QV May 2023 Princess Grill Cut-Backs and General Impressions

[Host Hattie]

I look forward to reading it !

[Splice the mainbrace]

On 6/6/2023 at 5:31 PM, RJChatsworth said:

After an enjoyable voyage we walked straight off the ship at 0815 this morning and a few minutes later we were leaving the terminal having identified our luggage.  We had departed via Mayflower terminal and returned to Ocean terminal. I was relieved that CPS had moved the cars to Ocean terminal as the terminal change was a surprise to me.  Perhaps I had missed an announcement!

 

I haven’t worked out the changes in disembarkation arrangements.  Previously we were given a time by the Purser’s office for, say 0915, which was subsequently changed by the loyalty staff in Future Cruises to around 0830.

 

On this occasion we were given a time on 0950 for disembarkation by the Purser’s office. I didn’t receive a subsequent change to an earlier time by the loyalty staff.  Being in Princess Grill I spoke to Concierge.  I was told it was a floor-by-floor disembarkation time now and the loyalty staff were not involved.  I asked if it was possible to change the 0950 disembarkation time.  I was asked what time I should like to leave.  I suggested a time of 0815 and an amendment of some kind was made on the Concierge computer.

 

We went down at 0815 and disembarkation had just begun.  We hadn’t been given replacement disembarkation luggage labels and there seemed to be no system to check whether we were queue jumping.  We just showed our key cards as if getting off at any of the ports visited.  Could everyone have just turned up at 0815 creating untold chaos?  Am I missing something?

We came back on the same cruise and were Gold colour for disembarkation at 9.50. It seemed a more convenient Cunard system to stay in our stateroom but it got to 9.00 and hadn’t heard any announcements in our room or in the corridor that I was expecting. I went to the gangway to ask and they said that they were ahead of schedule and we could get get of immediately, there wasn’t any queue to get off. I don’t understand why they don’t give announcements as the colour groups progress.

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, Splice the mainbrace said:

We came back on the same cruise and were Gold colour for disembarkation at 9.50. It seemed a more convenient Cunard system to stay in our stateroom but it got to 9.00 and hadn’t heard any announcements in our room or in the corridor that I was expecting. I went to the gangway to ask and they said that they were ahead of schedule and we could get get of immediately, there wasn’t any queue to get off. I don’t understand why they don’t give announcements as the colour groups progress.

Or at the very least explain that there won’t be any announcements. I thought the landing instructions were unclear, and only learnt about this by asking the Concierge.

[Victoria2]

It seems disembarkation was an 'interesting' exercise for a few of us.

[exlondoner]

1 minute ago, Victoria2 said:

It seems disembarkation was an 'interesting' exercise for a few of us.

In fact, for us, it was very straightforward. We decided to walk downstairs as one of the B stairway lifts wasn’t working and the others seemed full of people going up to go down. (?) So we left five minutes before our time, arrived to find a mainly empty Grand Lobby, and started the long, long, walk along the gangway to join the real world. Home and in Waitrose by 10, despite a jam on the M271.

[Victoria2]

1 hour ago, exlondoner said:

In fact, for us, it was very straightforward. We decided to walk downstairs as one of the B stairway lifts wasn’t working and the others seemed full of people going up to go down. (?) So we left five minutes before our time, arrived to find a mainly empty Grand Lobby, and started the long, long, walk along the gangway to join the real world. Home and in Waitrose by 10, despite a jam on the M271.

We eventually were escorted down to the Queens Room, for assistance. The B lifts were clogged up so back to C, down to one and went off with no problem.

 

We weren't so posh. I had a Tesco delivery for essentials  ordered for mid afternoon but I did hit M&S Foodhall with a vengeance early yesterday! 😄

[Alsun]

On 5/28/2023 at 5:29 AM, NE John said:

Interesting….

Do you have copies of a pared-down PG menus? How were pax adhering to the dress code?

Currently on V315 in PG. Menus are delivered to room together with the daily, Britain today and various. Will try to remember to make photos of menu & upload once back.

 

Noticed the downgrade of the cheese trolley although a  slight improvement on the selection as mentioned by Windsurfboy. (There was an excellent goat's cheese first day which I haven't seen back yet and choice of 2 blue cheeses incl Stilton, brie or camembert, a soft french, some british cheeses etc).  And there seems to be a little bit less staff around. Enjoyed a very good table side carved chateaubriand but haven't seen anything flambeed.

 

Cocktail party - a crush at 17.15, Captain spoke and did introduce senior officers. 

 

The sparkling wine served (at gala evening & cocktail) very poor quality - suspect similar to the one now in room (something called Grand Imperial - haven't tried it, did arrive in icebucket)

 

Fresh fruit order requested via concierge - she told us it is now being delivered by room service and can be set up for daily, or how often we want. Asked for every 2 days and noticed that additions to it arrived on the non delivery day. 

 

Dress code seems to be well adhered to. No baseball cap in sight although did observe some vibrant braces at Afternoon Tea...

Edited June 10, 2023 by Alsun

[Alsun]

Forgot to mention, in Stavanger it was lovely & warm enough to enjoy the terrace. An Afternoon Tea trolley did appear but I noticed the scones were the ones without logo.

[Down-Unders]

On 5/28/2023 at 10:36 AM, WantedOnVoyage said:

Still a superb product, but for what it's worth and compared to QE September 2022, QV to the Baltic 9-25 May 2023 presented some noticable cutbacks and missing options and features in Princess Grill:

 

Dining

Virtually no tableside preperations or flambé of any dishes. That "smell" is completely gone from the room now. Sad. 

No Dover Sole

We had escargot precisely once in 16 days and caviar(ish) once as well

The impressive domed cheese trolleys are gone

No special orders that we witnessed or heard and sure no encouragement to try, either. 

The third commis waiter is gone, each table has two stewards only. Ours were ace. 

Some long... long intervals between courses

Occasionally the food was tepid

A la carte menu substantially reduced and in 14 days was updated just once (turbot replaced by cod)

Overall, the cuisine and choice remains exemplary and attention to special diet (my wife is celiac/gluten free) best afloat. 

 

Grill Deck

Substantial and noticeable reduction of deck service... it was almost impossible to find a steward and I had to go to the lido (heaven offend!) twice to get a drink

Tea deck service has been severely diminished in terms of offerings and it resembled deck teas in Tourist Class on QE2 back in the day. If you're looking for all those tempting platters of sandwiches, cakes etc, you will be searching in vain.

No water or juices in the Deck 12 landing

If they brought sandwiches, fruit or ice creams around, I noticed ice cream offered once in 16 days

 

Cabins

Everything extra is gone: atlas (which we missed on this trip), umbrella ( surely missed in Stockholm!), sewing kits, bar soaps, shoe cleaner etc.  This is not new but anyone thinking these are coming back... nope.

No fresh fruit unless requested

Pol Acker is GONE (hurray!) and replaced by something vaguely drinkable on embarkation and something rather not on Day 14.  Not served in the ice bucket either.

 

Grills Lounge

Busy and often overwhelmed but service was still good.  The nibbles are terrible.... 23 stale peanuts and 21 stale crushed crisps per table.  It all tastes like it was leftover from CUNARD PRINCESS.  Weird when elsewhere everything is fresh and generous. In the old days, you'd accuse the bar tender of being on the fiddle here. 

 

Grills Drink Package (for US passengers)

Worked like a charm on this trip... every single steward and our superb wine steward eager to "game the system" in our favour.  And it's still a $12 limit and the current wine/drink lists throughout the ship pose no real issues keeping to this limit, either.  No accounting issues either like QM2 in Jan 2022. 

 

Yacht Club

Our favourite room has been sadly diminished by no live entertainment, down the road pub execrable "Karaoke" evenings and worse, some imbecilty called "Silent Disco" that is so lame, so silly one is too embarassed to even explain it.  It did manage to empty the room by 10.30 p.m. Still the best bar on the ship though... the negronis are to be recommended and takeaway service is offered when "Silent Disco" begins, too. 

 

Commodore Club

Has a very earnest Bar Manager now and he circulated regularity asking about the service. It can be very busy but the service is pretty exemplary. If you like them (we don't) there are hot nibbles offered con gusto.  This remains a great room at any hour.  The staff is excellent. 

 

Hosted Cocktail Parties

Are Back!!  Exclamation point only for those who even missed them (we did not) and we were invited to two, attended the second which was hosted by "Senior Officers" during which only the otherwise charming Captain put in the most perfunctory appearance imaginable. I did not spot a single other officer of any rank above Jr. Asst. Purser.  Oceans of "free" flat, warm sparkling something or rather but if you ask, you can get a real drink. And need one. 

 

Ballroom

Another great Cunard venue, unique to the line, which seems to have been more or less killed in atmosphere. Either by the bands or the music or possibly both... it just seemed dead most nights. Surely they can find something like an old fashioned British dance band instead of what sounds like a Bulgarian wedding reception. 

 

Veranda Restaurant

After an especially dismal dinner in QM2's in Jan 2022, we enjoyed a delightful luncheon this trip... superb, personable service and delicious.  And they still have sole although not served off the bone. We definitely will make more use of this come October. 

 

Overall

QUEEN VICTORIA remains the pick of the Cunard litter: beautifully maintained (lots of deck maintenance and revarnishing in evidence... she looked spiffy), Capt Hoyt, her American (!) captain is utterly charming and doesn't hide in his cabin. Lots of crew turnovers and you know the whole operation is about to collapse any moment over staffing but everyone we encountered was professional, knew their job and most seemed to be enjoying it. Fellow passengers were just about the quietest, Old School Cunarders imaginable with a good number of Canadians and Americans. 

 

 

 

We are just off Queen Elizabeth in Princess Grill and there were some things that we were not happy about, but in true Cunard Customer Service tradition everything was sorted out, for instance we asked for an umbrella and two minutes later they arrived. Met a gentle man who was unhappy with his cabin position, did he go down to the front desk and see if it could be changed, NO he was happy to complain and do nothing about it.