Disappointed on QM2

This letter deals with a cruise to Mexico and Hawaii, areas that ITN does not cover, however the ports are not at matter but the ship itself, which makes voyages around the world. — Editor

My wife, Marge, and I took two back-to-back cruises on Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2: Los Angeles-Ensenada-Los Angeles, Feb. 22-25, 2006, and Los Angeles-Honolulu-Lahaina-Kona-Ensenada-Los Angeles, Feb. 25-March 8. The costs for our Category B hull balcony cabin were $2,657 for the three days and $5,071 for the 11 days.

We regret to report that the accountants at parent company Carnival Cruises have, in our opinion, ruined a fine old cruise line, Cunard.

We have never had such bad food and service on any other line. On this cruise I found their filet mignon too tough to eat. The roast duck, mushy and tasteless, appeared to have been cooked in a double boiler. For 11 days my wife tried unsuccessfully to get an egg cooked over medium. They were either totally uncooked or hard as a brick. Most of the food was unappetizing, we felt.

As for the service, it always took an hour and a half to get fruit and eggs for breakfast.

The ship itself was well found — clean, well built and well maintained. It was beautiful and had excellent facilities. It did provide quite a bit of exercise.

However, we can’t recommend it to our friends.

ART HUMPHREYS

Novato, CA

ITN sent a copy of the above letter to Cunard Line and was sent a copy of a letter they wrote to the Humphreys, as follows.

On behalf of Cunard Line, we were sorry to hear of your disappointment with the culinary experience aboard your Queen Mary 2 voyages earlier this year. We recognize that one of the most enjoyable aspects of a cruise is onboard dining and we regretted to learn of your dissatisfaction with aspects of both the quality and preparation of the food as well as the service provided.

We have enjoyed a longstanding, industry-wide reputation for serving premium quality food, prepared daily by our chefs using the freshest ingredients and prepared according to our guests’ tastes and preference. Again, we are very sorry that this is not what you experienced.

However, you make no mention of having brought your dissatisfaction to the attention of the Maitre d’ or any member of the dining room staff. Had you done so, we firmly believe that the staff would have made every effort to address any concerns you may have had and provided you with Cunard’s world-renowned White Star ServiceSM that would have met or exceeded your expectations.

We appreciate your valuable comments and feedback and certainly will forward your remarks to the appropriate senior management for their review with our ship’s culinary staff.

JACKIE MATTHEWS, Manager, Public Relations, Cunard Line, 24303 Town Center Dr., Ste. 200, Valencia, CA 91355