SloopJ

I recently came home from the Queen Mary 2 New years Eve Cruise. To summarise - for American passangers - give this ship a wide birth. It is expensive, over-crowded, badly air-conditioned, over-hyped, cigarette smoke all over, lousy public rooms,poor excusions, over-priced drinks, and poor cabins. HOTELS Avoid at all costs the Wynham in Fort Lauderdale. It is a dump and fleapit. Stay in Miami. SHIP INFO: Huge and over-crowded. The crew are OK, but basically this a Carnival ship in a Cunard disguise. Do not expect anything but feeble attemts to emulate the old Cunard Line. For $2400 per person, I expected a lot. I did not get it: 1) Breakfast in bed was consistently greasy & bad. 2) The public rooms are small and hot. 3) On New Years Eve, the ballromm accomodated only 500 people. We could not get in. What a rip-off. We spent the evening in the smoke-filled Golden Lion Pub - what a disappointment. 4)The so-called queensize beds are merely two singles pushed together, with a prominent ridge in the middle. 5) The food in the Brittania is great, but the Kings Court Group is shoody, poorly planned, and has the atmosphere of a burger at Walmart. 6) Service quite good. 7) On the 4th day of the cruise, Cunard started diluting and underpouring the drinks. I found this unacceptable. Their practice of adding a 15% gratuity and then also leaving space for a tip is ludicrous and dishonest. I sensed confusion in the crew - often wrong times on the cabin TV, and wrong wakeup calls. ACTIVITIES Very poor. Little going on. Prominent spots for religious services. ENTERTAINMENT Average, and British orientd. One show was poor. The Royal Court Theatre was too hot. 4)The so-called queensize beds are merely two singles pushed together, with a prominent ridge in the middle. 5) The food in the Brittania is great, but the Kings Court Group is shoddy, poorly planned, and has the atmosphere of a burger at Walmart. 6) Service quite good. 7) On the 4th day of the cruise, Cunard started diluting and underpouring the drinks. I found this unacceptable. Their practice of adding a 15% gratuity and then also leaving space for a tip is ludicrous and dishonest. I sensed confusion in the crew - often wrong times on the cabin TV, and wrong wakeup calls. 4) The ship is very poorly sign-posted, and there are too few restrooms. 5) There are too few observation lounges. CABINS Only just OK. You must bet an in-hull cabin. All others are over-priced or dismal. Size: OK Furniture: Beds very poor.. Adequate storage. The in-cabin TV broke down a lot. ACTIVITIES Very poor. Little going on. Prominent spots for religious services. Few movies, poor lectures, few dance lessons. Very little live music. TEA 4pm tea is a joke: only one tea available (English Breakfast). Not hot, but luke-warm. Accompanying sanwidges would not be out of place in a homeless shelter. ENTERTAINMENT Average, and British oriented. One show was poor. The Royal Court Theatre was too hot. DANCES Outside - only OK. Very expensive drinks. Inside - OK if you could get in. EMBARKATION Good and faily quick (2 hours) DIS-EMBARKATION Chaotic, poorly planned, and a vacation ruiner. Fort Lauderdale airport cannot hold 2000 travellers. We were in line for 5 hours, and made it to our flight with minutes to spare, exhausted. IN SUMMARY DON'T EVEN THINK OF CRUISING ON THIS VESSEL. IT NEARLY RUINED MY MARRIAGE

I recently came home from the Queen Mary 2 New years Eve Cruise. To summarise - for American passangers - give this ship a wide birth. It is expensive, over-crowded, badly air-conditioned, over-hyped, cigarette smoke all over, lousy public rooms,poor excusions, over-priced drinks, and poor cabins. HOTELS: Avoid at all costs the Wyndham Hotel in Fort Lauderdale. It is a dump and fleapit. Stay in Miami. SHIP INFO: Huge and over-crowded. The crew are OK, but basically this a Carnival ship in a Cunard disguise. Do not expect anything but feeble attempts to emulate the old Cunard Line. For $2400 per person, I expected a lot. I did not get it: 1) Breakfast in bed was consistently greasy & bad. 2) The public rooms are small and hot. 3) On New Years Eve, the ballroom accomodated only 500 people. Group tours received preference e.g. Singles Travel International. We could not get in. What a rip-off. We spent the evening in the smoke-filled Golden Lion Pub - what a disappointment. 4) The so-called queensize beds are merely two singles pushed together, with a prominent ridge in the middle. This is very uncomfortable. Cunard also does not provide two sheets: only a cover and a comforter. Make sure and ask for a top sheet (typical money-saving trick). 5) The food in the Britannia is great, but the Kings Court Group is shoddy, poorly planned, and has the atmosphere of a burger at Walmart. 6) Service quite good on the ship as a whole. But drinks on deck are impossible.Very little privacy. 7) On the 4th day of the cruise, Cunard started diluting and underpouring the drinks. I found this unacceptable. 8) Their practice of adding a 15% gratuity and then also leaving space for a tip is ludicrous and dishonest. 9) The ship is very poorly sign-posted, and there are too few restrooms. 10) There are too few observation lounges. 11) Of the 8 nights at sea, 3 dinners were formal. In my mind, this is overkill. 12) The much ballyhood Pirates Ball was a bust. Only very few in costume, chaotic, and not a lot of fun. We left in disgust. Drinks were being diluted and underpoured. I sensed confusion in the crew - often wrong times on the cabin TV, and wrong wakeup calls. ENTERTAINMENT Average, and British oriented. One show was poor. The Royal Court Theatre was too hot. CABINS Only just OK. You should book an in-hull balcony cabin. All others are over-priced or dismal. Size: good. Bathroom nice. Furniture: Beds very poor.. Adequate storage. Couch comfortable. Table much too small. Lighting - not romantic. The in-cabin TV broke down a lot, and the PA system could not be made to work. ACTIVITIES: Very poor. Little going on. Prominent spots for religious services. Few movies, poor lectures, few dance lessons. Very little live music. There was only one chess set & one scrabble set on the whole ship. SHORE EXCURSIONS: Wide choice, but very disappointing, and badly organised. I think Cunard must have outsourced these to some shady operaters. We were crammed in to a shabby taxi on St. Kitts, which was overloaded by two passangers. There was no commentary. Advice: hire your own taxi. Barbados, St. Kitts & St. Thomas are poverty stricken, dirty & a waste of time. TEA 4pm tea is a joke: only one tea available (English Breakfast). Not hot, but luke-warm. Accompanying sandwidges would not be out of place in a homeless shelter. ENTERTAINMENT: Average, and British oriented. One show was poor. The Royal Court Theatre was too hot. DANCES: Outside - only OK. Very expensive drinks. Inside - OK if you could get in. EMBARKATION: Good and fairly quick (2 hours) DIS-EMBARKATION: Chaotic, poorly planned, and a vacation ruiner. All the luggage is piled in one place, when it is supposed to be sorted. It took me 45 minutes to find all my bags. I was on the priority list to dis-embark. This seems a farce, as I was repeatedly held up. The transport bus was hard to find. Hint: use a taxi. Fort Lauderdale airport cannot hold 2000 travellers