Cunard Cruises - Queen Victoria Cruise Reviews

re "self-touring" the first "rule" would be if the town/city has an open top bus/hop on hop off then use it ie Auckland/New York/Sydney - they are very good value and you dictate your own pace eg get off where you want get back on when you want. I would also suggest you ask the tour desk on board where the ship docks, how far from the main city/town eg Barcelona you can walk whereas Rome you need a shuttle (either as provided at a cost by Cunard or catch the train). We found the tour office/desk to be very helpful. In other places friends of ours just hired a taxi and negotiated a price up front ie Samoa/Tonga/Honolulu. The only place where Cunard suggested caution was Rabaul. Another option is to use the Metro ie New York/Sydney/Singapore/Hon Kong - very safe and easy to use. re WiFi, we used the ships internet room, which is very expensive but friends who had wifi used the ships wifi hotspots but would download emails etc go offline draft their responces or new emails and the reconnect - I think wifi still costs 50cents a minute and there are no packages on offer. The ships internet room gets very busy and the system is painfully slow. hope the above helps and we are very envious of you. We will probably do it again in 2011 or 2012

Cunards currency exchange rates are very poor plus they charged a fee to exchange (3.5$ I seem to remember). We took $US and Euro's with us, the US$ was accepted in most places we went to (probably more than 50% of places). For Aus/NZ we exchanged ashore eg got some NZ $ and then changed them to Aus$ in Aus. At some ports an exchange facility was set up on the quay and the rates were ok. Heat is a relative thing, I love it yet my wife does not, the heat was ok but alot of people found the humidity un comfortable and needed to change cloths several times a day.

Thanks for that, very helpful, I think I'll stock up with some currency before we go. And another thing, I read somewhere that passengers who were doing the whole World Cruise got special treatment, extra cocktail parties, for instance, a dedicated area in one of the lounges, was that the case when you were cruising?

If you were a "Grill" passenger then there were 4 special shore events plus there was a large formal dinner (in our case in Singapore which was attended by the CEO of Cunard) which all "world cruise" passengers attended. There was a short drinks session when we arrived on board and before sailing (in the Commadore Club). I do not recall a dedicated area in one of the lounges however there was a cocktail party each sector (the cruise is divided into four sectors) where a large cake is produced showing the route and a little ship moves to represent current position. By the way we are back onboard this Sat for a 16 day med cruise.

Thanks for that info, I've used shuttle and open top buses before on shore trips when on the QE2 so that's a good tip. Also thanks for the wifi advice, I'll take that on board ( in a manner of speaking)! If I think of anything else I'll contact you again if that's OK. Really looking forward to it all, and can't really believe it's going to happen!

we were fortunate to have a daughter at home although she joined us from Dubai (20days). It is a good point and you need to check your insurance cover, also what needs to be done early in your garden if the spring is mild. Another thing to check - your car battery could go flat. Hope the above helpful

Thanks for the tips. Glad you enjoyed QV, we were lucky enough to be on the maiden voyage in a Q7. The QG restaurant is lovely.