goodsailors

QE was in Greenock today and it was disappointing to note that when she departed, unlike on her previous visits and of the visits of other Cunard Queens, there was no sounding of her horn.

The main reason for finding it disappointing was that I would have thought it courteous to acknowledge the pipe band who were playing on the quay side, in the pouring rain, as she departed, not forgetting the few hundred people who turned out to see her off.

Anyone able to say who the captain is on her current cruise?

Yet another example of them moving the 'goal posts' after a cruise has been booked.

We were on Queen Elizabeth two years ago and a gentleman at our table was on a gluten free diet. After the first evening when he explained his situation each evening after that the head waiter gave him the menu for the next day from which he chose what he wanted for the following day, it seemed to work perfectly for him.

Surprised the OP had difficulties or, was it only the 'tart' on the first night that there was an issue?

I note on the Princess page that they can over book a cruise and then make amazing offers of refunds and free cruises to get passengers to move from the over booked cruise. Anyone ever heard of Cunard over book a cruise?

Been a few years since we sailed with Princess so maybe a bit out of touch but, am amazed that a cruise line will over book a cruise and then need to encourage passengers to move cruise to solve the problem. Why do they over book in the first place? What happens if they don't get people to accept a move over, although at these types of offer I guess that would be unlikely.

I know airlines do that but a cruise line..............??

Thanks for the replies, really should read all the threads on here first!!

Seems QM2 is not on a cruise currently anyone know where she is or what she doing?

Have flown many times with Flybe with varying results but on one flight from Edinburgh to Southampton we arrived but our baggage didn't! Apparently the plane was too heavy so they decided to offload bags at random and without any consultation. Those of us affected only discovered the problem when the we were left standing in the baggage hall when we were advised that all the baggage had been unloaded. Everyone involved were on a cruise as we were so you can imagine the mayhem at the Flybe desk. As we always travel the day before we had a some spare time. However, we did not tell Flybe that we were not sailing until the next day and as there was still another flight that evening from Edinburgh our bags were delivered to the hotel late that evening, so panic over.

Can you imagine had it been on the day of sailing? We always travel down the day before and this episode proved just how sensible that way is.

Although mine is with Cunard, it is still Carnival, however. I used a DD card to pay a new cruise deposit through a TA in March. On Friday I received the email from Cunard about this issue. Stating that it only affected payments made between December 2016 and April 2017 so it had to be this payment that was affected. Checked with my bank and was told that there had been no withdrawal of any monies by Cunard in the past 20 days.

So the question is why did I receive the email if I was not affected? One has to wonder just how secure our details are with Carnival. Surely this is one subject that they should have had the correct information on before sending out emails giving people with no internet banking a worrying weekend before being able to visit their bank on Monday.

We cancelled a voyage last year and booked one for this year...Because it was a higher priced voyage our deposit was transferred to our new one...no charge for changing.

Was this in the UK or USA can I ask?

Let us know about the OBC. I don't know what hardship it would be to them to let you keep it.

TA spoke with Cunard again today and was told that the OBC cannot be carried forward even although it is with 12 months of the original cruise. The operator checked with her manager and that was the final answer. So have now lost over $800 OBC !!! Looks like loyalty only works one way, (does that sound bitter lol).

That sounds a bit mean of Cunard considering the circumstances. Unfortunately the rules in the UK are that the future cruise deposit OBC can only be used on a booking made within 12 months. Also they charge us in the UK £50pp to change a booking.

 

Did you lose your deposit on the June booking? The balance for a June cruise would be due around now.

We can offset our original deposit against the deposit on the new cruise so we wont loose it. Have asked our TA to talk to Cunard again about carrying forward the OBC as the new cruise is within 12 months of the original one, so will wait and see what they say but not holding my breath!

On our cruise last year we booked another cruise on QV for June this year, paying the low deposit and receiving the higher on board spend credit. Unfortunately due to my wife being ill we will no longer be able take up this cruise. Our TA has spoken to Cunard to see what can be done to rearrange the booking to another cruise within the next 12 months. The result is that Cunard wants £100 to change the booking to another cruise, they want the full 15% deposit and will not allow the on board credit to be carried forward to the new cruise.

Has anyone else been in this situation and had any success in carrying forward existing low deposit and on board credit or do I just have to accept it?

I fully acknowledge our situation is not the fault of Cunard but thought they might have been a bit more understanding.

Can only hope the content is better than soaps and Alan Carr Chatty Man! The BBC has a better portfolio of programmes than that.

My wife is a wheelchair user and although does not require assistance with the toilet does need the wheelchair in with her. Having been on all three Queens we never had a issue with the size of the accessible toilets or the availability of them. We were on QE earlier this year and found ample accessible toilets throughout the ship.

I cannot see you having an issue on your cruise.

The biggest issue we had was the occasional able bodied person using a disabled toilet just because it was closest to where they were rather than seeking out an able bodied one as they are not always next to one another as you would find on land.

Thanks for the reply Durante. the local media and maritime tracking web site all stated she was departing at 5pm hence why a few hundred people turned up then to see her off albeit sitting in their cars sheltering from the rain. We waited till just after 6 and as there was still no pre-departure smoke coming out her funnel assumed the departure was not going to be soon.

Hope you are having a good trip.

We had Captain Hashmi too, so maybe just him.

Sorry to say that we were on QE in May to the Adriatic and it was never sounded once on a sea day. It was so disappointing. they ring the bell over the ships speaker system at noon before the Captain's daily chat.

Seems another Cunard tradition is no more. Anyone know what is happening on the two other ships?

I wonder if anyone knows the reason why Queen Elizabeth was around 3 hours late leaving Greenock today.

My curiosity is raised by the fact she was 2 hours late leaving Stornoway, the previous port. The reason for this, as I understand it was that as Stornoway is a tender port and 3 tenders broke down and as they are used as lifeboats the ship could not sail without fully operational lifeboats, something I had never thought about before.

Greenock is not a tender port but I wonder if they were still having issues with them so were unable to sail on time.

It took us three attempts to visit Istanbul, the first was cancelled after 9/11 when Celebrity pulled all their ships from Europe so our cruise was cancelled by the company and we got no compensation. On the second occasion Princess cancelled a call to Istanbul after a bomb attack (much smaller than the terrible attack on the airport) it was replaced with a visit to Rome, again no compensation. Although we were disappointed we never thought about cancelling even although Istanbul was a main reason for taking the cruise as we totally understood the company's thinking behind the change. We eventually managed to visit the city aboard Queen Victoria on her maiden year. Yes it is a wonderful place to visit and am so glad that we eventually did but I would never complain about a cruise company for changing a port due to safety reason either the safety of the passengers or the safety of the ship or both.

As others have said if someone is desperate to visit Istanbul then they should use another means to go there which are less likely to be changed or cancelled and allows them to make the decision to visit or not. Everyone knows when you book a cruise you are in the hands of the cruise company as to whether they change the ports of call as they wish.

A final point it is a great shame that Istanbul and its people are suffering as they are and the effect this lack of tourists will have on the country.

Yes there is a slight difference in the shade of blue but I guess I should have looked at the bow of the ship to be sure it was not a P and O, no garish Union Flag on the Thomson ship.

Was always able to tell the difference betweenP and O and Costa as the funnels were a different design to P and O.

When sailing into Gibraltar last week I saw the blue funnel of a ship already dock and wondered what P and O ship it was. As we docked alongside it turned out to be the blue funnel of Thomson Spirit.

Surely the powers at be at P and O never intended for their ships to be confused with Thomson ships or does the episode with Ant and Dec earlier this year suggest that maybe they do.

My understanding is that Cunard will not be providing a shuttle bus and passengers who have not chosen a Cunard excursion to Edinburgh will have to find their own way into the city.

Further to previous messages, I wonder how many passengers with mobility issues will be able to cross a gap of 45cm unaided? In addition there will be many passengers who have walking issues, that they don't disclose in advance, and there are many, will be able to cross such a gap.

Surely the able bodied person traveling with the disabled passenger should be able to give a helping hand if the crew are not able to or now not allowed to. I have assisted my wife in the past with tendering and would hope to be able to do so again.

After all those people have to declare that they use a bus or coach with only the help of the able bodied person traveling with them.

They could also be Manx Sheerwater's. we saw quite a number on our T/A.