My wife & I are frequent sailors, mostly on Celebrity as well as a couple of times on Royal. We've wanted to try it & just booked a cruise on the QM2 for September 2006. We were wondering what to expect. How does it compares with Celebrity? Do they have formal nights on th QM2? Are the alternative dinning experiences worth the extra money? How is the Spa? Is there an extra charge for the Spa pool? Any comments would be appreciated.
my wife and i are loyal celebrity cruisers with over 12 to date. we have recently taken the QE 2 for three weeks in asia. i suspect that the management of the ship is similar and i can tell you it was extremely disappointing. ill be posting a more complete review, but my general comments which MAY transpose to QM include the following;
- indifferent service [i withdrew all gratuities]
- poor to little maintenance
- food of poor to only fair quality [basic level of dining] or in the aft cafeteria.
overall, i would be very cautious before making a committment to any cunard product. while the QM is new the policies and management style of the company are likely similar.
I have to differ strongly with gknopp. My partner and I sailed on QE2 in July last year in Caronia class and the food and service on the ship was impeccable, far superior to what we experienced on Celebrity (Galaxy) six months previously. As for maintenace, the ship was at a very high standard, extensive recarpeting throughout, spotless upholstery in all the public rooms. Yes, the design is dated in places, but you shouldn't let this detract from a superb ship.
We have also just returned from a transatlantic crossing on QM2 where we ate in the Britannia Restaurant. Again, I would rate service and quality of food much more highly than on Galaxy. We were on QM2 in 2004 where I did have several complaints and these have all been rectified and standards are very much improved.
The Todd English Restaurant charges $20 for lunch and $30 for dinner and is a lovely restaurant. Again, the food is superb and the service impeccable. Worth the extra money? Well, you're on holiday and you will only eat there once or twice (hence the reservations and the charge. There are charges for the spa, but we've never used it, so I can't offer any advice there. Other alternative dining experiences are in the King's Court, the self-service dining area during the day. It divides into four restaurants with different themes at night and although it's better to reserve, I'm not aware on any extra charges.
There are formal nights on QM2. We had three on our transatlantic and three on our Norwegian Fjords in 2004 with a fourth night optional.
Hope this helps. Give it a go. All I can say is we've been on QM2 twice and are going again in July.
My experience with the two lines is massive, the food on board the Celebrity doesn't even come close to the QE2 . The only time I experienced magnificent food on the Celebrity was on the last night of our cruise at the midnight buffet. The QE2s food was magnificent every day and for every meal, not just the "last supper".
what would you rec. for a short 4 night trip should we stick with the dining room, try the buffet or specialty rests??? It will not be enough time to do everything--just want to see how we like the ship!
You could look into the 4 day Labor Day cruise on the Queen Mary 2...Its short and not expensive.. Leaves Brooklyn....It still gives you plenty time to enjoy the ship...
We have not sailed QM2 but have done QE2 twice including a World cruise.
In our opinion Celebrity beats Cunard by a mile, both in food and service.
I love the Noth Atlantic crossings, but not on a Cunard ship with its less then helpfull staff.
Granted we're not Queens Grill type of passengers but still expect good service in any grade of ships restaurant.
We also felt the QE2 was not very clean in several public area's and many of the staff seemed unconcerned about providing good service.
IRIS--we are booked for that trip--just want some suggestions on how to work out the dining arrangements-in such a short time it will hard to try all the venues!
I did sail RMS Queen Mary 2 last October and found the service impeccable. The service and food were excellent.
I also sailed transatlantic on GTS Constellation in April. It was my first time on Celebrity (although I did cruise on Chandris Lines twenty years earlier). The service was flawless and the food delicious.
In my opinion, the two lines comes equally as far as service and dining experiences.
I am currently booked on revitalized Century on the transatlantic westbound crossing on 27 October and Queen Elizabeth 2 from Southampton to New York on 2 January 2007. It will be interesting to see if the experiences will be consistent.
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Cunard vs Celebrity
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