Cunard Line

For the record: MS Queen Victoria and MS Queen Elizabeth are roughly the same size, though the latter is three years newer. The Queen Mary 2 is the flagship of Cunard, and slightly larger, holding about 2600 passengers.
Our Cunard maiden voyage was on the Queen Vic. It was the best thing ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. You will feel like you are cleansing your soul under the falling cascades of a chocolate fountain made of velvet… taking a bath in Veuve Cliquot… Sleeping on a bed stuffed with the feathers of an endangered bird species… Snorting caviar off of Margaret Thatcher’s chin…
It’s… luxurious.
And don’t think it’s all stiff-​upper-​lip ballroom dancing and quilting parties either. It’s only that if you want it to be that. There’s a night club with DJ or band any given night, pumping the jams ’til the late hours, the buffet always has something 24 hours a day, the Golden Lion Pub runs multiple trivia sessions daily, and hosts karaōke at least once per voyage. The Casino, the pool, the ping pong table, the special kids area, the shopping (a little gauche perhaps), and the very recent movies (They played Bridge of Spies and The Martian during our voyage!)
Pinkies up, bitches.

I just returned from cruise on Queen Mary 2,
The food was 5 Star!
Especially in the Todd English Restaurant on Deck 8! My aunt and I dined on the lobster and corn chowder; the presentation alone was enough to make me Queen for the Day ;) the stock, they came and poured over the prepared chopped meats and vegetables (at table-​side), was the most exquisite I’ve ever had in my life!
The filet we had on a previous night was fabulous as well!

After my horrible experience on the Celebrity Infinity early last year, I have been trying several other cruise lines many of which (like Cunard) are under the CCL banner of companies. If my recent crossing on the Queen Mary Two is any indication of the average level of service and luxury on Cunard, I’m hooked! From what I understand most of Cunard’s ships are around the same size but the passenger capacity on the Queen Mary Two is much lower. This makes the staff to guest ratio much higher and also affords larger public areas. I really appreciated the level and expertise of the service I received on the QM2. This reminds me of the type of service you used to get at better private clubs and luxury cruise lines twenty or thirty years ago. It’s far superior than anything I have experienced for decades.
You do pay more for Cunard than many other lines, but you do get what you pay for. My recent pre Christmas crossing from South Hampton to NYC was everything that one would expect and maybe even more. I have never seen a larger and more elegant public ball room on any ship. Many times I could hardly believe I was on a ship. Cunard doesn’t have the grand (and perhaps overstated and not very useful) cavernous shafts on many of the newer larger ships of other cruise lines. It instead seems to focus much more on a more elegant and tasteful layout to its ships.
We had a balcony Club room. These rooms are slightly bigger than the regular balcony rooms and allow you to dine in the Britannia Club restaurant instead of the larger more institutional Britannia restaurant. The Princess and Queens grill also have their own restaurants, but I’m not sure if the food is any different among all the above. The ambiance and service are quite different though.
I really enjoyed the spa area and gym. I got a good hair cut in the salon. Tea and music in the ball room were wonderful. The disco is really fun. You have to get there early if you want to have a pub lunch without waiting for a table. I wish I could have done more of these. There are several types of Staffordshire (and other area) microbrew ales to sample in the pub. I also frequented the Commodore’s club for happy hours.
Everybody I met on the ship was so polite and interesting. The 7 night crossing was a very memorable and elegant experience. I hope one day to do a world cruise with Cunard.

This will not reflect their rating; however, this is indeed SAD news. The beautiful Queen Elizabeth 2 was first welcomed to New York on May 7, 1969, and America welcomed her with open arms. On October 16, 2008, New York gave her a fitting, but sad, good-​bye as she sailed back to Southampton, and would later sail to Dubai where she was to become a permanently moored hotel /​entertainment venue as was done with the old Queen Mary in Long Beach CA. The fact that works did not begin and that she remained idle in Dubai brought out the worst speculations. Today, those speculations were confirmed. Last minute efforts to return her to Britain failed and the Chinese have agreed to pay a certain sum to scrap her. I am sure that the new QM2 carries forward the tradition beautifully, but many of us have remained loyal to the QE2 for her combination of sterling service and sleeker yacht-​like looks. Adieu, QE2. You are the ocean liner that has captured more hearts than any other to date.
See link to article:

There is no more elegant way to travel than by the Cunard, Queen Mary 2 ocean liner. This is no trashy, all you can drink, hawaiian shirt cruise ship. This is a walk back in time to the golden age of travel. Fine dining three times a day, white glove service, elegant balls to attend in the evening, live music at every turn, the opera, theatrical productions, a planetarium. Of course one can also just lounge on a teak chaise lounge on deck and watch the ocean go on and on forever.
The service throughout the ship and before and after the voyage was consistent, professional and gracious. The food was spectacular. For a couple of foodies to have that caliber of cuisine for breakfast lunch and dinner, it was heaven.
A few words to the wise:
Book through a travel agent at least a year before you want to leave for early booking rates. If you’re doing 6 nights at sea plan to have at least 4 evening gowns and 2 – 3 cocktail dresses packed and plenty of nice casual clothes to wear around the ship during the day (read: not jogging pants). Men really should have a tux, at least two other suits and plenty of dress shirts. It’s a lot to pack but luckily they have no limit on how much you can bring as long as it all fits in your stateroom. For North Americans the dress code is a new world, make sure you read the pre-​voyage info and don’t miss themes they might announce for certain nights. For instance, for the Ascot Ball you need a big hat worthy of the horse races and at the Black and White Ball you don’t want to show up in red.