Sailing across the Atlantic on the Queen Mary 2

It's not a cruise ship - it's an ocean liner!

"It's not a cruise ship! It's an ocean liner! It's not a cruise! It's a crossing!"

I was reminded once or twice that spending a week on the Queen Mary 2 was going to be different than the 80 other cruises I've taken.

Yesterday, we disembarked Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 after sailing from Southampton to New York.

It was a 7 night cruise with no ports of call. The Queen Mary 2 is an ocean liner – not a cruise ship – designed for crossings. Yes, it’s called a “crossing”, not a “cruise”.  Ocean liners are designed for rougher seas with a thicker hull, longer bow, and capacity for higher speeds. An ocean liner also rests lowers in the water.

Before the cruise, I was nervous. Over the years, I’d heard a lot about the Cunard sailings. I was nervous about how formal the cruise would be. We’d heard that you had to be in a suit and dress after 6 pm to access anything on the ship. I was worried the crew would be overly formal. These worries were silly. Our clothes were fine. My husband did wear a suit on the gala nights and I wore a fancier dress. He also wore a blazer over a polo shirt on the smart casual nights. The Queen Mary 2 allows casual dress after 6 pm in the buffet, casino, nightclub, and one of the lounges.

I was also worried about the sea conditions. Our transatlantic in October was quite rocky leaving Southampton. The Queen Mary 2 handled the sea conditions much better. We did have four days sailing in dense fog. You can see the fog in the intro to my ship tour:

Now to my ratings. Overall, I give the cruise 8.2 out of 10.

Cabin: 8

We were very comfortable in our balcony cabin. The storage space is good. I liked the small desk and couch. The 2 point deductions are because the balcony had some rust. The bathroom is small. The shower has very little water pressure.

Ship Condition: 7

The inside of the ship looks very good. The outside needs some work. It was a little disconcerting to board the ship and see lots of rust outside.

Casual dining: 8.5

The casual dining options are the buffet, the Carinthia lounge, a grill with hamburger and hot dogs, and pizza and pasta. Afternoon tea is also served. We loved the ahi tuna and salmon in the sushi station in the buffet. The salad bar was always fresh. The Carinthia Lounge reminded me of the International Café on Princess ships. It’s a great place to get small plates and snacks throughout the day. The deductions are because it was often a long wait for hot food in the Carinthia Lounge. We also found the burgers inedible.  

Sit Down Dining: 8

We love that the restaurant offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Overall, the service was great. The food was hot. The chicken and turkey dishes were great. Beef filet was very good on Gala night.   The deductions are because the none of the food really wow’d us. I found the fish to be consistently salty. One dish was inedible.

Specialty Dining: 6

We had a lunch at The Steakhouse at the Verandah. The dining experience had some nice touches like finger bowls for the stickiness of the Parker rolls. The big issue here is that the sirloin steak was not good. It was overcooked. It reminded me of a steak you get on a buffet. Service was also a bit slow.

Entertainment: 10

The schedule was terrific. It was jam packed every day. The evening entertainment had so much music: two piano players, two orchestras, two singing duos, a guitar player, and a harpist. The lectures were very popular. Queen Mary 2 has the only planetarium at sea.

Service: 9.5

The crew is great. They work so hard. This is one of the toughest itineraries. They get no breaks. No chances to head ashore and blow off steam. It’s 9.5 because we had an encounter with an incredibly rude bartender.

Value: 9

We heard many people comment that the cruise was the same or less than economy plus or business class airfare between the USA and London would have been. That’s a great value.

Overall, we would definitely take Queen Mary 2 again as a transportation method between Europe and the United States. It was much less formal than we thought it would be. We really enjoyed the entertainment.