"Live from" Queen Elizabeth to the Mediterannean! My First Cunard Experience

[lovely_serenity]

Mom & Dad said the ginger was pretty good (I don’t like ginger though), but I tried the chocolate and it was pretty good:

 

 

Anyways, so after some waiting, our desserts finally began arriving!

 

Sis ordered the Coconut and Mint Choc Chip Ice Creams with Mango Sorbet and Cherry Sauce:

 

 

Which she actually found just okay. The mint was alright, the coconut wasn’t bad (though it was the best out of all of them) and the mango was just eh (not impressive). We had obviously become spoiled by gelato LOL.

 

I ordered the Warm Apple Strudel with Brandy Sauce:

 

 

I thought it was pretty good! Also, after everyone’s desserts have been placed, someone will come around with a gravy boat filled with vanilla ice cream scoops if you want one!

 

 

Mom ordered the Bicardi Rum Crème Brûlée:

 

 

Which was very tasty. Mom & Dad enjoyed it very much ^^.

 

And last but not least, Dad ordered the Chocolate Marquise with Bitter Orange Coulis:

 

 

Which he thought was not bad at all. Not bad at all c:

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great Sarah.

[pmb1]

Mom & Dad said the ginger was pretty good (I don’t like ginger though), but I tried the chocolate and it was pretty good: ...

Sarah, a taste for candied ginger is worth acquiring because it really does counter sea sickness.

[Scrapnana]

Those desserts really look good but creme brulee is always my first choice. A rum creme brulee sounds interesting. Another item for my food list!:)

[buckirj1]

I'm just now getting caught up. I loved your previous report on the Volendam, and I'm loving this one just as much. Thanks, Sarah!

[lovely_serenity]

(*Side note: Yay, okay today was the last day of school (ugh finally), and IT SNOWED TODAY. IMAGINE HOW FESTIVE AND SUPER EXCITED I AM FOR CHRISTMAS. :,D)

 

Anyways, something I liked was the fact that after dinner, there were always petit-fours offered! Most of the time, I got one of each (there are only 2 each time) to try them if they looked interesting. Tonight’s petit-fours were some kind of marshmallow rectangle, and fudgy brownie:

 

 

The marshmallow just tasted like a regular marshmallow, but the little fudge brownie piece was really good! I really liked it! It was chocolaty and delicious (:

 

Before heading out, we popped half a Bonine each and gulped it down with some ice water. We then got up, said thanks to Sebastiao and were on our way. As we left, I examined the people dressed and agreed with Dad that a full suit on informal night was too much. From that day on, he would wear a black t-shirt with his suit jacket instead (he still looked cooler than many other people c:).

 

As my family started exiting the restaurant, I called out for them to wait so that I could take these pictures:

 

 

 

 

I then proceeded to follow them out:

 

 

[lovely_serenity]

As we strolled down the hallway, we passed by a few interesting things. This pretty picture:

 

 

The entrance to the Britannia Club Restaurant:

 

 

(For those unfamiliar, the QE has 4 main dining rooms: the Britannia, the Club Britannia, the Princess Gill and the Queen’s Grill. The ones who dine in the are the inside staterooms/outside/balcony, the club balcony, the mini-suites, and the full suites/penthouse suites respectively.)

 

As well as this map depicting our location:

 

 

We then proceeded to explore all of the lower decks. We’d first pass by the Café Carinthia to our right:

 

 

Which was adjacent to the atrium:

 

 

[lovely_serenity]

 

 

We kept walking and passed the EOS String Quartet:

 

 

And took a minute to admire the lovely portrait of her Majesty:

 

 

Now that we were on the subject of the Queen, I had watched the video on Youtube of her Majesty during the coronation of the Cunard QE, and spotted all of the places she was at (LOL). First was looking at the painting, and the second was this spot in the atrium. Below is a screen cap of the video, depicting the Queen (blue!) and Captain Christopher Wells:

 

 

And then here’s me! (I purposely had this picture taken because I saw that video LOL):

 

 

So now I can proudly say that I stood where the Queen stood, and touched a railing that she touched as well LOL.

[lovely_serenity]

Anyhow, we continued and passed through Cunard Place & the Book Shop:

 

 

 

 

(Hehe you can see my family on the right all dressed up :D)

 

And wound up in the downstairs portion of the Queen’s Room. We were greeted by this statue/bust:

 

 

As well as this pretty painting:

 

 

We passed through the Queen’s Room, and continued passed the casino and Golden Lion’s Pub as well:

 

[QM2 fan]

Sarah-just wanted to say how much I am enjoying your report-keep it up!

[Ray66]

As we left, I examined the people dressed and agreed with Dad that a full suit on informal night was too much. From that day on, he would wear a black t-shirt with his suit jacket instead

 

Sorry, I have to disagree with you there. You're never over-dressed on a Cunard ship.

 

The Cunard website says Informal evenings would consist of a required jacket and optional tie for gentlemen. which I always take to mean a shirt under the jacket.

 

Love all your photos by the way. Well done!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Wonderful review Sarah.

[Jules 1970]

 

First time I saw this portrait of Queen Elizabeth, I just thought that the artist had painted the Queen's left hand incorrectly.

Excellent photos Sarah lot's of brown's ,gold's and yellows.

The Ship look's well clean.

[lovely_serenity]

We passed by the Golden Lion’s Pub:

 

 

And I took a quick peek inside (from through the windows):

 

 

 

We continued on our way to explore since it was still pretty early. Here’s a picture of the elevator areas:

 

And this picture in front of the theatre:

 

 

As well as the Royal Court Theatre:

 

 

Since we saw that the theatre doors were kept tightly shut when the show was not in motion, we turned back around and headed back over to the area of casinos and crowds:

 

 

Apparently, there was some sort of event going on next to the casino area going on. (By the way, if you go down the staircase on the right, the Queen went down that stair case too, touching the lower hand railing :D)

[lovely_serenity]

By the way, Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to everyone! (: I hope you guys spend your holidays safe and surrounded by your loved ones.

 

P.S. From Christmas until New Years, I'm sorry if I don't update, but I'm going on a one week trip to Shanghai. Just going to eat some good food and shop :P

Edited December 24, 2013 by lovely_serenity

[lovely_serenity]

I then spent a couple minutes checking out the party that was going on down there:

 

 

 

 

I proceeded to play ninja as I hung my top half over the railing to scope out what those people down there were eating ^^~

 

 

 

 

I still couldn’t tell :D

[lovely_serenity]

After losing interest in the party, we went on to explore the upper deck of the Queen’s Room. There are around 4 sets of these chairs on the balconies:

 

 

At this time, they were having a muster drill for those who missed the first one or got on late, hosted by our Entertainment (Cruise) Director, Amanda Reid:

 

 

We then spent some time taking pictures of each other, dressed up prettily. The muster drill wrapped up, and everyone disappeared before we even realized it. Replacing them was a band that played music, and a couple who danced to it. It was this couple that was very professional and danced very well:

 

 

After the professional couple finished dancing, a regular couple (that was pretty good too) started dancing as well:

 

 

It was quite enjoyable to watch for a while.

 

Dad soon called me to follow along, or they were going to leave me behind. We walked in through the Cunarder’s Gallery area:

 

 

And walked through it. We then went to the other Gallery area, with which our photos were displayed:

 

 

We actually couldn’t find any photos we liked enough to buy during the entire trip! :/ Aw.

[lovely_serenity]

We headed upstairs to check out lido and look for a post-dinner snack:

 

 

 

I noticed this bulletin board as we entered. It had today’s embarkation lunch menu posted on it:

 

 

As well as the itinerary of our cruise (part of it at least) & the special Lido dinner meal types (the extra cost alternative dining option) for each day:

 

 

This was when I noticed something odd. Why’d it say Sea Day #2 was a formal night (although I’d actually prefer it this way)? On the website, it had originally deemed Sea Day #1, Katakolon, Rhodes and Sea Day #3 formal nights. Hm. Weird.

 

After staring at it for a while, I went to go look at the food:

 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2013 by lovely_serenity

[lovely_serenity]

 

After looking around for a while, we finally got our things and plopped down at a booth. Here was what we ate:

 

 

(By the way, you see that pasta right there? Yeah, Dad went to the pasta station and created it to his liking. The pasta chef guys did it exactly the way he requested. It tasted better than the pasta I ate at dinner. o_o Delicious.)

 

 

We also got some drinks from the drink station. This is where I met an old friend. Sir Iced Tea. Yes. You heard me. Iced. Tea. Mister deceiving himself.

 

 

I was already skeptical before I took a drink after last time I got tricked. Turns out I was right! Instead of your typical Nestea kind of drink, it was literally just tea with ice. Bleh. We got some orange juice though, that was good.

 

 

Edited December 24, 2013 by lovely_serenity

[Scrapnana]

Great pictures, Sarah. The food looks delicious and I added a few more things to my list. I am glad to see that Cunard has trays in the buffet (many cruise lines are doing away with them). Have a good time in Shanghai!

[david,Mississauga]

Great pictures, Sarah. The food looks delicious and I added a few more things to my list. I am glad to see that Cunard has trays in the buffet (many cruise lines are doing away with them). Have a good time in Shanghai!

 

I hope you mean doing away with buffets, but I suspect you mean the trays. Sorry, you can't blame me for hoping. (A smiley face would be here if my computer would co-operate!)

[Jules.]

It is interesting to see that your dinner menu for the first night is either the same as, or similar to, the one we had on our first night. I can remember that I had the mushroom for my main course, and the Baileys creme brule for pudding :)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great pictures Sarah.

[Whitemarsh]

 

Loving these pictures Sarah. :) They really are increasing the excitement for my upcoming cruise on QE.

Edited December 28, 2013 by Whitemarsh

[Lottie A]

I think Whitemarsh may have been quoteing "tongue in cheek" above.....possibly? If I am wrong then I apologise.

 

However I find your Blog from "a teen point of view" extremely entertaining Sarah and I like your pics very much. If you look at the views of your thread it appears I am not alone.

Please carry on when you return from Shanghai as we are all waiting for your next instalment.

 

And I have to say that I am now even more excited about my upcoming QE cruise. Even though I have been on her several times, your pics have reminded me how beautiful she is. Just eight days to go now. :)

 

Thank you for your commitment in putting your highly detailed Blog together and I hope you ate well and shopped til you dropped in Shanghai. :D