waste of money nothing to shout about

flew to dubai to board ship victoria what a nightmare with the coach conection from the hotel we wasted time at while they got the ship ready or whatever two of the coach drivers were haveing a very heated aurgument in front of guests and the whole confused shin dig wasent helped with guests leaving the hotel at the same time we were tied and a bit smelly traveling all that time from home to dubai it took ages to get though passport control then to be at this hotel full of stress for 4 hours before we then got on the bus to take us to dock feeling knackered we then had to join a line to check in on the ship but of course if youre platinum theres a quicker line to check in you would think that cunard would look after first time cruisers for future buisiness but not! we got to our cabin which wasent the one we had disscussed on booking but they did say it would be confirmed nearer time which it was. and upgraded to deck 8 from 4 mid ship i took my shoes off and took a few steps and stuck my foot on a cocktail stick i then checked if it had been cleaned all they had done was change the sheets the mattress protecter had be on a long time it was grubby and the pillows stunk of sweatty heads i asked for the beds to be stripped and all clean bedding put back includeing pillows and i always take my own pillow protecters for hygene purposes i felt itchy all the time from the moment i got on a couple of people said they had been bit but dident know where it was from and found out i had got bites on my ankles and hands the last leg of the world cruise you dont know whats in the cabins and believe me they are not cleaned that well. in not a clean freak but i dont go on holiday to put up with enything but still am very clean at home with bedding ect…. the ship was fed up and no one had eny get up and go except at meal times the entertainment was rubbish and every thing was centred around money the spa is expensive and majority of bar staff are rude and cocky has far has eny freebies at the captains meeting we dident see eny ! we ate in the lido nearly all the time, has i will say this, the food was good ! we only attended the brittania twice due to the stuffy snobby enviroment and the food was not that good. what i had was the smallest portions and undercooked, has well has the fact one couple at the table of 6 was ok but the other two no thanks!. some people dont live in the real world , the best bar on the ship is the commerdore always a friendly word and got exceptional service. we totally understand the risk of the pirates but to have lock down for nearly half of the cruise was unbeleiveable we were couped up inside for half our holiday in the evenings. not allowed on deck or ballcony keeping curtains drawn with no light peeping though breathing air contioned atmosphere in nearly all the time , we did this for the outdoor sea experience, but it only excelled once we hit the med what a shame and yet the grills were lit up like a space ship!! so where was the the object in that the barman said it was because they had net drapes up instead of curtains like the whole of the ship and coulden very well turn the lights of because of safety reasons hey!!! surely this should be mentioned before you take the leap and book also not staying at ports listed because of safety surely this has been known in advance too. we did not do eny of the trips due to the fact you dont take a risk if you dont have to when we saw the armed guard and medical vehical escorting no thanks i would rather wait until it is safe to see historical sites in the meantime i sat in the jacuzzi when we docked and took in the scenery around us but the ship was dead no music on deck dureing excurstion and plain boaring activites the things you would want to do like pilates yoga are at a extra cost whick in my opinion should not cost enything its all part of useing the faceilitys on board, dont mind paying but to me it should be all in the people that take the classes get paid for being on the ship dont they , so why charge extra for things that some people enjoy doing perhapes they know this , so i went to the laundry on some port vists and got my washing done ready to get off! yes the weather was kind and so was the sea and god bless the captain and crew for getting us home they do a fantastic job and the captain looked a loverly guy bless him but i will think alot alot alot before i even think about cruiseing again the entertainment was at a loss and the rise and shine program on the tv nearly drove us to dispare all very false if you saw thease people in life face to face they couldent master up a smile or a hello fed up people thats what came accross its all about the pleasantrys good manners and having fun, without feling uncomfortable this trip was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime for us , the ship itself is beautifulll and should be filled with a beautifull atmosphere but there was none …… proberbly due to the fact it was the last stint of the world cruise and the atmosphere had gone completely . the dress code we dident mind at all , has its keeping with tradition of the ship and also i fun to dress up , the highlites for us was the weather the calm sea the dolpins the suez cannal the lido food sitting in the jacuzzi in port while looking at the surroundings and dancing with the couple we made friends with in the hemisphere,… with 8 people in it including bar staff ! and of course to have the health and the chance to sample this very dissapointing experience, sorry !! i know we have been spoilt on previouse holidays and this comes no where near to what we have seen and experienced we have been very lucky people this was just our experience and im not saying dont try it but if i was to change my mind it would not be fly and cruise it would be dock to dock and hopefuuly the victoria might have got their act together by then !