Overall we enjoyed the ship, loved the entertainment and port.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Booked for 2pm. Arrived on time. It took around 45 minutes to get through check in.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
MDR is very tightly packed. Service reasonably good but not much help on this occasion for my wife’s dairy intolerance. Cheese plates in the MDR not up to the usual standard. Wellness cafe and poolside grill both excellent. Buffet was good with an excellent selection and dairy free pudding available at the designated counter. A really good selection and served to you so less risk of germs. Drinks are very expensive so we bought the package prior to sailing. It cost around £570 and we spent around £770 on soft and alcoholic drinks including the 15% service charge which is included in the package but not on PAYG bar prices so this saved us around £200!
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Excellent. Enrichment talks were great and included Rory Bremner who also gave us 45 minutes of impressions and comedy. Brilliant live musicians including a superb Irish folk duo who rocked the Golden Lion every time they played. Lynn the cocktail pianist was a star. Bright light society is a must but be prepared to be roped in. Live theatre production was a first for us at sea with Brief Encounter on stage.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Good service throughout. Staff busy and clearly under pressure in the MDR but always friendly and working really hard.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Spotless. Design wise it’s fine inside if a little underwhelming compared to other Cunard ships and not enough lifts half of which they close on embarkation and disembarkation days. Top deck feels a little disjointed with the grills area in mid ships but we didn’t struggle to find a seat. Lifeboats block all the views from the prom deck. Great selection of bars and some good venues. Queens room is very small. Love the pavilion pool area with its bar and food stations over two floors. The gym is really well equipped. The spa looks nice but we didn’t use it on this cruise.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
We cruised on a budget in an inside cabin. It was plenty big enough for the two of us BUT, it’s directly below the Bright Lights society with its dancing until 3am. To be fair the noise was pretty much a dull thumping sound so if you’re a light sleeper look elsewhere.
Ship tip
Tried to book the MDR on the app but it just said ‘venu full’ so each time we just walked in and were given a table immediately.
Love this port. We arrived at 3pm on Thursday and took the free shuttle into town. Saw the cube houses and the market etc. had a tour on Friday in an amphibious bus! That was a great experience. We then took a river taxi from behind the New York Hotel (you can see it from the ship) to the SS Rotterdam. We did the full tour and loved seeing this old ship with an original crew member as our guide. Taxi back from SS Rotterdam to the ship. The taxi was 5 euros each way per person and was fantastic fun as they really do speed along.
Self disembarked as we often do. We cleared customs early and we were off by 7am. This works great for us. Our allotted time was 08:30 had we decided to go down that route. Full breakfast was available in the buffet from 6am so we didn’t leave hungry.
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