My wife and I have recently returned from a 19 night cruise onboard Cunard’s Queen Victoria sailing between Singapore and Cape Town in South Africa…

 

The choice of this particular cruise was entirely made for the itinerary which originally offered 5 ports that we had not previously visited.

Having once decided on this cruise we then opted to book  Princess Grill accommodation for the two sole reasons of having access to the less crowded and more private ‘Grills Upper Terrace’ for the 12 days at sea plus the flexibility of dining times offered in the Grills.

We booked this cruise as ‘Cruise Only’ some 16 months before departure with the stated aim of making our own flight and  pre and post-cruise arrangements.

Some 11 months prior to the start of the cruise I began monitoring airline flights, mainly via Skyscanner,  London to Singapore and Cape Town to London with the intention of spending 3 or 4 days at each place.

This was an interesting exercise as we knew what Cunard’s airfare element was from their online quotations. I will cover this aspect in more detail at the end of this review.

We embarked Queen Victoria at Singapore’s Marina Bay Cruise Terminal where the embarkation proved somewhat underwhelming with not even a photographer in attendance so we resorted a little DIY…

 

As usual with Cunard, our Princess Stateroom (P1 8076), with which we are well acquainted,  was available for immediate occupancy…

 

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*****

 

A Princess suite comes with a good sized ensuite…

…and a reasonably sized balcony…

Over the course of the cruise we managed to keep our fridge pretty well stocked using locally sourced products…

A nice benefit when booking  Grills accommodation is the fact that on embarkation day lunch is available in one’s restaurant without the need to head for the buffet…

 

During the course of our booking I had requested a table for six. On first arrival at the Princess Grill the Maitre ‘d apologised for the fact that there were no seats available on either of the two tables for six that the restaurant had,  and he indicated that a place had been reserved for us on a table for 8 adjacent the restaurant entrance which, for personal reasons I declined.  We were offered, as an alternative, a table for two further into the restaurant…

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…which we accepted.  It turned out just fine, gave us good views through the panoramic windows and we found ourselves blessed with an outstanding team of waiters and sommelier.

 

Since our last time onboard Queen Victoria a number of improvements have been made, including the installation of new shaded areas on the Grills Upper Terrace…

…and the inclusion of additional deck space for exclusive use by Grills passengers…

Another feature of the Grills Upper Terrace is the ‘al fresco’ dining area known as the Courtyard…

The only other ‘exclusive’ facility available to Grills passengers is the ‘Grills Lounge’…

…a rather small facility situated between the entrances to the two restaurants and which additionally hosts the desk of the ‘Grills Concierge’.

 

Life Onboard.

With 12 sea days out of the 19 nights onboard this was always going to be a sun worshipping cruise when not ashore. On our first sea day I soon worked out what for us would be an excellent sunbed position and, being an early riser, there was never any real competition in those stakes (though I do have two sunbed stories to tell in my summary)…

Breakfast in the Grills did not commence until 08.00 am daily and as an early riser I exercised my little penchant for a healthy start to the day by calling into the Lido Buffet for a helping of…

…some healthy nibbles and a coffee…

…before heading up top to start my day, almost as if I were at home…

 

Breakfast was taken most days in the Princess Grill. I probably should point out at this stage that dining in either of the Grills means you keep your selected table throughout the cruise and this is your table for breakfast lunch and dinner should  you so wish.  The great joy of this system is that your dedicated table waiters also remain with the table and pretty quickly get to know one’s preferences.

On just four occasions, when we wished to head off ashore on our booked excursions, it was necessary to have breakfast in the Lido Buffet which was open much earlier…

Yes of course we could have ordered room service, but  we found the Lido pretty much satisfied our needs for an early breakfast and offered an excellent selection in all departments…

Neither my wife nor I are overly interested in ship’s daytime ‘game’ activities but we are generally attracted to Cunard’s Insights Programme. On this particular cruise there were a number of presenters that appealed to us and the ones we attended, with one exception, were excellent. My favourite, and I attended all his talks, was the South African politician and one time ambassador to Thailand, Douglas Gibson…

…an absolutely enthralling speaker and raconteur he covered just about every aspect of modern day South African politics that one could. Second on my list was a guy named Andrew Barber…

 

…author, historian and retired diplomat, Andrew gave a series of excellent talks covering the Japanese occupation of Malaysia and Singapore.

My wife particularly enjoyed the amusing talks and Q andA session  by broadcaster and author Clare Balding…

Our evenings were spent pre-dinner doing the social rounds of the various lounges. Somewhat disappointing on this particular cruise was the choice of pre-dinner music in the Commodore Club…

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In place of the usual, well we think it’s usual, cocktail pianist, our least favourite Cunard Entertainment Director, Sally Sagoe, scheduled a guitar playing ‘jazz musician’ whose decibel level curtailed most social conversation between guests.

On a number of occasions we met friends in the Chart Room…

…often a good choice as it was rarely full, while many an evening was spent  thoroughly enjoying ourselves in the Midships Lounge or, to be more precise, its classic add-on,  the ‘Gin and Fizz Bar…

*****

The ‘Gin and Fizz’ is also an exceptionally good spot to people watch…

On our 19 night cruise there were only 4 Formal, or as Cunard now prefer to call them, ‘Gala Nights’.

Three of these were taken up with the usual array of Cocktail Parties…

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We particularly enjoyed the ‘Night of the Raj’ and it was quite amazing how many passengers did make the effort…

 

Amid all the social activity we still managed to host the odd stateroom party, this one for members of the facebook group, We are Cunard Fanzine…

 

For us the main evening event is of course dinner and I’m more than happy to categorically state from the outset that the food and service in the Princess Grill…

went beyond our expectations. Here are a sample of the daily dinner menus….

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…which are supplemented by the Princess Grill A La Carte menu available every day…

 

A few examples of how some of the dishes from the above menus were presented…

Crab Cannelloni

Pork Fillet en Croute

Rack of Crusted Lamb

And my sincerest thanks to the team that served us so well, Tushar our Table waiter and his assistant waiter, Putu…

Thank you so much: a great team.

While still on the subject of food, we did eat at two other venues, both lunches.

One of our perks as Diamond members of Cunard’s World Club loyalty scheme is to have a ‘free’ lunch in the Veranda Steakhouse…

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The food was excellent including the Grilled Lemon Sole…

and the 35 day aged Sirloin Steak…

We’d invited an old friend to lunch with us…

…so with two bottles of wine…

...I think Cunard didn’t do too badly out of our ‘free’ lunch. LOL.

We never got to try lunch in the Golden Lion…

…though not for the want of trying. It was just that in her wisdom Sally Sagoe never once in all 19 days scheduled  lunch time music in the pub.

To be fair, we went one evening after dinner when a live ‘Rock n Roll Night’ was scheduled…

That was a great success with the Royal Court Orchestra doing the honours.

So the only occasion we lunched away from the Grills was when we fancied playing the Philistines and headed for the Lido Deck Grill…

…to enjoy a burger and beer lunch…

…and very good it was too. Indeed, we even timed it right in order to listen to the excellent Caribbean band, Changez…

In fact it was the quality of Changez that ensured that our favourite late evening  venue became The Yacht Club…

…as it was also the liveliest…

…and certainly more atmospheric than the Queens Room.

 

Finally on food, we did really enjoy taking tea in the Grills.

It is no  longer served in the Grills Lounge, but is a much improved and altogether a more chic occasion, served  in the Princess Grill…

 

The Itinerary

Having booked cruise only it was our choice entirely as to when and with whom we flew from the UK in order to pick up the cruise in Singapore.

As it was we were able to fly very conveniently with a direct flight with Singapore Airlines…

Having stayed in Singapore either pre or post cruises for the last four years on this trip we planned something entirely different. My wife had spent a number of years as a schoolgirl in Singapore when her father was flying with the Royal Air Force. They had a married quarter near Changi Village and she often shared happy memories  of her time there.

So we  decided to stay in that area and duly booked a club room at the Changi Village Hotel…

…which conveniently also had an infinity rooftop pool –  though not so high as our previous one at the Marina Bay Sands!

Over our three days at Changi Village we took the local ferry to the conservation island of Pulau Ubin…

…walked along the Changi Coastal Boardwalk…

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…and visited the old ‘Officer’s Club’ where she learnt to swim…

In between our daily walks down memory lane…

…we enjoyed the amazing food on offer at both the local ‘Hawkers’ Market’…

and the amazing choice of waterfront Seafood Restaurants…

…enjoying the famous Singapore delicacy, ‘Chilli Crab’…

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On Sunday 24 March we joined Queen Victoria at Singapore’s Marina Bay Cruise Terminal and sailed later that evening.

The following day we berthed at Port Kelang, the sea gateway for Kuala Lumpur…

It had been many years since we had visited Kuala Lumpur,( well before my interest in photography), so I pre-booked a full day private tour with a local KL company, http://kualalumpurtraveltour.com/travel-packages/kuala-lumpur-excursion-cruise-ship-port-klang/index.php who organised an exceptional day for us, with driver and separate guide,  that included amongst many other sites the Batu Caves…

…and the Thean Ho Temple…

We sailed that evening with 3 full sea days before our arrival at Colombo, Sri Lanka…

This for us was a first ever visit to Colombo and the prospect of the visit  fascinated me. Following considerable research I drew up a target list of sites that I wished to see…

Following a slight setback, the Queen Victoria didn’t berth at the Cruise Terminal, we simply adjusted the order of visits and by the end of the day we had ticked off all on our list including (above the Seema malakaya Lake Temple), the Red Mosque…

the Sambodhi Chaithya…

This little hidden gem, the prison cell of the last king of Sri Lanka: one of the unnoticed historic monument located at the heart of Colombo…

…and the furthest away, Independence Square…

We managed the whole day mainly on foot…

…making just two Tuk-tuk rides, one of which was from Independence Square to the pick-up point of the ship’s shuttle bus…

A further 3 sea days followed before we arrived in the Seychelles, berthing at Port Victoria, Mahe Island…

For this visit we had decided on a no compromise day and had booked in advance a ‘private’ full day tour with a local specialist, Ian, who runs https://www.facebook.com/ianseychellestours2018/ .

I don’t think we could have found a more dedicated guide on the island and our day with Ian was outstanding.

Some of the places we visited included the Old Mission Lookout…

…the famous Bel Ombre Treasure Site…

…and just about every beautiful beach there was to see…

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…plus the best sites in the capital, Port Victoria…

Ian proved one amazing guide and met every request we made. We could not recommend him more highly. Thanks from both of us  Ian…

 

Two sea days separated us from our next port of call, Port Louis, Mauritius…

Mauritius is an island we are very familiar with having spent a number of shore side hotel holidays there as well as visiting on the old QE2. Our plan was therefore to head for a beach and that’s exactly what we did.

We walked into town and caught the local bus service out as far as Grande Baie…

…and walked the few hundred yards to…

….where we spent a pleasant morning with plenty of swimming…

Just after lunch, and with rain clouds approaching,  we caught another local bus back to Port Louis and, despite the incoming rain climbed Jummah Mosque Street to scale the walls of the Citadel…

…and enjoy the view over Port Louis…

The following day, 6 April, we arrived early morning at the island of Reunion…

For our visit to Reunion we had booked online a full day tour with a local operator…

…on the recommendation of a facebook friend who had done this particular tour the previous year…

http://www.experience-reunion.re/en/

…run by the excellent Héloïse…

Our tour began with nearly an hours drive along Reunion’s western scenic coastline before we turned inland and climbed the ‘Volcanic Road’ to the ‘Plaine des Remparts’, one of the highest lookout points on a plateau in the volcanic region of Saint Joseph – part of the Piton de la Fornaise…

We were somewhat dogged by intermittent cloud and showers though our luck changed when we arrived at the  Crater Commerson….

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…and for our follow up journey into the Cirque de Salazie…

…renowned for its lush green landscapes, spectacular waterfalls…

…and the famous fairy tale hamlet of Hell Bourg…

…a quintessential Réunionnais town where old Creole mansions and trading posts line the streets.

We continued our circumnavigation with another scenic drive along the north eastern coastline, passing through the island’s capital of Saint-Denis, before returning to Queen Victoria’s berth at Le Port.

Following our visit to Reunion we had 3 sea days before our next port of call, Port Elizabeth in South Africa…

Another first for us and while the main attraction for most passengers was to head off to various Safari/wildlife game reserves- (there were over 40 ship’s excursion coaches- we’d already ticked that off and got the T-shirt), so our preference was to explore Port Elizabeth and, in particular, we planned to walk the Donkin Heritage Trail…

Our research had led us to believe this was easily achievable and I had plotted our route…

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We had by now come to mistrust Cunard’s port information and ignored their ‘red herring’ shuttle bus schedule,  deciding instead to walk the 15 minutes through the docks to the town centre and Port Elizabeth’s Town Hall…

Having sussed a nearby ATM we were now in funds and rearing to go.

We first ticked off a number of the heritage sites around the Town Hall before backtracking to the Campanile…

…which we had noted, as we passed on our walk into town,  didn’t open till 9.00 am. No problem, we were the first visitors and had a free climb to the belfry top…

…and enjoyed the view of our ship from the upper platform…

A Donkin Heritage Trail booklet is sold at Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism’s Donkin Reserve Information Office…

…situated at the base of the lighthouse…

The pyramid that can be seen was built in memory of Sir Rufane Donkin’s wife Elizabeth on the hill which is now known as Donkin’s Reserve.

We covered the whole trail. Some examples of the sites we visited include…

Fort Frederick

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Sterley Cottages (Nos 10 and 12 Castle Hill)…

The Pearson Conservatory (in St. Georges Park)…

Also in St George’s Park, Prince Alfred Guard Memorial 

 

The Horse Memorial on Cape Road

 

…and Prince Alfred’s Guard Drill Hall

Our day wasn’t complete. We returned onboard for a late lunch and then decided to investigate the ship’s shuttle bus service to the Boardwalk Shopping Centre. The Daily Programme clearly stated that “the shuttle bus transfer will take approximately 40 minutes each way and the last shuttle will return at 6.15pm”.

As it turned out the shuttle took around 20 minutes to reach what was essentially a collection of boutique fashion stores, various jewellery and craft outlets and numerous bars and restaurants in close proximity to a beach point known as ‘Shark Point’…

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In terms of interest I’d probably rate it around 2 out of 10 but for those who may have been in search of free wifi then it was pure gold.

We had one further sea day as we headed to our disembarkation port, Cape Town…

 

Cape Town  –  Day 1

We had arranged our own hotel accommodation for a three night stay. We had booked a studio room at the Radisson Red Hotel…

… in the V&A Waterfront district,  which was literally a 5 minute taxi drive from Cape Town’s cruise terminal…

 

What an amazing start to our stay in Cape Town. We departed Queen Victoria at 8.15 this morning and checked into our ‘Studio’ at the Radisson Red by 8.45…

What an amazing hotel, contemporary and quirky and with an amazing rooftop bar…

Most of our first morning was spent exploring the V&A Waterfront area…

…An amazing mix of shops, restaurants, bars, entertainment and various tourist water feature departure points…

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…before we exercised our legs a little more with a walk along ‘Long Street’…

 

Long Street is a major part of the Cape Town’s street culture.  Famous as a Bohemian hang out and notable architecturally  for its Victorian buildings with wrought iron balconies, it is lined with many book stores, an amazing variety of bars, and a multitude of ethnic restaurants: one of which was the venue that we had booked for our evening meal and entertainment, Mama Africa…

Mama Africa is a raucous African experience right in the heart of Long Street. There’s an African band playing every night, a menu that incorporates some wild taste experiences (fancy a bit of crocodile, anyone?) and a busy bar where locals and tourists mingle on every night of the week.

https://mamaafricarestaurant.co.za

Not to be missed if one enjoys a true bit of evening social culture.

Oh, and it has an truly glitzy chandelier made from coke bottles…

*****

Cape Town  –  Day 2

We had booked a full day private tour of the Cape. In addition to the standard package I had negotiated to have the itinerary include a visit to Simon’s Town and the Boulders Penguin sanctuary.

Departing Cape Town we followed the western sea coastline in an anti-clockwise direction making our first stop at Camps Bay…

 

….before continuing on with a stop at Hout Bay…

…a popular destination for seal enthusiasts…

Continuing on with many excellent photographic opportunities we arrived at that somewhat well known landmark, the Cape of Good Hope…

A short drive within the National park and we found ourselves scaling the path up to Cape Point Lighthouse…

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…itself offering a spectacular view down over the Cape of Good Hope…

More spectacular scenery followed, including views over False Bay, before we finally arrived in Simon’s Town…

This visit meant a lot to me because as a young Royal Naval sailor I had visited Simon’s Town when my ship, the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle, had called into Cape Town and we had been invited to Simon’s Town by the South African Navy for a social event.

There are a number of rather famous personalities remembered at Simon’s Town. Firstly Just Nuisance…

…and secondly, The ‘Standby Diver’…

…along with some architectural gems from Victorian gems like The British Hotel…

Our final stop included a visit to…

Boulders Beach is the home of over 2,000 endangered African penguins, and one of the few mainland penguin colonies in the world…

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This tour had been an exceptional experience made all the more a success by our delightful driver and guide, Shafiek…

…and all made possible through his company…

http://www.uberafricantours.co.za

This evening we dined at the V&A’s prestigious seafood restaurant Baia…

*****

We enjoyed the most incredible meal and including a bottle of South African sauvignon blanc the total bill came to…

…that’s £71.54 in our money. Absolutely amazing. (by the way, the ‘Namib Thermi’ were actually ‘Oysters Thermidor’)

Walking back to the hotel, the Waterfront atmosphere was a real buzz…

Cape Town  – Day 3

The plan was to head up onto Table Mountain but our old friend the ‘tablecloth’ was still in position…

…so it was over to plan b, a walk through Cape town’s central park, The Company’s Garden…

Plenty to see and do here including a number of military memorials…

…another to a true pioneer

…and the South African Parliament…

A short distance away we found the District 6 Museum…

…and not too far away, The Castle of Good Hope…

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Shortly before lunch the clouds appeared to be on the move and a calculated risk was taken to head for Table Mountain cableway…

Of course the cloud still hadn’t dissipated but what the heck. In our weather app we trust…

And it paid off. Well within an hour the cloud disappeared and the views were ours…

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For our last evening we decided to visit one of the lively pubs back in the V&A Waterfront and chose The Ferryman…

Beers and Music…

and good old fish ‘n chips…

Not quite Princess Grill but hey – what the heck.

The V&A was still pretty much a buzz: even on a Sunday the atmosphere was great…

Another great evening and a  fun time had by all…

Day four actually saw us heading out to Cape Town’s International Airport and our Emirates flight home. The holiday was over but the memories will remain forever.

In Summary

On balance we had a good and enjoyable cruise that achieved its itinerary driven goal.

However, we could not help noticing the impact a number of recent changes Cunard have initiated that for us  has taken a little bit of the gloss off sailing with Cunard. Some of course so small as to be filed under ‘trivial’ but, taken as a whole, do have an impact. This was a 19 night cruise with 12 sea days yet there were only 4 “dressy” evenings.

The increased  areas  where more casual dress is acceptable after 6.00 pm has given those that prefer a more casual style a licence to push the boundaries and despite members of the entertainment staff being on duty in the Royal Court Theatre and the Queens Room there was no enforcement witnessed – probably one reason why the Queens Room was so devoid of dancers at what would normally be peak times.

We have always enjoyed the social occasions of the Cocktail Parties. There was, however, on each of the three evenings a distinct lack of service of drinks outside the initial offering collected at entry while canapés were non existent. Neither was our ‘welcome’ cocktail party an ‘all-grills and Britannia Club’ affair.

On a brighter note we found the food and service in the Princess Grill were beyond our expectations though there was a lack of  ambience due mainly to fragmented early diners.

Summary of Flight and Hotel arrangements

Readers maybe aware that Cunard’s website quote fares for ‘Cruise with Flights’ included…

…and for ‘Cruise Only’…

It can be seen from the above that the flight element was £1160.00 per person or £2320.00 for the both of us.

We chose to fly from Heathrow to Singapore with Singapore Airlines as this was the cheapest Direct flight to Singapore. Using Skyscanner that cost £1015.00 for the two of us. (There was a possible saving of around a further £350.00 had we opted for indirect flights with Malaysia Airlines, Qatar or Emirates).

The real joy with the Singapore flight is that with a 12 hour flight taking off at 11.00 am from Heathrow it is to us effectively a daytime flight.

For our flight home from Cape Town, where we were not too fussed about saving time on a direct flight, we chose Emirates via Dubai booked through Skyscanner  at  total cost of £602.00.

Our flight saving therefore now stood at £703.00. 

Our 3 night stay (booked Direct) in a ‘Club’ room complete with 2 hours free flow drinks and canapés, at the Changi Village Hotel came to £385.00, while three nights at the Radisson Red at Cape Town, (booked via Booking.com) came to £411.00.

My simple maths tell me that we  made savings that eventually meant that we only forked out £96.00 to cover 6 nights in the respective hotels – we probably drank that much in the Club Lounge in Singapore.

 

Would we cruise with Cunard again?

Of course we will when the itinerary is right, but no longer will we view the ship as the destination. It will be interesting to experience Cunard’s new ship when it arrives,  otherwise our future Cunard experiences may well be limited to the Queen Mary 2.

This cruise was booked through The Sovereign Cruise Club.

 

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Disclosure to potential conflict of interest:

It is common throughout the travel industry for travel journalists and many cruise bloggers to be provided with complimentary cruises for the purpose of their reviews.

Solent Richard has no ‘conflict of interest’ as he is not an accredited journalist, he pays for his cruises, and is happy to confirm that all his reviews are his own given without fear or favour.