AuthBen3

5 minutes ago, tjunmin said:

I used this website and received the free transit visa: https://www.eta.gov.lk/slvisa/

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

On 2/9/2024 at 6:50 AM, Annie56 said:

Anyone actually received any refund money??
we are still waiting 

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

58 minutes ago, DeanUU said:

For the cancelled excursions? Ours arrived in our CC account yesterday. 

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.

55 minutes ago, zanzan said:

I am booked Singapore Southampton and haven’t been contacted by Cunard. Still waiting for TA to confirm a change to itinerary. Thanks to this CC board at least I have some information! 

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

4 hours ago, carran61 said:

But they can be held account to changing the itinerary to purely suit themselves . Dubai would be a perfectly safe port to call at. The omission of Dubai is 100% for Cunard's benefit and has nothing to do with the safety of quests. Dumping us in the southern hemisphere instead of Dubai where choices of flights is more limited and very expensive isn't on. Don't get me wrong I love Cunard and have done many cruises with them but they could at least be offering FCC. 

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.

1 hour ago, phoenix1975 said:

My dad and partner are booked on this cruise through a Cruise Holiday company and are also wondering if they can get a refund in full, mainly because of the amount of sea days.

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

2 hours ago, Annie56 said:

Our agents just forwarded new itinerary around Africa for QM2 without any reference for those who don’t want to go there

has anyone been offered a refund in full for not taking the compulsory option booked  QM2 Singapore to Southampton

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.

1 hour ago, Joe33472 said:

I've been following this thread to see what happens with the QM2 and the Red Sea issue, but I had a thought this morning.   MSC cancelled three cruises that were supposed to route through the Red Sea and are now going around Africia without paying passengers (empty).   I guess I'm wondering why empty?  None of the articles I find online gives a reason why they decided not to take passengers.   I'm thinkinkg it has to be a money issue, but it seems to me that empty ships are not generating revenue and even a 1/2 empty ship is better then sailing empty.   I was thinking that perhaps it's a supply chain issue with provisioning the ship, fuel, etc...  But it's MSC, they must have tons of global partners.    Wondering if Cunard might do the same, just scrap that leg of the WC and speed back to Southampton empty.  

 

 

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.

38 minutes ago, tjunmin said:

It is all speculation at this point. We really need to wait for Cunard's final decision and the ensuing implications.

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.

On 1/18/2024 at 7:53 AM, rog747 said:

Just for fun mind!

Voyage distances for alternative route avoiding call at Dubai and transit Suez. 

(rerouting is not possible via Panama Canal) 
Port stops are not included.
Options shown are to go back from Colombo (on Day 90) to Southampton,
and from there she then has to cross to New York (on Day 117) to undertake a R/T B2B TA.

Distance    10286 nautical miles via Cape of Good Hope
Vessel speed    25 knots
Time    17 days 03 hours 

This gives her more than enough days even at a slower speed, with some Port stops enroute, to be back in SOU on time for the NYC crossing departing 28th April (Day 117).

I have used Colombo as the last scheduled Port of Call on the current WC  itinerary, because the ship is not going to be sailing from any Australian Ports.
The ports prior to Colombo are all in SE Asia.

Therefore due to the distances involved, suggestions for her to maybe return via Cape Horn are not tenable. 

Folk due to disembark Dubai could get off at Colombo.

She would definitely stop again at Cape Town (most likely stay overnight as usual) - a St Helena sail-by would be doable as time permits 
 

 

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.

3 hours ago, hols09 said:

Hi everyone

 

Just a thought, I wonder has anyone booked any ship tours for the ports from Singapore to Southampton? What is the situation re; refund if you have and they are cancelled? not travelled with Cunard before.  thank you for any info

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).

On 1/20/2024 at 12:40 PM, SaltyCroc said:

Hey Folks, Just to show you that the computers at Cunard are all 'at sea', so to speak, I have uploaded a message received yesterday from Cunard marketing.  We are scheduled for the Dubai to Southhampton to NYC leg of the cruise on the QM2 with boarding in on 7 April 2024.  It is very unlikely to proceed, but that didn't stop us from getting an automated email (see below) asking if we wished to bid for an upgraded room!  Clearly, there are a lot of rooms opening up, and some of the deals are pretty good.  Too bad the ship will not be stopping there in all likelihood.  I had a laugh over this.

 

 

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

On 1/7/2024 at 9:25 PM, tjunmin said:

Oh, I totally got roscoe39's humor! My reply was in jest, but as you said, my attempt at humor did not come across well in written form.

 

I'll be on the QM2 world voyage from Singapore to Southampton, thus my interest in this thread.

 

I've cruised through the region previously, in 2019, through the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea onboard the Celebrity Constellation, with no incidents. I have wonderful  memories from that cruise [photo album]. The cruise line had special measures in place on that sailing. I have confidence that Cunard will handle this situation appropriately and we'll be fine.

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.