The Grill Experience – Joanne Chad reports
Arriving at the decidedly unglamorous Brooklyn Cruise Terminal with hoards of hungry passengers didn’t seem the most auspicious way to start our grand transatlantic voyage in a Queens Grill suite – but we kept an open mind!

First impressions were of a massive ship that wasn’t particularly attractive from the outside. Inside, she is grand and opulent, if a little strangely laid out with an uneasy flow of public rooms.

Our Queens Grill Suite was perfect and beautifully arranged – when you are at sea for five days we thought it was important to have the space and we ended up spending a lot of time in our suite. Butler service came as standard with evening canapés and afternoon tea, although I couldn’t think of much else for him to do. We ate breakfast, lunch and dinner in Queens Grill, except for a lunch in Todd English, the alternative restaurant of US fame. Dining in Queens Grill is a grand affair with lots of table side flambé and an always available a la carte menu featuring caviar, foie gras, lobster, filet mignon, etc, as well as the daily changing menu. In addition, you are invited to order off the menu whenever you wish. The wine list was disappointing and even our Sommelier, who was excellent, found it limiting.

We managed to survive five days hardly venturing outside our Queens Grill Suite/Dining Room cocoon, apart from a couple of visits to the excellent Canyon Ranch Spa and drinks before dinner in one of the many bars. At other times the ship felt crowded especially in the shopping area and main lobby and I was aghast at the dreadful Kings Court which reminded me of a shopping centre food area.

All in all, we had a wonderfully relaxing experience with great food – which to us is important – and five days with nothing to rush to get up for was bliss. Yes I’d recommend it, but only the Grills!

The Standard experience – Sue Davis reports
I had a C4 standard ocean view cabin with portholes. At about 195 sq ft this is a good size with a decent amount of drawer and hanging space but not a lot of space for “stuff” in the bathroom. The beds were comfortable with nice furnishings in pale colours.

There were some very special features on board. I liked the “Hall of Fame” reading about all the famous celebs that had been on Cunard in bygone days and the Cunard History Trail. I also liked the huge library and the shops onboard in particular the bookshop/stationers. I enjoyed the kennel visit. They have 12 spaces for dogs on Transatlantic crossings only and are always full.

Everywhere was so busy you could hardly get a seat in the buffet at lunchtime or in Sir Samuels for a coffee and to read. The difference between the classes is noticeable, and of course this simply doesn’t exist on other ships.

The buffet was quite a free for all and I could have been in a motorway service station. There was a huge, huge varied choice at lunchtimes, but we were fighting for table space in the Kings Court: you just walked around with your tray until you saw someone leave and then had to jump in their place. Staff had to then come and clean the table and as they were so busy this didn’t always happen as quickly as one would want. We used it one evening in the Italian section La Piazza. It looked a lot better with table cloths and nice crockery and the food was ok. We also went to Todd English one night and this was good.

The dining room is nice, with good choices on the menu and lots of variety. The service was adequate at dinner but the waiters were obviously so busy that they didn’t really have time to engage with the diners.

On the whole with the exchange rate as it is I would recommend QM2 as a relaxed means of getting to the shops in NY and I particularly recommend the return on business class airline Silverjet.