We have just returned from a cruise on the Queen Victoria.
We didn’the Santiago to Southampton section of her South American voyage.
How disappointing.
We have cruised many times with Cunard and have sailed before on the Victoria.
Getting from the airport to the ship was bad.
Passenger handling at the airport was chaotic.
Once out of the airport we were taken to a holding room.
When asked how long we would be there and were told we would be gone in 2 hours time.
When we asked them to get us a taxi we were told no, asked for the address for where we had to go to so we could get our own taxi , wonder of wonders , a coach was suddenly found !!! Checking in to the ship was fine, but once on board, we were told lifts to left go to deck 7 and then left to find our cabin.
Standards have really fallen.
Even in Queens grill most of the food comes plated, for the first 2 weeks every night it was always 4 batons of carrots and 2 florets of broccoli, so undercooked you could not cut them.
Menus badly planned, 3 days running smoked salmon starter and often salmon on as a main course.
The cabin canapes were terrible dry/stale bread squares with a topping, the pre-dinner patience in the grills restaurant was the same as cabin canapes.
Lido food looked very tired.
The entertainment was the worst we have ever had.
Have never been to bed so early on a cruise.
The dress code was not enforced, in the theatre before each show you were informed the dress code was in force.
The ballroom was another matter altogether, people were dancing the night away in jeans and t-shirts.
Even the dance hosts only wore waistcoats on informal evenings in spite of us being told gentlemen must wear jackets.
The tours office lady who was in charge of getting us to the coaches, plainly thought she was dealing with nursery school children.
She plainly loved her bit of power.
She put us off wanting to go on tours.
The tours were very expensive for what they were.
Cunard is plainly being downgraded in the same way Carnival have taken P&O.
We are booked on the Queen Mary next year but wondering if we should cancel, or hope for the best.
