in advance, I received no confirmation card.

[HeelMD]

I see a lot of threads where passengers have said they were not able to obtain reservations at Todd English. My wife and I plan to head to the concierge straight-away to try to book a dinner. We board a day before the TA officially begins in Southampton...hopefully we will have some luck.