Not Your Typical Caribbean Cruise: A Classic British Ship Brings Galas and High Tea to the Islands

Twisting and twirling under the chandeliers and stained glass of a vast, empty ballroom, on a recent sailing this fall, I took advantage of the quiet while most of the Queen Elizabeth’s passengers were on shore. Every princess-fueled ballroom fantasy that I had as a kid combined with a nod to the movie Pulp Fiction as I danced on my own to Chuck Berry’s You Never Can Tell blasting in my AirPods.

English line Cunard’s 2,000-passenger ship fulfills fantasies from the era of grand ocean travel, with its ballroom, palatial lobby, and public spaces in art deco splendor, with an ever-so-British touch. Case in point, the ship has a fully stocked two-deck, wooden-cased library, with a twisting staircase and ocean views, that looks like a floating version of something you’d see in the Harry Potter movies.

So, what’s this Queen doing launching Cunard’s first-ever Caribbean season from Miami? It’s offering something new: the opportunity to sail to the Caribbean islands with big-ship amenities at a less frenetic pace than most mainstream competitors in the region.

Courtesy of Cunard

Cunard’s version of Caribbean cruising

The Queen Elizabeth recently received a Caribbean-influenced refresh for its new routes in the region, which run into April. The ship will return to Miami next fall for more Caribbean sailings, after a summer in Alaska.

A highlight of the changes is a newly installed pop-up Caribbean restaurant, called Karibe (with an additional $35 per person charge), in a sectioned-off area of the Lido buffet, serving bold flavors of the islands, including excellent ceviche and a goat curry stew that simmers for 13 hours. In addition to enjoying such traditional British cuisine as Dover sole in the ship’s other classic dining venues, you shouldn’t miss Karibe.

There were Caribbean entertainment nods, too. Aboard our October sailing was a professional steel-pannist, Alx Xandr from Saint Lucia, who performed in the elegant 800-person Royal Court Theatre, the ship’s main theater. Cunard is also taking advantage of the warm Caribbean weather by adding outdoor experiences such as live cool jazz under the stars, and deck parties, though they’re more sedate than what you see on some competing ships.

Courtesy of Cunard

Ocean-liner formality

Queen Elizabeth is not an ocean liner (which has sturdier construction to withstand harsh weather). But like Cunard’s true ocean liner, the 2,691-passenger Queen Mary 2, which regularly crosses the Atlantic, this ship maintains the Old World-style class system of Cunard ships, with guests separated by where they sleep.

Passengers staying in the elevated Princess or top-end Queens suites and staterooms dine in the intimate Grills restaurants. Everyone else heads to the Britannia for meals, a Titanic-esque grand dining room (if you book Britannia Club accommodations, you are served in an exclusive section of the Britannia). An advantage of being in the Britannia dining room is that on more formal nights, you can promenade down the grand staircase, showing off your finery to a larger audience.

On our 11-night, six-port sailing from Miami, which I joined for a few nights, guests dressed up for two gala evenings, one with a black-and-white theme (meaning passengers are encouraged to don their nicest black or white formals) and the other a masquerade. There were more tuxes than you typically see on a Caribbean cruise, though few full-blown ballgowns, with women seemingly preferring cocktail attire. Those who prefer not to dress up can skip the gala events and enjoy a casual dinner of fish ‘n’ chips in the ship’s Golden Lion pub or head to the more casual buffet, where cruisers can help themselves. Most nights, the dress code was smart casual, loosely interpreted.

When you travel with Cunard on one of the line’s classic transatlantic crossings or in Europe, it’s a mostly British crowd. But the Caribbean cruise guests were largely American, a mix of Cunard loyalists and first timers, predominantly couples ages 50 and up. But that did not draw from the British pomp and circumstance, such as afternoon tea service, with formally attired waitstaff carrying towers of sweets along with tiny sandwiches and scones to packed tables in the ballroom.

Courtesy of Cunard

Updated staterooms and public spaces

The 15-year-old Queen Elizabeth recently underwent a refresh last spring, and it shows in more contemporary, lighter color schemes such as the sparkling gold fixtures and floral motifs in the Queens Room ballroom and vibrant red and gold seating in the Commodore Club observation lounge, with its tall windows and sea views.

My comfy Princess Suite (rooms that range from 335 to 514 square feet in size) had a King-sized bed, a couch, a balcony (with chairs and a table), and a bathtub with a shower and was updated, as were all suites and staterooms on the ship, with satellite TV featuring movies and music channels. Grand suites are as large as 1,492 square feet, with separate bedrooms and living areas.

The Mareel Wellness & Beauty Spa was an area of focus during the revamps. Now it has an impressive thermal area (available for a fee that varies by cruise) with a hydrotherapy pool, a steam room, a sauna, and lounging areas. New facilities include a meditation room and sound therapy treatment rooms and a rearranged fitness center, plus a new massage suite designed for couples, with a new menu that focuses on marine-inspired treatments.

At the spa, I booked a seaweed wrap and massage (priced at $249) and found myself wrapped in foil, looking like a giant sushi burrito. That was followed by excellent maneuvering that left all my knots loosened.

My favorite new addition was a wellness café on the pool deck that serves scrambled tofu, as well as a pea and edamame mash topped with an egg at breakfast, and power bowls for lunch.

Photo by Justin Mackintosh/Courtesy of Cunard

Indoor fun

One thing the ship does not have is many areas with shade, crucially needed during hot Caribbean days. I heard several guests comment about the decks being too sunny—including at the two outdoor pools and aft deck areas reserved for Grills guests.

Still, most guests seemed perfectly happy to escape the sun’s rays indoors, where the programming particularly shines. You could head to the library or hop from a watercolor class to one of four daily trivia competitions (or as the British call them, “quizzes”). People found their cliques: the dance crowd, the jigsaw puzzle devotees, the casino players. One day I stumbled on the Churchill’s cigar bar and a group of daytime smokers puffing away.

The impressive roster of lecturers in the Caribbean has a distinctly American appeal (on my cruise, about 70 percent of guests were American, a target audience for these cruises). Speakers include Greg Louganis, an Olympic medalist diver, and Patricia Altschul, the Charleston socialite featured on the hit Bravo TV series Southern Charm. Upcoming speakers include actor Hugh Bonneville, who plays the patriarch on Downton Abbey, the cult British PBS show that has made waves on both sides of the pond.

At night, guests sipped gin at a variety of bars such as the midship Gin & Fizz and attended theater performances such as a production of the Tony Award-winning musical Come From Away, when not in the ballroom dancing to tunes played by the ship’s orchestra that included a ballroom take on Sweet Home Alabama (sans singing).

Those seeking a more casual atmosphere headed to the pub, where entertainment included a duo performing sea shanties and other tunes on guitar, mandolin, banjo, and whistle. “We are Cunard, we are refined,” said one of the performers, cheekily, before encouraging the crowd to clap and sing along to “Those Were the Days.”

It was an ever-so-slightly rowdy moment on a ship where British tradition and timelessness made for a slowed-down Caribbean alternative.

Fares for Cunard’s new Caribbean sailing start at $1,078 per person for nine-night itineraries.