We just arrived back home after sailing for 10 nights around the Canary Islands and Madiera. We originally were booked in a Queens Grill Q5 Cabin, but we received an offer from Cunard of purchasing an upgrade to Q1, which we chose to take up. For us it was very exciting to be sailing on the QV but to be sailing in a Q1 (The Aquataine Suite) was beyond exciting. We arrived at check in and everything went smoothly. We were on the ship very quickly and we were met at the entrance by our Butler who personally showed us to our suite. The Suite itself is amazing, absolutely huge and well fitted out. A bottle of Lauren Perrier Rose Champagne was on ice for us along with strawberries dipped in chocolate. Our Butler and Steward were both excellent and catered for all our needs.

We missed our first lunch in the QG Restaruant as we were late arriving at the ship so we were both very much looking forward to dinner. When we originally booked our Q5 suite, 14 months ago, we booked it on board the QE and we specifically requested a window seat in the restaurant. However once we upgraded we felt that we would automatically be given a very good table. Much to our dismay on arriving in the restaurant we were placed on a table which was quite small and abutted a wooden pillar! Consequently my hb rather than being able to look out towards the sea view looked face on to the pillar.The table was also placed at an odd angle so my hb was also sticking out into the pathway of the waiters. Of course my hb spoke to the Maitre 'D who said he would try and move us. Ironically we found out later that the new couple who were in the Q5 suite we had previously booked, were on a larger table situated in the middle of the huge window! Anyway by the end of dinner the Maitre'D had been able to find us a new table which was as we originally hoped, with full window views. Our first night had therefore been tainted a little with this incident, but we didn't let it ruin which was so far a lovely time.

However the first night in our suite was terrible! The sea was a little rough and consequently the ship was rolling a little, but this in itself didn't bother us as we have cruised many times. What was bad was that everything in the suite was rattling, creaking, banging...I felt that the whole room was going to break off and fall into the sea! Not what I expected at all. It was so noisy that both I and my hb just couldn't sleep. We informed the Butler the next morning but all he could offer was a door wedge for the worse offender! Obviously I believe this is a design fault in some way. There is a sliding door between the clothes hanging area and the doors to the toilets which just did not work, consequently it had been wedged open with a door stop. The Butler said he had informed maintenance as it had been like that for some time but nothing had been done so far. The rest of the journey continued to cause similar noises and bangs, depending on the severity of the sea. The engine noise was also very noticeable but we were expecting that being at the back of the ship. Read more