With Art Deco features that pay homage to Cunard's original Atlantic 'Queens', Queen Elizabeth, launched in 2010, boasts elegant, double height public rooms endowed with rich wood panelling, hand-woven carpets and gleaming chandeliers. Guests get their first appreciation of this 2,081-passenger vessel's dramatic architecture as they enter the Grand Lobby, dominated by a marquetry panel created by David Linley. The Queens Room, inspired by the Royal Gardens at Hampton Court Palace, is where Royal Theme Balls are held on formal nights, when everybody dresses up in black tie.

True to her Cunard pedigree, Queen Elizabeth offers a range of accommodation from the ample to the opulent, with no fewer than 33 categories of staterooms, including brand new single cabins that were added in 2014. Principal dining venues include the single-seating Britannia Club Restaurant and the Britannia Restaurant, which operates on a two-sitting basis. Passengers occupying top accommodation dine in the Queens Grill and Princess Grill. In the informal Lido Cafe you can also sample South American, Mexican and Pan-Asian cuisine. With items priced à la carte, the Verandah Grill is, in our opinion, one of the finest dining choices at sea.

With so many diversions, days at sea on Queen Elizabeth are a treat. You can choose a best-seller from the 6,000-volume library or sip a cappuccino at the Café Carinthia; enjoy a pre-lunch tipple in the Commodore Club with its views over the ship's bow, or pick up a souvenir in Harrods. Later in the day everything stops for that great institution of afternoon tea, served by white-gloved stewards. Then you can relax in the Canyon Ranch SpaClub or atone for those rich desserts in the Fitness Centre. Show-stopping entertainment fills the Royal Court Theatre, while a jazz band keeps the Chart Room buzzing until the small hours.