20 Nights Transatlantic Crossing and Caribbean Celebration Cruise

The only ocean liner

As an American, nothing fully prepares you; life onboard is very different. Fellow passengers are mostly older, well-dressed, and very polite and considerate. No foul language at all, no yelling, no behavior or provocative dress that you would wish you could un-see. Ballroom dancing is a major draw, couples who dance gracefully, stunning gowns, with only one who resembled a sausage bursting out of a much too short casing. Surprises: Boarding took 1 1/2 hours. Dining room options are very old-school continental, Galantine and Ballotine and many other culinary terms to learn about. Flavors are not overpowering, wine helped. The North Atlantic is a very cold place to be in March, icicles formed. The cabin creaked constantly, affecting sleep till I got used to it. The ship rolled a lot. Disco Inferno in the nightclub was random pop music, not even close to being an inferno. There was a volunteer passenger choir that rehearsed all week and sounded fantastic. Disembarkation isn't too early, you can have a proper, relaxed breakfast. There is tea-making paraphernalia in your cabin, storing it in the closet top shelf freed up counter space. Room service breakfast is complimentary, your morning coffee magically appears. In closing, if your ancestors came across for a free and better life, or if your great-grandparents ever travelled abroad before air travel, here's the closest thing. Service was outstanding and I felt very pampered.

Excellent first cruise

This was the first cruise by me and my wife. We had a Queens Grill penthouse Suite Sadly embarkation was a nightmare. Chaos.And long queues. However, having got to our suite we were delighted. A large lounge area, a lovely bathroom with a jacuzzi bath. (Mote on that later). A large walk in wardrobe had enough room for our extensive wardrobe. Luggage arrive quickly, within an hour and by the time we unpacked the butler had arrived and introduced himself. We went to lunch in the outstanding Queens Grill. I was a touch disappointed not to have a table by the window. I spoke to the Maître d'hôtel, the delightful Osman, he said it was unlikely but he would see what he could do. An hour later and a phone call saying we had a window table. Typically of the excellent service from the entire staff. The Head sommelier was quite exceptional, helping us choose from the extensive wine list and introducing me to the delights of fine wine culminating in a 6 course meal of fine food matched with outstanding wine with a running commentary on the excellent pairings. Having the same table and waiting staff, was ideal. They soon picked up our likes and dislikes and the service was beyond reproach. The variety and presentation of the food was like eating in a 5 star restaurant for 35 nights! The voyage did have its dramas. A member of the crew was taken seriously ill and we had to divert to madeira, this meant we did lose a Spice island visit. We did lose power for a few hours one night. There was another medical emergency with a passenger that resulted in a small diversion and an early hours ship to shore transfer. Give the average age of passengers appeared to be 70 this should be of no surprise. The entertainment was good to excellent. Sir Tony Robinson (of Blackadder fame) gave a couple of highly entertaining talks and the listening to the in-house group in the nightclub G32 was excellent. The vast majority of the excursions were good to excellent. One tour was poor, but Cunard gave all participants a partial refund. The interior of the ship was magnificent. Large corridors, interesting artwork, the grand lobby - quite excellent. The QM2 is an elderly ship and it show a little. The jacuzzi bath in our room did not work properly (although was still delightful). As noted we did have a power outage and occasional water issues - but nothing to dent the overall experience. The formal garla nights with black tie were spectacular harking back to the splendour of bygone times. A shout out to the ship photographers who took some of the best pictures of my wife and I that I have ever seen, and I am a professional photographer…. Disembarkation was a dream. No queues no immigration, no obvious customs. We were off the ship, reunited with our luggage (all 6 large cases) and with our driver within 20 minutes. Overall an outstanding experience and we look forward to our next trip on this elegant old lady of the seas.

Love cruises, can't imagine sailing any other ship

Absolutely fantastic. I have cruised with Royal Caribbean, Costa Crociere, Carnival, Holland America, Princess, Disney and Cunard in my lifetime, our sailing aboard Queen Mary 2 was exceptional. The ship is something special on her own, but when you consider the amazing attentiveness of the crew, from the Captain all the way down to the stateroom steward she becomes a bucket list experience. The crew to guest ratio is around 2:1 and you can tell as there is always a friendly face ready and willing to bring a drink or lend a hand. Her passenger capacity of around 2500 or so is wonderful on such a large ship (a little over 1100' long) shows in the Royal Theater were never jam packed and the Brittania Dining room always had tables available. Queen Mary 2 was fully booked on our trip but never once felt crowded. We brought our 14 month old with us which worked out great. Again, the staff and crew couldn't have been nicer and more welcoming to her, she had her fruit plate and glass of milk served at dinner before we had all taken a seat, and we learned how to play and say, "peek-a-boo" in our server Oding's native Indonesian language. Tea Time in the Queen's Room was a daily treat, our little girl also got to participate with a glass of milk in her tea glass. One evening as we rolled our stroller towards a set of stairs, we paused for a moment to figure out the best way to make our way up (elevator, carry the stroller, etc) when out of nowhere the Captain of the ship, Captain Aseem Hashmi caught up with us and offered to help carry our stroller up. We didn't even know he was in the same room. The Captain of the Queen Mary 2 caught up with us to help with a stroller. As I mentioned earlier, quite literally from the top of command to the bottom, the crew is extraordinary. Queen Mary 2 isn't for people who want all the fluff of a Royal Caribbean or Carnival ship, the pools aren't surrounded by giant screens and water slides. She does however offer a truly majestic experience at sea where you can relax in a deck chair with a good book, catch sports in the Golden Lion Pub or go for a swim and soak in the jacuzzi. Regardless of the itinerary, Queen Mary 2 is an amazing vessel that we will find a reason to cruise on in the future.