Jennifer Sandhurst

Thank you so much.  All the comments are so positive about the staff, food, cabins so that is very encouraging.  I'm looking forward to it more and more!  Thank you very much for your insight.

8 hours ago, 2BACRUISER said:

I'm interested in this post as I'm looking at two cruises this coming April dates are 2 days apart both london flights. Cabins both balconies. 

Marella 5 stops  £2794 all in 

P&O Azura 4 stops £2298 select fare £170 Obc no drinks

Been on Marella twice, loved first only liked 2nd so wondering about P&O but finding reviews mixed on Azura, bit marmite lol 😆 

Anybody want to chuck in their tennpeneth? 

Tks for your tennpenneth!!!  P&O has never appealed - not sure why 😁

Thank you for your insight - in general, all the reviews have been very positive and I am looking forward to it, with an open mind!  As you say, horses for courses and comparisons are, in some cases irrelevant so we shall just get on with it and have a lovely time!!  Thank you.

2 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I book direct and I still have to keep an eye on United. I don't think I've ever flown to the US northwest and not had a flight change. And usually, they don't tell me--I stumble on the change when checking something else. It happened last year on a flight to Ohio and just recently on a flight from Miami. Okay, I get that schedules change. But passengers need to be notified! 

Sticking with booking my own flights!  Tks.  

2 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I book direct and I still have to keep an eye on United. I don't think I've ever flown to the US northwest and not had a flight change. And usually, they don't tell me--I stumble on the change when checking something else. It happened last year on a flight to Ohio and just recently on a flight from Miami. Okay, I get that schedules change. But passengers need to be notified! 

Hmm.  Think I will stick to booking my own flights!!   Tks.  

On 1/18/2024 at 9:01 PM, TheOldBear said:

Looks like the two sub forums to explore are the Cunard https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/32-cunard-line/ and Cruise Air https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/77-cruise-air/.

 

And if no one has said 'welcome aboard', I would like to extend a welcome 🙂

 

I cannot help you with air questions - I'm fairly local to the port so we have been able to avoid flying in favor of QM2 round trips.

Thank you.  I’m enjoying being part of this group.  All very helpful.  

1 hour ago, pennib said:

Hi. We have done 3 Marella cruises on Explorer and are booked to do another at the beginning of March. We think they are great and certainly give P&0 a run for their money. We have done many cruises including Cunard (not to be repeated), P&O (probably about 25 on them), MSC, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity. I have likened peoples views of Marella v (say P&O) as similar to when Aldi and Lidl came to the UK. People wouldn’t be seen dead going to them but look at them now!! As far as Explorer is concerned, the buffet is awful and the hand soap in the bathroom is awful!! Otherwise food is first rate, especially the fine dining Dining Club and Surf & Turf restaurants. You do pay a supplement to eat in some restaurants but we like them so much we don’t mind!! Staff are wonderful and the ship is not at all “stuffy”. We prefer the smaller ships now that we can’t walk or climb stairs any more!! Enjoy

Thank you.  Very helpful.  I’m looking forward to it.

20 minutes ago, dronnygirl said:

Hello, I assume you've booked Explorer 2 if it's adults only.  We have done many Marella cruises and did the Adriatic cruise in September.   We had a lovely time and hope you will, just go with an open mind.  The ship is older, being ex Celebrity,  but we found it to be in good order in all the public places.  Our cabin, although dated, was kept immaculately clean.  The staff are very friendly,  the captain and officers regularly wander around and we often saw them eating in the marketplace.

There are several places to eat and we enjoyed our food although I don't think it will compare with Cunard or Princess, but you won't starve.   We always found places to sit around the ship, it gets busy around the pool as all ships do but we found plenty of loungers on the top deck where it was quieter.

Just go with an open mind, it's a beautiful part if the world and I'm sure you will enjoy it.

 

Thank you so much.  Yes, we fully expect a slightly different experience but nonetheless are looking forward to it.  It's a lovely itinerary and the 3-night stay afterwards in Mlini is a nice end to the holiday.  Very much appreciate all the information.  Thank you.

45 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

The OP gives a UK location, and for those in UK, EU, EEA then the Package Tour regulations apply, which does indeed give legislative protections to those who buy a bundle of items via an agent. The agent makes money not on flights, but on Cunard's bundled fare packages and things like insurance, car hire, hotels, which do have greater mark ups. Note there is a difference between Package Tour regulations and Linked Travel regulations, the latter is when you start adding this extra after initial purchase and have slightly weaker protections. A key, possibly unique feature of these Regulations is the legal concept of enjoyment - much of the UK and Europe's law codes look to repair direct damage but not much else, these regulations do expect you to have a good time on your holiday.

 

I buy separately as a barely repressed control freak, but I know what I'm doing. You still get some protections doing it that way, notably EC261 for air travellers based in UK (and again EU plus EEA and few other places). The key issue there is the Right to Rebooking, so something happens to your SEA flight. If you  book directly then realistically BA is going to look after their direct channel customers immediately, but depending on the exact circumstances BA may refer the passenger to the agents, since BA won't "own" a ticket issued by an agent, so there's an extra loop and you are down the pecking order. BA uses something called FLY, a version of Altéa DCS, which allows direct passengers to be rebooked by robotics, but agency tickets usually just get referred to the agent. There are also cost advantages in doing this, potentially. 

 

There's no right answer, globally, just a right answer for you. If you were going to go to SEA a bit before departure - a day or two - then the differences merge somewhat since with BA's partnership with AA, IB and EI (and to a lesser extent AS) then things can be resolved no matter with whom you book.

Thank you fellow control freak!!!  I do like to be in control😉 we always go out to departure port a couple of days ahead, both to visit the area and to make sure we are there for cruise departure day.  I simply could not fly out on the day of departure - far too stressful!!!!😂

2 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

We only cruise with Cunard and also like to be in complete control of cruise bookings and  flights which for us, were always long distance.

 

To that end, we always book specific cabins and also flights, choosing the airline and scheduling, the day, the time and most important, our seats.

 

All this is done through our wonderful agent who bundles it up under one Cunard booking eg, once decided on the flights, they are booked through Cunard.

 

This might/might not be more expensive than trawling around to find cheaper flights but the protection one booking gives, far outweighs the cost differential.

 

At the moment, passengers due to join QM2 in a month or two and have made their own travel arrangements to join the ship, must be wondering if they'll lose their money if their flights become useless whereas if they had booked through Cunard, it;s Cunard's issue to sort out.

 

Same problem arose when QM2s TA was cancelled after her Worldie. Some very unhappy bunnies who hadn't made Cunard travel arrangements there.

 

OK, might be anomalies but anomalies happen and we like to make sure any anomalies don't cost us financially.

 

Others will disagree with me but I think  LadyL1 is on the same page as us.

 

Your decision to make. 🙂

 

Thank you.  I tend to book outward flights to arrive a couple of days before cruise departure, just in case!!  Adds to the trip as well.  But yes, any problems would bento Cunard if booked through them.  Food for thought .

56 minutes ago, david63 said:

Being something of a control freak I much prefer to organise my own flights rather than trusting someone else to get it right.

Me too to be honest !!

2 hours ago, TheOldBear said:

Looks like the two sub forums to explore are the Cunard https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/32-cunard-line/ and Cruise Air https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/77-cruise-air/.

 

And if no one has said 'welcome aboard', I would like to extend a welcome 🙂

 

I cannot help you with air questions - I'm fairly local to the port so we have been able to avoid flying in favor of QM2 round trips.

Thank you.   I do really prefer to make my own arrangements but was just interested to hear if anyone got a better deal with Cunard.  So British Airways it will be !!!

Hi All  -  we have booked a cruise with Marella in July this year leaving Dubrovnik.  The itinerary is what attracted us.  We have cruised with Cunard, Celebrity and |Princess so this will be a first.  We are very open as to what to expect - the reviews all seem to be good (the ship is adults only) and we have booked a Suite so that we have a larger cabin.  Just wondered what people honestly thought.

Hi All - I am new to the site but just wondered how people found booking their flights with Cunard as opposed to booking directly with airline.  We've always booked with British Airways but plan to fly to Seattle from London Business Class in August 2025 for the Queen Elizabeth cruise to Alaska.  We booked directly with BA before but was interested to hear people's experiences.