My husband and I choose to travel to NY each year on the QM2 (and have done for the past 11 years and beforehand on the QE2)as we do not like the hassle of flying, although we do fly home. We consider the QM2 liner gives you 5 star accommodation for 7 days, with complete relaxation. The food and service is good. If you do have a problem in the Restaurant, all you have to do, is report such problem to the Restaurant Manager when he will deal with things promptly.
This last May trip; unfortunately slightly different, as we experienced fog most of the way and the ships whistle was going day and night. As I said to one passenger, who was complaining, isn't better to be safe and have the whistle going, than hit something that the radar doesn't pick up.
If you check, with the ships brochure and Agent, that you haven't got a blocked vision, when booking a balcony, then you should not have any problem. Deck 8 has all the lifeboats on - so one has to be careful to avoid some of the staterooms on this deck.
We find the cabins adequate for us, according to what deck we are on. We have tried varies decks, even Britannia Club and Princess Grill. Obviously the latter two are very good.
Our only complaint on this aspect, we find a lot of first time cruisers are upgraded to Queens, Princess and Britannia Club, whereas, we as regular cruisers, have never been offered this courtesy. We do wonder why.