What is Cunards Queen Victoria weak points?

[edwardh1]

From a management standpoint?

We are 2 cruise "veterans", and I would say its their chore excursions based on 3 we went on. Numerous preventable issues with confusion on board pre excursion, and no one answers when you dialed the tour desk,and usually no one manning the tour desk , purser tries to help. etc

Do other have issues with the shore excursions?

[Host Hattie]

Welcome to Cruise Critic, it's a while since I've taken a Shore Excursion on QV but we didn't have any problems when we did & the QM2 ones we've taken more recently have been fine.

 

What happened with yours ?

[GUT2407]

From a management standpoint?

We are 2 cruise "veterans", and I would say its their chore excursions based on 3 we went on. Numerous preventable issues with confusion on board pre excursion, and no one answers when you dialed the tour desk,and usually no one manning the tour desk , purser tries to help. etc

Do other have issues with the shore excursions?

 

 

What were the "preventable issues".

[foster269]

Hello edwardh1.

Please don't think me rude.I would love to give an answer or an oppinion,but I am really struggling to understand what you are saying.

Rodger.

[Underwatr]

Does the tour desk phone have voicemail? You can always ask your question on VM and get a reply later.

[Host Hattie]

Were you calling during their advertised opening hours?

[deck chair]

Hello

 

Yes, please explain your experiences. I have done numerous Cunard shore excursions over the years and have never had a problem. The excursion desk is open during the day and the staff happy to answer questions. Keep in mind, Cunard makes a great deal of money off shore excursions so it is in their best interest to make sure it is a well managed program to keep everyone happy and coming back.

 

Deck Chair

[DDBINK1]

I have had excellent experiences with my excursions off both QV and QM2. I used the Excursion desk several times, and I used the drop box to request an excursion after boarding and got a prompt reply in writing in a nice envelope to my cabin door. The staff always go on the excursions with you, as escorts and problem solvers I think, but we never had problems on the excursions. Hope this response helps? :confused:

[edwardh1]

many of the shore excursion things we did not like were minor, one was major and I have addressed that one to Cunard and will post their resolution on that one if any when we get it in a week or so.

Others were Minor ones, but they seemed to add up:

 

- When first getting on the ship, when I got settled at 8 Pm at night I found i had 3 pieces of paper in my cabin showing different departure times for the next mornings excursion. all close together 800 , 830 and 900 if I remember correctly, pick up the phone and call the tour desk? no answer. No one present at the desk either, I went to the 24 hour purser who gave his opinion, not a big time difference tho.

 

-When getting off the ship in Barcelona on a very hot day the bus was waiting to take us on the Gaudi tour. The bus was very hot (1;00 PM and it had been sitting in the sun. Without being asked as we left, the "tour guide" said on the PA that the bus is hot, but it will cool down once we get moving (a fib). Warm air still blew out the vents, but it sounded nice. It did not cool down of course, but after a while of stop and go city traffic the tour guide cheerily asked is everyone cool now and got mostly loud No s. When we got off the bus at the first stop I asked her why we had a bus with no Air cond, I said that morning she knew the bus had no Air and the driver knew the bus had no air, and whoever assigned that bus knew it had no air yet we got that bus anyway. She seemed angry and we argued some more and she later called on her cell (they are complaining") for another bus which was produced in less than an hour.

The passengers on the bus - assume 40 x $100 euros each or so or paid $4000 for use of the bus for 4 hours and Cunards business partner (the bus company) sticks them with a bad bus?????

There was no Cunard rep on the bus. Maybe the bus companies think cruise people are sheep.

 

- another oddity, also small was that when leaving the Savoy hotel in Rome for the pre cruise transfer to the QV that the cunard rep made every (or tried to make everyone ) put all hand luggage and hand bags under the bus in the luggage area. NO BAGS INSIDE THE BUS! I had my passports and some Rx drugs in mine but she insisted that the small bag (could pick up with one finger, airline personal bag size, go in the luggage area. No other shore excursions did this.

- my fear was that if we stopped at the port entrance the "checked luggage" also under the bus might be mixed up with the hand luggage and taken off and Id lose track of my bag.

I asked her, standing at the door of the bus when getting on why so many other people had their knapsacks and carryons, she replied "I did not see them getting on". Thought they were 10 ft away.

A week later, On the return trip to Rome from the ship, Cunard sent a paper to each room telling passengers TO KEEP YOUR HAND LUGGAGE RX AND MEDICINES WITH YOU< and only send checked luggage to the buses. They said verbally only "luggage with wheels" ie bigger stuff needed to be under the bus in the luggage compartment. Exact opposite of the policy on the way TO the port.

How many years has this transfer operated and it still gets screwed up like this?????

 

- In the Cinque Terre (sp) island area many people though the tour boat used was overloaded. I cant say it was or was not, but all of the boat was very very very full including many people standing where there were no seats and the steps to the upper decks having many people sitting on them. No way to tell, just people talking.

Edited July 20, 2015 by edwardh1

[edwardh1]

This is the letter I sent to Cunard, in July 2015:

 

Background- My wife and I purchased the pre cruise Rome to Civitavechia bus transfer and also the return, after the cruise, to Ostiense train station.

The transfer to the ship went well. But my wife and I have some questions on what happened on the transfer from the ship back to the train station in Rome. As a note, we had no issues on the ship cruise itself at all. Perhaps your person who arranges these transfers with the Rome companies can explain what went on?

 

The Cunard hired transfer (coded aqua blue 4) bus left the ship without problems around 10:30 AM on July 11, 2015 , and the Cunnard/bus company tour guide on the bus (with the standard guide ID tag around her neck) said she was Daniella.

Along the way over the speaker system, she mentioned official Rome taxis, said they were white and had a meter, and that you paid for each piece of luggage.

Twice, or maybe 3 times she said that when we reached the train station, taxis would be there and we should promptly form lines to allow quick loading of the taxis. My thought- yes, most train stations do have a taxi stand, and whats the rush?

During the bus ride she went around and asked if people would be in the taxi line and we said yes. She marked it on a sheet on a clipboard with the number of people in our party (2). She did not mention any cost or fee. I asked her face to face about the charge for luggage, she said again all luggage even the first bag was one euro. Note the official web site for Rome taxis says

"

EXTRA CHARGES

 

• The first piece of luggage is free; each subsequent piece of luggage measuring more than 35x25x50 cm costs € 1.00 • the fifth passenger upwards in taxis with a capacity for more than 4 passengers: € 1.00

• the fixed fee for calling a radio-controlled taxi is € 3.50

 

 

She said that twice, each bag 1 euro, not first one free. I let that pass , not a big issue.

 

When the bus arrived at the station, we got off and Daniella stood next to the bus with a somewhat balding 50ish man who had a clipboard, maybe the same clipboard ? They were directing us to specific taxis. They motioned to each taxi to pull forward for people to get in and told us repeatedly to hurry and get in the taxis. He motioned us to a specific taxi when it was our turn and our driver loaded 3 bags, then off we went - hurrying…... remember?

 

NOTE: My Rome taxi experience had been 4 or 5 taxis that I always got from a taxi stand , like at a hotel, or in a square or called by our hotel. We had no problems , most fares were about 10 euros , distances like Pantheon to Barbarini Square, without luggage. Each taxi had a meter and also a large plastic number attached to the inside of the back door.

 

After going a few blocks, I realized there was no number inside the door, and I did not see a meter. The driver had something jammed between the middle of the dash and the steering column and I thought that might be the meter but the more I looked at it , the more I realized it could be an Ipad. I then thought this is an unofficial taxi even though it was white.

 

We drove to our hotel ( faster than any taxi we had been in in Rome- he ran 3 yellow lights) which was on Capo d' Africa 47 near the collosium, a short ride, shorter than my other 10 euro Rome taxi rides. We got out, unloaded, and the driver wanted 35 euros. I asked him why so high, and he said "due to the reservation”. Did Cunard call him for a reservation? Many train stations have lots of taxis, without reservations. Our hotel had a large courtyard with buzzer ,so I could not easily or quickly ask the help of the desk person so I paid him the $35 euros.

The desk person at the Lancelot Hotel said we had been overcharged (they usually know taxi fares) and should have been 15-20 euros at the most, with 3 bags. Tripadvisor and others say it should have been $10 or so not counting for the baggage.

Is this situation normal?

 

My basic anger is about the appearance, to me, that the taxi was not official, yet the Cunard hired representative spent time and effort putting us into “their” taxis, which while standing 6 ft away they somehow did not notice the taxis had no meters.

Seems they could have dropped us at the train station taxi line? I do not think the Cunard booking included anything related to onward travel once the bus reached the train station, and I think that what happened gives the appearance of some sort of deal to use unofficial taxis to increase profit after a Cunard arranged transfer ends. I guess I let my guard down since I thought the tour guide was still “looking out for us” so to speak.

 

What do you think? Is there another explanation for this? I think I was overcharged on a Cunard associated transfer.

 

His taxi has a 8822 number on the left rear side and a 5433 number on the back I noted as he drove off, the numbers are correct, locations might be swapped.

 

Thanks.

 

----------------

Cunard called me yesterday, said they would not refund the 20 euro taxi overcharge. They gave me a $50 pp (self and wife $100) shipboard credit on a future cruise within next two years. I may not go on a trip within that time.

I did not get the impression they wanted to chase down what happened, or even to pass it to their agent in Rome if they have an agent in Rome.

It possible they contract with a shore trip provider company and just ask for "some shore excursions" in Corsica, Rome, Monte Carlo etc" for example. that is they may be one or more intermediate companies. Read: Too Hard.

The Cunard phone rep seemed puzzled by the "rushing aspect" of the departure bus unloading, and taxi loading.

I asked why not deliver people to an official taxi stand at the train station???

My opinions.

I post this to make others smarter, not as an attack on Cunard,

This Rome to port and back transfer has been probably going on for decades yet the businees partners that cunard selects dont get the bugs out.

Edited July 21, 2015 by edwardh1

[Jayneykul]

Sorry to hear of your experience Edward. I wrote to Cunard in 2013 about a truly terrible experience on a cruise Hong Kong to Singapore it was nothing Cunard did but the travel agent who arranged the trip. To say they ripped us off is an understatement put it this way the pre cruise hotel was not even in Hong Kong but a 45min train ride away in the provinces my luggage was lost and they gave every bit of wrong advice they could have the post hotel was a "youth hostel" I kid you not. The reason I wrote to Cunard was to tell the I thought they should be more savvy in their choice of who and how they sold their products. They weren't interested not an apology just a not our fault you chose them! I empathise with you