On so many levels we wanted this cruise to be epic because we had my MIL and my sister with us, both first time cruisers. Having cruised on Carnival and other Cruise lines in the past we didn't sway their judgement one way or the other. We wanted their honest unbiased opinions without our input to see if we were just being too judgmental and comparing our past cruises to this one.
1. Embarkation for the most part went smoothly. We didn't have any issues. Our Uber driver dropped us at the Queen Mary and we walked a very short distance to the entrance, dropped our bags and moved through the lineups fairly quickly.
2. The ship overall is nice and new and clean. The cabins are roomy with enough storage. Beds are comfy. There we no robes in our room when we arrived but our room steward Anthony had them to us in no time. We were in a balcony cabin and Mom/Sis were in an Ocean view cabin. The elevators took a short time to get use to, more so for Mom and Sis. To me the layout overall was a bit confusing and I found myself getting lost often throughout the week. I thought it was just me until my sister stated the same, she said she found the ship choppy and hard to remember where to go. This is where the app came in handy and we messaged each other often for directions etc. NOTE* the app messaging only works when the app is live. My MIL found the washrooms inconveniently located and she spent a lot of time walking around looking for washrooms.