She's had a facelift since we did this cruise

Item: Queen Mary 2
Rating: 4.3
Author: hartmj

Queen Mary 2 Cruise Review to Europe - Western Europe

hartmj

Contributor Level: Second Mate

152 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 3

Helpful Votes: 132

Overall rating:

4.3 out of 5

12 Night Canary Islands (Southampton Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 03, 2015

Ship: Queen Mary 2

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

QM2 rides the seas well, my parents struggled to get around to lectures and stuff as it can be a long walk and up and down stairs to get to places. It's the usual Cunard standard on things, afternoon tea was fine - except for the distance to the location. Overall I think this is a decent ship if the itinerary is where you want to go. I find Cunard tend to rush around the World and not give you time at the locations, this is especially true when you look at their World Cruises, far too many sea days and not enough ports, but that's just my opinion and obviously others will like that concept.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Not too slow for such a large ship

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

I've gone off the larger ships and fixed time dining and this was the let down, food was fine.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Good band music, but not such good cruise directors - a generalisation maybe of Cunard

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

This is probably where the large ship impacts the most. Didn't get to know many staff

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

As well as being a large ship its also a complicated layout with you having to walk up and down stairs to get to bits of the ship, although you could restrict yourself if you were prepared to miss out events. The ship was looking tired when we visited but it went in for refurbishment about a month later.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Cabin was nice and layout good

Ship tip

Be prepared to walk a fair amount if you want to attend things on the ship.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Southampton (London), England

3 out of 5

Probably the best thing about Southampton is leaving, OK, I know some people won't be happy with that comment, but the Isle of Wight or the New Forrest are great locations not to far away and I suggest visitors try to see them rather than stay.

Thumbs Up 1

Funchal, Madeira

5 out of 5

Tenerife, Canary Islands

5 out of 5

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

5 out of 5

Lanzarote, Canary Islands

5 out of 5

Lisbon, Portugal

5 out of 5

Vigo, Spain

4 out of 5

Disembarkation

4 out of 5

Not too bad for the size of ship

1 Comment

GIL155 7 years ago

Oh, the walking! I so want to cruise on a real ocean liner like the QM2. By your input I should do it within the next few years while I am still mobile (lol). I want to 'feel' the difference between an ocean liner and a cruise ship, if possible. Except for the walking, I trust and hope your parents enjoyed the experience, and you too.

Thumbs Up 1

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