We were lucky enough to sail on the magnificent Cunard Queen Victoria cruise ship for the first time in May/June 2015 having previously only experienced a short ship visit in Southampton.
Whilst a ship visit, and lunch onboard is is a great way to get a feel of the ship, nothing beats actually sailing on her. Our voyage took us from Southampton to Venice where we connected with the Venice Simplon Orient Express. All in all a great experience with just a few gotchas as detailed in our snapshot Cunard Queen Victoria Review. Overall this is one of our favorite cruise ships and it is one we plan to return to in the not too distant future. Fingers crossed that it will be sometime soon.
Lovely Welcome on Board Chocs © aboutluxurycruising.com
SHIP FACTS
First Voyage: 11 December 2007, Gross Tonnage: 90,049 GRT, Length: 964.5 ft (294m), Width: 106ft (32.3)
Decks: 12, Guest Capacity: 2083, Crew: 1001 Builder: Fincantieri (Italy) Refit: 2017
At the Table Cooking speciality dishes and deserts in the Princess Grill
Who is on board?
Average ages of guests probably 55ish. All types of passengers mostly from the UK. Few Children. A number of Honeymooners plus a couple who actually got married onboard.
What sets it apart?
The Style, Elegance and Britishness of the ship with its long White Star Line heritage. Its Art De-co feel and Queens Room with proper Dance floor
Likes
- Good Hygiene. Enforced hand gel dispensed by staff to passengers before entering restaurants
Princess Grill restaurant and Grill Lounge for pre dinner drinks - Ship well maintained and looks good
- Classic Art Deco feel
- Quality and consistency of food
- Outstanding Service in Grills Restaurant
- Outdoor patio for Grill rooms lunches etc
Dislikes
- Confusion over drinks packages and misleading information (Soft drinks package does not include all soft drinks – it seems after buying the package, anything in a can is excluded
- No wallet given for door card
- Small bathroom and plastic shower curtain
- Paying for everything, I.e. not inclusive
- Very slow, expensive internet service
- Not enough sun loungers for Grill guests
Sailing out of Gibralta in Queen Victoria © Inspired2cruise
Queen Victoria in Monaco © Inspired2cruise
Gotchas
Internet service always rounds up to the next full minute cheating you out of much of your valuable time if you log on and off regularly. If you get within a few seconds of a full minute and log off, the system often waits for the next minute and changes accordingly, Thus a 55 second connection can costs you 2 minutes of expensive internet time.
Soft Drinks Packages do not include all Soft Drinks – not included were water, diet coke, ginger beer – all very confusing
When tendering, you need a ticket and there are horrendous queues for these unless in Queens Grill when you have priority.
What would we change
Make Queens and Princess Grill fares All Inclusive
Upgrade Internet Service as a matter of Priority
Conclusions
Cunard Queen Victoria is one of our most favorite Cruise Ships. We would prefer it to be All Inclusive, but apart from that it is always an experience that we would not miss and are already looking forward to sailing on her again soon.
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