Review: QV world voyage segment: 15 day FLL-LA Panama Canal Feb.2015

Greetings all,

I’m a little late with this review, apologies.

First and foremost we had a great cruise on Queen Victoria traveling from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles thru the Panama canal. My own experience on Cunard consists of 3 transatlantic crossings (2 on QM2 and 1 on QE), all in January. This was our first cruise on a warm itinerary and at 15 days a new experience. We were fortunate to have exceptional weather and calm seas for the duration of the voyage. Now for a few details.

Embarkation in FLL was a little slow but I have to say that I expected this. There were long lines for check-in but overall time from curb to ship was <2.5hrs. Given that Cunard and QV are not regulars at this port it seemed understandable that the port employees were doing the best they could to get the job done in somewhat unfamiliar circumstances.

As many of us know QV was fresh out of dry dock in Germany and it showed when we entered the ship. Fresh carpet makes a BIG difference, as well does all the fresh upholstery. In short, the ship was in beautiful condition and appeared superbly maintained. Throughout the voyage the deck crews (night shift and day shift) were everywhere cleaning, painting, and removing any remaining grime from the dry dock. The stateroom carpets were not changed (at least ours was not) and this does need to be done within the near future because they’re getting well worn.

The Queen Victoria crew on this voyage was the best I’ve experienced on Cunard so far. The senior officers ran a very tight ship and no details seemed overlooked. I had the sense that this crew was an experienced team and stuck with the QV contract after contract because she might be the most desirable Cunard ship to be working on. Our cabin steward on this voyage was a pleasure; suffice it to say that he mastered White Star Service many years ago and seemed to enjoy his job. Our Britannia restaurant crew bent over backwards to satisfy us too.

So all in all a great cruise and we were 100% satisfied with the value we received. I mention this because criticism almost doesn’t seem fair. However I can’t help mentioning a few things which are probably more Southampton home office related.

The food in the Britannia dining room was in general nothing to write home about. In general it seemed that portion size has been reduced since our last sailing in January 2014 and generally suffers from being overly bland, we call it ‘country club food’. I am not the type to send food back or reject a poor choice but I did have the opportunity on our first night when the crab/avacado appetizer was inedible (and I like crab and avocado!). This was a one-off experience which made for a rough start to the overall dining experience. We are certain that the kitchen was doing the best with the ingredients they had but one got the sense that they didn’t have much to work with. Green salads were particularly uninspiring and the salad dressings very light and of little taste. There also seemed to be more breaded items, be they potatoes or various meat or fish cutlets. These items invariably left the table unfinished. After several nights of this food, conversation inevitably turned to: “If we eat at the Verandah or at the alternative restaurants every night how much extra will we spend? After all, food is historically a major reason to cruise and we need some real food!” So we ended up eating at Verandah 3 times and 1 time in an alternative restaurant (Prime on our night). The Verandah is great, especially if you’re on the ship for a week. It has a good menu with interesting and flavorful options. It is not a substitute for the MDR because the menu never changes (or at least our waiter said it hadn’t in his experience) and one quickly runs out of menu options. FYI there are no salads on the menu which is bit curious. Our alternative dining experience at Prime was excellent. I wonder if the surcharge increase from $10 to $15 may have helped to fund a little better product? The beef was exceptional and they were happy to oblige us with a round of caesar salads (again, no salads on the menu). After our past experiences with alternative dining on QM2 and QE we were a little reluctant to go this route but in the end we should have tried the other alternative dining options as well.

I’m afraid that tea time seems to be on a slippery slope as well. The scone seems to no longer be a scone. It reminds me most of Portuguese sweet bread, basically a sweet dinner roll with raisins baked in a scone shape. Sandwiches and sweets were good.

And lastly on the dining front I must mention the coffee. I realize that on a mass market resort ship (these are Berlitz words not mine) excellence in coffee is not to be expected. Excellent coffee can be found on QV, however only following a meal in the Verandah; here they serve an excellent, rich French Roast. Next down the list was pretty good coffee after the meal in Prime, then weak coffee in the MDR and Lido, and lastly room service. Knowing that sourcing good coffee is a challenge on board Cunard we elected to purchase coffee cards and at least have one strong coffee drink sometime in the morning. The problem here is that these are all 1 shot coffee drinks with the choice being small or large. Despite requesting ‘dry’ cappuccinos they invariably came in one form, filled to the brim with milk. I’m going on about this because in this day and age it seems like a no brainer to put in a cafe with seriously good coffee; a lot of people really like good coffee. Starbucks (an example) has shown that people will pay the price but the quality has to be consistent and real. Cunard has beautiful espresso machines, but the quality of the coffee leaves a lot to be desired.

With regard to the tray service in the Lido, a popular topic, I can only report what the state of affairs was on our voyage. Trays were very much in use by most everyone gathering their food and getting to the table. There are now waitstaff stations spaced throughout the dining area and it appears that these are intended to be staffed at all times by waitstaff offering drinks and removing trays and used dinnerware. The tables are essentially set with mugs, napkins, and a side plate. This is definitely an improvement over the roaming waiters in the past and the stations seem to work well.

Thank you Cunard and the QV crew for a great vacation.

Hi Japyke. Thanks for taking the time to write a review and to post it on this forum. Rarely do I read reviews posted on the Review page because there is little or no chance for discussion or rebuttal (and not to be too cynical, but sometimes I wonder if the deck is stacked, so to speak).

Happy to read you enjoyed your vacation, and thanks again for taking the time to post here. Hopefully, QV voyages from NY will become more frequent as I would very much like to experience that ship. Perhaps a r/t NY to Hamilton some day?

Cheers,

Salacia

Thanks for the review. We are traveling the reverse route (LAX-FLL) next month on QV. Can you comment on the ports?

Hi,

Thanks for your detailed review. I am booked on the final segment of the QV's world cruise (New York to Southampton) in late April. I am happy to read the positive comments about the ship and crew.

Chuck

Your return trip doesn't share any of the same ports with the westbound voyage we were on. We had great experiences in Bonaire, Aruba, and Puerto Quetzal in Guatemala. Our stop in Limon, Costa Rica wasn't great but we still enjoyed it and will definitely remember it.

I do have one piece of advice. Next time through the panama canal I'll skip the front of the ship at 5:45AM when we picked up the canal pilot and just head straight for the promenade deck and stake out a teak chaise. It's one of the few areas you can sit in the shade and have an unobstructed view off the side of the ship. It was in the high 80's low 90's and humid for our transit. This was a premier spot to wile away the PM as the ship traverses the 'river' portion of the canal (think African Queen). They even roll around a drink trolley with cold beverages (yes, they charge). To take in the full canal transit is a full 12hr day so pacing is critical, and in the end I probably wouldn't stay in a wooden chaise all day either but it is a good spot.

Hope you enjoy your cruise as much as we did ours. Let us know!

Thank you for taking the time to give us such a detailed review. QV is a favorite of ours and it was delightful to read your opinions on various areas - - the good and the parts that need improvement. Glad that you had a very nice cruise!

Japke,

I really enjoyed your review. DW and I will be on the Queen Victoria from Los Angeles to New York City. We board in about a month, so your review is very timely. You mentioned that you were on the Queen Elizabeth in January. Was that the first leg of the world cruise that left Southampton around January 10, 2014? If so, we were your shipmates. It was a very enjoyable cruise for us. That is the reason that we booked on the Queen Victoria this year. Last year we took the Queen Mary 2 to Southampton and boarded the Queen Elizabeth immediately for a return transatlantic through New York City to Ft. Lauderdale.

We love to dance, so the large ballrooms are very exciting for us. We also met some really nice people on that trip. Your review gives me great hope and anticipation that our cruise on the Queen Victoria will be as perfect as our trip on the Queen Elizabeth.

Thanks again, Jerry of Jerry and Lady Kathryn

Interesting to read your take on the QV food. We were on the same FLL to LA QV segment. Guess maybe the Britannia food was not to write home about. We did hear a few folk commenting on the MDR food. Half the time, I would be content with the lesser calorie Canyon Ranch spa meal choice (QV calls it something else).

I so enjoyed lunch meals in the Golden Lion, and kept returning for mussels, fish ’n chips, and steak pies. The Lido, requesting heavy on the chorizo pizzas were enjoyed, too.

Amazing, but to find cookies in the Lido I had to repeatedly ask at the sandwich-making bar area, and then the guy/gal would go into their ‘private-stock’ drawer (behind the counter) to come up with 2 or 3 cookies. Seems like they treat cookies as if they are some kind of semi-precious lobster-faire or something.

I only stumbled on the hidden-cookies source from another cookie-loving passenger. The cookies were very good! BTW, did you know how to find the cookies?

Lastly, don't think the Cunard soda-card is worth the price.

Comments?

TomandCarol, thanks for the feedback.

There is usually something decent on the menu in Britannia DR but it has to be found. Our first clue was always our waiter who would gladly say "yes, that's good" or "No I don't recommend", the latter was always followed by "nobody finished that entree in 1st seating" By the end of 15 days one gets a little smarter ordering. We were fortunate to have a very good area manager in the restaurant who came by every evening to check on us. I would imagine that this is their job but it really does make a difference if done consistently with a smile and a sense of humor. As it was explained to us by our waiter, anything requested off menu must go through the area manager. Several nights we asked if it was possible to have a caesar salad in lieu of the garden salad and he made it happen no problem. The restaurant waitstaff worked very hard, now if we could only get the bean counters in Southampton to loosen the reins.

Thanks for the heads up about the cookies. Something to remember for next time. If Cunard featured Coke products I might be able to consume enough soda to justify a card, but as it is I pony up the big bucks for a can of coke on occasion.

We were on the same segment and pretty much agree with the OP.

To add, there was some excellent entertainment including the Patriot Girls, Claire & Jennah, Clare Balding & Shirley Jones.

One caveat, we ate in the Verandah Restaurant twice, one lunch, one dinner. The food was good, the service excellent and the atmosphere quiet. Be cautious at dinner as the advertised charge for dinner is $25 pp but 3 or 4 of the entrees come with an additional $15 charge. We had OBC to burn but, really!

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts! It was great read and I appreciate your honesty!

Although you had a few negatives, the ship sounds in top notch condition and the crew seemed fabulous! It's reviews like this that make me super excited to try QV/QE one day (hopefully soon!)

Thanks again :)