Scarey reviews ?

[Danapoint]

I have a courtesy booking for the 11/21/21 sailing from New York to the Caribbean.  I just read some reviews that were very discouraging.  There were reports of rust and disrepair, horrible food, poor coordination of tours and port transportation and other passengers in ill health.  I want to experience the Queen Mary 2 because of the luxury associated with it.  I am wondering if I am making a mistake.  I know that when people are unhappy they often squawk loudly while people who had a good time will enjoy their memories and not write about them. I have been to the Caribbean many times.  The purpose of this cruise is the experience of the Queen Mary leaving from and returning to New York, avoiding overseas travel.  Any thoughts from former travelers are appreciated

[BigMac1953]

There are actually two ships named Queen Mary 2 both operated by Cunard.

 

The first is an old rust bucket, with many broken bits and faulty equipment. They only have surly staff and service is terrible. Entertainment is non-existent and the shows are a load of old rubbish. The food comes out of a can and is inedible.

 

Fortunately, I've only ever been on the other one (about 12 times) and found it to be excellent. The staff are always courteous, polite and attentive. Never had any complaints about the food or service. The entertainment is first class and the lectures always interesting. Fellow passengers have always been a delight.

 

My advice is just make sure you get the right ship and everything will be fine and most enjoyable.

 

Stewart 

[exlondoner]

I too have always sailed on the same ship as BigMac. I am sure I have experienced occasional things that are less than satisfactory - the QG restaurant is rather gloomy and doesn't have much view from many tables, for instance - but generally speaking I have always had a wonderful time.

[Windsurfboy]

A back to back Transatlantic may be the best way to get to know QM2

[Windsurfboy]

I've yet to find a hotel , ship, or restaurants that doesn't have a scary review or two.  There are just some people who are never satisfied,  one little thing goes wrong and they spend rest of time picking fault rather than enjoying themselves.

 

Just come back from a great week  away just before we left the hotel had a scary review,  like  Big Mac said about QM2 they must have been to a different hotel. Of course if there are a lot of scary reviews it's different

[wenlyn]

I've never been to the Caribbean but I've done a few QM2 TA the first before the refit that took out the lobby elevators and the rest since then and I've always found it enjoyable and elegant. There will be rust spots in places although the crew is constantly working to repaint them - but given her trademark atlantic crossings it's to be expected and I've never found it detracts from the overall glamour.

The food is generally good although your personal preferences and tastes may be different to mine. Toast in the MDR at breakfast is never as good as freshly toasting it yourself in the buffet. 🙂 

 

Leaving NY is stunning and arriving (although on TA's it's ridiculously early) should be experienced at least once, if only so you can think of those who travelled that way in search of a new life as well as the wealthy elite whose journey was so different. I've written a few reviews of our experiences on CC 

 

The insight lectures are really good, to the point you can find yourself sucked into attending ones you initially felt wouldn't appeal. We don't go to the shows so I can't comment but the ambience in the bars and live music around the ship does make you feel as if you are doing something special. The crossings allow you to make the journey whatever you want it to be. We've only done one port stop on QM2 and that was Halifax NS and that all went well so I'm sure they will be equally enjoyable in the Caribbean.

[Danapoint]

Thank you to everyone that replied to my post.  I have read that there are two Queen Mary 2's.  According to BigMac 1953 one is a rust bucket with horrible food, surly staff, etc. and the other is nice.  Is it possible that one is used for the trans Atlantic and the other for shorter trips ? How can I find out which on is being used on the 11/21/21 Caribbean cruise ?

[Solent Richard]

13 hours ago, Danapoint said:

I have a courtesy booking for the 11/21/21 sailing from New York to the Caribbean.  I just read some reviews that were very discouraging.  There were reports of rust and disrepair, horrible food, poor coordination of tours and port transportation and other passengers in ill health.  I want to experience the Queen Mary 2 because of the luxury associated with it.  I am wondering if I am making a mistake.  I know that when people are unhappy they often squawk loudly while people who had a good time will enjoy their memories and not write about them. I have been to the Caribbean many times.  The purpose of this cruise is the experience of the Queen Mary leaving from and returning to New York, avoiding overseas travel.  Any thoughts from former travelers are appreciated

Well of course you could rely on a review coming from the 'Horse's Mouth', even if you only scroll down to the summary...

 

https://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/2013/09/25/queen-mary-2-caribbean-christmas/

 

 

*****

 

[exlondoner]

I think to a large extent that you take your QM2 with you. So, if, like I do, you arrive at the terminal, full of excitement and thrilled at the thought of being aboard,  you will get the nice one. In my experience she doesn't only do the TAs.

[TouchstoneFeste]

18 minutes ago, Danapoint said:

Thank you to everyone that replied to my post.  I have read that there are two Queen Mary 2's.  According to BigMac 1953 one is a rust bucket with horrible food, surly staff, etc. and the other is nice.  Is it possible that one is used for the trans Atlantic and the other for shorter trips ? How can I find out which on is being used on the 11/21/21 Caribbean cruise ?

 

That was a joke. There's only one, but different people react to it differently.

 

[Splice the mainbrace]

15 hours ago, Danapoint said:

I have a courtesy booking for the 11/21/21 sailing from New York to the Caribbean.  I just read some reviews that were very discouraging.  There were reports of rust and disrepair, horrible food, poor coordination of tours and port transportation and other passengers in ill health.  I want to experience the Queen Mary 2 because of the luxury associated with it.  I am wondering if I am making a mistake.  I know that when people are unhappy they often squawk loudly while people who had a good time will enjoy their memories and not write about them. I have been to the Caribbean many times.  The purpose of this cruise is the experience of the Queen Mary leaving from and returning to New York, avoiding overseas travel.  Any thoughts from former travelers are appreciated

 

We love QM2 but she could do with a lick of paint in places on the hull and superstructure, I'm sure that Cunard will see to that before welcoming people back on board again. The departure from Southampton is from 25th June and was with crew only.

 

Link below has commentary most relevant is from 57 minutes but there is more footage before that.

Ships TV - Queen Mary 2 and Marella Explorer Departing Port of Southampton with Commentary - YouTube

[lissie]

Plus any  review you are reading now was written pre-pandemic - so there will be foreever a pre and post 2020 gap in reviews. The ship probably hasn't changed (though personally I hope that Cunard has updated the onboard wifi while they have been laid  up), but the onboard experience may have. 

[Bigmike911]

At present the Queen Mary 2 does show a lot of Rust. I have been watching her coming and going from Southampton on the You Tube channel Solent Ships, When she is at anchorage in Weymouth Bay or at the pier in Southampton she cannot get the painting she needs. However, She is scheduled for a dry dock in Hamburg in September and I am sure she will come out of that looking nice and shiny and almost new. In my 15 voyages on her, I have rarely had any major staff issues and the one I did have traveling in a Q2 got fixed with a call to the Hotel Manager in ten minutes. If I did not think QM2 is very special, I would not have traveled 15 time on her, nor would I have two voyages scheduled for 2022. 

Edited July 7, 2021 by Bigmike911

[rakkor]

We are on this cruise and I can assure you there is nothing "Scary" about QM2, and like @BigMac1953 I have been lucky to only cruise and the nice QM2.

 

Like a lot in in life, satisfaction is subjective and some people are never happy, no matter how good things are, unfortunately these people also tend to to be the most vocal.

 

If you want to get an Idea of how we enjoyed it when we were on it in 2019 have a look at my blog in my signature below.

 

That's not to say Cunard don't get things wrong, but I find invariably when they do they manage to sort it out fairly well. And of course some things a totally outside their control.

[PORT ROYAL]

On 7/6/2021 at 5:58 AM, Danapoint said:

I have a courtesy booking for the 11/21/21 sailing from New York to the Caribbean.  I just read some reviews that were very discouraging.  There were reports of rust and disrepair, horrible food, poor coordination of tours and port transportation and other passengers in ill health.  I want to experience the Queen Mary 2 because of the luxury associated with it.  I am wondering if I am making a mistake.  I know that when people are unhappy they often squawk loudly while people who had a good time will enjoy their memories and not write about them. I have been to the Caribbean many times.  The purpose of this cruise is the experience of the Queen Mary leaving from and returning to New York, avoiding overseas travel.  Any thoughts from former travelers are appreciated

Think the majority of complaints are made by inveterate complainers, who feel a minor matter can be escalated to justify their grandiose feelings of self importance.  Then use social media in the search to find a listening ear.  

Complainers have often failed to register a concern whilst sailing, but waited to their arrival home to air their negative views on platforms such as CC, but strangely not with Cunard.

With some, may even be driven by an element of inverted snobbery.

In truth, whatever their perceived grievances, albeit petty reasons or lame excuses, for not sailing again on Cunard, their presence on Cunard’s ships will not be missed by Cunarders.

 

 

 

 

[Bigmike911]

Just now, PORT ROYAL said:

Think the majority of complaints are made by inveterate complainers, who feel a minor matter can be escalated to justify their grandiose feelings of self importance.  Then use social media in the search to find a listening ear.  

Complainers have often failed to register a concern whilst sailing, but waited to their arrival home to air their negative views on platforms such as CC, but strangely not with Cunard.

With some, may even be driven by an element of inverted snobbery.

In truth, whatever their perceived grievances, albeit petty reasons or lame excuses, for not sailing again on Cunard, their presence on Cunard’s ships will not be missed by Cunarders.

 

 

 

 

Amen. There are persistent posters with thousands of posts and if you read some of them, you know they never have a nice thing to say about anything. You probably have seen them. 

[majortom10]

Cannot see how anyone can not like QM2 our favourite ship and love roundtrip TAs.

[shipgeeks]

Well, now you've got me thinking about reviews.  I've never written one, and I stopped reading them a long time ago.  But if I wanted to write one, here's an example of what I could have said:

We took a Carnival cruise a few years back.  It was by far the dullest, least active, least fun cruise, out of 40+, that we've ever been on.  We were the only ones who went to the disco all week.  When we came out of dinner each night, we went in search of venues with people in them.  No people.  During the day, there was no partying on pool deck or elsewhere.  It was not a nursing home charter. There was a variety of ages onboard.  There were no rough seas, so I don't think anyone was lying abed.  For whatever reason, we just never came across any "fun".

All of that is true.  So, if I wanted to post a review, I could title it (in bold type, maybe all caps) "Carnival Lies! Not a Fun Ship!".  Maybe I could use the word "scam!".  Maybe "Never Again Carnival!!"  And maybe I could forget to mention the fact that our cabin was nice, food was quite acceptable, crew were pleasant and capable.