LondonCa11ing

I sailed on Volendam in July 2023 to Alaska. It's a really nice, smaller ship. The facilities were all up to scratch as far as I could tell. The service left much to be desired, but I think that's basically any ship these days. I found the ship easy to navigate and the cabin and public areas were clean, nicely updated, and the public bathrooms were clean and smelled good.

I didn't find it very useful except, as other said, to monitor onboard spending. Trying to use it to reserve spots for the Insights or to book excursions was glitchy for us so we just ended up going to the excursion desk.

Speaking for myself, the embarkation nightmare certainly didn't help matters, but more of a factor in my annoyance with the service issues was the price. It's not cheap to travel with Cunard and a lot of people I know (myself included) want to go (or do go) because of the much-touted service, which is supposed to justify the cost. The service was not up to scratch and not in a way that could really be explained away by the pandemic and its after-effects. I am usually the kind of person to live and let live; I might complain privately to my friends but to make public comments or to complain directly to the powers-that-be is out of character for me, but I got so much good advice and insight exploring this board that I felt someone else might take something from my experiences. In any event, I am still enthusiastic about this method of travel and will certainly try Cunard again, perhaps once the effects of the pandemic have lessened. It would be nice to experience a voyage "as it should be".

You may be on to something here, @Host Hattie! If I could have made myself sleep in I would have saved myself the trouble 😅

Although we had among our party someone using a walker/wheelchair combination, we did not request assistance ahead of time, so I can only offer my observation. I don't know if wheelchair assistance was available; I didn't see anyone in a wheelchair until late in the process. There was no separate line for wheelchair users until the very end of the process (after being out in the sun and then in the terminal for about 3 hours). Once we cleared health screening, the woman directed us with a vague direction to "go over there" but the only line there was for those with World Club status or otherwise elite guests (Princess/Queens Grills). After we had been in this line for about twenty minutes (without movement) someone else brought a wheelchair guest behind us, and then another two went into a space where there wasn't a line before, to the left of the queue we were in (which had been, until that moment, the very last queue on the left). In any event, wheelchair line, World Club line, and Grills line all moved at about the same clip: not very fast.

We were in the embarkation line for nearly four hours, after having arrived (as specifically instructed) at the appointed time: no earlier and no later. We waited in the sun for awhile and then as a nice change we made it into the terminal where it was just as hot but without hope for a breeze. Luckily, we were instructed to wear a mask on board but not while being crammed cheek-to-jowl with hundreds of other passengers in a badly-ventilated cruise terminal. The employees working in the terminal were, as I understand it, not strictly 'Cunard employees' but when it's your name over the check-in counter, one must think that the buck does stop with you. This was not the first horror story we'd heard about embarkation, so obviously whatever system they have being completely ineffectual was not news to Cunard. After finally making it through security, the large mass of people we were in was upbraided by a shrieking termagant for "going the wrong way" which was rich given that there were exactly zero signs or other guidance being provided. Someone was taking a photo of the pandemonium and this woman shoved me out of the way in order to scream at the man taking the photo, though eventually she stopped screaming at him and started screaming at another poor employee who seemed to be doing her best with the limited space and guidance she was receiving. The screamer was not the first or last to be exceptionally rude. After a few more hours of this, we got to the counter and began the check-in process. We had brought every single piece of documentation that was needed, but even then the process took about half an hour because they had to do everything manually. During our wait in line, we heard the following explanations/excuses from the staff: 1. "We have new employees being trained." 2. "The network signal is really bad so our system keeps failing." 3. "Our computers crashed." and my favorite: 4. "You people showed up too early and overwhelmed our system." Embarkation was a total disaster. I don't know what portion of the blame Cunard is due for this, but since it seems like it's a fairly regular occurrence, it seems to me that they should be doing something about it instead of pretending that everything was going according to plan. On board, service was impeccable in the main dining room for dinner, and the room steward was excellent. I also consistently received excellent service in the Commodore Club and the Golden Lion, where I occasionally went for drinks and to read. The same could not be said for everyone at the Carinthia Lounge or the King's Court. I couldn't find someone to take a drink order from me in the Carinthia Lounge for love nor money, and when I approached the bar to politely inquire whether I could order from them directly, I was told: "Usually people sit and wait for a server but I guess I can help." After that encounter, it took more than an hour of waiting for a waiter to approach me. It was also in the Carinthia Lounge that I was berated for not making clear that I had a drink's package applicable to what I was ordering and the woman helping me at the bar made a production out of having to refund me. I suppose the brightly colored sticker on the cruise card wasn't sufficient. In the King's Court, the drinks staff were consistently good, but particularly if I was visiting in the 5 o'clock hour (AM) getting someone at the food service stations to acknowledge my presence, let alone serve me, was like pulling teeth. I politely said: "Excuse me" to two men standing behind the small pastry/Danish/croissant counter and the one in the chef hat turned, made eye contact, then turned back away. The other, in a dark vest, asked Chef Hat: "Are you going to help?" and neither moved. Another day the same occurred, and I enlisted the very friendly and efficient man in the corner by the yogurt to help. He went to the counter and finally they turned around to help. Note that this was not right at the beginning of service or before; I was well within the hours of operation advertised. Breakfast in the main dining room was not without its troubles. They had someone particularly over-zealous at the main entrance, spraying Purell on hands as you enter. I entered with my traveling companion. We waited at the bottom of the short stairs up until the couple ahead of us went forward to halfway between the door and the podium, then I went to the top stair and my companion to the one beneath. I shifted to the side to make room for my friend and the Purell entrance guard threw his hand out across my chest and said in an extremely aggressive and accusatory tone: "You need to let them finish." - as if I was trying to overtake the couple in line, which no one could reasonably think was happening. I was literally just standing there, in the same position the couple had been in before they had proceeded about four feet ahead of me. I asked him who he meant and then asked whether I was trying to get ahead of them and the man sort of sheepishly retreated, trying to engage my companion in conversation while ignoring my question. This happened again when I was in my travelling companion's position, following two other members of my party into the dining room. The Purell door guard put his hand up to stop me and demanded to know if I was "with them". I understand the dedication to social distancing, but surely if it matters so much, I should not have a member of the staff coming closer to me than I ever got to anyone else. The waiters were fine, but on more than one occasion we received an incorrect order and when I mentioned that I'd gotten scrambled eggs rather than poached, the waiter made it seem like it was a massive inconvenience and asked dubiously whether I wanted something else, so I didn't bother sending it back. This happened a few other times at breakfast and after the second time of being met with a stare like you'd said something insulting for politely bringing it up, we just stopped bothering. We, too, encountered the delays at the purser's desk which would not have been such a problem if it was only once. Unfortunately, we each had to have our key replaced multiple times on the first and last day because it stopped working in the stateroom door, so we enjoyed the wait while only one or two stations were open several times. Taken individually, none of these issues are really that big a deal (although some were just plain poor service) but taken together, I feel that this voyage did not really meet my expectations for "White Star" service. Always taking into account the special circumstances due to Covid-19, for me the issue was not with waiting some extra time to be served, but rather with the situations where staff were dismissive, disinterested, and in some cases just plain rude, none of which seems like the result of the pandemic.

I'm just off the same voyage and it sounds like I'd agree. I intend to put my experience into words here, as well, once I've got myself settled. I heard a lot of people who said they were planning to write in to Cunard because of the experience. Anecdotal evidence, to be sure, but trust that you aren't alone!

Thank you, everyone! I appreciate you setting my mind at ease 🙂

Hello! I searched around for an answer to this and nothing I found was conclusive, so I'm hoping the CC crew will have some insights. I will be traveling with two others aboard the Queen Mary 2 in the same stateroom. It's my first time sailing and it's very exciting. However, we would like to know if it's possible to link and use different credit cards to pay for our own expenses separately (and privately) as we go, rather than everything being charged to "the room" and having one credit card to settle it? Has anyone tried this and, if so, how did it work?