Curious about Cunard

[Shamrock990]

Good morning,

 

Having recently come back from our first cruise with p and o we are hooked and looking for our next one! We looked to the Cunard brochure on board and saw the queen Victoria when we came back to Southampton and are thinking this could be the one for us!

We were wondering if someone could give us a feel for what it's like on board. Is this the type of company people bring children on? Our cruise was an adult only and we would prefer to steer clear of children if possible. Do the ships feel busy and are there q's for everything? Our ship only had 700 passengers so we are not sure what it would be like with a few thousand more!

Someone told us that Cunard were quite strict with their dress codes? We don't mind that too much but just nice to know what to expect. Any wisdom you can pass on to us Cunard virgins would be much appreciated. Many thanks

 

 

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[Host Hattie]

Welcome to the Cunard board, Junior Cruisers has written a very thorough review of his recent trip, it's a great place to start.

[Shamrock990]

Thanks. Where will I find that?

 

 

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[Host Hattie]

Scroll down a bit !

[Shamrock990]

Ok thanks

 

 

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[Scrapnana]

The time of year and the length of the voyage often determine the number of children. Shorter cruises and/or ones during school holidays will have more children. On the 2014 World Voyage we had one teenager who did the full world but small numbers (never more than about ten) were on some of the segments.

 

I did not find too many queues. Sometimes there would be some people waiting for tea time in the Queens Room or waiting for a tender at port. Longest queues were when immigration was held onboard (but that has more to do with the country and number of officials processing immigration than the cruise ship).

 

I have spent 130 days on QE and loved all of them. I do enjoy dressing for dinner. If you want every night casual night, Cunard is not really your best choice. Same is true if you are looking for bumper cars, ice skating rinks, and rock climbing walls. Cunard still has plenty of activities to keep you busy (if you want to be:D) and have a fantastic range of guest lecturers.

[Shamrock990]

For me I think cruising should be about being formal in the evening,makes it more special. I love the grandeur look of Cunard.It sounds as if children running about wouldn't be too much of a problem compared to other ships(adult only Arcadia on p and o,don't have our dates and oriana hasn't had good reviews and the other ships seem too family based) now to persuade the other half [emoji12]

 

 

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[BigMac1953]

Hi Shamrock

 

There quite a difference between P & O and Cunard. As has been mentioned, there is a stricter dress code with jackets required every night.

 

The entertainment is much better on Cunard, with at least two pianists, a harpist, string quartet and other guest musicians. There will be concerts throughout the trip and music with the afternoon tea in the Queens Room.

 

You will rarely have to queue for anything as there is much more space per passenger. In fact there are times when you would swear that there's hardly 200 on board, never mind 2000.

 

Food is much better as it is all prepared on board (unlike P & O).

 

We are Diamond with Cunard, but have been on one P & O. That only reinforced our view and in future we'll stick to Cunard.

 

Hope to see you some time!

 

Stewart

[HellouB]

When we went on an 18 day Christmas cruise on QE there were 45 children among the 2000 guests, most were the children of the crew. My daughter was 12 at the time and was the only child in the second sitting. Apart from Christmas day festivities in the ballroom we never really saw the other children as they tend to stay in the kids clubs.

 

As for the dress code, it is my opinion that it is more formal. I have certain dresses I wear for Cunard, others for P&O and again different for MSC.

[Shamrock990]

From the brochure alone you can see that Cunard is a higher quality than p and o. Onwards and upwards for us I think. Thanks for all your advice

 

 

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[majortom10]

Hi Shamrock

 

There quite a difference between P & O and Cunard. As has been mentioned, there is a stricter dress code with jackets required every night.

 

The entertainment is much better on Cunard, with at least two pianists, a harpist, string quartet and other guest musicians. There will be concerts throughout the trip and music with the afternoon tea in the Queens Room.

 

You will rarely have to queue for anything as there is much more space per passenger. In fact there are times when you would swear that there's hardly 200 on board, never mind 2000.

 

Food is much better as it is all prepared on board (unlike P & O).

 

We are Diamond with Cunard, but have been on one P & O. That only reinforced our view and in future we'll stick to Cunard.

 

Hope to see you some time!

 

Stewart

 

When you say the food is better than P&O because its all prepared onboard are you comparing like for like as Britannia restaurant or are you comparing Princess or Queens Grill with P&O.

Edited August 12, 2015 by majortom10

[BigMac1953]

When you say the food is better than P&O because its all prepared onboard are you comparing like for like as Britannia restaurant or are you comparing Princess or Queens Grill with P&O.

 

Interesting question.

 

I've only travelled Britannia on one occasion with my son. Normally it's QG with my wife (14 times).

 

Without doubt, Cunard's freshly made are far superior to P & O.

 

On Ventura, I was surprised by the amount of deep fried food on offer, that was until I found out that most dishes are prepared ashore and many are frozen. Cunard do not do do that, and, instead, prepare everything from scratch.

 

QG is something completely different.

[Pegase90]

I'm recently off QV after my first ever cruise. According to the Captain, the ship was full, but it never seemed like it; there was plenty of space.

 

Formal nights were great fun, and smartening up on the informal nights provided a change of pace and a punctuation in the day. We liked it, but a few didn't - they were with the wrong cruise line.

 

There were a few children on board, occasionally boisterous round the mid-ships pool, but well behaved (invisible!) elsewhere.

 

Food, service, accommodation, and entertainment were all delivered to a very high standard.

 

It wasn't cheap, but it was very good value for money. Cunard and QV exceeded all expectations, and we'll be back next year.

[Canuker]

To answer the Originator in one word:

 

Elegant.

[majortom10]

Interesting question.

 

I've only travelled Britannia on one occasion with my son. Normally it's QG with my wife (14 times).

 

Without doubt, Cunard's freshly made are far superior to P & O.

 

On Ventura, I was surprised by the amount of deep fried food on offer, that was until I found out that most dishes are prepared ashore and many are frozen. Cunard do not do do that, and, instead, prepare everything from scratch.

 

QG is something completely different.

 

So in a word you are comparing a P&O ship that has one standard of restaurant, except for speciality restaurant which you pay extra, with Queens Grill which is totally unfare in comparison to the cost of cruise. You should expect fresh and better food when you are paying £300+ per person a night in Queens Grill. The only way you compare on a level playing field is Britannia restaurants on Cunard to restaurants on P&O.

[Scriv]

Well, we have just returned from a short cruise on QE and dined very well in the Britannia restaurant - but also always dine very well in the P&O MDR Restaurants.

 

I would not say that food on QE is any better than P&O at all, but that both are of a very high standard.

Edited August 12, 2015 by Scriv

[Host Hattie]

I've only travelled on P&O once and the MDR food on Ventura was the worst I've had on a cruise ship (& yes that's compared to Britannia on Cunard).

 

To the OP, it sounds like Cunard should be a good fit.

[LadyL1]

I have only been on P&O once, and will not ever do so again.

One look at the menu on the first evening sent us to the premium restaurant: it became an expensive cruise. Even paying the supplement we occasionally found very slow service, and Sindhu a rip off!

I have travelled both Grills and Britannia on Cunard, and without a doubt find the food superior in both. The formal nights on the Azura were a joke, so as you can guess P&O is not for me, but all things are subjective.

[BigMac1953]

I have only been on P&O once, and will not ever do so again.

One look at the menu on the first evening sent us to the premium restaurant: it became an expensive cruise. Even paying the supplement we occasionally found very slow service, and Sindhu a rip off!

I have travelled both Grills and Britannia on Cunard, and without a doubt find the food superior in both. The formal nights on the Azura were a joke, so as you can guess P&O is not for me, but all things are subjective.

 

Couldn't agree more!

 

On Ventura recently, we ate in the Epicurian (6 times) where we also had our breakfast every day, the Glass House, for the taster evening and East, also 6 times.

 

Even after paying all the extra supplements, we still were disappointed and will not be rushing back.

 

Stewart

[BigMac1953]

So in a word you are comparing a P&O ship that has one standard of restaurant, except for speciality restaurant which you pay extra, with Queens Grill which is totally unfare in comparison to the cost of cruise. You should expect fresh and better food when you are paying £300+ per person a night in Queens Grill. The only way you compare on a level playing field is Britannia restaurants on Cunard to restaurants on P&O.

 

You missed the point I'm afraid.

 

I wasn't comparing QG with P & O's MDR. In fact I stated that QG "is something completely different"

 

The big difference is that one Line only uses fresh ingredients and the other re-heats or deep fries ready meals (in the main).

 

Stewart

[Host Hattie]

 

The big difference is that one Line only uses fresh ingredients and the other re-heats or deep fries ready meals (in the main).

 

Stewart

 

That last sentence is proving controversial on the P&O board here, what makes you think that's the case ?

I can believe it, when we asked if we could choose how our "Rack of lamb" was cooked, the waiter just laughed !

[BigMac1953]

That last sentence is proving controversial on the P&O board here, what makes you think that's the case ?

I can believe it, when we asked if we could choose how our "Rack of lamb" was cooked, the waiter just laughed !

 

I am friendly with a retired Cunard/P & O senior officer who spilled the beans.

 

Do P & O do galley tours like Cunard?

[Host Hattie]

Thanks - I'm not sure about the galley tours, we didn't do one but I'm not sure if they were offered. I wasn't planning on repeating the experience anytime soon !

[BigMac1953]

Even in the Epicurean, there was a great deal of deep fried food. Ever had deep fried rice pudding? no? neither have I as I sent it back.

 

Some dishes are cooked to order, but very few.

 

Just about everything in the Glass House is either fried or deep fried.

[Shamrock990]

We ate in the ocean grill or sorrento for 5 nights out of seven. The food in the main dining room was ok but we never finished a meal there as the combinations were a bit odd and the food wasn't anything special.sorrento was ok and the portions were good but the ocean grill was fab and we would have eaten there every night if we could. I don't know if they do galley tours on p and o they certainly didn't do any kind of your on the Adonia. One day we went to the Pacific for lunch and I had what can only be described as poached pears in a basket of salty friend bread. A very odd combination. From junior cruisers review the food on board Cunard seems a little more "normal"[emoji6]

 

 

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