Where the voyage becomes a different trip. Three accommodation tiers — Britannia, Princess Grill, Queens Grill — on the same Cunard Queen. The choice is not subtle and the choice matters.
If you are booking a Cunard voyage, you are also choosing the kind of experience you want — and Cunard's Grill Suites system is the lever. The three tiers are the same ship and the same itinerary, with three different daily lives running in parallel.
Britannia is the main dining room — one thousand five hundred guests on Queen Mary 2, two seatings, the democracy and energy of the largest restaurant at sea. The balcony staterooms in Britannia are excellent — full balconies, full ship privileges, full Cunard service. The Britannia tier is the value moment in the Cunard fleet, and it is the version most first-time Cunard clients book.
Princess Grill is the mid-tier upgrade. Single-seating dining in a smaller, quieter restaurant. Upgraded balcony staterooms. The same ship-wide access as Britannia, plus the Princess Grill private dining room. The Princess Grill move is for the traveler who wants the single-seating rhythm and a calmer dining-room scale without the full Queens Grill price.
Queens Grill is the top tier — the Grill Suites at the top of the brand. Penthouse and duplex suites. Butler service. The Queens Grill restaurant. The Grills Lounge. The Grills Terrace. Exclusive deck space. Concierge desk. Private cocktail hours. Cunard's full White Star Service stack at its most surfaced.
The three-tier system
Britannia, Princess Grill, Queens Grill.
Britannia
Main dining, balcony staterooms
Princess Grill
Mid-tier, single seating
Queens Grill
Top tier, butler service
Three voyages
In the same Cunard Queen
How to pick
Pick Britannia if the trip is about the voyage.
If you are booking the crossing because of the crossing — the formal dining nights, the library, the deck chair afternoons, the Royal Court Theatre — Britannia is the right tier. The balcony stateroom is full. The dining room is part of the experience. Save the Grills budget for the European leg the crossing is bookending.
Pick Princess Grill if you want single-seating dining without the full Queens Grill spend.
The Princess Grill room is the quietest of the three dining surfaces. The single-seating rhythm means dinner is yours at a fixed time at the same table with the same waiter. The Princess Grill stateroom is upgraded but not transformed. The right tier for the traveler who cares specifically about the dining-room experience.
Pick Queens Grill if the milestone is the trip.
Fortieth birthday. Anniversary. Retirement. The Queens Grill experience — butler service, the dedicated restaurant, the Grills Terrace, the suite-stocked welcome — is the version of Cunard that turns a crossing into a milestone moment. The Queens Grill move is also the right call for travelers who have done Cunard before in Britannia and want to know what the upper deck feels like.
The Joanna read.
My client Joanna sails Queens Grill on M802 — the eight-night transatlantic crossing in January 2028 — for her fortieth birthday. The Queens Grill tier was the right call for her because the milestone is the trip; the crossing is the centre of gravity she is building the year around. The same crossing in Britannia would be a different vacation entirely.
The Cabin Cheat Sheet
For the traveler who wants the full Britannia-versus-Grills decision matrix in one PDF — cabin category breakdown, the questions I ask new Cunard clients on a discovery call, qualitative pricing tier framing, the per-category trade-offs — The Cunard Cabin Cheat Sheet ships alongside this page. Subscribe for the link.
A 30-minute discovery call. We will work through Britannia versus Princess Grill versus Queens Grill, the cabin categories within each, and which voyage the year actually wants.
