Differences between QM2 and QV (atmosphere, not physical)

[neeuqdrazil]

I've done 3 TAs on QM2, and adored them, and one Alaska on HAL, which was just OK. I've booked a Panama Canal transit (16 days!) in early 2024 on QV, and I'm curious about the differences in atmosphere between QM2 and QV. 

 

I tend to spend my days aboard going to Insights lectures and reading or knitting in one of the lounges - my usual haunt on QM2 is the Carinthia Lounge, which I know that QV doesn't have. 

 

I really appreciate the calm on board QM2 - even when fully booked, she doesn't generally feel crowded (although on the last TA, the Carinthia was packed twice daily for trivia), and you can always find somewhere to sit and relax on your own. 

 

For those of you who have sailed both, what are the differences you've noticed between the two? 

[milamber]

Queen Mary is obviously much more stable. QV behaves more like a normal cruise ship. The other main difference for us is the location of the Queens Room. It's central on the QV so less private for any dancing, zumba or classical recitals. Other than that, there are obviously design differences, but the atmosphere is the same. Calm, refined and lots to do. I'm sure if you like the QM2, you'll like the QV too. We are happy on either of them. On the QV now as it happens. Its lovely, as usual

[exlondoner]

The corridors and some public rooms on QV have rather lower ceilings and seem cosier. But the atmosphere is (nearly) always calm and serene, and spaces are rarely crowded. I always enjoy sitting in the window of the Commodore Club, watching the sea, during the day.

[Victoria2]

I love Victoria and I'm not a fan of QM2 although I must state the longest I've spent on her in one go is four nights.

 

First off, Victoria is a cruise ship. Mary isn't. I find Mary a bit stuffy and  she reminds me of an elderly relative who clings to faded decor of the Edwardian era. For me that affects the atmosphere as it's certainly not the passengers who are stuffy, well not the ones I came across.

 

I would say QM2 leans to a more formal feeling rather than the warm feeling of Victoria. Lovely people on both but right or wrong, QV comes over to me as a far more friendly ship.

 

 

[Bigmike911]

1 minute ago, Victoria2 said:

I love Victoria and I'm not a fan of QM2 although I must state the longest I've spent on her in one go is four nights.

 

First off, Victoria is a cruise ship. Mary isn't. I find Mary a bit stuffy and  she reminds me of an elderly relative who clings to faded decor of the Edwardian era. For me that affects the atmosphere as it's certainly not the passengers who are stuffy, well not the ones I came across.

 

I would say QM2 leans to a more formal feeling rather than the warm feeling of Victoria. Lovely people on both but right or wrong, QV comes over to me as a far more friendly ship.

 

 

since I am several people' elderly uncle, I fit right in on QM2, which is my favorite of the two. I have to say my favorite thing about Mary is strolling on her genuine Teak deck seven decks above the sea, rather than the cheap composite deck three on Vickie. 

[Victoria2]

50 minutes ago, Bigmike911 said:

since I am several people' elderly uncle, I fit right in on QM2, which is my favorite of the two. I have to say my favorite thing about Mary is strolling on her genuine Teak deck seven decks above the sea, rather than the cheap composite deck three on Vickie. 

I prefer teak to composite too but the question was about atmosphere and not the hardware. 🙂

[tv24]

I found the Victoria to be a cruise ship in design, atmosphere, and activities, and thus similar (except for Cunard signatures like ballroom) to other cruise ships.  And that is what it is meant to be.  The QM2 is an ocean liner and is unique on the seas.  Vickie feels way more crowded, but I do love the Grills Lounge on her, very lively and well-designed.  My preference is QM2 because it is so spacious, quirky, unique.  I have several favorite corners on the QM2 and return to them.

[Victoria2]

56 minutes ago, tv24 said:

I found the Victoria to be a cruise ship in design, atmosphere, and activities, and thus similar (except for Cunard signatures like ballroom) to other cruise ships.  And that is what it is meant to be.  The QM2 is an ocean liner and is unique on the seas.  Vickie feels way more crowded, but I do love the Grills Lounge on her, very lively and well-designed.  My preference is QM2 because it is so spacious, quirky, unique.  I have several favorite corners on the QM2 and return to them.

Just to clarify in case any newbie to QV thinks oops, just like other cruise ships when reading your summing up of Victoria,  she  is a cruise ship but I found her activities  very similar to QM2 and the designers forgot the climbing wall, ice rink and dodgems.

[majortom10]

QM2 is our favourite ship of all that we have done in over 50 cruises in 25yrs. We have also sailed on QE/QV and to be honest in my opinion there is very little difference between the 2 to favour one or the other. I have always found the staff equal on whatever Cunard ship we have been on and cannot honestly say one is more friendly than the other as staff come and go and regularly change ships.

Edited December 14, 2022 by majortom10

[Victoria2]

Interesting. We find the staff fairly static on Victoria on the whole.

[tv24]

1 hour ago, Victoria2 said:

Just to clarify in case any newbie to QV thinks oops, just like other cruise ships when reading your summing up of Victoria,  she  is a cruise ship but I found her activities  very similar to QM2 and the designers forgot the climbing wall, ice rink and dodgems.

Right you are in that the QV is not like a ship from the Carnival, Royal Caribbean, or Norwegian line.  But it is similar to a cruise ship from HAL, Viking, or even Celebrity.  But with the Cunard features like ballroom and dress-up.

Edited December 14, 2022 by tv24

[Victoria2]

I'll go with HAL.

Not tried Viking and found Celebrity too glitzy.

[majortom10]

1 hour ago, Victoria2 said:

Interesting. We find the staff fairly static on Victoria on the whole.

On our cruise on QV chatting at length with a member of staff and was told that a lot of the staff when they returned to Southampton at the end of the cruise quiet a few were being transferred to QM2. She also told us she was going across to QM2 and that it was normal for Cunard to transfer staff across the fleet and not all stayed on same ship for full contract.

 

 

 

[Victoria2]

8 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

On our cruise on QV chatting at length with a member of staff and was told that a lot of the staff when they returned to Southampton at the end of the cruise quiet a few were being transferred to QM2. She also told us she was going across to QM2 and that it was normal for Cunard to transfer staff across the fleet and not all stayed on same ship for full contract.

 

 

 

Yes, staff do transfer but luckily for us, the usual suspects were all there apart from a new to the ship M'd who turned out to be a great replacement for Sandro. I recognised quite a few of the Ents staff too.

In talking to staff over the years, they all to a man/woman said Victoria was the happy ship.Who am I to argue!   😀

[Underwatr]

7 hours ago, exlondoner said:

The corridors and some public rooms on QV have rather lower ceilings and seem cosier.

I think that The Golden Lion on QV feels more like a pub than the one on QM2 due to the low ceilings and closed-in atmosphere.

[schattenfell71]

We were on both ships this year. A Norway tour with QV and a TA with QM2 and I have to say that I love the QV a little bit more.

 

Why?

 

The atmosphere is more familiar in my opinion. It is a smaller ship and more compact than the QM2. Everything which is hugh on QM2 is smaller and cosier on QV. I love the theater more at QV and the Lido restaurant is better planned with way more windows to sit.

 

If you like a more packed and familiar athmosphere than the QV is better.

 

But.....the QM2 is more...more stable. I had some seasickness on the Norway tour but nothing on the TA.

 

It was interesting for me also to compare these two ships because we only traveled with the QM2 before. If I would choose a ship for a world cruise (which we really plan to do in some years) I go for the QV.

[tv24]

1 hour ago, schattenfell71 said:

We were on both ships this year. A Norway tour with QV and a TA with QM2 and I have to say that I love the QV a little bit more.

 

Why?

 

The atmosphere is more familiar in my opinion. It is a smaller ship and more compact than the QM2. Everything which is hugh on QM2 is smaller and cosier on QV. I love the theater more at QV and the Lido restaurant is better planned with way more windows to sit.

 

If you like a more packed and familiar athmosphere than the QV is better.

 

But.....the QM2 is more...more stable. I had some seasickness on the Norway tour but nothing on the TA.

 

It was interesting for me also to compare these two ships because we only traveled with the QM2 before. If I would choose a ship for a world cruise (which we really plan to do in some years) I go for the QV.

Hopefully you will get the chance to sail a WC on QV.  A few years ago, we were on a long segment on the QV that was part of their world cruise and we chatted with several PAX who were in for the full deal.  They were having a great time.

[majortom10]

11 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

Yes, staff do transfer but luckily for us, the usual suspects were all there apart from a new to the ship M'd who turned out to be a great replacement for Sandro. I recognised quite a few of the Ents staff too.

In talking to staff over the years, they all to a man/woman said Victoria was the happy ship.Who am I to argue!   😀

I honestly think staff all have their favourite ship and if you speak to them they are all loyal to their own shops whether it be QE/QV or QM2 Having done 3 cruises on QE/QV in last 18 months cannot honestly say any difference in the service or the staff.

 

[majortom10]

3 hours ago, schattenfell71 said:

We were on both ships this year. A Norway tour with QV and a TA with QM2 and I have to say that I love the QV a little bit more.

 

Why?

 

The atmosphere is more familiar in my opinion. It is a smaller ship and more compact than the QM2. Everything which is hugh on QM2 is smaller and cosier on QV. I love the theater more at QV and the Lido restaurant is better planned with way more windows to sit.

 

If you like a more packed and familiar athmosphere than the QV is better.

 

But.....the QM2 is more...more stable. I had some seasickness on the Norway tour but nothing on the TA.

 

It was interesting for me also to compare these two ships because we only traveled with the QM2 before. If I would choose a ship for a world cruise (which we really plan to do in some years) I go for the QV.

It is easy to compare QV with QM2 as they are totally different ships built with different travel experiences. The true and fair comparison is QV/QE and having sailed on both cannot find any real difference in ships or staff to have a favourite between the 2.

[Victoria2]

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

I honestly think staff all have their favourite ship and if you speak to them they are all loyal to their own shops whether it be QE/QV or QM2 Having done 3 cruises on QE/QV in last 18 months cannot honestly say any difference in the service or the staff.

 

I would like to think there's no difference in service on any of the three ships.

 

One of the members of staff  I knew quite well  was on QE [from QV with a bump up in restaurant position] and he thought Victoria was the happy ship too.

 

As long as all seem happy on all the ships, there's no problem but the initial post posed a question about atmosphere and a happy crew means a happy background atmosphere which passengers can pick up on. QV is a very happy ship.

 

 

 

[TouchstoneFeste]

13 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

I recognised quite a few of the Ents staff too.

 

But to be fair, it's hard to tell them apart, with the leaves and all ...

[Windsurfboy]

47 minutes ago, TouchstoneFeste said:

 

But to be fair, it's hard to tell them apart, with the leaves and all ...

 

They should be used to police dress code. Well dressed hobbits let through badly  dress orcs thrown over board.

[Victoria2]

9 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

They should be used to police dress code. Well dressed hobbits let through badly  dress orcs thrown over board.

Is that a cryptic crossword clue?

Badly dressed orc[a?]s and well dressed hobbits?

[Victoria2]

1 hour ago, TouchstoneFeste said:

 

But to be fair, it's hard to tell them apart, with the leaves and all ...

Que?

[PORT ROYAL]

21 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Is that a cryptic crossword clue?

Badly dressed orc[a?]s and well dressed hobbits?

Could be “two words” = Red Tops