Queen Elizabeth Photo Review - Deck Tours - Menus - Drinks Lists - Programs

It is almost a year now since I posted my first photo review, which was of Queen Mary 2. It marked my return to Cunard after an absence of some ten years and, although only a mini-cruise, I really enjoyed it. I have now just returned from a seven-night sailing aboard Queen Elizabeth. The main focus for this review will be the ship, its facilities and the onboard experience. It will not be an in-depth report on the ports of call.

I guess Cunard must be doing something right to win my custom two years in a row, since I am not someone who restricts myself only to one or two cruise lines; I enjoy the varied styles and experiences that many of them offer. Each has its strong points and areas of weakness or disappointment. In my reviews, I attempt to give a fair and balanced opinion based on my subjective assessment and relative to my expectations and past experiences.

Having sailed many times on QE2 over a period spanning more than 25 years since 1971, I appreciated that she delivered an unparalleled onboard atmosphere, unique as an ocean liner in capturing the spirit and romance associated with transatlantic voyages of a bygone era. That iconic mantle of tradition and heritage has since been handed on to QM2, Cunard’s latest and possibly last-ever ocean liner. There is surely no better vessel in service today on which to spend long periods at sea.

With only one week’s holiday remaining for this year, I wanted to cruise somewhere that gave a good chance of warm sunny weather in mid-October. Queen Elizabeth offers 7, 14 and 21 night fly-cruises with various departure and arrival ports through until late autumn. We chose the 7-night Aegean Jewels cruise departing Venice on October 10th visiting Korcula in Croatia; the Greek Isles of Crete and Rhodes; Kusadasi in Turkey, gateway to Ephesus; and finally disembarking in Athens.

Many passengers had already been aboard for a week and they had encountered quite a lot of rain, particularly in Kotor and Corfu. In my experience the Eastern Mediterranean tends to hold on to summer longer. The weather had been excellent when we had previously sailed on a very similar itinerary at exactly the same time of year, on the Equinox. Good fortune shone on us again with endless days of warm sunny weather. I say “us” because unlike my last few solo-cruises, I had the company of an old friend this time, and that greatly enhanced my enjoyment.

Had I been travelling on my own, I am not so sure my experience would have been quite so positive partly because of Cunard’s traditional fixed-seating dining arrangements. I love to have a variety of dining options and flexible times but on Queen Elizabeth there is only one proper alternative-dining venue, The Verandah. I shall explain later why her Lido buffet is currently unsuitable as a venue for waiter-service dinner. It’s ironic really that the Kings Court on QM2 makes for a better alternative dining location because, for casual breakfast or lunch, the Lido beats the Kings Court hands down …

On fly-cruises I normally prefer to book my own flights and any pre-cruise arrangements. However Cunard’s pricing policy in the UK for the cruise-only aspect of these holidays is such that booking the Cunard package is better value. This is due to their special group-flight arrangements with British Airways and optional domestic-flights add-on from Glasgow. There is also added-security in that Cunard is responsible for ensuring that you get to the ship in the event of flight delays or cancellation.

We flew to London on the Thursday morning and checked in to the Premier Inn Heathrow M4/J4, which was available for £49 during an autumn promotion. It had recently been completely refurbished and has the new Hypnos beds and larger LCD televisions. I prefer the Terminal 5 Premier Inn but it was twice the price. Disappointingly no breakfast was available before 6.30am, surely a failing for any airport hotel. Even though we had already checked our luggage right through to Venice and had our boarding passes, for us to comfortably make our 8.55am flight, taking breakfast at the hotel was not an option.

Our disappointment was short-lived and proved to be a blessing in disguise. Heathrow, for all its notoriety and especially the almost endemic delays, it has one redeeming feature - “Plane Food” by Gordon Ramsay in Terminal 5. Like him or loathe him, he ensures high standards of cooking and friendly, professional service. The prices are pretty reasonable too. A “full English” cooked to absolute perfection, with two rashers of top-notch back bacon, quality Cumberland sausage, two-eggs to your liking, tomatoes and mushrooms all for £8.95. Wilkin and Sons Tiptree condiments were provided and their tomato ketchup is an eye-opener. Likewise their little jars of marmalade, honey and jams accompanied a round of toast that was enough for two and was served in a proper toast rack to retain crispness. All for only £2.50... We had an evening meal there on our return whilst awaiting our domestic flight, and it was of an equally high standard.

A last minute aircraft change meant our pre-booked seats had been changed, as the substituted aircraft’s economy cabin started at row 9. The beautiful Airbus A321 had a business class cabin configured with fully flat beds, very unusual for such a short flight. This was one occasion when Club Europe may have been actually worth the price differential but we were slumming it, albeit for just under two hours in reallocated seating; now at the back of the plane, unlike our originally booked seats in row 6, near the front of economy.

As we neared the end of our 20-minute taxi to the runway, the captain announced that ground operations had contacted him to advise there was a problem about weight distribution and that we would have to return to the gate to have luggage moved from the rearmost hold to a forward location. We would also need to take on additional fuel. I did wonder whether the average weight of luggage was much higher than normal as most of the passengers were fellow cruisers. This delayed us for an hour and did reek of incompetence, rather unusual in my experience of British Airways.

The Cunard presence at Venice’s Marco Polo airport was exemplary with representatives directing passengers clearly all the way to where our luggage was to be taken from us by porters, to go directly to our cabins; and from where we were then escorted to the awaiting coaches. The journey to the ship lasted just over 20 minutes; check-in was swift, boarding immediate and the cabins were ready for us. Luggage was delivered within an hour or so.

String Quartet playing in the Grand Lobby on Deck 1 as passengers embarked...

We booked an Inside Guarantee as a Saver Fare some three months prior to departure. We were allocated cabin 1073; a quick look at the deck plans rang the usual warning bells about being located beside an empty space rather than a cabin. That’s one thing to be avoided if you have the option, just like being below the pool deck or other noisy public areas. These empty spaces are often service areas from which noise can be an issue.

Cabin 1073 beside unknown empty space on ship’s deck plan'''

Well in our case I am not sure what was in that space. Without knowing how the toilet system onboard functions, I would have guessed it could be some sort of pumping station for toilet waste. I am basing this guess, which is probably wrong, purely on the noises heard clearly inside the cabin. Let me try to describe... I think we all know the distinctive sound that the vacuum system makes when a toilet is flushed. Well that was the ongoing noise; it was as loud as if it were your own toilet being flushed, but often 15 to 20 times in quick succession; then perhaps a pause for a minute or maybe as much as 5 minutes; then maybe another 5 to 10 times, and so on. Now this relentless noise seemed highly unlikely to emanate from only one nearby cabin; if it did, then the occupant was clearly in urgent need of either medical or psychological intervention. Another curious fact, which may or may not be unrelated, is that half way along our corridor was an ever-present smell of sewage.

This cabin is clearly known to be problematic. It had been unoccupied during the previous week, a fact that became apparent when I handed back to the cabin stewardess the Daily Programme that awaited us. She apologised that it was dated October 3rd and had been there since Civitavecchia, the previous embarkation port, from seven days prior. We decided not to raise the issue about this noise as we were on a Saver Fare and if the ship is full I suppose someone has to occupy this substandard cabin. I resigned myself to using earplugs when I needed to sleep and at other times I listened to music or watched TV to mask the noise.

Other than the serious noise issue, this was a good cabin, being the biggest inside cabin I had ever stayed in, and larger than on QM2. It is of a more square shape than typical and has a generous 4-seater settee that can convert to a bed, in addition to a drop-down bed recessed into the ceiling. The wardrobe space is more than generous and there is an overall sense of spaciousness often lacking in insides. The location close to the Purser’s Office and the midships-elevators was pretty ideal; and I like the fact that this ship retains a third bank of elevators. This goes against the trend noticed on Oasis of the Seas and Norwegian Epic, each having only two, one forward and one aft, whereas QM2 is even better in having four.

The décor of the cabin itself is fine but the lighting lacks flexibility and the right ambience cannot be achieved. With the table lamps alone there is a lack of lighting around the settee area and that corner of the cabin; with overhead lighting switched on, it is too bright. The lighting in the shower room does nothing to enhance its rather bland décor and is purely functional, just as on QM2. Lighting is one area that, with a little imagination and expenditure, can transform the feel of a space. For comparison, take a look at my other reviews to see how it can be done better.

For those who carry laptops with them, the safe was a good size, measuring approx 40cm X 40cm X 20cm, rounded up to the nearest centimetre.

We had Sky News and BBC World almost without interruption, so I was happy with that. Will post the TV programme guide later…

Power sockets are turned off when card removed from slot inside door...

Here is a view of the rear of the Samsung television showing sockets for external electronics including HDMI...

Day 1 Daily Programme

We had wondered whether our delayed arrival meant we may have missed lunch but the Lido remained open for a full lunch buffet until 5pm. My immediate impression was that the set up was a vast improvement over QM2’s Kings Court. The hot food was rather lacklustre but I enjoyed the curry. I was however impressed by the variety and quality of prepared salad combinations, something I felt was lacking on QM2. Other than on this first day, all lunches and most breakfasts were taken in the Britannia Restaurant; a much more civilised affair with better food served in a relaxed atmosphere enhancing the enjoyment of the dining experience.

We attended the Emergency Drill in Café Carinthia at 5pm. This was the quickest and least formal ever, partly because only the new arrivals were supposed to attend. It did however strike me as odd that there was no apparent attempt to check off the names or cabin numbers of those present.

We went back to the cabin to dress for dinner but noted that for today, although informal, jackets were optional. We headed to the Commodore Club for our pre-dinner drinks.

This is a nice room with good lighting but it lacks the special magic that the same spot on QM2 delivers. The ambience is nevertheless far superior to any of Celebrity’s Sky Lounges. I like the fact that wait-staff come round regularly offering hot canapés, a nice touch not seen on most cruise lines. The quality of the complimentary crisps was also tiptop. Appropriate cocktail music is played on the grand piano and it is our preferred venue for relaxing into evening mode and to anticipate what the night ahead may hold.

Before dinner we caught part of the sailaway. I think this may have been my first departure from Venice after dark and although not as impressive as a daytime sailing, it still afforded some nice views because of the amount of illumination. By the time I got the settings on my camera adjusted properly, I had missed some of the best shots...

Having read several reports that many who had booked Saver Fares had been unable to be accommodated in late seating, it was a real concern that we may face the same problem. Luck was on our side and we were assigned a table for 10 on the 8.30pm sitting. At such large tables it is almost impossible to interact together as an entire group so inevitably smaller groups form to converse. The good thing was that we all switched seats each night so we got to engage with most others over the course of the cruise.

Day 1 Dinner Menu

Transcription of fuzzy photo of menu...

The second part of the actual menu...

As for the actual meal I thought it was enjoyable but not up to the standard of Celebrity or Oceania. It was undoubtedly better than P&O, Norwegian and Holland America and probably on a par with Royal Caribbean or Princess. Of course higher-class dining is available on Cunard when you book into Grill Class and that was certainly beyond question on the occasions I was fortunate enough to dine in the Princess Grill on QE2. The Queens Grill, which I have not experienced, may be even better.

I made the decision on this cruise to significantly curtail my food photography at dinner, out of consideration for my table companions. Still I managed to get quite a few overall and will be post some later.

Off then to the Welcome Aboard show in the Royal Court Theatre, mainly with the intention a getting an initial glimpse of the place... Actually proceedings commenced well with an Earth Wind and Fire routine that led into a medley of disco hits from the late 70’s and early 80’s. Performed by the ship singers and dancers, it was really very good partly due their enormous energy and enthusiasm; it struck me that none of these youngsters were born in the era they were celebrating...

I wished we had left when the disco set finished because thereafter it was all the usual boring introductions...

Entertainment Director, Amanda Reid...

Some of her staff, at which point we scurried out the side exit...

We were told the majority of passengers were British, next were those from North America followed by the usual potpourri of nationalities including Australians, and a significant-enough number of Germans and Japanese to qualify for their own international host/interpreters. In the Lido at lunchtime I spotted a Japanese chef preparing a wide selection of sushi. I am not sure if this is the norm or a special provision for this group.

This brings me towards the end of my first post. I will be writing this review as I go, as it would be too daunting to try to write it all at once. It looks like it’s going to be a long one and when you factor in the dozens of photos and documents to be edited and uploaded to Photobucket it is going to take some time. So please bear with me, as it being done in my free time between my ongoing work commitments. If at any point you find the review of sufficient interest to follow along as it unfolds, please let me know if you are following or subscribing, so that I can gauge the level of interest. Just one word “following” is all I ask. Many thanks.

Following.

Great pictures.

Thanks. Just what I like...

Regards

Megacruiser

Following - enjoying the review as we have a QM2 cruise booked in January

following <leaving on same ship in Venice on 11/28, so VERY interested>

Enjoyed your review so far, thank you for taking the time. Boarding on Friday for 7 nights. We have what appears to be a space next to our inside cabin on deck 4 so hoping that we don't get the annoying noise you experienced. We sailed the same itinerary as we are doing on Friday in July but for 2 weeks and loved it all. Looking at your photos the entertainment team and dancers/singers are all the same so they must be getting ready for a break anytime soon. We are hoping that the same singer Paul will be in the queens room in the evening as we enjoy a twirl on the dance floor. Also hoping the young dance teachers are still on board but had a feeling they were having their break in October.mlook forward to reading more from you soon.

Thanks for the photos and review. I am looking forward to my next cruise aboard QE.

We are on QE on the 28/11 so enjoying your blog

Thank you for your post and looking forward to your updates. We will be on QE on Dec 5 for our third cruise aboard her.

Given that food is very subjective, my overall impression is that Celebrity's Main Dining Room is very similar to Cunard. I would not rate either experience as significantly better, although the wait staff on Celebrity are without a doubt more personable. The atmosphere in the Cunard MDR is better as we prefer a more formal setting and my habit is to always wear a jacket regardless of the evening code.

Would be interested in your reasons for rating Celebrity's MDR food as superior.

Great photos. Some tips would be appreciated.

Following. ~ After two world cruises on QE, we are big fans of the lady.

Following. Wonderful reading....thank you.

Following,Outstanding review,looking forward to more.

Excellent review, great pictures.

Delighted to see you have returned back 'Home' ;) What a sensible idea.

Re; the Sushi , Available almost every other day across the fleet in the Lido & KC

Following :)

Looking forward to more.

It Makes very interesting reading, Thank You for taking the time.

Am on QE for Christmas and New Year:D

Great to see such good pictures of the QE, we're due on her in two weeks out of Athens. Great interior pictures, may I ask what camera you're using?

Off then to the Welcome Aboard show in the Royal Court Theatre, mainly with the intention a getting an initial glimpse of the place... Actually proceedings commenced well with an Earth Wind and Fire routine that led into a medley of disco hits from the late 70’s and early 80’s. Performed by the ship singers and dancers, it was really very good partly due their enormous energy and enthusiasm; it struck me that none of these youngsters were born in the era they were celebrating...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wished we had left when the disco set finished because thereafter it was all the usual boring introductions...

 

 

Entertainment Director, Amanda Reid...

 

 

 

Some of her staff, at which point we scurried out the side exit...

 

 

 

 

We were told the majority of passengers were British, next were those from North America followed by the usual potpourri of nationalities including Australians, and a significant-enough number of Germans and Japanese to qualify for their own international host/interpreters. In the Lido at lunchtime I spotted a Japanese chef preparing a wide selection of sushi. I am not sure if this is the norm or a special provision for this group.

 

 

This brings me towards the end of my first post. I will be writing this review as I go, as it would be too daunting to try to write it all at once. It looks like it’s going to be a long one and when you factor in the dozens of photos and documents to be edited and uploaded to Photobucket it is going to take some time. So please bear with me, as it being done in my free time between my ongoing work commitments. If at any point you find the review of sufficient interest to follow along as it unfolds, please let me know if you are following or subscribing, so that I can gauge the level of interest. Just one word “following” is all I ask. Many thanks.

Superb review and great pictures. (mine never turn out like these).

P.S. What type of camera did you use

Following, thanks for writing. We are due to take this itinerary next Fri 31/10 so excited to read this.

Pat

Following. Will onboard QE for her January transatlantic crossing, so photos of the ship are much appreciated!