Drysil

I'm coming a touch late to this conversation, but may be able to offer some practical items, as my wife and I cruised last June on QM2, just three weeks to the day after she had knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus. We chose to rent a transport wheelchair for use on the trip, since we could easily fly with it. While we had numerous adventures while travelling to and from the cruise ship (it turns out that transport chairs are only barely sufficient for the tall order of a vacation), once on board our only major obstacles were the seams midship by the central elevators and at some exits to the outside on decks 11 and 12 (they are quite high bumps) and navigating to the Queen's Room for afternoon tea (this took us a try or two to perfect, and was still a bit of a journey even so). I can't imagine a scooter would have problems with any of these obstacles, and once you get the hang of which elevator to use to go where (and it does matter a bit, unfortunately), it should all be second nature. I will say that navigating the casino (if you are a gambler) was very challenging, as it is quite tight inside that room; Carinthia was similarly challenging due to space, though perfectly navigable with a bit of patience. Additionally, while Cunard made excellent accommodation for wheelchairs in Illuminations, the seating location must be near the rear (of course), which means that the view into the projection dome isn't ideal. Overall, we were really pleased with the staff attention to our mobility needs under the circumstances, would happily consider another cruise on Cunard were we in such a situation again, and are looking forward to our (fully mobile!) TA this coming July. Enjoy your trip!

Ah, I didn't realize that the short itineraries were released so late. Thanks!

Hey all, did some searching on the forum and couldn't find much on this topic -- does anyone know why there are no Reflection itineraries after April 2025? Is it possible that Celebrity are considering selling her instead of 'revolutionizing'? She's my favorite ship in the fleet, so I hope that's not the case!

Also interested in opinions on whether the chef's table meal is worth ~3x the specialty restaurant price. We'd happily pay this (and quite a bit more) for a fantastic meal on land, but I worry a bit about how great it can be with a ship's galley (however well fitted) as the source. We're sailing again on Reflection in December, so this is timely information!

Every insurance policy is different, so I suggest you contact your insurer to determine best details. Acquiring a written statement of delay and cause from the liner will help your claim, to the extent that is possible; for example, I have such an email regarding the boarding delay tomorrow, and have confirmed that this is covered as ‘trip delay’ for my insurer and my costs (such as they are) will be reimbursed from a claim.

Email on shore side is that all embarkation for the next cruise will be original time plus six hours. Quick turnaround! Curious how they’ll handle dining, but passenger health is definitely the most important thing.

I'm mildly curious (and not just academically, since I'm now on a six-night) what effects the added/removed days will have on formal nights. I have little knowledge in this area; what is Cunard's normal kerning for galas on six night cruises? On nines?

Along with 432 as reported previously, I received a notification this morning that M422 (7nt TA, July 21, 2024) has been shortened to 6 nights because the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal is no t available on 28 July. Passengers will be prorated a discount for the missing night and given $50 OBC as an apology. Hopefully we'll be able to cancel our existing reservations and rebook. Is the OBC thank-you transferrable if we rebook the cruise entirely? I presume not, but wonder if others have had this experience elsewhere.

FWIW, I just rang Cunard here in the states and asked the representative I was shuttled to what the guest speakers were for our 4th of July cruise (M318). She was more than happy to tell me, and had the information readily accessible (there was still one TBA). If that's true fleet-wide at ~70 days out, it seems like some group action would get us a reasonable compilation of speakers. I'll post in the roll call for now!

Thanks, folks, for all your great answers! This is exactly the quality information I was hoping for. Onward with the planning for our first Cunard voyage!

Hi folks -- We were previously scheduled to take our first Cunard cruise -- a Southampton to NYC TA -- in 2024, but a good price came up for the June 30 NYC - NYC sailing (with fireworks in Boston!), so we're taking our first voyage a bit earlier than expected. We're both excited, but I'm wondering about the difference in passenger mix from a TA originating in the UK (where I would expect a larger proportion of European travellers) to a cruise wholly within North America (where that might be a good deal less true). Should I expect different attitudes? Less adherence to the dress code? More 'American' (for good or ill) approaches to timeliness, incidental social interactions, and drinking? We obviously won't be changing our own approach to these topics (which I hope is largely inoffensive to our fellow travellers), but I wonder to what extent Cunard's more formal mythos prevails in all situations. Thanks for the information!

We will, and I promise I won’t hold you accountable if Cunard count differently! 😆

Got my M422 A1 booking finally settled today, and was excited to see that it might be a milestone cruise! We'll see how it all pans out, but we're looking forward to our first TA and our first Cunard cruise in 2024. Planning begins!

Wow, so late! Guess I'll continue standing by, then.

This has been a great reference to take notes from for our trip in 2024. Thanks for your considerable effort!