How long will the ship wait?

We've just booked the December crossing on the QM2 and plan on travelling down to Southampton the day before. In the past we have usually used the coach service mentioned in Cunard's brochures which goes down to the port on the day of sailing, but if there was a problem, either mechanical, traffic or weather related, just how long would the ship wait?

Just curious.

I don't see any problem if you're travelling down the day before. We sometimes travel down from the north on the actual cruise day, leaving home about 5-5.30am. And although we have 12.30pm boarding time, 3.30pm arrival would be okay.

I always make sure we have the emergency phone number and the mobiles are topped up.

I think that if there was a bad traffic jam, that the cruise connect coach would be stuck in it too. So the ship would have to wait until they arrived. Same applies to delayed planes. Not sure about late individuals though.

We've just booked the December crossing on the QM2 and plan on travelling down to Southampton the day before. In the past we have usually used the coach service mentioned in Cunard's brochures which goes down to the port on the day of sailing, but if there was a problem, either mechanical, traffic or weather related, just how long would the ship wait? Just curious.

I boarded QM2 in Southampton; she called there between New York and Hamburg (I was on a short cruise to Hamburg and return).

There were four coaches of "in-transit" passengers on a Cunard organised trip who were taken to Windsor Castle for the day. The coaches were stuck on the M3 motorway coming back because of a serious traffic accident.

The captain kept us informed about the delay in departure and the reason. The sailaway party on the stern packed up... 1st seating went to dinner.

Several hours late, we saw four coaches pulling up alongside the terminal (I was on Deck 13 with several friends, a cheer went up as the captain announced the arrival).

If I remember correctly, we departed the QEII Terminal just as second seating were entering the restaurant (so the ship was held for approx 3 1/2 hours).

Of course, had people been on a small private tour the ship may have sailed on time (but then, I wouldn't have thought that kind of tour would have involved four coach-loads of passengers).

Hope this helps.

Thanks.

I wasn't asking the question about individuals being late, more if it was a Cunard coach. Looking at the weather conditions today and bearing in mind I was thinking about December when it could be thick snow and ice I was just curious.

In the worst case scenario, would the ship wait overnight?:eek:

Doom laden aren't I? Sorry, I think I'm just having one of those days :(

I've seen the ship delay departure from Brooklyn to wait for a delayed flight with passengers who had booked air-inckusive from London.

Best way to assure that the ship won't leave without you on day of sailing is a Cunard Transfer (such as coach) .

They know that you have not arrived and probably have already made efforts to get you to the ship . Independent transfers don't have this level of protection.

The original post isn't asking about non-Cunard transfers. OP is specifically inquiring how long Cunard will hold departure due to delayed organized transfers.

I think it's standard that the ship waits as long as possible but failing that takes responsibility of getting passengers to next port. Not a huge help if that's your port to disembark [emoji12] but they do take responsibility.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

We've just booked the December crossing on the QM2 and plan on travelling down to Southampton the day before. In the past we have usually used the coach service mentioned in Cunard's brochures which goes down to the port on the day of sailing, but if there was a problem, either mechanical, traffic or weather related, just how long would the ship wait?

 

Just curious.

The answer according to this link is however long it takes http://www.intercruises.com/cruiseconnect/index.php/aboutUs if you are talking about bus travel by official carrier within the UK to meet the ship. I suppose ultimately there would be a limit in extreme circumstances if it was calculated to cause huge disruption to the cruise, but Cruise Connect claim that has never happened.

M-AR