Source ‘The Telegraph Friday 29 Nov 2013’

Cunard’s majestic Queen Elizabeth is a traditionally-themed elegant cruise offering a voyage experience.

Queen Elizabeth provides a traditional setting for those who enjoy dressing for dinner, either formally or smart casual. Passengers get cocktail parties, and enjoy the lecturers and speakers who sail on each voyage – Cunard wisely calls them voyages, not cruises.

Features include promenade deck, a majestic three-deck high Grand Lobby with a sweeping staircase, sculpted balconies and other elegant decorative touches, and a Cunardia floating museum. Several public rooms are two decks high; these include the gold-beige Queen’s Room, with a large, wooden ballroom dance floor; above are two huge ceiling-mounted chandeliers. Traditional British afternoon tea is served in this art deco-style grand room.

The Royal Arcade is a cluster of several shops selling goods connected with traditional and modern-day Britain including Fortnum & Mason, Hackett (country clothing), and Penhaligan’s – all set in an arcade-like environment. The Library is a really stunning two-deck-high wood-panelled 6,000-book facility serviced by two full-time librarians.

Cunard cruises are respected for its cuisine and service, with a wide variety of well-prepared and presented dishes made from good ingredients. The 878-seat Britannia Restaurant is two decks high, with seating on both main and balcony levels. Spiral stairways link both levels.

The Verandah Restaurant is an “alternative” eating place available to all passengers. The Lido Restaurant has panoramic views, indoor/outdoor seating for around 470, and features a good standard multi-line self-serve buffet arrangement, ideal for passengers who do not want to dress formally.

For excellent Lavazza coffee and light bites, there’s the Parisian-style Café Carinthia, located one deck above the Purser’s Desk and adjacent to the memorabilia-laden Cunard Place.

For traditional British pub food, the Golden Lion Pub has fish ’n’ chips, steak and mushroom pie, a ploughman’s lunch, and, of course, bangers and mash, but no IPA.

The 830-seat, three-deck-high Royal Court Theatre is designed in the style of a classic opera house, with 20 private “royal boxes”.

A “Victoriana” show is all about good old British tradition. It offers production shows and a good variety of cabaret entertainment, and screens movies. The ship has a number of bands, small combos and solo entertainers, and some bars and lounges have live jazz.

The Cunard Royal Health Club and Spa consists of a beauty salon, large gymnasium with high-tech muscle-pumping equipment and great ocean views; an aerobics area; separate changing rooms for men and women, each with its own ocean-view sauna; a Thermal Area with sauna and steam rooms; several body treatment rooms; a rasul chamber for private Hammam-style mud/steam bathing; and a relaxation area.