QM 2019 KOTA KINABLU replaced for no good reason with Dead & alive port in Vietnam

Cunard who of course are hiding behind spurious T and Cs have for no good reason whatever in July 2018 cancelled Kota Kinablu and replaced it with a dead and alive port in Vietnam and consider they have done everything right because you can now visit Hue and Danang

 

Many cruisers will have already been there but wanted to go to and booked especially for Kota Kinablu ....of course if you had booked in the USA you are entitled to cancel penalty free 120 days before but not if you booked in the UK

 

To add insult to injury there are passengers who booked Southampton to HK whilst onboard QE in Sept 2018 who even then were not told of this change

 

Cunard needs to treat passengers with an awful lot more consideration ansd stop hiding behind spurious " we can do what we like " contracts or they will loose even more business

How disappointing, what reason have they given ?

It's strange it wasn't mentioned when you booked as passengers on the roll call were notified at the end of July.

We booked in March 2018 but were notified in July

 

Yet passengers who booked onboard QE just 10 days ago were not told

Why is it "dead and alive".Looks better than your original scheduled port.Mind you, I thought Mallaca might be nice and that was a dead and alive hole,to me anyway.

We booked in March 2018 but were notified in July

 

Yet passengers who booked onboard QE just 10 days ago were not told

And the reason for the change according to posters on roll call was that Cunard were unable to confirm an anchorage. I wouldn't describe that as "no good reason". Cruise lines make changes all the time unfortunately.

Would you have preferred that they delayed making the change?

Happened to us in 2016.Booked QM2 to go to Halong Bay as we had always wanted to go there. Within the week, it was changed back to Nha Trang, a port which we had visited one week prior on Q.V. Tried to get out of the cruise, to no avail. Cunard used to T&C statement.

It did turn out ok, but still haven’t been to Halong Bay.

Having been to KK I would not have been disappointed, we spent four days there and it was 3 1/2 too long!

We are on Singapore sailing was slightly disappointed about change of port but have since done some research and quite looking forward to Vietnam it seems more varied on the shore excursions than KK

 

Mrs Blue Sky

Annoying when this happens especially if it's the reason you booked the cruise. We were about to book Southampton to Hong Kong when I noticed the change on a website. It was v confusing as Cunard still had KK on their website. I have noticed that one quite a few websites n newspaper offers it still has KK on the itinerary. I do think that they need to let folks know quickly.

 

Not to compare Cunard with Marella but they sold a cruise called 'Cuban fusions' then months before the cruise cancelled Cuba. That sort of change and you are entitled to cancel. I notice that most of their cruises r now called nonspecific :')things like tapas and tango!:')

The moral is book via the USA then you can cancel the cruise ...Cunard are well out of order to still be advertising and selling this cruise still featuring KK and they could be sued for misrepresentation

When you have already been to Vietnam and done the tours that are available from what is definitely a dead and alive port and wanted to have a day in KK the excuse Cunard could not secure an Anchorage is ridiculous ..its a tender port and they planned the cruise over 2 years ago so had plenty of time to secure and confirm anchorages so have no business changing things late in the day and treating UK passengers differently to the USA

If Cunard are not satisfied with the anchorage sites then it probably correct. In order to safely anchor a vessel you need to be sure of the holding ground, can the length of anchor cable required to hold the vessel allow it to swing safely with tide or wind, is there enough depth of water to ensure the swing can be safe, are there any local tidal conditions to be taken into consideration and could air pressure and/or wind force/direction reduce depth below that charted? I believe Cunard have asked port authorities to dredge the anchorage and or approach channels but that this has not been done.

Cunard should have sorted all of that out many many months ago and if they could not they should have allowed any upset cruisers to cancel without penalty

 

The future cruise people on QV were still taking bookings for the cruise and not telling people KK was off when we were on QV 2 weeks ago yet they were very well aware of the change so Cunard are well at fault

I'm not familiar with the term 'dead and alive' port. What does mean?

I'm not familiar with the term 'dead and alive' port. What does mean?

 

I guess that's more of a British expression than an American one. I was not familiar with that expression either and had to look it up. The "collinsdictionary.com" web site defines it as follows.

 

dead-and-alive

adjective

British

(of a place, activity, or person) dull; uninteresting

 

The "merriam-webster.com" web site defines it as "alive but as if dead : DULL, SPIRITLESS".

I guess that's more of a British expression than an American one. I was not familiar with that expression either and had to look it up. The "collinsdictionary.com" web site defines it as follows.

 

dead-and-alive

adjective

British

(of a place, activity, or person) dull; uninteresting

 

The "merriam-webster.com" web site defines it as "alive but as if dead : DULL, SPIRITLESS".

Thanks for that, it's a new one on me too.

When used to describe a port it means.......theres absolutely nothing there at all ...... and the only way to see anything is to go on a ships tour ....having already been to the only places Cunard are offering tours to pretty much the only option is to stay onboard ....that equals " dead and alive "

In my English expression