Good but wish employees were treated better

Item: Queen Mary 2
Rating: 3.7
Author: wilson6543

Queen Mary 2 Cruise Review to Transatlantic

wilson6543

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 20

Overall rating:

3.7 out of 5

Verified Review

New York to Southampton

Sail date: May 17, 2018

Ship: Queen Mary 2

Cabin number: 6159

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

This was a very nice cruise but employees didn’t seem happy. The said and did the rights things but just seemed sad. Speaking with several staff in different areas and levels the common theme was that 7 days at sea with no ports (for 9 months) and the time zone changing back and forth takes a toll. Cunard makes this worse by making the crew pay for their internet usage (not cheap) so they cannot talk with their families often. While I understand the need to be consistent (I was in HR), this can be maintained by applying this to cruises with no ports in excess of certain number of days or whatever. With no availability of free WIFI found in ports this just seems wrong and it does show. Do the right thing Cunard and it will show!

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

Bring things to do

Thumbs up

Ports of call

New York, New York

3 out of 5

Southampton (London), England

3 out of 5

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

6 Comments

willwork4cruz 6 years ago

I agree about the crew needing a way to contact home but harleychick is right, you must voice your concerns to Cunard (Princess) corporate office. No one on this message board or even the crew on the ships can do anything about it.

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LifeInCamelot 6 years ago

I agree - we made our first cruise with Cunard back in 2009 and did a double TransAtlantic crossing. It was great. We've since done a further 7 cruises on all the Queens and are about to embark on our 10th. In the last couple of years we have noticed a marked difference in the demeanour of the staff and the 'up-sells' that Carnival keep on charging. They are misguided in believing that every dollar they try to squeeze from passengers won't go unnoticed. And now with other cruise lines offering free wifi I don't know how Cunard will cope as I've been complaining about those atrocious prices for many years. We have made some wonderful friends who still work on board and we are appalled at the stories they tell us of how much harder they are now required to work than previously. They used to get home after 9 months at sea and now Carnival have increased that to 10 months - it's actually shameful.

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Carolekn1 6 years ago

Oops I meant “body”. Every body.... not boy! My iPad is misbehaving.

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Carolekn1 6 years ago

I’m sailing on QM2 7/20/18 for 14 days nyc round trip....I’ll discuss this with every boy who will listen. First time for me on QM2...I’m just tired of long airplane flights and decided to do transatlantic round trip and this one happened to be a birthday gift. Looking forward to see how the clock/ time works. Stay tuned! Ckn

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renaedave 6 years ago

sad to hear

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harleychick421 6 years ago

Did you email corporate? I would... maybe if enough folks complained, they would do something to try to improve morale... sad...

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