British Isles cruise. South Hampton or Rotterdam?

It has been almost 20 years since I was on a Cunard ship. I am looking at the British Isles cruise in summer, July of 2018 for myself and 2 daughters and was wondering if someone could give me the pluses and minuses of the 2 embarkation points for the same cruise. Rotterdam is slightly more cost effective. I would be flying from USA east coast. Is there anyway to start in South Hampton and end in Rotterdam? Basically try to book those extra 2 days? Has it ever been done?

It has been almost 20 years since I was on a Cunard ship. I am looking at the British Isles cruise in summer, July of 2018 for myself and 2 daughters and was wondering if someone could give me the pluses and minuses of the 2 embarkation points for the same cruise. Rotterdam is slightly more cost effective. I would be flying from USA east coast. Is there anyway to start in South Hampton and end in Rotterdam? Basically try to book those extra 2 days? Has it ever been done?

I have not sailed from Rotterdam, so I can't help with comparing Southampton to Rotterdam in terms of the embarkation experience in those two ports.

With regard to starting in Southampton and ending in Rotterdam, I believe you are looking at the Queen Elizabeth itinerary departing Southampton July 13, 2018 and arriving in Rotterdam on July 29, 2018. I do not see anyone offering that particular itinerary as a single voyage. However, I do see some online cruise booking web sites that list the 2-day voyage from Southampton to Rotterdam on July 13-15, 2018 as one voyage and the 14-day voyage from Rotterdam to Rotterdam on July 15-29, 2018 as a separate voyage. So it might be possible to book that itinerary as two separate back-to-back voyages. I don't see that 2-day segment from Southampton to Rotterdam shown on Cunard's web site itself, however.

Hope this helps some.

John

I have not sailed from Rotterdam, so I can't help with comparing Southampton to Rotterdam in terms of the embarkation experience in those two ports.

 

With regard to starting in Southampton and ending in Rotterdam, I believe you are looking at the Queen Elizabeth itinerary departing Southampton July 13, 2018 and arriving in Rotterdam on July 29, 2018. I do not see anyone offering that particular itinerary as a single voyage. However, I do see some online cruise booking web sites that list the 2-day voyage from Southampton to Rotterdam on July 13-15, 2018 as one voyage and the 14-day voyage from Rotterdam to Rotterdam on July 15-29, 2018 as a separate voyage. So it might be possible to book that itinerary as two separate back-to-back voyages. I don't see that 2-day segment from Southampton to Rotterdam shown on Cunard's web site itself, however.

 

Hope this helps some.

John

Thank you John. I called Cunard to book the 2 day as that would be perfect, but they said the US Cunard can't book it, only the UK. I also can't find the sailing on the typical TAs I use in the US. Can you email me-message me the websites you noticed it on?

Thank you John. I called Cunard to book the 2 day as that would be perfect, but they said the US Cunard can't book it, only the UK. I also can't find the sailing on the typical TAs I use in the US. Can you email me-message me the websites you noticed it on?

Sorry, it looks like I should have dug a little deeper before getting your hopes up about that 2-day Southampton to Rotterdam voyage on QE July 13-15, 2018. While that voyage is indeed listed on several of the big name cruise booking web sites in the US that I routinely check, none of them actually show pricing for that voyage. Instead, they all say something like "Call for Price". And when I drill down deeper and select that voyage anyway, they tell me there is no availability. So that might be a dead end after all.

Just as an FYI, unfortunately, the Cruise Critic rules wouldn't allow me to send you specific travel agent names anyway. Here is an excerpt from the Cruise Critic Guidelines.

I wish I had better news for you about that voyage. For what it's worth, I can't find that voyage on Cunard's UK web site either, so I'm not sure you would get any better results working with Cunard UK even if you could.

Regards,

John

Sorry, it looks like I should have dug a little deeper before getting your hopes up about that 2-day Southampton to Rotterdam voyage on QE July 13-15, 2018. While that voyage is indeed listed on several of the big name cruise booking web sites in the US that I routinely check, none of them actually show pricing for that voyage. Instead, they all say something like "Call for Price". And when I drill down deeper and select that voyage anyway, they tell me there is no availability. So that might be a dead end after all.

 

Just as an FYI, unfortunately, the Cruise Critic rules wouldn't allow me to send you specific travel agent names anyway. Here is an excerpt from the Cruise Critic Guidelines.

 

"... you should not ask about someone's travel agent, nor should you respond in kind. Offering to email someone your travel agent's name or info is also not allowed, nor is asking members to email you for the information."

I wish I had better news for you about that voyage. For what it's worth, I can't find that voyage on Cunard's UK web site either, so I'm not sure you would get any better results working with Cunard UK even if you could.

 

Regards,

John

Thanks John for the update. I appreciate you helping to investigate and also acknowledging the UK Cunard info. I wonder how one books this? My Cunard person was perplexed which is why she spoke to a supervisor. I wish I could book that short journey to extend this great cruise. I did end up putting a deposit on the Rotterdam version, but can change without penalty for awhile, so hoping to hear more feedback.