Queen Victoria Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The good:  Beautiful ship, better than the pictures in the Cunard literature.  Great, professional Cunard staff.  Fantastic service almost everywhere.  Britannia Restaurant food very good for mass-produced food, and Verandah Restaurant food better than that.  Really appreciated 2 full days in Venice.

 The OK:  Cruise entertainment ranged between great and not.  What was with that Queen cover band?  Awful!  Some of the shore excursions had too much bus time to get to unrewarding destinations.  They should disclose how much time is spent in a coach on each itinerary.  But most excursions great.  

The bad:  while the Spa services were good, the relentless up-selling by the staff really took away from the experience, and the treatments were expensive for what you got.  The internet service was terrible, and failed log-outs (not just me) wasted a lot of purchased minutes.  In-room entertainment was bland, and the technology was antiquated.  It should at least have allowed you t plug in your own device.

Ship was beautiful, crew was helpful, efficient and the service was excellent.  Cunard elected to replace a major port for Ephesus with a very secondary port in Albania.  This was the only thing negative about this wonderful cruise.

Cabin staff was helpful and service was very good. Dinner waiters very nice .we did like the band Blue Haze very much. Pools were clean but hot tubs were just warm. 

The excursions that DID go ahead rangers from outstanding to very good

Giving me a lower limit to write a review is not very user-friendly. The categories are also too broad... and inaccurate as we did not go near Turkey at all.

The above comment relates to the cruise itself. The service, stateroom, food and entertainment were all first-rate.  To have "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" sung to us on our anniversary in the restaurant was unforgettable! When we reached Rome however, we were lost. The airport was huge and after so much care on the ship we felt a bit "dumped!"  We are both disabled. After walking 1/2 a mile we managed to waylay some transport. It was such a shame after a lovely holiday.

I booked the Cunard Victoria for my fathers 80th birthday with my mother and a total of 13 family members.

We cruise frequently as a group for any occasion ie my 50th my fathers 75th my brothers 50th etc and have been on many very nice ships before and this time decided to travel on the Victoria and I booked penthouses for everyone so we were all in the Queens Grill.

We had a fantastic time and were looked after incredibly well by all the staff on the ship from embarkation to disembarkation.

The suites were lovely but the Queens Grill Restaurant and Bar Lounge were exceptional and everyone commented on how they felt that nothing was too much trouble.

We will definitely consider Cunard again for our family group holidays

we loved our Cunard cruise.  The ports were beautiful and so easy to get around.  The staff on the ship were amazing.  We loved every minute.  I have food allergies and for the first time could go to a meal without my epie pen.  The staff was so diligent to make sure everything was safe for me

The food was not up to the high quality that Cunard usually provides. The cruise wasn't worth the high fare I paid!

I can't think of 150 words to describe the cruise! x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x  x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x  x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x  x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x  x x x x x

Awesome!  It was a dream of mine to visit Greece and Istanbul and my dreams came true with Cunard Queen Victoria.  Beautiful ship, attentive and friendly staffs, overall, beautiful experience.  I will only say that I think they should take into consideration, when it comes to entertainment, that there are other nationalities onboard.  Entertainment seemed to have been catered to the older Brittish guests only.

If you are looking for a lot of fun, action and excitement, than Cunard cruises may not be for you.  95% of the passengers are in the 60-70+ age group.  Yes, elegant and exquisite but quite "dead" after late dinner (around 10 pm).

cruise was very good, ship was clean and well maintained. guests were much older than i expected but all in all a very good time. the food was decent. enjoyed the wine tasting.

I was nice to visit all the locations with only one sea day.  I find sea days mostly boring, but this trip was nice and I welcomed the sea day after visiting most of the cities in the western Mediterranean cities.

Was very impressed with this beautiful ship, it's cleanliness, impeccable service, wonderful entertainment, excellent food and overall ambiance. Easily navigable- being neither too big, nor too small.  Wonderful class of people, mostly in their 60s.  Only a few children/teenagers on board.

We started in Rome.  Had to skip Cinque Terra because of a strike, which was unfortunate  because I absolutely LOVE Cinque Terra.  Went to Livorno instead.  Rome is nice, but a big city.  I have difficulty walking, and the walking in Rome is tuff.  It'd like walking on uneven, terrazzo tile.  But the food was great!  Instead of Cinque Terra, we ventured to Florence, which was smaller than Rome and easier to walk.  Enjoyed that immensely!  Then on to Monaco.  Unfortunately, the group I was with decided to do Monaco on their own.  I would have much preferred an excursion.  We went to Eze, a nice scenic town, but I missed all the sites in Monaco, and I'm still upset.  My own fault though.  Then on to Barcelona, a very nice big city. Took a great panoramic tour.   Didn't see enough of Gaudi's artwork though.  The lines were quite long, so we skipped it.  Sorry we did though.  Many people say it was the highlight of their trip.  Then on to Corsica, which surprisingly was my favorite port.  The French weren't quite as friendly, but the fact that the scenery, food, and tour were all superb made this my favorite port!  Probably because walking is difficult for me, I prefer smaller towns, so I loved this place!

Cunard's Queen Victoria  ship is beautiful, lots of activities but some require extra charge, staff was not as friendly or service oriented as expected. More like Carnival service. Shore Excursions all reasonably priced and we're all worthwhile, tour Guides were extremely knowledgable about tour areas. Food was very good. Veranda Restaurant was exceptional for both food and service. Theater shows were good to ok. Cunard dancers and singers put a lot of effort and work into productions that could have been better.

We thoroughly enjoyed our week aboard Cunard's Queen Victoria.   The customer service was excellent -our bags were waiting for us at our stateroom when we boarded.  The tours we purchased from the ship were excellent and we feel the best way to see Istanbul.  The two days in Istanbul were perfect; we had plenty of time in Volos to charter a sailboat for the day; a few extra hours in Mykonos would have been nice - but I'm not sure anyone ever wants to leave Mykonos.  Good options for food, excellent food in specialty restaurant, the four star rating is due to entertainment.   We really like the comedian; however, overall the entertainment offered did not compare with NCL's Epic - Blue Man Group.  The balcony cabin was as expected -no complaints.   We will definitely consider sailing with Cunard again.  

Our first cruise and we are now spoiled.  I don't know if there could possibly be a better way to vacation. The Cunard crew was wonderful.  The Queen Victoria was a great place to say for the week while visiting such beautiful places.  We are looking forward to our next cruise with Cunard.

We were recommended by friends who have sailed on Cunard 7 times, it was as they told us Outstanding in all area's.

Queens Grill is the way to go, food, staff and service 1st class plus great promotion for the 175 year!!

Thanks,

john & Julia

Ft Lauderdale, FL.  USA.

Let me tell you this was our first cruise with Cunard and our over 27 with other lines.  By far, it was one with more bad experiences.  It is a pity that although you have a pretty and comfortable ship the service has to be so, so.  Do you train your staff? By service I mean your waiters, assistants, room Stewards, Maitre D', Purser's Desk, etc, it seems no one is even teaching them how to provide these services.  We had a terrible experience with your Purser's Desk staff, we went to ask them to make a call for us to make reservation at the seafood restaurant BotaFumeiro (since I did not have my phone, I thought I lost it in Florence, Thank God I found it three days later) and the lady told us that they didn't provide those services, when I heard that I was chocked, but she did tell me I can show you how you can make a call from your room (when she said that, I almost told her, lady do you think I am stupid, but I didn't do it), then she said that it will cost us $4.50 per minute.  These type of services we got it in other cruise lines, e.g. NCL, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity.  One year we were in NCL and we were going to fly to Paris to stay there a week and that was the year that Paris had the Transportation Strike, well the Purser's Desk from NCL called us and they let us know what was happening and they helped us re-arranged our trip and they did everything for us for FREE.  My other questions to the lady at the Purser's Desk was, can you print our Boarding Passes for our flight from Venice to US and once again we got the same answer from her.  Our Concierge Travel, Mr. Brian Mitchell from Luxury Cruises, was the one to advise us to go the Concierge Desk and to request the service.  We did get an answer from the Purser's Desk, they told us that in order for us to print the boarding passes, we needed to get their Internet Package.  

Our first bad experience was the first night we went to the Britannia Restaurant, Second Seating at Table 543.  When we got to our table we didn't like it and we went and told Maitre D' Thomas to help us find another table, we understood that it was the first night and that it was going to be hard for him to do it that night, but what it made us mad was that Mr. Thomas did not take any interest in helping us. We had the same experience about three years ago in the Liberty of the Seas from Royal Caribbean, however, their Maitre D' took interest right away and helped us find another table by the second day.  That was the service we were expecting from Mr. Thomas.  Every night we got to the dining room  he always had the same answer, I am sorry I don't have one for you.  However, the third  or fourth night he brought a couple to our table to see if they liked the table and of course, they said No.  We told Thomas that the second table next to ours was empty that no one was there and he said oh no they will come, well the couple assigned to that table never showed up, but he gave the table to two Asian ladies.  But the service that we received from the Waiter of Table 543 was Excellent, his name is Ivan and his assistant waiter Jose was also excellent.  We commended very highly both of them as well as Carola the Head Waiter, she should be the Maitre D' not Mr. Thomas.  Finally, the second day of our second week, Mr. Thomas gave us another table (Table 515), the Waiter Ray was good but as not as good as Ivan, however, his assistant was not good at all, Ray had to do everything.  These are small examples because I am sure you have heard these type of story from other passengers.  We did go to one of your Pay Restaurant Verandah (I hope I have the right spelling) and the service that we received from Daniella the waitress as well as from their Maitre D' Bryan was excellent and the food was spectacular.  Why can you have staff like them working at your regular restaurants.

There were many other things wrong too.  Your in cabin TV was too small compare to other cruise lines, the shower too little, your in cabin movies system was not good, in other cruise lines, they have a list of movies that you can choose from at any time. You pride yourself of being an excellent cruise line, in a way you are, but you also nickel and dime people, many things had charges attached and these bad experiences we got, we really hope that you look into them to improve your service.  Our last bad experience we received was once again, from your Purser's Desk staff.  Two nights before of our departure in Venice, my husband went to the desk and told them that our driver that we hired was going to be waiting for us outside the terminal by 7:00 AM since our flight was leaving by 10:30 AM and we had four suitcases and two carry on, the lady told my husband that he had to carry the suitcases himself and that was when my husband got really really mad and he told her, of course, when she saw him how upset he was, then she told him that she was going to send someone to our stateroom for him to carry our suitcases until the Terminal.  But the point of this incident is that she provided the service that we requested after my husband got upset, I don't think this is right.  

I won't keep boring you, but again, it is a real shame that you don't manage this ship correctly.  It is pretty, the evening shows were excellent, your afternoon tea is great, your Spa, beauty salon are very good and it could really appeal to a lot of people if you would only take a little more time to correct these problems.

However, we will have to think about it twice before we try your line again or recommend it to our family and friends.  This was a very Expense Trip  and we were not expected to have these problems.  Overall a bad experience, especially on an 12 day cruise.

Emma & Jose Sardina, Hallandale, FL, US - (954) 454-0224

We stayed in Istanbul for 7 days before going on this cruise. we did not know where we have to go to embark in istanbul as it said on the internet upto the last day that embarkation point- to be decided.so we had to phone cunard office in england and after a long delay they were able to help us--so some improvement there will be highly appreciated