 | Phil Seeley (0)
02/26/2005 |  The QM2 is a work of art, an engineering marvel. But this ship is not for children. It caters more to the older folks despite what any publicity may lead you to believe. Our trip was marred by inadequate sleeping arrangements for our three year old twins and ourselves. Basically, despite filling in personal questionaires prior to embarking, no thought was given to the ages of our children, and they were allocated elevated bunks without any side rails. Requests for cots or alternative bedding were turned down. They simply didn't have them. Subsequently, I spent the trip sleeping on the floor of the cabin so that our children could sleep in comfort and safety. Furthermore, there are several pitfalls for those with children anticipating travel on this behemoth. The seventh deck enables one to circumnavigate the ship for exercise or strolling, however it is not properly fenced and as such is an accident waiting to happen for small children. There is no way you can confidently walk children around the deck without holding tightly onto them for fear of misadventure.
Another factor to consider, if you have children, is when you travel. If it is holiday season, you may find the child minding facilities sadly overloaded. Check this before booking and get guarantees that you can put your child in care if necessary.
There are other safety issues also; one that particularly worries me is the swimming pool on deck twelve which is surrounded by a particularly slippery floor when wet. My children fell on their backs twice, and i went down once. Our bones are supple, but the next victims may not be.
Overall the staff are helpful and courteous, but this does not necessarily reflect the attitudes of those in the Purser's Office and several other personalities haunting the ship.
It is hard not to compare this vessel with the QE2 and in terms of class and food quality, the QM2 still has a road to travel. If you happen to travel this ship, ensure that you dine in the various theme restaurants, other than your allocated restaurant. Several of these charge a nominal $20US per head, but the finer dining starts here.
Other gripes are the mandatory tipping (about $13/person per day), the addition of a service charge (labelled a tip) on all beverage service, plus a blank left for you to tip the waiter...yes three dips for your money. Really, one can't but feel that Carnival is just trying to unload your wallet from the moment you board.
Finally, their Customer Relations Department does not exist to my knowledge, because three months after writing a constructive letter outlining our experiences and the inherent dangers of the ship, no communication has been received. We will not be travelling with them again in the forseeable future.
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 | wiley1827 (0)
10/20/2004 | It's an impressive beast and deserves attention as an engineer work. However, it is owned by Carnival, who are basically tasteless brothel designers and have lowered the bar in cruising to a point of inducing nausea. They previously had lousy food - I would give them credit for improvements fleet-wide. But who can eat when you're vomiting from the decor and neon trash on their ships. Carnival owning Cunard is like Madonna buying the Vatican.
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