Queen Elizabeth

The ship itself is almost identical to the QV with only minor modifications, the main difference being the addition of suites on the stern of the ship. The soft furnishings are of different colours, but otherwise the layouts of both ships are identical. We ate mainly in the Britannia resturant in the evening and had breakfast in the self-serviced Lido in the morning. We often went to the Golden Lion Pub for "British Pub Grub" at lunch. The food in all venues was of a reasonable standard but was not exceptional and was comparable to that served on most mainstream cruiselines. The portions were geared to European appetites rather than the enormous servings presented on the cruiselines aimed primarily at the USA market. The service onboard ship was good and attentive. The cruise ship was affected by an outbreak of Norovirus early into the trip. Cunard responsed to this by increasing the sanitation routines. This meant that passengers could not service themselves in the self-service food outlets (and this included beverages) and as such resulted in long queues at peak periods. Although I don't know the number of crew and passengers affected the majority of passengers I spoke to including myself were unaffected by this GI illness. We had an inside cabin which was adequate and had plenty of storage space, however, the coathangers need replacing (already mentioned in other reviews) The day time entertainment was by and large low key, the evening entertainment in the bars was the usual live music served up by all cruiselines. The headline entertainment in the theatre was on the average (I enjoyed the comedian, Adrian Walsh), the two singers (male and female) were talented. The production shows were slightly different in nature to those presented on other criselines. Two invloved abridged musical format (A Slice of Saturday Night and Hotel Royale), a vocal production (Sing) and a dance show (La Danaza) all were enjoyable. A Question of Ports was a "game show production" combining Charades and Call Bluff format but was too weak for an evening production show. A fifth show (The Piccadilly Line) was totally different, which was set on a London tube and involved poetry readings and a little music, the general consenus of the passegers was that this was not a great success. I myself did not understand the meassage of the show. It was a shame that the evening were of average quality as the theatre was top notch. The cruise was down the Canaries and the weather on the way down wasn't great and the ship moved around quite alot considering the seas weren't very rough - which suggests that the vessels isn't a "true ocean liner" this view has already being posted on many forums already. We missed one port (Las Palmas) due to high winds. The ports of call weren't important to me having visited this region quite a few times already. I enjoyed my cruise but the near identical layout of the ship to the QV meant I didn't feel I had sailed on a new ship but on a ship having had a recent refit. If you enjoyed cruising on the QV you will enjoy this ship, if you didn't avoid the QE. In summary if you travel in the Britannia class (the majority of passengers) I would suggest that you will have a reasonable cruise experience in a formal atomsphere, but unfortunately lacking the luxury which Cunard brand suggests.

If I was to use one word to describe this ship it would be 'elegant' very typical of the Cunard product. The spa facilities would not look out of place in a 6* hotel.
The buffet area on the top deck, which would be used for self service breakfast and lunch was very spacious and light with plenty of choice in all areas.
The cabin facilities were very good especially in the suites.
All in all an excellent ship, which I would not hesitate to recommend to clients

Very Cunard, traditional whilst offering a combination of contemporary and classic - Agatha Christie style.
Inmpressive public rooms acompanied with excellent service.
Would definately recommend to friends and family however would advise that anyone wishing to sail on her carefully selects their cabin as we found ours to be a little small and cramped compared to other liners.