Queen Mary 2 Kings Court, Chefs Galley and Carinthia Lounge

We had a wonderful time on the QM2 and while we ate our dinners in the Britannia Dining Room and had breakfast delivered from room service, we did use the Kings Court for lunch and snacks during other times.  The Kings Court is the Queen Mary 2’s buffet style restaurant located on Deck 7.  There is a lot to offer in the Kings Court and it was a little confusing at first, so this post is dedicated to the King’s Court along with the other two dining venues on Deck 7:  Carinthia Lounge and Chef’s Galley.

The Kings Court itself has a second area, aft on the port side, which I will refer to as Kings Court (Aft).  This area is open for breakfast, lunch and late night snacks.  For dinner, this area turns into a specialty restaurant with rotating themes throughout the voyage.  Here are the different specialty options ($17.50 surcharge) but you probably won’t see them all available for every voyage:

Aztec (Mexican cuisine)
Bamboo (Pan-Asian cuisine)
Coriander (Indian cuisine)
La Piazza (Italian cuisine)
Smokehouse (American cuisine)

Since this was my first time on the QM2, I can’t comment on the layout prior to the major overhaul in 2016, but I have read that people like the new look and it has been described by others as more open.

The Kings Court occupies a large space in the center of the ship between the C and D stairways sitting between the Grills restaurants and the Carinthia Lounge.  Please note that the Kings Court detailed layout shown on the QM2 deck plan from the Cunard Website does not match the current physical layout down to the seating level.  The downloaded deck plan doesn’t show the layout of the serving lines, but they are shown on the schematics and they are depicted here on an annotated picture of the current Kings Court Layout.

 

The Carinthia Lounge is close enough to the Kings Court to be considered as part of the Deck 7 dining options along with the Chef’s Galley.  All of these options are close enough together to easily carry your food from one to the other if you can’t find an empty seat in the Kings Court.  However, while the Kings Court was busy during peak hours, I never had difficulty finding open seating for 2 people.

Food is available in the Kings Court 19 hours out of 24.   Here are the hours:

• Continental Breakfast: 5:00 am to 6:30 am
• Breakfast: 6:30 am to 11:00 am
• Closed:  11:00 am to 11:30 am
• Lunch: 11:30 am to 3:00 pm
• Closed: 3:00 pm to 3:30 pm
• Afternoon Tea: 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm
• Closed: 5:30 pm to 6:00 pm
• Dinner: 6:00 pm to 10:30 pm
• Closed: 10:30 pm to 11:00 pm
• Late Snack:  11:00 pm to 2:00 am
• Closed: 2:00 am to 5:00 am

Here is a little more detail about each area along with some pictures of the various offerings.  In some cases I will reference the letter or number annotated on the Kings Court deckplan accompanying this post.

General Note:  There are 4 beverage stations located throughout the Kings Court.  See the annotated floorplan for their locations.  They are all identical and offer coffee, tea, water, ice along with Lemonade, Orange Juice, Cranberry Juice and Apple Juice.  One of the 4 beverage stations offers Iced Tea instead of Lemonade.  These stations are open 24 hours.

Carinthia Lounge:  Open for breakfast and lunch.  For breakfast you can get breakfast sandwiches, yogurt, fruit and pastries.  For Lunch they have pre-made pannis and other light fare.  Beverages are available from the bar for a charge.   You have to go to the Kings Court if you want complimentary beverages.

The Carinthia Lounge is one of the two public areas sanctioned for casual wear after 6pm.  Remember that even on non-formal nights, a jacket is still required for men if you want to appear in any public lounge, restaurant or showroom, except the Kings Court and Carinthia Lounge.  The Carinthia Lounge has a small stage on the same level as the seating and you will find various music be played from time to time throughout the day.  During lunch one day there was a Dixeland Jazz Band and during the evening, the resident Harpist put on two 45 minute performances.

This lounge is used as a muster station for various guests and was also the meeting spot for the craft group during sea days.

Chefs Galley:  For Breakfast they have healthy yogurts, juices and smoothies.  Lunch serves hamburgers, hot dogs, and assorted sandwiches.  From 6-9 pm they serve pizza and pasta.  This area is pretty small and would probably seat 25 people or so.  This area is adjacent to Kings Court (aft) and the specialty restaurants during the evening.  During the day you can cross over from Kings Court (aft) but once the specialty restaurants open you should enter from the starboard side.

The Kings Court has 2 areas serving food buffet style:  The main serving area which is quite large and open from 5 am until 10:30 pm with three one half hour closures during the day when they transition to the next meal.  The Aft area of the Kings Court on the port side is open for Breakfast, Lunch and the Late snack.  It is closed for dinner when it becomes one of the rotating specialty restaurants.

Kings Court (Aft):

• Breakfast:  Eggs to order as well as premade waffles, pancakes and French toast.
• Lunch:  Various Pizzas and Pastas and assorted fruits, breads, salads and desserts
• Dinner:  Turns into a specialty restaurant.
• Late Night Snack – Open from 11PM to 2AM serving a variety of hot food, desserts and snacks.

This area has a buffet along the forward wall, a large buffet area in the center and then a “L” shaped buffet area in front of the area leading into the Galley.  There is one beverage station located here.  There is seating along the port side going further aft from the serving buffets.

Kings Court (Main):

The main area of the Kings Court is a large square area, with a variety of serving buffets along the sides and in the center area.  The main buffet area has a starboard and port side which tends to duplicate what is on the other side.  For dinner and afternoon tea, one half of the buffet lines are closed but for breakfast and lunch all of the buffet lines are open.

On other cruise lines, the food served in their buffet area is sometimes identical to what is offered in the main dining rooms.  I didn’t find this to be the case in the Kings Court.  I checked only a few times for dinner but never compared the two for lunch.

The selection for breakfast is extensive and I was hard pressed to think of anything that wasn’t offered.  While not marked, there are chefs available for making eggs or omelets to order.  Look for a chef cooking eggs in plain view and they will cheerfully take your order or direct you to the correct location.  The center island has a wide selection of breads and pastries along with two conveyor belt type toasters to toast your bread or bagels.

There are two self-serve soft ice cream machines available, one on each side of the main buffet area.  Cones or bowls are nearby and the ice cream, chocolate vanilla or a mix, is very good.

From 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm the Kings Court offers afternoon tea.  While the Kings Court afternoon tea is not served by staff as it is in the Queens Room, they offer a wider variety of self-service sandwiches, pastries and scones.

Once per voyage they set up what they called a “Chocolate Extravaganza”  which is an extensive offering of cakes, pastries, chocolate fondues and other incredible desserts.  There wasn’t any advertising that this was going to occur, or if there was I missed it, but if you are a chocolate lover, I would inquire early in the cruise as to when this may be offered on your voyage.

I stopped by the Kings Court on the last formal night to see if they would be offering Lobster as they were in the main dining room.  They offer filet mignon but no lobster.  There were quite a few people wearing formal attire eating here rather than in the main dining rooms, or maybe in addition to their formal meals.

 

This entry was posted in 2016 Queen Mary 2 Crossing

• Carinthia Lounge
• Chefs Galley
• Kings Court
• Queen Mary 2