Britannia Club Dining Room, Queen Elizabeth, Cunard Line. (Champagne Afternoon Tea)

Cost – $34.50, including a 15% service charge (Sept 2019)

Access – There is completely flat access to the dining room and to all toilets on the ship.

Background – Afternoon Tea is a big thing on a Cunard ship, being served every day in the Queens Room by white gloved waiters and included in the fare.

I have reviewed the Tea on both Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria previously. However, occasionally there is a champagne Afternoon Tea offered in a different venue, for which a fee is payable. We tried this on Queen Victoria in 2014 (see previous review). We were on a cruise to Iceland and the British Isles (see the next two reviews!) so we thought it was about time to try the latest version, this time on Queen Elizabeth.

Contents – A shrimp filled croissant and a cheese and mushroom filo flan each. Three medium sized scones between two people (one plain, one fruit, one chocolate), a mini Bonne Maman jar of strawberry jam and of raspberry jam between two, plus a small ‘slug’ of clotted cream each. A red velvet pop cake, a strawberry and lemon meringue pie, a mango choux, a piece of nutty apple cake, a Baileys chocolate bomb and a pink macaroon, all between two. Pot of tea.

Comments – We were shown to a window table as we entered the Britannia Club restaurant, with a view out over the ocean.

The table was laid with a white linen tablecloth, round white Cunard logo china crockery, a butter knife and cake fork, a silver tea strainer, a linen napkin and two champagne glasses. There was also a little vase with a flower in it.

There was a harpist playing during the Tea.

We were asked if we would like some tea to drink. We asked for a pot of English breakfast tea. We were also offered a glass of pink champagne each. As the champagne was included in the price, we had two glasses, despite the fact that I don’t drink champagne! It was not wasted!

The tea arrived in a white Cunard teapot and was poured for us by the waiter. It was loose leaf and rather strong. We were able to have as much as we wanted.

The Afternoon Tea arrived soon after the drinks on an attractive metal three tier cake stand with square white plates.

The savoury part was served to us by a waiter using tongs. The shrimp croissant was well filled and was very good.

The filo tart was rather fragile, which made it very difficult to eat. It was a bit like a quiche in filo pastry. It tasted nice, it was just rather floppy and messy.

The scones were all medium sized, fresh and warm. They were all very good, but why have three different scones between the two of us? Very annoying! We cut each one in half so that we could both try them all. There was nowhere near enough cream but we did not try asking for some more. There was just about enough jam.

Finally, the cake part of the Afternoon Tea, again, committed one of my major faux pas by only having one of each item between the two of us. It always annoys me when venues do this as it means you either have to fight over each item or try to cut each part in half. We went for the second option, which is sometimes pretty difficult but did mean we both got to try everything.

Each item was very fresh and very good. We particularly enjoyed the strawberry lemon meringue pie, which was good and tangy,

and the macaroon, which was chewy and tasty.

However, the best was the Baileys chocolate bomb, which was filled with chocolate mousse and was absolutely wonderful!

Service is always excellent on a Cunard ship and it didn’t disappoint on this occasion either. There were waiters around, ready to help if we needed anything, at all times.

Savoury	1.5
Scone	1.5
Jam	1.5
Cream	1.0
Cake (variety)	1.5
Cake (quality)	2.0
Tea	1.0
Presentation	2.0
Service	2.0
Value	1.0
Total	15.0