Is anyone booking for 2018 ?

My husband and I are looking forward to a westbound TA on QM2 June 3, 2018.

We were thinking of flying over 2 weeks early and visiting England and Scotland. Of course London is a must, but I have also heard lovely things about Edinburgh. We tend to prefer to minimize the number of hotel changes. We also like locally run small boutique accommodations. Would anyone happen to have suggestions about where to stay in London or Edinburgh?

We'd like to see some castles as we don't have them in America and just loved the Chateaus in Loire Valley when we were there. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts you share.

Hi there, I live in Edinburgh, so any questions, just shout! :)

As previously mentioned, city center 'boutique hotels' can be noisy due to the old windows, however, there's a hotel just down the road from me and although being in the heart of the New Town (World Heritage site) the street is relatively quiet for the city center. It's The Howard on Great King Street. If your concerned about noise, I'd request a bedroom at the back of the hotel. 10 min walk and you're in the center of everything :)

In London, I recently stayed at Brown's (Rocco Forte) which I was very impressed with and loved the location.

Cunard called me to make an offer. Since I've never cruised Cunard I told them..."send me the brochure and I'll consider". After reading the book ...If the price is good I think I'll give QM2 trans-Atlantic a try for September of `18. Thinking of getting a single cabin while they are available. :cool:

Today I booked my first Cunard cruise. New York to Southampton on 9 September 2018.

Single rooms are more expensive than insides, so I'm on an inside guarantee. Staying in New York with Cunard's hotel/transfer package which I feel is preferable to attempting to arrange that myself.

My DH & I just booked the June 10, 2018 QM2 sailing out of NYC. We'll be stopping in Southampton & then going on for a week of slipping in and out of the fjords. Since my DH's family came from Sognefjord, he's really looking forward to the trip!

(In the meantime, we're sailing with HAL to Alaska this September. Can't go too long without the motion of the ocean!)

Booking in November 2016 for November 2018!! I honestly can't imagine any scenario when we would book that early. Maybe I'm just a pessimist but so much could go wrong. Earliest we've ever booked is 9 months.

Booking in November 2016 for November 2018!! I honestly can't imagine any scenario when we would book that early. Maybe I'm just a pessimist but so much could go wrong. Earliest we've ever booked is 9 months.

US bookings are better in that regard.

I thought it was a little early to book for summer of 2018, but when I called our TA about it just last Friday, we had a hard time finding a cabin in the category of our choice. 17 months out and things were already selling out. Our TA said the Grand Norwegian itinerary was pretty popular. Anyway, I'm glad we have a confirmed cabin.

Yes, things may change between now and June 2018, but we buy trip insurance so if a health issue comes up, we can be reimbursed for our investment.

The risk of booking very early involves not only the passengers who may change their mind or have to cancel, but Cunard can change their mind. It is rare but it does happen.

A few years ago there was much comment on this forum when Cunard cancelled a mid-summer round trip crossing and substituted two cruises. In 2015 I was about to book a one-way crossing for May of 2016 when my TA advised that the round-trip had been cancelled just the day before I enquired. Two cruises ex-Southampton were substituted.

For our next voyage (two segments, Québec-NY-Southampton) we did book it a full year in advance, but it is a reliable itinerary which I have not known to be cancelled.

This was posted on a TA site, but is not on Cunard.com

108 Days World & Exotic

Cunard • Queen Mary 2

New York City, Southampton, Cadiz, Athens/Piraeus, Haifa, Port Said, Transit the Suez Canal, Suez, Dubai, Doha, Muscat, Mormugao, Colombo, Phuket, George Town/Penang, Singapore, Kota Kinabalu, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tianjin, Incheon, Seogwipo, Hong Kong, Nha Trang, Phu My, Singapore, Port Klang, George Town/Penang, Langkawi Island, Chennai, Cochin, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Salalah, Al Aqaba, Suez, Transit the Suez Canal, Port Said, Limassol, Rome/Civitavecchia, Barcelona, Lisbon, Southampton, New York City

1 departure date: Jan 3 2019

I'm pretty disappointed that they cut all visits to Australia and NZ. It also goes through the Suez canal twice instead of around the Horn. I hope they return to their 2018 itinerary by the time we're ready to go in 2021.

Sure. There are risks whether you book early or late. However if you are booking se real cabins for several people, including single cabins, then it makes sense to book early. If travelling solo and flexible on when and where to go, then I'd be fine booking late.

I tend to be pretty sanguine over changes to the itinerary. There were several changes on my last one due to security risks...but w still had a great time. If it really mattered I'd ask to swop cruises (as I know others have done successfully).

Booking at any time is a gamble! We booked in May last year for that October. With the post cruise OBC offer we booked a cruise for November this year, only to see the price drop by 45% (£2800) . Now I expect the price to vary, but that was to much! I emailed a complaint Cunard on Sunday night, and by Monday night had a very acceptable upgrade, and retained all our OBC and perks.

If we cruise again in 2018, I think we will leave it until around this time next year to book, not to fussy which ship, time or where its going, so we might find a reasonable choice.

We have booked for April next year, Singapore to Southampton, and there were not many cabins to choose from. We then added on Hong Kong to Singapore, in a different cabin grade, and that had several cabins available, but only one of which was acceptable to us. So booking early was, for us, the only way.

Wow, Adamara. A £2,800 /40% price drop. That is a bit scary. Interesting to see that your complaint paid off. i know the QV Carribbean cruise in November dropped A LOT in price in October as I was very tempted to go. Apparently it was really good fun, too.

The mysteries of price startegies are still unfolding to me, so it is useful to hear what others do. in fact, reading your message rwminded me that I comolained (v briefly) that a later booking discount (upgrade) was not made availabke to me. they quickly dissembled and, for a small extra payme t, was able to upgrade from a single to a glass fronted balcony about 4 m before sailimg. by the week before sailing the prices had bounced right back up again.

i keep a rexord of the daily cost of any cruise to help me work out whether they've pushed the price right up or whether it is fairly middle of the road. for instance, when I was on board in October '16 I discovered that the 2017 cruises worked out at a markedly higher daily rate than the 2018 in which I was interested cruises...That was one of the reasons I booked for 2018. The reservations specicialists on board pointed it out to me, saying they'd raised it with Cunard HO.

i started to wonder if they start off rwlatively low (with early booking discounts) then rise once booking reaches a certain level. So the Western Med Cruise, in 2018, seems to have risen more slowly in price since I booked that the Icelandic one that follows on from it. i know the latter is more booked up as we tried to book friends into particular grades of cabins, only to discover it was poss for the Western Med but not for the Icelandic,

Not me but I hope you get what you want.

Stalking at the moment but feeling pretty confident.

Just need airfares to come into zone.

This was posted on a TA site, but is not on Cunard.com

 

108 Days World & Exotic

Cunard • Queen Mary 2

New York City, Southampton, Cadiz, Athens/Piraeus, Haifa, Port Said, Transit the Suez Canal, Suez, Dubai, Doha, Muscat, Mormugao, Colombo, Phuket, George Town/Penang, Singapore, Kota Kinabalu, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tianjin, Incheon, Seogwipo, Hong Kong, Nha Trang, Phu My, Singapore, Port Klang, George Town/Penang, Langkawi Island, Chennai, Cochin, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Salalah, Al Aqaba, Suez, Transit the Suez Canal, Port Said, Limassol, Rome/Civitavecchia, Barcelona, Lisbon, Southampton, New York City

1 departure date: Jan 3 2019

 

I'm pretty disappointed that they cut all visits to Australia and NZ. It also goes through the Suez canal twice instead of around the Horn. I hope they return to their 2018 itinerary by the time we're ready to go in 2021.

I am very sorry that Australia and New Zealand and the Horn are not offered anymore, have been waiting for years!

Aren't Australia, New zealand and the Horn still offered on the QE world cruise?

From the information online that I saw, QE is making extensive Australia/New Zealand calls in 2019 which seem to be set up for selling as short sectors/round trips rather than a single voyage. I think I saw 5 separate calls at Melbourne and 4 at Sydney with 2 round trips from Australia to New Zealand before heading off to Asia and then Alaska.

QV looks like the traditional World Voyage , so no ships visiting South America in 2019.

The caveat is that the info I saw online may not be final information, as we haven't seen anything directly from Cunard yet.

I agree; it is too long to wait when booking so far out. But, we do it anyway. We get to choose the cabin we want and get future cruise OBC when booked on board the previous cruise. We enjoyed our August eastbound TA on the QM2 so much, we booked a westbound TA for 10 May 2018 while on board to get back the five hours that were stolen. ;) We were able to reserve a Deck 8 obstructed balcony between lifeboats with a view over the small lifeboat. There are only two such cabins on the ship and booking so early allowed us to get one of them. :) The other was already sold!

Which cabin numbers are they please?

I have a good idea which we will be booking as it is my big birthday with an "O" on the end, so like to have a party onboard. However, I shall wait till we are onboard in November and leave a future cruise deposit and check out the best rates. If not we will have a FCC in place if prices come down. Some of them are pretty high at the moment.

Hi there. We are looking to book the 2018 world cruise on QM2. We are agonising over the choice of balcony from sheltered through to club. Most importantly we want a quiet location so cabins above/ below are a must have. What are your thoughts? We are seriously thinking the sheltered balcony as neither of us want to sit in full sun, but some of the cabins on deck 5 seem to have a metal bar cutting right through the view and no one can tell us which cabin numbers are affected. Decisions decision s

Aren't Australia, New zealand and the Horn still offered on the QE world cruise?

My ship is the QM2 and no other! :rolleyes:

My ship is the QM2 and no other! :rolleyes:

I love your loyalty to the true liner! My feelings are the same way (Not to diss the QE, but I prefer the liner to the cruise ship any day).

Already booked for December thought it was a good price and I've decided its about time I got myself on QE rather than make excuses :D

I love your loyalty to the true liner! My feelings are the same way (Not to diss the QE, but I prefer the liner to the cruise ship any day).

Thanks and many happy cruises on QM2!

We're looking to book a transatlantic roundtrip on QM2 18th October 2018, it is to celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversary.

Normally, I would not book so far in advance, but I did book a 2018 cruise last month while aboard the QM2. Before I left on the trip where I booked I checked the prices for cruises the same time this year to compare them with the 2018 fares, and next year's prices seemed in line with this year's. Although I know that tariffs are very fluid and could go down before sailing, a Princess Grill room now is over $3,000.00 more than what I booked. So I'm real glad that I did!

My bride and I have booked passage on QM2, New York to Southampton, 7/6/18 - 7/13/18, then transfer to QE for a circumnavigation of the British Isles, 7/13/18 - 7/27/18. This will be a combination "farewell tour" on the advent of her retirement, a very long overdo honeymoon and a celebration of our 38th wedding anniversary. We've never "cruised" before and this will be our first trip outside the continental U.S. In fact, this is the first time that I've ever posted a comment on a computer bulletin board. Until a couple of days ago I had never even logged into a social media site. I stumbled across you folks by accident while looking for cruise reviews. I know that most people would generally read the reviews before they booked passage and that I've got the cart before the horse, but there it is. In any event, noodling around on your site has only searved to confirm our decision to go by sea and generated a sense of excitement for the whole undertaking! It's been a delightful experience reading many of your conversations and I feel as if the passion and enthusiasm that so many of you so obviously have for "cruising" is beginning to rub off. The person who said that the fun starts as soon as you book has captured my feelings exactly. I haven't mastered the mechanics of navigating around this website, so I may never be able to find this string again, but know all that I've truly enjoyed eavesdropping on your conversation! You've been inspiring.

Topper123