Anniegrant Cruise Review on Queen Victoria on Sep 15, 2018

Queen Victoria Cruise Review

Anniegrant

Contributor Level: Third Mate

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 55

Overall rating:

5 out of 5

Sail date: September 15, 2018

Ship: Queen Victoria

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

After reading reviews that this ship was boring and full of old people, we didn’t know what to expect on our 15 September cruise Rome to Rome. What we found was a beautiful ship with crew trained in service excellence, with a good balance between relaxed and formal. Yes there was ballroom dancing which was beautiful to watch (we even took a couple of classes) but there was also a DJ and reggae band and a disco. If dancing isn’t your thing, you can always have fun in the Golden Lion Pub or chill out in the cocktail bar on Deck 10 at the front of the ship. The shows were mostly excellent and designed to appeal to all ages. The girls in the entertainment crew were fun and always made us smile. Especially Laura with the quirky accent from the north of England. The food in the Britannia restaurant was excellent (good portion control) as were the meals in the Lido deck buffet. Especially good pasta made by the pasta chef - choose your own ingredients. We never made afternoon tea but we heard the scones with jam and cream were delicious. We experienced all the style of the golden age of cruising with a fantastic itinerary and plenty of time ashore. We only had 2 sea days and the rest were in ports. We went to Corfu, Dubrovnik, Montenegro, Korcula, Messina, overnight in Venice, Valletta, Naples and back to Rome. We could have done with an additional sea day before we disembarked at Rome on 29th September. Dressing up was a treat - I’ve never seen my husband in a tux and he’s never seen me in a dress. It was lovely meeting the Captain at the cocktail party and we found the entire group of officers always ready to smile and say hello throughout the cruise. Unlike P&O where they avoided eye contact at all costs. As Aussies with our low dollar, we were a bit perturbed to find prices in US$ and between Venice Croatia and Malta there was also an added Italian tax which made things like photographs and bottles of wine quite expensive. It was easier not to think about it! I found the soft drink package quite good, we bought wine etc as we needed it, the coffee card is good if you remember to take it with you and not leave it in the cabin. We chose not to go with the ship taking gratuities our at the end of the voyage, rather opting to give to those who were outstanding. I think Cunard recognises that it needs to accommodate a larger range of age groups - the crew told us that our cruise had a younger cross section of passengers. While not a lot of kids on the ship - they had fantastic facilities on board for those who were there. The Queen Victoria is probably not for those who want fast paced entertainment 24/7 - it’s not Carnival. But if you enjoy dressing up for dinner (or more relaxed dining in the Lido) good entertainment, the finer things in life, great ports and good old fashioned British service and punctuality - this is the ship for you. My only bugbear is that I wish Cunard could put a system in place to stop the deckchair hogs with their towels attached with giant plastic pegs - and no where to be seen. It was almost impossible to find 2 deck chairs together after 10am - and only one or two people in the actual pool.

7 Comments

cruisellama 5 years ago

Thanks

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budandchuck 6 years ago

We are in cabin 4111 but obstructing view of life boat x

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budandchuck 6 years ago

Wow thanks for the head up we are on the Victoria on 27th Oct and after the half term so hopefully will not be many children on board x

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roystonrogers 6 years ago

We found that fault about deck chairs as if tjey could so they did claim them as theirs lt maybe a good idea to have disabled bays as they tend to be in and out

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onlysail 6 years ago

Its a pity you denied tips to a lot of ppl who helped make your cruise

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IkeDeb 6 years ago

Thanks for your review

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Anniegrant 6 years ago

We were in cabin 4001.

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