QM2 1/15-1/22, 2005 Review Posted Here

(The address for pictures and the Princess Grill evening menus are at the end of the review)

We drove from our home in Weeki Wachee Florida across the state to Port Everglades, about 5 hours with a stop for breakfast. Arrived at the Port around 1000 and waited for about 35 minutes in the traffic jam to get thru the two open security gates. Dropped Judy off with the bags and parked in the garage which is only between 100/200 yards from the entrance to the embarkation building for Pier 21. We were close to first in line to sign in.

After getting our cards, we had to wait until about 1230 to board as this was the day for the Coast Guard inspection. Finally boarded and found our cabin, Princess Grill 10012, port side forward. We then had our first lunch in the Princess Grill dining room. It was the first of many excellent meals there.

Our impressions and opinions about various things on the Queen Mary 2 follow:

THE SHIP: Beautiful and big. The distance from our forward cabin to all the way aft was over 400 steps. Good way to exercise as the PG Restaurant is all the way aft. As we’re retired and can sit around our own pool at home, we don’t do that on cruises, but we did explore the upper decks and agree with some of the other posters who say the pool areas and upper decks are mostly devoid of shade. The ship is definitely built for crossings instead of cruising the Caribbean. There was enough room for people to sit around the pools, but the pools were small and not designed for swimming or laps.

Most of the art involved maritime themes, with a smattering of other works. The pictures and captions leading into the Illuminations Planetarium were very interesting as a history of Cunard celebrity and royalty voyagers. Also, there were some very good photos of celebrities in the Images photo gallery area on deck 3L.

The planetarium shows were an ok way to spend a half hour, but were not really informative about constellations, etc.

The Library was the best of any ship we have been on and has a large selection of fiction along with many types of non-fiction books. There was a large selection of travel books. There was also all kind of books in many languages. We did sign the Cruise Critic book in the Library (you have to ask for it).

There was a tour of the ship available the first sea day for anyone interested. Don’t know what it included as we didn’t do it.

The Promenade Deck is mostly covered and the sun bathing area is right outside the back windows of the Princess and Queens Grills.

CUSTOMER SERVICE: If you’re in a Princess Grill or Queens Grill cabin, the Concierge Lounge on deck 9 serves as the Pursers Desk and the Excursion Desk. You can get excursion tickets immediately there. They also have some tickets for the Planetarium shows so you don’t have to wait in line for them. You can also get personalized stationery there. I would assume they would also make reservations for the spa, beauty shop, alternate restaurants, etc. As we did not do any of those, can’t say for sure. They also had coffee, hot water, tea bags, donuts in the morning and finger sandwiches in the afternoon.

Everybody we dealt with on the ship was professional and helpful. The port shopping talk lady, Jamie Sage, was one of the best. Her talks were very informative and she was always willing to answer any questions and help in any way.

The Cruise Director was Ray Rouse. He was very professional, but we only saw him at the shows and on his morning TV talk/interview show. Since we didn’t do any of the late night DJ/dance things, don’t know if he was there or not. He did introduce the Commodore at the Grill guest’s cocktail party.

FOOD: We ate mostly in the Princess Grill, more about that later. We ate breakfast in the King’s Court once, which was enough. We ate lunch in the Golden Lion Pub twice and everything there was good. We had the fish & chips, cottage pie (shepherds pie) and the bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potatoes). Had to try the Ploughman’s Lunch as we read English mysteries and they always seem to go to a pub for a Ploughman’s. It makes a good appetizer as it is only 3 pieces of lunch meat (ham) with a few other condiments. We can recommend lunch there any time as it was a large, pleasant room with big windows.

Princess Grill: There were tables for 2, 4 or 6 in our section. The room is divided into sections by the serving stations and the smaller areas are very quiet allowing for good conversation. There were 3 waiters serving our section and they were all very good. We had the same table for each meal, but could arrive anytime during the open period. The times were usually 0800 – 0930 for breakfast, 1230 – 1400 for lunch and 1900-2100 for dinner. The breakfast times would vary by ½ hour when we were in port. You could order things off the menu, but there was something we liked every night, so we never did. Judy likes caviar and she had a standing order for caviar as an appetizer every night. She got it with no problem. There was either a flaming desert or entrée prepared tableside most nights. Cherries Jubilee, Bananas Foster, Crepes Suzette, Duck A la Orange and Pan Seared Grouper.

Our wait staff gave us copies of all the evening menus. We just got a new computer and haven’t hooked up the scanner yet. When we do, I’ll scan them in and if I can put them on webshots, I’ll post it here.

We never ate in the Britannia Restaurant, so cannot say how it was.

We also did not eat in any of the King’s Court evening restaurants or in Todd English. The food in the Princess Grill was too good to pass up for any other onboard restaurant. Especially one you had to pay extra for.

High tea was in the Queens Grill Lounge for the Grill passengers and the Princess Grill passengers were welcome there anytime. The tea was served from pots along with finger sandwiches and sweets. We asked for scones the first day and were told they didn’t have any. When we mentioned it to the bartender there that night, he was very upset and went to the Queens Grill maitre D’ right then and came back to say scones would be available from then on. And they were, with clotted cream and preserves.

PORTS: We have been to St Thomas and St Maarten many times before. Both of those are tender ports. We went ashore on St Thomas because Bernard K. Passman was going to be at his black coral store for his 89th birthday. As we have some of his items and had met him in New Orleans a few years ago, we went to say hello and to wish him many more.

We did not get off the ship at St Maarten. St Kitts was substituted for Puerto Rico (see previous posts about the harbor and pier area at San Juan not being dredged as promised). As we have never been to St Kitts, we took the Brimstone Hill Fortress and Botanical Gardens tour. The Fortress was interesting and we were there about 45 minutes. The term “Botanical Gardens” was somewhat misleading as the van driver mainly talked about the batik shop there and we only had 30 minutes to explore. Even though the blurb says there are 12 acres, there were no signs that we could see around the batik shop with any info on the “gardens”. There were flowers and various other plants around the shop, but that was all that was obvious. Our driver gave us the choice of being dropped off downtown or back at the ship. We took downtown and spent about an hour browsing the shops before walking back to the ship (about a 5 minute slow walk). Most everything except the batik in the shops is made somewhere else. Our tablemates took the sugar train and said it was ok.

SHOWS: We went to the Welcome Aboard show and the production shows with the singers and dancers. We did not go to the other shows with the single performers except for the violinist, Claire Gobin. She was outstanding and also put on a matinee performance one afternoon that was very well attended. The show times are set up for the early and late sittings in the Britannia Restaurant, generally at 2030/45 and 2230/45. A couple shows were at 1900 or 2100. We generally went to the late show as we didn’t want to rush dinner. The production shows were good. The costumes were good and the dancers were high energy. The singers were good with the gentleman from Australia being outstanding. We can recommend these shows to anyone.

CABIN: The Princess Grill cabins are 300 Sq Ft inside with 81 SQ Ft balconies. The couch is at the foot of the bed with a table between it and the bed. The desk/dressing table is beside the bed and the back of the chair is against the bed when you’re sitting in it. That divides the bed area from the closet and bathroom area. There is a good sized walk-in closet along with another closet. Plenty of storage space except in the bathroom. There were no shelves in the bathroom for anything. The counter space is large enough to put most things on, but shelves beside the mirror would be better.

There is a refrigerator (empty) and a shelf with many types of glasses. There was one large bottle of water for sale for $3.00 USD. There was also a bowl of fruit that was kept fresh, a bottle of sparkling wine and strawberries in the room when we arrived. There is a safe that can be operated by either your set of 4 numbers or with a credit card. Just like the safes on most cruise ships.

We did not order any meals from room service, so cannot say how they are. We did order iced tea, nuts and chips every afternoon and the service was very prompt.

MUSIC: We did not make it to the G32 disco, so cannot comment. The folks next us in the Princess Grill did make it the last night and said it was great when we saw them at breakfast on disembarkation day. They had the Commodore’s reception for the Grill passengers in the Queens Lounge. It is very spacious and nicely decorated. That is also where they have the Black & White Ball and the Grand Masque Ball. The band there plays a variety of music, including from the 40s big band era.

There was a harpist playing in either the Winter Garden or the Chart Room every day. She was excellent. We did not hear any of the piano players, so can not comment.

They also had “movies under the stars” that we did not attend.

MISC: Lifeboat drill was at 1630 embarkation day.

There are all the normal cruise ship things to do during the day:

Trivia, line dancing, dance classes, bridge, shore excursion talks, shopping talks, art auctions, art classes, quoits, darts, shuffleboard, putting contests, table tennis, exercise classes, movies, friends of Dorothy, friends of BillW, the casino, etc.

We only saw bingo advertised three times and never played, so don’t know what it cost. Saw a lady headed for the final game, and she said the jackpot was a little over $1000.

You could buy increments of internet minutes and use the systems in the library and in conneXtions. They also had “hotspots” around the ship for wireless connections. We did not use the internet while on board, so cannot say how well it worked.

The in room TV had all the usual info, along with movies. You could also check your account balance, see the weather, watch 2 ships cameras, order videos (for a fee), see the restaurant and room service menus, etc.

There was a wine tasting in Sir Samuels for $65 PP, we did not go.

There were very few children on this cruise.

There were 3 formal nights, 3 casual nights and one informal night.

The casino was in 2 sections, one with all slots, one with the tables (roulette, dice, poker (Caribbean stud & 3 card), blackjack and some slots. That kept most of the slot machine noise away from the tables. Neither one of us are big gamblers, but we about broke even on the little we did.

We did not use the spa or the exercise room. We walked thru them and it looked like they were well equipped.

DISEMBARKATION: Very quick and easy. Everybody seemed to follow the rules and it worked very well. We were cruise only pax that drove to the ship so our luggage tags used to get on the ship were what was used to get off. Everyone is assigned a lounge area to wait in and given a sheet with approximate disembarkation times. Ours was the Chart Room and around 0915. Our color was called at 0845 and we got off, went through immigration, found our luggage, whizzed through customs, wheeled our bags to the garage and were headed home at 0915. Parking was $12 a night ($84 USD). They had both cash only and cash/credit card booths to exit.

If you were with a group or had early flight times, you were issued different numbers or colors to disembark.

OVERALL: The Queen Mary 2 operates on a class system with the Britannia, Princess Grill and Queens Grill guests separated. As Princess Grill guests, we could use the Britannia for breakfast & lunch and the King’s Court restaurants anytime. The Britannia guests could not use either the Princess Grill or Queens Grill restaurants or the Queens Grill Lounge anytime. We could not use the Queens Grill Restaurant, but could use the Queens Grill Lounge. Also, the Queens Grill guests had a private sunning area that no one else was allowed to use.

We were like some of the other guests that said they were glad they did it once, but doubted they would do it again. If anyone has any specific questions, I will try to answer them.

If you didn’t see my previous post, pictures and the Princess Grill evening menus are posted at:

http://community.webshots.com/user/rcicruisers

Hope you enjoy both this review and the pictures.

Paul & Judy

Thanks Paul / Judy very much for your informative review & excellent photos. I am curious to ask why you might not want to return to QM2?

Kind Regards,

RJMS74

Thank you so much for the post. I too am wondering why you wouldn't go on the QM2 again. I have been on 4 Celebrtiy, 1 Carnival and 1 RCCL, Celebrity is my favorite. My husband gave me the 4/22 transatlantic crossing on the QM2 for my 40th b-day gift and was very excited as the travel agent told him that this ship is the best of the best. We are in Queens grill, so I have heard that the food will be much better than Celebrity. Please share any thoughts you may have.

Thanks,

Elly

Thanks! Wish we had booked the princess grill earlier as it sold out by the time we decided to upgrade.

On the April 2,2005 Caribbean & can't wait.

Chuck & Phyllis

There's a couple reasons we wouldn't do it again. Cost is one of them. We can do 2 1/2 cruise on orther lines for what we paid. And we took advantage of a deal that was offered that was a little better than a 2 for 1 for the P1 cabin we had. We also like more of an outside ship than the QM2 is. The top center deck is where the helipad is and it is just a big open area with no shade. The area around the aft pool is small and doesn't have any shade either.

The food in the PG & the QG is prepared by the same kitchen and is prepared to order. The only less than excellent meal we had (including breakfast and lunch) was on evening when our table mates had a veal dish and we had the sirloin steak and we all said what we had was more than a little tough. The appetizers, soups and desserts were consistently excellent. You will enjoy the Queens Grill very much. Make sure you go the tea in the Queens Grill Lounge and have the scones.

Your pictures are wonderful - I must download them - for some strange reason, I didn't take very many while on board. We were also on the QM2 Jan 15th - we were in 5076 hull balcony. Having been on QE2 Caronia class, I wasn't sure how being in the "mass" class would be - but I found it very nice - there were a few nicer things on Caronia class, but I didn't think there was enough difference in Britannia on QM2 vs. P or Q class, to pay the extra - based on your comments, I think I was correct. Therefore, I would do QM2 again, and stay on the 5th floor again, too. I was very impressed with how nice our room was - very spacious, comfortable bed, lots of storage (even in the bathroom). The balcony was very nice and nice cushions on the chairs. I do wish they had put a glass shower door like QE2 - I think the white curtain is "cheap". I agree with all your comments - we didn't do many of the same things you didn't and did what you did. But I thought it was wonderful and felt I did get a good value for what I spent. I wish they would put another class on QM2 to have that "just a little bit better" - I never used anything other than my Caronia restaurant on QE2 for breakfast, lunch and dinner because the food was so wonderful. I did find King's Court buffet for breakfast better than QE2 buffet (I tried it once) - My husband did lunch in King's Court and once or twice and thought it was fine. They did have good cookies and loved the ice cream machine! That ship makes you feel very special.

Hi Gardenbunny - I had your cabin # from one of your posts and kept telling Judy we needed to stop by and say hi if you were in your cabin, but we never made it. Glad you liked the pictures and wish we had taken the time to try to meet you. It just seemed we were busier doing things on this cruise than on some others. It was a big ship to explore and even tho we got to most places I'm sure we missed some.

Paul

Thank you so much for the post. I too am wondering why you wouldn't go on the QM2 again. I have been on 4 Celebrtiy, 1 Carnival and 1 RCCL, Celebrity is my favorite. My husband gave me the 4/22 transatlantic crossing on the QM2 for my 40th b-day gift and was very excited as the travel agent told him that this ship is the best of the best. We are in Queens grill, so I have heard that the food will be much better than Celebrity. Please share any thoughts you may have.

Thanks,

Elly

Twinkltoes915-

Just read that you are doing a TA. I have done one trans on the QM2 and thought it was an incredible experience. I am to do another one in June. I too have been in the QG for all my trips and the service is incredible!

Enjoy and happy early bday!!!

Gardenbunny, re your above on 5th deck. Thank you, we are on the August 9th crossing 6th deck outside (hull balcony) and from all the posts thought we had made a big mistake. Your post helped settle our nerves.