AuthBen3

Lonelyplanet.com says: “Two-day transit visas are free and only necessary if you plan to leave the airport.”

We received all of our excursion cancellation refunds, but are staying on the cruise (Singapore to Southampton).

Ours came in last night (Thu night 2/8)

FYI: All excursion refunds for the canceled ports were posted last night to our credit card (individual credits, not just one total sum). We are on the Singapore to Southampton trip and are going with the alternate route.

Some shore excursions are now listed for the new ports: Port Louis/Mauritius, Grand Canaria, and Lisbon. The others (Durban, Cape Town, Walvis Bay) are not showing any yet.

You checked spam folder (all email) for a message from Cunard, “An Update to Your Voyage Itinerary”?

I believe Dubai & Persian Gulf are no longer deemed safe, due to increased Iranian activity. Insurers may have decided that area would no longer be covered. And what knowledge do you have that they have time to get to Dubai and back to SOU anyway? It might mean dropping most port stops on the way, which would be a huge negative for everyone on the trip.

It is only 1 or 2 (if you do not count the Suez sail day) more sea days than the original trip…

The implication in the email is to contact Cunard if you do not want to do the trip (from Singapore). I assume (only from a “reasonableness” view) that they will offer a refund if you choose to not make the voyage; at a minimum I would think they’d give you a comparable cruise credit for the future. Best to just call them and see what they say (and share here :-).

Amen! I’ve already called them

I don’t think it would hurt for people to call the Cunard support line and let them know they are concerned and anxious to know as soon as possible… (800) 728-6273 (we’re on the QM2 Singapore to Southampton trip). Of course the rep didn’t know anything, but I asked him to pass along our concerns.

The word we received from our travel agent, who called the Cunard travel agent support line, was to not expected a decision until the first or second week of February, still a month before before the sailing date of March 23. But yes, we need to hear as soon as possible.

Cunard has ports around continental Africa - check out the outbound World Cruise from New York City for the QM2 World Cruise (approaching Namibia today 1/23), as well as the return World Cruise for Queen Victoria; both hit ports off Madagascar, South Africa, Namibia and Tenerife.

Word from travel agent support person at Cunard (as of 1/22/2024) is that they do not expect a final decision until as late as mid-February. Columbo (Sri Lanka) could be the last port before change to S Africa route, like the Queen Victoria.

Our travel agent just talked to the Cunard rep for travel agents today (January 22). They told her it is likely to be another month (mid-Feb) before they will make a final decision on the route the ship will take. Could be unfortunate for the World Cruise folks, who may be going back to the same ports they are traveling through now.

Are Qatar & Dubai definitely off the list as the last possible ports on the current itinerary? Seems to me they could sail from Dubai and simply reverse the outbound part of they journey (duplicating the route they are on now): Mauritius/Reunion, S Africa, Namibia, Tenerife, Southampton. I think the schedule still allows enough time.

Yes - we have booked all our excursions from Singapore (embark for us) to Southampton. We assume that they will refund all cancelled excursions due to rerouting; can’t imagine them not doing that. There will be new excursions to sign up for skirting outside Africa (probably much like the outbound cruise, currently heading from Tenerife to Namibia and S Africa).

We have been getting the same upgrade options (Singapore to Southampton), but they do not look like great deals (yet).

We are also booked on the Singapore to Southampton trip (with another couple). At this point we are waiting for Cunard to update us on the trip. Our guess is that they will reroute around Africa, which is very disappointing to us from our original plans (though understandable). I assume there are no partial refunds for a completely different trip if we wanted to opt out from, say, Dubai (small print says they can change any ports if needed)? It’s also a bummer to the whole world cruise group since they already are sailing around Africa right now.