QV Aug 12th

Hello everybody

Just off the Adriatic trip, here's what we thought:

Grills food and staff - excellent, no change there.

All other staff we met - excellent, no change there.

Tea & coffee in the cabin - really good, especially the Illi coffee machine.

Refit - really good, the ship looked fine, and absorbed the additional passengers easily.

Lido buffet - really good, no cause to complain about content, quality, or presentation.

Dress code - average, many people ignored the after 6pm rule. Formal evenings were better.

Live music - average, in that there didn't seem to be as much as there used to be; subjective I know.

Grills Lounge - average, reduced staffing, reduced opening hours

Drinks - average, overpriced for what is delivered. The bars were quiet - Laffers principle?

Piped music - awful, unnecessary, turn it off.

Grills afternoon tea - terrible, delivered in the Princess Grill restaurant, poor content and presentation.

Commodore Rind said there were 893 crew on board, I think there used to be over 1000.

Overall, our impression is that the standard has been allowed to slip, with cost cutting clearly evident, and price increases with no discernible improvement in quality, quantity, or service.

Previously, booking Cunard Grills was a "no brainer" for us, but we'll look for better value for money in 2019 - even if it means paying more elsewhere.

Sorry to hear that the afternoon tea was terrible, were they serving in the restaurant because the lounge was full ?

Sorry to hear that the afternoon tea was terrible, were they serving in the restaurant because the lounge was full ?

No. The lounge now has limited opening hours. consequently it is rarely busy. The staff are assigned elsewhere on the ship, and afternoon tea is served in the Princess Grill. On previous trips, the waiters brought selections of sandwiches and pastries for us to choose, but now pre loaded multi tiered plates are delivered as follows:

Plate one - 5 finger sandwiches (no choice), one each and a spare!

Plate two - 4 scones

Plate three - 4 pastries (no choice).

We were told that if we wanted more, all we had to do was ask.

Afternoon tea in the Grills Lounge has always been a highlight of our previous trips, and the new presentation and delivery left us feeling cheated. It doesn't match what is shown on Cunard's website and in their Grills sales literature.

No doubt we could have complained, but that misses the point.

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Not that I ever took part, but afternoon tea was served in the Princess Grill restaurant on Elizabeth too. I prefer a mug of tea outside if the weather is clement.

I wouldn't say the lounge hours are restricted as it's always open and available but the bar staffing hours have been trimmed. Last orders were 11pm! Staff then went on elsewhere, The Yacht Club I think.

That sounds a bit more like a traditional hotel afternoon tea

We have rarely found the Grills Lounge to be a hive of activity. Mid morning and afternoon it seems to attract the crossword crowd who then remain in the armchairs snoozing (especially so, on round trip S'ton cruises) That is fine if that is what gives them an enjoyable holiday! The only time the bar staff seem to be truly busy is for pre-dinner drinks, so perhaps it is not surprising that the bar closes at 11.00pm now. As for the plated afternoon tea, well.... that is how it is done in Claridges and the Ritz, but it was nice to have a choice of pastries from the server. Sadly Cunard hardly ever reverse decisions of this sort. Must remember to put this on the questionaire in future.

Interesting about the afternoon tea...

We were on QV in July/Aug and it was served in the lounge. Usual standard and platters brought around for you to choose what you'd like from. They even went out onto the terrace to serve people.

It was very full though, so maybe that's why they've moved it to the Princess Grill restaurant.

That sounds a bit more like a traditional hotel afternoon tea

Indeed it does.

I had afternoon tea years ago at The Grand in Brighton, and that's how it was presented.

We were on the 19-26 Aug part of this trip. We love Cunard (tried Po & Princess last couple of years). We live that, despite being full, she didn't feel crammed and there was a relaxed atmosphere. It was our first fly cruise experience. We live an hour away from Southampton so it's really handy. It felt a bit of a hassle getting to the ship but it was worth it. We don't live Cunard style at home so enjoy the luxuries. We did notice some changes - fortunately not enough to spoil our trip but enough for us to look at other lines/options for future trips. Drinks were expensive- we certainly drank less than usual. I didn't use the spa - which I have before - as it seemed so costly. 22% tax was high as we were in EU waters and if anyone wanted to buy duty free alcohol/cigs they'd have been disappointed as they weren't on sale. There were less staff wandering around selling/delivering drinks on deck. I liked that the photographers were more subtle. Kettles in the room - great!

Refit - was worried that the club restaurant would create a dull corridor on the way to the Britannia restaurant but it actually looks lovely. (Despite a carpet issue! The end panel was wonky!)

We found the staff to be excellent- as always.

We were on early sitting (not by choice!) and found that getting dressed up (which we love to do) was very early, missing the best part of the day!

All in all - a wonderful week which was topped off by meeting the most amazing table mates.

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I hope this picture works! It shows (not very clearly) the final section of new carpet which was wonky/off centre. Not good for those of us with a touch of OCD.

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It was hard to capture it on camera but in 'real life' it was very obvious. The blue oblong was not parallel to the edges and none of it matched the other sections of carpet.

It didn't spoil my trip of course and caused some hilarity amongst our new friends. Someone signed off on that work but shouldn't have! The rest of the ship is immaculate and beautiful.

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Thanks for reporting back and thanks for the carpet photos ! It's good to hear that overall she looks good.

We were on QE Iceland cruise earlier this month and afternoon tea was in Princess Grill and it was really poor, 2 sandwiches and one scone each with some mystery concoction with passed for cream. Grills lounge was always busy but staff limited as described, concierge hours appeared reduced. QG restaurant was excellent

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