Luxury Cruise Bible

Cunard's Queen Mary 2 Crossing the Atlantic

Submitted by: Maria

Cruise Details

• Cruise line: Cunard
• Ship: Queen Mary 2
• Date of sailing: 8/3/2007
• Number of nights: 6
• Embarkation point: New York, NY
• Debarkation point: Southampton, England
• Ports of call: none on this transatlantic crossing
• Stateroom category: Premium Balcony (Britannia)

We were on the 8/3/2007, six nights eastward crossing on Queen Mary 2. In summary, I’ll say that we loved the experience and would repeat it again in a heartbeat. The Queen Mary 2 is a huge , but very classy ship. It has 150,000 tons and carries 2,600 people, which is not that many considering her size. I didn’t find it at all like my prior experiences aboard mega ships of Royal Caribbean or Princess. IMO, she is in a class by itself.

Embarkation

According to our cabin number , we were supposed to embark at 3 pm for a 5 pm departure. However, past QM2 cruisers in CC suggested we arrive earlier so we would be able to have some lunch. So, we arrived around 1:30 to the Brooklyn cruise terminal. As soon as our van parked, there was a porter who took our luggage and we proceeded to the embarkation line. Not surprisingly, it was long, but it moved fairly quickly. They took our CC info, took our pictures, and gave us our ID/ key card. I would say the whole process took no more that 20–30 minutes. Once inside the ship we were directed to the elevators and were able to go to our cabin.

Cabins

We had two cabins. An inside cabin for our kids and my sister and one balcony cabin for Bob and I. Our balcony cabin was their standard balcony cabin ( they call it “premium balcony”) which measures around 269 sq feet, including balcony. The balconies in these cabins are “sheltered”. What that means is that they are built into the hull of the ship. You have glass doors to the balcony but to see the water you have to stand up as the bottom half of the balcony is solid. There were two lounge chairs and a small table in the balcony.

The inside cabin was smaller (approx 160 sq ft.) and in retrospect I wished we had reserved a connecting balcony cabin for them.

Closet space and storage was plenty. Suitcases were stored under the bed.

Bathroom was tiny. It only had shower, no tub. The shower curtain was opaque and since there was no light in the shower area it was somewhat dark while taking a shower.

Dining

There are three main restaurants, depending of your level of accommodations:

• Queen Grill: This is the restaurant for passengers in the big suites, which range in size from 500 to 2,200 sq.ft. This restaurant has single seating. Passengers in this category also enjoy a private lounge a sun terrace. They have the services of a butler.

• Princess Grill: This is the restaurant for passengers in the Princess suites, which measure approx. 380 sq. ft. This restaurant is also single seating.

• Britannia Restaurant: This is the restaurant reserved for those of us in “steerage”. It is a beautiful restaurants in two levels. Very elegant, but not “stuffy”. Lots of woods and subdued colors. There are two sittings : Early: 6:00 pm and Late 8:30. We requested and got late sitting. Technically, you were allowed to come as late as 9:00, but we noticed at times people arriving later and they were served with no problem.

You have an assigned table for dinner and it’s open sitting for breakfast and lunch. Food and service was excellent!

There is a category called Britannia Club balcony (these are the balcony cabins on the highest deck, deck 12) that dine in a separate area of the restaurant and enjoy single-seating. My table was near the opening to this area and to me it looked too enclosed and claustrophobic. I wouldn’t pay extra for that.

In addition the ship has an alternate restaurant called Todd English whivh everybody seems to rave about. They charge a “nominal” fee of $30pp for dinner and $20pp for lunch. We were so happy with the food and service of Britannia that we didn’t try it.

There is also the informal restaurant, which they call “Kings Court”. It is open in one form or another for 24 hours. During the day is divided in four sections: Italian, Oriental, Carvery (meats , roasts), and Galley (burgers, hot dogs, etc.). At night it still has these four sections, but they change things around to make them more cozy, dress up the tables, and provide table service.

We didn’t try this area at night, but during the day it was chaotic!! The area’s design is like a maze, totally confusing. We just went three times , twice for lunch, once for breakfast. More than once we had near collisions with other passengers walking around with their trays, trying to find an empty table. A number of the tables are in the center of the area or in corners, with no views of windows. If you are seated at one of those tables (which we were twice), it seems like you are sitting in a basement! This area IMO is a disaster. After our less than stellar experiences there, we decided not to to go anymore. We had breakfast and lunch in Britannia or in the Golden Lion Pub (traditional English food for lunch).

Between 3:30 and 4:30 Afternoon Tea was served in the Queens Room. This was a treat. The room is beautiful and it has a big dance floor in the middle. While tea was served, with scrumptious little sandwiches, pastries, and scones, ballroom type music was played by the orchestra and people danced.

Lounges/ Bars/ Entertainment

As can be expected from a ship of this size, there was a variety of bars and lounges. Some were more casual, like the Golden Lion Pub where they had trivia each afternoon. One of our favorite was the Commodore Club whose specialty are Martinis.

The show lounge is spacious and occupies two levels.We only attended three shows. These were adequate but nothing exciting, although their dancers were quite good.

Every night there is dancing in the Queens Room and in two of the formal evenings they had two “themed” dances. One was a Black and White Ball and the other was an Ascot Ball. For anybody that loves ballroom type dancing, this cruise and specifically the Queens Room is perfect. Although Bob and I do not do ballroom dancing we enjoyed watching. Also the ship’s nightclub/disco is right next to the Queens Room so we would go there afterward.

The Casino is a good size. I enjoyed playing Roulette and my son was in heaven as the youngest player at their Texas Holdem poker table ( legal age aboard the QM2 is 18).

Disembarkation

We were in the last group to disembark , but as we weren’t in any particular hurry it was fine. They started with self-disembarkation (for those that roll down their luggage themselves) around 7:30 and we disembarked around 9:30–10. The line for the taxis was very long and it took us at least 45 minutes or more to get one. We went to the Southampton train station for our train to London, Waterloo station. We got a Group Save fare and paid 55 GBP for the five of us.

Other Comments

Our favorite pastime during the day was sitting on lounge chairs on their teak promenade and read. We also used the hot tubs. They have a swimming pool covered with a glass dome, in addition to other regular outside swimming pools, which are heated. We were blessed with very good weather and we only had a little rain one day. We could barely feel the ship move!

Our 13-year-old daughter was with us and she had a blast with her teens group. They kept them busy and we pretty much only saw her for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

In retrospect, I wished we had done the cruise in reverse. It would have been a very relaxing way to end five hectic days in London. Also, we would have gained an hour every night, instead of losing an hour! I knew the latter going in, but I thought it wouldn’t matter. It did!

Another thing I would consider in the future, if time and $$$ are available, is to sail eastward from New York again, stay in Europe for 12 days (the time it takes the ship to go back and forth) and then sail back to New York. We flew out of Heathrow and it was a zoo!! Taking the ship back is a much more pleasant way of traveling!

As I said before, we tremendously enjoyed the experience and would repeat it again if possible.