Mark Miller

Age: 36
Occupation: Attorney
Number of Cruises: 6
Cruise Line: Cunard
Ship: Queen Mary 2
Itinerary: Eastern Caribbean

My wife and 21 month old son joined me on our first voyage on the much heralded QM2. We had last sailed 3 years ago in QE2 via Southampton through Iberia and Bordeaux. While the itinerary could not match QE2, the QM2 is an outstandingly beautiful ship. In all honesty, after downloading my home movies of QM2 onto the end of the vhs tape with the QE2 voyage footage, I can say that QE2 physically is a "dump" next to QM2. Don't get me wrong, QE2 is wonderful, beautiful, classic, classy and elegant. But QM2 is in a whole different league. What QM2 has for looks doesn't necessarily match its substance for service, however. We found that the staff on QE2 was far more impressive than the many clueless folks hired by Cunard to staff the QM2.

Embarkation was easy enough except that Cunard left us at LaGuardia without the transfer staff there to greet us. We had to call 3 times to get our transfer to show up.

Cabin - Inside D2 on 12 deck..beautiful cabin with nice amenities. No complaints and no comparison to our Deck 1 Caronia Class cabin on QE2 - the QM2 wins hands-down.

Shops - better on QM2, but could use more Harrod's merchandise on QM2.

Grand Theatre - nicer than QE2 grand lounge, but still some sight line issues.

Illuminations - beautiful Planeterium.

Pools - very nice especially splashing pool for my son. It would be good if they could devise a way to keep these pools full on days in port.

Play Zone program for children - a godsend and very nice staff. The beepers to alert parents of naughty behavior is a good idea.

Brittania restaurant - beautiful, but the food and service were not comparable to the Caronia Restaurant on QE2.

Alternative restaurants - ate at the Carvery - food was comparable to Caronia Restaurant on QE2.

Kings Court - not particularly tasty, fresh or creative and was told "no" by a cook at a request to make up some chicken stir fry for me..appalling. Pavillion Restaurant on Deck 12 was better for American style grill food.

Purser's Desk should have a separate Information area so that monetary issues can be separated from other issues...much like QE2 currently is situated.

Last day at sea was ruined by the crew either burning or disposing of refuse. All aft decks smelled for hours with the stench of rotten garbage on a beautiful, sunny day and we could not get a straight answer as to what was going on.

Similarly, general alarm rang during dinner and while we were relieved to not have to abandon ship, we never got a satisfactory answer as to what had really happened - apparently a kitchen fire that was hidden from us as reported on other web sites. Also, our son was in the Play Zone and we could not make a rear exit out of Brittania to locate him..in a real emergency, it could have been a tragic family story.

Ports of Call - these islands are "been there/done that" except for Martinique which should be a never been there, never done that. Cunard must be able to find a better place to dock or just stay at sea as the ship is more worthy a destination than that island.

Art auctions at sea - very well conducted. Nice to see that Park West Gallery is gone and Fine Art Wholesalers is in charge - a much better organization that treats the customers better.

I'd definitely sail QM2 again - despite all of these inaugural year growing pains - because it is such an incredible vessel that it overcomes its owners current shortcomings. If they could ever match QE2 service to the QM2, they'd have the best ship in service since the Normandie.

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