Since our last cruise on the Queen Mary 2, five years ago, the ship has become cannibalized by its parent company. In the dining room, the service was less than what the Cunard company proudly calls "White Star". Five years ago, our section of the dining room had plenty of servers to meet our needs, such as refilling orders for soda and bringing additional bread. This year (2013), one server would come by and take my soda order, and then hardly be seen again. I would practically have to stand up and grab him to bring me another Coke, and sometimes would have to remind him as I sat without anything to drink. The bread server would swing by often after we had our appetizer with a bread tray that hardly had much on it, and would only give one roll. The bread was usually not offered again during the meal as it has been on previous Cunard cruises. Now, to explain about bar service. There were fewer bartenders behind each bar to serve many customers. In the past, the Queen Mary 2 would have plenty of servers behind a bar to meet the customers' needs. On our recent cruise, the same bars would have considerably fewer servers working there, and the time to wait for service was in most cases considerably longer than before.
Cunard has been Carnivalized and it shows in the attention that it gives to what was once true "White Star" service. It is a shame, because it is such a beautiful ship. The staff is obviously unhappy because I heard on several occasions how Carnival has begun cutting back on their pay and benefits. They are overworked, because there appear to be less employees on the ship. It all shows like a bright light that Cunard is losing its star quality service to its desire to make more money.
Like I said, Cunard has been "Carnivalized."
