Queen Mary 2 Cruise Reviews - Reviews

There were several things that were excellent: the ship, the ports of call, and the food. The staff behaviors could  be improved as we were always rushed at dinner and they almost never granted us right of way in the halls or King's Court. I would definitely recommend this cruise, or another on the QM2, to others.

Favorite parts:  orchestra and music program--great bands.  Also, dinner & evening dress requirements are very good--nice to see everyone dressed for the evening activities

Could change:  dining room experience--too long for dinner (over 2 hours)

Everything was perfect except the Safety Drill on the 6th day after moving our clocks forward 1 hour we were at port in Quebec and the loud speaker in our cabins woke us up at 9:45 for a drill aimed at the crew only. Terrible

I hurt my foot while in London. The only  shoes I  could not wear was sportswear. I did not use the dining room.

 The good ... my cabin attendant who did a great job. 

Class BY cabin was not a good choice.  The library is very nice. 

The Queen Mary 2 is a remarkable ship and all Cunard Employees were unfailingly polite.  Lectures were good and enjoyable, but get to them early for the best seats.   The ship is a real ocean liner, not a cruise ship, and was built for a comfortable journey, with stabilizers that can withstand the rough seas of the North Atlantic and our sailing was very steady.

We were disappointed with our cruise. We expected more of the ship & staff given our previous sailing on the Queen Mary in 2006. This cruise did not come up to the previous level of service. 

The most outstanding feature of our cruise were the three lecturers who wer very interesting and had very interesting subjects for their lectures.  Most of the lectures were completely full so others must have felt the same.  The service in our dining room (Princess Grill) was very good, food okay but not really great.  I would recommend this cruise  to others, particularly as you arrive in NY with no jet lag.  I also enjoyed the duplicate bridge every day. 

We enjoyed our QM2 passage from Southampton to New York.  It's a wonderful ship that is spectacularly maintained.  The crew was courteous and very responsive.  We were not eating in the Queen's Grill (high end) restaurants, and the food was not great, but reliably tasty.  

Departure from Southampton was very easy and quick,  Arrival in New York was a mess (due to passport control and taxi chaos), but we don't blame Cunard for that.  

All in all, it was the opposite of flying: it was restful and fun.

The refit of QM2. for over $130 million was quite successful, she looks fresh, modern light colors, nice.

I am not sure how long she will look like that, the beige colors were already getting darker, the beautiful sunrays in front of the lifts had already stains, but that is not Cunard's fault, some pax are not fit to go on such a beautiful ship.

The QMII is an elegant and incredibly comfortable ocean liner.  The cabins are gorgeous, the food is gourmet, the entertainment and activities appeal to a wide range of traveler, and, most importantly, the staff anticipates your every need and desire, often before you do.  This was our third Atlantic crossing on Queen Mary II and Queen Victoria and our fifth voyage with Cunard.  We've used four other lines but keep coming back to Cunard.  They have been crossing the Atlantic and sailing around the world for 175 years and nobody does it better.

Never bored nor rush!  Always had an interesting activity available with plenty of free time to just relax and take a deep breath. Daily lectures, line dancing, ball room lessons, pub trivia contests, great shows, refined upscale dining and casino 24/7.  What's not to like?

I heard Herbie Hancock and his band,  They were fantastic!  Mr. Hancock also held a question and answer period that was very interesting as well as enlightening.  He is very intelligent and forthcoming with information about his life, how he found and hired his band, what he's doing with his music presently and what he intends to do in the future.  During his performances he gives ample introductions to his band members before having them 'shine'.  He easily admits to following Buddism and seems to follow its tenets.  I would sign up immediately if he did another Blue Note Jazz cruise.

The lectures on this cruise were also interesting and informative.  The speakers were excellent.  The room was frequently full to capacity. 

The food has gone down in selection since last August.  For example, no one at my table ate the lobster after one bite, there were nights when no main options appealed, the starters left much to be desired.  The Veranda (special, extra cost dining) was not good at all.  People were advising others when asked about it to not "bother" as it isn't worth the expense.  It serves French food that is so 'rich' in taste with small portions you are pleased when the meal ends.  The service in the restaurant is far below that in the main dining room. 

The area with shops on board is smaller but there are more store options. 

The re-furbishment is nothing exceptional.  The photo shop is significantly smaller as is the casino.  If you are familiar with the QM2, expect some disappointments.  

A trans - Atlantic crossing on the QM-2 is not a cruise, it is the experience of a step back to the time where those who traveled were more affluent and enjoyed an elegant life-style with a British Influence.  Everything is five star with a strong emphasis on personal enrichment opportunities during the day.  Evenings are dedicated to stylish dress, cocktails, dining in beautiful venues, dancing in the Queens Room for ballroom aficionados, and top flight entertainment offerings.  This particular crossing featured jazz in many venues of the ship.   The recent remastering of the ship is awesome.  A slightly more contemporary feel has been introduced without sacrificing the traditional British feeling.  For those who prefer the cruise format (a new port almost every day) this may not be your cup of tea.  But it is a cup of tea you should try at least once.   

We enjoyed our crossing in every way. I had never been on board a ship before and was a little apprehensive about 8 days at sea. When we came in sight of land near Cape Cod/Nantucket, I was disappointed to see the trip ending. The ship was stable and smooth in all kinds of weather with very little sense of motion. (i.e. unless you watched the waves go by.) QM2 provides a traditional, relaxed, and elegant experience when crossing the Atlantic. I would recommend to family and friends.

Our first crossing on the QM2 was in August 2015, during Cunard's 175th anniversary, so perhaps our expectations for this crossing were too high. Most notable, the evening entertainment felt as if it were scheduled at the last possible minute. Perhaps having Herbie Hancock on board threw the ship's schedule off and the crew had to scramble, but many of the performances in the Royal Court Theater felt under-rehearsed. On the plus side, Ben Kearsley, the classical guitarist, was wonderful. The RADA performances and workshops make the QM2 utterly unique. Natalie Williams' performance in the Carinthia Lounge was first rate and showed what a jazz performance could be. We really missed the Mark Hodgson Trio in the Chart Room from the prior year.

Three of the lecturers and their lectures were the same as the cruise we took the prior year, which was disappointing. The remaining lectures had very little substance but were delivered well. We couldn't find any information about the lecturers or entertainment online, except for Herbie Hancock. It would be helpful to have the lecturers and activities highlighted well ahead of time.

The Q&A session with Herbie Hancock was enjoyable, but was basically a summary of his biography. His concerts were aurally unbalanced and made the music difficult to listen to - this is personal preference but to me, it was the musical equivalent of the Emperor's new clothes. The most enjoyable part of his three concerts for me was his solo piano playing. Herbie has taken his musical collaborations and styles to the very limits. Maybe it's time to get really radical and record a solo piano album. I'd buy it.

On the plus side, our cabin was very nice, our steward Jun was great. The food in the Britannia restaurant was excellent, but the King's Court had fewer selections than the previous year. Will we book a crossing on the QM2 in the future? Probably, but with more realistic expectations.

The Queen Mary 2 was in dry dock in Hamburg from the end of May through the third week of June, resuming her crossings of the Atlantic just a few weeks before our Eastbound crossing on July 6, and our return sailing from Southampton on August 1. The "remastering", as Cunard calls it, was advertised heavily for many months. So, I was looking forward to the wonders we would find aboard.

I'm sure if we were occupants of one of the several brand new suites dropped onto the 13th deck while the ship was in dry dock, enjoyed some of the improvements in the other most expensive suites, or inspected the newly cleaned and painted hull or engine pods, we would have seen many great improvements. From our vantage point, staying in a middle-level balcony stateroom, the ship was beautiful, but the "remastering" was greatly over-hyped. To be fair, the Carinthia Lounge and the King's Court buffet, available to all, are very nicely redecorated. There is also much beautiful, new carpet in many of the public areas. In a giant leap forward into the latter part of the last century, the tiny TVs that sat on the counter next to the vanity have been replaced by 42" flat panel TVs mounted on the wall, opposite the bed and love seat. There are probably other areas that have been redone that we didn't use or didn't notice.

For us, as middle-of the-road balcony stateroom guests, the ever-present hyping of the remastering was a yawn. Other than the new TVs, nothing was done to the vast majority of the staterooms. Ours still had scuffed walls, dingy, pilled carpets, and rust on the veranda. The new TV system had bugs not worked out on the first few crossings. Our television was stuck on Korean language menus and controls, and the volume control was inoperative. Technicians did come in promptly and replace the television. On the second day my key card didn't work. I assumed I had carelessly demagnetized it, and I took it to the purser's desk to be re-encoded. Still it didn't work. When we found that my wife's card also no longer worked, I went back to the purser. They thought probably the door lock had failed overnight. A few hours later, someone came and replaced the door lock. Then, the cabin stewardess' card key wouldn't work in the new lock. A couple of days later the new TV developed a mind of its own, repeatedly turned itself on and off endlessly. The technician determined another new TV would be needed (not that we really watch much TV on a cruise.) Since the TV technicians were finished for the day, he said it would be replaced the next day. As he tried to leave I had to tell him that it was not accepable to leave the TV alternately turning itself off and on all night. He eventually figured out how to get behind the TV mount to disconnect the power.  The next day a third TV was installed.

The stench of old cigarette butts in the 6th deck "C" elevator area on the non-smoking QM2 was awful. I can only guess they used the container standing there to dump the ash trays from the deck 7 outside smoking area.

Since we were "commuting" between New York and Southampton before and after our Celebrity Eclipse Baltic/Scandinavian cruise, it was helpful that the QM2 has several laundry rooms where guests can do their own washing, since the Celebrity Solstice-class ships don’t have any do-it-yourself  laundries . It is a miserable experience, though, since theQM2’s  laundry room is tiny and sweltering,

The launderettes are a great convenience, but once the first loads of clothes of the day are washing, you don't have much choice but to stand there waiting for a machine to become available. The "remastering" didn't address the lack of ventilation or cooling. It is still hot as blazes in the launderettes.

When the Kings Court buffet was being redecorated, the floor plan was completely revamped. There are several small, quiet alcoves and nooks with 2 to 5 tables, giving a feeling of pleasant isolation from the hustle and bustle of the buffet. The chaos in the buffet, however, is worse than before the remastering. The renovation seems to be a designer's plan of form over function.  There are four separate food serving areas in a line down the center of deck 7, separated by passages and cross corridors. While the intention seems to have been to separate the pizza and pasta station, the hamburger and hot dog section, the hot and cold beverage stations, and other food areas, the result is that finding a seat, selecting a salad, beverage, entree, or dessert requires long walks back and forth, in and around, from section to section, often getting disoriented, and then searching for your table which cannot be seen if it is more than a few yards from where you are standing. The milling of hungry guests through four food-serving rooms, carrying plates and sloshing beverages, trying to find a food item, and then having no idea where the table they left is, is a major, recurring frustration. A large, open serving area, within sight of the tables and alcoves, would be much more practical in a self-service buffet.

The QM2 is starting to show the "Carnival-ization" ofCunard.

The ship has been re-furbished but there are some areas they missed:  I observed carpet that wasn't completely attached, where one pattern abutted another there was no way they should have been together as there were no similar colors or patterns among them.  The carpeting in my room was dirty in several places.  The New York Times speakers were less than average as was the evening theatre entertainment.  Food in the Britannia dining room was good as was the food in Kings Court.  All the staff was its usual wonderful and very helpful.  Fellow travelers are quite friendly.  There were many activities for children.  The dance hosts could have been better but were O.K.  I have always recommended Cunard ships and still will do so even with my negative thought as it is so much more than other lines.

The newly remastered Queen Mary 2 was luxury at its finest.  Staterooms were impeccable, as was the cabin steward service. Food quality & dinning room service left nothing to be desired. Facilities and activities were a good mix depending upon desired activity level. Onboard Wifi left a lot to be desired. Although connection to the ship's network was very good, the internet connection was spotty at best. Slow and very expensive.

I believe the QM2 is the best of all of the cruise ships.  However just sailing from Southampton to New York is called a crossing,----albeit the most elegant luxurious crossing you could ever imagine.

     The only thing I would like Cunard to do differently is that I was assigned a dinner table in the Britannia restaurant which seated me right next to a lady that they had seated me with at my table the very year before. So it was not exactly like a fresh new voyage.  Plus she only showed up at the table every other day at our table for six.  All in all---I love the ship, and the service and entertainment was A-1.

I loved this ship!  I have been on many "fun" ships, which I loved, but the experience on the Queen Mary 2 was totally different and cannot be compared. 

The food was superior, the service was above and beyond anything I've ever experienced, the entertainment was top-notch, outstanding lectures, we loved the planetarium, the 3-D movies, we took fencing lessons (!), enjoyed the outdoor heated pool and the indoor solarium pool and hot tubs.  The caption made excellent announcements at noon each day - full of interesting information and history. The Kid's Zone took my 5 year old grandson for 9 hours each day and he loved it!  

We got across the Atlantic in 6 days with dolphin, flying fish and whale sightings along the way.  The ship cut through the days with large ocean swells without anyone noticing . . . smooth as silk. Everyone was friendly and happy.