Cunard vs P&O Mediterranean Cruise

Having taken numerous cruises with p&o, we thought we would take a cruise with Cunard after a break of 5 years. we have cruised with p&o on numerous occasions and thought it might be useful to provide a comparison between Cunard and P&O.

We embarked at the ocean terminal Southampton arriving at approximately at 11:30am. Embarkation was considerable more protracted with Cunard than P&O, taking circa 120 mins to board (30 mins with p&o.

The Cunard ships are considerably posher than p&o with furniture and fittings being more ornate and exisquite. Common areas are extremely grand and cabins finish and decor a considerable improvement on P&O. Quality of beds and bedding are significantly more comfortable than P&O.

In the buffet food is of a similar standard to P&O, as in the main restaurant, however, Cunard do not offer the constantly available sirlion steak, chicken or fish should there be nothing on the menu that appeals as do P&O. No in room tea and coffee making facilities on Cunard, however, Cunard still offer 24/7 room service which has since been removed from P&O.

Everything on Cunard ie trips, drinks, spa, gym classes etc. are considerably more expensive than P&O. Cunard harp on about white star service, however, service in the bars and on the outside decks was poor and certainly no better than P&O. We Had to go direct to the bar to get a drink on numerous occasions due to insufficient staff serving on the open decks, however, the bar staff appear to take exception to you going direct. That said, we have experienced similar on p&o. On Cunard, it appears, one way to guarantee poor services to buy the soft drinks packages, after which the bar staff lose complete interest (I don’t know why, perhaps they lose the opportunity to earn commission or sales figures.).

One thing that was frustrating with Cunard was that they continually failed to wipe the dining tables in the buffet after clearing them, consequently you sit down at a clear dining table only to find crumbs and spilt fluids on them. This is not the case with p&o where tables are always wiped immediate after clearing.

Service in the main restaurant in the evening was considerably worst than P&O. The evening meal was a particularly protracted affair. It was not unusual to wait 35 to 50 minutes for the starter to arrive I’m not sure why the service was so slow , I believe the gallery was struggling to keep up with the demand. On two occasions the wine waiter (nice lad) arrived to take our wine order after we had finished our main course even though the main course was delivered one hour after we sat down. Had to forsake tea/coffee on one occasion or we would have missed the theatre show. We seldom were offered petit fours unlike most of the tables around us.

As you are aware Cunard still operate a first and second class service, albeit not called that. I,m sure those who paid for the queens grill (first class) will have received better service than that described above.

We were disappointed to see that Queen Elizabeth still had the same entertainments director and as such there was no improvement in the entertainment on board since our last visit. Entertainment on Cunard is not a patch on p&o. The Cunard entertainments team are conspicuous by there absence and when you do find one they lack any personality or charisma. Their inability to dance at any dance parties was the highlight of our entertainment. On this cruise we had three separate pianist all on at the same time and a five piece band (why three pianist). Shows put on by the ships company were not of a particularly high standard and I fail to understand why they insist on singing songs that few know, consequently the theatre was never more than half full. The la Danza show by the ship company was exceptionally poor. This show was billed as a dance extravaganza. in reality it was 20 minutes of poorly performed ballet followed by 20 minutes of jive concluded with 20 minutes of non descript nonsense whilst dressed in the some Scottish costume. There was a brief intrude of flamenco or paso doble not quite sure which as the supporting music was neither genre.

For those who ballroom dance, Cunard offers the fabulous floor of the queens room supported virtually every night by the queens room orchestra, however for me the live music is great to dance to occasionally. However, with live music you do not get the range and diversity of cds where the tempo can by adjusted accordingly. The ballroom orchestra has improved since our last visit and whilst I would not say they play correct tempo at least they play at a tempo that you can dance to, however, they are great if you like quicksteps or foxtrots as they play these continually. You lucky if you get more than one waltz, cha cha, rumba in a night (5 nights before we had a samba). Soloist in the ballroom Paul Christopher and after day three started to repeat songs due to lack of repotiore. When the ballroom orchestra is not playing then a cd is played without any consideration as to what’s on it, consequently, the orchestra may have finished with foxtrots, quickstep, foxtrot only for the prevailing cd to be foxtrot, quickstep. Cunard are in desperate need of a ballroom dance mc who would manage such a scenario. Furthermore Cunard insist in evenings being ballroom & Latin or sequence and fail to understand that a mixture of both makes a more entertaining evening, however, an MC is required to manage this. No salsa, merengue or argentine tango the entire cruise.

Most noticeable between the two cruise companies is the difference in age profile of guests. The age profile of the Cunard ship is significantly older than P&O. The majority of the guests are well well past retirement age. I,m guessing that the number of guests under the age of 55 are in the tens rather than hundreds and under 40 you could count on one hand. Moreover, you didn’t get the impression that these people were on holiday as most had long faces..

Itinerary and destination are common to both cruise lines.