Cunard ship arrival times not listed?

Preparing for our first Cunard cruise (Norway Fjords) - we are only about 100 days away! I am starting to plan shore excursions and some are already sold out. I have been looking an independent excursions (such as the train in Flam). However, my online itinerary on my Cunard account lists ship arrival time as "mid morning" at all stops and departure as "afternoon". Am I missing something here? Maybe I am not in the right place on the website. It is very difficult to plan independent excursions if you don't know when the ship arrives and leaves. Any advice appreciated... thanks.

Had the same problem on our last cruise. Try calling the customer service number at Cunard. (Or ask for customer service at the reservation number.) They were able to help me.

Have a great time. That cruise is on our list.:)

Cheers!

Preparing for our first Cunard cruise (Norway Fjords) - we are only about 100 days away! I am starting to plan shore excursions and some are already sold out. I have been looking an independent excursions (such as the train in Flam). However, my online itinerary on my Cunard account lists ship arrival time as "mid morning" at all stops and departure as "afternoon". Am I missing something here? Maybe I am not in the right place on the website. It is very difficult to plan independent excursions if you don't know when the ship arrives and leaves. Any advice appreciated... thanks.

jwith2boys, you aren't missing anything. Cunard do not provide specific arrival and departure times on their web site. There are other cruise booking web sites (which I can't mention here) and at least one cruise calendar web site (which requires a subscription) that do provide arrival and departure times.

Since you mentioned you are about 100 days away from your Norway Fjords cruise, I'm guessing you are on the June 24-July 1, 2017 Queen Elizabeth voyage Q722. Here is what I have been able to find for arrival and departure times for that voyage.

June 26 - Stavanger: 8:00am - 5:00pm

June 27 - Flaam: 8:00am - 5:00pm

June 28 - Andalsnes: 9:00am - 5:00pm

June 29 - Bergen: 8:00am - 4:00pm

As AZNative2000 has suggested, it is probably worth a call to Cunard customer service to verify these times, but hopefully this provides a starting point for you to aid in your shore excursion planning.

Regards,

John

Thanks for the quick replies, very helpful. John, you are correct, June 24th. I will call Cunard and confirm ship arrival times. Very strange they don't tell you. I just need approximate times such as to book a 10:00 am train in Flaam with 8:00 am arrival should be fine.

I also had to check a 3rd party site to confirm dock in Southampton. Seems strange that Cunard doesn't provide these things, thanks again.

Our next Cunard cruise is November, and on the original paperwork the dock in Southampton was given.

Also have a look at the port authority websites, as most give cruise ship schedules (arrival and departure times) for the coming year, and whether or not the ship is dockside or at anchor for tenders.

Cunard have not given there arrival/departure times on cruises sailing from Southampton for a few years. The cynical ones have said that the reason they do this is to stop you arranging independent excursions therefore booking theirs and increasing profits.

Hmmm.

I just checked on my cruise ex Venice on July 08th. On various cruise schedule websites every other cruise departing Venice on that day lists times of departure from VCE as well as arrival and departure times at all ports of call. Only Cunard doesn't show times. Annoying

If I was in your position I would book on line with the rail company in Flam, the last time we was in Flam all the trains , fully booked up, we felt a little down but, we had been before. So I would try on line as soon.as possible. Hope get on the train stunning views.:)

If I was in your position I would book on line with the rail company in Flam, the last time we was in Flam all the trains , fully booked up, we felt a little down but, we had been before. So I would try on line as soon.as possible. Hope get on the train stunning views.:)

thanks to all for the replies.

Yes, Luckymal we did book the train on line. the ships excursions are full already, we were too late. We booked a round trip train ticket up and down, but considering renting a bike for the downward trip and just not using the return train ticket. There was not much price difference between roundtrip and one way. Have you ever biked or hiked down?

thanks to all for the replies.

 

Yes, Luckymal we did book the train on line. the ships excursions are full already, we were too late. We booked a round trip train ticket up and down, but considering renting a bike for the downward trip and just not using the return train ticket. There was not much price difference between roundtrip and one way. Have you ever biked or hiked down?

You would have to be seriously confident using a bike to consider the downward journey. It is quite a long way, and extremely steep in places.

Obviously if you're booking things like train tickets yourself, there's no protection, but my experience is that most third-party tour providers are well-aware of the ship schedule in their port and will adjust if there is a delay or other change on the day of the call.

Unlike official excursions, they have no way of guaranteeing that the ship will wait if there's a delay in the excursion, but, in general, they DO keep on top of the ship's schedule.

Hmmm.

I just checked on my cruise ex Venice on July 08th. On various cruise schedule websites every other cruise departing Venice on that day lists times of departure from VCE as well as arrival and departure times at all ports of call. Only Cunard doesn't show times. Annoying

We are on that cruise, check with Cunard, but all independent sites have us leaving Venice at 9:30 pm. Most other arrivals on that cruise are at 8:00 am departing 6:00 pm. It's most annoying of Cunard as most other cruise lines list the times. They would have to book the ports months in advance so they would certainly know them and when it's so easy to find out with a Google search I really don't know what the point is.

I would tend to agree with the cynical ones who say Cunard may do this to encourage cruiseline excursions. They have to know the planned arrival times (however, actual times may change due to weather, etc.) The ports need to be ready with employees, etc. I would be quite confident they know these things months in advance.

I got arrival and departure info by calling Cunard direct at their 1-800 #

FYI, the Norwegian port website lists the times as 09:00 - 17:00

http://aurlandhavn.no/cruise/skipsanlop-2017/

I often find that I can get the actual times by googling for the official port schedule.

I would tend to agree with the cynical ones who say Cunard may do this to encourage cruiseline excursions. They have to know the planned arrival times (however, actual times may change due to weather, etc.) The ports need to be ready with employees, etc. I would be quite confident they know these things months in advance.

It certainly makes life a little inconvenient but I would hazard guess that in Cunard's eyes (and P&O for that matter) they are protecting themselves from claims should an port arrival time not be met.

Maybe if they published with a caveat regarding 'no responsibility' for late/non arrival it may satisfy some.

I have just returned from a cruise where the port timings were given in the advance literature...

But then, it was an ultra efficient German ship.

Cruise cal dot com will have all port timings and also other ships in port, easy to print and take with you.

Cruise cal dot com will have all port timings and also other ships in port, easy to print and take with you.

Nice resource! In answering this question, I did a google search and found a site like this with consolidated schedules - but they obviously took their info only from the cruise lines (and thus, had the same ambiguity) but this one does not.

Registered and bookmarking the site.

Nice resource! In answering this question, I did a google search and found a site like this with consolidated schedules - but they obviously took their info only from the cruise lines (and thus, had the same ambiguity) but this one does not.

 

Registered and bookmarking the site.

Dito. Good tip. Thanks for that!

Whilst I really enjoy planning for a cruise / holiday nearly as much as the cruise itself, I find it $#@! tedious having to spend a lot of time trying to find out WHEN a ship will be arrive or depart at places. ☺