Hi all, I had a cruise on the Queen Elizabeth 3 years ago. As Colin says there are gratuities. However they are quite steep and you can ask for your on-board bill to have them removed. We then distributed grats to the crew members that we felt had given good service. If you do this then take some envelopes with you.
Some of the trips are a bit dear as well. But if you go on a coach trip we found that if you get yourself a sticker to show you were booked on that particular trip and then just go down the gangway and we found the coach ourselves, get to sit where you like then, also they reserve the front seats for disabled, however if there are no disabled they are up for grabs.
I have to confess I did have the dinner jacket / Tuxedo and bow tie etc and it was nice to dine with most of the passengers so attired and I did always go to the dance floor afterwards. You do not get many chances to dance to a live orchestra, also there are not many ships still doing it now. My partner and I were the first to use the dance floor on the Queen Victoria that was before the naming ceremony, my partner had a Press Card so we had a day on the boat, evidence is in Ships Monthly see photo!
The food in the Britannia dining room was very good and there were a lot of choices on the menu. You could have as many items as you wanted! With a balcony cabin it was nice to sit outside and we always had our breakfast delivered to the cabin, at no extra cost.
We travelled Southampton to Southampton, ignore the arrival time they suggest, turn up early and get seen straight away and get on the boat. You can have a buffet meal there while others are still queuing to get on, you will be notified when the cabin is available and your cases will be waiting for you there.
A tip on cases is if you have two cases then have one smaller than the other so that you can store one case inside the other and shove them under your bed. If travelling Cunard then if you buy 100 Carnival shares you will get extra on-board spending money, I wish I had done so at the time as they have since doubled in value!
If you like to read, the library is good but get there straight away as the popular books go first. Each cabin has a good size TV and there are usually some good speakers that you can see live in the theatre or watch the talk being televised. Keep your eyes open for other passengers, I saw a few celebrities (retired) on the cruise I was on.
Best regards for you trip,
Roy