Cunard Queen Mary 2 Cruise Diary

November 18, 2018December 16, 2018 Cruise Monkeys

Welcome, to our Cunard Queen Mary 2 Cruise Diary – anyone who follows us on our Facebook page will have seen we posted daily about what we got up to. While we get our videos of blog posts together, we always like to collate these diary posts and put them all together here.

Please have a read through, feel free to check out our Instagram too, we have a story on there you can take a look at. Finally, please make sure you follow us somewhere (Facebook, Instagram, Youtube) so that you can find out when we post new blogs and videos.

Thanks! Now, on to the diary

First 24 hours on Queen Mary 2

We arrived at Ocean Terminal early due to our 5-hour drive from Wales. Within 45 minutes we were onboard. We headed straight to our stateroom, a sheltered balcony. Our cases were already waiting for us. This is our first visit since the remastering and we have to say the stateroom was very nice. Our cabin steward Christian introduced himself and made sure we were happy with everything.

We had a little look around the ship before muster. We popped to the Spa, but unfortunately the hydro pool area was closed for this cruise.

After muster we headed to ‘The Lookout’ to watch Queen Elizabeth sail by before we to left

It was then back to the room to get ready and open a bottle of wine!

We met up with Richard and Helen (check them out here) in the Carinthia Lounge. There was a jazz band and we have to say this area is much better than when it was the Winter Garden.

Was had an 8:30 sitting for dinner in the stunning Britannia restaurant was beautiful, we both had the steak and it was perfect.

After dinner we had a wonder around the ship and after being a long day, it was time for bed.

After a great night’s sleep in the super comfortable bed, we woke up about 6:30 and were still at sea heading in to port, so we got up and headed out to get the sea views as we quietly glided in to port.

Now we’re off to the buffet to find some food!

Day 2 on Queen Mary 2

Today we arrived at Zeebrugge. On the last update we were heading to find breakfast. We decided to head to Kings Court, which was quite decent, not the normal bun fight buffet. There was ample seating around with waiters bringing tea and coffee around.

We collected our Planetarium tickets just gone 9am, there was a choice of 4 showings between 1:30 and 3:30.

After that we spent the morning wandering the ship taking photos and videos.

Before we knew it, it was midday and we found ourselves at the Golden Lion having a pint and lunch. We had the Steak and Mushroom pudding and Cottage Pie – it was really nice and quite a plateful!

Our Planetarium was at 1:30, worth a visit as it’s only about 20 minutes.

The Queens Room was hosting afternoon tea at 3:30 but we were well aware how queues develop on these short cruises and when we arrived at 3:10 – there was already a queue. This is such a popular event and well worth arriving early for.

Our afternoon tea was beautiful – a piano was played while we were served cup after cup of tea along with sandwiches, cake and scones. We have to say, Cunard have this nailed!

Sir Samuels were also doing a Godiva afternoon tea for an extra charge, this looked impressive but we didn’t try that – eaten far too much already.

Pre-dinner drinks were in the Commodore Club. This evening it was very busy, standing room only!

We ate again in the MDR, a very nice meal, except for misreading the menu – note to self, it was Beet not Beef! ?

anyhow, a nice salad to start.

We got speaking to the table next to us – that’s the great thing with a table for 2, you can choose if to be sociable or not. We chattered through dinner and had a very pleasant evening.

On our post dinner wander we bumped in to Captain Wells and Maureen Ryan which was really nice. Maureen Ryan is a former Cunard Social Hostess and godmother to Queen Victoria, she tells some great stories in her lectures, pay a visit if she is on your cruise!

It was near 11pm so we missed the 10:30 show. We called by a very busy Golden Lion, then went to the Queens Room as it was black and white ball. There are quite a few people in here and the dance floor was full – great to see! We both have two left feet so we skipped the dancing and headed in to a lively G32 for a drink.

And it’s at G32 we will call it a night!

It’s been a great evening, a little disappointed we missed the late show but the bars had entertainment so it was still great walking around.

Day 3 on Queen Mary 2

After an overnight in port, we decided for a lazy day and opted for room service breakfast. As normal we over ordered, but it was extremely tasty.

We watched the catch-up lecture on the TV before heading out for a look around the ship. Love that Cunard still do a hot breakfast included in room service.

It was definitely busier than yesterday around the ship; more people had opted to stay on the ship – assuming as everyone had to be back onboard by 5:30 and many of the excursions had been moved to the first day.

We called in to Sir Samuels (Godiva) for a hot chocolate and some cake. It was exceedingly rich but delicious.

Lunch was in Kings Court – have to say we were really impressed with the choice. Salads, roast, pizza, sushi and loads more, something for everyone and loads of seating.

We spent the afternoon in Pavilion Pool, just chilling out and spending a short time in the hot tub which seemed to empty of people around afternoon tea time.

We skipped afternoon tea as we were eating in the Verandah Steak House.

After an afternoon of lounging we watched the sail away, a jazz band were playing on deck and people were out dancing as we left Zeebrugge to start our way back to Southampton.

Arriving back to the cabin with the disembarkation letter is always a sad time, so we quickly packed and headed to the Verandah for pre-dinner drinks and our meal.

We opted for lobster cocktail and smoked duck starter, absolutely stunning. For our main we had the sharing steak platter with a range of sides. Now we are glad we had an early lunch and skipped afternoon tea as the portions were huge!

Desert was a strawberry pavlova and a cheese selection.

For the 39-40 USD cover charge, we think it was well worth it. It took about 2 hours so we even made it to the show.

Can’t remember who the guest singers were but the 4 guys were belting out tunes from the 50’s and 60’s.

The ship was quieter, G32 is dead but the but the Golden Lion was as busy as usual.

So full of food and drink, bed was calling, with an early alarm set, we needed to be out of the room by 8:30.

Disembarkation

Breakfast was in the Kings Court as we missed the MDR by 3 minutes so we were advised it was closed. Kings Court was very busy but still lots of room to sit and enjoy our final breakfast before disembarking and making our way in to rainy Southampton.

Overall, it’s been a great mini cruise. Far too short, it’s been impossible to cram everything in we would definitely want to spend longer on QM2, maybe a transatlantic to relax properly!

We were slightly disappointed they changed the itinerary to have 2 days in port – apparently ‘guest feedback’…. The hydro pool facilities were also closed which was a further disappointment but these are due to open for the transatlantic.

We couldn’t fault the staff and service we received – absolutely brilliant!

Thanks to those of you that have followed our ramblings, hope they have given you an insight to our cruise. We’ll put it all together in a blog post and video and share them in the future. Thanks again!

Gav & Luke