Cunard's Queen Victoria

Sian and I were extremely lucky to be invited by the Cunard sales team to experience what life on board with Cunard would be like. We were on the 4-night sailing which went from Southampton to Rotterdam and Brugge. We indulged in incredible food, watched some amazing onboard entertainment and felt extremely privileged to experience such an amazing cruise line.

Everyone on board from your cabin steward to the waiters serving you late-night snacks in the Lido made you feel incredibly special. You can see why they are known for their white star service as the service on-board and attention to detail goes beyond anyone's expectations. Something really special is that room service is included complimentary, so if you fancy breakfast in the cabin or just a late-night snack this is included at no extra cost. Of course, we had to use this service, we left our breakfast request out the night before and set our alarms. Within 10 mins of getting ourselves out of bed, a knock at the door and in comes our cooked breakfast, we felt like queens!

The amenities on board are endless, whether you’re sailing for the onboard Spa and salon treatments, the largest dance floor at sea or just a massive foodie. This ship has everything, the main dining restaurants and lido buffet offer food made of dreams but if you’re wanting something even better - if possible. You can choose one of the speciality dining restaurants on board we were lucky enough to try 2. The Steakhouse had to be our favourite, you could even choose your own steak knife which was presented to you in a stunning box!

There is so much freedom on board, we had one sea day where we spent the day exploring the ship. Treated ourselves to afternoon tea in the Queen's room which is an experience in itself and then headed to the whirlpools on deck 9 to relax before dinner. This evening we had dinner at the Lido which is part of the speciality dining options, this was called Bamboo and was a Pan-Asian restaurant. What's incredibly smart about this restaurant is depending on the sailing and area it's sailing to the menu changes with this and so does the theme. I won't tell you what they change too, I'll let that be a surprise.

Even our days in port were thoroughly thought through and seem less in regards to disembarking and re-embarking. On our day in Rotterdam, we explored at leisure with no tour guide or planned itinerary which can sometimes be daunting. But sail away times were clearly published throughout the daily programmes left in your cabins so we knew exactly how much time we had. The only thing we had to think about was getting into the city and back to the ship, but we were pleasantly surprised with a complimentary shuttle offered to all guests on board which dropped us right in the centre and ran every 30 mins until the ship sailed. This was super helpful and allowed us to enjoy our time without worrying about how to get back.

On our last day, we were in port in Zeebrugge which is about 25mins from the medieval city of Brugge. Having been to Brugge previously on Armistice Day when everything was closed, I was keen to get back and see it full of life. It did not disappoint, although absolutely freezing, we had a wonderful time wandering the cobbled streets and tasting all the chocolate. We did this as a tour organised by Cunard and again cannot fault how seamless everything was, we met the tour guide outside of the port where we were directed from the main lobby out to the bus port side. We had a 1-hour walking tour through the city, followed by a beautiful canal tour. After this, we were given about 2 hours to explore at our own pace and meet them back at the ship.

We would both sail with Cunard again and I think that might be one of the most surprising things. I do believe like many of you out there, we all have preconceptions about Cruising and even more with Cunard. Maybe the idea of their clientele doesn't align with you, or they are too posh - maybe the price point is a little higher than you're used to. However, I'll say one thing and leave it there - Cunard is Timeless - great then and incredible now. Get in touch to know more about how diverse the ships are and what they can offer you.  You can holiday in 100's of different ways when you sail with Cunard, it doesn't have to be what you thought it was I'm sure your mind will be blown when you see the possibilities...