Queen Mary 2 Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Great food, service and crew. Entertainment was somewhat boring but the Cunard singers & dancers were superb. Great daytime lectures as always on a TA but nothing on New York days - not even a film for those staying on board. We were on for 4 wk trip to Canada and felt secondary to those embarking for a week long cruise to Quebec or back to NY or the TA. Very very expensive on board.....

The trans-Atlantic crossing and Cunard atmosphere are great if that is the kind of voyage you are looking for. But be advised that you are in for multiple "sea days" in a row, and for the restrained and elegant atmosphere that Cunard tries to maintain. If you like formal dancing then this is a great ship to sail on. But if you seek a razzle-dazzle atmosphere, and want to wear golf shirts to dinner, then you would be best advised to sail on some other line.

This was our return crossing and it was wonderful. A woman in the library tried to tell me about negative things and that people were not too classy stealing robes and etc. It was ridiculous and I had to walk away.

Everything operated smoothly , Tours are overpriced! Pursers office understaffed . Annoying to have to queue to reset cabin key on 4 occasions. It was a common problem onboard. After 3 days it worked fine.

This was my first cruise, and found it a satisfying way travel. I was concerned by this formal nights dress up but quickly found that you can get way with just black pant and smart looking top. I wore chiffon pants that cost me $22.00 a online shop and the tops were from Zara. Of course you see a lot people dress up extravagantly but I really see no need. I was traveling as part of group and dinners were at Britannia restaurant . I'm vegan this was only a problem on the first night and end up with only a green salad after that night I was given a vegan menu to fill in and always a day before. Breakfast and lunches were more informal at King Court were a buffet style dining was offered but there many more places to grab meal or a drink. Only people with deep pockets could afford the prices of alcoholic drinks but just to give you an idea a glass of wine cost $US 12.00 There many ways to spend your money on board from booking a beauty treatment or buying handbags, watches, jewellery or QM2 souvenirs and all duty free. There is enough to keep you entertained from shows to celebrity lecturers and nightly movies. There are dance balls on formal nights with band included. I personally found these balls dead boring and the nightclub-G32 was the same! I just found people trying too hard to have good time but there was no good vibes. Information about drinking water : a litre bottle of water is left in your stateroom which cost about $US3.90 and it will be replaced when required. The tap water in your room is also suitable for drinking just read that on information booklet. We boiled our water and use it. Well hope this info has help newish people to cruise.

The cruise itself was fine. The weather was perfect and the ship didn't rock. We even got to see some whales and dolphins. Watching all the fireworks over Boston was pretty cool.

Don't waste your money with Cunard. I traveled with several family members on an inexpensive Carnival Cruise and had better food and extertainment. Cunard is overpriced and surviving on their past reputation. Look where you're going or you'll end up like the Titanic.

The 12 night Grand Eastbound Transatlantic cruise was marvellous... in every way! Ship was elegant, always plenty of space - where does everyone go? Club balcony room on deck 12 superb, as was the Britannia Club restaurant. Exclusive and intimate....our own allocated table and able to eat any time that suited us when the restaurant was open. The food was excellent especially from the a la carte menu, loved the Crepe Suzettes, cooked next to our table! Cruising on the QM2 exceeded our expectations, understated elegance, very traditional, great service from the waiters to the cabin steward! We enjoyed pre dinner drinks in the Commodore Club most evenings especially the Pickerings Oak Aged Islay gin! The little touches added to the experience, hot and cold canapés served each night, listening to the piano being played and the waiters were very attentive. All in all, an experience never to forget and one definitely to repeat. Britannia Club is the way to travel!!

This was my 61 cruise. I have sailed on Carnival, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Princess, Holland America, Disney, Costa, Cunard, and Celebrity. This was my 1 cruise on Cunard. I am 46 years old. Hotel Info: We flew over from Connecticut one night early on Air Canada that we booked through Cunard. We stayed at a Hilton hotel near Buckingham Palace that we booked on our own. This was our first time at England, and we LOVED it because the people are very nice. Ship Info: Celebrity is one of our favorites, and after sailing on the QM2, this might even be better. This was our first transatlantic cruise. We enjoyed it because it was geared towards adults (hardly any children on the cruise). If you enjoy classical music, reading, relaxing, great conversation, and dressing up, this is for you. The ship was extremely clean and looked new. Activities: If you want to take some gym classes (yoga, spinning), you should make reservations on the first day for these classes. It costs around $15 per class. They have the largest library at sea. I loved the Planetarium, and recommending going to those shows. They do an amazing job with their afternoon tea times, so I went to that at least three times. Service: Service was great in all areas. For the first time ever, my husband found a live bug (looked like a tick) in his salad. Several crew members in the dining room came to our table to correct it. The cruise ship sent us chocolate to our cabin to compensate for the experience. My only area of opportunity for this cruise would be that the compensation might have been something a bit bigger (perhaps an invitation to the specialty restaurant). Stateroom: We stayed sheltered balcony. We didn’t use the balcony because it was raining and in the 40’s during our cruise. Dining: Before you order your meal, ask the waiter what they recommend. If you don't like crowds, eat in the main dining room for breakfast and lunch instead of the buffet. We went to the specialty restaurant one night. If you do not cruise much, I would recommend this specialty restaurant. For me, I would not do that restaurant again because I felt the other cruise lines do a better job with the specialty experience. Dress Code: They offer several formal nights, and most men were in a dark suit or a tuxedo. I wore long gowns; however, many senior citizen women wore pantsuits. On the other nights, everyone dressed in business attire. I enjoy dressing up. Entertainment: We went to a few shows and they were good. We usually don’t go to the shows because after so many cruises, they all seem the same. Other: A 73-year-old British sailor was rescued by our cruise after his yacht was severely damaged in a North Atlantic storm our cruise was going through. This was my first “storm” and the ship and captain handled everything perfectly. Overall: 5 out of 5 stars.

Cunard has excellent lectures, one of the largest libraries on the oceans

Highlight of the cruise was QM2's first ever rescue at sea - and a man was saved!

Great job by Captain Wells and his staff - especially the 3 who were hoisted into the rough seas in the rescue craft.   The presentation to guests in the theatre the day after was THE BEST "entertainment" of the cruise.  

The rest of the cruise - a huge disappointment because we believed all the hype of QM2s marketing.  We truly expected a unique experience of a "crossing" vs a repositioning cruise.

-a "luxury ocean liner" - Celebrity's "cruise ships" are nicer.  the grand lobby - nothing special at all AND the carpet was disgustedly stained!   

-"largest library at sea" was impressive with # of volumes ... but not with chairs to sit, read, and relax - though every lounge had more than enough!   

-"only planetarium at sea" - a ceiling dome with short film projected on it. 150 seats to a 2600 passengers count.   shows at 1:30, 2, 2:30pm, and you had to line up for tickets at 9am.  

-daily movies shown in Illuminations were at 5pm and 7pm.  impossible to go to movie and dinner if you dined at 6pm!

the biggest disappointment - the staff.  aside from a handful of OUTSTANDING ones, the rest seemed indifferent, with short and curt answers.   we had a fantastic cabin steward and waiter.  customer service at pursers office - very polite and smiles, but we had to do all the follow up to get resolution to our very legitimate issues.   sometimes "so sorry" just doesn't solve the problem.  i am still following up with CUNARD on one unresolved issue.

do listen to previous guest comments - stay away from steaks and beef.  food overall was good, but again, comparing to Celebrity, BLAH!!!

With all that said, the weather was not cooperative and the gale winds and cold temps kept passengers indoors on 12 of the 16 days.  the swells from the storm had many passengers (and staff!) seasick one day ... but can't blame weather on CUNARD.  but we did miss laying out poolside with a good book in the sunshine.  

final word - it was an experience for us to cross the Atlantic on the infamous QM2, and we will remember it with mixed feelings.  

A cruise to remember, out of all our cruises this experience was special

The entire cruise was very restful and relaxing! 99.9% of the staff were friendly and helpful...the casino was enjoyable and 99.9% of the guest lectures were most enjoyable. Taking the Queen Mary 2 from NY to Southampton is ideal for those wishing for a relaxing way to reach England. 

The lectures available on board are top notch, service is very good, the embarkation process was very smooth and the afternoon tea is a beautiful peaceful time to just relax and enjoy. 

Cabin No. 6263 Great experience,the food was great and the staff were fantastic and it was captain Kevin Oprey's last voyage.The cabin was very small but very nice.

A great ship but this is a new itinerary. It is clear the Shanghai arrivals and departures were not as well planned as other ports. Still worth the trip to travel in style to some new locations.

This was my 4th cruise aboard QM2 and my husband was keen to see the changes made after the expensive and extensive "remastering" took place last year so we sailed for 3 weeks around Asia, but as these were the same ports we visited last year on board Queen Elizabeth, it wasn't that exciting.

Yes, many of the changes have enhanced QM2 but some of the most basic items haven't been attended to e.g. the metal finish on hand taps in public bathrooms is wearing off, and for some unknown reason the Golden Lion pub still smells strongly of cigarette smoke despite it being a non-smoking area.  My daughter even thought they might be piping the smell in just for the ambience of an English pub, but I'm not convinced of that.

I was also sad to see that the interior glass lift that started in the grand lobby and went up to the Kings Court has gone, but I understand this was removed to assist in making space for the new interior cabins on decks 2 and 3.

I was thrilled to reconnect with a couple of our waiter friends, whom we met on board in 2015, and have stayed friends with since.

We also had the best sommelier we've ever had on board a Cunard ship (thanks Adrian).

BUT our room attendant was the worst I've ever encountered.  We barely saw him, he didn't clean our toilet once during our 21 night voyage and after being in our cabin for a week I had to track him down and ask him to try to do something about the black mould (yes, you read that correctly) that was in our bathroom.  He managed to get rid of some of it but I am definitely going to write to Cunard about that, as well as his complete disinterest in providing anything for us.

I fear that Carnival is all consumed with making dollars instead of pleasing passengers, and once they realise that they need to up their game with various issues, including the cost and speed of the internet on board, and the very lacklustre and boring (with a capital B) entertainment (plus the awful Entertainment Director on QM2), then things might return to the way they were when we first sailed upon her.

Is it just me, or is this Queen beginning to lose some of her lustre?

Travelled for thirty three days on QM2. This was our third trip with Cunard, but I have got to say this was the worse one so far, we didn't get a good nights sleep throughout our journey, the beds were comfortable enough but the noise coming from the queens grill above was really annoying and disruptive, the ship dosen't flow as well as Queen Victoria, although she sits in the water without much movement. The staff were great and they work very hard to ensure that you have a enjoyable stay. It's the organisation that's the problem, the pursers office said that they would deliver copy passports to our state room on a particular day trip and they never arrived we ended having to make several phone calls and visiting the pursers office in the end one of the officers met us as we was leaving the ship, the amount of people queuing at the pursers desk were quite large, so we wasted a lot of time trying to get things sorted. The electronic state room access cards kept failing I went through at least seven.The food was sometimes undercooked or overcooked it was rather quantity rather than quality, we had plastic bits in my food although they apologised if swallowed it would have meant I would have had a operation to remove it. There were people touching or smelling food and then putting it back in the servery dishes, people pushing in to get their food , we opted for the Britannia restaurant in most cases which was a lot better but still there were problems with some of the food dishes although these were changed when we complained , there were also issues with coughs and colds my wife was ill for a few days, there were also issues with gastric problems towards the end. They did put measures in place but they should of acted quicker not on the last day before people are getting off to fly home. On leaving on the last day it was completely disorganised it was done by coloured tags but they were calling the tag colour a hour later the same colour when we got off the ship our luggage was in two different locations and the rep didn't know what bus we had to get on to get to our hotel before flying home, Cunard should have taken some responsibility to ensure that we all knew where we was going but they didn't, it seemed that all they were interested in was getting next lot on board, the entertainment wasn't that great ,although some of the afternoon artists were really good. Cunard also have a distinct class system where they look after the better paying guests unfortunately for us we found it very snobby. If Cunard want to attract all types this needs to change unless they are happy with the way they like it. We also found that 15% on service and a gratuity charge on top is rather expensive to the holiday overall. I have gave our trip two stars based on our experience which I feel is fair.

Loved the spaciousness, brilliant lecturers and wonderful musicians. The other guests were friendly and varied and the crew also friendly and courteous. Will be looking to sail on the QM2 again now that she has had a refit. 

My first world cruise, I have booked another world cruise (on Aurora) for 2022. Best experience of my life I would recommend to anyone who can afford the time and expenses. QM2 is by far my favourite ship across all lines, luxurious and elegant with a more formal atmosphere.