What Have Been Your Worst Cunard Experiences ?

I thought we needed a companion thread, hopefully Host Hattie can forgive me. I think Cunard will learn more from some constructive criticism than they will from pats on the back - and you can bet they are regular visitors to this forum.

Having said that I don't have much to offer in the way of critiques.

Firstly - I know the economic reasons why TAs are now 7 days and not 4 days (fuel, fuel, fuel), but I will add that I would sail a lot more often if the travel time was 5 days - right now QM2 is primarily a vacation cruise even though it is badged as a "voyage, not a cruise" since you are technically travelling, but speaking personally I fly TA a lot (this week in fact) but I would rather cruise, and those extra 2 days would make all the difference for me.

Pursers staff - I haven't had great experiences at the main desk on QM2, the staff seem to be a little abrupt on occasion, and maybe a little coaching and maybe even the odd smile would help.

Pricing - Cunard seem to be making pricing more difficult to navigate. Some people have cancelled bookings with a penalty and then re-booked to save money, that shouldn't happen.

That's about it really, not much at all, which is probably why I'm itching to book again with them !!

Sorry Ranger but my worst experience with our only (so far:)) Cunard cruise was having to get off the Queen Victoria after only a week in the Mediterranean. We were sooooooo spoiled and may now be addicted to Queen's Grill.

QM2 crossing coming up.:)

Cheers!

Winchester Ranger I have to agree with you completely concerning the length of a TA. We also would consider it regularly over the dreaded tin tube but just can't spend a week each way over a day each way. As far as "worst" Cunard experience, hands down the end of the Maiden Voyage of QM2. We had to wait in line almost 3 hours to disembark. The reason? The Big Wheels were late for their private meetings. Mickey Arison and Jeb Bush and "security" mandated that 2,600 passengers were held up. We were just meeting a rental car but I am sure more than a few had missed or stressful connections. Thanks Mickey! Otherwise, my Cunard experiences have been wonderful

Thanks for starting this, I had been meaning to do it myself but couldn't think of anything to say !

My only poor experiences have been weather related and I'm not blaming Cunard for them (and of course every time we have to disembark).

Ice maidens can be found at the Purser's desk on QV as well.

Apart from them, we've never had less than outstanding service from all on board.

Unfortunately I have to mention our last cruise experience on the QE2.

We boarded the Queen and was directed to our cabin. When we got there our baggage was there but outside of the room. Well that was understandable.

The main room looked in shipshape and beautiful and ready for passengers to occupy and start cruising.

But when we checked out the bathroom, Oh Oh......

We found two chairs, a extra short table and an extra waste basket. Well you can imagine how we felt. The Cabin Steward came to introduce himself but he was embarrassed when we showed him the bathroom. We took a walk for awhile.

When we came back all was removed from the bathroom and the room was even re-cleaned.

Well you imagine from that time on and thru out the cruise we were taken cared of like Queens Grill Class. We truly appreciated our Cabin Stewards effort. We believe it was not his fault this happened.

We still have many Good Memories of the QE2...

Our first cruise was on the Cunard Princess in 1987. Luckily, as it was our first cruise, we had nothing to compare it with. The cabin was tinny with no TV, beds that couldn't be combined and little soundproofing. I don't think Cunard ever really mastered value cruising in the 80s, despite a few different approaches.

Two years later, taking the QE2 to Hawaii, it was a VERY different experience.

I would say that the least pleasant parts of my Cunard voyages aboard QM2 have all involved the Red Hook Brooklyn cruise terminal. Check in for this year's Christmas cruise was disorganized, and the security line was backed up out the door in spite of ample space available inside the building if the staff directed guests through the lines properly. Baggage claim at Red Hook has been a disaster several times, one time my bag was at the extreme opposite part of the hall from where it was supposed to be and on other occasions they pack the bags so close together you nearly have to step on top of other peoples bags to get to yours. Ocean Terminal at Southampton is always so much more organized than Red Hook. I guess I could also echo the other comments here about the Pursers desk staff not being quite up to the standards of the other ships staff. On the Christmas cruise I asked for a print out of my onboard account statement and they acted like they were doing me a favor. To top it off the guy gave me someone else's statement rather than mine. These issues are the exception to otherwise stellar service aboard QM2.

The announcement that the QE2 was to be sold. It had been rumoured on and off for years but the unexpected and sudden news was a hammer blow to me. I still remember exactly where l was when l heard the news. Curiously, l had my best times on board following the announcement, when l was expecting to be a little sad and melancholy. l have already mentioned one such occasion in the best experiences thread.

Fortunately in time l found Queen Mary 2 to be rather special, l am slowly kindling a fondness for Queen Elizabeth now too, but best save that for the other thread.

M-AR

Pricing - Cunard seem to be making pricing more difficult to navigate. Some people have cancelled bookings with a penalty and then re-booked to save money, that shouldn't happen.

This happened to us a few years ago. We watched the price go down and down until final payment day came. We cancelled, lost our deposit, lost our free car parking, rebooked and were still a few hundred pounds better off.

Different countries - different rules. It shouldn't be so.

Our other bad experience was the 4 day "cruise to nowhere" on the QE, December 2014. Too windy to reach port (Amsterdam). If that wasn't bad enough, we had to endure a horrible fuel smell in parts of the ship and landed back in Southampton a day early.

I wish you would all stop talking about the QE2. I have 3 regrets in my life that cannot be fixed - a TA on the QE2, a TA on Concorde from London, and a third one I don't talk about.

I have to agree about the length of the crossing. Having done an 8-day WB TA once - right after the refit last June - I'll not do another 8-day crossing again. Yet when I lament with a preference of 7-day or even a 6-day crossing I'm admonished, "If you enjoy sailing on QM2 why would you want to shorten your experience?"

While I have only been on one Cunard cruise so far, and LOVED it unconditionally, I did have one complaint, which has nothing to do with the cruise itself.

I am from Alaska. And on this one 7-day crossing, I had to answer the same two questions at least 25 times:

1. No, I do NOT know Sarah Palin; and

2. No, I can NOT see Russia from my house!

;p

My first, and I certainly hope not last, Cunard cruise was a TA last fall. I am trying really really hard to come up with my "worst experience". I am still trying. Yes, Red Hook was horrid. But that's not really fair, because it's Red Hook, not Cunard, in charge. From what I gather, the seas were a little rougher than usual, but again that is not Cunard's doing. My partner was a bit bored with the Shakespeare performance, but that is his taste, not the quality of the show. We found the theater to be too warm, but others were very comfortable. Only one of the beverage stations in the buffet had iced tea - OMG. You see I am really scraping the bottom of the barrel here.

What's not to like?

We love to dance and thought with the great floor on the QM2 we would have lots of dancing. Unfortunately, when we sailed on her there were several occasions when the room was used for by invitation events so dancing was cancelled (more often than we expected). When we could dance we often could not figure out what to do - the tempi were frequently too slow for quick step and too fast for slow fox. Many dancers would just sit out chatting together to try to figure out how to use the music. The result was that after one Cunard cruise we decided to cruise on other lines for better/more dancing and that has continued for the past few years. However, as other lines are cutting back on formal wear and dancing (e.g., HAL), we are trying Cunard again - the QE is booked for Sept and the formal wear is ready to go. We are particularly pleased that the daily programs we've seen from recent cruises had dance time daily and having 2 of the 3 formal nights as themed dress events on our sailing is really exciting (yes, we may be the only ones dressed in the theme but we will love every minute of it!). So, while some negatives sent us off to sail elsewhere, we are looking forward to being back soon.

Worst experience - having to get off at the end of the WV. I could have easily done another 118 days!

This happened to us a few years ago. We watched the price go down and down until final payment day came. We cancelled, lost our deposit, lost our free car parking, rebooked and were still a few hundred pounds better off.

Different countries - different rules. It shouldn't be so.

 

Our other bad experience was the 4 day "cruise to nowhere" on the QE, December 2014. Too windy to reach port (Amsterdam). If that wasn't bad enough, we had to endure a horrible fuel smell in parts of the ship and landed back in Southampton a day early.

That also being my worst ever experience with Cunard, To add insult to injury I remember that Cunard only offered round about a mere $30 or so compensation off our our board account. With no offers of a discounted future cruise in compensation. I remember a few forum members very pro Cunard on this forum who sided with Cunard with their stance on this. The whole incident wrecked quite a few passengers efforts in getting Christmas presents to their friends in Amsterdam. I believe Cunard were doing something, or had to do something to their fuels tanks before the start of The World Cruise. They originally had planned to do the work in Amsterdam, with us not arriving, it had to be done in Southampton. Hence the day of arrival back from nowhere early. I often wondered why they could not just have tied up at IJmuiden . The only plus side to it was that we were on QE and myself and some other lucky passengers were trying their free inclusive drinks package.

I would say, as a Platinum Cunarder, that in general most of the problems I've experienced have been with embarkation. I'm not sure how much control the company has over the management of the process but it's been from acceptable to ugh! to downright awful. While Southampton has its plusses, I do think the lack of an ATM, postal service, and VAT refund handling leaves a lot to be desired. The only other bad experiences were encountering bad manners and a Hyacinth Bucket/Bouquet attitude among a few passengers but that can generally be managed, as in the rest of life.

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We have never had a bad experience that was the responsibility of Cunard but as the following started on board, it qualifies. On our first ever arrival in New York (the old Pier 84 on the QE2 in 1973) we received the rudest treatment we ever experienced before or since. It started with the immigration officer on board, then the customs officer on the pier, then the porter - whose service I didn't even want - then the taxi dispatcher. I decided it would be a very long time before I ever disembark a ship in New York again.

We have sailed out of New York many times since, having arrived in New York by air or train. Last year we disembarked the QM2 at Red Hook and I am pleased to say that the situation has improved in 43 years. No-one was rude to us in the least. We might do this again some time, perhaps even sooner than 43 years:).

Having completed 38 Cunard voyages (403 days) I have to say it has generally been all good and we have not regretted any cruise. However, there have been a couple of irritating things.

The first was a month after disembarking from a winter transatlantic crossing we found a charge of some $75 for pool towels on our credit card. We can't recall there ever being any in the cabin for the whole crossing. After several quite lengthy discussions with Cunard it transpired the towels were reported missing from our cabin three days before we got off, but the Purser's Office hadn't deemed it necessary to tell us. We were fully refunded by Cunard. Two months' later we received a threatening letter from a Californian Cunard office saying that if we didn't pay the $75 within seven days we would be taken to court. The letter arrived in the UK after the seven days had expired! That took a little time to unhook.

The second thing was over several voyages, wherever in the world we were embarking, my wife had two bookings in the computer and we were always asked where the third person was. When we said there was no third person a supervisor would be called who did not know what to do. After several minutes of being messed about we were allowed to board. I took the matter up with the on-board computer people and the computer experts (?) in Southampton and all we ever got was that it was a computer glitch they didn't know how to handle. After several cruises the problem mysteriously disappeared.

Hi,

I have thoroughly enjoyed all of my Cunard voyages, but I had a strange experience a few years ago. In November 2014, I boarded the QM2 in Southampton for a transatlantic crossing. During check-in, there were a lot of technical problems (the check-in agent had difficulty entering my credit card number, etc.). When I boarded the ship, my cruise card would not scan. The security officer told me to go to the purser's office for a new card.

After I obtained a new cruise card, I went to my stateroom. Much to my surprise, someone else was occupying my stateroom. We discovered that the person in my stateroom and I had the exact same name (I have a common last name). Because he checked in first, they gave him my stateroom. This mistake was strange because we obviously had different reservation numbers and different passport numbers. He had already unpacked and used the shower in my stateroom. Also, he had the room steward take my luggage away.

Fortunately, his stateroom was the same category as mine (sheltered balcony on Deck 6). We went to the purser's desk to straighten out the situation and then switched staterooms. Also, I had the room stewards track down my luggage. Everything worked out okay, but this was a major inconvenience at the start of the voyage.

Chuck

This is an easy one for me, QE2 May 2004, immediately after a refit.

I was in Cabin 2048 and there was a bucket in the corridor for the whole trip due to a constant drip. Thankfully I could not hear dripping water inside the cabin.

The cruise director had come from Carnival and it showed. Too much use of the PA system and he had long scruffy hair.

We went to Copenhagen but were so far out it was a long tender ride followed by an even longer bus ride. By the time we got there it was almost time to set off back again. We also what seemed like miles from Amsterdam and had to wait for a shuttle bus then took a long time to into the city.

As the crew had been offer they were still finding their feet again and some areas of the ship were not very clean.

The good news is that by the end of the trip things were getting back to normal.

Not Cunard's fault but a gentleman had a heart attack about 3 tables away from us at dinner one night. Was impressive how quickly the medical staff got there. Thankfully we were in port at the time and the gentleman was taken off and put into an ambulance.

Crossing the Atlantic with a hurricane coming the other way was not very pleasant. I had been upgraded to a cabin in the bow of the QE2 with a porthole. I had 3 days with almost no sleep and the porthole covered by a metal plate. The rest of the cruise up to New England and Canada made up for it though.

Dear all

So far I have only been on one Cunard Cruise – last November on QV (but the next one is already booked…).

Everything had been outstanding!!! Even the ladies at the purser’s desk were very friendly and helpful. I really, really enjoyed my cruise – except that one little point…

My Butler. He was absolutely useless, if not to say rude. I had a Penthouse Suite (Q4). When I arrived my 2 suitcases were standing in front of the door. I straggeled to get them in, while my Butler was watching me from a safe distance. Then he came to introduce himself and tell me when not to call him. Basically I was only allowed to call him between 5 pm and 7 pm. When I asked him to kindly open the Champagne, his answer was: Call room-service. It went on like this. But I decided not to have my holidays spoilt and did not react on all his rudeness. Furthermore was the Assistant Butler just fantastic!!! On the second last day the situation excalated. By my mistake I was an hour too late at Breakfast and the Maitre d’ at Queens Grill proposed I could order breakfast through my Butler. The shock on my face was obviously not to be missed. To make it worse my friendly table companions told the Maitre d’ how my Butler was treating me… In the evening my Butler came, with red eyes, complaining that the Maitre d’ had called him. And because of that he was now feeling extremly bad and could not sleep the whole afternoon… Can you imagine how I felt?

Honestly, I think it was a cultural problem. I think for him it was already strange that a woman is traveling alone. Furthermore I am hemiplegic (but I manage everything alone), which was probably just too much for him. I am not angry with him, although I am not sure he is in the right job.

But again –my cruise on QV was fantastic! Best holidays ever!

That sounds dreadful, I think we were in the same cruise but with a different butler.

I'm so glad it didn't spoil your trip.

We discovered that the person in my stateroom and I had the exact same name (I have a common last name)

Slightly off topic, but there's someone in the UK who shares my exact name and date of birth. He's also a P&O customer as I discovered when my cruise personaliser details kept mysteriously changing and then they emailed me details of 'my' forthcoming cruise at a time when I didn't have one booked. Some lazy programmer at Carnival UK had obviously assumed that name and date of birth were good enough as a unique identifier and hadn't bothered to use the customer ID: once I alerted P&O the problem was fixed so I hope it was also applied to the Cunard side of Carnival's IT systems. That was done in late 2015 but I keep checking the vp for my December trip just in case...