I Tried a Traditional British Cruise On Cunard - I Was Actually Shocked!

hey Sailors welcome back to cruising us crew my name is Lucy and today we're going to discuss whether you really have to be older to enjoy a card Cruise so I have just got off my first ever card cruise and being British going on a card cruise is something I have always wanted to try so I'm so happy that I got to experience it so I took my friend Billy who I have been friends with since I was like 16 we met in a pub how all Great British friendships start and this card Cruise was 5 days so we left from Southampton had a SE day got to Hamburg had another SE day and then we're back in Southampton and it was a really good amount of time I probably wouldn't have wanted to do any longer but we'll discuss that more further into the video so as I said we joined the cruise ship in Southampton and I must say embarcation day was as smooth as butter from arriving to getting on the ship it was probably 10 minutes I mean we literally went in checked in they took our photo and we were on board the ship it was one of the smoothest embarcation I have ever had now the cruise ship that we went on was the Queen Victoria and oh my gosh was it beautiful you step on board and Regal is really the only word that comes to mind it is just elegant classy but also quiet which I guess shocked me obviously as you guys know who've watched for a while I worked on Virgin voyages then Disney Cruise Line and then Royal Caribbean so when you Embark those cruise ships it's very much like we're going to have a good time and it's very loud there's a lot of loud music but when you step on board the Queen Victoria it isn't there was a beautiful harpist playing in the background the vibe was just very different to what I was expecting due to my previous embarcation experiences and I really did feel relaxed as soon as I stepped on board I was like oh my God this is amazing so I really enjoyed the initial Vibe when you get on board I really love that it's not like inyour face party but obviously every Cru line does it different which is why you know there are so many cruise lines now I paid £900 for this cruise that was a guaranteed cabin fair and that got me and my friend Billy an inside cabin now as you can see by the footage we were upgraded to a disability cabin actually I don't know that's not an upgrade um but it sure felt like an upgrade because obviously there's so much more room in a disability access cabin and I'm not going to lie it was amazing now I didn't ask for a disability access cabin for obvious reasons but it was very very ni nice and bearing in mind I said the embarcation took about 10 to 15 minutes our bags were already at the cabin when we got there which I was Gob smacked about I was like we literally left them like half an hour ago cuz we got on board and had a quick like Wonder around the ship so the fact that within half an hour our bags were at the cabin was absolutely nuts so I unpacked a little bit got acquainted with the cabin which was amazing I was really happy with the storage me and Billy both had a wardrobe with a good amount of hangers now in true Lucy fashion of course I took my own coat hangers because I always expect that there will be like three in each wardrobe but I was very surprised that there was you know a good amount of hangers now if you are going on a world Cruise then take your own hangers because 10 probably isn't going to be enough but for a 5-day cruise I actually could have got away with not taking any which is never normally the case so in the cabin we had a tea and coffee station and I was also really impressed with their plug sockets they didn't have any USB sockets but it's the Queen Victoria it's an older ship it's an older clientele not to say that older clientele do not have USB wires because it's an older ship they're not going to have the modern features and to have USB plugs is a more modern feature so that is something that you're going to find on the newer ships however if I hadn't have taken an adapter or I actually took like five adapters I would have been fine because there was every type of plug a universal adapter is is an investment well worth getting mine broke just before the cruise which is why I had to take five different adapters like I said if you Cruise a lot then get yourself an adapter now the decor of the cabin was traditional I'm going to say it didn't feel like old it just felt traditional cruising which is the vibe of the whole ship really the beds were amazing so so so comfortable but I have to say my favorite thing I suppose it's not about the cabin but my favorite thing was every morning we would have a paper compass on the end of our beds I didn't have to go on the app to see what was going on kunar don't have an app because you know they target the older passenger and typically they're not a fan of the apps and you know what neither am I if if I'm honest I really loved the fact that we had a paper schedule I was like oh my God this is amazing and when we got in our cabin the safety video was playing as it usually is now on cruise ships that's kind of how they do things uh basically instructing us to go to our mustard station when we had chance so we did a little unpack and then walked over to our mustard station where I actually met Sandra who watched my videos so it was amazing amazing to meet her and I you know I met quite a few of you while I was on board and it was just it's always just so wonderful to like meet you guys meet the people who watch my videos cuz obviously right now it's just me talking to her camera so it's really cool to kind of put a face to oh there on the other end of this I am so sorry if you have noticed a change in quality I've just had to change to my phone because my camera is just not having it it just doesn't want to go operate anyway so let's talk about the entertainment now so the entertainment is the thing I don't want to say anxious but it was the thing that I was most interested to see because as you can imagine the ENT tment is geared up for an older clientele so I was like I don't know I don't know what they're going to do to kind of keep everyone keep everyone entertained so just like you'll find on M ships they had quizzes they had Bingo they actually did a a fencing class which I was I really wanted to go to but it completely slipped my mind and I missed it but hey ho but everyone who did go to the fencing class was like it was amazing they had a lot of live music so even like throughout the day there were spots around the ship that you could find either quiet live music or there was an amazing band that played there was a watercolor art class which was really cool I went to that and that was just really nice I mean we didn't like paint anything amazing but she was just teaching us like how to mix the colors and how to get the best out of your watercolor paint throughout the C days they had lectures going on and also they did they did a few interviews with the cast members I asked the crew members and they said that the interview with the cast members is actually something that card passengers ask for they really enjoy kind of the Q&A side of things with the cast members so I went to that that was really cool to see and they were just explaining you know the rehearsal process before they get on board and everything that goes into being a cast member on board a cruise ship basically and as you can imagine there was a massive focus on Dancing so every day there was a dance class it was ballroom dancing Latin tap salsa like there was some kind of dance class every single day in the Que room which was wonderful and I loved it actually cuz there was a lot of young couples who were obviously you know I don't mean to sound mean but they hadn't danced before or if they had you know not much and they were learning how to ballroom dance or how to do salsa and obviously you're not going to become an expert but it's a really nice little introduction to see if that's something that you like and maybe you want to like keep learning when you get home and then of course in the evening you were able to put these dance classes into practice so they would have the big band on again in the Queen's room and people could either use the skills they learned in the classes that day or if they are Avid dancers which there were many Avid dancers on card they could get up and have a little dance with their partner and again it was just wonderful to see I I don't know about you I love watching couples dance I think it's just I think it's so romantic and so lovely so even though I was not dancing I was sat watching with a huge smile on my face it was really lovely to see although technically it was a 5-day Cruise it was basically three because we had a c day we had Hamburg and then we had another C Day the entertainment was fine but as I said it is geared up to a more elderly group of people like I think I would be bored if I'm completely completely honest I think as much as I enjoyed it and as much as I loved doing the five days and when me and Billy went to dinner actually we were sat next to some passengers that had been on there for a month and they were staying on for another four months and they said that the cruise that we were on because it's only a 5-day Cruise leaving from Southampton there was a lot of like first time Cod people there's a lot of people trying out Cod to see if they like it so it was a much younger Cruise which I'm going to be honest I was a little bit shocked about cuz I was like oh because I still thought it was a you know a more mature cruise but he also said because there was a lot of like firsttime cruises and I think everyone goes on card expecting there to be this really strict dress code everyone made a really big effort on formal night which brings me nicely on to the dress code and is it really as strict as everybody says because there is an older clientele people are generally more modest anyway like 80-year-olds don't usually walk around with the tips out you know what I mean like whereas if you go on Virgin voyages or Royal Caribbean you get a younger crowd so you're going to you're going to find more more thigh and you know more mid Rifts but because everyone's older there's a lot more long sleeves long trousers and obviously we were in Hamburg it was freezing so so all I would say is like during the day it was like smart casual even though there were people walking around in tracksuits the general Vibe was smart casual like the men were wearing chinos and a nice T-shirt with a with a sweater on or a polo shirt you know it wasn't like it wasn't smart but it also wasn't like rough and then in the evening people really made an effort but as I said I do think people made more of an effort on this Cruise because everyone well a lot of people were brand new to card and had that expectation just like I did that everyone was going to be in a tux as soon as it turned five which which wasn't the case you know you could a lot of the people that you could just tell where like regular card Cruisers were just wearing a shirt and shirt and pants like no IO jacket so it wasn't as strict as I thought it was going to be the next video I'm going to do is going to be a more in-depth video on how formal card is and the outfits that I wore what I packed and whether I got it right or not so stay tuned for that but I would saying during the day the one thing that people got dressed up for was the afternoon tea so the afternoon tea was served in the britania restaurant which is like the the main dining restaurant and I'm not going to lie this was everything I was hoping for uh we got there where we were sered beautiful little sandwiches and then of course we had scones and we got the little pots of jam and the Beautiful clotted cream and the scones were still warm as well which was just like the cherry on top of the cake cuz a warm scone with cream and jam honestly you just can't beat it you really can't beat it and every time I have a scone because honestly it's not that often I'm like why don't I have these every day well I'd be huge but the afternoon tea was honestly like fantastic all I will say though is it's very popular as you can imagine it's one of cod's iconic events so the afternoon tea started at 3:00 me and Billy arrived at 2:55 and there was already a huge queue but to be honest they actually seated everyone very very very fast and because it's only a few sandwiches and scones like everyone usually takes about half an hour to 40 minutes and then you leave like it's not a big sit down meal so you know there is there is a relatively quick turnover so you're not going to be waiting for long but like I do expect a wait because basically everyone goes to the afternoon team but they did do it on both Cay so you know we went to the one on the first C day which I think everyone else did as well but for those of but for those who missed it on the first C day of course they went on the second C day which was probably more relaxed because as I say I imagine that everyone went on the first C day and probably the more experienced card Cruisers went on the second day when they knew it would be quieter but the food in general was was good I'm going to say it was inconsistent so we'll start with the Leo Buffet area on Deck nine really lovely really lovely selection you know just on most cruise ships there was a fantastic salad bar beautiful desserts great hot dishes you could make your own pizza make your own pasta there was a great cheese and cracker selection every every single day they also had salmon every day they had a fantastic selection of uh milks you know dairy alternative milks they had a good gluten-free section A good veggie section so I was actually really impressed with the options they had and one thing the coffee the free coffee was actually good so because Cruise Lines obviously want you to pay for the good coffee I've noticed that the free coffee on cruise ships is usually like dirty water like it's awful so I was very pleasantly surprised that the for free coffee was actually decent like don't get me wrong it obviously wasn't the best coffee I've ever had but it was nice which says a lot because I have had some awful free coffee in my time on cruise ship so yeah that was a big thing for me and there was a great selection of teas and stuff so really impressed with the Leo Buffet great breakfast options great lunch options I'm going to be honest I did not have dinner there once we went to the main dining room every evening apart from one evening when we went to the steakhouse so the main dining room was good the service was good the waiters were fantastic the food again so this is where I say the inconsistency came because like the first night the starter was amazing but then the main was like incredibly salty and I I like salty food I'm I need to cook back but I I do like salt so for me to say it was too salty was um it was very salty but the dessert was great and then you know the second night the main was incredible but the but the starter was cold but it was supposed to be hot so there was just a few little inconsistencies but overall the food was fine that's really nice isn't it yeah you can have your wine back now I'm not going to say it was great because I I don't think it was I have to say actually virgin voyages is still the best food for me like the the the food that they serve in the passenger restaurants on Virgin is without doubt the best food so this was fine but I have been spoiled I'm going to give the food in the britania dining restaurant probably a seven out of 10 like it was fine we really enjoyed the experience but like it wasn't anything to write home about like I didn't leave the restaurant be like oh my God that was the best dinner ever it was it was fine it was good it filled me up it served a purpose however the steakhous was amazing I actually got a bit of a surprise while I was on board I ran into my friend Jordan we worked together on Virgin voyages and we saw each other we're like what are you doing here um so he now works for card which is awesome you may remember Jordan from my interview on Virgin voyages we wanted to go out to dinner to catch up so we went to the steakhouse and I did not have a steak which probably should have I had a burger but it was absolutely fantastic and the people that were sat next to us who did have the steak were blown away so yeah The Veranda Restaurant which was the steakhous restaurant was amazing it was $50 ahead which to be honest I don't think is bad at all for a specialty restaurant I have paid way more on other ships but while we were on the subject of food I just want to talk about what was included so obviously you have the Leo Buffet uh you have the branna main dining restaurant which is included but also the pub grub that's served in the Golden Lion Pub is also included room service is free you will of course pay a little gratuiti but if you want to order room service it is completely free now also in the brania restaurant there isn't always available menu which they don't make available but if you are a regular card Cruiser then you will know this so if you go into the brania restaurant and you look at tonight's menu and decide that actually nothing appeals to you you can always order a steak always order chicken and always order salmon which I thought was amazing uh you can always order a fruit plate you can always order a seeser salad and a bowl of chips so those are the things that every night always available and then also in the chart room during the day they serve food it's like little sandwiches and cakes the food is absolutely free but the chart room is like a cafe well it's a very nice cafe but it is you know it's a cafe in the day and then it turns into a bar in the evening so of course the idea is that you go and you have the free food the free sandwiches and cakes and then of course you buy the fancy coffee which I did not do I was happy with the free coffee that was served in the Leo but that is what's includ Ed but all in all I was really I don't want to say pleasantly surprised because that makes me sound like I was going into it with like a bad expectation but I suppose I was I I expected I expected it to not be my thing like I expected to go on this ship and enjoy it because how can you not enjoy a cruise but just think to myself like but this isn't something that I would I would do now now there are definitely cruises that I would go on before card and I don't think I would want to do like any more than a week on there however people have told me that the Queen Mary that does the transatlantic they really make a huge effort with the entertainment because obviously you're at sea for seven days so I mean maybe I'll try that but I am very excited for their new ship the Queen Anne I think I was talking to Jordan and I was talking to you know were the crew members and they were saying you know they are trying to appeal to a younger demographic so the queen an is going to have more more things that appeal to a younger audience so I I really really would love to try the queen an and see what that's all about so we'll see but overall I loved it now whether you should do a Cunard cruise maybe you're watching this and you have done one but if you are watching this thinking like oh I don't know if it's if it's for me or not if you're happy entertaining yourself s you'll love it just because like like I said Royal Caribbean especially on like the Oasis Clash ships you have just got entertainment like everywhere you look you're like come and do this come to this quiz do this show do this lesson like there's no time to be bored whereas on card yes of course there are entertainment options but if you are more happy just being like self-sufficient and maybe going to the library and checking out a book fantastic Library loved it then I do think Cunard could be for you it's very quiet it's very laidback and the comparison I'm going to make is with like virgin voyages they say you can only enjoy virgin voyages if you're younger but when I worked on there I found that actually there was a lot of older people that cruised on Virgin and if they were young at heart they would actually really enjoy virgin however you would have some young people come on Virgin who were let's say old souls who like this is bloody awful so I think if you're a young person but you are more traditional and you are a bit of an old soul I'd say go on Virgin I mean go on card like you'll really enjoy it however if you do want to go on a cruise and you want it to be more of a party Vibe I mean it goes without saying stay away but um no I really enjoyed it I had a wonderful time me and my friend loved it so I don't think we were too young to go on qard but it is just a very different Cruise experience to like the mass cruise lines like Carnival Royal Caribbean Celebrity it is very British like it it is exactly what you would imagine a British cruise to be like but anyway thank you so much for watching I really really hope you have enjoyed this video if you have please let me know in the comments and and also let me know what I could have done better I obviously know filming on the phone I don't even know if you can tell but yeah let me know how the footage was if you would have preferred more of like a vlog style I was going to do a vlog but I forgot my microphone lead so I was like if I film a vlog the sound is going to be horrendous and I know a lot of you watch my videos with headphones in and I was like that ain't going to be fun for anybody so I hope this has been more enjoyable and like I said please let me know I always want to know how I can improve if you didn't enjoy this also let me know how can I improve next time but I love you so much I really really appreciate you being here and I will see you in the next video where I'll be talking more in depth about the dress code on qod and whether I got it right or not but yeah thank you

Channel: Cruising As Crew

Views: 39,179

Keywords: cruising, cruise ship, crew member, working at sea, cruising advice, advice for crew members, working, working on a cruise ship, cruisingascrew, advice

Id: 1INK9MtFCNY

Length: 22min 54sec (1374 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 17 2024