We chose this cruise in order to experience Christmas,New Years and significant birthday at at sea. There were several highlights on the Queen Elizabeth; the food in the main dining room was excellent, our shoulder cabin and balcony seemed vast, and some of the guest speakers were excellent (Dr Richard Harris, Australian of the Year, gave a wonderful presentation about his role in the Thai cave rescues which could be used as an exemplar for all those who aspire to talk about themselves in public forums; he was humble and self deprecating, at times very funny, and his tale was spine tingling).

So why won't we be back? In a number of administrative matters Cunard proved to be seriously deficient, and these issues combined to leave a nasty aftertaste to an expensive cruise that could have been so much more.

In the weeks prior to departure to join the cruise the online Voyage Personaliser was almost always not working, so it proved nigh on impossible to finalise details of excursions, make bookings for restaurants, and complete embarkation details. The Cunard call centre knew all about the problem with the website, yet it remained non-functioning right up to the point of sailing. I understand that technology can fail, but there is no excusing that the website didn't acknowledge the problem, and give clear instructions as to to how to work around the issue. Read more