Queen Elizabeth Cruise

This trip was ideal for Claire and I as a taster for the newest of Cunard's royal ship’s at £159 including all food for 2 days and flight back from Hamburg.  It doesn’t however, include you drinks which as you would expect are quite pricey.  We set off in a taxi from the flat at 8.40am to MK train station where we changed trains at Clapham Junction to Southampton.  A short taxi ride away from the port where we embarked.  Our main case was taken from us before we even entered the building so we didn’t have to lug that around with us.  Trouble is, they upgraded us from an outside room with a totally obstructed view to an outside cabin with a totally unobstructed view.  They didn’t however remember to change this destination for our case.  Having rang room service and the Purser’s office several times to be told that they had found our case and they would bring it to our room, in the end we went to fetch it from outside our old room ourselves.  Well Claire did because we only had 45 minutes before our dinner sitting to get ready by that time.

Upon arrival to our room where we found a half bottle of champagne on ice in our room, we took this with us to the pool where we relaxed in the spa and pool while we polished it off.  We also managed to get a roast beef lunch which was very nice indeed as it melted in your mouth.  We have a Queen bed and nice room with a shower and large window on the first floor.  I have never seen the sea look so calm in my life.  This ship looks very much like the Queen Mary 2 where we got married 5 years ago but we both think the QM2 has the edge.  The QE had its first voyage in October 2010 and is 294m long by 32.3m wide and 54.5m tall.  It has just over 1000 guest rooms over 12 decks but employs just over 1000 crew to look after these guests.  They don't do a drinks package so make sure you smuggle some in your main case.  Not your hand luggage as this is scanned every time you get on and off the ship.  You pay for everything with a ship’s card that you are issued with when you first get aboard so be careful what you spend as your bill will include a 15% service charge on everything you buy.  Even the slot machines, BlackJack and Roulette tables take your card so beware Shirley.

The reason that they have put this very low price tag on this cruise is that over 1000 guests are embarking in Hamburg which is our first stop on our way to Iceland and Norway.  They have charted some planes from Hamburg to Heathrow so they can attract people like us to try their Cruise for a fabulous price in the hope that they will spend money while they are on in and maybe come back because after all, they Cunard ships are the best in the world.  It is just like the one in the Titanic film, except hopefully, it wont sink.

Dinner was very nice last night, Claire has the baby shrimps and the Sirloin steak while I have the chicken Parfait and Guinea fowl.  We both had cheese and biscuits to follow.  We also got a lovely table for two quite close to a window.  We were planning on seeing some of the entertainment last night but there wasn’t really anything that we fancied.  They had a comedian and magician, singers and dancers so we decided to have a night in with our own wine and a film from the many film channels that are all free.  Claire watched a girlie film while I read.  What a great start to our mini holiday, even the train journey was very pleasant as there was plenty of room and it was air conditioned.

We awoke this morning at about 6am but it was really 7am because they put the clocks forward last night ready for our Hamburg experience.  If you want breakfast in the proper dinning room they have quite a short window between 8am and 9.30am.  However the buffet restaurant is open from 7am until 11.30am for breakfast if you prefer.  I had fresh fruit and eggs benedict; yum.  Claire had fresh fruit and a fry up.  Claire fancied the talk in the theater about Hamburg as we have never been before.  I didn't even know that Hamburg was a port or by the sea.  It isn’t exactly by the sea, its at the end of the river Elbe in the north of Germany.  It happens to be the second largest port in Europe which was a bit of a surprise.  Hamburg seems to be a bit of a water world as it has more canals and bridges than Venice and Amsterdam put together.  Maybe we should book another trip there to visit the Christmas markets, the QE comes here later in the year.  It would also be nice to visit the Keiserkellar where the Beatles used to play before they became famous.  It seems that this place is right in the middle of their red light district; you naughty Beatles!

Only 15 minutes after our Hamburg lecture they had another about the 200 years of Spanish and Portuguese discovery between 1400 and 1600.  I started writing this blog and forgot all about it until about 25 minutes into it.  Anyway, I still dashed there to catch the end which was still worth it.  The theatre is on the same deck as our room, just at the Fore of the ship whereas we are about halfway back on the starboard side.  If you are standing at the back of a ship and look foreword you are at the Aft and the Fore is at the front.  Port side is on your left (as they both have 4 letters) and Starboard to your right.  “Who left the port”.  What colour is port?  Red and so are the lights on the port side while Starboard has blue lights.  Also the cabin numbers always start low at the Fore and go up as you walk towards the Aft.  There you are, now you all know as much as me.

We ate in our restaurant for lunch but its not allocated tables but we still ended up on the table next to ours.  Trouble is we had an elderly oriental gay couple one side and a young English gay couple on the other side in our dinner seats.  Must remember to brush down my seat before dinner.

I must say that although the food is good on here its not as good as it was on the Queen Mary.  Its definitely not our imagination, we both agree.  It was so much more Michelin star on the QM2 than this.  They also seem to have strange combinations; for example Claire had pork medallions with crab for dinner which really doesn't go.  I played safe on the duck breast.  It is good quality but just not as special as we have told everyone from last time.  Maybe its because we are sailing from Europe rather than the States?

Early off the ship at about 9am and straight onto the coach to the airport.  We were able to check our bag in as it was a BA flight even though our flight is not until 14:20.  We had 4 hours to kill so we hopped on a Metro to Central Station and had a walk around the centre of Hamburg.  We found a little sausage bar but chose badly then walked around for a while, through the shopping centre and finally found a nice little bakers for a coffee.  Claire preferred the Mc Donald's from next door.

We had a gentle walk back to the station and onto the airport where I finished this off and uploaded some more photo’s ready for when we get home.  I didn’t feel it was worth paying the €47.50 for 2 hours on the ship.  What a rip off.  Good job I didnt pay it and waited as Hamburg airport give you a free hour's wi-fi; just long enough to upload a blog.  See you later guys!