Live from…. Victoria, Cunard Vs Celebrity, Grills Vs the Retreat

[Victoria2]

Oh a bit of 'Phew' as far as might be impressed cabin wise. We always are every time we step through those double doors.

It's a good start. 🙂

 

[LadyL1]

As CPs is an entirely different company, the fact that no porters around is surely nothing to do with Cunard. Probably porters would mean more expensive parking, and there are plenty of trollies available for the short trundle.

Cunard ships usually return to departure berth, but the Port authority allocate berths, often depending on size of ships in that day. The berth you departed from is always used for P&O’s new mega ships, as recently adapted for the purpose.

Enjoy your trip as Queens Grill is lovely. We have done a few Celebrity trips and once had a suite under the buffet restaurant: never again (on any line). I wonder why marine architects think that premium cabins should go in such areas?🤔 Perhaps they need to go on a cruise!!🤣

[groryjm]

14 hours ago, LadyL1 said:

As CPs is an entirely different company, the fact that no porters around is surely nothing to do with Cunard. Probably porters would mean more expensive parking, and there are plenty of trollies available for the short trundle.

Cunard ships usually return to departure berth, but the Port authority allocate berths, often depending on size of ships in that day. The berth you departed from is always used for P&O’s new mega ships, as recently adapted for the purpose.

Enjoy your trip as Queens Grill is lovely. We have done a few Celebrity trips and once had a suite under the buffet restaurant: never again (on any line). I wonder why marine architects think that premium cabins should go in such areas?🤔 Perhaps they need to go on a cruise!!🤣

One thing I find odd is that the Q1s, the top suites, are at the back over the props at one of the worst points on bard for movement yet the Q2s  are at the optimum point of the ship,  Mid ship .

[groryjm]

To continue….

 

The announcement came through at 1pm that boarding could commence and within ten minuets we were on board and making our way to our room via a brief check-in at our designated muster station. A very quick and efficient and far speedier  muster drill than watching a video on mass. On arrival at our suite we were greeted by our room attendant who showed us around our suite and frantically phoned our butler. Apparently he was waiting down in the lobby looking for a green coloured card that is usually given to upper Queens Grills guests but had obviously been forgotten post pandemic.

 

I did a quick room tour which I have posted on YT but the upload is being very slow

This is the link (when eventually it uploads). Despite the niggling cost of the wifi it is somewhat infuriating th it automatically disconnects after about and hour requiring a lengthy login process before reconnection!

 

 

 

Once we had been shown our room and realised our luggage had beaten us there we head to the queens gril to find our table, a lovely window seat. Lunch was excellent and I was pleased to find as anticipated the food far exceeded that we were accustomed to in Luminae’ Xs suite dining venue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Gastrognome ordered the Lobster thermidore for dinner that evening. It is very nice to have the menus for the evening at lunch. We also discovered that night that the next days menus along with the daily were waiting for us on return to the room. A nice little touch that X could learn from.
 

Edited October 13, 2022 by groryjm

[Host Hattie]

Great room tour, thank you very much for posting. Looking forward to reading more.

[Victoria2]

I hope the rest of your trip goes as well as it seems to have started.

[Victoria2]

7 hours ago, groryjm said:

One thing I find odd is that the Q1s, the top suites, are at the back over the props at one of the worst points on bard for movement yet the Q2s  are at the optimum point of the ship,  Mid ship .

Before QVs major refit years ago, the 1s didn't have balconies. They had terraces which could easily host functions for a crowd.  They were huge and the big draw which outweighed any possible motion problems.

The new ship has both 1s and 2s situated mid ships. 

[Host Hattie]

Pre-refit Q1 balcony/terrace, I really don't remember much movement!

[groryjm]

And we’re off……. Very pleasant sail away as the sun set over the Isle of Wight. We had friends on the balcony for a drink and the Q2 balcony is perfect for such things. It is about the same depth as the royal suite (RS) balcony on an X S class ship but the Q2 one feels slightly larger as it has no hot tub and two doors on to it.

 

 

Overall the suite is great but we do miss the second guest bathroom and while the wardrobe space is similar its is all in the bedroom. I am used to having my jackets and shirts in the wardrobe in the living room in an RS which I think I prefer. The draws in the bedroom dressing area look great and are plentiful but as they are quite worn the bottom of each draw grates against the one below it meaning the soft close doesn’t really work and opening one opens the aw above at the same time.

 

This is very much a first world problem but there are no magnets on the doors to hold them open so when one doesn’t close them they move quite a lot with the roll. It is a little detail but it does make difference. I suspect it is only the Q1s and Q2s which would be effected

 

https://studio.youtube.com/video/kPRI33IjVhc

 

 

There is also a lovely pack of 10 Penhaligon’s scents in the guest dressing room which is a nice little touch. Interesting watching them at sea though…..

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCynDHl4bwa1YmBA4hXCPmyA/

 

Dinner was excellent and I will publish all the menus later but in the meantime something to wet your appetites. The food in Queens grill is I have to say exceeding my expectations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cheese though while good was not the best

 

 

Coffee and petit fours were excelent

 

 

.... and my Mr Black Boulivardier in the Grills lounge was made to perfecton

 

 

I even made myself a pretty good negroni before bed 😎

 

 

Moon rise over East Anglia

 

Edited October 13, 2022 by groryjm

[Host Hattie]

Looks good and it's good to hear the cocktail was up to scratch, I guess that could have been a deal breaker!

[Victoria2]

Definitely first world problem but I completely agree with groryjm about the lack of a guest loo. 

We didn't have any drawer problems in 7085  but all in all, sounds pretty promising so far.

[Se1lad]

The food looks great - apart from the cheese which looks rather disappointing!

[cruiseny4life]

Thank you for this review/comparison. I'm loving hearing how things compare to other lines. I'm constantly looking at other options than the Haven, thinking I may be able to get my husband away from that just to experiment with another cruise outfit. Variety is good to me, not so great to him as he appreciates familiar. 

 

The food looks very good, small portions, but I suppose as a "British" line, it is to be expected. 

 

Wishing you fair seas as you continue your lovely trip.

[groryjm]

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

Thank you for this review/comparison. I'm loving hearing how things compare to other lines. I'm constantly looking at other options than the Haven, thinking I may be able to get my husband away from that just to experiment with another cruise outfit. Variety is good to me, not so great to him as he appreciates familiar. 

 

The food looks very good, small portions, but I suppose as a "British" line, it is to be expected. 

 

Wishing you fair seas as you continue your lovely trip.

 The portions are small but we have found it very refreshing, Being able to manage a desert with out feeling totaly stuffed is a really nice change. I know I should learn to eat only what I want but I was brought up to think it bad manners not to finish a plate so having smaller portions is great and probably better for my health.

 

We have become very familliar with Celebrity and it has been nice to feel a slight thrill of something different 

[hawkesbaynz]

Great review! We usually are Celebrity cruisers too in various cabins. Although we have a few Oceania, Princess, and Celebrity cruises in the diary the next cruise I plan to book is Cunard. My wife has been aboard Queen Victoria on business and was wowed by her. Definitely booking a cruise on her or a sister Autumn 2024.

 

 

 

 

[Jacqueline]

It’s an interesting comparison as in both cases you are in the best cabin on a ship that’s not luxury. 
I have to agree that the biggest difference will be in dining. The small portions are great, as you can go through all the courses and enjoy the options without feeling ill. Two or three meals a day in the Grills is a lot of food!

The cabin, configuration and so on has a couple objective differences, as you fairly point out. 

Thank you for taking the time to post,

My travel isn’t based on brand loyalty but on destination. BUT Sometimes it’s nice to sail out of my home port and ditch the air. It’s a treat sailing out of NY!

[groryjm]

First of many sea days and what better way to start than breakfast in the Queens Grill. The food was excellent….. but while the window view is lovely it would have been better if the windows had been cleaned at some point. Perhaps when we are docked in Åndalsnes?.  I also noticed no mimosas or bloody marys are routinely offered and on asking not available in the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[groryjm]

Being a sea day gives us a great opportunity to explore the ship and take the ubiquitous photo of the grand lobby.

 

 

 

There is one thing that X ships lack and that is a full promenade deck around the ship which was lovely to walk around a couple of times. Xs walking / jogging track doent get you as close to the water.

 

 

 

 

 

The Grills terrace is also a great place for seeing the views . it is more extensive than the Retreat sun deck which is only available on a couple of the X ships. This deck I feel is a great asset to the Grills. It allows for some of the best views from the ship

  

 

[exlondoner]

10 hours ago, groryjm said:

 The portions are small but we have found it very refreshing, Being able to manage a desert with out feeling totaly stuffed is a really nice change. I know I should learn to eat only what I want but I was brought up to think it bad manners not to finish a plate so having smaller portions is great and probably better for my health.

 

We have become very familliar with Celebrity and it has been nice to feel a slight thrill of something different 

If you think the portions are small, try the Beef Wellington or Ducking à l’orange off the alc. 

[exlondoner]

In fact, given we are tackling meals of three courses, I would describe most of the portions as rather too large, if anything.

[groryjm]

4 hours ago, exlondoner said:

If you think the portions are small, try the Beef Wellington or Ducking à l’orange off the alc. 

I'm looking forward to trying it tonight 😎

[groryjm]

2 hours ago, exlondoner said:

In fact, given we are tackling meals of three courses, I would describe most of the portions as rather too large, if anything.

In comparison to Celebrity the portions generally seem smaller. Especially compared to their speciality restaurants 

 

[exlondoner]

Just now, groryjm said:

In comparison to Celebrity the portions generally seem smaller. Especially compared to their speciality restaurants 

 

I imagine there is a fair amount of plate wastage. Is that the right term?

[groryjm]

3 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

I imagine there is a fair amount of plate wastage. Is that the right term?

I believe they call it feeding the fish 🤣🤣🤣

[DaisyUK]

Enjoying travelling along with you. We are just off the QE in a Q2 and couldn't agree more about the 2nd WC. Not sure whether the layout is identical on QV, but we spent time walking around in circles looking for the 2nd loo - couldn't believe there wasn't one. That room next to the WC with another dressing table in was a very strange decision we thought. No natural light at all and a perfectly good dressing table in the bedroom, plus a desk in the living room which would have worked fine as a makeshift dressing table if someone was using the sofa bed. The lack of a 2nd loo gave us pause for thought if we wanted to do a longer cruise - I remember last time we were on Regent we caught some stomach bug and without 2x loos we would have been in serious trouble!!