Same here. My first ever voyage on any ship was the QM2 last May from New York to Southampton. It was so relaxing, no water park, screaming young generation, (probably crying their eyes out down below because of the lack of wifi).
@@garymiles484 It is nice to have a choice of ships that still give us those options (no Water Parks and such) Gary, and not every cruise line trying to be everything to everyone. Although we have been know to cry when the WiFi goes down ;) Have a lovely day, Linzi & Mark
Taking a very meaningful cruise on QM2 soon with my mom. Your videos on all things Cunard have been so helpful to us in our planning! (And getting us looking forward to the trip!) Thank you.
Queen Elizabeth was a lot of fun for us. We did play bowls on the lawn up there. Agree on the food, we were lucky enough to do the princess grill and everything was really good, sone of the best meals I’ve ever had, eating out. Nice video!
Thank you so much, and we really would like to do Princess Grills at some point too, as we have heard nothing but great things about the food there. Have a lovely day, Linzi & Mark
Thank you for this. My wife and I are considering a transatlantic westbound. Flying from Boston to London, staying a few days at Southampton. Enjoy a little bit of England. We’ve never been. We live in New England. Then sailing to NYC and taking a bus back to Boston.
Bobby, that sounds amazing. We did Transatlantic on Celebrity a few years back, which stopped in Boston as our first port of call, and what a fantastic State New England is. Transatlantic is such a unique experience, and unlike port heavy cruises you really get chance to take advantage of everything the ship have to offer. We have yet to meet anyone who didn't enjoy a TA. And you get to see part of England too, depending on how much time you have, I suspect you'll probably do London, most do, but if you get chance to get further afield, Yorkshire is a stunning county, as is the Lake District. Have a lovely day, Linzi & Mark
@@SuiteNatured actually New England is a regional name for the six states. Massachusetts where Boston is located. I live in greater Boston. The other 5 states are Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island. It’s no coincidence that a lot of the names of cities, towns, counties, etc reflect Britain. Once part of the British Empire.
Thanks for correcting us on that Bobby 😀, we did kind of know that, but didn’t realise it was six states. So that means we have only visited 1/3rd of New England to date, which means we need to make arrangements to visit the rest soon. Such a great part of the USA. Linzi & Mark
I love Cunard, and the dressing up is absolutely part of the experience. Also, if you enjoy Live Music, then you are very well catered for, as there is live music performances in different venues and of different styles around the ship every night and during most of the day on sea days. I also really enjoy the Insight Talks. I’ve been on twice since cruising resumed, and I would say that the evening Royal Court Theatre Shows were not yet back to pre-cruising standards, not so much from the in-ship company but more the quality of the Guest shows (be that musical performances, acrobatics or comedy). I cruise again in both October and November, so I will be interested to see if they have improved subsequently. My favourite ship is Queen Mary on a transatlantic crossing, such a lovely trip.
We completely agree Andrea. Despite our initial reservations and preconceptions of what a Cunard cruise was, we fell in love with the line straight away and can’t wait to get back onboard one of her ships soon. Linzi and Mark
Thank you Dennis, glad it helped you with the Cunard clinch :) Seriously though we were a bit apprehensive before our first Cunard cruise, and we absolutely love them now.
Hello Linzi. Yes you are right about the beautiful bread onboard QE. I love my local bakery bread but Cunard tops it on all their ships. I once did a behind the scenes tour on QE which included the bakery where all of the bread of every description is baked onboard early morning every day. You have a very nice soothing voice. The pair of you, try not to interrupt each other as sometimes what the other one is saying cannot be heard.
Hi Robert, Oh my don't get us thinking about THAT bread again. We talked about it several times during our Iona cruise we came off of yesterday where the bread service was not great at all. We would love to do a behind the scenes tour like that, we've done a few over the years including valleys but never really seen the bakery. We do try to not talk other each other so much and just over a year into the channel we now do it much less than we did, although we occasionally still do, so please accept our apologies in advance for when it happens. Have a lovely day, Linzi and Mark
I believe that Cunard owes the two of you a free cruise for the quality of your wonderful infomercial - I'm sold. I have been considering/planning a long Queen Elizabeth cruise to Japan and back to the US for next year. We've been married to Azamara for more that 10 years, and are very hesitant to even consider cruising with anyone else. Your trip looked wonderful, and I think I could easily manage a month trying to duplicate your experience. Wonderful job, and thank you.
he he, thank you David. Don't think we are high on Cunards list to give free cruises to ;) But we are so pleased you enjoyed the video. Some friends of ours did the Japan tour and to Alaska (and think it ended in Seattle?) on QE and said it was one of their all time favourite cruises. Have an amazing time, and let us know how the trip goes when you get back (or even better post some pictures in our Facebook Group, if you are on Facebook). Have a lovely day, Linzi & Mark
Linzi, that was the sweetest "invitation to subscribe", that I've ever heard. And Mark, your filming skills are becoming more and more excellent, with every new video !!🥇Bravo, guys !
Thanks Denise 😁 We were genuinely not sure how it would be taken but we decide to just go with it. Hope you are well and having a lovely Sunday. Linzi and Mark
Thank you for all the informations!!! We booked it for a 7 day´s cruise in September from Italy to Southampton for 500€ per person, balcony cabin. We are very happy !!!
@@SuiteNatured Hello dear ones, we are back from our tour Rome-Portofino-Cartagena-Gibraltar-Southampton. We were the only German speakers on board :-). And what can we two people in their mid-fifties say: Again. And again. And again with pleasure !!! O.K., 85% seniors over 65 on board, many far above. But everyone was so affectionate, polite and helpful. We loved it. Great food (the buffet was better than the menus, we thought, the menus a bit uncharitably arranged), nice shows, dance events, roaring twenties (we were prepared :-)), good daytime entertainment from bingo, dance classes, lectures to karaoke. And everywhere this heavenly peace, by the pool, in the winter garden or in the buffet. Super nice staff. We have rarely had such a good rest!!! Thank you again for your reports and tips! Joerg & Silvana (and thank you, deepl translator:-)
@@joerie9484 that's lovely to hear that you had such a wonderful cruise. Cunard really is a special cruise line with such a unique feeling to it compared to any other cruise line we've been on so far. Thanks so much for letting us know how you got on. Have a lovely evening. Linzi and Mark
@@SuiteNatured Yes please do. I would love to see your review on it. It was our first and, so far, only cruise. We sailed last May the day after P & O Iona set off for the Norwegian Fjords too. We had a fabulous time, only real gripe was that the key cards didn't work at first. We wouldn't hesitate to sail with Cunard again though.
Hi Rich & Helene :) You'll have a fantastic time on QE, she really is a gorgeous ship. Yes the pools are heated. Like most cruise lines, they adjust the temperatures depending on time of year, and where they are cruising, so they'd be warmer in Northern Europe than say the Med. The indoor hydrotherapy pool (part of the payable spa area) is hot tub warm. If you've any other questions let us know, or join our facebook Suite Natured group as there are some very experienced Cunard cruisers in there, Linzi & Mark
good evening lovelies 🙂Another informative and entertaining vlog. I absolutely Howled with he "Nigella" subscribe invite lol. in fact, I had to listen to it again haha. excellent. Im still very much in two minds about Cunard.. I think we would like it - but will maybe leave it until we have done the cruises that we absolutely know we like or love. It will probably be a spur of the moment booking I think, rather then a well thought out one - and Im sure when we do get around to it, we will, as your good selves be really pleased and surprised. Hope you have had a great weekend, and an enjoyable week ahead. look forward to next weeks vlog already :-) Terry x
Thank you Terry. We always smile when we see your name pop up on the comments. We are so glad you (as well as Denise/Pandorad who commented) liked the Nigella bit, it was genuinely a spur of the moment thing, and we thought "will people like it or not", and eventually just decided, we did, so we would see if others did too. Not that you should expect world class impressions like that every week. LOL We are positive you would love Cunard, for us, it is just another cruise line and one that we will definitely go on again. Sure it is a bit more traditional, and the stage entertainment and talks needs a overall, but for the most part, it is just really brilliant, and the food and service we exceptional. Ultimately, when we go on a cruise, we want to be able to do as little or much as we want to, enjoy good service, good food, good drinks, and good company, and Cunard ticked all those boxes for us. Hope you have a lovely week too Terry, and not long to cruise time for you now. Linzi & Mark
It really is part of the draw for lots of people who sail with Cunard. Ourselves included now (having sailed QM2 since recording this). They really are different to any other cruise line.
Lovey video as always !!!!! I am pleased to hear the service was friendly as I am not a 'formal' person and am looking for a relaxed rapport with the staff and fellow passengers which leads me to this question: Were the passengers you met nice and friendly ? Or were there more than a fair share of snooty noses LOL ? I am sold on their 10 night Alaskan itinerary as it includes 3 main glaciers and some lovely sea days... Many thanks for all the work and love you put into your videos and happy travels good health to you both !!! m.
Hi Marcia, and thank you ❤ We would say 99.99% of all the passengers were absolutely lovely, very relaxed and enjoying themselves. We only saw a couple of people on the whole cruise who were acting up a bit (but we see that on every cruise line), do not worry about it at all. And wow, the 10 night Alaskan cruise would be amazing you must let us know if you end up on that, and of course how it went. That is a bucket list one for us. Linzi & Mark
Absolutely beautiful video and the ship looks so lovely. How were they do you think for special dietary requirements? Do you know if they have the option to modify meals at all or did they come only as on the menu? I eat strict Gluten Free and my husband is Dairy Free, so just curious. Thanks so much. The food looks delicious. 💖
Thank you :) They were pretty good for dietary requirements, especially if you let them know in advance. There was a dedicated area of Kings Court Buffet for Gluten Free (in the Chefs Galley area) and other things are clearly marked Diary Free and such. In Britiannia they marked up the menus accordingly too, and if there wasn't things on there, they would do their best to help and provide something that you'd enjoy. We met another couple, both of who only ate Gluten Free and they had no issues at all. Linzi & Mark
It was for us, diamond members with 18 cruises under our belt. Until Cunard won't allow me to take my fold up mobility scooter to use on shore trips only aboard unless we book an accessible cabin. As there are only a handful of accessible cabins and almost impossible to book one we now no longer enjoy Cunard.
I enjoyed your vlog but i didn’t understand the drinks package section. Is it worth it or not? Im still not sure what is included or not. Im looking at booking our first ever cruise but not really sure about this one. Thanks.
Thanks for watching. In our full Cunard drinks package review we did rate it highly and felt we got good value for money. We are on QM2 next month and are not taking it this time but purely so we can do a package vs pay as you go comparison, which might help more if you don’t need to book the drinks package until early Sept when we release this. If we weren’t doing this video we would have taken the package again. Linzi and Mark
Can you help, we are going on a cruise with cunard. Our embarkation time is 3.30. We will be threw iut if our hotel at 11am. Is it worth trying to go early. We will be oulling our cases about Southampton with no where to go. So i was thinking we shpuld just chance our arm and see if we can get on earlier! In your opinion from someone who cruises (this is our first wver cruise) do you ever be allowed on earlier than your allocated time? Much appreciate any advice you can give.
Great question Caren. We have this same issue in two weeks time when we board QM2. We have to leave the hotel room by 11 and we can’t park in the cruise car park till 1 and can’t board until 14.45. Generally speaking you can get through checkin on cruise about an hour before your allocated time and sometime even earlier. You might find you have to then wait in the terminal for a bit before you are called. Although P&O recently changed how they do this and have an “we are too early line” which they make you stand in outside the terminal. On the cases side. You can drop these off earlier though. Normally from about 11.30, so at least you are not having to drag them around. Drop them off and if the weather is okay go for a walk or a coffee in Southampton. We are heading for lunch in Southampton ourselves before we go to try and board about 1.45/2. Hope this helps a bit and have the most amazing first cruise. Linzi and Mark
@SuiteNatured thank you so much for that information. It's so difficult and I wish they did it differently. We leave on monday again I dreed getting an early off time too as unfortunately our flight from Southampton to N.Ireland leaves at 8pm. It was the only direct flight we could do to get to the cruise. So we will have qlot of time to waste in Southampton on Monday. Thanks again foe your insight. Much appreciated
Thanks Carolyn. We had expectations of it being similar to Queen Elizabeth. Probably a bit more traditional than our recent Virgin Voyages Cruise 😂 Linzi and Mark
We guess it really depends what interests you. There are a lot of solo travellers, in our experience, on Cunard, of all ages, although there do tend to be more solo's a little older than 60. If you like the enrichment talks, quizzes (you always find some to team up with), puzzles, reading and so on, you will have no problem, and they run lots of other events where meeting up with others is encouraged. They also have solo meet ups too. If you wanted a more structured solo travel, then using an agent like @travelswithlizzylou who specialises in this, then one of their hosted cruises would be a great idea. Cunard is definitely not boring, but is, of course, as you'd expect, much more traditional than say Virgin.
