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hobokenbride06
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Anyone traveled on Cunard before? Compare to RCCL please.
in Travel
Hiya, we've been on RCCL 3 times and we are going again in Feb. We love RCCL. We did Princess and it wasn't that great at all for us. The level of service just did not compare at all to what RCCL had. So what is Cunard like? Anyone ever cruise with them? Which ship? Just looking for differences or anything else that I might want to know. If you've traveled on RCCL, would we be disappointed? Thanks very much.
Re: Anyone traveled on Cunard before? Compare to RCCL please.
Cunard varies a lot by where you're cruising. Their trans-Atlantic crossings are renowned for their formality; it's not uncommon to see ball gowns. We did one of their Norwegian coastal cruises back during the QE2's last season, and their port-focused cruises are slightly less formal. Our 13-night cruise had 5 black-tie formal nights and the other 8 nights were considered semi-formal (the official dress code states "cocktail dress or dressy pant suit" for women and jackets for men). I imagine the official dress code applies to the crossings, but on our cruise I saw a lot of women wearing afternoon dresses to dinner. However, one evening a male tablemate came to dinner in a polo shirt and khakis, and the dining room staff actually brought him a jacket to wear during dinner.
I won't say much about the ship, because they sold the QE2 after that season. However, the newer ships are allegedly quite lovely, but expect gilt and luxury rather than activities like you'd find on RCCL.
I honestly found the service to be very hit or miss. I had some run-ins with some very rude staff that apparently didn't think young 30-ish riff-raff like us belonged on a luxury liner. Basically, this boiled down to the fact that we came for high tea one afternoon, but their were no empty tables. We asked one of the waitstaff if we could just have a sandwich and take it somewhere else, and he actually scowled and very curtly told us that we could only be served if we were at a table. We were so surprised that we decided to just leave, and as we were walking out of the lounge, another staff member was telling people that since the tables were all full, there was another venue available for tea. I don't understand why the first waiter couldn't have just told us that instead of making us feel unworthy.
Throughout our 2-week cruise, we saw a lot of very good service and a lot of very bad service. I'm inclined to chalk a lot of the bad service up to it being the QE2's last season, and a lot of staff weren't sure if they'd be getting a transfer to another ship or if they'd be out of a job.
The biggest problem I had sailing Cunard was the class system. There are a set of different dining rooms that are based on how much you paid for your cabin. The Queen's Grill and Princess Grill are reserved for the highest-class passengers. Since we don't mind inside cabins and prefer to save that money for drinks and shore adventures, we were essentially in "steerage" class, and there were definitely some times when we felt it. The worst actually came from other passengers, though. As an example, we were waiting in line for a tender at one of the ports, and a couple cut straight into the front of the line saying, "Excuse us. We're Grill passengers." Everyone (including the staff) was so caught off guard that they just let them do it.
As for whether you'd be disappointed after RCCL, it's very hard to say, because it's very hard to compare the two. RCCL always strikes me as more colorful and active. They're famous for their activities, their rock walls and skating rinks and waveriders. Cunard is famous for their white-glove tea service, their formal traditions, and their ballroom dance hosts.
i sailed on the qe2 years ago and loved it. i kind of enjoyed the class system-just like on airplanes and hotels-you get different stuff if you pay for it. the service was outstanding, the food was delicious, the employees were wonderful. didn't have an expierience like gilli.
haven't been on rccl.
I didn't but my business partner did.
She sailed one of the RCL ships with an ice rink & hated it. For her the food was awful & there were too many people, especially kids. She had nothing nice to say about the casual atmosphere or dress of the other passangers.
She then sailed the QM2 about a year later on a transatlantic & loved it. She found it to be sophisticated & elegant. She loved getting dressed up in evening wear almost every night. I think she packed 4 beaded gowns & wore them all. She loved the uncrowded feel of the ship & the fact that there was no on board craziness. She hid in her cabin during most of the belly flop contests, quest & other on board RCL games. She cringed every time she heard the CDs voice; there were no insipid announcements on the QM2.
If you like all the bells & whistles on RCL -- rock walls, skating rinks, zip lines, wave pools etc., you will hate the sedate elegance of Cunard. If you hate the games, crowds & craziness of RCL you will love Cunard. Different strokes for different folks.